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Downtown Skyline Update


DaTrain

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Two ways that will happened (1) Dubai style mall built over it ( after dumping tons of sodium bicarbonate or a similar de-stinker) or (2) Hope the astronomers who claim a mini-ice age is arriving due to very low solar activity are correct. I hope the astronomers are way off. I love the tropical and near tropical  vegetation in my yard and around Houston.

Edited by Twinsanity02
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They built Wildcat  golf course on top of the old Holmes rd. dump. I'm sure at some point they'll design something for Mt. Trash. 

We were at the Hilton Americas the other day and you can really see it very clearly from that location. Its amazing how tall it is.

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20 minutes ago, bobruss said:

They built Wildcat  golf course on top of the old Holmes rd. dump. I'm sure at some point they'll design something for Mt. Trash. 

We were at the Hilton Americas the other day and you can really see it very clearly from that location. Its amazing how tall it is.

I remember seeing it just barely from the ramp from US 59 N to I-10W and the 9th floor of the M&M/UHD building back when I was an undergrad student at UHD from 2005 to 2009. I'm back at UHD as a grad student now and can easily see it from the ramp. It's amazing what 8-12 years of additional garbage can do. :lol:

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1 hour ago, JLWM8609 said:

I remember seeing it just barely from the ramp from US 59 N to I-10W and the 9th floor of the M&M/UHD building back when I was an undergrad student at UHD from 2005 to 2009. I'm back at UHD as a grad student now and can easily see it from the ramp. It's amazing what 8-12 years of additional garbage can do. :lol:

It is also amazingly smelly. I drove up there once out of curiosity. Never will do that again. The stink molecules were trapped in my nasal epithelia for hours.

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9 hours ago, Twinsanity02 said:

It is also amazingly smelly. I drove up there once out of curiosity. Never will do that again. The stink molecules were trapped in my nasal epithelia for hours.

I thought the stink of the landfill out in Pearland near Shadow Creek Ranch was bad, but I doubt it's as large as the landfill out on Beaumont Hwy.

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I didn't see any flooding in the Midway Development area (which is now labeled as East River development).  The bayou thankfully held up and was able to absorb most of the rain without flooding in that area.  My question is whether the city of Houston will step in and force a purchase of the land in order for some creative solution of flood control for the city.  Or if this pressures/forces Midway to build more green space parks in the area.  I would love to be a fly on the wall in those discussion rooms.  Interesting times ahead for Htown.

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  • 8 months later...
1 hour ago, hindesky said:

More downtown pics from reddit, 70's and current Google earth.

70's

HTGBAFg.jpg

Current Google Earth

0d5Eg72.jpg

I can't believe I'm saying this but Pennzoil looked so out of place 45 (45 . . . almost half a century!!) years ago, and not nearly as pretty.

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The Western Union building can be seen at the base of Pennzoil in the '70s photo.
This is the building that is finally being demolished after spending 35 years walled off in the BOA (Republic Bank) banking hall.

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3 hours ago, hindesky said:

More downtown pics from reddit, 70's and current Google earth.

70's

HTGBAFg.jpg

Current Google Earth

0d5Eg72.jpg

 

Hope Google is working on an update ;)

 

1 hour ago, dbigtex56 said:

The Western Union building can be seen at the base of Pennzoil in the '70s photo.
This is the building that is finally being demolished after spending 35 years walled off in the BOA (Republic Bank) banking hall.

 

No demo occurring for the Western Union Building, its being restored back to use.

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There's more buildings in the "modern" shot, but I'm a bit surprised how relatively-filled out downtown Houston was in the 1970s and how few relatively few buildings have been demolished, with the only really noticeable ones are the ones at the bottom of the picture, north of Washington.

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1 hour ago, IronTiger said:

There's more buildings in the "modern" shot, but I'm a bit surprised how relatively-filled out downtown Houston was in the 1970s and how few relatively few buildings have been demolished, with the only really noticeable ones are the ones at the bottom of the picture, north of Washington.

 

To be fair, that photo was taken around 1978-1979, so the last boom in building had already begun.  Had it been taken in 1970 it would have been missing a bunch more buildings I think.

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13 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

No demo occurring for the Western Union Building, its being restored back to use.

If the remark was meant humorously, forgive me.
To clarify, Western Union outright refused to sell or demolish their building when Gerald Hines was developing Republic Bank, due to the number of cables that converged on the site. The banking hall was incorporated into the design because building a tall building on that side of the block would have been even more of an engineering nightmare.
For 35 years the Louisiana/Capitol corner of the banking hall was sealed off. With the advent of the internet, Western Union no longer had a use for the building. The remains are being (or have been) demolished in order to open up that space in the banking hall, along with installing new windows on the Rusk façade.
I have heard nothing about any part of the building being incorporated into the new design.

edit: (and retraction) The Chron article refers to the Western Union building as being "opened up", so yes, it could be said that it's being restored. In a sense. :)
Also corrected Capitol (from Rusk).



https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2017/12/21/photoswith-anchor-tenant-exiting-bank-of-america.html
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Bank-of-America-Center-to-bring-hidden-building-12456235.php#photo-14755911

Edited by dbigtex56
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Thats such a great shot, beautiful, and  not a bad building either. That is the  best angle  to see it. If I was young and had the time, I'd get into as many buildings

as possible and take photos of all  the incredible massing's of new towers juxtaposed  against old. Closeups of the textures, colors, angles, and  reflection, from different levels of downtown that most people don't get to see. 

Through 20 years of installing art, in many offices towers and high rises around town, I have had the opportunity to see quite a few amazing compositions for a tabletop book

and I think if it was done on a large format it  would be a striking book..  

Come hear us play tomorrow night at the Rehab bar on Enid 9-12.

Its our debut.

 

Edited by bobruss
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