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rechlin

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Posts posted by rechlin

  1. 22 hours ago, hindesky said:

    Cool find of the day is that the Rice Media Center is going to be demolished soon. Construction fencing is going up. Didn't find any signs around but I assume Cherry will demolish the old building. Google searched for a rendering but haven't found one yet. But I did find out who the architecture firm will be, Diller Scofidio+Renfro. Looking at the site doesn't find the design but this firm has done some nice things. The Highline in NY is one.

    https://dsrny.com

    https://www.ricethresher.org/article/2021/04/rice-media-center-confirmed-to-be-torn-down-by-end-of-2021-film-and-photography-professors-reflect-on-goodbyes-transitions-and-expectations

    According to that article, design won't even start until next month (with construction completion still 3 years away), so I wouldn't expect renderings for some time.

    • Like 2
  2. I'm not a suburbanite (I've lived inside the loop for the last >20 years), but I want this project to happen.  Why?  IH-45 is one of the most dangerous highways in the country, and there are so many problems with its current implementation that this project addresses.

    Most of TxDOT's plans for this project are to increase safety.  People keep naively going on and on about induced demand, but that isn't even relevant here, because in many sections, this project doesn't even add more regular lanes.  It does add bus (+HOV/HOT) lanes, but improved mass transit is something we should be celebrating, not opposing. 

    The number of people being forced to move is exaggerated by most opponents of this project as well.  Regardless of whether this happens, many of the units at Clayton Homes have already been torn down (so the residents already had to move) thanks to damage from Harvey, and it seems the rest will get relocated to a less flood-prone development regardless of whether this goes forward.  And at Kelly Village, the housing authority has voluntarily wanted to tear down more than is necessary to make more greenspace for its residents -- again, it seems the housing authority would rather have more residents elsewhere (as has been determined from the failure of low-income tower blocks, it does not make sense to have a large number of low-income residents in one small area, but it's better to spread them around to give them more opportunities).  And at the Lofts at the Ballpark, this move has been expected anyway, and my impression is that the owners are welcoming this buyout.  Many of the businesses cited by articles in opposition to this as being in the way of the project have either already closed or will soon close anyway (such as Fry's Electronics and Kim Son), so the buyouts are likely to be appreciated as well.  And the renters of business properties in the way have known about this project for many years, probably even before they signed their leases for the property, so many have always been prepared for this day.

    If this project goes forward, it will mean safer travel, thanks to fewer (and less tight) curves, broader shoulders, and less dangerous merging.  Road capacity will increase as a side effect, allowing more people to get to their destination with the same traffic speeds as today.

    It will also mean fewer problems from trucks striking low bridges.  The West Dallas and Houston Street bridges are infamous for being struck regularly, and this project addresses those.

    It will also mean fewer problems with flooding, because this project calls for massive retention/detention ponds and pumping systems, to ensure that both property around the project and the roadway itself can avoid flooding as often.  And by having the segment east of downtown below-grade, in Biblical floods (think Allison, Harvey), they could be setup to fill with water to help protect the property around them, because nobody should be traveling on the roads during events like those.

    Yes, it sucks for the people who will be forced to move, especially for those few who own homes that they've lived in for decades.  Few people want that.  But the plans call for very generous relocation assistance (even going as far as rent and mortgage subsidies, not just moving expenses), and we can't let a few people stand in the way of progress.  There are some negatives to this project, and of course the massive cost, but it seems the positives greatly outweigh the negatives.

    • Like 5
  3. I don't understand why the floor-to-floor heights won't work for residential.  Usually commercial has the greatest heights, then residential in the middle, and then hotels at the bottom.  Unless it's a very old commercial building with low ceilings that only work well for hotels (like the Carter Building that became the JW Marriott), a residential conversion of a moderately-old commercial building usually has perfect ceiling heights.

    I believe 800 Bell has approximately 13 foot FF spacing, which would be low by today's commercial standards (the towers built in recent years are all over 14 feet and some of the newest with in-floor HVAC are closer to 15 feet), but is plenty for residential.  Remember the office buildings that were used for recent hotel conversions have spacings under 9 feet.  The spacing of 800 Bell is actually enough for premium residential with "high" (by residential standards) ceilings, with 10 foot floor-to-ceiling heights if you want to match the ceiling height with the window height for floor-to-ceiling glass, and you could probably get a bit higher if you want more of a "loft" aesthetic.

    • Like 3
    • Thanks 2
  4. Am I remembering wrong, or wasn't the IH-610 southbound to IH-69 northbound ramp formerly 2 lanes?  Cutting it from 2 lanes to 1 lane seems like very backwards thinking.  Though I guess that goes with the views of many here who think that roads should be made smaller to encourage public transit.

    And yes, I too have now found that exiting to Westheimer and getting back on to get from 610 south to 69 north is quicker.  I'm pretty sure that's not something that TxDOT wanted to have happen with this project.

    i doubt there is a conspiracy here, though; I think it is just incompetence.  Thinking that TxDOT is intentionally doing it so that cronies can profit from accidents is totally ridiculous nonsense.

    • Like 1
  5. 1 hour ago, X.R. said:

    Why would the Afton Oaks people whine? Anyone take Richmond through there? People fly down that road at like 45-50mph when traffic is crazy on 59. This would cause some natural speed limiting and then people wouldn't have to idle in their driveway waiting for the perfect chance to back out of their driveway and not die.

    The BRT line is not planned to go through Afton Oaks.  It would drop down from Richmond in the Greenway Plaza area to follow Westpark.  Even the last designs for the LRT line weren't even planned to go go through Afton Oaks.  After the neighborhood made a big stink about it, Metro moved the planned route from Richmond to Westpark.  The biggest difference I am seeing between the proposed BRT route and the formerly proposed LRT route, in the Wheeler to Uptown section, is that it now appears to cross IH-69 at Edloe instead of just west of Edloe (Timmons maybe?).

     

    Also, if they are only planning to do Segment 2 initially, I hope they at least do two more stops into Segment 1 to connect it with the Westpark / Lower Uptown Transit Center instead of dead-ending at the railroad tracks.

    • Like 3
  6. On 5/17/2021 at 11:38 AM, hindesky said:

    I took a pic of the vines near Montrose bridge and yes, they are very dead. I also took one of the entrance of Rice and they look like they are coming back. Don't know if they are the same species plus the ones at Rice have access to more moisture vs. the ones on the highway.

    LM87XHk.jpg

     

    Those don't look very dead to me.  Look closely -- there is lots of green hiding behind the dead branches.  If they clear out the dead vines on top, they will grow back.

    • Like 5
  7. 22 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

    It's already been announced that William McVey's sculpture "Energy", which graced the entrance to Abercrombie for the building's entire history, will be preserved and incorporated into the new building.

    That was the first thing I thought of when I heard Abercrombie was being torn down.  So glad the art is being saved.

    • Like 3
  8. On 4/24/2021 at 7:27 PM, Highrise Tower said:

    Taking out trees in the median on Chimney Rock.  Any idea on the scope of work here?

    8zT9ahx.jpg

    This bridge is also being replaced.  They are doing a single bridge, not a double bridge, and I believe they are taking out the trees because the new bridge will go down the middle. The same is being done at South Rice.

    New Chimney Rock bridge:

    mJAw5yN.jpg

    New South Rice bridge:
    ePyuKQy.jpg

    • Like 8
    • Thanks 1
  9. Yes, it was a little park.  When they built Discovery Green and One Park Place, the park space "moved" a block east to cover up parking lots that used to be where Discovery Green is now.  That's why the Shops at Houston Center used to be called the Park Shops because the balcony overlooked the park (now it overlooks Phoenicia).

    • Like 5
  10. 3 hours ago, Nate99 said:

    If they could put a skybridge over to the Four Seasons from the Phase II building, that would do it via the Park Shops/Houston Center. If they did that and bridged to the Hilton, you could get from Bayou Place all the way to the GRB without ever stepping outside. 

    A skybridge between the Marriott Marquis and the new Block 98 apartment tower (seen on early renderings but removed from later renderings) would achieve the same thing too.  If neither gets built, I would have to wonder if they are intentionally trying to isolate GRB from the rest of the skywalk/tunnel system.

  11. I wonder if it would be cheaper for TxDOT to just relocate the rail (rebuilding one bridge and acquiring a small amount of land for the reroute) than to do what is currently planned barring no cooperation from other entities (rebuilding one bridge, building a shoofly bridge, and building two grade-separated crossings).  Seems like a no-brainer to me; I'm surprised an agreement hasn't been made yet.

    • Like 1
  12. After reading the Record of Decision published yesterday, one thing I am worried about is that they seem to have abandoned the plan to relocate the railroad tracks, necessary for the North Canal project, because it discusses adding grade-separated crossings for the tracks at Providence and Rothwell Street, but those would be completely unnecessary if the tracks are relocated.  Also they mention a shoofly for the overpass over IH-45, but I would think that wouldn't be necessary if they built the new bridge with the new alignment necessary for the relocated rail in lieu of a shoofly.  If I am reading this right, that is very disappointing.

  13. 10 hours ago, paul2834 said:

    https://www.ridemetro.org/Pages/METRORapid-Inner-Katy.aspx

    OMG. They actually didn't f*** that part up. THANK YOU. This is huge allowing a rapid connection between uptown and downtown without any transfer. I was so worried they would make you get off at the Northwest TC

    Maybe I am misunderstanding, but from the map it looks like they WILL require you to get off at the Northwest TC and then take the Silver line to get down into Uptown.  This BRT line will not be going to Uptown, per the map -- only to the NW Transit Center and, if the high speed rail is built, continue north to the HSR terminal.  But maybe the map is inaccurate and it will actually turn south to Uptown along the ROW put in place for the Silver Line?

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