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

[j_cuevas713]

I feel like the lot in front of Frank's Pizza would be a prime spot for our version of a space needle or some sort of monumental building

[Luminare]

You guys are being pretentious A-holes.

international tower would easily be a monumental tower.

by far would be the most influential tower built downtown in the last 25 years

 

 

All of the examples you have are of classic architecture. Houston is Uber modern. A modern city can't be defined by an eiffle tower or a gateway arch.

If anything, a city like houston will be defined by a huge shiny glass box. International tower fits they bill perfectly.

 

Uber modern???? Uber modern???????? There is no such thing as uber modern *facepalms*

 

So a building has a slight parabolic curve up the side that in no way influences the actual architecture of the building its merely a facade treatment and you go bananas about it? OMG it's not completely square.....revolutionary!

 

And no the buildings that were listed above were not "classical". If you are going to argue architecture then at least read a book first and understand what you are saying. You are welcomed to love this building and think it's the greatest thing since the Penzoil Building, but understand that your opinion is in the same field of fire as everyone else and so prepare for criticism especially in an architecture forum where we are all interpreting art which is 100% subjective! However if you aren't able to both properly and reasonably defend your opinion I won't have any sympathy for you.

 

Houston btw isn't influenced by the "glass box". It's defined by the age of curtain wall construction. the "glass box" is a watered down commercial representation of this trend. It's not special to Houston and it's not special to anywhere else. The point of the curtain wall/ all glass systems was to shake off ornamentation creating an architecture that could be anywhere in the world which was a highlight of the international style which isn't special to Houston we merely took it and ran with it for a time. Besides many of Houstons landmark buildings in the skyline are not even Modern at all, but Post-Modern which is an entirely different sensibility than the "glass-box" you are trying to stuff Houston into.

 

Is the international tower a nicely designed building.....I don't know why don't we discuss that in the International Tower thread, maybe?

 

In conclusion, before throwing out words like "pretentious", maybe go do a study of what you are trying to defend and try to not let your single love forever in holy matrimony for this building cloud your argument for it. 

Edited March 20, 2015 by Luminare

[hindesky]

Saw what might be the future tower crane base in the middle of the old sidewalk.

 

 

[monarch]

geeeez hindesky, i do hope that you were wearing a hard hat.  these pics are literally in the action....

[cspwal]

If they're putting the crane in the sidewalk, that would explain why they closed everything down

[hindesky]

Tower crane at the 40 apt just down the street is on the sidewalk also.

[Nate99]

Boss, boss, look...it's de crane...

 

[toxtethogrady]

 

 

Uber modern???? Uber modern???????? There is no such thing as uber modern *facepalms*

 

What about a 2015 Audi being used on taxi runs? 

[Nate99]

[kbates2]

Cranes are going up here and at Capital Garage. I think that makes 19 currently in downtown.

[Nole23]

From the second floor of El Big Bad

 

 

[adr]

Crane is going up this morning.  Bye Bye View of the Esperson.

 

[hindesky]

Cranes are going up here and at Capital Garage. I think that makes 19 currently in downtown.

If 2 are going up at Capital garage then yes I count 19 too.  Hopefully Catalyst will join them with 2 more before some start coming back down. Most likely to come down next might be Alley Theatre and/or 1311 Louisiana garage.

[UtterlyUrban]

Crane is going up this morning. Bye Bye View of the Esperson.

ADR, this is a wonderful image. Good eye.

[Triton]

Two cranes going up today.

 

Residences at Market Square by marclongoria, on Flickr

 

Residences at Market Square by marclongoria, on Flickr

 

Residences at Market Square by marclongoria, on Flickr

 

Two cranes going up in one shot.

 

Two cranes on Travis by marclongoria, on Flickr

[quietstorm]

Awesome crane action

Edited October 20, 2016 by quietstorm

[hindesky]

After the Art Car Parade I made my way downtown to see the two tower cranes going up, here and at the Skanska site. One of the Austin Commercial site superintendents said the would finish the crane install today. Will post a video later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2015 by hindesky

[hindesky]

A few more.

 

 

 

 

 

[hindesky]

Edited April 11, 2015 by hindesky

[BigFootsSocks]

Ha ha he said "erection"

This is dope btw

[Urbannizer]

By Michi on SSP.

 

 

[Nate99]

Cool pics everyone!

[HoustonIsHome]

I can't believe market square is turning a new milestone. So happy

[cloud713]

371'

https://oeaaa.faa.gov/oeaaa/external/searchAction.jsp?action=displayOECase&oeCaseID=226524881&row=19

[hindesky]

 

 

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

See how many tower cranes you can spot.

 

[jmitch94]

Cant wait to see this and the state bank building finished together. 

[Nate99]

 

Looks like they have finished drilling pilings.

 

[nativehoustonion]

Great Nate nice pictures.  Thanks.

[H-TownChris2]

Awesome!

 

[Nate99]

[j_cuevas713]

The density is beautiful

[cspwal]

This will dominate the block, but in a good way - there's already a couple of tall structures, and it will all by varied.  I can't wait to see it once it gets near the state national building's level

[Nate99]

This will dominate the block, but in a good way - there's already a couple of tall structures, and it will all by varied.  I can't wait to see it once it gets near the state national building's level

 

State National and Houston Citizens look big walking around the area. This tower (and the other across the park) will put a whole other level of visual heft in to the area.

[cloud713]

~$240 a sq ft is an insanely high land price, even for downtown, correct? Apparently this, along with many of the other DLI applicants wouldn't of been able to move forward on their projects without the incentives.. Makes me wonder how many more (if any) residential units are coming in the near future now that the DLI is capped out.

[Luminare]

~$240 a sq ft is an insanely high land price, even for downtown, correct? Apparently this, along with many of the other DLI applicants wouldn't of been able to move forward on their projects without the incentives.. Makes me wonder how many more (if any) residential units are coming in the near future now that the DLI is capped out.

 

There probably won't for a bit, but really do we need more RIGHT now? Lets remember that a good percentage of them have yet to even break ground. I think a smart idea is just to wait until a good portion of these are built before a decision is made to maybe renew the incentive or create an entirely new one. Make developers know that they just can't hop onto the program and then wait forever to build their projects.

[cloud713]

I completely agree about not needing more for a bit. It just kind of worried me when the head of Hines multi family southwest division says many of these residential projects wouldn't of made sense without the incentives. At the same time I guess its a positive that the city realized this and was willing to do something about it to attract new residential units. They need to provide incentives to bring a major grocery store downtown...

Edited April 30, 2015 by cloud713

[cspwal]

I wonder if they could do a similar incentive for retail - something like a sales tax break on all groceries or dry-goods sold. (Yes I realize the grocery basics don't have sales tax but prepared frozen food does, toilet paper, etc - things that Phoenicia doesn't have anyway)

[HNathoo]

~$240 a sq ft is an insanely high land price, even for downtown, correct? Apparently this, along with many of the other DLI applicants wouldn't of been able to move forward on their projects without the incentives.. Makes me wonder how many more (if any) residential units are coming in the near future now that the DLI is capped out.

 

Where did you get $240psf? That is a really high price.

[cloud713]

Where did you get $240psf? That is a really high price.

 

 

head of Hines multi family southwest division

yeah.. he was saying it was quite a high price, and that people needed to start learning how to develop denser and smarter because of these higher prices.

edit. they definitely paid a premium for Market Square frontage, so that $240 quote was just for their plot, not average downtown prices. but he seemed to be speaking on behalf of the majority of the DLI applicants that it wouldn't of made sense economically and they wouldn't of been able to move forward on their projects without the incentives.

Edited April 30, 2015 by cloud713

[j_cuevas713]

I wonder if they could do a similar incentive for retail - something like a sales tax break on all groceries or dry-goods sold. (Yes I realize the grocery basics don't have sales tax but prepared frozen food does, toilet paper, etc - things that Phoenicia doesn't have anyway)

I think that may be something they could be working towards. I expect for us to begin seeing new retail downtown once these residential projects are about halfway to 3/4 way done.

[Luminare]

Lets also remember that before all these apartments it was a completely foreign idea to most developers here to put residential in Downtown. In this case it was up to the city to sell the idea to developers and that sell was creating an incentive or a nudge to help lead developers to the idea that this was possible. The biggest question is once these res buildings are built what will the business client be then in terms of taking a greater risk to build in downtown. If these buildings are successful then you got the "build it and they will come" mentality and then we might see a rush into the downtown the likes we haven't seen. At that point you might not need another blanket incentive, but then you can start isolating areas of downtown with separate incentives or create other blanket incentives that help bring a greater variety of incomes into downtown.

[j_cuevas713]

Lets also remember that before all these apartments it was a completely foreign idea to most developers here to put residential in Downtown. In this case it was up to the city to sell the idea to developers and that sell was creating an incentive or a nudge to help lead developers to the idea that this was possible. The biggest question is once these res buildings are built what will the business client be then in terms of taking a greater risk to build in downtown. If these buildings are successful then you got the "build it and they will come" mentality and then we might see a rush into the downtown the likes we haven't seen. At that point you might not need another blanket incentive, but then you can start isolating areas of downtown with separate incentives or create other blanket incentives that help bring a greater variety of incomes into downtown.

Very well put point. I would like to see a couple more incentives in place, just until things begin to stabilize on their own. I completely agree though with your comment.

[cloud713]

you are absolutely right Luminare. and let me be clear, the meeting was almost all positives. the commentator asked for some "not so rosy comments" from the panel and they were having a hard time coming up with negatives about downtowns future, and accidentally sidetracked onto positives a few times. heh. obviously people are able to make these projects work with the climbing land prices. they will just have to start getting more creative with their developments and less 609 Main-esque entire block one tower projects.

Edited April 30, 2015 by cloud713

[cspwal]

Or any entire block one tower projects will have to be taller 

[HNathoo]

yeah.. he was saying it was quite a high price, and that people needed to start learning how to develop denser and smarter because of these higher prices.

edit. they definitely paid a premium for Market Square frontage, so that $240 quote was just for their plot, not average downtown prices. but he seemed to be speaking on behalf of the majority of the DLI applicants that it wouldn't of made sense economically and they wouldn't of been able to move forward on their projects without the incentives.

 

Wow, Camden paid $125psf for their land near the Toyota Center. I'm sure Market Square is a more appealing area, but twice the price seems tough to swallow.

[cspwal]

Wow, Camden paid $125psf for their land near the Toyota Center. I'm sure Market Square is a more appealing area, but twice the price seems tough to swallow.

 

There's also more vacant lots around the Toyota Center.  There's not many more surface lots around Market square

[KinkaidAlum]

Market Square is way more desirable than Toyota Center area. Market Square is a functional park now surrounded by existing businesses like Batanga, La Carafe, Market Sq Cafe, Main St bars, etc... It's also a very short walk to the bayou trails, which is great for dog walkers. You're also closer to Sundance, Alley, Wortham, Jones Hall, Hobby Center, and most of the class A office towers. Most importantly though, you're closer to the majority of downtown's residents at Rice Lofts, Hogg Palace, Hermann Lofts, Capitol Lofts, Bayou Lofts, Byrd Lofts, and a few others. 

 

 

[cloud713]

no wonder so many residential developers are looking to the southeast and northeast sides for their projects. that is quite a bit cheaper.. its all about the parks though.