iah77

1 hour ago, bobruss said:

In many ways Midway is similar to Hanover in that they do their due diligence and move to action. This will not come to fruition over night but will grow organically over several years.

I am so pleased to know that they will be working with Buffalo Bayou Partnership to insure a healthy and viable greenbelt along the Bayou which will continue the growth of one of Houston's most visible and undeniably best assets. I look forward with anticipation to seeing this stretch of the bayou becoming an even more valuable asset to the community and give the east side of town  the impetus to become the next great hotbed of community activity, and dynamic and thoughtful growth.

Working with? A better description would be that they knew about the Partnership's plans for the bayou before they were even released to the public over 5 years ago. To most this would be more akin to insider trading lol.  

It was already sold to a group from Houston.

I saw it too yesterday, was wondering what is was for....

15 minutes ago, bobruss said:

Unfortunately some developers just don't get it. This is a project that should be happening in downtown near Minute Maid and the Convention center.

Or on top of the Galleria. Not on an island a mile from the Galleria and the Post oak Westheimer intersection. Actually right across the street in the Dillards parking lot is where it should go in

the Galleria, but my preference would be near Discovery Green. Back it up to the Embassy suites on the vacant lot.

If they didn't "get it", they probably wouldn't be able to obtain financing. I think its a good location for condos (where the owners will most certainly use cars as their main form of transportation) and a lower end hotel where most of the guest would most likely prefer to go to the Gallaria than the opera or symphony...  

Luminair, notice that it isn't going in FiDi or the Midtown East/Park Ave, it's going in Times Sq where lower end tourist like to stay exactly like what they are targeting here.

Just read in Houstonia that the "Athletic" looking place is going to be another outpost of Black Swan Yoga.

Most of the project is office besides the first floor which is retail/food. They aren't separate as the article mentions but integrated into those large atriums since other way they would not get any natural light.  I know two major tenants are both related to entertainment, one just opened in Dallas.

Now that Eataly is opening at NorthPark I'm thinking this would be a great spot for them lol.

The parking I know is reserved for future high rises. Rendering I saw has like at least 5

52 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

I am not against interaction with others; I welcome it on my own initiative, as mentioned above. It is computerized systems that I don't need assistance from. Let me make my own way and interact with people voluntarily.

 

It's mainly a security thing so you can't access other floors that you don't belong on.

It also has an algorithm kinda like uber pool to group people in the fastest manner. 

This could be really nice if fixed up, it reminds me of National Commercial Bank--1983 designed by SOM in Jeddah which I love. 

Cleaned up it could look very elegant. 

I'm confused, so is this being renovated or demolished?

6 hours ago, gclass said:

 

W HOTEL the PALM - dubai, uae

W HOTEL al HABTOOR CITY - dubai, uae

 

 

@iah77 perhaps the REAL QUERY that you should be presenting is... WHY DOESN'T HOUSTON, THE 4th LARGEST CITY IN THE USA... HAVE ONE YET?  (dallas has one, atlanta has two, austin has one, and so on) please feast your eyes upon the above illustrations that i have showcased.  i have harbored the utmost pleasure of vacationing at both of these W HOTEL pleasure palaces in dubai, uae, while i was working abroad in afghanistan.  high-end style, sophistication, supreme service, foremost amenities, spectacular design, location, ultra-posh, and comfort, are just a few of the primary reasons that i often opt to vacay/stay at a W HOTEL brand.  it very often makes me sick to my stomach that our fair city of houston has to jump through all forms bullshit hoops just to try and land a W brand.  we have very recently tried DESPERATELY to land one downtown at the GEORGE R. BROWN (and even this one fell through).  JUST WHAT ON EARTH IS THE HUGE PROBLEM WITH HOUSTON ACQUIRING A W BRAND HOTEL... all the while, all of the other major cities across the globe are getting them (or already have them)?  WHY ON EARTH DO THEY JUST KEEP SNUBBING HOUSTON?  it is highly embarrassing when my good friends from out of town ask me about our W HOTEL... and i have to state to them that "we do not have on yet" and then hear them gasp and say "WHAT, YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING"!    

LOL, the W in Habtoor City (your second pic) literally lasted only maybe  a year opening early 2017 and closed down over a year ago early 2018 and was re-branded as a Hilton...

1 hour ago, Avossos said:

 

You sure? I thought i saw them renovating the old apartments and painting / freshening up the exterior....

Renovating? The demolished the whole strip center/old toys R us. They are demoing an old motel one lot over as well so something else might come up near it later. 

2 minutes ago, Angostura said:

 

This is considerably less ambitious than earlier renderings. Some skylights and grass on the roof, but no new footprint, and no engagement with the bayou. 

 

This is literally just phase one and there's no engagement with the bayou because the city nor DT TIRZ were being cooperative in making it happen. For some reason Turner is putting all his eggs with Midway... and by for some reason I mean $. 

2 hours ago, rechlin said:

It doesn't seem like anyone is suggesting the government should force anyone to develop something.

 

The idea of property taxes being shifted to more land-based and less improvement-based is not a new concept, or an illiberal concept.  Land is scarce and finite; improvement is not.  Because taxes can be seen as a discouragement to do certain things, it makes sense that it's in the public interest to focus more on taxing the land than the improvement.  The Economist newspaper has advocated for this, too, as I recall.  To avoid vacant properties from increasing sprawl, which makes costs go up for everyone, some jurisdictions charge higher taxes for some vacant properties, too.  This is all a system of encouragement; nobody is forcing anything.

 

The Regent Square property has been a blight on central Houston for a long time now -- a giant fenced off field that is serving no use to anybody, aside from a small amount of vacant-land property taxes being paid.  Perhaps it would make sense for Texas to charge higher property tax rates on vacant or unused urban properties (like Regent Square and the old Holiday Inn downtown) to minimize blight and encourage investment.

The Economist over the years had drifted leftwards and I think most people would agree there is no "shortage" of land in Texas. I would argue the opposite, that there is plenty of land and the problem here is improving it. The main cost of most project is the improvements and not the land.  Here we have a labor shortage and now materials have gone up with Trumps tariff along with insurance. The government here subsidizes sprawl via cheap highways and FHA loans which highly favor new homes and almost never fund condos or older homes. 

Augostura who is the "we" in what we want? I promise you your ideal city looks very different from mine lol. Is the land truly valuable if the owner has decided to leave it as parking? Most of the city I can guaranty you does not want to work in downtown and I'm not even sure the roads can handle more cars into it at peak hours. Real estate is very cyclical and your idea mainly only functions in an up cycle. Your idea might actually encourage the demolition of historic areas as many times the land value is so high to you it might not justify having a nice historic home on the very valuable lot etc but anyways just playing devils advocate since I don't mind either much. 

People don't seem to get that taxes discourage everything period. 

1 hour ago, Angostura said:

 

 

Apparently they weren't high enough. 

 

Our valuation system fails to discourage under-development. If instead we had a land-value tax, sites like this would be developed a lot faster (and we'd have a lot fewer surface parking lots downtown).

 

 

 

 

Also, looking for the parking in the rendering and I can't find it.

Why should the government be able to force you to develop something?

That's like taxing people who don't study for not "developing" the full potential of their mind lmao.

I have two properties on Emancipation and am tired of all the trash from the bars littering the lawns. Going to put white picket fences soon to try and keep it off

That would never happen. You all realize TMC is an actual entity/protected trademark and that its largest source of revenue is parking fees lol?

53 minutes ago, Mr.Clean19 said:

 

 

 

Yes, in Medellin there is a well known and successful project. Caracas also uses them but mainly to connect informal areas to existing metro stations. 

I would love for this to be built, would make reaching this part of town way easier (I live close by). Back part of OST is underdeveloped because the light rail and bayou make reaching it a little harder then other areas near by. 

All of near nothside, most of 5th ward, 3rd ward, and midtown are opportunity zones. 

Well a big delay in the project was getting the historic tax credits approved while allowing modifications such as skylights punched in the roof...

There are a few tenants signed  up already. 

The fingers furniture site (or can't remember if Macy's site) I don't believe isn't being developed but they are putting some pad sites in front (Fast Food/Commercial Tenants).

They aren't in a rush and have recently acquired acquired some other big lots recently. They function in a long term land bank strategy. They own so many lots of Harrisburg for example, was there a rush to put in Baker Ripley or the CVS?  It's not even 1/5th developed. 

Probably because they anticipate in a few years something built up against it I would imagine.

Can anything be worse than Memorial by Windsore and the housing project next door lol?

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2019/02/22/developer-to-build-new-office-retail-on-site-of.html?iana=hpmvp_hstn_news_headline

It's this I'm assuming.

They already demolished half the center this week on the left side:)!