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Sunstar

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Everything posted by Sunstar

  1. Sunstar
    Had you just watched Fear of the Walking Dead?
  2. Sunstar
    I hope that thing moves over my lawn.
  3. Sunstar
    I've posed that question to them before via email and their response was "Yes, these historical elements are being incorporated into the design and we will have interpretive info." So that is fairly encouraging.
  4. Sunstar
    Some pictures of the trail link between Sesquicentennial park and Allen's Landing. Like most projects downtown, it's progressing slow and steady
  5. Sunstar
    I keep thinking of the Sunset Coffee Building Restoration, which pretty much a new building. If they can keep the original brick work this will look great!
  6. Sunstar
    Wow, I thought for sure this thing was destined for the wrecking ball. It looks like it should be condemned. Fantastic news!
  7. Sunstar
    I don't know. I would assume so, but they would have to go under the 59 overpass and around the convention center. They may say "we go you this close, you figure out the rest." It's typically these small connections that are the tricky part. The MKT trail is only a stones throw away from the Buffalo Bayou trail north of downtown, but as of today they don't connect. You can make the cut over with some effort, but I assume they want to make a proper connection at some point.
  8. Sunstar
    I wonder if they plan to connect it to Discovery Green? To do that they would have to go under 59 and around the convention center. But from there riders to can pick up the downtown bike lane all the way to Buffalo Bayou, assuming it isn't being used as a parking lane.
  9. Sunstar
    I'm thinking 1711 and the Camden Conte projects, if they go though, will anchor development in this area. A lot of low- to mid-scale residential developments would be nice to see here. It would be nice to have a part of downtown that has a more relaxed feel to it.
  10. Sunstar

    Climate Change

    Sunstar replied to samagon's topic in Off Topic

    As with most political debates, there are two extremes on this issue: one that sees climate change as a very real and existential threat to humanity and are willing to sacrifice whatever economic or social principles necessary to stop it, and the other that don't feel it's a significant threat and prefer to rely on the free market to determine how to address it, to the extent that it needs to be addressed at all. Then there's the majority, the folks in the middle that haven't made up their mind and won't until either the scientific community stop talking about it, or they see Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse coming. In other words, it's either not a problem, or it is but we won't try to do anything about it until it's too late. I'm not trying to be dramatic on that last point, just depicting the narrative as I understand it. Have a great weekend everyone
  11. Sunstar
    I think given time and R&D funding, alternatives will be competitive. But without subsidies it will never happen and that would be a real shame.
  12. Sunstar
    True, the solar industry in this country would be virtually non-existent without these subsidies, but how much different would our public transportation infrastructure be if it it weren't for the tax-based subsidies that oil and gas companies have been getting for years to invest in domestic production? And how much further along would we be on alternative energy if it weren't for coal and natural gas subsidies. Before we dismiss alternative energy as being non-competitive, let's see what happens on a more level playing field. And of course there are much greater costs to the fossil fuel industry that never get taken into the equation, but I won't get into that. To bring it back on topic, I agree with the sentiment that we should see much more of this kind of stuff in Houston, especially on parking decks. It would certainly make the business case for building them less attractive.
  13. Sunstar
    Are we talking the kind of subsidies that the O&G Industry gets, or just modest subsidies?
  14. Sunstar
    It looks like they topped the parking deck off with solar panels. I like the Snoop Dog avatar commentator schooling Nancy Sarnoff on the proper use of "catty corner."
  15. Sunstar
    When I think of 70s Houston architecture I think of Pennzoil Place, which is not a bad thing. Most of the monumental high rise architecture in Houston was built in the 80s, just as the oil glut was happening. Naturally I'd like it to be taller. I like the orientation of the tower. If the east side was not flush with the podium, the tower would give more of the appearance of jutting out at an angle. It has a generous plaza area on the Travis side, which is not evident from the original rendering. Also, it appears that street level on Main will have generous retail spaces, but I can't quite tell yet from these photos. Also, as Tiger Eye's photo indicate, it looks like they are putting a rooftop garden on top of the garage, which probably helped with the LEED certification.
  16. Sunstar
    I'm really starting to like this building, it's slicker than I thought it would be. Starting to get a glimpse of what the street view will be on Main.
  17. Sunstar
    That begs the question, why did they snatch up this location so quickly after the Chronicle announcement, as opposed to grabbing some surface parking lot downtown for development? They could avoid all of the demo costs, and there are still plenty of them along existing existing rail lines. Maybe it's an infrastructure thing?
  18. Sunstar
    My personal preference (not based on any market realities) is that if they decide to clear this lot to develop something, that something should be notable, either 70+ stories or at least a compelling design. Because of the prime location and the fact they are demolishing historical structures, a 30 story glass box would be very disappointing. Again, not based on reality, Houston does that kind of stuff all the time.
  19. Sunstar
    What's going on with the entrance to Herman park? It seems like the work came to a halt.
  20. Sunstar
    I suspect that joining the buildings may have caused irreparable damage, at least to the point that you couldn't restore them to its former state.
  21. Sunstar
    According to Wikipedia, the facility was once four separate structures that were joined together in the 70s. The original structures are 115 years old. Trying to find a picture from before they were joined.
  22. Sunstar
    Sierra Nevada is bidding on the second round of contracts from NASA to cover cargo deliveries to the ISS from 2017 to 2024, which is expected to be awarded later this year. The Obama administration had extended the life of the ISS to 2024. Assuming they win it, the cargo version of their Dream Chaser would land at Ellington space port per the agreement they signed earlier this year with the HAS. If that's the case, I would imagine that would help fast track development and firm up the final design of the Space Port.
  23. Sunstar
    That's more like it!
  24. Sunstar
    I feel like it's time to update our city seal. Somehow a train and a plow don't cut it anymore.
  25. Sunstar
    Interesting thread about this in another topic: http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/31927-6-story-school-downtown/page-2
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