tigereye

As a Midtown resident who also shops at High Fashion Home occasionally, a food & beer hall on the lower levels may help draw people to the building and maybe to their store. It’s typically empty on all 4 floors most times I walk over. The occasional sidewalk sales don’t really move the needle much either. With numerous multifamily developments within walking distance, this could attract more people within its walls, offering more revenue potential to the store itself if they can convert those foodies into new customers. Glam foodies and glam shopping. It could work.

Got to see the fountains lit up tonight and snapped a pic. Looks like a nice inviting area. Even Jones Hall added some LED light rope on its roof. https://x.com/thachadwick/status/1703997631825895521?s=46&t=zrFvaO6tbFH7POh1WfkjuA

Maybe it’s related to a redo of this CF/batters eye area in the offseason and the paint is a temporary band-aid fix for now. They could do a batter’s eye restaurant space with seating behind dark tinted glass, as seen in other ballparks. We know MSA’s body of work already, including the prior CF renovation. I’ll throw out one more idea. Left Field corner upper deck. Remove the stands, replace with a larger video board for spectators along 1st base/RF. Bar space underneath which would provide a great vantage point, especially when the roof is open. Throw in a Karbach Brewery and some rocking chairs …errr ok maybe not haha

They are open BTW. M-F as of this week

MSA’s body of work at sports venues (including at MMP) has been bar & restaurant space. So it’s gotta be something along those lines…

Did they nix the cascading water feature along Smith St? Looks like a pile of steps now without an enclosure for water. Really hope that this wasn’t a cost saving move.

They opened for a few weeks late last year, then shutdown to revamp their menu and never reopened. No pics but work has already started on this.

An intermodal facility at POST Houston is my dream fantasy (see below) but it seems like the terminus of the high speed rail line will still be a Northwest Mall.

Any chance we can make NW Mall station intermodal with a bus station serving all national carriers (Greyhound, MegaBus, FlixBus, etc)? Then combine this a Metro Transit Center serving Silver Line & Inner Katy BRT and a bus transit center. A complete national & regional ground transportation hub… all connected by multiple highways surrounding Northwest Mall. This should exist in reality.

Thank you Amtrak. If you’re able to make this happen and the Houston stop is at Northwest Mall, just move the current Amtrak station downtown serving the Sunset Limited line to the new Northwest Mall station. That just makes sense. Better connectivity with better facilities equals better business potential for both lines.

IMO NRG Stadium is not likely to be replaced. It’ll be renovated before the lease expiration, with a lease extension accompanying it or as part of a future Super Bowl bid (scoreboard was enlarged as part of the LI 2017 bid). I’d even venture to say none of our major sports venues will be replaced until maybe 30 years from now at earliest. All of the venues built in the late 90’s/early 2000’s were built in the best locations and with the right designs and amenities that can easily be improved on to meet todays standards. At this point, we’re more likely to see additional mixed use development occur around these venues to add revenue streams that many franchises seek today. The Astros have started that here with their upcoming mixed use development. Tillman may want mixed use for Toyota Center (maybe as part of the GRBCC renovation/expansion?). And it’s already been reported NRG Park officials are discussing the same. This is the next step in the evolution of our event facilities standing the test of time.

Reminder: Master Plan Concept to be revealed June 2nd: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02idFCELWKfonfhBSZyge1r1KMusYn4R4ithyhfeLK1HSpbBn2ZjFAQQhEm8AbwRd7l&id=100080104246402&mibextid=qC1gEa

Ground breaking

Did anyone know the NBA STORE is moving into Galleria 3?!? This was a pleasant surprise to see.

Calais Midtown recently created ground floor retail space at Building 1 across from Artisan’s. It would appear the space has now been leased to a boba tea shop, Feng Cha. https://instagram.com/fengchamidtown?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

24 Hour Fitness closes on May 26th.

The Mix has a new opening. Per signs posted, 24 Hour Fitness closes on May 26th.

Just a new scoreboard and new seats. They’re not going all in on a major overhaul yet since Mark Cuban has his own dreams of a new basketball arena across the freeway in the design district (near the Mavs practice facility).

While I would agree that geographical locations of venues don’t have anything to do with the quality of the actual building, location can play a vital role in the overall experience. In Houston’s case, it provides the opportunity to build a vibrant neighborhood Downtown and we already have several key building blocks in place with more development coming. A lot of us experienced that first hand this week during Final Four Fan Fest at Discovery Green as the Astros kicked off Opening Day Weekend and the Rockets hosted the Lakers, all within walking distance of each other. Downtown was vibrant this weekend. As for the venues themselves, I disagree with all of them sucking. Minute Maid Park is very underrated in that it’s one of only 2 ballparks in the world with a high low retractable roof rail track design that results in a 3 dimensional opening when the roof is retracted, offering unobstructed skyline views that most retractable roofed stadiums simply can’t match. The only other ballpark to do this is its pseudo-twin that opened around the same time (July 1999), Seattle’s T-Mobile Park, which is consistently rated as one of the best parks in baseball. This is an example of great design that later retractable roof parks should have followed but simply couldn’t due to rising costs. Also compare MMP & T-Mobile Park’s high-low roof rail design to other retractable roofed park that opened around the same timeframe: Phoenix’s Chase Field (1998) & Milwaukee’s Miller Park (2000). I think you’ll agree Houston got a great designed ballpark for a fairly low budget. We got lucky here. Meanwhile NRG Stadium was ahead of its time as a retractable roofed facility never before seen in the NFL when it debuted in 2002. It may have aged and been passed up by newer venues with more outlandish designs like LA’s SoFi Stadium but it still consistently attracts large events like this week’s Final Four, College Football National Championship Game in 2024, and the World Cup in 2026. It’s not as bad as FedEx Field or FirstEnergy Stadium or any other venue built in the timeframe it debuted. It has good bones and with its lease expiration approaching, it will be interesting to see how the Texans and Rodeo renovate to keep up with Mercedes-Benz Stadiums of the world today. (I’d guess this might occur sooner ahead of the World Cup, FIFA doesn’t allow World Cup matches on turf so NRG will need to install grass by 2026) And this leads to my final point. Venues can always be renovated into something even better. And with the end of Toyota Center’s lease due within ten years, we’ll likely see a major renovation of TC as part of a deal to extend the lease. The question is what work will be done? Could it be a dramatic new glass exterior facade like Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse or interior upgrades like what Atlanta did at State Farm Arena? We shall see…

I’m going to disagree here. Sure, most sports venues in DFW might be a better quality design on their own as an individual building. But Houston actually has a much better master plan for all of the venues as a whole. MMP, Toyota Center, and She’ll Energy Stadium are all situated within a few blocks of each other. Discovery Green is directly in the middle of all of this, like a uniting force between all of these venues, something I used heavily during the Final Four Fan Fest (air conditioned main hall). And soon a whole freeway will go underground, stitching these areas together. With the potential for mixed use development by the Astros (and maybe the Rockets) all of the elements are coming together to build an active sports, convention, and entertainment district that not many cities in America can boast having. Also having NRG Stadium 7 miles away (still technically inside the loop) connected by rail is a much better setup then Arlington is for the Cowboys and Rangers being 20 miles from Dallas, 15 miles from FTW with no mass transportation at all. Arlington taxpayers will pay for new sports venues but paying for mass transit options is too big of an ask, which seems beyond ludicrous. Nope urban core is better, more centrally located for everyone in the region. Jerry Jones original idea for Cowboys Stadium was Downtown Dallas along the Trinity River south of Cedars along Riverfront Blvd. It would’ve been a good site, maybe better for a Downtown Ballpark (more dates to fill). Then Mayor Laura Miller killed that idea and IMO, it’s a big loss. The Fair Park idea was an attempt to renovate the Cotton Bowl stadium into a domed stadium by using money from the Cowboys to fund the project. But when the Downtown site died, Jerry took has ball and offered it to all of the competing bedroom communities to see who would give him the best deal. Of course, it was Arlington. Incorrect. Shell Energy Stadium is designed by Christopher Lee, the architect of such venues as Emirates Stadium (Arsenal), Millennium Stadium (Cardiff), Aviva Stadium (Dublin), BBVA Bancomer (Monterrey Rayados). AEG did us a favor to tab him as the lead architect. But AEG also screwed us by applying budget constraints on a new venue for a franchise they were already actively selling in the market. The budget constraints limited what Lee could do, like having a full roof (the original design) That said, the tessellated mesh exterior might look European but the bigger design influence is the German style rounded bowl (i.e. Allianz Arena, Veltins Arena) Shell Energy Stadium has, in a league where you see more American style (MLS 1.0) and faux English style (MLS 3.0) venues. The only German style bowls like Shell Energy Stadium are Red Bull Arena (NJ) and TQL Stadium (Cincy) Phoenix has long had issues with the Tempe Town Lake site. In the early 2000’s, the Cardinals planned to build a retractable roofed football stadium in this same site (Rio Salado Crossing), only for Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport to kill the plans due to runway clearance concerns. The Cardinals then ended up way out west in Glendale, AZ, coincidentally next to the Coyotes arena and Westgate development. And now Coyotes are now revisiting the old Cardinals proposed Rio Salado stadium site 20 years later and of course Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport has already voiced their objections, causing architects to limit the height of the Coyotes proposal. It’s like a game of musical chairs and now the city of Phoenix has voiced their opposition too. Proposition 301, 302, and 303 are set to vote on May 16th and there’s plenty of opposition. This is an awful take with no information. A fluff piece to generate hits. This city needs better media personalities. You have to understand the situation. The Coyotes are trying to pull the same maneuver the Atlanta Braves did with Cobb County, move closer to their season ticket base in East Valley. Glendale isn’t a problem for the Cardinals because there’s only 10 home dates in the calendar year counting preseason. For the Coyotes, the ask of their fans is much larger, with at least 42 home dates to travel way out west to Glendale for. It makes sense for them to be in Phoenix or Tempe. But Robert Sarver (former Suns owner) killed the Phoenix option when he elected to renovate Talking Stick arena, a basketball only configured bowl and extend the lease, rather than partner with Yotes on an NBA/NHL arena in Downtown Phoenix. They Coyotes even had an opportunity to build with ASU but the Sun Devils elected to build Mullett Arena on their own, which funny enough is where the Coyotes are now, a 5,000 seat college hockey arena. Also, the Coyotes didn’t help themselves in the eyes of other communities when they stuffed Glendale, AZ on lease payments for their arena, which ultimately got them homeless in the first place There’s also the fact that Coyotes owner is Alex Merulo, owner of SLS Las Vegas (formerly the Sahara) and Grand Sierra Casino in Reno. He also owns a sports book license in AZ and may Perdue a casino as part of his plans.

Random thoughts: sorry no pics, was walking by after March Madness Music Festival. 1. It looks nice from the outside but it could’ve (and should’ve) been so much better. If only we had gotten the version of the renovation plans prior to Brookfield scaling this back. I’ll still take what we got, the rear entrance being closer to Discovery Green & should attract visitors depending on hours of operation. 2. The LyondelBasell tower renovation is what really changes and improves this block. Federal American Grill and its huge patio should help even more. 3. Puttshack has a very large marquee space in the front of Highlight (Park Shops) that should definitely liven this entire development more than it ever has been in its history. With its clubby vibes and lighting, it’ll definitely be noticeable at night from the street. Hopefully it’s success translates into filling the other vacant street level spaces (like Tejas Grill)

The best option really is turning the Astrodome into its own mixed use development project. Besides, it would be a blight to have it standing abandoned next to NRG Stadium during the World Cup, the most global high profile event this city has ever hosted in its entire history. I’ve always envisioned to walls of the Dome as the hotel component with balconies facing inside and out, like the Marriott City Centre Hotel at Rogers Centre (formerly Toronto SkyDome). The floor could be a flex space that could be used for a variety of uses: • Column free convention space for OTC • Events during Rodeo Houston • Pregame festivities for Texans and other events like the Super Bowl, Final Four, or WrestleMania) • Climate controlled music festivals • Non-event days, it becomes a park. Option B: If the powers in charge insist on the Dome becoming added convention space only, mixed use development should go in the Orange lot linking MetroRail to the Dome, NRG Stadium and NRG Arena. Think of it as a grand entrance for pedestrians commuting via MetroRail, part of the target audience they seek to build bars and restaurants for in the first place. It also makes the walk from the rail platform to the venues a better experience. I would also like to expand the commuting options by building an on site, dedicated transit center for Park & Ride service, preferably next to (or near) the MetroRail platform. Think of it as a permanent multimodal transit station that could by used by the NRG Park and the neighborhood/city. I’d also like a fancy faux train shed canopy like at Cypress P&R haha. Make it look and appear safe so it encourages use that might potential create more customers for the mixed use developments they seek to build. In a perfect world, we get both a renovated Astrodome mixed use hotel development with the grand entrance and multimodal transit center in the Orange lots. Maybe one day they actually read or hear this.

It’s all about location. The Astros would have mixed used development to compliment their downtown ballpark. Skanska has a master plan for Discovery West but no tenants. We won’t see them build until then. But I can envision another sports franchise owner wanting their own mixed use development, especially with Toyota Center’s lease nearing expiration within the next 10 years. Tillman partnering with Skanska on the Discovery West project seems like a possibility, since it would be catty corner to Toyota Center’s front entrance Or maybe it’s fulfilling HoustonFirst’s master plan for GRBCC and expanding southward. The older renders below show a convention expansion but that could be coupled with a hotel/mixed use component. It would also mean relocation of The Rustic and a GRBCC parking garage if that happened

I think that’s the city’s plan already for the caps over trenched 59/45, post NHHIP. They’ve discussed it before. See below. Calling my shot here: The next addition to our skyline will be this highrise from the Astros. A 3 year build schedule for a 4-Star hotel on a small site leads me to this conclusion. I’ll guess 40 stores (hotel + residences)

The hopeful fall 2023 ground breaking tells me they’re trying build in time to open for the World Cup. I hope it’s completed in time host. It would be another amenity to offer visitors. Speaking of: Downtown is going to be LIT next weekend. Final Four Fan Fest and March Madness Music Festival at GRBCC/Discovery Green, and 2 blocks away, MLB Opening Weekend celebrating the World Series Championship at Minute Maid Park. It’s like a preview to 2026