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500 Crawford: Multifamily At 500 Crawford St.


lockmat

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Two things that really piss me off about the project. 

  1. The faux cornice will diminish downtown views from the ballpark. Architects could have and still can omit the roofline elements and preserve the line of sight aesthetic. I am not talking about the whole building, just across the street from the ballpark!
  2. There will be no rooftop seating to watch the game from across the street like at Wrigley Field. This is one perfect example of why Houston sucks. A missed opportunity of making something quirky, unique and fun like in Chicago. Even if it is a bad idea, ambiance and cheap beer would make up for it. City hall can get anything done in this city. It would be one more gimmick, one more selling point to attract business and residents downtown. 
  3. Something going across the street from one of the crown jewels in Houston screams "cheap" compared to what developers would implement in other cities.

I am sorry for being a Debbie Downer guys and I know how most of you like to stay positive in this forum, but I just had to get this off my chest.

 

 

 

 

The rooftop seating in outside Wrigley is barely tolerated by the Cubs and MLB with occasional threats of walls going up and other advertising deals, etc. That is a very unique circumstance that is rather dicey from a legal perspective that only halfway works. If Finger was able to do something similar, he'd have to be in bed with the Astros from the get-go, which sounds maybe interesting, but tough to put a price on. Given the Comcast dealings, I'd stay far away from the Astros' business side.  The Cubs averaged 12K more people per game last year than the Astros, and their games (and the whole neighborhood) are regularly regarded as a bar with baseball in the background. Cool and fun, but I don't think you can create that out of what we have here. 

 

If you have both ambiance and cheap beer in a public setting, the crowd will put and end to the former or buy you out of the latter.  

 

Currently, across the street (or two) from this crown jewel, we have surface lots, a freeway and a drunk tank.  This is going to look really good and help the neighborhood immensely. Anyone can pick personal nits with a particular design, but I think this one will be very well executed. Can't wait to see the area after this, the Marriott Marquis, the museum, and the adjacent residential tower go up. 

 

For all of Wrigley's charm, this is still across the street from it:

 

2uhtwr8.png

Edited by Nate99
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At least the idea wasn't plagiarized.

 

Chicago is ugly. When we run out of ideas of our own we should copy from a nicer place than that shithole.

 

ok i've seen enough from this guy.... time to revoke your posting privileges.

 

 

 

 

 

that said i don't get arternative's gripes all that much either. to echo nate99, wrigley is a very unique situation and isn't all that easily duplicated, nevermind the fact that i'm not so sure 500 crawford will even be tall enough to see any significant portion of th field, especially if the roof is closed. the overall design complements MMP quite well and the addition of retail (even a small portion) is a great step forward. to call the design "cheap" is just wrong.

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i'm not so sure 500 crawford will even be tall enough to see any significant portion of th field, especially if the roof is closed. the overall design complements MMP quite well and the addition of retail (even a small portion) is a great step forward. to call the design "cheap" is just wrong.

 

According to the official MLB stats, the roof was open at MMP for only 14 of 81 games last year so the whole question of being able to see the game seems to be rhetorical.  I agree though, that you probably won't be able to see enough from the top of the building anyway.

 

Pretty hard to argue that this isn't a nice net win for the area...

 

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ok i've seen enough from this guy.... time to revoke your posting privileges.

 

 

 

 

 

that said i don't get arternative's gripes all that much either. to echo nate99, wrigley is a very unique situation and isn't all that easily duplicated, nevermind the fact that i'm not so sure 500 crawford will even be tall enough to see any significant portion of th field, especially if the roof is closed. the overall design complements MMP quite well and the addition of retail (even a small portion) is a great step forward. to call the design "cheap" is just wrong.

And it is good it is not too tall... I have heard plenty of moaning about possible view constraints with this blocking DT from MMP... I think it is a perfect height that wont block the view yet still be a major structure that promotes density. This project is no different to me than most. It looks very promising. I hope the finishes are well done and can sustain the test of time. I don't understand most gripes...

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Someone should have revoked your posting privileges a few years ago. Your bitching is just as annoying as anyone else's. That being said, I agree with the rest of your post. 

Yes please let's get rid of one of our rare insiders to development. Genius.

 

As discussed a few pages ago, the apartments will not block anything but surface lots behind it towards Downtown. The Skyline is barely visible from the stadium, apart from the very top of the seats.

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The rooftop seating in outside Wrigley is barely tolerated by the Cubs and MLB with occasional threats of walls going up and other advertising deals, etc. That is a very unique circumstance that is rather dicey from a legal perspective that only halfway works. If Finger was able to do something similar, he'd have to be in bed with the Astros from the get-go, which sounds maybe interesting, but tough to put a price on. Given the Comcast dealings, I'd stay far away from the Astros' business side.  The Cubs averaged 12K more people per game last year than the Astros, and their games (and the whole neighborhood) are regularly regarded as a bar with baseball in the background. Cool and fun, but I don't think you can create that out of what we have here. 

 

If you have both ambiance and cheap beer in a public setting, the crowd will put and end to the former or buy you out of the latter.  

 

Currently, across the street (or two) from this crown jewel, we have surface lots, a freeway and a drunk tank.  This is going to look really good and help the neighborhood immensely. Anyone can pick personal nits with a particular design, but I think this one will be very well executed. Can't wait to see the area after this, the Marriott Marquis, the museum, and the adjacent residential tower go up. 

 

For all of Wrigley's charm, this is still across the street from it:

 

2uhtwr8.png

 

MLB would scream bloody murder at any arrangement to allow free viewing by the neighbors.  Wrigley is a historical curiosity, but pro sports now aren't going to tolerate those kind of arrangements from the old days.  As a matter of fact a friend in Chicago mentioned that the Cubs are working on some remodeling plan to try to minimize the free views.  

 

The idea is nice in theory for 500 Crawford to have rooftop viewing, but the probably figured out early on that encouraging it, as opposed to allowing it for the lucky residents so placed, would be asking for trouble.

 

 

 

 

 

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500 Crawford has grown on me.  I wish it was a larger project - perhaps more cultural in nature given the proximity to MMP - but it has grown on me to the point I like it quite a bit.  And I was probably the most vocal in the "but it'll block the views..." crowd, and I don't really think that's the case.

 

While I wish the Finger designs were a bit more ... avante garde.  I'm more than happy with their continued investment and dare say that even my sensibilities to design (not to toot my own horn) have grown to like One Park Place.  It has aged nicely on the skyline in my opinion.  In fact, it will probably look better in 30 years than Skyhouse!

 

Retail needn't be on every square foot of a buildings ground floor, even in Downtown.  A nice cafe or bar (too close to the school?) and/or coffee shop or some other place that will be ok with residential use and convention goer use when the 'stros aren't playing (or playing well).

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MLB would scream bloody murder at any arrangement to allow free viewing by the neighbors.  Wrigley is a historical curiosity, but pro sports now aren't going to tolerate those kind of arrangements from the old days.  As a matter of fact a friend in Chicago mentioned that the Cubs are working on some remodeling plan to try to minimize the free views.  

 

The idea is nice in theory for 500 Crawford to have rooftop viewing, but the probably figured out early on that encouraging it, as opposed to allowing it for the lucky residents so placed, would be asking for trouble.

 

Quite right, except you didn't go far enough.  Pro sports don't allow "those kind of arrangements from the old days" now.  The Cubs get revenue from all of those rooftop viewers.

Edited by Houston19514
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I also had a feeling of deja vu.  perhaps we are not always as anomalous as we might have assumed :-)

That picture alone made me realize that all the hate Houston gets is unwarranted... I mean not as of late, but in the past... Houston has been getting a lot of love the past 3 years from the media... GO STROS!

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

If Finger was able to do something similar, he'd have to be in bed with the Astros from the get-go, which sounds maybe interesting, but tough to put a price on.

Finger may have already gotten in bed with Astros. For all the good publicity spin the Astros tried to put on the relocation of the Community Leaders signs as "we did it for the fans," their annoucement of the signs' relocation came at the same time 500 Crawford broke ground. Conspicuous timing?!? Me thinks not. Those signs in their previous location would've absolutely killed Finger's main selling point for 500 Crawford.

I think by next year, the Citgo sign will be moved too, perhaps to one of the remaining new Community Leaders opening spots.

ASTROS.ADS_-600x382.jpg

As for rooftop seating, because of the donut hole in the middle of these buildings to allow for the pool, I don't think there's enough space width-wise, on the roof to fit bleacher seating.

3_1.jpg

But at 7 stories-high across the street, you'll definitely be able to see action on the base pads, as well as the scoreboard.

Edited by tigereye
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Finger may have already gotten in bed with Astros. For all the good publicity spin the Astros tried to put on the relocation of the Community Leaders signs as "we did it for the fans," their annoucement of the signs' relocation came at the same time 500 Crawford broke ground. Conspicuous timing?!? Me thinks not. Those signs in their previous location would've absolutely killed Finger's main selling point for 500 Crawford.

I think by next year, the Citgo sign will be moved too, perhaps to one of the remaining new Community Leaders opening spots.

As for rooftop seating, because of the donut hole in the middle of these buildings to allow for the pool, I don't think there's enough space width-wise, on the roof to fit bleacher seating.

But at 7 stories-high across the street, you'll definitely be able to see action on the base pads, as well as the scoreboard.

 

It will be interesting to see how they work it. If there were an agreement to allow for views of the games from the development, I would presume that we would see marketing to that effect. 

 

The roof of the Union Station building is ~6 stories up, so one floor up and across the street would probably offer equivalent views. 

 

At a minimum, I would imagine those apartments will sell at a premium, maybe Crane gets to lease those first and sub them out. 

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Conspicuous timing?!? Me thinks not. Those signs in their previous location would've absolutely killed Finger's main selling point for 500 Crawford.

I think by next year, the Citgo sign will be moved too, perhaps to one of the remaining new Community Leaders opening spots.

ASTROS.ADS_-600x382.jpg

 

Doubtful, season ticket holders and fans alike who actually showed up to games hated the location of those signs. It's not as if many fans or season ticket holders showed up in the first place, but if you refuse to listen to their wants and needs for something so basic as sign placement, then you serious have issues.

 

The last thing you want to do is alienate the people that show up to watch a game, let alone the ones they already alienate by their broadcasting arrangements.

 

Maybe it was also conspicuous timing that baseball season was just around the corner to start back up again ;) 

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