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totheskies

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Everything posted by totheskies

  1. totheskies
    Good for HCC Central!! It perplexes me to no end why we don't have more commercial investment in the surrounding areas of our schools inside the loop (Rice being a glorious exception). This really is standard fare for any major school because students NEED STUFF in between classes! We need to have a Starbucks, Target, couple of restaurants all surrounding HCC. Fiesta and Subway alone aren't cutting it. And of course the same goes for UofH.
  2. totheskies
    Embassy Suites Downtown is now open. I walked into it last night. The attendant said they opened last week. the little side area is still under construction though. Not sure what is going to be there. The interior was nice, but wholly unimpressive. It doesn't look like a "typical" Embassy Suites... no large open area in the middle, no spacious patios or anything like that.
  3. totheskies
    I also hope UofH gets this property. What a fantastic site for a new Basketball arena.
  4. totheskies
    I think WF is doing well by leading the charge for "aggressive" lighting. IMO it's better to have all of the colors at your disposal, and then tastefully use them at different times of the year. For example the red and white this month is great for Valentine's Day, and for March some green would be appropriate. I don't think those detract from our skyline in the slightest. For some reason, my preference is for WF to have lighting above all of the other buildings. The Chase tower's lighting is ok, but it looks just as good when it's not lit up too. But for WF, lighting is a definite architectural asset to that building.
  5. totheskies
    EaDo just opened a Lil Woodrows by Warehouse Live, and a few other Houston staples are on tap to come to the neighborhood. But this hotel would guarantee some more decent restaurants and a few support establishments for the hotel. I'm lovin' it.
  6. totheskies
    Several more in this part of town... a couple of rather large ones down Telephone Road. It's a booming business to say the least.
  7. totheskies
    After doing a couple of image searches, I propose this... Embassy Suites is a f-u-g-l-y hotel chain. I challenge persons on this forum to post an overly aesthetically pleasing Embassy Suites that is more than 10 stories tall. Do some searches!!
  8. totheskies
    Looks like they're working on the Wells Fargo building's lights. Half of them were turned on tonight.
  9. totheskies
    We're in agreement that there are 2.5 million(ish) people in the City of Houston, and that every one of them likely has a different interpretation of what is tacky. I think the Chase building's lighting is ok, but that they should have a little it of lights down the sides as well. Something that accents the fact that the building is actually five sided.
  10. totheskies
    Yay time to drudge up this thread again The Chase building confuses the heck out of me. They have "played with" the lights a few times this season, but won't turn them on with the other buildings. They have several colors up there to choose from too. What gives???? And come on... it's now officially time to stop looking environmentally conscious and start showing some pride in the city. Granted, I see that Denver also has a conservative lighting scheme, but they have a more conservative skyline than Houston anyway, and better natural scenery to boot. We need to accent the cool architecture that we have in our skyline. At night, that is best done through lighting.
  11. totheskies
    FANTASTIC NEWS!!! Should be a great venue and will help fill an important void left by the closings of both the Skybar and the Red Cat. It seems like our live music venues in Houston have been taking a BIG hit this year, but I can tell 2011 is already going to be better.
  12. totheskies
    Nope. If you're going to open that can of worms, then you have to give further parameters. Size of buildings? Office pop? residential pop? Houston has a "big downtown", but only if you're measuring it by physical spaces. If you go by number of residents, it's small.
  13. totheskies
    You're so right... we don't have any of those things. But the few attractions that central Houston DOES have (Discovery Green, very good theater venues, sports, and a world-class museum district) we sure don't spread the word about them like NYC does. If we want a tourist culture in this town, we have to develop it. It doesn't just happen overnight. It didn't just happen for NYC either. You know, there are now taller buildings in the world than the Empire State Building, including one in our own country. But it's special because NYC and its promoters hold it in that regard. NYC has done the tourism thing for a long time, and places like Times Square are the result.
  14. totheskies
    Where did you find this information from?? I didn't hear anything about it at the Red Cat Jazz Festival.
  15. totheskies
    I have to say, it's really sad to see how little we "care" about ourselves today. How little we care about our health, building a true social environment, and our overall quality of life. It's a shame that we continually choose convenience over what is best for us. I blame myself most of all, but it is a learned behavior shared by all of American society. Back to topic... The downtown scene is maturing, and rightfully so. I'm glad to see a resurgence of places like the Red Cat, and also new venues like Pete's Dueling Piano, the House of Blues and Polk Street Pub. It's a more diverse crowd than your standard hip-hop club, and it can attract several age groups. This is the direction that downtown needs to go. We already have the "feeder infrastructure" in that all of our major arts venues and sports venues (Reliant of course via the rail) are located there. Downtown is right to continue pursuing a good post-event scene. Let Washington have the "major clubs" but downtown has staying power based on its other strengths. The biggest problem continues to be "safety"... or at least the perception of it. The lighting scheme in downtown is still very poor. And the retail is so sporadic (especially between HP and the theaters) that it's just not a place that most people will walk to at night. If we really focus on a couple of corridors like Main st. and Texas, we could create a sustainable scene in downtown.
  16. totheskies
    ^LOL and mine to the Music building
  17. totheskies
    I for one love the green lightting in Dallas... and just to be clear, it's a direct imitation of the Wedge Tower in Houston.
  18. totheskies
    I like the overall design of the building... but I HATE the side the faces the park. If they had thought to build the park side the same as the opposite side, it would have turned out rather nicely. It's a hotel... it doesn't have to re-invent the architectural wheel. Houston is lucky to have gotten some very nice projects in the past few years (Main Place, OPP, Co-Cathedral). It's ok if we intermingle with some structures that are less of a fine art and more of an applied art.
  19. totheskies
    So can we begin a protest to save the old Y now????? How dare we put such an historical treasure on the chopping block!! Maybe it could be converted into a hotel of some sort???
  20. totheskies
    LOL at this point, I'm far-less concerned with the aesthetics of the Embassy Suites, and far more concerned about adding hotel rooms to the downtown market (thus bolstering our convention ability). BTW, anyone know of plans for the lobby?? I'd like to find out.
  21. totheskies
    Sounds excellent, and I'm SOO glad they're open in the evenings and Saturdays!!! I'm going to go have dinner there on Thursday to give them some evening business. Will let y'all know what I think.
  22. totheskies
    Well I'll go ahead and throw in my few cents here... The Heights is a neighborhood. It is no longer its own independent town. It is a part of the City of Houston, and has every right and responsibility as River Oaks, Fifth Ward and Idylwood. As a part of the City of Houston, they are not subject to city-wide zoning restrictions, because Houston residents have voted them down... time and time again. Which means Wal-Mart has every right to purchase land and build whatever it wants, wherever it wants. And I'm in agreement with whoever posted earlier... if feeder road enhancements are already occurring, then its a no-brainer that this is a done deal. IMO the residents are going about this the wrong way. Why not work with Wal-Mart to try and build something like a Marketside store or Neighborhood Market. Since they're already planning a Wal-Mart for I-10 at Silber, this could be a very reasonable request. Wal-Mart may be willing to go with a smaller store model that will cater to the surroundings a bit more. Err well, what y'all think the surroundings are. Last time I checked, the Heights still looked pretty suburban.
  23. totheskies
    Yeah, once again... it's not the original design. But you know what?? It's being built and is going to add 300 hotel rooms to the downtown inventory. It hasn't been cancelled. That's a lot more than some metros can hope for right now. So I am thankful.
  24. totheskies
    Indeed, good luck to Mr. Gertner. I have no doubt that he'll find a good location for the Skybar, or whatever new concept he comes up with. I'm going to go to the closing party on Saturday for sure though. Should be fun.
  25. totheskies
    From Facebook newsfeed... So what's going to happen to this building? Being demolished?
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