Jump to content

811 Main: Office Skyscraper At 811 Main St.


houstonfella

Recommended Posts

i'm all about new towers. yet, that looks like it could have been an interesting block. the street level will lose some character. guess it won't bother me so much when the cranes go up. ;)

it has a lot of history, from Stowers Furniture, to Beatty-West (James M. West) building, to the Aragon Ballroom - and the West Building is a city of houston historic landmark. I know that Hines has the expertise to have redevloped this into something neat.

Just not the vision, i guess.

Thx Sevfiv. So, we're going to lose this one as well? Too bad, I liked the red fire escape?

yes - that's the Montagu, nee Hotel Cotton

montpast.png

http://hotels.arch-ive.org/montagu/

Edited by sevfiv
Link to comment
Share on other sites

it has a lot of history, from Stowers Furniture, to Beatty-West (James M. West) building, to the Aragon Ballroom - and the West Building is a city of houston historic landmark. I know that Hines has the expertise to have redevloped this into something neat. Just not the vision, i guess.yes - that's the Montagu, nee Hotel Cottonmontpast.pnghttp://hotels.arch-ive.org/montagu/
I definitely want to witness this little gem go down. I wish it could have been converted into another hotel, but there are plenty other historic buildings to either side that need work too. I imagine that the old Texaco building and the one next door will soon have new life.Please keep us posted on when the dynamite will go off. I've always wanted to see an implosion. >:)
I definitely want to witness this little gem go down. I wish it could have been converted into another nice hotel (as opposed to a defacto brothel), but there are plenty other historic buildings to either side that need work too. I imagine that the old Texaco building and the one next door will soon have new life.Please keep us posted on when the dynamite will go off. I've always wanted to see an implosion. >:)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah maybe that's it. Always more people standing around that corner than other ones. I didn't notice the sign until now.

There's a little corner store across the street that attracts a certain kind of "undesirable crowd". There's always a lot of panhandling going on that block.

Although the people in the picture posted look like honest people waiting for a bus.

I wonder how this building will impact the neighboring buildings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please keep us posted on when the dynamite will go off. I've always wanted to see an implosion. >:)

Doubtful that these buildings will be imploded, due to their proximity to utilities, other buildings, tunnel system, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think MainPlace is such a bad name... Philly's two tallest towers (before Comcast was built) are called Liberty Place (one and two Liberty Place)... everyone up there seems to like those names.

No, "Main Place" isn't a bad name, but the trendoid "MainPlace," as if it were one word, is vaguely annoying. It's like the propensity developers have for (mis)spellings like "towne" and "centre".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

name='Subdude' date='Sunday, August 26th, 2007 @ 2:30am' post='194597

Nice design though. Somehow it seems like the "garden" should be facing west however.

That would make that level of the tower cooler in the afternoon.

Edited by Marty
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that there would be a better view if the garden was facing west. I think the view to the West is much more impressive. The east end of Houston isn't exactly beautiful (lots of parking lots, then a highway, and then lots of old warehouses). The view of the more impressive buildings downtown plus the bayou would be more interesting I think. I know the new park will be nice, but will it be that interesting from the 40th floor?

I wonder if this building will have a public sky lobby or observation deck? That would be cool!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^^^^

1. There will be a clearer view of the design features of the balcony when looking at the building from the east.

2. Over time, more things will be built there. You never know, in 2025 that balcony may be one of the best views in the city. Perhaps not the neighborhoods east of 59 but in the downtown area there will be lots of demand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is just out of curiosity, but with maybe 4 new building proposals for downtown, does anyone know if there are any office tower proposals for Uptown? I have no idea what the vacany rate is for Uptown, it could be ridiculously high for all I know, it just seems there hasn't been a new office building built in Uptown in forever. I rather see new towers going up in downtown, but since we have Uptown, might as well build them there also. I guess I just want to see the skylines of both downtown and uptown grow and change. Oh well, downtown gets the office towers and uptown gets the condo towers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why are there always people hanging out on that corner? Is there a bus stop, or something? I always see people just standing around on this corner, but why?

Those are mainly homeless people hanging around the convenient store (or crack shack as I call it). They now have everything boarded up and the store on the corner is out of inventory, which is why the block is so much cleaner now.

Has anyone notice people aren

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those are mainly homeless people hanging around the convenient store (or crack shack as I call it). They now have everything boarded up and the store on the corner is out of inventory, which is why the block is so much cleaner now.

Has anyone notice people aren

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It seems to me that this tower is a win, win situationn regardless of whether it has retail or not. What I mean, is that this tower will house a few thousand workers, which in turn will inject money into the surrounding Main street area. Main already has a number of boarded up retail spaces, so this could help revitalize those locations... At least during the work week.

I disagree. Main Street does not need a soulless glass tower. 46 stories of glass with a diminutive entrance at the bottom does not encourage pedestrian life. If anything, the way the lobby entrance is recessed from the facade discourages

streetlife. Even if you throw in a few fast food eateries, I don't think it's much help unless the facade is somehow changed.

Someone tell me how this design would be any different if it were going on the West Loop feeder road rather than Main St. It looks like they put more thought into the 43rd floor than the first floor. This is our signature boulevard... time to start expecting better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I disagree. Main Street does not need a soulless glass tower. 46 stories of glass with a diminutive entrance at the bottom does not encourage pedestrian life. If anything, the way the lobby entrance is recessed from the facade discourages

streetlife. Even if you throw in a few fast food eateries, I don't think it's much help unless the facade is somehow changed.

Someone tell me how this design would be any different if it were going on the West Loop feeder road rather than Main St. It looks like they put more thought into the 43rd floor than the first floor. This is our signature boulevard... time to start expecting better.

Where have you seen a rendering showing the lobby entrances on Main Street recessed from the facade? Are you sure you aren't looking at the renderings showing the Rusk Street facade? Not that a recessed entrance would in any way destri ir even discourage pedestrian life.)

And FWIW, a 46 story office building with street level retail will clearly encourage pedestrian life. First, we obviously have no idea what the retail tenants might be, but even if they are just fast food, fast food customers are pedestrians too. And to the extent they are restaurants of any type, they may very well have sidewalk dining areas. What exactly is it that you want in a building?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Where have you seen a rendering showing the lobby entrances on Main Street recessed from the facade? Are you sure you aren't looking at the renderings showing the Rusk Street facade? Not that a recessed entrance would in any way destri ir even discourage pedestrian life.)

And FWIW, a 46 story office building with street level retail will clearly encourage pedestrian life. First, we obviously have no idea what the retail tenants might be, but even if they are just fast food, fast food customers are pedestrians too. And to the extent they are restaurants of any type, they may very well have sidewalk dining areas. What exactly is it that you want in a building?

You make a good point which I neglected to mention - that the entrance is actually on Rusk, with only the side of the building and parking garage on Main. I guess Main wasn't important enough for the primary entrance.

When I say "encourage pedestrian life," I mean encourage it architecturally. Of course having a big building there with some shops will add some pedestrian traffic to Main Street, but the architecture does little to make an interesting street-level environment. The same could be said of Houston Center and the Park Shops... sure they might add some incidental pedestrian traffic, but the buildings weren't really designed to encourage it.

I'll ask again... how would the design of this building be any different if it were on the West Loop feeder road?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...