mhh222

There has been a lot of activity at the abandoned concrete warehouse building on the north side of Washington between Knox and Birdsall, just east of Benjy's. About a month or so ago, they spruced the place up, put in canopy's and spotlights and had some sort of late-night event/party... Since then they poured a concrete parking lot on the front of the site (used to be an old wood frame commercial property "The Thomas Collection" which you can still see on Google StreetView. I spoke with a guy who seemed to be overseeing things there last week and he said they are putting in a new Sushi restaurant on the first floor and I thought he said a wine cellar upstairs. Hopefully a a great, sustainable, addition to the Washington Corridor! Some other news after some snooping further east on Washington. According to the realtor marketing the properties, those modern four story townhomes, the ones they wanted 600K for just east of Reign Lounge at Jackson Hill (they were abandoned mid-construction and the exposed insulation blowing in the wind has been an eyesore for months now) are finally going to be finished. In fact, the two on Washington will be torn down. The middle one will be a lawyer's office, with the rear two units now being finished for sale. The front will be parking for the lawyer's office. Makes sense for the lawyer's office in the middle one -- who would want to live right next door to Reign lounge and look down on Washington Ave for 600K+???.

Willie G's was sold and they'll be moving (was in the 9/21/07 Houston Business Journal). I heard that Brucette's Shoes just south of Willie G's on the corner of San Felipe and Post Oak was also sold and will be going out but haven't been able to find anything on that. Does anyone now what's to become of these sites? I go to the 24 Hour Fitness across Post Oak (formerly Q Club and I wish it were still a Q Club!!!) and can't believe they're long for life at this site, at least int the present form. With the new Cosmopolitan across the street just south of them, the Titan, which will be just to the east and all of the other development, I see 24 Hour Fitness out at their next lease renewal! Easy to imagine another condo tower on the site, and maybe a new 24 Hour Fitness on the lower floors. Anyone have the scoop?

Psychic Gone -- Did She See it Coming??? The palm reader on San Felipe is no more! Driving home from work this evening, saw a bulldozer and a pile of rubble where the old white ranch house used to be. She was there for as long as I can remember and must of made a killing on what will be the northwest portion of the Blvd. Place development. As well as she likely made out, I probably should have paid her a few visits over the years! I didn't notice, but I think the Chabad House, one block west of this, on what will be the northwest corner of the site, is still there, but not for long I'm guessing. Prior to Chabad, this housed a gallery with what looked like schlocky art, some of which was actually hung on the side of the house. The profile of this portion of San Felipe is about to change big-time! Can't wait.

Subdude, just curious, but is your point about energy efficiency a fact based on information from the builder/architects or your opinion?

I agree with HtownWxBoy - the northern facade is not bad, although "love" is a strong word -- more stylized glass on the North side might have led to love! If the width of the floor-plan had been doubled, the current plan could have been mirrored on the southern side, placing the services (elevators, stairs, etc) in the center -- see the picture of a typical floorplan unitb.pdf there's nothing but services on the south side. The northern facade could then have been mirrored to the southern, eliminating the current hideous southern exposure (although then they would have had the east and west to deal with!). The doubling of mass would have also reduced the slither effect which is magnified by the fact there are no tall buildings around it -- would have looked more like the Montebello and Villa D'Este in Uptown Park, or the Four Leaf Towers on San Felipe. What I've generally seen in most cities when a building is designed with a full facade employing minimal windows is that the architects are anticipating a structure of comparable height in that direction, so why put anything but service windows (in stairways, halls, etc.) which ultimately won't have any view. I originally thought with the talk of a twin tower, that this is exactly what was going to be done. The second tower would be due south of the current one, and it would have the attractive facade facing south, and the blank one facing north toward the original building. That's giving these hack architects too much credit though -- I've seen architectural drawings with the new building to the east, so now you get double the monstrosity. One can only hope that this thing(s) are torn down in 10 or 20 years!

Anyone know what their building on the huge site at approximately 1205 Post Oak Blvd? If you Google that address, Google will show you the the approximate location off of Post Oak. I think there used to be apartments here, but can't remember. Site goes virtually down to San Felipe, but not quite, with some older office complexes before that street. I'm guessing newer apartments, but does anyone have the scoop? Sorry in advance if this is covered in another post, but I couldn't find anything!