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zaphod

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Everything posted by zaphod

  1. zaphod
    This one's been vaporware far too long Honestly it doesn't even need to be a skyscraper and in a post-covid age maybe that's what would have a better chance of getting off the ground. There just needs to be something there to front against the park and create more energy in that area.
  2. zaphod
    ^^^^ Kind of weird, to be honest.
  3. zaphod
    Well, the purpose of brick or special paving would be decorative, aka "place making" or something. Like a district where people walk around visiting adjacent businesses or attractions and you want it to look good. I don't think that's so costly nor would it ever be needed or justified outside a few districts. Honestly I always thought Houston had pretty nice concrete roads with curbs and sidewalks and grass medians and stuff.
  4. zaphod
    I wonder if those trees on the balconies are gonna materialize. In this rendering they seem to be pretty big, like 2 stories in height. Is that even doable?
  5. zaphod
    IMO proximity to parks within walking distance is an awkward measure because it doesn't reflect differences in how citizens get around, what kind of parks programming and features they actually want/need, and differences in the quality of parks. Chicago is a traditionally urban city and so it stands to reason they should have more small neighborhood parks that give people access to ample areas of grass and trees for activities they would otherwise miss while living in a rowhouse or apartment. And Chicago is also the kind of city where many residents would and could walk to such a park. A lot of Houston is annexed suburban sprawl or suburban style apartment complexes. People who live in these areas thus have access to large private yards, cul-de-sacs, private HOA amenities, apartment complex amenities and green spaces, etc. So not only is the need for small neighborhood "grass and trees" parks greatly diminished, but because of the lower population density and limited walkability of these areas it would be harder to provide raw geographic coverage and also actually achieve the goal of these places being accessible on foot. Also the County runs a lot of parks and there are lots of MUD amenities that aren't being counted. And there's initiatives where school playgrounds and sports fields get double use for community programming and recreation leagues. And there's private sports parks. When you put it all together, the stats are skewed I think. I think if there was a analysis done on parks needs and accessibility, what you'd find is that older neighborhoods in the city proper aren't that different from Chicago. There's parks all over the place and recreation and sports facilities and community centers in most established areas inside the Beltway that are in the COH or one of the other traditional municipalities(Pasadena, Bellaire, etc) The deficiency I think would not even be in the City of Houston at all but rather in unincorporated Harris County. There are areas of poor infrastructure that are also mostly low income in the Northwest and Northeast. There's also similarly low income "rural urban" areas. Also many of the new-build sprawl housing developments(detached homes built for rental purposes by remote investors, that will quickly depreciate and become workforce housing) have zero built-in parks. I would like to see outlying areas have more parks facilities that fill the gaps that would exist in such places. For example, contiguous hike and bike trails to compensate for streets and roads being pretty terrible for that. In areas with lots of working families with children a multipurpose gym and rec center that the YMCA could operate would be appreciated by these citizens I am sure. Also there are relatively few public swimming pools that don't require a costly membership to access located on the northern side of the metro, a county pool would be a big attraction. People generally like dog parks as they are a place to get out and be outside. In all case these things would be more centralized and would be accessed mostly via driving or by public transit(bus routes) and would be most effective if they drew from a wide area rather than trying to be neighborhood focused just to boost a stat. Sorry for the wall of text, I was really bored at work today and kind of daydreamed about this question for longer than normal.
  6. zaphod
    So this is official inside the city of Shenandoah, which had a population of 2,137 in 2010 and was last estimated in 2019 to have 2,987 residents. This building has 429 units, so if it was at max occupancy and each unit only had one resident, it would contain between 12% to 16% of the entire town's population.
  7. zaphod
    Even the wood ones probably have more appeal though. I think a lot of houses with this kind of modern siding aren't going to age well aesthetically speaking. The color palettes are so austere, too.
  8. zaphod
    I'm sure Boston rowhouses have much nicer brick exteriors though.
  9. zaphod
    If you look closely at the rendering, it looks like the two older red/brown brick towers are in the background and this skyscraper is on the site currently occupied by a low rise structure with a shingle roof and parking, the side of the property fronting Garrettson Ln. Who knows if that is accurate, though.
  10. zaphod
    The people in the rendering look like The Sims or maybe GTA characters
  11. zaphod
    I'm not sure what to think of those green pixels. I'm willing to bet in 10 years this is going to get a remodel and they are going to paint over that in whatever the new "it" color is, like how greige is now. Or who knows, maybe it will look good when the whole building is like that.
  12. zaphod
    Even if that monument isn't actually used for anything it's still quite a nice touch. It's things like that which will give the park a kind of timeless feel. It will still be there 100 years from now, assuming someone doesn't get in a wreck and a dump truck hits it next week.
  13. zaphod
    The pavers between the rails on the Red Line seem to have hung in there all these years, but then again those don't have road traffic on them. All the weight of the train is on the steel rails.
  14. zaphod
    Is it even possible to scrape off the asphalt? It seems to be flaking off naturally but how do you grind it down without tearing up the brick too?
  15. zaphod
    The rendering of the remodel reminds me of what the Domain in Austin looks like. I always thought it would be cool if one day they tore down the center part of First Colony Mall and had Town Center Blvd continue as a pedestrian-oriented street to the other side. Then where the movie theater is there could be apartments or townhomes. It would greatly expand that area into something more like a little city center for Sugarland.
  16. zaphod
    It's a funky location. It could be convenient for a lot of people but on the other hand it would be hard to enjoy walking around your neighborhood. I wonder if long term there are plans to redevelop the warehouse building next door.
  17. zaphod
    I don't think anyone pays attention to ornamental clock towers. If it claimed to be 13 o' clock it would have taken months for anyone to notice and they'd all be on this site, lol. I like to be honest, its inoffensively kitchsy.
  18. zaphod
    I haven't seen anything to suggest that D&B is going out of business permanently but no doubt its hurting and will probably close some locations.
  19. zaphod
    I drove out that way and there is now green fencing, heavy equipment, and lots of earth moving activity on the site.
  20. zaphod
    Those new renders are a big improvement over the earlier version and look really, really good. I hope this is built. Something about it looks fresh, it's a bit different from the way a lot of other residential highrises look(see Austin's skyline for example).
  21. zaphod
    Without gas stations, I imagine Walgreens/CVS type stores would proliferate instead.
  22. zaphod
    I wonder what the lifespan of an investment in a gas station is? Like do they expect to get 20 or 30 years out of them? How long does it take to pay off the loan and start making a profit off it? Because while they aren't there yet, it's possible to think that in about 15 to 20 years electric cars will start to disrupt that business. And based on how long cars tend to last, we could see a really substantial, terminal decline in the number of gasoline powered private vehicles in about 25 to 30 years. To put that in perspective, 25 years ago was 1995 and it seems like most of the newer gas stations from that era still exist. I know that sounds radical, but between 2030 and 2040 many developed countries in Europe and Asia are going to ban new internal combustion automobiles. Even if the US never passes a similar rule, chances are the world's biggest automakers like Toyota and VW and Ford won't sink a lot of resources into continuing development of new engines just for our market and instead we'll get more and more electric models anyways. That will probably the tipping point - in 15 years battery tech is probably going to be both more advanced and also a lot cheaper. And because they'll be mass producing a larger number of electric cars they are probably going to drop in price to start matching gas powered ones. Just remember that 15 years ago we didn't have smartphones or facebook but now they have penetrated the market and are an inexpensive default possession that even relatively poor people own, analogous to owning a refridgerator. And for those wondering about charging infrastructure, it only took about 24 years from the introduction of the Model T to the first Autobahn being built in Germany and the first parkways being built around Los Angeles and New York.
  23. zaphod
    To be fair, what function does the Boston office, as a physical brick-and-mortar place, actually have given the present trend towards remote work nowadays? A lot of the administrative stuff this organization does is probably not anchored to a specific city. After all, if you wanted access to the best experts you'd by necessity have a team scattered around the country and perhaps worldwide. And the floor space dedicated to startup work that needs physical presence is probably pretty plain. The room or building in that picture looks like a glorified event venue for startups to pitch things to investors. It probably remains empty most of the time. A legit science lab full of prototypes and instruments and test benches would probably employ far more people who might be inclined to live nearby in the city. And it would be an opportunity for creative new startups to take off, some of which may remain in the city and create networks that benefit Houston as a whole for decades to come.
  24. zaphod
    I had a part time job at a Target and I distinctly remember having to go on an internal website through a PC in the office to do training, schedule changes, etc, and there was a part where you had to select your store out of a list The list had the store's name and its number, and the store numbers are generally sequential so the older the store the lower the number. At least that's what somebody told me. Anyways this is memorable because there was a store in Dallas that was very low numbered, 008 I think, I believe the one by the old Valley View Mall and present day Dallas Galleria. From the outside it doesn't look too old but from Google Maps it has an unusual footprint and a substantial attic or loft in the center of the building which makes it look a bit different. Could it be from way back then? It seems to still be open. I wonder what the oldest Target in operation is? For that matter I wonder where the oldest Wal-mart is.
  25. zaphod
    It's very unusual to see a Target in a building that wasn't always a Target. The exterior doesn't really match their brand/look either, but then I hope long term the shopping center owners keep that brick and never try to cover over it. I've always liked the 1990s trend where shopping centers had that eclectic brick/masonry exterior. Nowadays new shopping centers all tend to be modern, gray boxes.
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