Pleak

I'm thinking the end result of all this could be successful. Eventually. There have been a lot of ventures over the years that the original investors/owners lose their shirts due. Someone comes in, buys the property/business for a song - fixes/updates it for a relatively minor amount and ends up with a nice successful enterprise. So maybe whomever picks up HP from Transwestern will have the stones to ride out the difficulties now and with some intelligently planned upgrades - turn it around. If they get it for the right price - it could be done. The bones are there for a successful project. Just hoping the execution follows.

Cool. This should be the final addition necessary to make Houston a truly world-class city! Or does that only apply to downtown?

Unfortunately, no - it is not what is fenced in. They actually have construction fencing going across the little island in the pond there. I hope they are just blocking that off for safety and not actually tearing up part of the pond. That made a nice little park there - would be a loss for another 5 story non-descript apartment building. And this morning there was dirt-moving equipment being unloaded on the property.

I'm shocked that in Lockmat's link that from start to completion is only scheduled for six months. Doesn't that seem a little quick? As far as empty lots go - this one wasn't particularly ugly. It was a open grassy area with decent trees on one side and the lake on the other. People were always using if for playing, fly fishing lessons, etc. Now the real ugly lot is still there - right across the drive - the one with the old Mason Jar and TGI FRiday's footprint.

Same people who developed this up the street: http://www.liveatalliance.com/BroadstoneUptownLofts/ That would be quite a letdown from all the other proposals...

The "For Sale" signs left when the fencing went up. So who knows what all this means.

OK - now I'm getting an image of Bruce Willis's head popping out of a grate on the runway...

When I was looking at the pictures, it made me think about the Denver airport and all the rumours about it and it's underground tunnels/chambers. Maybe its the secret location of the local branch of the New World Order. It is Exxon after all.......

Does anybody know if this thing is back on again? There is a new fence all around the property that went up this week. It looks like the same as the construction fence that is around the Skanska development (3009 Post Oak) just up the street from it. Didn't see any equipment this morning though.

Cool! A national audience can see all the mean, scary vagrants wandering around downtown molesting helpless Spring chicks.

Gutting the team to pay for Manning would be the equivalent of what the Drayton did for so many years. Trade away the future for that gamble how much gas one broken-down aging super-star could *might* have left in the tank. Worked pretty good for the 'stros - huh? If you want an injury-prone quarterback (and he will be injury-prone from now on) on the downward slide of his career - just keep Matt. We can still pick up a young QB to groom as a replacement (as big a UH fan as I am - Keenum won't go high if he is your guy) and like RedScare said - spend the money on Mario.

The one thing I always think about the Greyhound station is years ago, Conan O'brien was in town for some reason and was at the station about 2 in the morning doing his show. He turned to the camera and said, "I think I'm going to be killed." I think it was the only time I have ever laughed at anything on his show.

I like that rendering. And it's a straight shot out my office window. Hope it happens.

This is fun to see. And it's amazing that BLVD Place has none of them yet, considering it seemed like it was the one that was the most sure to be developed for so long.

Didn't see this posted anywhere else. http://www.bizjourna...m-ben-taub.html "The Harris County Hospital District is finally renovating the original Ben Taub General Hospital, a $38 million plan that’s been on the drawing board for nearly 20 years. The 50-year-old hospital has been sitting vacant since 1992, when the existing Ben Taub General Hospital opened its doors. “The plan at the time was to renovate the original hospital then and have two hospitals up and running, but the hospital district ran into some financial difficulties in the late 1990s, and we had to put it off,” said George Masi, executive vice president and COO of the Harris County Hospital District." I couldn't access anymore of the story as I don't have a subscription.

Well, it is for the modern collection. So we shouldn't expect it to be too classical looking.

To run commuter rail from Woodlands at 8 minute intervals? Let's just for fun say it lasts from 6:30-7:30 am. I have no idea of the # of people that commute to dt from there, but its 30+ miles so you would only be able to use the cars once in that time frame. So what is a good commuter train length? Six cars? How many cars would you need to cover morning rush hour? 56? And realistically - how many people would actually be on the train? This isn't NY or London or Tokyo. All of these are commuter cultures. Every 8 minutes is realistic in those places, but in Houston, I seriously doubt anything more frequent that 1/2 hour intervals would be run at first. I am well aware of commuter rail existing in other places. I have ridden the heavy rail to work in Europe and it works wonderful. It should also not stop all along the way otherwise - what is the point - just run more light rail. Commuter rail should from the Woodlands for instance should stop at Greenspoint and maybe a line to IAH. But no other stops. And it is just as much about saving time as it is about saving money. If you turn a one-hour commute to a 1.5 hour commute - you will lose riders. I have a 30 mile one-way commute to the Galleria. There is a bus route that picks up at the first colony mall. I take it because it is convenient, and does not take more time than driving. It is about the same. It cuts off the last 12 miles of my commute. I could cut off another 17 miles as there is a companion route from the Ft. Bend County Fairgrounds that also stops at the First Colony Mall and then goes on to the Medical Center. Except they have not coordinated the schedules at all so I would have to wait anywhere from 20-40 minutes for a transfer. So I don't take it even though it would save me an additonal 34 miles roundtrip a day for free. The hassle factor is too great. But y'all are expecting everybody in the suburbs to be overjoyed about riding heavy rail into downtown with multiple stops along the way (which would increase the time). Then wait to transfer to a local bus (since you can't run heavy rail down Louisiana Street). And where would the billions come from to double track heavy rail out to all of the suburbs? I like playing SimCity a lot also. Especially when you have the "god' mode on and have unlimited funds. IF there was a straight shot to a downtown intermodal staion from the suburbs with reliable transfers (bus/light rail) through downtown every few minutes it might make sense but anything else - people will just drive. Or they can take the existing Park-n-ride buses which do run on very high frequencies. Don't make mulitple stops till downtown. Generally run at highway speeds. Are very comfortable. Can be scaled up/down very quickly. (just add another bus) And routes can be added to other places besides downtown. I took the 265 for years when I worked downtown. It worked like a charm.

I remember back in the late 70's, early 80's riding bikes and walking all over Bellaire/SW Houston. (does that count as Houston's core?) So does that mean I was a hipster when I was like 10 years old?

Believe it or not - I am for regulating the industry. This is where government belongs. Not in deciding what to build downtown. I don't particularly like breathing benzene and other byproducts of refining and have quite a bit of personal experience of what runaway pollution can cause. But it needs to be done intelligently and comprehensively. Not what the EPA (and CARB) are presently doing. Regulate the refineries and get rid of all the old grandfathered provisions that have been around for 40 years and have been used as loopholes. But since gasoline/diesel/etc are by nature extremely fungible products, also subject every single drop imported into the country to the exact same standards - require it to be refined at a facility with comparable pollution controls. Would not be terribly hard to verify. Refineries are not exactly small operations - only a few hundred in the world, set up a "verified refinery" system with inspectors - like Nike and friends do at their factories for labor practices. This would eliminate a lot of the arguements that refiners have of if we have to upgrade our old facilities, we will have to close them and go offshore. Well that was quite off-topic as well. Oh and as far as commuter rail - wonderful in theory - but in application not so much. Commuter rail would only be able to connect the big hub of downtown with a spoke in the Woodlands, Katy, Sugarland, etc. Trains leave maybe very 30 minutes (at best). You would have to drive several miles to park at the originating station. If you missed it, wait 30 minutes or drive in. And it only works if you work downtown. What about if you work in the Galleria area? Or Greenway Plaza? Or on Allen Parkway? No place at all for the heavy rail to run + too spread out for just one central stop. And yes one day the uptown line will go through - but that is just one more connection to have to time. Which means waiting for some indeterminate amount of time between trains. All this adds up to not a good option. The existing park and rides and vanpools while less sexy are better options because they are much cheaper and pick up the people actually interested in mass transit. Plus for the most part - you get dropped off very near your business vs. multiple connections and long-distance hikes.

Actually, it probably would get them a lot quicker than Houston would. If you have that many people on the streets, you have how many shop/club/restaurant owners wanting to sell to the gazillions of people. They would all be clamouring to be allowed to advertise. Business owners do have a bit of influence on local regulations in most parts of the world. That would = precious neon lights. But this is all a silly discussion. While I have already stated I am for lifting the lighting rules downtown, my whole point is it will do nothing. Houston will not suddenly vault into the ranks of the 1st tier world class Alpha-male numero-uno top-of-the-heap cities because downtown glows a little more at night. As was mentioned, Houston and Harris County are miles better than they were a few years back. But what else is missing from this is the realization that these "cars and industry" are the whole reason that Houston as we know it exists. If the petro-chemical complex over to the east was not there, Houston would be a mere shadow of itself. All the cool skyscrapers down Louisiana would not have been built due to the profits from the strawberry fields in Pasadena. Houston is not the prettiest place in the world to live, but it is a good place to work. Always has been. You want the government to tightly regulate the air so it is safe to breathe - then move to California. Oh, wait - there's no jobs there because all the industry is shutting down due to the regulations. (How many refineries have closed in CA in the last 10 years vs. opened/expanded?) But at least the air is clean because it is so regulated by the government there. Oh - wait - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_the_United_States

What I was trying to convey in my rambling post was that every so often, I read threads that all downtown needs to fix its nightlife/residential population/shopping/hipness problems is to allow some neon/led strips to be tacked on the buildings and voila! Success! So the only thing holding back a booming downtown after 5 pm is bright shiny things? I agree - release the lighting regulations. But downtown will be just the same. There will not be a sudden influx of people flying in to IAH to stare in awe at the bright lights of the big city. (Maybe the Spring Chickees! ) If you want a bustling downtown after hours with residents, shoppers, eaters, partiers, etc. you need the density in all of Houston to make it worthwhile to go downtown. Otherwise it will always be so much cheaper to build your club on Washington Ave. and your condo in Midtown and still be within spitting distance of dt. The lights will come with density is my point not the other way around. The streets of HK and Tokyo have gazillions of cool signs because there were already millions of people living there and they are trying to get their attention to sell them something. The signs weren't there first and the people moved there just to look at them.

Sorry - I screwed up the quoting feature. It was to to the post listed above (I hope). See bold. Then in the next paragraph more PPP's are being advocated. I'm more in line with Niche (can't believe I said that - shhh!). Government put the rules in place and then back up and get out of the way.

Lighting did not make any of the cities above what they are today. Everyone of them (except for New Orleans) is an extremely dense populated city - many with significant natural barriers to expansion. Singapore, Hong Kong have practically no land and what land they do have has been reclaimed from the ocean. Miami is hemmed in on a strip of sand between the ocean and the swamp. Tokyo has what 30+ million people. Every square inch or dirt in these cities costs a fortune . So they build up. And people live in the middle of "downtown" because everywhere is "downtown" . So they have a vibrant life downtown because there is no other choice. And with that vibrant life, comes stores and bars and lots of shiny neon. Not the other way around. Houston does not need any more PPP's downtown. (Isn't that what drives scares all the young ladies away - the smell of urine on the sidewalks? ) In the 80's we had El Mercado - now we have Pavilions. Why continue to throw good money after bad? An interesting observation - you want to "let the market" decide on lighting downtown, but not on retail, etc downtown. The market has been deciding on retail downtown for the last 50+ years.

Noticed yesterday when I went by this that the first section of the crane was in place. Sorry no pics.

Disappear for a couple of days and threads can really take off.... Planning will not force people to live downtown and neither will exterminating the homeless. The homeless do not scare off most people except the for the clueless or the spineless. I worked downtown for years. The homeless are not terrible monsters that are lurking to drag you beneath the sewers and feast on your bones. If you have never been to the big city before, perhaps they are intimidating when they ask for spare change, but to the vast majority of the people downtown they are completely ignored. People do not live downtown because better alternatives are available. Yes, people could be "made" to live downtown. We could have land use regulations so tight that Houston is basically limited to an inside the loop footprint or smaller. And I know that's a wet dream for many on here. But one of two things would result. Either, Houston would be much smaller and a lot of the benefits that we have of living in a city of 5 million would not exist (How about that art scene in Lubbock?) or cost of living would be on par with New York, Tokyo, etc. But since Houston was not planned, and has no real geographical limitations (i.e. NY, Hong Kong,), why would a person pay more to live downtown when a reasonably comparable property can be acquired outside of downtown. Yes, you are not living in a 40-story condo in dt, but what is fundamentally different in a 6 story building in mid-town? You might have a 1-2 mile more commute which is negligible and less stairs to walk down when the elevator breaks, but other than the hit to your bank account - what is the difference? Developers (i.e. - people who actually have to put their money where their mouth is) know this and guess where they are building. Houston is attractive to people for exactly these reasons. It is an inexpensive place to live where you can get a good job and live in more housing than you can get in most any other metro area in the US for the same price. People tend to like that. That's why Houston is steadily growing these past few years while other places have been feeling the pain. As for the miracles of planning. How about throwing a billion $ or so at downtown. Seems tohave worked for well for Buffalo... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204409004577156603296740624.html Yeah, I know the "famous" one-legged homeless man. Hits me up every day for money on my way to the bus stop. He knows parts of exactly 3 songs that he repeats ad nauseum except at Christmas time when he expands his playlist a bit. He ran off the guy in the wheelchair a while back with no legs. He can be a mean ol cuss. There are about six other regulars at that bus stop. Interestingly enough, the only police I have ever seen there was the one time they were chasing a pair of shoplifters out of Nieman's onto Post Oak. Bit of live C.O.P.S. entertainment as they were climbing over cars to get away. Guess the cops are closer down to Westheimer. Yeah - and my comment about the Spring Chickees at the Galleria - well aware of them. Worked in a building attached to the mall for 4 years. Can't avoid them. That was my point - all the scary homeless in front of Neiman's, and on Westheimer won't deter a suburbanite from an after-Christmas sale at Abercrombie & Fitch - why on earth would it scare them from getting lit at a club downtown?