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The Great Hizzy!

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Everything posted by The Great Hizzy!

  1. The Great Hizzy!
    Until you have an actual neighborhood where a larger percentage of people invest in residential properties, you're going to have a trendy, phase-in/phase-out type of place. DT IS changing--again--and it may take a year or two (or three) to see what it becomes. But if you want something a little more stable, more enduring, it'll require a surplus of people who actually LIVE there.
  2. The Great Hizzy!
    My only concern is that the would be developers become so "desperate" get something up that the project will turn out to be nothing more than a hodge-podge of loosely planned projects that don't really add up to a quality product. I realize that time is money and that the longer the Astrodome sits in its current state, the more the taxpayers have to fork over, but you also don't want to squander what could be a prime opportunity to not only change the Astrodomain's environment but the character of the entire area hugging the South Loop between Fannin and Main Streets.
  3. The Great Hizzy!
    Yeah, sorry, but they're not coming up for me either.
  4. The Great Hizzy!
    That's been my hope since MMP Park (then Enron Field) opened in 2000.
  5. The Great Hizzy!
    Cool!
  6. The Great Hizzy!
    I can confirm as of yesterday that the skeleton of a three-story (or taller) building is present and there are at least a half dozen bulldozers and backhoes on site. Part of the problem is that the location of the core construction activity can be obscured by some of the existing structures surrounding it. The best views are from the overpasses that connect the Tollway to the Katy Freeway westbound. What's also cool is that you can envision the amount of activity this area will enjoy when both Memorial City and T&C are all full build. It's an impressive little piece of real estate when viewed from above.
  7. The Great Hizzy!
    That's very good news about tower II. Does this mean that the sells facility will be gutted soon (or has it been already?). I've not been in that area in a few weeks.
  8. The Great Hizzy!
    No, this would be a seperate project. The project you're referencing would be a remodeling fo the former Sheraton Hotel on Louisiana @ Polk, right next to 1201 Louisiana and across from the Hyatt Regency. If you've walked that area recently, you'll know the city has been rehabbing the sidewalks due south of the building.
  9. The Great Hizzy!
    I like the exterior, especially if they go with the white or off-white color.
  10. The Great Hizzy!
    That overhead gives me the best impression of progress on the park that I've been able to enjoy for some time. The ground level shots are often obscured by construction equipment or trees for you to really gain an appreciation for how much work has been done (and yet still needs to be done).
  11. The Great Hizzy!
    I don't want to get to deep into this (and FTR, I'm of the camp that thinks this is more a subjective argument than anything else regarding the parking garage), but regulation in the case of development is at least restrictive in nature. By definiton, you are at least setting guidelines as to what's allowable, doable and feasible, thus for some, there's a restrictive nature, a potential limiter or constrictor of whatever it is that they might want to do. Restriction doesn't necessarily equate to elimination or repulsion, however. It just suggests that some may want to temper their ideals or their philosophy in order to get into a particular market or sub-market.
  12. The Great Hizzy!
    That 9.6% and 9.1% Class A vacancy rate reported by Colliers and Grubb & Ellis look damn good. I wonder if they factor in the old Sheraton Hotel as "overall" office space (I'm referring to the former hotel next door to 1201 Louisiana)? If so, that vacancy would come off the boards as well if the plans to convert the building into a massive custom suites hotel come to fruition.
  13. The Great Hizzy!
    In the first of the last two links of sketches that Mister X provided, I can actually see the on on the bottom right being built--of course, with some changes here and there. In fact, the wide fascia versus thin profiles are similar to the W Hotel in Dallas, for example, or the Endeavor in Clear Lake.
  14. The Great Hizzy!
    I'm so tired of looking at the crappy status of this building. It's a prominent eyesore looking at the skyline from the southwest (and particularly heading into downtown on Spur 527). And since it's a pretty plain-Jane design to begin with, I wouldn't be upset if they just torn it down.
  15. The Great Hizzy!
    If I'm not mistaken, Hines 47 could potentially be about 750 feet or so, which is taller than what the AIM Tower would've been or what the tower in Atlanta is. A building's height can also affect how the building is designed and whether a certain shape, crown, facade, etc works. That said, I agree that a 750-foot version of the AIM Tower would still look nice, although maybe not as visually impressive perched among the other towers downtown as it would be standing more freely in Greenway Plaza.
  16. The Great Hizzy!
    I'm actually impressed by your committment "to know the truth", Mister X. LOL! It's great to speculate, and yet without a real feel for what Pickard-Chilton (I believe I spelled that correctly) discussed with Hines--including what elements it wanted to emphasize, what features would be most prominent in terms of the building's functional points--it's difficult to really put your finger on it--the building's design, that is. My gut, however, leads me to believe that it will share some design elements as the canceled building that would've gone up for AIM in Greenway Plaza (a lovely building, IMO, which looked similar to the tower that went up in Midtown Atlanta a couple of years ago). Then again, it's just speculation, because Hines may have different interests that would affect how certain facial treatments are handled or how the building is crowned or the type of materials that are used (that alone can dictate how a building is shaped or what have you). Regardless, 0I'd like to think that there will be a preliminary design "released' in the next couple of months. Maybe mid-Fall at the latest. If not, then by god this had better be one kick-butt design to have been shrouded in such secrecy for so long leading up to groundbreaking.
  17. The Great Hizzy!
    That's very good news for not only that particular property but that area of DT. The more space that's filled in existing towers, the better.
  18. The Great Hizzy!
    That's actually what inspired the name. And as for the ten stories of parking... I'm curious as to how this would be handled asthetically, especially given the current environment that exists on that block, not to mention the new parking garage across the street that has sparked so much recent controversy.
  19. The Great Hizzy!
    That's annual, right?
  20. The Great Hizzy!
    Hokay...
  21. The Great Hizzy!
    I just like the fact that 2727 Kirby is going up with so little play-by-play or color commentary (it's like this year's Spurs/Cavs final ).
  22. The Great Hizzy!
    I'd asked that question elsewhere, 19514. I hadn't recall seeing an actual tenant roster on the website before (River Oaks District) and wasn't sure if this was just a new update with tenants they were soliciting or tenants with whom they basically had at least a handshake agreement. Like Trae, I'm hoping that it's closer to the latter.
  23. The Great Hizzy!
    Just the idea that in addition to Hines 47 there's the potential for yet another tower of similar height (if not taller) only a couple of blocks north. These two projects COULD really do wonders for adding consistency to the asthetic and social landscape of the "new" Main Street, from the Pavillions to Main Street Square and then on towards Allen's Landing. If the city is really on its toes and the two projects (Hines 47 and their other proposed tower) come to fruition, they could really promote Main Street as being the long lost social spine of the entire region, not just the city (I'm assuming the two new Hines towers would facilitate a variety of retail opportunities on the ground floor). And I speculate with Red... a LEED tower of that height (40-stories or more) is likely to be a bit more expensive than other towers that are of similar height but without the LEED characteristics.
  24. The Great Hizzy!
    I'm going to start calling this building Hines 47 until it gets an official name.
  25. The Great Hizzy!
    LOL
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