swtsig

I'd support a redevelopment here if it meant street and infrastructure upgrades to westheimer and streets like mcduffie, harold, kipling, hazard, etc. It's incredible to think the city has allowed this area, now officially a very high rent, high profile, cultural and mini-economic engine, to deteriorate to the condition that it has. "Gross negligence" is a term I would consider applicable at this point.

agree wholeheartedly. love that design exactly for that reason. which isn't to say i'm not happy w the design chosen.

what these comments ignore is one itsy bitsy minor point - economics. you want to know why this is located where it is and not "near downtown"? money. go look at what dirt is trading for "near downtown" and compare it to this. it's easy to bemoan something when it isn't your money but the cost difference is massive. and you know who would bare the brunt of those increased costs? the cash-strapped startup community this city is desperately trying to foster. instead of complaining that this doesn't meet some subjective aesthetic or location criteria, how about we support our still tiny startup community? how abut applauding the fact that this 120,000 SF start up community is essentially at capacity just a few months after opening? or even acknowledging that the very fact that it is full means it met a very real market demand that may not have been met "near downtown"? and besides, in case y'all missed it, there are several startup communities, incubators and coworking concepts planting flags in and around downtown so it's not like the cannon prevented those areas from attracting those concepts anyways. these things aren't mutually exclusive and in fact that will likely work in harmony. not everyone lives or wants to be "near downtown". to think that in a startup barren city like Houston someone would use the word "hate" to describe one of the most successful startup communities in the city is ridiculous. houston hasn't earned the right to admonish concepts like the cannon. get off your high horse.

from the website it seemed as if the "streets" moniker referred solely to this particular retail component, no?

tech is a broad term but it's the perfect type of tenant for this kind of development. don't think this is a nab from another city as i'm pretty sure they have an existing presence here but i could be wrong. either way it's a great anchor office tenant.

46 stories w a bit of a crown.

no need to argue about the merits of this design, this won't be it. this was simply a proposal. carry on.

it'll do both.

well said and i agree. nothing about this site plan seems overly ambitious other than the overall # of mixed use components, but the design and scale seems plenty achievable. it certainly has a BIG vibe to it, especially the schematics, but also seems very approachable. I also think it would play off hsu's design at montrose collective very well. fingers crossed the project ends up as shown or a very similar facsimile thereof.

Madison Marquette, formerly PMRG.

do we have any idea if this the actual design or simply a conceptual or proposed design?

metlife has had numerous conversations w Hines on a multi-family or mixed use development at BLVD Place in the past. my understanding was that it was for the northern most parcel fronting san felipe but it certainly may have been this site. either way, metlife will almost certainly develop.

it looks fine imo and they have plans for future high rises here so it will probably have some neighbors in the not too distant future.

same. spent many a summer near willowbrook mall, specifically shannon's skate shop... never heard it referred to as the willow haha

i dig it.