bobruss

It seems that one thing our Major League Baseball and football teams have in common is their owners are not very good on the development end. I also think Crane made a terrible mistake in getting rid of his G.M> All the guy did was got them to the A.L. Championship series. I know their pitching has had problems but it now seems there is a lot of turmoil on the team. No love. If it aint broke don't fix it. Is Abreu getting ready for social security? I bet this affects their plans for moving forward on their village plans.

I had the opportunity to visit with Mr. Cannady last Saturday at our gallery. He had come by to see Paul Hesters Fotofest exhibit. Paul was one of William's students many years ago, and has been photographing architectural projects in and around the state of Texas for many years. He contributed to Cite magazine and Texas Architect. He also has been one of the Menil's main photographers of artwork for ever. He taught at Rice for 18 years.

We talked about the new building bearing his name, and he was very pleased with how the building was sited. He said he was looking forward to being there and being able to walk down the mall to his good friends (Brockstein), coffee shop.

He also told me that one time he was sitting on the curb weeding his flower beds at his home on the corner of Bissonnet and Montrose and a guy walked by and exclaimed, Wow, who do you think lives here, And Bill said "I do", to which the guy replied," yeah, sure.!" He thought that very funny. He 's looking forward to the opening of Canady Hall. I invited him to join us on HAIF. He said he would check it out.

If you're interested the exhibit featuring Paul Hesters fifty years of photography, and Sarah Sudhoff's work will be up until May 18th. Andrew Durham Gallery, 1821 West Alabama. Come by we're open from 11-6 Wed. thru Sat.

Love to see some HAIFER's come by.

Funny, I drove by here yesterday and wondered what had happened to the proposed residential tower. I seem to remember a half sphere high rise shaped building by Ziegler Cooper or Genzler going there, but thought it was another of the here one day and forgotten the next. Glad to see it's still in the mix.

I believe this plan only encompasses the land Rice already owns which is a fair amount of property. 

I would love to have a pedestrian bridge between Scott and Calhoun that would connect both sides of Cullen and the U of Houston.

When I was younger, the group that I played with was asked by the Houston Ballet to write and perform the first full length rock Ballet in America. It was Caliban, based on Shakepeare's Tempest. This was in the 70's and it was quite an amazing event. We played on stage with the ballet at Jones Hall for a week of sold out performances. Through the time we spent rehearsing with the ballet, I developed a real admiration for their skills, artistic talents and the beauty of dance. I wanted to create a work that would have been performed on the roof of one of the more centrally located buildings, one that had the best sight lines and space for a live performance. I thought it would be great to present this at a time that would be most successful for viewing. Unfortunately it never happened but I still thought this would be a unique and special event. So yes, office buildings offer a blank canvas for art.

44 minutes ago, goofy said:

Or like a sleep-no-more style performance piece in an empty office building. 
 

It would have to go on the north side of the Bayou, because River Oaks, and ROCC are not going to allow pedestrians, runners or cyclist in their backyards.

It might be a good place for a highline like in NYC, above Memorial drive. That would be an incredible view of downtown if costs didn't matter.

If they can build a museum like The Kinder, or CAM, or Menil, which I haven't read being broken into, I'm sure they could invest and build  a secure and well guarded satellite site downtown. A new civic building on the East side of downtown would be a boon to the area. Promote the area as a destination for east side residents. Spread the arts out a little more. I know the Menil and The MFAH, have thousands of works that rarely get seen due to the size of the collections. Perhaps it would be a joint project between all four, the arts alliance and the state arts commission, might help support. The city might even help fund in some way. I don't have all of the answers, but I do know that it would be another option for short term visitors to do something different downtown. Look at what the Guggenheim has done around the world. Bilbao, Abu Dhabi to name a couple. And who says Houston couldn't be a trend setter. Many major metropolitan areas  Museums are downtown. Chicago, New York, Cleveland, San Francisco, Paris. to name a few. Never say never and always think positive. It would act as an intro to many, of some of the wonderful things to do in Houston. 

On 2/23/2024 at 12:03 PM, OkieEric said:

PNC is closing its branch at 2401 University Blvd:

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2024/02/23/pnc-bank-branch-cuts-include-houston.html

Interesting that it's the only location they are closing in the Houston area.

 

That's part of the master plan I was talking about in January along with all of the property from Greenbriar to Morningside. Might be big changes to the west side of Rice campus like the stadium area. Lots more too come!

Does anyone have access to Rice Universities holdings in the village. That's the key to the plan. All of their property will be 

redeveloped with this new plan.

Isn't that the truth! Every time I'm stopped at the Hazard light I can see deals going down. I'm surprised something hasn't been done to curtail that problem. It's a wonder there aren't more ambulance stops there.

This is a nice looking building and I like the way it relates to the one across the street. Binz is developing quite a corridor from Montrose to Alameda of Museums, restaurants, medical offices and residential. It will be a much used pedestrian area with the rail running through it. Too bad the X went belly up. I hope someone like Hanover can take it off their hands if the original group can't secure new funding.

The old Gingerman on Morninside is gone. I watched them leveling it this morning.

PNC Bank on the southwest corner of Morningside and University is closing May 17th.

Looks like project row house on steroids.

On 3/20/2024 at 10:01 AM, j_cuevas713 said:

Someone on this topic said what is planned here will be a game changer for Rice Village. I hope we see some renderings soon because if it's a mixed-use development then it will be win for the neighborhood. I love charming little buildings like this but I'm also ok with smart density. And if Rice owns these lots, then I expect the end product to be very nice. 

I have a friend who is lead on the Rice property master plan and yes it will be a game changer. The east side of the village all the way to the Shepherd school of music is going to be a whole new ballgame. So to speak. That's all I can say

What a wonderful solution to flooding. Just allow it to collect underground and trap the water in a supportive porous structure. Brilliant! If that is what is meant to happen. Will the water eventually be absorbed back into the soil?

Another east side block infill. Little steps that will eventually add up!

Thanks for taking some aerial shots. I was curious what the overall site looked like from above. You just caught the roof of my house on the next street over. They just finished cutting out 90% of the bush, trash trees, and some pretty large cedars over the last week. Just before you got there. I don't know if you saw it but just behind and a little southwest of the two story garage/guest quarters building is a small cemetery. I spoke with the super on the job last week and he said they are restoring the basement which was flooded during Hurricane Harvey, and that they are adding a large panel of leaded diamond shaped glass to the end window on the East end of the house.  I thought the siding was Leuder's limestone but it is actually made of poured concrete squares. They took part of the roof back to rebuild the fireplaces and the reason they took the brick off originally was because the other contractors had not put flashing around the doors and windows. The new contractors wouldn't insure that it wouldn't have problems and the owner said he didn't like the brick anyway. I'm just thankful that they didn't stucco it. Appreciate all of the documentation. I hope you got a chance to see the Eagles across from the pedestrian bridge just west of Scott street. They are amazing.

Hindesky, why hasn't the company that owns the crane taken it down? If I lived across the street from that I would not feel 

comfortable with an unattended crane across the street.

Houston, We Have No Problem !

Yes, it is. Sorry I wasn't paying attention to what I wrote

Hindesky next time your in the neighborhood you should swing by the Weingarten's estate at the corner of Oakhurst and South MacGregor and get some shots of this amazing estate under construction. It's as impressive as some of the other projects you shoot. I'd love to see some aerial shots of the property.

That's not completely true. I've watched a competition marching band that rehearses over there, and they're quite entertaining. It is for the most part reserved for TSU. I don't think that will change for years. TSU doesn't have that much room on campus to build a football field or a baseball diamond. I think they play their football games at the Dynamo stadium. At least they did for a while. I worry about bad golfers when I drive through Hermann Park and windshields sometimes. Maybe they plan to put up some kind of netting to keep foul balls off the street.