aachor

On 3/17/2024 at 7:32 PM, Highrise Tower said:

The parking contract/management went to LAZ Parking!  There are now monthly parking now available signs. The garage should officially open in a few weeks.  There are still orange barriers at the entrance.  

I wouldn't be surprised if it fills up with contract parking. It's priced competitively with TMC parking garages, but their garages don't have availability during the day. And it's only a short walk from Texas Children's and MD Anderson (via the Duncan Building and skybridge).

Edit: It seems the garage has 2,800 parking spaces.  At around $200 per month for a parking space, it could potentially bring in around $6.7M in annual revenue. 

Equipment is piling up.

2 hours ago, OkieEric said:

I don't know how to link a specific project, but the TxDOT project tracker shows an upcoming overlay project in the next few years:

https://apps3.txdot.gov/apps-cq/project_tracker/

Totally agree on the transformation, it's times like this I really enjoy streetview

I didn't know that site existed. Thanks! Looking at it, it seems that they're aiming for 2/10/2025 for the project to be ready to bid. So maybe sometime in 2026 for the resurface? It's going to be in real rough shape by then, and I would guess that they're going to have to replace and rebase sections.

It's wild to think about what this whole area is going to be like in a few years. When I first moved to Houston in 2016, OST west of Almeda was mostly just parking lots. In a few years, this stretch between Cambridge and Greenbriar will have been completely transformed.

Hopefully at some point the city can get it's act together and re-pave OST. It was rough in 2016 and since then it's only gotten worse. 

11 hours ago, pacarlson said:

What's the most likely long-term future outcome for this project?  Demolished?  Completed at originally planned height?  Completed at current abbreviated height?  Left unfinished?

I think @houstontexasjack is correct. I was curious and did some reading and it seems that It's not too uncommon to see high-rise and skyscraper projects that have run into this kind of trouble before. Especially condominium developments. Sometimes they end up as an eyesore while stuff gets sorted out. And then, often, the original developer secures some new funding or some other developer ends up taking over the project and completing it.

Unless the building is found to have construction defects (e.g. Ocean Tower on South Padre Island), acquiring a half-finished building for pennies on the dollar seems to be usually too good to pass up.

I know it isn't the best comparison, but there are multiple very large projects on the Vegas strip, for example, that stalled out due to the original developer running out of funds or some other issues, and then later resumed. Apparently, Miami also had a number of projects that were stalled by the 2008 financial crisis, but ended up resuming within a year or two.

Some other examples:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vue
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brickell_World_Plaza

What I can't find is any building in the United States achieving anything close to this height and then being demolished because of funding issues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_voluntarily_demolished_buildings

4 minutes ago, Highrise Tower said:

Site visit this week. I've actually had a party in one of the room 2 years ago. My mom came down to Houston and rented a weekend at the Best Western TMC hotel.  I thought it was a little extravagant but she said it was closer to my house and the rates weren't too bad.

The hotel rooms are dated! For instance, the plastic on the microwave was stained yellow and the hallways were bleak.  Definitely time to redevelop this property!

I asked the front desk staff about if they knew of an appending demolition and they did not know.  I'll assume the Innovation Tower is several years out.  Hopefully Medistar doesn't have to wait for office leasing before they break ground.

Two years ago my sister was visiting from out of town with her family and opted to stay here. She said that the hotel was reasonably clean, but poorly maintained. And, that the rooms were somewhat damp and musty and needing a remodel. 

On 12/24/2023 at 8:35 PM, Urbannizer said:

New Design:

https://medistarcorp.com/innovation-tower/

The website is short on information, but it says "mixed use." And from the render, everything above the podium looks residential to me. If they're going mostly residential with a lesser amount of boutique office space and streel-level retail, or residential/hotel/retail, that would make a lot more sense to me than a massive mostly-office building in the next couple of years. Especially with all of the other construction in the Med Center.

My wife works in the Med Center and we rented just outside the Med Center for several years. There is a serious lack of decent housing in the area. Something within walking distance of the major hospitals should do really well, especially if they can keep the rent within reach of hospital employees. Looking at availability on the website for The Latitude Med Center seems to confirm that there is a market here.  

20 hours ago, steve1363 said:

Is this the view from The Allen?  I’m all turned around with those refineries in the background.

My wife and I lived in a high-rise for a few years which had a clear view of the refineries. They actually looked kind of pretty with their flares sparkling clear across the horizon at night. But also, whenever I saw them, this is what went through my mind:
 

Quote

The old world will burn in the fires of industry. The forests will fall. A new order will rise. We will drive the machinery of war with the sword and the spear and the iron fist of the Orc. We have only to remove those who oppose us.
~ Saruman the White

On 8/30/2023 at 1:09 PM, monarch said:

x chicago

x miami

x denver #1

x denver #2

x phoenix

x houston

^^^ considering the very fact that we in houston... have to DAMN NEAR HOG TIE a decent and reputable developer to construct something of endearing quality within our fair city, i'm finding it increasingly mind-boggling... trying in earnest to comprehend this very strange and burgeoning pessimism... towards the construction of this brand spanking new X HOUSTON?  yes, of course, they may have deviated a small bit from the actual initial renderings/concepts in regards to the ALL GLASS middle portion of the edifice.  however, are we really all that SHOCKED about this?  heck, they all deviate to some degree whether financially or construction resources-wise.  thanks to our few MAGNIFICENT HAIF PHOTOGRAPHERS, we have all been kept highly abreast of this ongoing construction of the X HOUSTON, and if there is one thing that we can all agree on, (i guess) is the simple fact that this newest development is being constructed with extreme high-quality resources and details.  unfortunately, we were not presented with the FINAL RENDERINGS/CONCEPTS before they actually started construction of this edifice.  therefore, we really do not know just what final outcome of this edifice is going to look like.  however, i'm not about to start placing some strange pessimistic curse on it.  i'm just very happy that the X developers thought enough of our fair city to even give us a chance.  whereby, so many other developers do not think twice about houston. (heck, it's almost as if we really do not exist in this world... considering that houston is supposedly the FOURTH LARGEST CITY IN AMERICA... right?)  heck, the X developers could have chose dallas (they probably will someday) they could have chose austin (they probably will someday) get the picture?  however, for now, THEY CHOSE OUR FAIR CITY OF HOUSTON, and i'm forever grateful.  i cannot wait to focus upon the final outcome of this HUGE BURGEONING STRUCTURE.  X marks the spot... let's go...   

100%.

I, for one, am especially happy to see something other than another glass box. I think this latest render looks great. I love the glass band in the middle. And the top-heavy juxtaposition of the white tower at the top and naked garage at the bottom makes it look a little punk modern. I really hope they don't skimp on the lighting. The early renders had some colored LED bands delineating the different sections, and it looked really sharp in my opinion.

I really think this adds a lot to the Museum District "skyline." It absolutely dominates your view driving along Binz.

I like it.

8 hours ago, trymahjong said:

This is COH installed art?

I was curious too. It looks like it's a project of the Midtown Management District. Most of their minutes are scanned documents and are not easy to search.

https://midtownhouston.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/MMD-Minutes-5-5-2021-Final-Signed.pdf

I really wish that the city would properly stripe the roads and fix the potholes before imposing this kind of  ...art... on us.

EDIT: I am all for public art, I would just like it to be beautiful.

On 6/3/2023 at 1:54 PM, 004n063 said:

This: *exists*

r/houston: Just like we predicted - urbanists are forcing us to live in commie blocks!

Commie block confirmed! 

4 hours ago, 004n063 said:

I would love to see a "Rodeo District" redevelopment of the NRG parking lots.

I like the term "Rodeo District."

Maybe the city should label the whole area as "The Rodeo District." It's so much better than calling it "The Astrodome Area" or as Google Maps labels it, "Gridiron."
 

8 hours ago, 004n063 said:

It's also just drowning in surface parking. It manages to feel profoundly antiurban despite having its own stop on the red line and being directly connected to the protected bike trail network.

Agreed. The stop on the red line makes the parking experience so much better than it really is in my opinion. My wife and I hate the rodeo parking situation so we typically end up parking in the Med Center or Downtown where things are less congested and where we don't have to deal with parking lots the size of Kansas. We then just ride the rail in. 

I think NRG Stadium could really be helped with a few large parking garages with skybridges directly connecting to the upper concourses. We recently attended a concert in the Toyota Center, and the connection between the arena and the Toyota Center garage make getting in an out so easy in comparison. Obviously, NRG is considerably larger, but I don't see why the same experience couldn't be replicated with multiple garages. 

The NRG parking lots would seem to be an ideal hotel location. Especially if the hotel could be connected via skybridges to garages and to the stadium. The Windham is packed during the rodeo. Last I saw it still looked fairly dated. And it requires visitors to make the trek across eight lanes of impatient and semi-intoxicated traffic. If the walk between the hotel and the rail was easy and well-lit, the hotel could also serve out of town visitors to downtown events, as well as out of town Med Center patients.

Zoning almost always constricts supply and drives up demand because it does not allow development to occur organically- where it's most needed. And in my opinion, it primarily exists so that the politically well-connected and the special interests in a city can exercise control and exclusion authority over property they don't own. Usually, the lower and middle classes are most adversely affected by zoning. They are restricted to particular corners of the city, their commutes are lengthened, they are separated from their businesses and services, and the well-connected get to dictate who breathes their rarified air. 

With conventional zoning, my wife and I could not afford to live in the neighborhood we live in. We wanted to live where we live because it is well located and shortens our daily commutes. And thankfully, because of the lack of zoning, some developer plopped a midrise condo in the middle of a neighborhood of single-family detached homes a couple of decades ago. We can't afford the detached homes in this neighborhood, but a decent condo sells for half.

This is why there has been a big push by affordable housing advocacy groups in recent years to end single-family zoning. My only disagreement with them is, "Why stop there?" We can clearly see the benefits of mixed-use development. And if a duplex or a four-plex is better than a single-family home, why not a larger condominium on the same lot?

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/11/1155094278/states-cities-end-single-family-zoning-housing-affordable

It seems to me that even if they can't develop more biomedical space, this location would also be ideal for mixed-use development.

It sits right off the freeway, between 288 and TMC3. Surely, something will come of it sooner rather than later.

On 5/9/2023 at 12:32 PM, august948 said:

They should build it just like the picture, with a washateria/liquor store/cbd/vape/greyhound station on the ground floor.

I wouldn't wish a Greyhound station on anyone. But given all of these stupid lawsuits, I think it's time for Midtown to get a reprieve.

The owners of 2016 Main have suffered under stupidly low property values long enough. I'm sure the new neighbors of the Langley can carry the burden for a while.

2 hours ago, astrohip said:

Housing starts plummeted in 2008, going from (and this is from memory) around 50,000 starts to around 7,500 starts. About an 85% drop in starts. I felt lucky that my business only dropped 70%. We went from 200+ employees to around 65. Oddly, one of our saving graces was Ike. We had a massive inventory left after the crash, that would have taken a couple years to dwindle down. But Ike created a huge demand for material, to renovate all the flood-damaged houses, especially cabinets, since they're always destroyed in a flood. Anyone that had cabinets in stock (and we had 'em!) was doing a boom business.

Oil prices went from almost $200 to almost $60 that same year. It wasn't just housing.

Yeah, that's escaping the worst of it. From what I can tell, demand dropped enormously, but prices only fell a little. Certainly less than most other parts of the country. I grew up in Michigan and in 2009, the market value on my parent's home had dropped to 65% of what they paid for at purchase. Many, many people ended up owing the banks double what their homes would fetch on the market. It took a decade to recover. New construction wasn't down by 85%. It went to zero. Projects that were underway were halted. Half-built homes sitting abandoned were a regular sight. 

On 5/23/2023 at 7:54 AM, Luminare said:

This is one of the reasons why a few months ago I moved from a mostly residential firm to a firm that pretty much does zero residential. Houston is a development unicorn right now, everyone should be appreciative the amount that is going on up. Hopefully this company can find some funding, but liquidity for residential building is very close to dry. At least that's what I've seen. People need to understand. Every single time the Fed raises interest rates it takes about a year for each one to take affect from the time of the raise itself.

If the data is to be believed, I think we're in for a 2008-style housing bust. However, in 2008, Houston escaped the worst of it, and I think that will be true for this bust too. 

My wife and I bought last year, so I am familier with Houston pricing. In comparison, in other major cities (including DFW) the prices are crazily inflated. They're eye watering in comparison to Houston's affordability.

Those inflated prices won't be sustainable with 30yr mortgages at 7%. A lot of people in those other major cities will be feeling a lot of hurt as they end up in serious negative equity when the bubble does burst.

In contrast, Houston's housing prices seem to me to have only just kept pace with inflation. That means we didn't boom as hard as Dallas or Austin in the last 5 years. But we won't bust like them either.

3 hours ago, cityliving said:

The design of the building definitely sucks but I guess in a city like Houston developers can build whatever they want because there is no zoning.

Zoning and regulation won't give you good architecture. 

D.C. has strict zoning regulations and the Federal Government has more money than God, and yet they managed to poop this out. I don't know what's worse, the FBI's HQ, or a 10-story storage building in Houston. And I don't even hate brutalism. 

4 hours ago, toxtethogrady said:

You want a high-rise storage facility instead?

There are a number of storage facilities in this city that are less of an eyesore than this.

On 5/8/2023 at 8:15 AM, thatguysly said:

This one is becoming very visible from 288. Love pointing out construction to my wife as we drive and she pretends to be interested.

Same. Then I describe what it's going to be, and she asks "how do you know all this stuff?!" 😏