tigereye

Anyone know if the bell tower is still a go...

Nice post but you forgot one thing to add to the equation: Pavillions will almost essentially connect the Hitlon America's and Toyota Center (HP ends just 2 blocks west) to Main Street. For Rockets, Comets and Aeros games, I could see Pavillions fast becoming an ideal hangout destination both before and after games. I personally believe that's why this site was chosen...simply due to its proximity to both the GRB complex, Toyota Center, and Main St, all 3 of which are drawing cards in downtown's scene. On top of that, you have the added benefit of the city's largest office corridor flanking the development's north side, making it ideal for residences and "happy hours." My only wish is that Houston Pavillions could have been extended just two blocks further east to literally connect to both the Hilton Americas, Toyota Center and the urban gardens side of the new downtown park, which would be across the street. Can you imagine the effect Houston Pavillions would have on downtown's east side if this were to happen....

Nope, Greens Bayou is about a mile east of the site. Water feature is totally man made.

The first rendering is in.....This of Renaissance Plaza facing the Greenspoint Drive office corridor. Shown is the concert stage area. Partially shown is the food court area (lower left) and water feature (a.k.a. lake) and accompanying boardwalk (upper right).

Can someone "in the know" tell me if the County will light up the dome of the new Criminal Courts building? I believe not since the building has been open for 2 months now and Ive seen no light.....boo! I swear...building managers downtown need to have there heads checked to see if that little light bulb in there head still flickers "on" with any bright ideas. How architectural statements such as Texaco Heritage, can not be capitalized on by adding a little dramatic exterior lighting is way beyond me. I mean think about....by making your building "more visible" to the casual eye and stand out from the rest of the crowd, it makes your building a little more attractive for future tennants looking for a showplace to call there home office. For some companies, it isnt just about amenities.....its about image. And as for the County and its courthouse....they obviously have alot of pride in this project given the designs we've seen of the new court house and its new Justice Plaza. Would it not hurt show off this proud new addition by just lighting up the dome..... Managers of these skyscrapers downtown need to wake the ____ up....or just take a trip to Chicago, New York, Shanghai, Tokyo, Dubai, etc. Its time to resurrect "Houston Proud" and regain this city's architectural edge or esle this city is destined to become the Detroit of the south while Dallas prospers. WAKE UP HOUSTON.

Not surpised with this project. Alot of us here saw this project coming due to the parameters of that lease. In fact, I suggested this project might be hinted at in the Downtown Park renderings a week ago in the Downtown Park thread Quite honestly....its a huge development that Im sure will get built. And thats all we could ask for here....just get the damn thing buitl. Downotwn's residential aspirations of the future have to start somewhere.....this is it!

Thats what planners and architects had in mind. GRB hosts Bridal conventions. I think Ive even seen a Prom convention held there too. Notice the placement of "the Bandstand," which is really just a Gazebo in the Urban Garden. Its placed close to GRB along the Oak Alee, which will be the main pathway from GRB to Downtown, as it currently is right now. This puts the Gazebo in perfect sight range for the brides that will surely overtake it, come the next bridal convention. The event space next to the Gazebo was also planned for the numerous photographers that will setup shop there for these types of events. All in all, a solid plan.

Umm...this sounds familiar. Isnt this the Riva Place development from a few years back?

A few observations...... 1. The park WILL have a Dog Park.....just a lot smaller. It will be along the Oak Aelee near the main eentrence to the park by the Mist Tree. 2. There will be a secruity kiosk by the fountains and cafe.....this should also help reduce the bum population at the park 3. The biggest observation of all....a few months ago, we learned that the parcel of land that sits directly west of the park, jammed in beween the the park and "The Park Shops," was purchased and that the length of the lease suggests that some sort of development will take place there, most likely a high-rise residential component. In the the overhead rendering, there is building depicted there....in quite detail....perhaps too much to just dismiss it off as an inclusion to suggest future development, like the other buildings that flank the park, which are drawn in less detail. Does the project manager and/or the architect know something in regards to the future development of the city block that sits in such a prime location? Maybe....time will tell. Also a suggestion.......If Crawford Street is going to be closed to traffic thrugh the park permanantly, the street also needs to be closed just south of the park as well. It runs for only one block before Toyota Center blocks it off completely, making this small strip of road nearly useless due to its pattern of flow and streets around it. If this street is closed, it opens up the opportunity to link Toyota Center to the park via the Crawford St Promanade, making the park's parking garage's an attractable parking option and increasing people traffic in the park. Also it could spawn the opportunity for expansion of the Convention Center Hotel westward or development on the block west of the hotel. IIRC, I believe the site is occupied by a power plant, which needs to moved from such a prime development location anyways. The City of Houston needs to seriously consider this idea. Final Site Plan Major natural features include: Great Lawn - A two-acre expanse of grass providing dramatic views of the skyline. Oak Promenade - A shaded walk lined with 100-year-old live oak trees. Urban Garden - More than an acre of flowering trees, plants, fountains and art. Pond - A one-acre body of water lined with native and wetland plants. Natural Gardens - Wetland and upland areas extending the length of the park Land Forms - Several sculpted highpoints that will offer views of downtown. Tree Alees - Tree-shaded walks to the pond and children

This ole tune of the park being overrun by the homeless is played out..... Why? Remember Bum Central.....otherwise known as Root Memorial Square? Since its rehab, the only people that inhabit the park are those who play pick-up games there on its court, like myself on occasion. I havent seen a bum straggling this park not once. And that park takes up only a city block and doesnt have near as many amenities as this park has. So if they cant even take over their former stomping grounds, what tells you its gonna happen with this new park? Nothing...nuff said. This should end all of this "Bum" talk once and for all.

Well, heres one way the Greenspoint project will try to attract customers.... Someone mentioned the office crowd earlier.......skywalks will be built connecting Greenspoint to the office buildings next door. This has been planned for years, but now they will execute as part of the renovation. BTW, Ive seen this to be compared to the Marq E earlier in the thread, being that the projects are similar in design concept with an outdoor entertainment theme. However, there is one big difference between the Marq E and the Greenspoint project. The Marq E doesnt have an office corridor and hotels next door. Nor does it have the city's major airport a minutes drive away. This redevlopment of Greenspoint will be successfull in the long run cause Greenspoint will now be able to attract a crowd, both during the day at lunch time for office workers, and at night for the families and youths in the area as a casual hang out spot. This was the problem Greenspoint has had recently. During the work day, the mall attracts healthy crowd numbers. At night, the mall is virtually empty. With this renovation, that problem will be fixed as it will provide a much-wlecomed entertainment and shopping destination close-by for those who live in the area. There is one more bright spot in the future for Greenspoint as well. At some point, Light Rail will rumble up Airline Drive all the way to the mall and eventually connect Greenspoint to Downtown and the big airport. Greenspoints future is bright, in my mind.

Thanx for the info....

Here

Anyone know if the Dome of the new couthouse will be lit up? Last night as I was heading MBar, I spotted that a white beacon light was lighted atop the dome. Hopefully this suggests the Dome will the lighten up too. It has a central shot in the view you get from Minute Maid Park. If this building's dome is lit up at night, it will surely look awesome on TV druing baseball telecasts to those who have never been to or seen this grand city before. Furthermore, it would be a great "Step 1" in getting this city's downtown skyline the lighting it deserves. And just an FYI.....I believe the "high energy" lighting scheme Houston Pavilions will sport will convince other skyscraper tower manages to follow suit with stepped up efforts on lighting at night. But the Pavillions lighting's biggest impact will be felt on street level as many street level businesses will feel the need to follow suit and "light up" in order to make its presence known amongst all this competition downtown. Downtown streets at night are in for a radical change in the coming years.......

This is a nice plan and all but....one lil problem. Metro's Grand Station idea is for the North end of downtown near I-10 and UHD. Midtown is south of downtown. Metro believes this is area, sandwiched between downtown and the Tx Med Center/Hermann Park/Museum district area, is ideal for any development project, regardless if it includes a soccer stadium or not. And I happen to agree too. Midtown is a perfect spot for any major multi-purpose retail residential development. But like I said earlier.....this is a long shot. I still believe Delmar will be where they will take the field in 2008 or 09. And if its there, I have no problem with it given the redevlopment plans being floated around for NW Mall/Transit center and tying that into the stadiums development. And plus, the Delmar site could possibly offer room for soccer prectice fields, which I'm sure 1836 will want. Every other soccer venue being built in the MLS has included soccer practice fields thus far. You just cant go wrong with the Delmar site....it offers the potiential perfect mix of soccer friendliness (with practice fields) and entertainment and retail with a propposed redeveloped NW Mall that no other franchise in the MLS will have. In short, Delmar gives Houston the best chance of creating the preimer soccer venue in the US.

Remember the words "OTHER ENTITY" mentioned in this article....... Rumor has it Metro might be that other entity. It is no secret that Metro is trying to help develop multi-use projects along the Main Street line. If this team makes it big in town as most expect (given the excellent product already on the pitch) dont be surprised to hear rumblings about a proposed Midtown site along Main Street near downtown as part of some multi-use project. Its a long shot idea.....but so was a downtown baseball stadium in 1995. If it doesn

Imagine the Super Bowl and Final Four coming here every six years. That's good.

There are a few reason why I love this plan.... On game day for the Texans, I can easily envision this place with retail and eatery's being a hub for pregame and postgame activities. Furthermore, look past Texans games. Broaden the scope if you will. Reliant Stadium is A facility that can attract Super Bowl's and Final Four's to town easily by itself. With this plan, Reliant Stadium now has an entertainment attraction with over 1000 hotel rooms next door to it. Talk about sweetening the pot....this makes any future Super Bowl bid near unbeatable as this is what owners look for in bids, hotel rooms and entertainment close by. Nothing gets closer then this. This is what Jerry Jones dreamed of for the Cowboys in his failed JerryWorld proposal to Dallas, and he's NOT getting it in Arlington, only a stadium. This is what Eddie Debartolo tried to build, a mall-stadium for the 49ers at Candlestick Pointe, what Bidwell tried to build, a mall-stadium for the Cardinals at Rio Salado Crossing....i.e. sports and entertainment complex. All have failed in there attempts due to financing. It appears Houston will be the first in sports history to build a true dream sports and entertainment complex. Even better, unlike the Cowboys, Cardinals, and 49ers unsuccessful plans of adding mall-like development to the stadium complex, the Astrodome/Hotel/Riverwalk project would be a totally different concept. It would be likened to being a "city inside of a bubble" that would evoke memories of the "Jetsons." A bizarre project like this is sure to pique the curiousity of many around the world, making the Astrodome an attraction once again. And if cities in the future try to copy Houston's successful plan of adding enterteinment around the sports venues to sweeten their Super Bowl bid, no city's Super Bowl bid will ever offer a city inside of a bubble next door as part of there package. Its an attraction that will make any future Super Bowl bid by Houston unbeatable. Its not just about having conventions people....its about making Reliant Park a premier cant-be-passed-up destination for major events like the Super Bowl and the Final Four. If this plan succeeds, which I believe it will now that they have a solid financing plan, Houston can punch its ticket to the Super Bowl rotation. Guaranteed.

I cant believe nobody's mentioned Weiner's, with a weird name like that. Builder's Square also comes to mind.

Are you for real....This is the building that would have given Houston its signature tower. But why would they do this, especially given the lack of demand in the current office market, which still has vacancies. If they do this though, I imagine they would have to redo the design, as the original Helmut Jahn desgin ended up being the precursor to the Philly's Liberty Place Towers, which ended up becoming that city's signature in its skyline. Building the Jahn designed tower now would be viewed nationaly as an attempt to copy Liberty Place in Philly. I would love for this to be true, but I just can see it happening for those two reasons. EDIT: Dominax, Thanks for the photoshopped pic of our skyline with the two main tower its missing and sadley were never built. I have forever tried to imagine what our skyline would have looked like today with these two buildings included. This really helps me... Anyone else have anymore photoshops of what this dream skyline could have looked like today, especially the famous views from the north and west of Downtown?

No Probs. One more thing to add....I was on Main at Grass hopper saturday night. Before I went there, I decided to walk the street. Its has a great atmosphere. I feel within a few years it will rival that of the French Quarter as more and more clubs are coming to Main. While walking around downtown, I passed by the proposed Shamerock site, which still has activity of some sort. I dont know what's going on but "soil samples" can not take this long. I am convinced the delay for this project is due to the redesign, which was due to its new sight restrictions. Any major overhaul of project will delay it as floor plans, HVAC, Electrical, lighting, plumbing etc would all have to be redrawn. Shamerock was literally sliced in half, juging by the newest rendering. Furthermore, if the 'we've sold %60" thing is ture, this has to be a go because they sold these before the design revision, which probably sliced half of its square footage. With this design revision, that figure is probably at %85-90 percent, beased on the amount of vacant space lost in the revision. ut then again, they might have had to resell the project to those who bought already, as this revision could have reduced the square footages in the dwellings they had bought....which could also lead to a delay. In any case, "the Sham" to me is not dead by a long shot.....

Hey guys...I have a little info to chime in on.... I usually post at Clutchfans.net. Great site, I'm from New York and it has helped me miss my Knicks less and less and now love the Rockets now more and more. Yesterday I chimed in on a rail spurring development debate with a little info I knew. I got called out for it by someone here, I will not mention who out of respect.... So since "spilt" this info, I might as well share it with you guys. Take it how you want it...every one of the 15,000 posters at CF.net knows me as a reliable source who is rarely wrong. I have already one scoop to my name here at HAIF as I found out about the redevelopement plans of Northwest Mall and it tying into a proposed Soccer Stadium for an MLS team, most likely to be owned by Mexico's Televisia, owner of Club America. But I assume few noticed that as it generated few replies...I guess no one likes soccer here. I was planning on holding out with this info BELOW until I got more facts to back up what I say as this "my relative is..." source is shaky at best for most to believe. But with me getting 'called out" yesterday, I decided to hold out no more, here it is.... THE INFO: Virgin is coming to Houston. My Cousin is a top ranking manager at the Times Square Store. Sometimes, they have her and other managers travel to stores under construction to help prep new staff with the day to day operations of the business. She has alerted me that she is coming to Houston soon, no timetable has been set. The facts I need to garner is where in Houston. The location is not %100 official but they have scouted downtown and the Galleria. Of Downtown, she said there location would not be stand alone in downtown, rather be incorporated into a new mixed use development, which is a staple of Virgin stores. This leads me to believe that Virgin is looking to be apart of this Pavillions project, the only mixed us project with space downtown. She said she will provide me with more info as it comes in.... Again, take it for what its worth....if you dont believe me, that's fine. I can understand why. Just know this...when it happens, who know who said it.

How many times has this broken up any music group, no matter what type of crowd they played to. Guns n Roses (Axle), Van Halen (Dave), New Edition (Bobby Brown), Jackson 5 (Mike), The BeeGees (Andy Gibb), etc.....I can literally span decades with this list. All were attributed to either infighting or drugs or both. In fact, the oly group that has broken up peacefully is Destin's Child....until we start hearing those nasty tabloid rumors about why they split too. Again the only trend I see is that of bad decisions being made. Music does not cause violence.