Nate99

They definitely connect at the tunnel/basement level, though who knows what is down there in the Battelstein space. Does the JW have any meeting or amenity space on the second or third floor? JW could at a minimum expand the lobby at the street level and have a second set of elevators that take you up in the other "tower".

There are cheaper options out there to be sure, but not as many as there used to be. There are $11 grilled chicken salads for takeout in the tunnels.

Seemed like a good fit for space with the JW next door. They have had the front doors open in recent days, so hopefully they are getting after it sooner rather than later.

There was an Oshman's and a Bennigan's that lasted quite a while in there too. It was a functional mall without an anchor department store, and that model has tailed off everywhere. It may have happened a bit earlier for the Park Shops given their location in the CBD, but the world is sprouting up around it now. It's an interesting space with potential.

Here in stingy Texas, we have a lower homeless population rate than in generous Pennsylvania, Maine, or Arizona. Whatever value proportional state spending on mental health has, it has nothing to do with homeless rates. Pennsylvania (generous) spends $1.98 million in mental health dollars per chronically homeless individual (CHI) (your link's stat x total state spending/# of CHI) while right next door in Delaware (stingy) they spend only $638k/CHI with an almost identical rate of chronic homelessness overall. If tripling the available expenditures for a given population that clearly needs that particular service has no impact on the rate of homelessness, you might be barking up the wrong policy tree, unless you measure virtue by what proportion of the public kitty you get dedicated to your particular cause without regard to need or results. https://www.usich.gov/tools-for-action/map/#fn[]=1500&fn[]=2900&fn[]=6100&fn[]=10100&fn[]=14100 https://ballotpedia.org/Total_state_government_expenditures

Not sure whose more compassionate state might do it better. These same types of people are dying of Hepatitis A and suffering from diseases that have been effectively controlled in the modern world since before WWII in California. No one's political orthodoxy is providing an answer, that's for sure. Caring for these people has to be among the most difficult tasks one can imagine.

"Now Hiring" signs are up, could be getting close.

If they can succeed, well, more power to them, I suppose. That there is any money left behind an idea at least 10 years in the making to re-enter an ailing industry that already died off once in this city is a testament to perseverance if nothing else.

This reminds me of the Ag Extension Service that Texas A&M puts out. An academic outreach to the public at large. Interested to see what comes of it, but it sure seems to lack much definition.

Hopefully they are filling with tenants. One of the major drawbacks of having to live in an apartment is the neighbor noise. People that have no long term incentive to get along with people on the other side of a wall are going to be even less considerate.

Thanks, the upload prompt never showed up, just a little swirly graphic content to keep on spinning on my screen.

If anyone is having better luck getting the uploader to work than I am, feel free... https://i.imgur.com/D8nIXKp.jpg

I have had the opposite experience. Crowded midtown sidewalks often had fairly substantial piles of bagged trash when I was in NYC. I can't recall an analogous situation in Houston, mostly because (I figure) the buildings have room for their own dumpsters. Outside of Manhattan, it is hit and miss as well, looking out the window on the LIRR through Queens will make you wistful for the bucolic beauty of the ship channel. ETA: I basically repeated Reefmonkey's observation.

This seems like a relatively new model, at least for around here where there have historically been relatively cheap places to set up your own shop. There probably aren't enough local chefs licensed to drive concepts anyway, given the head start the other halls have.

I would bet that Chinese money is in there somewhere. They have been spreading investment out around the globe a lot recently. Seems like a big step for Nigeria, if it comes to pass, hopefully it helps everyone out.