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Hess Tower: Office Skyscraper At 1501 McKinney St.


Ethanra

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They could have at least went with the curve on the street I guess. Would have looked nice.

Like this:

And a better view:

http://www.oxblue.com/client/brasfieldgorrie/1010midtown/

I agree that it would be a shame not to take advantage of the curvature of the lot in designing the building. That is the kind of thing that makes architecture interesting would make Disco tower look like it really belonged there.

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A little more info on Discovery Tower. It appears there will be a skybridge and tunnel connection as well.

Link

To clarify, what the article says is that the building will be tied into the tunnel system by skybridge. In other words, according to Swamplot, there will be a skybridge, not a tunnel.

Are skybridges less expensive than tunnels? Or is it just a matter of the preferences of the adjoining property owner?

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Skybridges are cheaper than tunnels, and the reason for the skybridge for DT is that the "tunnel" system in Houston Center is all above grade.

However, when you take the cost of the skybridge + the extraordinary price they are paying to 5 Houston Center for the right to connect....it is far more expensive than a traditional tunnel connection.

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You know the rendering certainly looks bigger/taller than a 30-story building. When the building was origionally proposed, they said it could be much bigger than what was being called for. Does anybody know if they have increased the amount of square footage or added any floors?

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I drove by Discovery Green today and to be honest am really underwhelmed by the park... They put so much junk inside of it that I don't see how it will possibly ever have a real park feel. In person it just seems really small and unimpressive.

I guess something is much better than nothing.

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I drove by on Saturday and I actually had a really great feeling about it. An urban park doesn't need to be huge in my opinion. The skyline views are going to be really nice and I think the size is just about right to make it feel comfortable an hopefully not empty. Hopefully it will give people enough things to do to actually draw people there, in comparison to a huge empty field or wooded area (like Memorial Park) which might not have the draw that this park will - at least not in downtown.

A park the size of Hermann Park in the middle of downtown would just be weird.

Maybe you should think of it as a plaza or square instead of a "park". Like Washington Square in San Francisco without all the concrete.

Edited by Jax
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I drove by on Saturday and I actually had a really great feeling about it. An urban park doesn't need to be huge in my opinion. The skyline views are going to be really nice and I think the size is just about right to make it feel comfortable an hopefully not empty. Hopefully it will give people enough things to do to actually draw people there, in comparison to a huge empty field or wooded area (like Memorial Park) which might not have the draw that this park will - at least not in downtown.

A park the size of Hermann Park in the middle of downtown would just be weird.

Maybe you should think of it as a plaza or square instead of a "park". Like Washington Square in San Francisco without all the concrete.

I agree... it's an urban park in the middle of Downtown, it's not meant to be a huge, empty space. I think it will be a great park.

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Rumor on the street says ground breaking has been delayed until sometime next month. Combined with 6HC's continual delaying on ground breaking. Not a great start for the two projects.

But nothing unusual for projects of this type. Recall the repeated panic that ensued with every movement of a fence and parking of a car on the Houston Pavilions site.

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And if I recall correctly, the delays on HP were much longer than only one month. I think HP at one time announced groundbreaking in Nov 2006, and then pushed it back until Feb 2007. It was the last of many officially announced delays of the project. I remember the hysteria at HAIF. The nay sayers were out in full force and the Debbie Downers were all writing things like "this will NEVER be built" and "I hate Houston". And then BAM! - the cranes came and there was much rejoice, dancing in the streets, and people giggling at work for no apparent reason.

And anyway, Houston 2010's posting is just "word on the street" - nothing official, let's not lose perspective. O never mind, go ahead and lose perspective, what difference does it make.

Edited by Mister X
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You have to laugh when you look back at the woe is us posts that popped up every time the Pavillions ground breaking was delayed a week, month etc and the constant, "See? Nothing gets built in Houston" panic. Then the very day that the project DID break ground, people started complaining because some retailer they liked wasn't part of the initial group of retailers and so forth.

This stuff gets funnier the longer I post here.

All you have to do is open a window and look out south and west and see miles of development in this town. Only in Houston can people look at that and still figure out a way to feel paranoid.

It's not like you live in Cleveland or Nashville or some place.

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By no means am I implying that Discovery Tower doesn't get built...I truly believe its going. However, the multiple redesigns of the building, the delays on ground breaking due to very basic error on their part, as well as the other issues with this building point to a very junior crew trying to get this thing built and designed without it being a suburban box in the CBD.

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By no means am I implying that Discovery Tower doesn't get built...I truly believe its going. However, the multiple redesigns of the building, the delays on ground breaking due to very basic error on their part, as well as the other issues with this building point to a very junior crew trying to get this thing built and designed without it being a suburban box in the CBD.

A one month delay? :lol:

You are not overly familiar with building construction, are you?

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By no means am I implying that Discovery Tower doesn't get built...I truly believe its going. However, the multiple redesigns of the building, the delays on ground breaking due to very basic error on their part, as well as the other issues with this building point to a very junior crew trying to get this thing built and designed without it being a suburban box in the CBD.

Yeah, Trammell Crow has so little experience with building large projects...Buy a clue.

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You're right. They are very experienced, and have the track record to go with it. Experienced development teams always do the following:

3) Redesign a building 3 times to get their costs under control, ultimately having to buy another site to put parking on to simplify the building. Then again, they are proposing such a radically different building that it can be hard to estimate what it costs to build such a building. What you say? They are building a glass box? Oh yeah.

But you're right...they are nothing but professionals who do this every day.

How far into the process were they, time-wise when they realized they needed to buy the adjoining block for a parking structure? I mean, did they come to this realization fairly recently?

Edited by Houston19514
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How far into the process were they, time-wise when they realized they needed to buy the adjoining block for a parking structure? I mean, did they come to this realization fairly recently?

Off-site parking sounds like it was driven by inflationary hard costs. Sticks, bricks, and rock might be leveling off and falling in price, but structural steel and concrete continues to be in high demand. The higher go hard costs on a project like this, the greater the incentive to shorten things, for instance by placing parking on an adjacent block rather than as the base of the building.

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Awsome... another lot bites the dust. :D

The lot where the parking garage is going to be and the lot just east of it had the trees along the sidewalk covered by wood and an orange net. I have noticed this before on lots that were about to start construction.

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Off-site parking sounds like it was driven by inflationary hard costs. Sticks, bricks, and rock might be leveling off and falling in price, but structural steel and concrete continues to be in high demand. The higher go hard costs on a project like this, the greater the incentive to shorten things, for instance by placing parking on an adjacent block rather than as the base of the building.

I'm not sure that's the reasoning at all... They said from early on that they planned approximately 21 stories of office space on top of 10 stories of parking, but that if the demand for office space was strong enough they might make the building all office space and build separate parking on the adjacent block.

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I'm not sure that's the reasoning at all... They said from early on that they planned approximately 21 stories of office space on top of 10 stories of parking, but that if the demand for office space was strong enough they might make the building all office space and build separate parking on the adjacent block.

I don't recall any intial mention of using the second block for parking. My impression had been that they would've just built higher.

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I don't recall any intial mention of using the second block for parking. My impression had been that they would've just built higher.

Did you read the article? Demand was high enough, and the parking garage will be built on the adjacent lot to the east.

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Did you read the article? Demand was high enough, and the parking garage will be built on the adjacent lot to the east.

Just to clarify - won't the garage be built on a block to the north (one block up LaBranch)? Not trying to be a richard, just want to make sure I understand where the garage would be. The only block that is kind of to the East is where i though the new hotel was going to go.

Also, back to my other question - does this crane sitting in the lot mean anything is right about to happen?

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Just to clarify - won't the garage be built on a block to the north (one block up LaBranch)? Not trying to be a richard, just want to make sure I understand where the garage would be. The only block that is kind of to the East is where i though the new hotel was going to go.

Also, back to my other question - does this crane sitting in the lot mean anything is right about to happen?

yes, the garage will be on the block to the north.

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  • The title was changed to Hess Tower: Office Skyscraper In Downtown
  • The title was changed to Hess Tower: Office Skyscraper At 1501 McKinney St.
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