feufoma

At least it's not beige tunnel form junk!

Wonder how much rents will be for this one. Looks like they're having some trouble leasing West Ave Phase II. There's a guy holding a for lease sign on Kirby most days. A colleague told me that 2 bedrooms go for nearly $3000 per month. That's crazy for Houston!

We have a webcam now:

http://oxblue.com/open/2929Weslayan

At least it's not brown!

While I really loved living at Sawyer Heights, I can't justify the rent for such small square footage. Not to mention our 15sqft storage ($200/month). Might as well buy a townhouse... Which is what my plans are in the next 2-3 years.

Anyways, the rendering is cool. Very different, but in a good way. The area is awesome and I miss it very much!![/quote

Yes for that price point you can afford a townhouse. You might need storage or not.

Site work continues. Does anyone have an idea when we might see a crane (or two)?

The slanted edge saves it from being the most boring downtown office building in thirty years.

What would you have designed instead?

I agree that this spot isn't ideal and will exacerbate traffic woes. Like the design although accounting for this firm's other work they kind of phoned it in. We'll see.

True statement... as is coming into Houston from the East.

The birthplace of Texas and arguably the most economically important. All that so called ugly is critical to everyone in the state (or country).

they should make it like austin's lady bird lake or the river walk.

If developed in accordance with the master plan this will blow either of those two away!

I like the overall design but haven't noticed any lighting scheme at night. Does anyone know whether some lighting is going to be part of the design?

Because one can find much better quality and pricing from other (non-retail) establishments. You just need to know someone in the wholesale jewelry business and you can easily obtain truly original selections for a fraction of what these chain stores charge. E.g., the ring I settled on would retail for $20,000; and I got it for $8000.

Does anyone know what might take its place? (Hopefully, nothing beige or any other shade of brown.)

it's halfway there...man, this is gonna be a short building.

It looks like they're working on the 9th of 22 floors. So, it still has some to go plus a crown. It'll probably be 330-350 ft. Not bad for infill and certainly better than a parking lot...

Went to iii Forks. Prime rib and mashed potato for $22 is a pretty great deal. Big portion.

Sorry, but that looks really nasty!!

By the way. Why Pavilions, with the plural? There is only on Pavilion with many establishments.

Because that's the name of the development??? Duh...

Something does not add up here with the proposed height of this building...

If its at 30 stories now - its the shortest 30 I have ever seen...you can hardly see the building on 59, and it looks way shorter than DT which is topped out at 30?

And if MP is going to 46 stories - only another 16 - how is it going to get high enough where it is supposed to be way taller than Discovery Tower??

Basically MP does not look that tall now, and if its 30/46 stories done, then its not going to look that tall when its done...

Unless the last 16 stories are going to be really high ceilings or something?????

It'll really only have an impact from the south and northeast. I agree, I don't think this is going to a major point on the skyline itself-but a nice addition all the same.

It's funny, because when you go abroad you can of course identify other Americans by how they dress, and the baseball cap is always the surefire giveaway. It's practically the national costume.

Yes, and tennis shoes too! I've actually noticed more younger kids wearing baseball style hats in Europe over the last few years. The U.S. urban ghetto culture is even snaking its way in with more kids wearing baggy pants, etc. What a ridiculous look!

I hate to think that this project is DOA-but it's looking like the developers really made a mistake in opening HP with limited tenants. My wife went to BAM around noon yesterday and it was 'dead'. Not promising...

I noticed someone welding on the lights last Friday night. I believe they're just repairing the lighting-it'll probably revert back to the blue/ logo, which is a good thing IMHO.

I say that it is a yuppie playground precisely because it fits the young 20-35 bracket, but mostly because of the customers' household buying power and consumption patterns, their level of educational attainment, and other factors that feed into my intuitive psychographic profile of what constitutes a 'yuppie'.

Mayor White made it clear in no uncertain terms that he would never endorse subsidies for downtown housing built to serve wealthy people. But he does endorse subsidies for retail that caters almost exclusively to the upper class...apparently it isn't immoral so long as po' people are able to walk around (somewhat) freely amongst the yuppie masses and see what they can't afford...or occasionally blow their money on an expensive impulse.

Yes, HP could have been better scoped and designed. I certainly agree with you on that point. I also agree that HP will undoubtedly cater to those with more means to gain access to HP's retail and service offerings. So what? Those of more limited means can always take advantage of DiscoGreen. I'm sick and tired of some people always pulling the "but what about the poor" card. You know what, those people could have gotten off their collective aXXes in school and made something of themselves. I'm not going to apologize for making a great salary and having alot of discretionary income. Let them eat cake! If places like HP cater to people in my socioeconomic strata then so be it.

This thing's gonna be horrible! My wife pointed out the fact that most views from the western face of the Doubletree seem to hold the promise of being 'obfuscated' beyond reproach. Goddamnit! Why can't we in this city work together to promote and maintain any (normal) sense of urban aestheticsm? Opie for Mayor!

Doo doo dyoot do do do dyoot do doooo...

P.S. Whistle that last part...

Rockin' in the Carolina's yo'.....!!! Geez Ange.....!! Barney and Floyd could rock this city like no other!!

Let's think about this, seriously. It's been so long since there was any type of news at all about the 'superblock' (and I use that term loosely)-why now? A chain link fence? REALLY? I'm enthused-I don't know about y'all.

It's almost criminal that the acerage hasn't been utilized. But, face it, it's not gonna' happen. Let's look for a downward trend in "mixed use" development in Houston after the current crop comes to fruition.

Economy (worldwide) is gettin' ugly. Your most recent edition of The Economist should be consulted for more dystopic fodder....

P.S. Turnberry=Orion (+ $$$$). Naagonnahappen....

It's not pessimistic, Trae. It's about accountability, and being tired of the city making bad business decisions and giving it up to developers who don't deliver. And this is how it happens--with our tax dollars. Being a hospitable business climate shouldn't mean rolling over with the incentives and then re-writing city code to provide for lights and signs so a developer can brand his poorly conceived business plan after the fact.

Grrrrrrr : HP. I want it to succeed, but WTF? Can't even get a proper bookstore in that place.

I second your opinion. The city (what a bunch of feckless morons in our city government) was indeed duped; and, now, HP is proceeding in a direction that won't differentiate it that much from, say, The Woodlands Mall. This could have been soooo much better. We'll see... That previous post regarding whether HP's future will be similar to Bayou Place's is becoming more germane every day.

Seriously -- unless I'm wrong and those were intended to be climbing walls -- I think it's pretty irresponsible of the Chronicle to publish that picture, at least not without mentioning they're not supposed to do that.

I'm not addressing use of the multi-colored walls for the underground parking entrance. The sculpture I'm referring to is at the east end of the park just across the street from the convention center. I doubt that the intent is for children to climb on the art. Frankly, the city should be concerned not just about the aesthetics issue but also the threat of lawsuits (tort immunity be damned).

I know what you mean, that's why I was glib. I think homeless people deserve the same access to public parks as homed people.

Not to the extent they essentially take over the park and start camping, etc. "Use" is one thing but the homeless generally take it to the next level to the exclusion of others. Where's the fairness in that? Taxpayers (you know, the one's that generally fund parks and such) should be able to use a park without the negative impacts that often accompany the homeless onslaught. The homeless are ruining Midtown.