Montrose1100 Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 My taxes paid for that parking lot you tailgate on and for the stadium in which the game is played in. Neither of which I have any use for, so that's a fair trade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amashgo Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 My taxes paid for that parking lot you tailgate on and for the stadium in which the game is played in. Neither of which I have any use for, so that's a fair trade. Yes, but that stadium also brings a crap load of business to the city and surrounding areas, which boosts the economy, and so on which I would hope you find a halfway decent use of your taxes. A major event like the superbowl comes to mind..... and with something like the superbowl, it has spurred a lot of projects in the Houston/metro area. As a HAIFer I would also think that some of the stuff going up interests you. And you're telling me you've never been to NRG for a rodeo, game, event or anything ever? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Yes, but that stadium also brings a crap load of business to the city and surrounding areas, which boosts the economy, and so on which I would hope you find a halfway decent use of your taxes. A major event like the superbowl comes to mind..... and with something like the superbowl, it has spurred a lot of projects in the Houston/metro area. As a HAIFer I would also think that some of the stuff going up interests you. And you're telling me you've never been to NRG for a rodeo, game, event or anything ever?That brings up a good question, which I guess I'll have to look into... Is the cost of a stadium justified by the outside business a super bowl brings... that happens every +10 years?I also don't think the Super Bowl has created anything necessarily "going up". If you care to enlighten me about a project that went up soley because of the event, I'd like to know, in all sincerity.I've been to the stadium a few times out of obligation (graduations), but never for a Texans game. I think it's absolutely ridiculous us tax payers have to fork out cash for a sports franchise with continued maintenance & upgrades while some people high up in a monopoly reap the benefits. But that's another story.Just pointing out its hypocritical to talk about wasting tax dollars when it's really all relative. You have your football, and I get to hold on to the Astrodome until we find a use for it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstonfella Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Regarding the stadium, of the $442 million price, $284 million is being paid for with hotel occupancy and car rental taxes earmarked for use by the sports authority, with the remainder coming from tenant payments and user fees. So, unless you are staying in hotels here or renting cars, your tax dollars aren't "being wasted" on NRG Stadium. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 (edited) Regarding the stadium, of the $442 million price, $284 million is being paid for with hotel occupancy and car rental taxes earmarked for use by the sports authority, with the remainder coming from tenant payments and user fees. So, unless you are staying in hotels here or renting cars, your tax dollars aren't "being wasted" on NRG Stadium.Do you have a sources for that info? I would like to read up on that.And is that figure for the super bowl or just annually for regular games? Edit: FWIW I do stay in hotels here in town. Edited February 5, 2016 by Montrose1100 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 (edited) Regarding the stadium, of the $442 million price, $284 million is being paid for with hotel occupancy and car rental taxes earmarked for use by the sports authority, with the remainder coming from tenant payments and user fees. So, unless you are staying in hotels here or renting cars, your tax dollars aren't "being wasted" on NRG Stadium. That is true, but if we hadn't raised those taxes to spend on sports, we could have raised them to spend on something else. Or the Sports Authority could have funded something like the bayou park improvements instead, which was one of the ideas originally thrown about at the time the sports authority was created (and then you wouldn't have needed a $166 million bond issue for Bayou Greenways). No matter what artificial walls you set up, they are ultimately OUR tax dollars. Edited February 5, 2016 by H-Town Man 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 It looks like they're getting close to finished for the time being. There's a whole lot less stuff outside the building footprint every day; about the only thing left that was staged in the next block of Travis is the warning sign for the blocked off lane (at least this morning - for all I know it may be gone now). In response to some of those whose knickers are in a twist over the previous building being replaced with a parking garage - nearly half of the old building was a parking garage. It was the mid 50s equivalent of 601 Travis. The only difference was that it was a bland box of low midrise infill housing the garage and back room operations for Chase's local predecessor that was faced in buff brick rather than a bland box of low midrise infill housing the garage and whatever back room operations remain for Chase that is faced in gray granite. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstontexasjack Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 It looks like they're getting close to finished for the time being. There's a whole lot less stuff outside the building footprint every day; about the only thing left that was staged in the next block of Travis is the warning sign for the blocked off lane (at least this morning - for all I know it may be gone now).In response to some of those whose knickers are in a twist over the previous building being replaced with a parking garage - nearly half of the old building was a parking garage. It was the mid 50s equivalent of 601 Travis. The only difference was that it was a bland box of low midrise infill housing the garage and back room operations for Chase's local predecessor that was faced in buff brick rather than a bland box of low midrise infill housing the garage and whatever back room operations remain for Chase that is faced in gray granite.Any sign the tunnel from Chase south might reopen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 It looks like they're getting close to finished for the time being. There's a whole lot less stuff outside the building footprint every day; about the only thing left that was staged in the next block of Travis is the warning sign for the blocked off lane (at least this morning - for all I know it may be gone now). In response to some of those whose knickers are in a twist over the previous building being replaced with a parking garage - nearly half of the old building was a parking garage. It was the mid 50s equivalent of 601 Travis. The only difference was that it was a bland box of low midrise infill housing the garage and back room operations for Chase's local predecessor that was faced in buff brick rather than a bland box of low midrise infill housing the garage and whatever back room operations remain for Chase that is faced in gray granite. I'm not against the loss of this block, just the lack of a shiny cool building (and the astrodome). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Any sign the tunnel from Chase south might reopen? Not sure - that particular part of the block (more or less in the middle) is hard to see from my usual haunts. I'm not against the loss of this block, just the lack of a shiny cool building (and the astrodome). Patience, Grasshopper... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amashgo Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 That brings up a good question, which I guess I'll have to look into... Is the cost of a stadium justified by the outside business a super bowl brings... that happens every +10 years?I also don't think the Super Bowl has created anything necessarily "going up". If you care to enlighten me about a project that went up soley because of the event, I'd like to know, in all sincerity.I've been to the stadium a few times out of obligation (graduations), but never for a Texans game. I think it's absolutely ridiculous us tax payers have to fork out cash for a sports franchise with continued maintenance & upgrades while some people high up in a monopoly reap the benefits. But that's another story.Just pointing out its hypocritical to talk about wasting tax dollars when it's really all relative. You have your football, and I get to hold on to the Astrodome until we find a use for it. I don't have insider info on anything it as directly spurred, but it seems like there is a fair amount of construction in the area (main st.) there are two hotels going up (I think they're both hotels) and then I think of a rather decent sized venue in one of our suburbs that their substantial completion is in part driven by the SB because one of the sports juggernaut sponsors wants to use it as home base while they're here. Dangling a carrot like that helps move things forward quicker than it may otherwise have gone. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrLan34 Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Crane coming down now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astros148 Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 YAY we get an awesome looking parking garage!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enriquewx91 Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Blessed we are with this addition to our city! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monarch Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 ^^^ awesome job hindesky! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 It looks like the tunnel connections are going to be resurrected in the fairly near future - the word is sometime either within the next few weeks or by the end of the summer, depending on who you talk to. I was able to gaze down upon the northern half of the block today; there's plenty of slab in place that will eventually be the lobby floor to allow Mole People access to and from 600 Travis without having to be frightened by sunlight or rain. There are also bunch of CMU walls up that can just as easily come down, both on the street and basement levels. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infinite_jim Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post H-TownChris2 Posted February 25, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted February 25, 2016 (edited) Idk, how I feel about this "garage". 2.24 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr (Sun reflecting myself on the glass ) 2.24 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr 2.24 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr 2/24 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr Edited February 25, 2016 by H-TownChris2 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Could they at least put a facade up? Maybe a drawing of the old buildings? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 Idk, how I feel about this "garage". 2.24 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr (Sun reflecting myself on the glass ) 2.24 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr 2.24 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr 2/24 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr Until the fence comes down, I'll reserve judgement, they've taken down the cranes, but there's still lots to do, I think. What I'm curious about is how are they going to work the tunnels with no building? Maybe an open air atrium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Maybe an open air atrium I always wished there were a block in downtown that was a sunken plaza, with tunnel connections opening up to the open air plaza that would be surrounded on the sides by Below-Ground Floor Retail/Restaurants, with stairs/escalators up to the sidewalks at street level. A way to open up the tunnels to street level.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infinite_jim Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Could they at least put a facade up? Maybe a drawing of the old buildings? Rumor has it that some sort of artwork is the plan for the CMU walls that are currently painted light gray. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 I always wished there were a block in downtown that was a sunken plaza, with tunnel connections opening up to the open air plaza that would be surrounded on the sides by Below-Ground Floor Retail/Restaurants, with stairs/escalators up to the sidewalks at street level. A way to open up the tunnels to street level.. Such a plaza exists at Wells Fargo Plaza, 1000 Louisiana. There is even one small deli nearby at the transition into the Land of the Mole People. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Such a plaza exists at Wells Fargo Plaza, 1000 Louisiana. There is even one small deli nearby at the transition into the Land of the Mole People.Thats just two staircases from the street going down to a tunnel entrance.. I was talking a full square block that's sunken down to tunnel level, opening the tunnels up green space/the outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timoric Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 (edited) - Edited July 10, 2019 by Timoric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
democide Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 The garage was partially built, it will end up being 11 stories once the tower goes up. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-TownChris2 Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 3.5 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-TownChris2 Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 IMG_4305 by Chris Rojas, on Flickr 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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