Jump to content

2112

Recommended Posts

  • 1 year later...

Has anyone heard anything about this?

 

Just that it's in the process of being approved.  I tried to get a copy of it, but they didn't want to give it out until it's been fully approved.

 

There's some interesting info on this website.

 

http://arup.com/~/media/Images/Projects/H/Houston_Theater_Masterplan/Gallery/Images/Houston_masterplan_streetview_900x600_c_Arup.ashx?mh=800&mw=1000

 

http://arup.com/~/media/Images/Projects/H/Houston_Theater_Masterplan/Gallery/Images/Houston_masterplan_900x600_c_Arup.ashx?mh=800&mw=1000

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, I was super pleased to hear the info from a Houston First leader. He only said the Bayou Place demo was an "option" they were considering to not have a huge barrier down the middle of the theater District, so not sure that will actually end up happening. Who owns Bayou Place anyways?

Edit. Woah.. Just clicked the links. There's the pedestrian streetscape improvements they want to make to that area!

Edited by cloud713
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice finds! I'll have to skim through those when I'm not on my phone. Did it say anything about potentially tearing down/redeveloping the Bayou Place property?

 

It didn't say much at all.  But the renderings show at the least a massive remodel of Bayou Place, with the portion covering the Bagby Street being eliminated. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, I was super pleased to hear the info from a Houston First leader. He only said the Bayou Place demo was an "option" they were considering to not have a huge barrier down the middle of the theater District, so not sure that will actually end up happening. Who owns Bayou Place anyways?

Edit. Woah.. Just clicked the links. There's the pedestrian streetscape improvements they want to make to that area!

 

The City owns Bayou Place.  It's operated by The Cordish Companies, on some sort of long-term lease/development contract.  Personally, I think they (Cordish) have done a pretty lame job with it...   I wouldn't mind seeing it turned over to a different developer with more exciting ideas. 

 

EDIT:  Damn.  According to Wikipedia, Cordish has a 50-year lease, beginning in 1997.  Hopefully there are some clauses giving the city some flexibility... Or they can convince Cordish that tearing down part of it will make the rest more valuable.

Edited by Houston19514
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Houston First leader mentioned that when they were planning this plan that one of the options was tearing Bayou Place down (he made it sound like the whole complex) and redeveloping those blocks, so I guess there is some flexibility..?

Also when I mentioned the Chronicle property as a possible new venue location he kind of grinned. Not saying they're gonna build a new venue there, but they've at least considered it..

Edited by cloud713
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

just had some time to do an internet search for the Master Plan and stumbled across this PDF from April 29th. must of been the most recent meeting that he referenced..

http://www.houstontx.gov/council/c/committee/20150429/PresentationTheaterDistrictMasterPlan.pdf

edit.. WOW! complete redevelopment of the Jones Plaza, Fish Plaza, Tranquillity Park, a new pedestrian bridge across the bayou, and options for a complete tear down/redevelopment of Bayou Place to name a few...

Here's a quick overview of some of the plans.

CD373665-1C48-4BC3-9D57-C2C62CA7EEF8_zps

E56E367E-BE3D-4FC8-A31E-B6D42E045689_zps

48B525B8-6248-418E-9768-ACEDAA4E7DBD_zps

A19FA5BB-7235-43BD-8F15-B4FB39276EC5_zps

6025AB51-043B-4A38-B544-65B8A9689265_zps

B9FFBD0D-C47A-4DA5-A19F-620780A32466_zps

B1EC16C4-0D50-41C4-9609-72AC3BAF3CA9_zps

209A4A05-9FBE-45A2-9058-51CD56079A9B_zps

5CE22D55-18EF-4A23-8DF9-EFB0AA0FB0B7_zps

Edited by cloud713
  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

just had some time to do an internet search for the Master Plan and stumbled across this PDF from April 29th. must of been the most recent meeting that he referenced..

http://www.houstontx.gov/council/c/committee/20150429/PresentationTheaterDistrictMasterPlan.pdf

edit.. WOW! complete redevelopment of the Jones Plaza, Fish Plaza, Tranquillity Park, a new pedestrian bridge across the bayou, and options for a complete tear down/redevelopment of Bayou Place to name a few...

Here's a quick overview of some of the plans.

CD373665-1C48-4BC3-9D57-C2C62CA7EEF8_zps

Looks like there'd also be a Brazos St pedestrian thoroughfare from City Hall through Tranquility Pk & behind demo'd rear half of Bayou Place, connecting to Fish Plaza restaurant pad site.

Also assuming the only the front half of Bayou Place up to Sundance Theater since they keep referencing Film Center examples. So that means the possibility of a new venue to replace the Verizon Wireless Theater. Where does the Hard Rock Cafe end up in all this?

Jones Plaza had been rumored for a renovation for some time now. Interesting to see how it Tranquility Park shape up in this.

With LED technology, the lighting plan for Alley Theater in particular could be a memorable addition... can't wait to see how that ends up.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It appears they will be keeping the front section of bayou place. . Which could actually work out for places like hard rock if they shift to say green st or along the new dallas corridor higher visbity..I never noticed how much bayou place back in broke up the flow of the street...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bayou Place isn't even 20 years old.  Isn't it a bit wasteful to be considering tearing it down already?  Or is it really too low-density for the area now?  As others have said, the Houston Chronicle block seems like a better place to redevelop in the immediate future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bayou Place essentially does to the Theater District what GRB does to the east side of downtown, separating it in half. They want to get rid of that.. If they can achieve the same by only getting rid of the street cross over then so be it, but that's a prime location to bring residential into the theater district. Or a hotel, like someone mentioned a few posts up. Either way there would be quite a bit of room left over (~ 2 blocks) for a new venue or whatever other amenities they want to bring to the area. I'd imagine it would be easier to redevelop/demo Bayou Place, which the city already owns vs the a Chronicle property, which they would have to purchase. And idk if demo is drastically more expensive for high rises vs low rises, but that could factor into costs too?

Edit. And it was built in the 1960s.. So it's 50 years old. Not even 20 years old would make it younger than the GRB, which replaced it..

Edited by cloud713
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bayou Place essentially does to the Theater District what GRB does to the east side of downtown, separating it in half. They want to get rid of that.. If they can achieve the same by only getting rid of the street cross over then so be it, but that's a prime location to bring residential into the theater district. Or a hotel, like someone mentioned a few posts up. Either way there would be quite a bit of room left over (~ 2 blocks) for a new venue or whatever other amenities they want to bring to the area. I'd imagine it would be easier to redevelop/demo Bayou Place, which the city already owns vs the a Chronicle property, which they would have to purchase. And idk if demo is drastically more expensive for high rises vs low rises, but that could factor into costs too?

Edit. And it was built in the 1960s.. So it's 50 years old. Not even 20 years old would make it younger than the GRB, which replaced it..

 

Thank you for pointing this out. This building is much older than one might think. Many of the recent changes were done about 20 years ago, but Bayou place has been around since the 1960s. Bayou Place btw was Downtowns original convention center until GRB was built. It was a novel idea at the time, but it has not aged very well and is the most awkward of buildings as it sort of just slumps its entire mass across several blocks and butts up against the Bayou. It has almost zero street interaction with the rest of the district and simply does not fit with the rest of the districts aims and goals. It was the perfect building for its time, but has out lived its usefulness and purpose. Its also not like its some architectural gem or anything. Its a pretty standard modern building. If you look at the theater districts presentation and look at the examples of inspiration for blocks "1" "2" and "3" holy crap they are really looking at expanding Houston's architectural palette! I'm seeing a great diversification in architecture which is refreshing and bold. This is also a wonderful chance to really bind the whole district together as one cohesive whole instead of random assortment of theater buildings that happen to be close to one another. This is a fantastic idea overall and is just another look into just how far this city is moving along and the renaissance downtown is entering.

Edited by Luminare
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for pointing this out. This building is much older than one might think. Many of the recent changes were done about 20 years ago, but Bayou place has been around since the 1960s. Bayou Place btw was Downtowns original convention center until GRB was built. It was a novel idea at the time, but it has not aged very well and is the most awkward of buildings as it sort of just slumps its entire mass across several blocks and butts up against the Bayou. It has almost zero street interaction with the rest of the district and simply does not fit with the rest of the districts aims and goals. It was the perfect building for its time, but has out lived its usefulness and purpose. Its also not like its some architectural gem or anything. Its a pretty standard modern building. If you look at the theater districts presentation and look at the examples of inspiration for blocks "1" "2" and "3" holy crap they are really looking at expanding Houston's architectural palette! I'm seeing a great diversification in architecture which is refreshing and bold. This is also a wonderful chance to really bind the whole district together as one cohesive whole instead of random assortment of theater buildings that happen to be close to one another. This is a fantastic idea overall and is just another look into just how far this city is moving along and the renaissance downtown is entering.

 

As a downtown resident, I actually really appreciate Bayou Place. I often walk to Sundance Cinema for movies and I've been to four concerts at the music venue over the past year. Plus I frequently get take-out from Blue Fish. Agree that it breaks up the Theatre District but I hope that anything that takes it place has at least the same functionality for downtown residents. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a downtown resident, I actually really appreciate Bayou Place. I often walk to Sundance Cinema for movies and I've been to four concerts at the music venue over the past year. Plus I frequently get take-out from Blue Fish. Agree that it breaks up the Theatre District but I hope that anything that takes it place has at least the same functionality for downtown residents. 

 

I will definitely agree with this. I was actually surprised with just how much they have retrofitted Bayou Place with all these different amenities. But its clear that the district has outgrown Bayou Place and I think Downtown is outgrowing Bayou Place and you could probably better distribute all these various amenities throughout the district instead of housing it all in one building. It could be a way of further expanding amenities while also giving the theater district what they want

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It appears they will be keeping the front section of bayou place. . Which could actually work out for places like hard rock if they shift to say green st or along the new dallas corridor higher visbity..I never noticed how much bayou place back in broke up the flow of the street...

I always thought they should move to Greenstreet.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

btw guys, if you haven't clicked the link, what i included was definitely not everything shown in the PDF.

that annual lunar festival doesn't currently exist, right?

after the initial excitement settled down i went back and re looked at things and didn't realize the other new developments they hope to attract to the area besides the Bayou Place stuff. residential next to Lyric Center, and a few other boxes (next to Ballet venue and one by the Aquarium)

http://www.houstontx.gov/council/c/committee/20150429/PresentationTheaterDistrictMasterPlan.pdf

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The one thing I was hoping to see in the Theater District Master Plan, but do not (yet) see is a plan to demolish the Hobby Center parking garage and replace it with some site-sensitive mixed-use, benefiting from the frontage on Buffalo Bayou.  I'll continue to hold out hope since what we are seeing so far is just an overview of the Master Plan presented to a city council committee.  Hopefully, the full plan will include getting rid of that parking garage.

 

(On a related note, there was recently news that the Theater Under the Stars musical theater school (which is housed in the Hobby Center) is running out of space.  They could expand into whatever replaces that parking garage.)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for pointing this out. This building is much older than one might think. Many of the recent changes were done about 20 years ago, but Bayou place has been around since the 1960s. Bayou Place btw was Downtowns original convention center until GRB was built.

 

The Albert Thomas Convention and Exhibit Center. There's a replica of Congressman Thomas' office at Bayou Place, across from the elevators near the Sundance Cinemas.

 

card00486_fr.jpg

 

10494868_827614463963089_367576969936984

Link to comment
Share on other sites

H town man, even if the Pierce were getting removed in that section (the plan is to keep that part for downtown connectors), why would the future Bayou Place development be insufficient in 10 years? It probably won't even happen for close to that length of time (the master plan goes out to 2025). The conceptual design references include twin 750' Time Warner Center towers with a huge retail plaza at the bottom (Columbus Circle?). Hard to imagine anything near that scope being insufficient for that site in the foreseeable future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...