TexasArchitect

I drove by this area the other day, and am curious to everyone's thoughts to what will happen to the neighboring communities. 

Since the plan looks like midway is looking to develop a "town" within the 150 acres... would the neighboring area (specifically east of Hirsch Rd.) stay as is? Or would that get gentrified?

Also, I see architect on record for the project is Gensler. Any updates in general to the master planning of this east river project?

hey guys sorry for the delay. i talked to my "source" lol.

anyway, groundbreaking wont occur till spring of '08 i was asked not to give specifics, but this is the updated general info. The Asia House will be openening in 2010. Millwork for this project has been worked out and so far it looks pretty cool. there are some renderings, but unfortunately due to the nature of the project i can't post them right now, sorry.

further down the line i can give u guys more specifics, but the firm working on this project respects their clients privacy and is a well respected firm that doesn't want to release any of their stuff as of yet, so it'll be for my viewing pleasure only, lol. anyway, as soon as they are free to give out info i'll post up the renderings for everyone, until then you'll have to enjoy the empty lot

So Monday has passed and no word on the groundbreaking date. Any info, TexasArchitect?

ahh crap, sorry man i completely forgot, and i just had lunch with those guys the other day.

ill ask and let you know.

i didn't even know this thread exisited. i know people who worked on this project. i'll see if i can get the date for you guys by monday if no one beats me to it.

Actually, TA, this "transitional center" could improve the area. Currently, the parolees get off the bus with no one to direct them where to go. Many never make it out of the area, waiting to get back into trouble. A transitional center would intercept the parolees, give them info on where to live and work, give directions to the parole office, so they can be supervised, and otherwise give the parolees a nudge in the right direction. This would help clear the bus station of parolees, as opposed to having them congregate there, as currently occurs.

Somehow, I do not believe that the architecture firm did not know the bus station was there. If they are not moving there, it probably has nothing to do with Greyhound.

red you have a point. i guess some ppl would look at it as "oh no now the inmates are going to hang around here more" which i guess is what they do anyways, lol.

so like u said at least it'll take them off the street and into a bldg. or at least the ones that actually want to turn their lives around.

regarding the arch firm, they know about the bus station but didn't know about the transitional center. i think they even mentioned the property they were looking at had barbed wire around it or something of that nature. i personally am not familiar with that area so i'm not sure if they were being sarcastic but their descriptions were pretty funny...

it will be pure Sex if most of the level 1 stores had outside entrances

haha, this is o.t. but good to see someone else use some loose slang here. in the "car" community we always say "it's the sex" i was just always hesitant to use that terminology in here cuz i didn't know if anyone would understand,lol. good to see i'm not alone here in using that phrase....

i heard this morning that they are planning on having a "transitional center" next or close to that bus station in midtown for inmates who have served their time and are released back to the community.

apparently the center will serve to house them/help them. i guess that area is going to get worse.

there's an arch. firm that was going to move down there, but i doubt now that it'll happen....

Update: The building is almost completely torn down as of yesterday.

what?!?!?! oh man that sucks. that corner is going to look diff w/o kaplans there....

aslong as they do something to the outside

the storefront will change but naturally there are some places where the existing stone has to remain. the windows will def. go out for the new design. i'm not much of a fan of the ext. desgin, but once it's built it may look better in person than in rendering. the interior will be pimp.

Cool! Thanks.

you're welcome. the space is deceiving cuz it looks small, but the space is fairly big. i think the int is gonna be what sets this place apart. it's gonna look nice

barbacoa w/ hardly any remnants or pieces of brain in it

brains?? i don't think barbacoa is suppose to have any brains in it at all.....

here is a map for clarity along with some pics. and due to space layout the seating area will be facing north.

please excuse the orientation of the map.

I've been to Arandas twice. They're not bad. I always go to the ones where they hardly speak english. So I don't know the names, only the locations.

Plus, I always get tortas, so.

at arandas the tortas would probably be the only good thing they have. and i think it's most arandas where they hardly speak english, lol.

my torta order always is "torta al pastor sin crema con un orchata grande"

Congratulations PUSH!! I just read that additional funding was recieved - and the project is going full steam ahead!

sweeeet!! looking forward to it.

Martini Park appears to be very upscale. Beautiful people only?

well it kinda aims at a different crowd. apparently the martini park in plano is making a big hit and turning up good revenue. i'm not familiar with plano, but i was told that the location of M.P. there was attracting a lot of the yuppie crowd etc.

hopefully the galleria location will be as successful, which i can't imagine it not doing well.

the project is fairly big 6,800 sq ft w/ 552 sq ft of parking garage storage rooom

Best Mexican restaurants are the little taquerias.

except taqueria arandas those places are awful!!!!!

roochies or ruchies (sp?) that place is bad too

gorditas aguascalientes goes on the bad list also

but those wont discourage me, lol. i'll still keep hoppin those places till i find a good one

definately a good addition!! 30,000 sq ft is big...time to polish up on some skateboarding skillz

The aforementioned Martini Park also coming soon (looks pretty cool; I hope they'll incorporate an outdoor area)

great news!! we just got permit for martini park last week

they want to open with a quickness, i'll keep all posted on the progress of this particular project.

edit:

forgot to add that there will be an outdoor patio

So when's groundbreaking?

should be soon, but the tenants demands are what is holding up this project...

pics???

The people seem to be typical Houston cheese.

WRD!

Gerald Hines looks weird without the 'D' Gerald D Hines, lol

anyway, he's a very respectful figure or at least imo he is. the very first firm i used to work for, we did work for him all the time. actually, he was one of our biggest clients. you can check the Kendall-Heaton website and see if he's doing anything with them. i'll ask some of my friends there and see if they are currenlty doing anything with him and pm u the info.

I thought this was a pic from the Haif meet/greet before the joint was raided.

LOL, someone should invite her to the meet that way we can all laugh then afterwards we'll all hit dairy queen for blizzards

^ LOL, i was debating on posting that exact same pic

I could not find the previous thread on the ZaZa, so I apologize for posting this here. You can move it if you want.

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/4867828.html

I noticed Cynthia Hunt's name in the photo gallery. Looks like the same Cynthia Hunt, the one with the strong southern accent, who used to be with channel 2. I thought she moved to an affiliate away from Houston.

good post! got to see a lil of the zaza interior. i didn't even notice cynthia hunt in the pics till i saw musicamans post saying he saw the pic.

so i went back through the pics. she's pic 36 by the way for those who passed it up like me, which will be pretty easy as she was nothing to really look at in the pic.