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violet

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  1. To be clear: this garage was financed and owned by a foreign investor who is reportedly the European equivalent of Sam Walton. There is no reason that this garage should be w/o a skin, except that the investor was only looking at the bottom line and will never see nor care about its effects to our city and the neighboring residents. Furthermore, Hines, by report, is embarrassed by this structure....their name is nowhere to be seen on this building, nor is this completed project on its website. There was no venture to beautify this thing in anyway (planters, landscape, etc.). As for the intrusive lights, the developers and investor have turned a blind eye.
  2. Did you ever think you'd live to see news coverage of a parking garage on TV? Check out Fox 26 tonight (Friday) at 9 pm.
  3. Possible, but I don't know if the photos can really translate this garage. It's symmetrical, parallel, and functional....it's a giant parking garage. However, notice that there is very little concrete b/w the floor and ceiling...meaning that when this is used, all that will really be seen are the entirety of the cars. The retaining wires are all that comes b/w us and them. Also, try viewing this thing at night. There is no blending, anywhere...the lights are intrusive, and ridiculously bright. It looks really out of place when viewed next to the Esperson.
  4. Since Friday, July 13th, the lights on the roof and half of the parking garage had been shut off after 8pm. The glare that you now see are a fraction of what it was for the first week. It would seem, the collective grumblings of a lot of people had some people listening. Of course, that may all change when the garage is officially opened.
  5. You have to remind yourself, this is Houston - not Manhattan. No, it's not Manhattan, and it's certainly not Denver or Indianapolis or any other smaller metropolitan city that has a vibrant, progressive, revitalized downtown area. Realize the short-sightedness of placing a blight such as this in the heart of downtown. What could've enhanced this area, has now distracted the beauties of true historical buildings. Nevermind that its presence right on the lightrail, completely mocks the efforts for reducing pollution and congestion in downtown (this garage reportedly will house 950+ cars). Efforts to encourage more residents in downtown, will in effect, encourage further retail and entertainment businesses. NOt to mention, giving some assistance to the problems of urban sprawl. Most of us who live in downtown attempt to do everything in downtown (shopping, medical/dental care, entertainment, eat, etc.). As it is, with the very self-serving nature of a few, Houston will only slowly make progress into what it could ultimately be.
  6. mmm. no...eggs and birdseed would be better solutions.
  7. No, actually we are all used to the above occurrences and expect that in downtown. It comes with the territory, so to speak. Never mind that during the nonstop construction of this thing, 7 days a week (yes, including Sunday), early, early in the morning and late into the night, often breaking the guidelines on noise restriction, we've been relatively silent. This is, of course, an architectural forum. So this is addressed. If you truly understand the complaint, it is not just that we don't share the same visual tastes or definitions as the developors on "architecturally significant" parking garages, but this is actually interfering w/ our quality of life. I can only personally state that as my (and many others) bedroom window looks out onto this, the lights emanating are so incredibly intense that I have had miserably little sleep, and have had to leave work early b/c I can not function optimally. Other residents in this building include the working, young children, retirees....well, just people. No building, no matter where it is, should adversely affect the quality of life and health of others.
  8. Oh, THAT's what's going on. I was wondering what he was smoking when he suggested that we (the Commerce Homeowner's association) pitch in and buy a cover for the ugly garage owned and designed by someone else. I hadn't visited this site since moving to Houston 2 years ago, and wondered what was up.
  9. Actually, the above entities were long involved with this before the residents ever got wind of the final change in plans. This is not just a problem for the neighbors across the street. Unless you're reading only a portion of my statements, you can see that this isn't about a narrow focus ("whiny self-interested group") group. Downtowners are overall a group of active and civic-minded, multi-tasking folk who care about their neighborhood and work, live, and play in this newly rejuvenated area. We care deeply about what is going on and up in the core of downtown and surroundings. This abrupt change in a developer's vision does not bode well for future developments, and leads to cynicism and caution when people decide to visit or move here. One can't help but put emotions into what is now perceived as a distortion of trust.
  10. the last I heard (and this was 2 days ago), was that there was no intention of placing a skin on this structure. This was apparently known months if not years ago. The residents of Commerce have only now realized the gravity of the situation when last week, the lights of the structure were turned and left on around the clock (24/7...for safety issues...even though, it is not officially opened yet). Until then, the residential building was relatively silent about this structure going up, realizing that both business and residential must coexist harmoniously in downtown. Furthermore, apparently no ties were installed in this structure to allow for a skin (of the initial design) over the garage to ever be placed in the future. If I am wrong, please correct me, but this is coming from the top. What I understand is that the Powers That Be were only looking at the bottom line...cost.
  11. I guess I should retract my foul language (?) and the use of the term "corporate evil." Although, how else would you describe a corporation that slides into the City of Houston permit and planning meetings w/ a killer plan and slick marketing, and then pull the rug out from under everyone's feet (including all various Downtown Planning associations and Downtown District) and lastly the residents of downtown, and when they're doing the minimum tell everyone "Psych!" We have separately written formal letters, and our residential building manager and developer have had formal meetings with Hines and offered incentives to have the skin placed, the various Downtown Associations that were created to prevent this kind of thing from happening have pleaded with Hines to do something....no dice. We are now planning a major, collective effort that, if effective, will hopefully secure the rest of downtown's residents from having their livelihood and properties completely compromised by the very obvious short-sightedness of a few individuals. This structure will be there for decades to come. These are our homes, bottom line. This is where we live. I think any one would fight tooth and nail to secure our right for this. Furthermore, we do not live in a black-out society. It is not enough to tell us that we should get black-out shades. Again, if there are any hopes of drawing future residents into downtown to thrive and flourish, they need to be protected from this type of event. I regret that I can not put my photos on at this time, but hopefully some of the other folks in the building can oblige. In the meantime, just close your eyes and picture......a giant parking garage. No more, no less.
  12. How many of you actually thought that the Hines-developed parking garage would truly be "architecturally significant?" Well, the garage is complete...and it looks and smells like a parking garage! Complete w/ tons of concrete and parallel wiring (ooh, ahh!). What a slap in the face for the residents and visitors of Downtown Houston! The Hines corp. completely swindled the public into believing that a beautiful structure (initially told to be a 11-story building, that is really a 14 story mammoth) would be a built on the same site as a 95 year old historic building. I am here to say that it is an extravagant eyesore that expands from Travis to Main (ironically, grossly overshadowing the light rail) and right on Walker. There is no skin on it, and so sits a concrete skeletal nightmare. Not only is this grotesque structure visually nauseating, it also is a seizure-inducing brightly-lit nightmare! The structure is fleshed out with intensely BRIGHT floodlights on each of its 14 floors, including the roof, that release their ungodly glow (24/7) without obstruction into the living and bedroom units of the Commerce Towers Condominiums! Despite complaints and frustrations by its residents, Hines and its supposed foreign financier refuse to place a skin on this thing as it was initially proposed. If you look along the Main Street corridor at night, you can see muted, soft lighting on most of the buildings (pleasing to the eye). Not so with this sorry excuse for existence! I myself am a resident of Commerce. I bought my unit just for the spectacular views of the Esperson buildings, and the Chase (spire) buildings. I live just above this pathetic excuse of development, and the beautiful soft glows and contours of these historic buildings, are now completely washed out by the unobstructed lights of this garage. The blinding lights of the garage stream miserably into my unit, and my current window treatments do a miserable job in snuffing out this crazy light. I feel sorry for those below me, as i've heard that the headlights of the cars, when turned on, shoot straight and hot into the units' windows below. That this abysmal piece of concrete even attempts to outshine these beautiful architectural masterpieces of Houston's history (the Espersons, Commerce Towers, and Chase (Spire) Buildings). Such hubris is an example of greed and deceipt at its worst. This is a slap in the face not only to Downtown residents but to Houstonians and city visitors. How can the Downtown District even hope to draw potential residents when their livelihood and properties are thrown aside for the corporate evil.
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