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Noticed this today on my bike ride.... anyone happen to know what they are replacing this with? Another parking garage or something else?

Museums always face thorny issues when contemplating expansion, but perhaps none more so than the Menil Collection, whose quiet residential location has always been integral to its hidden-jewel mystique in the local and international art worlds. That

Today I noticed the empty lot at the corner of W. Alabama and Buffalo Speedway was being cleared. Over the past few weeks i have noticed survey crews and soil sample crews out there as well. Does anybody know what may be going up on that site?

My first observations are about a couple roads in particular, but it looks like this is a wider topic which hasn't been discussed yet that I could find. Washington Ave is now 8 lanes north of I-10, plus center turn lanes and not counting a 2 lane "feeder road" to the southwest. Does anyone know the reason for this widening project? It looks to be outside the scope of the 290 widening project. I didn't realize that this section of Washington is particularly busy or that it is expected to be busy in the near future. Does anyone have any information on why this project was done? inb4 "corruption" Also, I noticed that the construction on Bellaire between Beltway 8 and just east of Gessner is still ongoing. Now they have finished the south side of the road and are tearing up the north side. Some of the medians have been removed and it looks like they could widen Bellaire from 3 lanes each way to 4 lanes here if they wanted to, if they removed some more median for turn lanes, at least in the westbound direction. The way that traffic seems to behave in this area, I could see the need for that. Most of the widening in the last decade has been occurring north of the North Loop: HomesteadYaleWheatley/EllaLittle YorkParkerFultonW Gulf BankAldine WestfieldAldine Mail RoadLeyFallbrookTC JesterPinemontSpur 261/Shepherd lanes to/from I-45Others? Are there any other realistic projects on the arterials that could be done inside the Beltway? Not everything can be widened to 6 lanes or needs to be. But perhaps improving arterials through widening, grade separation, or synchronization could take a little pressure of the freeways.

does anyone know when the GRB expansion is supposed to be implemented? im sure its a ways off, but with the Marriott Marquis coming they will finally get that big hotel boost theyve been waiting for to bring in the bigger events, so one would think the expansion wouldnt be too far behind the new hotel? is it possible ground floor retail is being considered along the front of GRB in the master plan? i know there is supposed to be some in the new Marriott Marquis and in the new GRB garage but other than that and One Park Place there really isnt any GFR around Discovery Green that i know of. also, my initial motive for starting this thread... i brought it up in another thread when someone mentioned DG not being completely surrounded by tall buildings not giving it a "square" feeling.. does anyone think GRB is structurally strong enough to support any highrises built on top of it? i know they want even more hotels in the long term, besides just the Marriott Marquis, so what better place for another hotel than directly on top of the convention center? it doesnt get any more convenient then that. the convention center is already 5 blocks long. the expansion will add another 5 blocks to the site. imagine a large scale mixed use campus built on top of the GRB. it could have multiple highrises ranging from residential tower to hotel to office buildings and entertainment venues. think about it, if you count the roof space of GRB, there isnt as much potential neighboring real estate anywhere else in the downtown area. it will be over 10 city blocks after the expansion. i wish the planners of the GRB master plan had that kind of vision. maybe an urban oasis? i know the park is right next door, but like some kind of botanical gardens or something to compliment the park. at the very least it would be cool if they utilized some of the roof for a TopGolf. all these new downtown residents are going to need things to do besides nightlife and shopping. plus, how cool would it be to hit some golf balls in downtown?