largeTEXAS

It could be all these things. A "park" doesn't have to be just grass and trees. Ryan Slatterly's proposal may be my favorite so far. Although, if you added one thing, it might actually work. Build parking under the park. \

How about parking under the park?

Hanover's about to release drawings of their 12-story towers next door. Lots of glass. They look nice, yet nothing too groundbreaking.

Some additional images

From what I've heard, Thien An is working on a new restaurant just blocks away. Sounds like it will be a bigger, badder version of what it is currently.

Exciting news in store for the sandwich shop that's having to shut down in that strip center..

Great idea and good luck! Also, sign me up. If you need people to take on caring for a few more, let me know. We have a few properties in town that could help the little guys grow up big!

Yes, 7 stories. I think it's a good density for the property. The design is even fairly inoffensive. it's just too bad the old Ben Milam is going to come down.

Done. Thank you, Houston19514! I also wrote Marlene Gafrick, Director City Planning marlene.gafrick@houstontx.gov.

Couldn't agree more!

I sure hope so! The Rockets need to admit that they're terrible and start over.

Fortunately, that is not the case. There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes. It may not end up looking exactly how it did in the renderings, but it will certainly be developed into a dense, mixed-use project. It might take a few more years (or decades) than first expected, but, as of now, it's on track.

There's no code demanding parking in downtown Houston.

Ahh, we'll see if you're right, Subdude! When the space has been rebuilt, will it be successful this time? I'm banking on, yes. I have a lot of trust in PPS and think they did a great job with Discovery Green and Market Square. The last redo was done by a lighting designer who has absolutely NO business designing a public space. I'm still pissed and intrigued they hired him in the first place.

Call the Midtown Management District: 713.526.7577 http://www.houstonmidtown.com/

As soon as I realized what kinds of rents they had to get in order to break even, I was secretly hoping this day would come. The development, albeit pretty weird and ugly, is already there. Cheaper selling price will mean, I hope, improvements to the sidewalk experience, especially along Dallas (as Pleak mentioned). Cheaper selling price will also mean cheaper rents. Cheaper rents = tenants. Tenants = activity. Activity = better tenants; better tenants = more exciting place to be.

As for the parking spaces with rotating collections and blending the boundary, I believe smaller organizations could/should also best fill this role. As cool as it would be for an institution like the MFAH to embark on an unconventional manner in which to display art, I think independent art spaces are the way to go. Did you ever visit Artstorm, or have you ever visited the Johanna or Skydive? These are just a few of the more experimental, temporary, and/or unconventional art spaces close to or in the Museum District. There are also organizations such as No Longer Empty and others that inhabit empty storefronts for temporary exhibits http://www.thirteen.org/metrofocus/culture/no-vacancy-turning-empty-spaces-into-cultural-pop-ups/.

I get the idea of having art, quality, museum-standard art showcased in a place that's vulnerable and disaster-prone. New Orleans' Prospect Biennials http://www.prospectneworleans.org/ and P.S.1 http://momaps1.org/ in Queens, NYC have been just that. For P1 and P2 (New Orleans), the curators use temporary spaces - abandoned buildings, parking lots, industrial manufacturing yards - as venues to display, often site specific, art pieces by some of the most renowned contemporary artists in the world. It's spectacular, really, to see pieces that would normally be hung in giant, billion-dollar white boxes sitting so accessibly in spaces crusty with crime and ridden with weeds. P.S.1 is housed in a beat up (well, used to be) old public school far from the establishment on the Upper East Side. Yet, MoMA purchased P.S.1, I believe, to do something similar to what you are proposing - reach out to artists and other segments of the population, that might not venture too frequently to the shiny, expensive, established art museums. But, perhaps, this idea of a museum in Galveston should be something separate. The location of the current MFAH, I believe, needs the type of unification the prospectus outlines. The public spaces need to be better oriented, there need to be more comfortable and casual spaces, there need to be more and better food options, there needs to be additional theater space, etc. Perhaps the MFAH could partner with an institution to establish a satellite venue. Or, even better, let an organization with no ties to a big established art institution open up in Galveston and catch the attention of the establishment.

Ok, I'm trying to understand what you're proposing. It sounds like you think the MFAH should consider linking its "campus" to an old industrial building in Galveston? And, this would reverse Houston "turning its back" on the "historic seaport from which (it) wanted to part ways?" Another part of your proposal is that Holl "blur the line between sculpture garden and parking lot with a system of spaces devoted to permanent and temporary installation." Is this what you would see be accomplished by inhabiting the old Galveston brewery? I'm a little confused, but I think I like your thinking. Please explain.

strickn, what is the "brewery at Sheppard Park in G-town?"

So curious what restaurant you owned downtown, RedScare?! I've worked with quite a few restaurants and retailers downtown over the years; I wonder if we've run into each other. Actually, on second thought, maybe it's better we stay anonymous I agree with much of your post. There are a ton of suburban-only-minded people in this city and on this forum that can't, or choose not to, get comfortable with the idea of true city living. Nick_G, as most have us seem to have acknowledge by now, does not seem to be one of those people. Quite the contrary. I really appreciate the energy he brings to this discussion and to the effort to revitalize downtown. I'm speaking only for myself here, but I think for a lot of us who have worked/lived/put our blood, sweat, and tears into downtown over the years, it is difficult to read posts that are critical of downtown and that don't acknowledge the accomplishments it's made over the years. (Downtown and Houston have actually frustrated me to such a great extent at different points that I've fled to live in other cities. But, I keep coming back. Partially because it's home, but mostly, I think, because there is something exciting about this city and the potential it has to be great). I think there is a tendency to get overly-protective of downtown, especially in discussions about how it could be improved, and lose sight of what is really being said. Even though I might not agree with their reasons for staying away, people still avoid downtown like the plague. Downtown still suffers from the inability to draw the numbers of people it needs to establish a "critical mass" to become a sustainable live/work/shop/play/eat type of environment. As much as downtown has improved over the years, it simply has not become the inviting or comfortable destination for many or most Houstonians and visitors. In order to achieve that, I believe there has to be something special, exciting, and different about it. Discovery Green is a great start. So, but to a lesser extent, are the sports venues. I was sure hoping the Pavilions would be the thing that generated enough activity to gel that section of downtown, and then create a ripple effect. Whoops. It's a shame the Pavilions isn't overlooking Discovery Green. Then, I think it might actually start attracting small retailers interested in the throngs of people circulating through the park. My point is, I think there are actually some really wonderful ideas and insights in this thread. I think it would be a mistake to write them all off, even if many of them are veiled in barely intelligible rants.

The scope of this project is pretty huge. In general, this building is supposed to link the entire "campus" together, add parking, add exhibition space, add a library, add community features, "bring Hermann Park to the Sculpture Garden," etc. High expectations, as there should be. I just hope we can get some awesome green walls! Well, and a cool, functional building. And, better sidewalks, and good dining options...

Man, TheNiche, you must be buds with the good 'ole Billy Burge and all his associates that developed Cinco Ranch; former Mayor, Lanier; the Grand Parkway Association; Texas State Highway Commission; Ed Emmett; and the North Houston Association, just to name a few, to believe all that. I wish that were the way it worked. Sadly, our tax dollars (a little under $10 Billion just for a few of the major projects) have gone into road building and all sorts of other infrastructure improvements that, in turn, fund private suburban and greenfield development. You are correct, the City is not responsible for all of it, but it all comes out of the taxpayers pockets, whether it`s the City, the State, or Federal Stimulus money. Imagine what $10 Billion could have done for Houston inside the Beltway: 1. Entire Buffalo Bayou Master Plan, estimated $5.6 Billion 2. Entire light rail system, estimated $3 Billion 3. City-proposed Astrodome renovation and redevlopment, estimated $1.35 Billion