KinkaidAlum

I've noticed that sign a few times too. That's my route to UH. I think I first noticed the sign in September. It seemed like a weird spot for office space though since it was several blocks away from the medical offices near the Park Plaza and seemed to be smack dab in the middle of a residential hood. That's Houston for ya though!

The HBJ had an article on it last week. 31 units. A rehab of an existing building on Bartlett Street near the Rice Village. The upper units are being called "sky lofts." The developer is out of Albuquerque and apparently there is a sales office on site.

What are y'all talking about Houston being a slow city? Sure Dallas has more light rail. But, did Dallas have to build a line without federal money? That was a HUGE feat for Houston. AND, as for no projects right now, some of you need to get out more. In downtown there's a huge crane for a beautiful new cathedral and the new Civil Courthouse is nearing completion. There are several smaller projects underway too, like the bayou trail improvements, Nabisco conversion, and Christ Church Cathedral project. In the past five years, downtown has seen things like the Aquarium, Hobby Center, Hilton Americas, GRB expansion, 5 Houston Center, Reliant Energy Plaza, Calpine Center, Inn at the Ballpark, and 1500 Louisiana rise. We've also seen empty buildings converted like Commerce Towers, Humble Tower Apts, Capitol Lofts, Magnolia Hotel, Hotel Icon, and Alden Hotel to name a few. Then there's been the major street improvements, Cotswold project, Main Street Square, and a host of other public space improvements! Head South out of downtown into Midtown and the entire neighborhood has transformed in five years. There are smaller projects happening all over that stretch into the western fringes of the Third Ward. Where Midtown meets the Museum District, there's the Mosaic proposal for two towers and the Hotel ZaZa conversion underway. AND, don't forget the Asia House Museum coming. The Medical Center is NUTS right now. Prairie View ATM College of Nursing is nearing completion. Texas Women's University's new bldg is coming close to topping out. The 430 foot tall Memorial Hermann Plaza is well underway as is the expansion of the actual hospital itself across the street. Then there's the 21 story Faculty Center Tower that is in the clearing stage and the Diagnostic Center is coming down right now to make way for the 22 story Outpatient Care Center at Methodist Hospital. And there are enough proposals out there to make your head spin. Head to uptown and there are cranes and projects all over. Seven Riverway is up to about 10 floors. The Granduca Hotel in Uptown Park is rising. The Empire condos is well underway. Then there's the Hilton Garden Inn that is nearing completion and the Homewood Suites that has topped out. Just on the other side of the loop, the Briarglenn is rising. Out west, Sysco's new corporate headquarters is rising as well as new additions to several hospital systems from Memorial City to Katy to SugarLand. AND, don't forget the boom in Galveston and proposals for Clear Lake. The Houston Pavilions WILL happpen. I think some of you just need to buy a CLUE as to how long it takes to get a project this large off of the ground. We are talking THREE FULL CITY BLOCKS people. It's not like putting up a new CVS Store!

Interesting thing is that today's on-line version of the Houston Business Journal is reporting that the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau reported booking 650,000 FUTURE room nights worth an estimated $65 million going directly to local hotels and an overall economic impact of $800 million to the greater Houston area. Seems as if building the hotel has DEFINITELY helped in future bookings.

www.mosaichouston.com Looks like a site will be up and running soon. This may be my favorite proposal of all the new ones because it could really spur more development near Hermann Park. With 23,000 square feet of ground floor retail, it will really change the east side of the park and hopefully spur more ground retail (restaurants especially) near the Museum District. I can imagine a wide front patio with umbrella seating looking out over the golf course...

You can definitely have gas cook tops in a high rise development. However, it increases the insurance costs and most developers only care about the bottom line. I am fairly certain that the Orion will have gas cooktops. They certainly are running gas lines to fuel the summer kitchens.

I'd argue that placing a dental clinic in the middle of a residential block (single family homes) on Bartlett Street in Boulevard Oaks is a bad idea. With zoning, this would never occur. I'd argue that a lack of tight regulations has destroyed much of the character in what most consider "Montrose." Front porches and street life have been replaced by gated enclaves and garages that face the street. I'd argue that much of what we destroyed in downtown and midtown (look at historic photos to see what we have lost) may have been prohibited with zoning. At the very least, we wouldn't have allowed as many tear downs for pie in the sky speculative development that's given us 30 plus years of surface parking lots. I'd argue that a zoning board would have prohibited CVS from building a drive-thru pharmacy with a building setback far from the street in the heart of midtown, literally across the street from the Post project. I'd imagine a zoning board could possibly slow down the rampant strip malling all over Houston or at least require that parking be placed in the rear of buildings. I'd imagine that zoning could require all new development over a certain size to have either underground parking or a parking garage to cut down on surface lots. I'd imagine that a zoning board could protect historic neighborhoods like Riverside Terrace from the tin townhome developer.

I agree with Redscare. Of course, it's not just the homeless that these new "urban pioneers" are fighting. They additionally want the same amenities they had when they lived outside the Loop or Beltway or wherever else they are coming from. That has led to drive thru CVS pharmacies and strip centers literally in the shadows of downtown. It's led to gated suburban style garden apartments in midtown. It's led to people wanting long time businesses that they deem unsavory to be shut down. It's led to outcries over a proposed veteran's center in a vacant building and even for cries to shut down non-profits like SEARCH, New Hope Housing, and even the Project Rowhouses because they negatively affect property values. The funny thing is, the majority of these "pioneers" tend to drive around in SUVs with W stickers and Jesus fish emblems. For some strange reason though, I don't think Jesus would be fighting for property rights over the rights of healthcare, housing, quality public education and a host of other things we completely disregard in this society.

There is no crane on site at the Orion project yet. The crane you are referring to is the one for the new Bayou On The Bend apartments. It will be 6 stories right next to the Left Bank Apartments directly on Memorial Drive overlooking the bayou.

Seriously, we need to raise our collective expectations. This design will only encourage all new development in the area to provide the same "amenities" such as surface parking and drive thru pod sites. At the VERY least, the developers should have considered the site's high visibility from I-10 and proximity to the bayou and built a parking garage. Additionally, if you look at the retailers that tend to follow Target in these type of commercial developments, I see very little to be excited about. This site will be filled with a drive-thru CVS/Walgreens, 1 or 2 drive thru bank branches, likely drive thru fast food joints, and some Applebees type restaurant chains. Whoopy doo.

Another crap project. How in the hell did this project get so much surface parking approved right next to the bayou?

Emos and Some are now "lofts" called the Villa Serena. Good news is they kept the kick-ass pool. My last trip to Emos/Some was in 1996. Had a knife pulled on me and my partner on the dance floor. Kinda killed our buzz. Needless to say, I never went back...

It started off as a rental property. Not sure when the conversion to condo took place or how much they put into the complex in order to take it "condo." You can't beat the location. Would imagine that they built it solid enough to block out the street noise.

And the rumor mill is whispering about the Mercer East tower rising later this year. Despite the ugliness of the exterior, interior space, views, and location are enough of a selling point. There are just a handful of units left for sale in the West Tower.

Hotel ZaZa is out of Dallas. It's geared towards the hip and trendy crowd and is definitely eclectic. That said, it is obviously doing something right because the hotel recently expanded and has just announced a residential addition. It's located in Uptown Dallas and there's been a buzz about this place for quite some time. At the very least, if this rumor proves true, the area will certainly be livened up. The Warwick sits in my favorite location in Houston. You can literally walk right across the street to all of the museums, Hermann Park, or walk the oak canopied trail around Rice U. The light rail has a stop right next door as well. Unfortunately, the last time I was there was for a wedding in Nov. 03, and the place was DEAD. It needs new life.

It is scaled back because of a lack of funding and support. It really isn't a great time for the Catholic Church right now, especially when trying to raise money in light of the HUGE settlement payments being made to all the victims in the child molestation cases. It's really that simple.

Actually, the wealthiest zip code in the nation is in fact 77010. However, most of downtown is 77002. 77010 is the zip code for the Houston Center. The only residents there live atop the Four Seasons Hotel in either rental apts or the new condos on the top 5 floors. River Oaks' zip code is 77019. It is very wealthy but it also includes more than River Oaks, stretching East of Shepherd into what many consider parts of Montrose all the way to the old 4th ward.

The Chronicle reported on this project several months ago. The building will be ELEVEN stories tall.

Shamrock Tower seems to get all the attention but there are others in different stages that include... 1) A proprosed 30 story tower by the Clarion Corp. located near the public library. 2) Ballpark Place still hasn't officially been called off. Plans have changed from for sale condos with office space to a fully rental residential building standing 29 floors above street level 3) Initial interest in converting the shuttered Days Inn Hotel into condos 4) A 5 unit condo/brownstone development proposed for Leeland 5) Franklin Towers at 32 floors. This is a mystery but a rendering is floating around out there on the web 6) Washington Place Lofts III, a proposed 12 story loft development just on the other side of the bayou from UH Downtown 7) Conversion of Randall Davis' St. Germain from rental to for sale condos 8) The Herrin Lofts conversion of the Herrin bldg just to the East of US 59 9) The Edge, which will stand in the shadows of the Pierce Elevated 10) Rumors of Post Properties adding to their Midtown development (just across I-45 from downtown proper 11) talk of adding a residential/hotel tower to Bayou Place

if all of these turn out to be the garden-style variety, then Houston will lose out again. My bet is that all of these new projects will be security accessed, gated, residential enclaves with plenty of surface parking and maybe a token garage or two. Maybe we'll even see a sidewalk. In the end, they will all end up being class B projects over time as something new and better with more granite countertops will be built just down the street. This is a big YAWNer.

When I lived in Houston, I used the Angelika Theater all the time for movies. That place seems to do well (or at least it did). The worst thing going for Bayou Place (and the Wortham and Aquarium for that matter) is that it is located in a sort of no man's land. You take your life in danger when trying to walk around there as all of the Westsiders who are fleeing downtown in their luxury vehicles speed through that area as Prairie becomes a freeway just past the light at Brazos. One thing that could save the area is the Buffalo Bayou Master Plan. If they could link the places with a nice walkway that is safe, well-lit, attractive, and well marked with signs, then we might have something. I noticed last time that I was in town that some sort of work is taking place along the bayou right there. Lets hope its something more than just flood control! Also, hopefully then the Hobby Center will realize it's grave mistake (turning its back to the Bayou and plopping down an eyesore of a garage on the banks). Maybe they will rip that pink crappy car holder down and add an addition that looks out onto the banks!

I can't see Tillman putting another Landry's owned facility (Joe's Crab Shack) right across the street from the Aquarium. I'd also hate to see what type of "art galleries" would want to share space with a Hooters or a Rick's Cabaret!

The Mexican Consular Office is located in midtown close to the Spur. I believe the French Consulate is located in a home on River Oaks (corner of Kirby and San Felipe?). The Brazilian policies crack me up! They are basically making Americans put up with the same crap they have to put up with to travel from Brazil to the states. It didn't bother me one bit when I traveled down there last winter (Rio, Sao, and Floripa) but there was a story about an American Airlines pilot getting himself in quite a bit of a jam...

The latter. The first two buildings she speaks of are very suburban looking. Heck, the one going up in Tanglewood is located in a neighborhood that used to be 100% residential. In fact, the only one that looks "urban" at all is the one in The Woodlands. Go figure...

Starting teachers in poor inner city districts will make $20,000 a year if they are lucky and some moron who can swing a bat and catch a ball will make $119 MILLION. Our country is nuts.