mollusk
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Everything posted by mollusk
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@ rechlin: (Tim Allen grunting noises...)
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Residential areas are not immune to soil contamination. Gas stations can have leaky underground tanks, and old school dry cleaners can be really nasty - PERC dry cleaning fluid passes easily through concrete into the ground below, and is all sorts of hazardous. And let's not forget those old car batteries that have been just lying behind the garage... I worked on a transaction once that was nearly derailed by a stack of them.
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The problem with the fountains is that they function by shooting nice pretty arcs of water. However, those nice pretty arcs have a habit of getting blown around and onto the sidewalks, aggravated by the Venturi effect created by the nearby buildings. Whoever came up with the design didn't think through its practical effects.
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Agreed, Subdude. How many bullets has that building dodged?
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JW Marriott At 806 Main St. & Expansion Into Battlestein’s - 812 Main St.
mollusk replied to Houston19514's topic in Downtown
I think that the stars need to be rust colored and have a circle around them just touching the points. Otherwise, the cliche is incomplete. -
When my grandparents lived near Palm Center (and Art Grindle Dodge, sponsor of Tarzan movies on Saturdays), their phone number was in the RIverside exchange. My dad worked in Bellaire; his office had a MOhawk number. We moved out past Dairy Ashford in the late '60s and were assigned a GYpsy number, one digit off of Uncle Bens. I have no idea where FAirfax might have been; I'll have to look around for an old phone book - they used to have a map of the exchanges in the front.
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JW Marriott At 806 Main St. & Expansion Into Battlestein’s - 812 Main St.
mollusk replied to Houston19514's topic in Downtown
My stars, but people seem to be getting worked up easily today. On to an easier question... I work nearby and have watched this up close and personal on a daily basis. The tar like coating was there underneath the glass and stone facade, I assume as some sort of waterproofing layer so that the stone work didn't need to be sealed up all that tightly. My guess is that it was impractical, if not impossible, to remove. -
Houston Potential Projects That Were Never Built
mollusk replied to Subdude's topic in Houston Neverbuilt
1000 Main isn't that different in appearance from the Main Tower. The basic footprint of the office tower is the same; 1000 Main has the now obligatory parking podium and the fashion of the day external concrete detailing. -
JW Marriott At 806 Main St. & Expansion Into Battlestein’s - 812 Main St.
mollusk replied to Houston19514's topic in Downtown
Closer to ground, there are a couple of bays where it looks like they are experimenting with how to resurrect the brick, at least in appearance. -
@ Tumbleweed -Those trees are largely still there - at least those in the foreground, which are in front of the library and City Hall. The Ford dealership block is now taken up by the Public Works building (HL & P once upon a time). The Orleans Hotel is where Pennzoil is now (if I'm oriented correctly).
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The restaurant that was on the southwest corner has been gone for a couple months now, and wasn't any great loss. Somewhat overpriced, relentlessly mediocre Chinese food with truly awful service. It's a wonder it remained around as long as it did. Hines has apparently recently discovered The Lobby Experience. 601 Travis (formerly Chase Center) also had some ground floor retail removed in favor of a significantly enlarged lobby, complete with seating. BG was built that way from the start.
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I continue to use Main fairly regularly to get up to the Northside/Heights when I don't want to fool with the freeways. It could be made even more functional by removing what Dallasites call City T***ies and allowing two lanes of traffic each way - as occurs in the Med Center without a whole bunch of verklemptitude, and as looks to be the coming thing on the green/purple lines on Capitol and Rusk.
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That dealership was there well into the 80s, if not the 90s, albeit under a different name I think (Osborne Apple?). And what IS it with the front bumpers on those '57 Fairlanes that makes it look like they come pre-knocked into something?
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Lower Main Street was blocked off to cars on Friday and Saturday nights for a number of years. The nightlife that came in on Main for the baseball All Star game and the Super Bowl eventually dried up anyway, and the new stuff that's come in during the last year or two has done just fine without having the street blocked.
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From my vantage point across the way, it looks like they are hanging onto the parking income as long as humanly possible. The garage takes up all the first half dozen floors +/- (except for the ground floor retail); so far they've been removing the interior build out. I would not be that surprised if they start dismantling the exterior with the garage still functioning - it's valet only, with a manlift that would give OSHA the vapours (if still in use), and a generally pretty entitled acting customer base.
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@ Subdude - The tunnel traffic also kinda depends on what's on top of the tunnel. 600 Travis has always had a pretty active tunnel business, even when it was the Texas Commerce Tower in United Energy Plaza at the dead end of the tunnel system (save for the nearly hidden link to the Chron). IIRC, Calpine doesn't have a whole lot of tunnel level retail space to start with.
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All this discussion of stops in College Station, Waco, etc. reminds me of the time a Southwest agent (obviously, many moons ago) offered me a "one stop" between Love and Hobby - the one stop being in Austin, not Centerville. I would imagine that once people get back in the habit of using trains in this part of the world, there will likely be sufficient demand to support express service among the major cities interspersed with less frequent service making multiple stops - as trains used to do, and as airlines do now.
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Buick may be popular in China and may be rustling out of the grave in the US, but if the dealers here didn't have trucks to sell they'd be in a world of hurt. GMC is positioned as a more upmarket brand than Chevy, just as Buick is.
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Trucks are a huge profit center. Keeping GMC around allows the Buick dealers to have trucks to sell.
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The tunnel to BG Place was dug after the light rail was there, and Uncle Gerry ain't gonna build nuttin' downtown without tunnel access. My guess is that it will go via 601 Travis (f/k/a Chase Center). (Digression - Heritage Plaza's only all weather access is via a gerbil tube built many years later because [as was related to me then] neither Hines nor Century were willing to grant the new kids access rights in a market that was at that time quickly circling the drain - hence that building being see thru for a long, long time)
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I can't help but wonder how much longer the tunnel connections through there will remain open. When they close it off, Chase, 600/601 Travis, and 711 Texas are going to be cut off from all weather access to the rest of downtown. What was once Skyline Deli's seating area is now walled off with unfinished drywall and a "construction - do not enter" type sign on the unfinished luan door. OTOH, the parking garage is still in operation.
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This would be a great alternative. All the security folderol, plus the usual to and fro to the airports, has made it so that the choice between flying and driving between Houston and Dallas is a push from a time standpoint.
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I am guessing/hoping that the North Loop frontage road stops are a bit of a safety check until people get used to having a train coming through. I didn't notice any crossing arms at that intersection, as there are where the line splits apart just south of the Wheeler station and at the South Loop frontage roads (though to be fair, people will figure out any number of ways to run into big things).
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This thread has given me a terrible earworm - the "who put the hop in shopping" jingle from ages ago.
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The Gulf sign was hardly alone - we also had "T E N N E C O" across the top of its building (now El Paso), Bank of the Southwest on what is now 919 Milam, Central Bank (still there, sorta), Conoco (complete with weather ball)...I'm probably skipping something or another.
