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Aris At Market Square: 32-Story High-Rise At 409 Travis St.


Mab

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New flag on one of the crawler cranes.

16415844090_aab40f3c27_z.jpgFrank's pizza tower by differentryana, on Flickr

Ahhh, look at the beauty that is Esperson back there, sigh.

I wish I wish I wish that Houston had gotten at least 5 or 6 more Art Moderne/Art Deco gems like this in the 20's and 30's.

This is where NYC and Chicago absolutely destroy our skyline, with their plethora of older structures. Most of our skyline is from the oil boom of the 70's and 80's. :(

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I may have said it before, but I'll say it again just in case.  That State National building is really looking nice now that it has been cleaned up.  So happy to see another historic building restored.  But this new tower will completely cover the view of the back of it, so enjoy it while it's still visible!

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What I really love about that picture is not only all the projects going up, but that there still remains some surface lots or 1 story buildings that have the potential to become a flashy new project in the future.

It's amazing, right?

How many billions and billions have been spent in this cycle downtown? And, look how much further there is still to go! It does show the magnitude of the possibilities. But, it also shows how many cycles it will take to "finish".

Finish?

For fun, let's define that as "75% of all vacant lots downtown have a new commercial, retail, residential, or government structure built on them."

How long do folks think that would take?

Edited by UtterlyUrban
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until 75% of downtown is built out? another 20 years?
 

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idk about anyone else, but i would personally love to see a new tower in the Theater District, with a performance venue in the base of it. it would add to the urbanity of that side of downtown, while adding another venue to the Theater District. also i just think it would be a cool use of space/mixed use tower. heh.. it could be called something to the effect of Symphony Plaza, or Symphony Place (bad example since we already have a symphony, but some other performance arts name)

does anyone ever see Jones Plaza being redeveloped? its right on the new light rail line, and doesn't seem like the best use of space. the Chronicle building(s) could make for another great theater/tower location.

Edited by cloud713
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it could be called something to the effect of Symphony Plaza, or Symphony Place (bad example since we already have a symphony, but some other performance arts name)

does anyone ever see Jones Plaza being redeveloped? its right on the new light rail line, and doesn't seem like the best use of space. the Chronicle building(s) could make for another great theater/tower location.

 

Symphony Plaza/Place gives me the immediate mental image of another recorded music playing Maestro - type giant sculpture from David Adickes (whose work in general really does not fit my taste) (***shudder...***).

 

The Chron mashup is very likely to be completely redeveloped, if for no other reason than because it's already three or four buildings reskinned into oblivion.  However, Jones Plaza is not only a publicly owned park, it's on top of a couple entrances to the Theater District underground parking.  Any redevelopment will be more likely another attempt to give it some daytime life as park space, a la Market Square finally being made into something more than a no man's land.

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It's amazing, right?

How many billions and billions have been spent in this cycle downtown? And, look how much further there is still to go! It does show the magnitude of the possibilities. But, it also shows how many cycles it will take to "finish".

Finish?

For fun, let's define that as "75% of all vacant lots downtown have a new commercial, retail, residential, or government structure built on them."

How long do folks think that would take?

 

Starting from when?  Are you talking about 75% of the remaining vacant lots as of today?

 

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This cycle has taken up at least 16 parking lots in the C.B.D. How many does that leave? It will be a few years to absorb this cycle so at that rate I'd say 50 years. Remember this was a huge growth cycle. The last one occurred almost 40 years ago, which is hard to believe.

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idk about anyone else, but i would personally love to see a new tower in the Theater District, with a performance venue in the base of it. it would add to the urbanity of that side of downtown, while adding another venue to the Theater District. also i just think it would be a cool use of space/mixed use tower. heh.. it could be called something to the effect of Symphony Plaza, or Symphony Place (bad example since we already have a symphony, but some other performance arts name)

does anyone ever see Jones Plaza being redeveloped? its right on the new light rail line, and doesn't seem like the best use of space. the Chronicle building(s) could make for another great theater/tower location.

As you mentioned, the only possible lots for this are either the surface lot behind the Lyric Center, Jones Plaza (something should be done to revamp it), Chron Building/s, and the Drive-thru Bank.

 

I personally would like to see this side of Downtown turned into a huge residential district (as it is slowly becoming, adding density and population). Any tall/predominant office or mixed use tower should go on the east/south side, or any of the odd lots left in the center of Downtown.

 

This Hines Tower along with the 40 story tower next to the garage have started the process. 

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If the Chron building is included in the mix, then so should the parking lot that's tagged for Stream/Essex, and the Chron's parking garage adjacent to Hogg Palace.

 

And let's not forget the entire Post Office tract right across the bayou.

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are we talking about expanding the Theater District, or redeveloping the low rises in downtown? please forgive my theater district residential/theater venue tower combo fantasy.. heh. i wonder if Houston First is looking at any of these properties to expand the district?

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Several months ago, I heard a rumor that a new symphony hall is planned for the Chronicle site.  I don't know the person well, so cannot vouch for the credibility of the rumor (which is why I had not shared it until now).  FWIW, the person who told me this said it is all but a done deal.

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Several months ago, I heard a rumor that a new symphony hall is planned for the Chronicle site.  I don't know the person well, so cannot vouch for the credibility of the rumor (which is why I had not shared it until now).  FWIW, the person who told me this said it is all but a done deal.

 

Interesting rumor, but wouldn't that leave Jones Hall without a tenant?

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Interesting rumor, but wouldn't that leave Jones Hall without a tenant?

 

No.  Jones Hall is also the home of Society for the Performing Arts (SPA).  I think both they and the Symphony have more performances than ever.  Plus there are other traveling groups and occasional (non-resident) groups that perform in the hall.  My understanding is that we have again reached the point where performance space is very tightly scheduled in the Theater District and we could use some more.

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That would be a real shame. It's the only venue I actually like.

if its true hopefully it leads to the construction of a second venue that you like (you don't like the Ballet Center? for some reason i love that addition, though I've never actually been IN it).

i may have to mention this to one of the people working for Houston First and see what they have to say.

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if its true hopefully it leads to the construction of a second venue that you like (you don't like the Ballet Center? for some reason i love that addition, though I've never actually been IN it).

i may have to mention this to one of the people working for Houston First and see what they have to say.

It would have been nice to have it on the Lyric Center block, leaving the current block open to some residential tower that would have connectivity to the trails/parks along the bayou. But I guess that leaves both half blocks open for development.

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It would have been nice to have it on the Lyric Center block, leaving the current block open to some residential tower that would have connectivity to the trails/parks along the bayou. But I guess that leaves both half blocks open for development.

woah. not sure what you're referring to, but I'm digging it. I've been working on my first ever sketch up for the last week or so and its for a downtown property, directly linking into the bayou trails/park system. I'm all for more pedestrian connectivity like that.

which current block? yeah i agree a low rise theater expansion would be better on the Lyric Center block, since there is already a tower on it that would block views of another tower.

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This cycle has taken up at least 16 parking lots in the C.B.D. How many does that leave? It will be a few years to absorb this cycle so at that rate I'd say 50 years. Remember this was a huge growth cycle. The last one occurred almost 40 years ago, which is hard to believe.

I thend to agree. I would say 2 generations....... 40 years-ish even with another boom cycle in there.

Could be 30. Could be 50. But it ain't 5.

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Careful guys and girls, we've got an internet tough guy here. 

 

Or perhaps a very angry bot. The complaint is so non-specific and placed in a discussion that really wasn't that controversial to begin with that it might just be a lost program lookin' for love (or hate as it were).

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Or perhaps a very angry bot. The complaint is so non-specific and placed in a discussion that really wasn't that controversial to begin with that it might just be a lost program lookin' for love (or hate as it were).

Edit:

 

Perhaps they were just so excited to see updates on this project and instead find us all speculating and talking nonsense. I do enjoy the speculation and nonsense. That's what really makes this a forum and not a wiki.

Edited by Montrose1100
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Or perhaps a very angry bot. The complaint is so non-specific and placed in a discussion that really wasn't that controversial to begin with that it might just be a lost program lookin' for love (or hate as it were).

That's pretty crazy that we have the technology and basic human understanding to creat something like that.
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I think it would be quite an accomplishment to max out all the blocks inside the freeways. But that would lead to questions about which direction to expand next. As it is, Midtown may be all filled up with six-story wraps.

 

That would be a great problem to have, but we're a long, *long* way from that. There's still plenty of vacant land is Midtown, for one thing.

Edited by Texasota
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I think it would be quite an accomplishment to max out all the blocks inside the freeways. But that would lead to questions about which direction to expand next. As it is, Midtown may be all filled up with six-story wraps.

I think main is going to be well developed from buffalo bayou down to brays bayou. Midtown still has tons of space. I see west of main being solidly dense in the coming decade's but east of main being dense in patches. Dunno why the area around hcc isn't more active

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You'd think the area close to Herman Park and the Museum district where Hines is building the Southmore, would be ground zero for high rise multi family living.

With its proximity to both downtown, the Med center, Herman Park, and Rice University, along with its proximity to the rail,

I'm surprised that more hasn't been done there. Some day all of that land is going to be untouchable.

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any way to get something like a break down of construction costs for either this or Market Square Tower? where would one look for that type of info?

 

Construction companies aren't going to easily divulge that information to their competition for private ventures like this. Labor rates, Material costs, and productivity rates vary between companies, and the last thing you'd want is for your competitor to undercut you in an open bid. That beings said, while you may not be able to find specific cost estimates for skyscrapers going up now. You might be able to find some on older and perhaps more famous structures around the world. 

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  • The title was changed to Aris At Market Square: 32-Story High-Rise By Hines
  • The title was changed to Aris At Market Square: 32-Story High-Rise At 409 Travis St.

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