kylejack

There's an entire shopping center made out of shipping containers in Vegas. It's called Container Park. Boutique shops, restaurants, and bars. Very cool. http://img0.svcdn.lasvegas.com/v2/cache/lasvegas/B1CFAD2FCE4BBBCD52A31DEE6B4EDAE0.jpg

Hotel Sorella is not a 5 star.  

 

Icon is not a 5 star.

 

I don't mean this by my perceived quality, they just aren't rated 5 star.  

Well, there isn't really one main credible source for star ratings in the US, anyway. Regardless, does Alessandra intend to seek 5 star rating? A retractable roof definitely isn't in the standard rating criteria.

you mean other than the fact that they have stated as much?

Source, please. I don't see anything in their marketing materials that say they intend this hotel to be more luxurious than Sorella, the other luxury hotel they operate.

neither the four seasons nor icon are what anybody outside of houston would consider a true 5-star hotel.

Nor does anything here in their materials indicate that this hotel will be considered a "true 5-star hotel" outside of Houston.

I wouldn't call staying at any of the current hotels in downtown "splurging". Most luxury hotels (read:majority/all/whatever) have this set up. Houston hasn't had any luxury hotel like this yet so it's a pretty new thing and I can understand the confusion. 

This same owner operates a 5 star luxury hotel in Houston already, Hotel Sorella. What makes you think that this hotel will be any more luxurious than Hotel Sorella, other than the 24th floor checkin?

Downtown we've got Icon and Four Seasons.

Does anyone know if this skylobby is still closed to the public?  We were able to get up there a few years ago in full business suits, and cameras hidden in our briefcases.  Wondering if anything has changed.

I never have any problems going up there. I go in on the tunnel level and take the elevator from there straight to the upper sky lobby (there's a middle and upper). However, I recommended it to a friend. When he went with his children and asked Security where the elevator was, they were told it wasn't open to the public and turned away. So while I don't think it is closed to the public (no signage indicated it is), Security may not be on the same page about that.

I say go for it, just don't ask where the elevator is. It's clearly marked on tunnel level.

Downtown pizza on my boycott list:

Frank's: They lobbied City Council not to allow food trucks to operate with permission on private property Downtown.

Bombay Pizza: They weren't paying overtime to kitchen staff, some of which were working more than 80 hours a week

Kilejack. It's called sex appeal. Stay at the holiday inn express down the street if you don't want to spurge.

Who said anything about splurge? Every splurge hotel in this city has the lobby on the first or second floor afaik.

My pure guess is that they will install either those little cones that say "state law: stop for pedestrians in crosswalk" in the road at street level and/or they will mount some kind of yellow blinking light and sign over the roadway (attached to the overhead walkway maybe??)...

I would be curious to know if they actually remove the current crosswalks at the current lights and "require" all pedestrians to us these crossings instead.

Hm, no thanks. If a person is walking along the exterior block headed somewhere they shouldn't have to go to the middle of the development to cross.

Finished:

 

Nice, but is the city actually going to install pedestrian crosswalk signs? If we're going to encourage pedestrians to cross there, let's protect them.

I would say better than walking a mile in Vegas or a resort hotel.

Hm, well it's not very green.

I have to ride the elevator to the 24th floor to check in? And then board it again to go to my floor. Ridiculous.

http://www.pizarospizza.com/images/pizaros_pizza_oven.jpg

http://s3.amazonaws.com/foodspotting-ec2/reviews/1705114/thumb_600.jpg?1336482005

Pizaro's

Moon Tower Inn was renovated with shipping containers. I think they went through some big permit headaches, because they were closed for over a year. They might be able to point you to their contractor.

NIMBYs are everywhere, and they don't necessarily always fail. After all, the East End held off 225 (and are holding UP the light rail expansion). As for liquor sales near schools, I didn't say it didn't work, I think it's a dumb rule because density makes these things harder to overcome, and College Station, a far less dense city and more conservative city, has a living example of a large church an alleyway's distance from a bar. Is there any example in Houston like this?

This is why it is important for the City of Houston to do away with archaic rules, and why I'm glad they have done so, so that more properties become viable as a place to locate a grocery store.

The NIMBYs failed at stopping light rail in the East End. They wanted an underpass, but gasoline in the soil scuttled the plan, so METRO will now be getting something more like what they originally wanted. In Houston and in most other parts of Texas, the developer is king and almost always gets most of what he wants.

That doesn't necessarily rule out it.

I never said that it did. I said: Aldis are not necessarily the solution for food deserts in Houston.

I'm looking at the old Fiesta lot at the Heights as a model, and it looks like it would take up an entire block. There isn't a useable block in the Fifth Ward area that wouldn't require demolitions.

Yes there is, but there's nothing wrong with demolitions either. HEB Montrose was built over demolished apartments. Walmart on Yale development was built over a demolished bar. The NIMBYs couldn't stop those and they won't stop a grocery chain either, especially if they choose a block where all the properties are already in disuse. There's a lot of that in the Fifth Ward.

I sort of did, though in a disjointed manner--part of my original post was left off, which I clarified later--it is stupid because Houston is a dense area where conflicts could happen just about anywhere. The comparison was College Station, which has bars next to churches, and it's smaller and more conservative than Houston is. Therefore, Houston should get with the program.

I'm really glad you agree with me and with the Mayor that we should do away with archaic rules about how far a grocery store with beer and wine can be from schools, etc. That is, in fact, the City's plan. I understand you don't think it will work, but that's fine. Every little bit helps, and it's a dumb rule anyway.

Aldi, as I may have mentioned before, seems to be able to survive in areas where most other retail cannot sustain itself, therefore an Aldi seems like the best choice.

The second advantage is has is because it's small. If Fiesta (which admittedly opened that tiny 22k square foot in Conroe recently), H-E-B, or Kroger wanted to open a full-sized store, they would have to condemn nearly an entire block to build (if not close off a street), which will attract NIMBYs in the neighborhood like nothing else, either to protest the additional light, noise, and traffic, or in fear that the neighborhood will gentrify and they'll be priced out.

I'd also be interesting to know WHERE people in these "food deserts" actually get food. You could say "it's X miles away from a real supermarket" but there are lots of people in rural areas in Texas that are in that same "X miles away" situation and they certainly don't get most of their food from the nearest convenience store.

Here in the Houston area, Aldi goes in to areas where retailers are already succeeding, so they don't seem interested in that model here.

To your second point, food deserts are one of the biggest concerns for people living in them, so no I don't agree that NIMBYs will oppose street closures, but even if they did there are plenty of large current unused plots of property in Fifth Ward that are plenty big for a large grocery store.

You didn't answer my question. Why is right now the wrong time to discuss liquor proximity restrictions for grocery stores when it is what is being discussed by City Council and the topic of this thread?

Given that it has fresh produce and dry staples at discount prices as opposed to the junk at convenience stores, which is the main issue here, I'd say that Aldi would be a rather fitting choice.

There are no Aldis in Fifth Ward. None, zero. Aldis are not necessarily the solution for food deserts in Houston. All the Aldis I know of in the Houston area are in areas where there are already other grocery chains.

There is something to be said in terms of liquor sales near schools, and now is not the time to discuss it

Why the heck not?? It is the topic of this thread! It makes some sense not to have bars where people are drinking and then driving near schools, but not grocery stores, where people buy it and take it home. It's a ridiculous prohibition that probably dates back to just after Prohibition and needs to be done away with to give grocery chains incentive to build new grocery stores.

And look at what happened to Foley's.

66 years of successful operation?

Here's the rumors I've been able to cobble together, take with a grain of salt. This is like fourth hand, so could have lots of inaccuracies:

A guy in a trenchcoat went into the Starbucks, stole two bags of coffee, and ran. Cops ordered him to stop. He didn't, and the cops opened fire.

There's been a shooting Downtown, Dallas at Main. No details or articles yet.

I found the brisket pretty weak, more like roast beef.

Awesome sides, though.