Jump to content

largeTEXAS

Full Member
  • Posts

    514
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    4

Everything posted by largeTEXAS

  1. The ceilings are enormous. Maybe 25' or more. Can't wait to see it all shined up. The build out is going to be sick!
  2. Nah, food hall will be at the corner of Main and Rusk, the original Sakowitz space. It's gonna be gooooorgeous!
  3. Any idea what's being built here? (This is just east of the main Hardy Yards site along Maury Street between Burnett and Leona: https://www.google.com/maps/place/1498+Maury+St,+Houston,+TX+77020/@29.7745499,-95.3507772,18z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x8640b92ad6f2502d:0x800a1d7798380771!8m2!3d29.7740896!4d-95.3496499
  4. There's gonna be a parking garage built next to this.
  5. I don't understand this renovation at all. While the interior probably improved, the exterior is way worse! Still can't believe how horrible Studio Red's addition is to the building. So out of scale, such bad material choice. Add colorful LEDs to the mix and you have yourself and hot mess!
  6. I love it! Looks very downtown LA to me. Modern, Minimal, and beautiful. It's about time we start celebrating some of our Modernist heritage!
  7. Well said, shasta. Very slow process, but downtown leaders have been at it since '95/'96, so 20 years now. Numerous efforts by the Downtown District have focused on retail. After numerous starts and stops and failed attempts, though, they finally realized residential was the key, thus the Downtown Living Initiative was created. Back when Sakowitz, Foley's, Woolworths, etc. were located downtown, Houston was a much more centralized city with downtown being the center of everything, including retail activity. In the '50s and '60s, the 'burbs in Houston (and the rest of the country) really began taking over. Shopping centers such as Westbury Square ('62) were built, then the Galleria ('72), etc., thus decentralizing Houston's shopping scene. Downtown emptied and became mostly a business center with almost no retail. It took a generation or two for people to want to move back into central cities. SoHo and TriBeCa in the early '70s were, arguably, the first "reverse flight" neighborhoods to populate in the country. Early on in its gentrification, SoHo was just a bunch of cool buildings with a bunch of wacky artists. No retail. Eventually that changed and we know what it's become. Of course, Houston is a little late to this trend, but it's catching on. With Midtown, Montrose, EaDo, the 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, and 6th Wards gentrifying and developing...and now downtown attracting residential, retail will finally happen. This time it will be sustainable. It's an exciting time for Houston. More "luxury" residential will mean more and better retail; more and better retail will mean more luxury residential. Over the next few years you'll start seeing some great retail open downtown. Everything the HDMD has done and is doing will attract retail. They should keep the gas on until the 3rd Whole Foods and 2nd Cartier open up downtown, but, I'd argue, the focus should start shifting towards creating affordable housing. That's the next big frontier in the central city.
  8. This has probably been mentioned, but ran across this the otha' day: I don't know much about the project, just saw it. Looks like they're trying to expand the world's finest under-freeway amusement park!
  9. I was at Permitting last week and saw rolls and rolls of plans with the name "Kirby Collection" scrolled on them piled up in the waiting room. They must have had a dozen expeditors running around to different depts..
  10. I thought I'd never say anything like this, but, in the case of "Tranquility Park," I think that site would actually be better utilized as a residential tower or mixed use building. City Hall's park is close to being wonderful. Only problem is, it's only partially surrounded by activity. For urban parks to be truly wonderful, I think, they need to have great design and they need to be almost completely surrounded by users that need a green space. Otherwise, homeless are just going to hang out there. I'm also never a fan of parks separated by streets. In this 17-block area, I think downtown should focus on making City Hall Park, Jones Plaza, the plaza in front of Wortham, and Buffalo Bayou and the connections from the street to it the best parks they can be. Do a PPP and sell the air rights over the garage under Tranquility and that little corner extension of Tranquility that faces the back of Bayou Place. Use the money and create even more impressive public spaces in the district; then make sure those green spaces are surrounded by active uses - the theaters (obviously), retail, residents, office users, etc.
  11. The 80's is back and has been for a while now, buddy. Where you been?!? Plus, what year was the GRB built?
  12. The existing Arcade buildings are hideous, their orientation sucks. TEAR THEM DOWN! Start over. Create a truly walkable neighborhood with actual sidewalks, head-in parking, shade trees, landscaping, public spaces, connectivity to the surrounding neighborhoods. Now is the opportunity.
  13. Correct, no GFR. Camden refused. For years the Midtown Redevelopment Authority and Management District, public officials, and stakeholders urged/begged them to build retail in this project. Camden refused. So, the Redevelopment Authority had to redesign the park so that there was retail right in front of and adjacent to Camden, but in stand-alone buildings separate from Camden. This way they at least appear to be connected. Camden does retail in projects all over the country, except in Houston, their home base.
  14. Don't mess with the grid. Buffalo Bayou Park will be that asset for downtown. When the downtown portion is complete, residents downtown, especially ones close to Market Square, will be walking distance to one of the biggest and most expansive parks in the region.
  15. Found the old 1962 leasing catalogue for the building. Thought some of you might find it interesting. It was definitely the future back then! Sorry for the bad photos and even worse background.
  16. Apparently, Lionstone dropped it because of some very expensive infrastructural work that needs to be done to the site (freeway wall or something like that). I hear the new groups are trying to find ways to deal with it in a cost effective manner.
  17. Says a lot about our city that this guy's heading the organization that's "leading the effort to promote Houston as one of the great cities of the world." Guess parking lots, projects that reject mixed use and literally block important parks from fully developing, and subpar apartment complexes are what some feel makes Houston one of the great cities of the world.
  18. There have been retail and restaurant incentives in place since about 2005. OKRA, Batanga, Oxheart, Honeymoon, Little Dipper, El Big Bad, etc used them to get open. Only soft good retailer I know of that used the retail incentive was the Tipping Point, which has now closed. American Apparel was set to receive incentives about 10 years ago before the landlord of the Sakowitz building pulled the deal from them.
×
×
  • Create New...