Jump to content

'Stonian

Full Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    232

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    4

 Content Type 

Everything posted by 'Stonian

  1. 'Stonian
    This announcement in the HBJ this morning that Randall Davis "hopes" to secure financing for a his Astoria condo tower which sits on Ed Wulfe's property speaks volume about the status and future of BLVD Place. http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/print-edition/2012/01/27/randall-davis-galleria-tower-rising-on.html I think you're correct lockmat..., piecemeal is the way to go..., maybe the project as a whole is just much too large to secure financing in this post-recession environment. The best thing about the rendering of this new tower is it looks as if the strip parking adjacent to Post Oak blvd is going away, at least directly fronting of this tower! This development needs to be more of a City Centre type design instead of an Uptown Park clone. Previously I believe Wulfe was going for something in between, but it just wasn't working. Although it appears the whole foods aspect is still intact, I'm all for a total redesign at this point.
  2. 'Stonian
    I'm not sure if this project is mentioned anywhere else here on HAIF but I was in Houston for my nephew's graduation last weekend and noticed 2 cranes in the Galleria/Uptown area near the St Regis Hotel and was surprised that no one here has mentioned it. I searched the net but could not find any renderings, just a brief mention from this development/consulting firm http://reddcore.com/projects.php. I'm excited about this upscale "8-story" Gables Project as I think the Uptown area needs more of these types of developments to become more walkable/livable in the future. If this project is anything like Gables' Memorial Hills project or its West Ave apartments then it should be a great addition to what I call the "forgotten side" of Uptown (just inside the loop). It looks like Houston is finally leaving the recession in its wake and beginning to start some of its long delayed projects from the last couple of years. Atlanta is dead right now as far as new development goes, so Houston it's your time to shine!
  3. 'Stonian
    Not hardly, so long as the Irving corporate executives keep making decisions to invest in billion dollar projects in the Houston metro area and relocate more jobs here, have at it! Thanks Irving.., thanks for showing H-town some Luv!
  4. 'Stonian
    Because this is Houston..., "Out with the Old, in with the New"!
  5. 'Stonian
    I agree BLVD Place, Regent Square, and High Street would have (& still may) change the game for Houston. Houston was late to the game as far as building mixed-used urban infill developments. The credit crunch has slowed us down considerably & I'm not sure that was necessarily a bad thing. My hope is that City Centre (& West Ave to a lesser extent) will be the game changers. I'm hoping other developers see City Centre's success out on the west side and try to emulate it inside the loop. Here in Atlanta they were out front as far as securing financing for large urban infill developments & were able to complete quite a few projects before financing dried up. However, Atlanta severely overbuilt (a lot of those developments currently sit empty) & now they are paying the price with falling values which have disastrous effects on so many other fronts (i.e. local government tax collections, school budgets, lowered office rents, home values etc). Also at a time when we most need to be creating jobs, since everything is already built, construction related employment will be severely impacted for the forseeable future. I often ask myself would it have been better for all the proposed trendy developments to have been built in Houston & just sit empty until the economy improves (I mean at least they would have already been built right, huh?) & I must say that I'm leaning more towards the old saying of "Slow and steady wins the race"! IMO (& I'm no expert) Atlanta is about to experience something similar to what Houston experienced (maybe lasting 5 years instead of 10 yrs) from the late 80's through the mid 90's when virtually nothing got built and land values had fallen so low that very few quality developments were proposed even after things had improved by 1995'-97'. While I'm still looking forward to the change at Post Oak & San Felipe, I have never been totally pleased with the plan for BLVD Place (& I'm sure the developer couldn't care less about what pleases me lol). But it appears Ed Wulfe is more or less following the model of Uptown Park. Although Uptown Park by most accounts appears to have been a huge success, I think BLVD Place would complement or compete more favorably with Uptown Park if they offered something slightly different that's more urban/walkable like City Centre. My hope is that the delays caused by this recession will give planners in Houston an opportunity to refine their designs to offer something that's truly urbane.
  6. 'Stonian
    Yeah, that's my biggest complaint.., TAKE DOWN THAT STUPID RENDERING ALREADY! It only reminds us of what could have been. Honestly I was suspicious when I read the initial press release that they were about to go ahead and start construction because they had secured a $30 million loan for financing construction. $30 million would barely finance Discovery Tower's adjacent garage..., so I was skeptical. This developer knew all along that they could NOT build that rendering with only $30 million. IMO the rendering was just a ploy to get the City of Houston's tax abatements.
  7. 'Stonian
    Well try a little constructive criticism every now & then instead of the mumbo-jumbo rambling nonsense you often spit out bruh.
  8. 'Stonian
    Niche, go back on vacation for a few more days please..., I was enjoying your absence! You're right, no one promised me anything. Bad analogy or not, you get my point. I understand that the developers of the Embassy Suites owe me absolutely nothing & that they are free to build whatever the hell they want on their land (well atleast in Houston they are). In the same vein, I'm free to criticize, be disappointed, give whatever analogy I choose & expect more for my city. Thank you Sir.
  9. 'Stonian
    I agree with you Jax! My great disappointment with this building is that they got us all excited with the rendering that was initially released only to drastically delete it's most aesthetic features. In essence they over-promised & under-delivered! Imagine getting promised a Lexus (or at least a fully loaded Toyota Avalon) and end up only getting a base-model Corolla. Now there's nothing wrong with a brand new Corolla, it's just less what we expected lol As I've stated before, had they simply put out the true rendering & built this Embassy Suites as is, then I dont think we'd have half the complaints and "ugly" comments as we're having here. Truth be told, the final product is in line with a typical Embassy Suites and not any uglier. So whoever is comparing this to that Sheraton in DT Dallas is going way overboard.
  10. 'Stonian
    Also, they appear to have added another floor or at least expanded the top floor since the last rendering..., the bigger the better!
  11. 'Stonian
    Sign says early 2012, wouldn't seem to take another 1&1/2 years so maybe they are under-promising and over-delivering.
  12. 'Stonian
    I concur! Let's all collectively ignore Niche & his useless babble...,
  13. 'Stonian
    You mean the expansive view of downtown, there just one view of expansiveness, and thats towards the north. Parking lots,toyota center, hilton americas, scattered buildings, and more parking lots to the left/west. Parking lots, Discovery Tower, MMP, scattered structures, Harris Co. justice buildings, and more parking lots to the right/east. Not really expansive.And until those parking lots turn into something, I'd prefer a supertall that blocks out that view of the parking lots, but heck a 2 story structure can block that, so it doesn't really have to be a supertall. Well depending on where you're standing in Discovery Green looking west/southwest, you can still see the Enron/Chevron blgs., Continental, Houston Center, etc. as well as many of the taller skyscrapers on the west side of downtown, and if you get @ the right angle on sloped ground near the performance pavillon, you can even see Mainplace. So that's what I mean by "expansive" -- a view of towers other than just those immediately surrounding the park. Once you are deep inside the park, the parking lots in the vicinity are hardly noticeable because of the many trees and small structures throughout the park.
  14. 'Stonian
    I don't have a problem with the height, just the cheapish stucco facade, orientation on the lot, and that "thing" on top. Actually I'd prefer smaller buildings around Discovery Green as opposed to the park being boxed in by super-talls on all sides which would block the expansive views of the rest of downtown from the park.
  15. 'Stonian
    Houston, like most large cities, has many different cultures to be discovered. Most of my friends that come to visit for the first time have this image of Houston as this big conservative gritty blue collar sprawling oil town with a lot of people but nothing to do. While I wouldn't say that's a total misrepresentation, neither would I say it fully describes my hometown. I don't try to make Houston out to be something that is not, I simply let my guests know that Houston does also have its sophisticated cosmopolitan side as well. They are always wowed by the variety of the food offerings, the culture of the museum district, the beauty of Hermann Park, the downtown/uptown skylines, the massiveness of the Texas Medical Center, shopping @ the Galleria & Rice/Highland Villages, the urban forest of Memorial Park & points north & west, the heavy industrial feel of the Ship Channel & refineries, & yes even the sprawl! I don't just visit the sterile environs in H-town, I also expose them to some of the quirkiness, grit and realness of H-town (Montrose, Washington Ave, 3rd ward, SW-side). Interestingly most of my friends always ask about great shopping, nightlife, unique restaurants, parks, urban life etc. so that's what I end up showing them. I have to respect Niche for his east Houston tour, because hey, that's what he thinks his friends/guests would find interesting. In fact I wouldn't mind taking the tour myself someday. Bottom line is there all many different types of people that make this world, and this specifically this city, the fascinating place that it is. Different strokes for different folks..., neither is right or wrong..., it's just who we are!
  16. 'Stonian
    Niche, Exactly what do you like? If anything??
  17. 'Stonian
    well since you asked.., How about an angle taken from Discovery Green that highlights the 3 or 4 story raised section with the curved roof on top. Yeah.., how about that one
  18. 'Stonian
    Niche, that's just like you to go find and post the most unflattering angle of 5 Houston Center to make your point. I wouldn't expect anything less from you. We all know that pic is not a proper representation of 5-HC.
  19. 'Stonian
    Red, I don't think I missed you by a mile. Although I rarely post comments, I've been reading this board for years and know your HAIF personality. Believe it or not I do appreciate the fact that you're a Houston Homer, because I am also! Hell I used to think I was the only one until I discovered this website. But please note: Not all of us homers live in H-town, some of us are out on location spying out the competition ;-) You defend Houston at all costs and that's commendable, but you also run the risk of not being taken seriously when you can never admit "OUR" faults. This town has a long history of being controlled by developers and allowing these same developers to throw up whatever type of hideous structures they desire to with zero regard for aesthetics just to save a buck. I'm tired of wasting gas having to drive round-about ways around town to avoid some of these abominations when showing off my hometown to friends/relatives visiting from out of town! When I take them to Discovery Green I don't want them asking "What the hell is that 'thing' on top of yall's Embassy Suites?" I'm tired of making up stories to justify some of this nonsense!! (i.e. I-10 Memorial Hermann bldg & Westin Hotel, Mercer, Legacy @ Memorial--you know the "new" ugly biege box that's now blocking downtown's "money shot photo", that recycling plant @ corner of SW Freeway 59/Fountainview, to name a few) And honestly that's what it seems you, Niche, and a few other HAIF posters are always doing...., MAKING UP STORIES TO JUSTIFY SOME OF THIS CRAP! But I know better and I'm not afraid to admit that sum of our buildings look like shyt!
  20. 'Stonian
    Well VelvetJ I agree with you WHOLEHEARTEDLY!! (& I am sure of it!) Niche is "in"famous for spitting out a bunch of nonsense in most of his posts. One the one hand he agrees with you then, he goes off on some tangent about why the 56 story B of A ICON building is comparable to the 27 story 5 Houston Center. (BTW: I love 5 HOU CTR!) Most of Niche's posts leave me wondering if dude has any social skills or if he's one who just loves to hear himself talk. And don't even get me started on Red Scare.., He's never seen a building in Houston he doesn't like. He'd justify the architectural significance of the old dilapidated run down DAYS INN downtown if given the opportunity. He's the ultimate HOMER..., in Red Scare's mind developers in Houston can do no wrong as far he's concerned. Houston is my hometown as well, and to be honest, although I currently reside in Atlanta, I couldn't care less if Atlanta, Chicago, or Dallas throw up trashy eyesore buildings. I nitpick Houston's skyline because I CARE!!! No one said all of Houston sucks, but if I see another 1-sided Mercer go up then you better believe I'm gonna vent & raise a stink about it. Not that I can change anything to make the developers adhere to their renderings, but I'm certainly free to state my opinion on HAIF. Furthermore, I did not expect the Embassy Suites to be an architectural masterpiece, but even after only seeing the crayon colored cartoon-ish rendering I was pleasantly surprised that they had chosen a decent design only to be severely disappointed to see them cut out most of the features that made ES "decent". While most of the building is still covered under tarps as they complete the stucco facade, it is abundantly clear that this design is greatly altered from the rendering. At this point I'm just hoping the finished product doesn't turn out as awful as I suspect it will. It would have been better had they not even released the rendering and just built the crap as is, then there would have been no expectation that a decent hotel was going to be built right next to downtown's premiere urban park. Just my 2 cents Red & Niche..., You guys have put in quite a bit more than your 2 cents!
  21. 'Stonian
    Well it was my understanding that the City did give a tax abatement/incentive for this project because it was within 4 blocks of the GRB convention center, however I'm not sure (& seriously doubt) that the C. of HOU entered into a covenant to control design changes. This argument that a city becomes "unfriendly" if its planning dept. requires certain features/aestethics is pure hogwash to me because obviously the overwhelming majority of cities demand improvements. Otherwise how would such great projects CONSISTENTLY get built in those places? I mean why would developers elsewhere (Atlanta, Seattle, Chicago, NY etc.) include the added expense of aesthetic upgrades if they were not required or at the very least encouraged to do so? I'm not advocating that Houston start strong-arming developers into conforming, but something has got to be done to change this "Take-whatever-we-can-get" mindset that has infiltrated my hometown in the last 20 years. Now this is not to say that Houston has not added any cool projects recently (MainPlace, Enron 2, Discovery Tower & OPP come to mind) but they are too few & far between! The majority of recent projects are strictly ulititarian especially many of the bland boxy mid-rises out on I-10/Energy Corridor. I can live with these mundane functional structures out in the suburbs, but I believe our urban core (downtown, med center, uptown) should be held to a higher standard. Development in general is inherently risky, but I would not single out downtown Houston as any more risky than any other city for that matter. In fact, right about now, Houston is probably one of the safer bets in the country. Here in Atlanta we are so overbuilt with new hotel, condo, and office towers that it will probably be another 5-7 years before we see another crane dotting the skyline. Although Downtown Houston has more than a few absolutely stunning architectural gems , I believe its still overun with a lot of the run-of-the-mill 20-40 story unimaginative towers. Therefore (IMHO), every new building constructed should add a distinct architectural element (as well as serve form/function) to break up the monotony. Again, just my opinion, but after such initial promise, this Embassy Suites is turning out to be a real disappointment!
  22. 'Stonian
    Hey guys, I'm afraid this Embassy Suites building is turning out alot like the 35-story Memorial Hermann MONTROSITY out on I-10. After studying the renderings and the recently updated construction photos here showing the installation of the ES logo "Containment Box", I've figured out the discrepancy in floor count from the original announcement of 22-stories to the later 19-story references. I could be wrong but it seems to me that ES will indeed be ONLY 19 stories. These jokers have scrapped 3 of the top 4 recessed floors (the ones with the circular balconies) and have instead placed the architecural box and "spire" (hopefully it's still in the plan!) directly on top of what appears to be the 18th floor hence forming the 19th floor!!! I count the base of the building to be 2 floors with 16 standard floors of hotel rooms topped with 1 penthouse/mechanical floor above totalling 19 stories. I'm extremely disappointed that this hotel will not stay true to its rendering because I think this new design is a considerable "step down" from an architectural standpoint. IMO the recessed floors on top made the entire design attractive even considering its rather smallish stature next to OPP & Discovery Tower. Now we're going to be left with a cheap flat-roofed stucco-clad building that looks like the whole crown/spire thingy was placed on top as an afterthought similar to the control tower contraption the top of Memorial Hermann Tower on I-10. The only consolation prize (according to today's Houston Business Journal) will be that the ES Logo Box will be lit up as a beacon at night...., but overall still a disappointment nontheless! I will admit that appreciate the night-time lighting on the Memorial Hermann complex but actually I'm pissed about ES-Downtown..., I know Houston is notorious for having limited zoning (I say "limited" because I beleive any sort of developmental ordinances is a form of zoning), but does the City of Houston atleast have an Architectural Controls Committee that approves building designs and subsequent changes during construction. I mean who lets these developers get away with this shyt just to save a buck or two?? ..., & Niche I realize 3 entire floors cost considerably more than "a buck or two", but you get my point!
  23. 'Stonian
    Hey guys I browse this site weekly however this is my first ever post! When I lived in Houston's Post Midtown Square 8-9 years ago I prayed that "Midtown" would eventually get developed into this true urban oasis that many Haif'ers (like myself) crave, but when I would come back to visit 2-3 times a year I would notice that "Midtown" was at best slow to develop and half of the new development was disappointing to say the least (i.e. both new suburban style CVS stores). I live in Midtown Atlanta right in the mix of everything and would always wonder why Houston's "Midtown" couldn't get their act together. My neighborhood is vibrant, eclectic, and walkable with numerous newly developed and older highrise and midrise condos above retail. When visiting Houston back in June of this year I finally realized that "Midtown" is really not comparable with Atlanta's Midtown in terms of demographics, economics, and development focus. For years I had been comparing apples and oranges. However what I did observe is that Houston does have an "Atlanta-like" midtown area but it's just not called "Midtown". In fact I'm not sure if it really has an identifying name at all. I'd say the area west/southwest of downtown extending pretty much all the way out towards the River Oaks/Uptown area is Houston's true "Midtown"! The blighted area south/southwest of the CBD between downtown and the medical center has potential to be this great urban utopia, however I believe the attention of developers has always been the area more west of downtown for obvious reasons (demographics, median household income, population etc.)
×
×
  • Create New...