ArtNsf

On 10/14/2023 at 2:09 PM, hindesky said:

I talked with a guy who was directing the landscaping crew where to place the trees. Turns out he works for OJB which is the landscaping company for the East River project. OJB's Houston office is located at East River.

https://www.ojb.com

https://www.ojb.com/work/east-river/

Wow, I'm loving all the vegetation and how it works and looks so awesome with the wonderful architecture of this area.  This is becoming a magnificent jewel of an addition to downtown Houston !

so, surely Houston won't allow Austin to have the tallest building in Texas for long ?  as a native Houstonian, I find that appalling, although I'm a bit proud of Austin for scoring so well.

On 9/30/2022 at 8:35 AM, mattyt36 said:

I recently reread this article by our wonderful and own Mimi Swartz from the earlier days of planning for a lot of these investments--it really is a great "primary source" for the record book.

In re Memorial Park, there are some great anecdotes in there about not wanting to make the park "too nice."

Finally, in April 2015, the city council unanimously if begrudgingly approved Woltz’s stunning $220 million overhaul. Councilman Oliver Pennington was still worried. “We don’t want to make it too nice,” he warned.

How Houston Became the Model For Green Space in Cities (texasmonthly.com)

Incredibly selfish short-sighted comment by this Pennington person.  It's impossible to have anything "too nice" for Houston.  Thank you!

On 10/16/2021 at 8:40 PM, Highrise Tower said:

My friend asked me to post her pictures.

Gorgeous tower(s).  And, look at that incredibly blue glowing Houston October sky !

On 7/22/2021 at 11:17 AM, hindesky said:

Bike Tag is a game some people play on Reddit/bikehouston https://www.reddit.com/r/bikehouston/. You find a unique accessible site and take a pic of your bike with the object/site/mural. Riders have to find that tag and then create a new tag. I've been playing for years and is something I often look for when riding around. You look for clues in the pic and then use Google/Google Maps to try finding the pic. It got really popular during the covid shutdown since many were working from home. It has slowed down recently because many are back at work but were are up to Tag #367. I first started playing at Tag#39. Someone has now created a Bike Tag map to help prevent reusing past tags.

 

thank you.  i appreciate the information.

On 4/5/2021 at 6:29 PM, hindesky said:

They have also torn down the Buffalo Speedway bridge over Brays. Actually was a good thing for me because I was chasing a Bike Tag somewhere on Brays and this forced me turn around and go eastbound where I ended up finding it.

The Bike Tag turned out to be at McGregor Park near UH.

forgive my stupidity here, but just wondered what a "bike tag" is ?  Thanks.

Now having had the opportunity to be out of state for the duration of this historic pandemic, I can confirm that my happy suspicions about the westward, northward and southwestward growth of the Houston area are true.  it was incredibly dramatic flying in past the Austin area (not far from it btw) looking down and seeing the obvious westerly and northwesterly located housing developments that have literally popped up onto otherwise completely vacant acreage, including some that were heavily wooded in late 2019.  In the once tiny town of Brookshire, of course where I was born, even the locals now see the city beginning to surround that area and the vast amounts of industrial and office space up to and in some cases, beyond the city limits.  So, this is more good news if you are a fan of growth in our Houston area. 

If the last year and a half weren't so challenging and I had the opportunity to stay in my hometown, I might have missed all this phenomenal growth.  And, another thing I noticed, from the air of course, is that although the DFW area continues to grow, it's growth pales in comparison to the Houston area, both from the ground and in the air.  I'm always pleasantly amazed at how incredible the progress and growth continues to be in our wonderful city in Texas.  There are so many reasons that Houston is this big and growing by leaps and bounds.  And, most of those reasons are really good ones economically, culturally, environmentally (yes), diversity, we always seem to elect really good mayors despite the lack of faith in local leadership as almost an "obligation" to oppose whoever sits in the seat of power at the top of the City, and finally, that most Houston of qualities that everyone loves, our unequaled "can do" spirit that has always been a part of our identity.

This forum is so interesting in so many ways, and not the least of which is observing and reading about growth and development (and all the incredible photography by so many talented and dedicated members!)

Yes, we have our share of increasing crime rates and many other growth pains, but in my opinion the good about this region far outweighs the bad stuff by a huge margin.

On 12/28/2020 at 2:25 PM, Houston19514 said:

Where are the decades worth of developments north, south and west of Brookshire for which you believe developers bypassed Brookshire?  They aren't showing up on Google Maps.  ;-)

It seems Brookshire (and Waller County in general) were never bypassed, but are beginning to have greater attention paid to them now for the simple reason that, they are the next in line geographically.

wow, is this hater behavior something you live for ?  You seem to do this a lot on this forum to anyone that you disagree with for whatever reason.  no, i don't have to answer any of your questions.  most of my words for simple observations with some historical background.  it was not presented as a critical piece of Pulitzer prize winning literature for you to critique for your own amusement.  so, no there is no need for you and Google to get involved in trying to falsely debunk my words.  now, you have made it personal.  so my advice is to take a seat and be quiet, I and the rest of the adults are in the room.

On 12/17/2020 at 6:51 PM, hindesky said:

A Third Of All New Houston Construction Is Inside The 610 Loop

December 16, 2020 Christie Moffat, Bisnow Houston

 

The densification of Houston is evident in the growing number of cranes and construction sites in the urban core, with a third of all new development underway inside the city’s Inner Loop, according to CoStar Group.

The combined Neartown/River Oaks submarket is the busiest in the city, with 7.3M SF of commercial projects under construction. That accounts for 15% of total construction in Houston. Other Inner Loop areas with significant construction underway include Downtown Houston (12%), Medical Center/West University (6%) and the Heights (4%).

CoStar Director of Market Analytics Justin Boyar told Bisnow that the flurry of activity in Neartown/River Oaks is a reflection of the higher rate of mixed-use and multifamily projects underway in the area, particularly along the Allen Parkway, West Dallas and Washington Avenue corridors.

“The area along Allen Parkway is seeing an unprecedented amount of mixed-use construction in a relatively small area. This supports the thesis of pedestrian-oriented development, playing off proximity to Buffalo Bayou Park,” Boyar said. “The overall theme via increased density will mean increased property values and thus taxes. Houston’s urban core is densifying rapidly.”

Several large mixed-use projects along Allen Parkway have received fanfare, including DC Partners’ The Allen, Hanover and Lionstone’s Autry Park and GID’s Regent Square.

The second-busiest area for construction by square footage is Waller County, accounting for 5.6M SF. Activity in that area is being driven by large-scale industrial projects, such as the Ross Stores Distribution build-to-suit project, Empire West Business Park. and The Uplands Twinwood DC 1 industrial park. Waller County encompasses a large part of the west and northwest region of Houston, including parts of Katy. 

“In Houston’s furthest outlying areas, such as Brookshire, farmland is being converted into large big-box distribution facilities. The increase in jobs there will likely spur rooftop development and later retail, multifamily, health care, etc. development to serve that population growth. The Grand Parkway is also supporting development on the west side,” Boyar said.

Construction activity is well underway in Northwest Houston, which comes in third at 4.5M SF. Notable projects in the area include the HPE headquarters and campus, Nexus Park Northwest and Creekside Park.

The next largest submarkets by square footage under construction are Sugar Land/Missouri City at 3.5M SF; Downtown Houston at 2.9M SF; the Texas Medical Center/West University submarket at 2.8M SF; Southwest Houston at 2.5M SF; and Lake Houston at 2.2M SF.

Boyar noted that in the Texas Medical Center and Midtown, there has been a major push in the direction of life sciences and tech incubators, as well as large mixed-use projects that will serve the need for lab space. Some of that activity may spill over into the East End, he added.

“As Houston’s urban core densifies, the need for infrastructure and mass transit improvements will intensify as population growth and densification place added pressure on Houston’s ailing roads and utilities and as densification increases traffic congestion,” Boyar said. “TxDOT and METRO have massive plans to address these needs, although they still face challenges from the local communities that these megaprojects will impact.”

 

 

 

I'm happy that Houston is finally paying attention in a positive way to my small home town of Brookshire (population now well over 5000 from about 1000 when I was much younger) and Waller County.  For decades developers have consistently bypassed this not that small of a city in favor of areas north and south and even west of town.  Many of us in the town have our own educated guesses as to the main reasons why, but that's a discussion which should be included in a much larger American problem that has come to light in the past few years. 

Brookshire has so much to offer in terms of people resources and land and Texas history having it's western border as the historic southern part of the Brazos River, where we used to marvel at how large the water way was and how shear the sandy cliffs were along each side.  (Fun fact, Brookshire has already achieved having a two term Gay mayor in that  small rural town, not exactly a bastion of liberal progressive politics, very recently. And some of his term was during the Mayor-ship of another historical mayor of Houston and a friend, Anise Parker.) 

Seems now, that not only developers, but wealthy Houstonians are discovering the high quality land and extremely cheap land prices, and snatching up many of the available large land plots that they can get their hands on these days.  I guess the conventional wisdom all these decades was that the Katy Area should be the western most part of the metro area and that hasn't been true for a very long time, despite what some news media outlets in the area would have us believe.  In addition to the resources and land opportunities mentioned above, Brookshire should have been developed long before the Fulshear area and southwestward.  At least this growing town is bisected by a little bitty Interstate Highway known as I-10, and in the middle of downtown, the MKT Railroad passes east to west into Houston.  Plus, it's definitely NOT in the "middle of now where's-ville" like other over developed and inconveniently out of the way parts of Waller and Fort Bend Counties.  Plus, as far as tiny Waller County goes, it has way more diverse of a population than any other city completely encompassed by the County itself.  Another plus for expansion and an employment base from which to choose, with great, albeit not "wealthy" public schools.  Although we need farms and ranches in Texas to remain viable and in operation for food production, I really don't think eliminating a few gigantic (mostly rice) farms in that area in favor of sustainable, flood conscious development that has respect to the Coastal Plains and natural marshlands which then quickly become the Blackland Prairie part immediately to the west side of the town, will hurt American food production in any measurable way. 

Interesting side note:  Most people to this day don't even realize that Brookshire has had Waller County's only true MUSEUM since the late 1970's.  It is a fascinating journey at life in the county and that area from the early 1800's with slavery, cotton fields, and plantations, to emancipation, growth and social progress right up to present day.  In fact, I'll boast that my recently late Mom was one of the original construction staff, as in hammers, nails, boards, and elbow grease, as well as original founders of the Museum, after our Father suddenly passed away in late 1977 and she was forced to find work (she always adored history, especially Texas history) to support her nine young children, including myself.  A lot of pride you say? Yes, and well-deserved at that.

(addition to side-note:   Ever since Hurricane Harvey did major flood damage to the Waller County Historical Museum in downtown Brookshire several years ago, it has been closed and undergoing sporadic repairs and more flood prevention supposedly in the works to be put in place.  UNFORTUNATELY, the brilliant powers that be out of Hempstead where the County Seat is located have not made any effort that anyone I know, is aware of in order to complete this now 3+ year old repair project. And so it sits stagnant as a monument to the lack of common sense priorities and respect for the historical value of that part of the SE Texas region.  The Waller County Historical Museum Board also based in Brookshire, has worked hard to try to get the ball rolling, or rolling faster, but as they will tell you themselves, all of their carefully thought out and researched recommendations for revival and reopening have been either delayed, put on hold, or shot down complete for at least the last 3 years. This is a board that my Mom was on for many years after she retired from the staff of the Museum, because of her love of preserving the local history and my family's historical involvement of building, cultivating and investing in Waller County, right up until just before her passing in late 2019 at nearly 91 years old.)

So, here's to the beginnings of a new opportunity for Houston's development and western expansion by way of this article and informing my fellow readers and bloggers of the HAIF forum from Bisnow Houston.

My apologies, on the "Shell Tower" comment above on October 2nd.  I was mistakenly talking about that hideous OLD outdated in both classical and post modern terms, Humble Oil 45 story tower that has been slated for a facade makeover with glass exterior panels for several years by Shorenstein, I believe.  And I was NOT talking about the beautiful white stone covered 55 story One Shell Plaza tower with the gigantic antenna, which I and everyone I've talked have always loved right in the middle of downtown as you approach from the west.  BTW I think we have enough "homage" to post modernism in our city and therefore, refacing some of these uglier ones from the past is fine with me.  I don't think we'll ever have a shortage of these old buildings around town.  Change is good at the same time that restoration and respect for "examples" of past Houston architecture are also good.  It shouldn't always have to be one or the other IMHO.

18 hours ago, hindesky said:

Working on Sunday

Look at that beautiful deep blue Texas sky over Houston.  Incredible.  I hope we can have many more beautiful skies like this for a while longer.  It's one of the very few positive effects of the pandemic and mainly due to the various quarantines and shutdowns in the past year.  In fact, I just read and article last week (NYT's or WaPo ?) that around the world, emissions are currently at 1990 levels in the large cities of the world, which is amazing.  I plan to be outside (distanced or away from any people) and enjoy it while it lasts.

In the meantime, this project seems to be moving a bit faster now and getting more exciting with each passing week of construction.  Houston is a powerhouse when it comes to getting almost impossible things done that others would scoff at during a recession and pandemic, even a major hurricane.

And, I was noticing that from the renderings of the tower that is actually from the one in Shanghai, if the proportions were correct? this tower would be anywhere from 65 to about 72 stories high, and very close to the height of the Chase Tower.  Of course, it's probably NOT in proportion in the renderings, but wouldn't it be great for it to be a true supertall whenever they secure a wealthy tenant that wants something magnificent again downtown, in true "bigger in Texas" fashion?  And, Houston is the place to build it.  Yes, dreaming is fun in this troubled age we live in.  A truly fun escape from the daily chaos and confusion of the past few years.  Now, if we all think hard and concentrate and pray for it, I just know it will happen.

1 minute ago, H-Town Man said:

 

Well, I wouldn't go that far. The Netherlands is a miracle of engineering, and most cities have benefitted from swamp drainage and flood mitigation. Downtown Houston used to flood much worse before they built the reservoirs, Galveston would be gone by now if not for the seawall, Austin used to regularly see downtown flood up to the level of 7th Street before they built a bunch of dams along the Colorado, downtown Dallas had massive flooding before they rerouted the Trinity River, San Antonio was able to build a riverwalk by bypassing that section of the river, etc., etc.

 

But yes, there have been a lot of ugly and harmful projects.

 

I understand what you are saying.  However, what I didn't make clear, is that what I'm saying applies (from my perspective since the "damage" is already done worldwide, with yes, many successes, and also many failures) to FUTURE city planning world wide, especially given the fact that human population is continuing to rise exponentially, thus further reducing available, sustainable, livable land masses that future human populations might want to live on.  Yes, "they" are making more land, naturally and man made, but it is minuscule in comparison to how our present society is depleting resources, ground water and healthy lands.  For me, it all comes down to "let's please not foul our own nests any more than we already have" since this is our only home and it doesn't appear we'll be moving to another planet to use and abuse anytime soon.

I do applaud some of the wonderful achievements of the Army Corp of Engineers over the decades, here in Houston and elsewhere, and I'm not saying to throw the baby out with the bathwater.  But, obviously, what they want to do to the bayou all the way up to Studemont, is going to cause big problems in our extremely beautiful new BBP and all it has to offer and the beautiful slow meandering natural river known as Buffalo Bayou.  So, it's just a single issue I'm taking up with them on and not an over all damnation of the USACE in any way.  Sorry if i failed to make that clear. 

53 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

I think the alternative would be to keep Houston's most prominent scenic resource intact and accept the current frequency of flooding with some possible alternative improvements. They knew back in the 60's when they decided not to channel and pave the bayou that there was a tradeoff involved. Why these massive expenditure, horrendously ugly, good ol' boy plans keep getting proposed is a relevant question.

 

 

AMEN! I couldn't agree more. 

And, why is it that we humans always think that we are so much smarter than Mother Nature by relentlessly and arrogantly trying to "improve on nature's process" of dispersing flooding waters by cementing over and channeling waterways, when the natural soil we have and the natural vegetation in the yes, natural flood plains does a much better job in the long run? 

We always seem to fail miserably (everywhere in the World) when we build in say well established and well known flood zones.  I'm hoping that mitigating and reversing this sort of bad way of thinking, man made problem is high on the list of things to be done in the future to lessen flooding around this gigantic, extremely populated Metropolis, that continues to grow by leaps and bounds in both infrastructure and population.  All for very good and very positive reasons.

On 10/9/2020 at 12:04 AM, monarch said:

Rosewood Houston will open in 2024 in the exclusive Uptown District near several of Houston’s most popular sites and cultural attractions including The Galleria, Texas’ largest luxury shopping destination, and the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical center in the world.

The Rosewood property will consist of 150 guest rooms in an exclusive mixed-use and high-rise development. In addition to the hotel, the six-acre site will include 80 full-service luxury residences atop the hotel, multi-family residences, lifestyle-driven amenities, and retail and office space in Houston’s highly covetable Uptown District.

^^^ rosewood abu dhabi.  

Wow, very cool !  The tall tower looks like at least 50 stories.  Anyone else get that number or close to that ?  This will be such a neat and upscale addition to the area.  Exciting !

this is going to be quite a handsome building and very noticeable in the downtown skyline.  they are building at break neck speed and it's starting to come together quickly now.  i can't wait to see the finished exterior with cool lighting on top and hopefully on the sides as well !

OMG this is so tragic and extremely sad.  I'm so sorry for the loss to each of their families.  Someone said it above and I agree "can 2020 END soon enough already..."  My prayers are with the loved ones today as they learn of this and now must deal with the loss at this difficult time in the World, and now in their own lives.  God Bless you all.

20 hours ago, Texasota said:

Some of us like the Exxon tower just the way it is, although it would be nice to get it some new tenants.

nope yuk yuk yuk !  too mid-century un-modern for my taste.  and this being HOUSTON after all, it would be great to have it visually more appealing IMHO, perhaps though, another color of glass like bronze or green or something that really pops with some sort of homage to the past look, perhaps at the lower ground level.

On 9/27/2020 at 3:13 PM, hindesky said:

I know this Fairfield Residential project is probably going to look very nice in the middle of downtown.  However, that horrible old huge eyesore of a hotel/Days Inn? is still there unimproved, AND the old Exxon tower STILL hasn't been re-clad as has been Shorenstein? Properties' plan for years.  Yeah, I want it all done and now, right LOL! 

But, it sure does seem like these two (almost) abandoned remodels are taking much much longer than expected to begin renovations, with no start date in sight.

On 9/25/2020 at 11:17 AM, tangledwoods said:

So what your are looking at here are Auger Cast Piles.  In Houston these typically go deep (60 - 120+ feet deep) and rely largely on skin friction with the soil.  We do NOT "go to bedrock" in Houston, it is simply too far down to get to.

 

Fun fact: Many of the tall building foundations downtown are VERY shallow.  They use a mat slab which is anywhere between 8-15 feet thick across the entire footprint of the building. 

Thank you tangledwoods very much for helping me to understand these factors about the foundations of tall structures in our own unique Houston coastal soil and ground structure !  I had also wondered all these years if we had any bedrock within striking range so to speak of the sand and gumbo clay of east and se Houston all the way to the coast.  It seems as though we do, but it's just too far down below the surface to be economically feasible to use it.

Which leads me to my next comment and curiosity (or my ongoing "someday dream") for downtown. And, that is the hope of another but much higher supertall tower like one approaching or exceeding 100 stories and how they would be able to support this super structure from below.  I do know that it's going to happen ONE DAY in the future and I also believe we Houstonians want something that is the tallest and most gorgeous supertall in the U.S. for our own Houston and Texas pride.  All which would be well worth the cost of building such an iconic building or buildings.  Now, if we could only find dedicated funding from both federal and local municipal funds to help out some awesome developer along with a very generous proud Houstonian philanthropist with plenty of financial resources to make it happen in our lifetimes.  Hmmm......  😀

It just fascinates me how a very tall 42 story building can exist on such a narrow footprint and remain stable.  I often wonder how deep down (hopefully into bedrock) they have to drill for the support structure to carry the weight and keep it from toppling over, and if they have to have a counter balance structure at the top to mitigate high winds and swaying ?  I know this is done in many places now, especially NYC where they just finished a 98 story tower on a similar footprint.  Incredible engineering and technology no doubt.

15 minutes ago, CREguy13 said:

No just their Houston office, I believe.  

Oh well, something's better than nothing once again   thanks for clarifying.