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MyEvilTwin

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Everything posted by MyEvilTwin

  1. Indeed. The atmosphere is electric. No, wait, that's just the substation. Shame about that...!
  2. Well that seems like a pretty weak analogy IMHO. I don't think anyone said that the big white cross should be illegal. Of course we're "free" to burn a flag, but any business owner who paints a big burning flag up the side of a 15-story building and light it up with red neon at night would be rather naive to think that wouldn't generate a little internet forum discussion... to say the least. (And I don't think it would be legal to go to the St. Joseph's lobby and burn a cross. They're legal, but not on other people's property.)
  3. I'm not generally a big fan of loud religion, but from a marketing perspective I don't really object to this. With the prominence of the Med Center, it's tough for other inner-loop hospitals to attract attention to themselves, and St. Joseph's has been struggling to survive over the years. Somehow I see this more as an attempt to draw attention to its differentiating characteristic (its Catholic affiliation) than to blast Houston with religious symbols. What has always seemed strange to me about St. Joseph's is that its professional building is across the Pierce Elevated from the hospital. It's not exactly a dense section of downtown today -- when it was built, were all the blocks north of I-45 occupied?
  4. Well, you CAN see the Methodist building behind the MDACC building. Not a lot of it, but enought to tell if it's lit up at night or not. BTW, the "Time Lapse" feature on that construction cam is awesome -- especially because you can see both the MDACC and the Methodist buildings going up in parallel!
  5. Hmm, I'll beg to differ on that point... The section of Westcreek Apts. that faces either side of Westcreek Lane is courtyard-style, basically several rectangular apartment buildings, each surrounding a pool area; the side with the entrance on Westheimer (Formerly Avalon Square) is not -- more of a snake of building(s). There were other differences too (the actual units are quite different), but that's the main one. I lived on the former Avalon Square side back in the mid-'90s, my wife then lived on the Westcreek side. There was even a fence between the two (though the fence was opened to connect the two parking lots). Maybe we're talking about two different things? Could Westcreek actually be three complexes now?? (To clarify -- I'm not talking about the east side of Westcreek Ln. versus the West Side... The old Avalon Square is behind the apartments that line the East side of Westcreek Ln.)
  6. I don't think that's exactly correct... Westcreek started as two separate complexes (Westcreek and... Avalon Square, I think?), which were later merged (maybe in the early '90s?) and more recently re-split. I was also including the Park at Westcreek (a third complex, developed later) in the Westcreek set. But I can't argue with most of your points. Your characterization of the current Westcreek crowd seems about right... but was the original Westcreek tenant base something more like today's Midtowners? I don't know -- that predates me. At least one of the complexes in Midtown (Post?) brought street-level retail with it. That's a plus for the neighborhood. It's too bad more didn't do so.
  7. Maybe Westcreek? At least in relation specifically to the "Northwest quadrant of Midtown" I'd guess the complexes centered around Westcreek Ln between San Felipe and Westheimer seem fairly comparable in units. Keeping in mind that much of the development in that area of Midtown was or became Condos... If what you're referring to as the Northwest quadrant is strictly west of Brazos, there aren't all THAT many units there, really. My office looks right over it. Anyhow, the apartments themselves in the Westcreek area may have declined in value over time -- seems like just part of the natural process in our non-bubble Houston economy -- but they haven't exactly turned into a neighborhood of blight, nor have they pulled down the property values at Afton Oaks (right across Westheimer) with them, have they? Not that I'd be all that comfortable investing in Midtown property myself... But my fear there wouldn't be the "lemming yuppie" apartments so much as the fact that it's been booming for a full economic cycle and there are still too many run-down / undeveloped areas to make me comfortable. I'm no real estate pro, but if I were hypothesizing, I'd worry as much about the long-term viability of key businesses like the midtown Randall's as the abundance of apartments in the area if I were considering a Midtown investment. Not that they're unrelated... Randalls needs the "lemming yuppies". (Feel free to correct me if I'm overlooking anything obvious!)
  8. Anyone know if this is a net gain for downtown or just a move? I'm guessing the latter... from the Reliant Energy building?
  9. The HAIF really ought to have a running countdown of CBD surface parking lots on its home page. Granted, the countdown has slowed considerably in the last year or so... And the raw number would probably be depressingly high. But it'd be neat. I wonder how many there really are? Could be some room for subjectivity in any count, I suppose (half-blocks, blocks connected to freeways, etc.)
  10. Went to the Rice baseball game last night and had beautiful sunset views of this building. The crown (well, in this case it's a bit more like a tiara) is taking shape, and really enhances the look. The new Rice Collaborative Research Center is nearly complete too -- and it's looking much better to me than it did in renderings (IMHO). Both make attractive additions to the Med Center skyline!
  11. The top two aren't really floors, they're just walls built around the utilities. You can see them in the renderings as well. I was just looking over it today from the Scurlock Tower across the street. It's looking a bit better than I expected.
  12. That's what I thought when I heard about it... $10M seems like a drop in the bucket. But do you think the city would really be pushing for this deal publicly if they didn't already have some kind of tacit agreement that it would make a difference? There'd be egg on their face if they approve it but the developers still walk away, no? (I'm asking... I'm not expressing an opinion.)
  13. Very interesting development. This gutted church is visible from my office, and any of the west-facing offices at the edge of downtown. It's surrounded by Larry Davis townhomes (the metal ones). I think this park idea is a pretty neat way to preserve what's left of it. Needless to say, it'll do wonders for the property values of the surrounding townhomes. If I had one of them I'd be doing cartwheels. When these homes were under construction, this was an abandoned, decrepit church. Then it was a burned-out, eyesore of a safety hazard. Now it'll be a very unique park. What better turnaround could the homeowners have hoped for? Somebody must have a friend on the city council!
  14. Are they still around? Could we get them to build it behind the Mercer?
  15. Interesting... I didn't realize that. Well, I guess it could have been worse (I'm thinking of Mercer I, where we never got II ).
  16. Yeah the bigger factor of the two (for me) is hiding the Wedge parking garage. That ugly wall was clearly not built for public viewing -- I assume (?) it was put up when there was something else on this spot that was shielding it from view. To me it gives the impression that whatever was torn down on this surface lot was actually attached to the garage. It will be nice to have what looks like an attractive hotel blocking this from view! (Keeping fingers crossed that it doesn't turn into another recession victim)
  17. Ugh. That's the first good argument I've heard for NOT keeping the Discovery Tower name. Do you want people thinking the GRB is some kind of children's museum, or what?
  18. The Chronicle has a pretty long article following up on the dispute over that little bit of land that the city condemned to make a park that was very convenient for BLVD Place. A couple of interesting excerpts...
  19. Woo Hoo! HAIF finally gets a physical home in a new tower befitting its extraordinary internet stature!! Er... No?
  20. This topic needs a third thread now?? And what exactly does it have to do with architecture? Sheesh.
  21. I can't imagine a Pappasitos moving into a newly renovated, bland shopping center like that. Don't they usually spend a lot of money making their restaurants look more... uh... antique? If they're moving into the area, I'd think it would have to be in a different location nearby, no?
  22. Well we'd run out of things to talk about pretty quickly if they stopped doing that.
  23. This made it into today's Chronicle. Not much new, except to mention that they're trying to lease some space to some of the other Arts organizations who perform in the Theatre District (I'm not sure if that was in the BizJournals article or not). It's pretty clear from the article that the design is far from finalized. Also, funding seems speculative at this point. I hope it goes forward.
  24. Today's Chronicle reports that the Rodeo & Texans are sounding a little more open to the proposed Astrodome Convention Hotel project of late. Not surprisingly, it seems it was always about negotiating a better deal...
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