Andrew Ewert

11 minutes ago, august948 said:

How's the coffee?

There's a couple answers to that question. There's the drip coffee that's just out and available all the time. It's pretty standard, no complaints there. Then there's also the Common Desk info desk that will make espresso drinks to order. I've only had it one or two times, but it wasn't that great. And then there's Common Bond On-The-Go downstairs, which isn't as good as something made by the people working at the original CB in Montrose, but it's still better than the first two options.

On 4/25/2022 at 3:36 PM, august948 said:

It is as long as you stick to the first floor and basement.  Did that myself today for about an hour and a half.  Had just finished a large coffee from the Nook before going to the Ion so I didn't check out the coffee, but Common Bond is there and probably could serve up some caffeine.  The workspace component is a membership thing behind locked doors, but you can get a day pass for $25.  Among the perks is free coffee.  Noticed when I was browsing the membership details online that workspace company (Common Desk) has other locations here, in Austin and in DFW.  One of those options was POST Houston so I went over there after my stay at the Ion to check it out.  All are available to you if you have a membership.

My company is a Common Desk member working out of Ion, AMA

..."Tower"?

On 4/20/2022 at 4:44 PM, hindesky said:

Feel sorry for those in the townhomes next to this. They get a teenager halfway house, railroads, light rail and now a nightclub.

That's H-Town for ya!

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-culture/restaurants-bars/article/Barbecue-bombshell-Ace-pitmaster-sides-wizard-17080512.php

That certainly doesn't sound great. First Night Shift, now this.

12 hours ago, rechlin said:

Most big O&G companies have realized they need to diversify, so it wouldn't surprise me if they want to be in facilities like this to do R&D toward renewable energy.  And if Houston wants to remain the energy capital of the world as energy shifts to renewables, it's great if companies want to be doing that here too.

I agree. Houston is so well situated to dominate the energy and medicine sectors for the next 50 years. It's just going to take some of these huge legacy industries realizing they need to embrace the future and stop looking backward. I think Ion is a great first step toward making that happen. We'll see...

I'm 100% in favor lol

This is so silly and honestly I love it. Like a deformed child.

Uhh, wat

Wow, crazy. I'm a little conflicted on the Hunt Brothers moving into EaDo, because I love Via313 - great pizza, great concept. And I even met one of them, and he seemed super cool. But then there was this:

Via 313 employees protest for sick pay and safety measures amid Omicron surge – The Daily Texan

Via 313 was apparently sold to a restaurant portfolio in 2020, so I'm not sure how much involvement the brothers still have/had. Hopefully it was all a bad misunderstanding.

There is one and only one reason I don't use Metro all the time, and it's this:

While a rebrand would be really nice (and I agree it needs one), they need to stop being 25 years behind the times in technology first. This is just abysmal compared to Chicago where I can tap my Apple Pay on any train or bus without even having a CTA card.

21 hours ago, iah77 said:

Airports are also noisy and ugly so we should just demolish them as well, and throw things on the list like sewage treatment plants etc. Did I-10 dived and ruin Katy? Is the Woodlands ruined by 45?

People vote with their feet and this is what people wanted at the time highways were built in central cities. Demographics and priorities change so it's ok to re-evaluate but just saying highways are a flat out negative is useless. 

They clearly said *urban* neighborhood. Katy and the Woodlands certainly do not fall in that category. You should be asking about places like the Galleria, or The Heights/GOOF. I would argue that those are the exceptions to the rule; and not even necessarily exceptions. Even in those areas, the blocks immediately adjacent to freeways are typically pretty rough.

At the end of the day, freeways probably are a necessary evil in some sense, but I don't think there's a person on the planet who thinks a neighborhood is made BETTER by one coming through.

On 2/21/2022 at 2:13 PM, HoustonBoy said:

With six digits? Haha 

Architectural polydactyly is all the rage these days...

On 2/17/2022 at 2:11 AM, monarch said:

 

I feel dumb for only just now realizing this building is a hand...

If any tenants have been signed, I don't think anyone here has figured that out.

The icepocalypse removed all the vines recently.

This is maybe the dumbest question ever asked by anyone, but... could it? Not that we ever would, but if the city decided that having the bayou look nice was important, is there any way you could do it? Put a giant Brita filter in the Galleria?

5 hours ago, august948 said:

Wouldn't that ruin the view of the half-working lights from the freeway?

Half is very generous

On 2/7/2022 at 1:50 PM, samagon said:

they'd be out of their minds to do a multi story location here. building up costs money, the land doesn't cost enough to consider the benefit of going up. so lets look at some in the loop HEB 1 story locations.

Perhaps not a great business decision, but it seems like the city should be doing everything it can to deter anyone from building another giant surface lot inside the loop ever again.

My guess would be that once all the other things line up to make East River a desirable and affluent area, that miraculously the quiet zone will be fast-tracked. Homeowners with money tend to have that effect.

It is open now.

When TxDOT trenches 59 past GRB/Minute Maid, there's a proposal to cover the freeway and build a park on top of it. It would have to be funded by someone other than TxDOT, so it's not a sure thing.

The hell? You get covid for one week and stop going into the office, and suddenly they start finishing projects...

All that follows is my two cents only.

The short answer: if a big ROI matters to you, you would be dumb to sell right now.

The long answer: you don't get huge ROIs by buying in an area where people already want to live. Regardless of yours or anyone's feelings on gentrification, the reason you have so much headroom to appreciate is precisely because of the issues you're dealing with. I also bought in 2018 and also looked very strongly at buying over in that little Clinton pocket solely because of East River. Ultimately, I decided it wasn't worth it, and 4 years later as they barely break ground, I'm very happy with my decision. My advice would be: if what gets you excited is the possibilities you see for the neighborhood, being part of new and exciting things, then stick it out. If what gets you excited when you see things like East River, the cap parks, Navigation redevelopment, is what dollar signs it might mean for you, then go find somewhere you find livable. Life is too short.

I can't wait until all of downtown looks this good 😭