cloud713 Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 seems like a great place for a Ritz or other high end hotel looking to overlook the park. just build it towards the northeast corner of the block, maybe even with a 90* curve towards the park for panoramic views or something? sorry for the ramble. this block just seems like one of the last remaining prime locations around Discovery Green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Huge Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Star of hope is moving their operations into a new 4 story building on that block I heard. Half the lot will remain surface parking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avossos Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Star of hope is moving their operations into a new 4 story building on that block I heard. Half the lot will remain surface parking. cruel joke I assume... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 perfect place for a starchitect to roll on in We would be nice to have at least one daring structure in that area facing the green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 seems like a great place for a Ritz or other high end hotel looking to overlook the park. just build it towards the northeast corner of the block, maybe even with a 90* curve towards the park for panoramic views or something? sorry for the ramble. this block just seems like one of the last remaining prime locations around Discovery Green. Before the recession there was another Houston Center component proposal for the block. The rendering might still be around in one of the older topics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted June 20, 2014 Author Share Posted June 20, 2014 Before the recession there was another Houston Center component proposal for the block. The rendering might still be around in one of the older topics.Interesting.. So is it safe to say the Houston Center people own this property? Kind of hard to imagine them building another high end hotel right next to their Four Seasons.. It would be nice to see though... Maybe a smaller boutique style hotel component with residences above? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 The rendering for that block was for an office tower. I'm not sure who owns the property though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 I remember a while back seeing a study done by an architecture firm that was trying to produce a sort of master plan to create a true shopping corridor and that area would be a place for a multi-use building with a large retail anchor to it. Of course this was when the Macy's building wasnt a pill of rubble and it two was suppose to be the other anchor in the corridor. Who knows what it could be now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtterlyUrban Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Interesting.. So is it safe to say the Houston Center people own this property? Kind of hard to imagine them building another high end hotel right next to their Four Seasons.. It would be nice to see though... Maybe a smaller boutique style hotel component with residences above?"Their Four Seasons?"I thought that Gates (Cascade) owns the 4 Seasons in Houston. Do I have that wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 ah true. Bill Gates did definitely buy the Four Seasons, but ive always assumed it was originally part of the HC complex? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtterlyUrban Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 ah true. Bill Gates did definitely buy the Four Seasons, but ive always assumed it was originally part of the HC complex?I believe that you are correct in stating that the property was owned (hotel too) by the Houston Center guys back in the 1990's. I recall that they sold it to Maritz, Wolff & Co. Around 1999 or 2000-ish and they, in turn, have now sold it to Gates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 I believe that you are correct in stating that the property was owned (hotel too) by the Houston Center guys back in the 1990's. I recall that they sold it to Maritz, Wolff & Co. Around 1999 or 2000-ish and they, in turn, have now sold it to Gates.ah you are right..interesting that HC would propose something for this property thats not really next to the rest of HC (its catty corner to their other developments), also interesting because they have been trying to push 6HC for years so i find it odd they had 2 office proposals at once?looking at Discovery Green, there will be 4 hotels surrounding it once the Marriott opens.. there are 2 office towers neighboring the park, and there is one residential tower. just by looking at those numbers, i would say another residential tower makes the most sense, but my only concern is when you look at the park and seeing how torn up the grass gets by the large volume of people that already frequent the park, im not sure how much an additional 500 or so people frequenting it on a regular basis would do (thats almost 200,000 visits annually at once a day. or a bit less than 1/5th the number of visitors to the park each year. quite a substantial increase). i guess either way you look at it there will be an increase in visitors to the park with a new development on the property. maybe what we need are more parks similar to Discovery Green (and [hopefully] soon the Midtown Super Block) to spread the park visitors around and lighten the load on Disco Green.speaking of the super block park, it will be interesting to see if it has an effect on the number of visitors or events at Discovery Green once it opens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtterlyUrban Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 ah you are right..interesting that HC would propose something for this property thats not really next to the rest of HC (its catty corner to their other developments), also interesting because they have been trying to push 6HC for years so i find it odd they had 2 office proposals at once?looking at Discovery Green, there will be 4 hotels surrounding it once the Marriott opens.. there are 2 office towers neighboring the park, and there is one residential tower. just by looking at those numbers, i would say another residential tower makes the most sense, but my only concern is when you look at the park and seeing how torn up the grass gets by the large volume of people that already frequent the park, im not sure how much an additional 500 or so people frequenting it on a regular basis would do (thats almost 200,000 visits annually at once a day. or a bit less than 1/5th the number of visitors to the park each year. quite a substantial increase). i guess either way you look at it there will be an increase in visitors to the park with a new development on the property. maybe what we need are more parks similar to Discovery Green (and [hopefully] soon the Midtown Super Block) to spread the park visitors around and lighten the load on Disco Green.speaking of the super block park, it will be interesting to see if it has an effect on the number of visitors or events at Discovery Green once it opens.The primary reason, in my opinion, why Discovery Green is now Discovery Dust is not because of visitor foot traffic and 8 year olds flying kites with dad but rather because park management is sponsoring large events and concerts that bring a thousand people there on average of about 3 or 4 days/nights per week to dance and sit on the same "grass" over and over and over.I donate to the park. I love that park. But I believe that Park Management has pushed their desire to have an "active destination park" too far. Far too far. For the health of the park, the frequency of large events need to be scaled back, in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moore713 Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Green Street ( the Lawn ) is suppose to be a concert/green space.Hopefully it can help to shift some of the weight off of DG at least a little.Plus city analysis have concluded that DT has enough space for at least one more DG scale park. Most believe it will be on the south side ( given all the residential proposed) but actually the city has identified 3 possible locations according to south downtown analysis report released a few days ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moore713 Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 The primary reason, in my opinion, why Discovery Green is now Discovery Dust is not because of visitor foot traffic and 8 year olds flying kites with dad but rather because park management is sponsoring large events and concerts that bring a thousand people there on average of about 3 or 4 days/nights per week to dance and sit on the same "grass" over and over and over.I donate to the park. I love that park. But I believe that Park Management has pushed their desire to have an "active destination park" too far. Far too far. For the health of the park, the frequency of large events need to be scaled back, in my opinion.I agree with you last statement whole heartedly..Which is why I when we won the Superbowl in 2017..and they said DG would be a main component..I started thinking about the 100,000 plus people that are supposed to full DT a day..if you have ever attended a New Year Event at DG you know How pack it can get with people force to walk in the streets just to move around and those events only drew 20,000-30,000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtterlyUrban Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Green Street ( the Lawn ) is suppose to be a concert/green space.Hopefully it can help to shift some of the weight off of DG at least a little.Plus city analysis have concluded that DT has enough space for at least one more DG scale park. Most believe it will be on the south side ( given all the residential proposed) but actually the city has identified 3 possible locations according to south downtown analysis report released a few days ago.I believe that I saw the "lawn" over at GreenStreet the other day. It is tiny. There is a small elevated platform and a small audience area. It is small. It is in the middle of inner walk way. It seems like a great place for 25 people to watch a folk guitarist. It is not even close to being able to take pressure off of Discovery Dust. The only thing that can do that is Management. The need to do a better job of balancing their charter of being an "active" park with the need to also have green space where kids and families can come and fly a kite (without amplified bongo drums and steel guitars wailing constantly in front of a crowd of 1000) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtterlyUrban Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 A large concert Thursday. Another Saturday. Now two huge venue tents are erected on Discovery Dust. They must be to support a convention in town this week. The tents look like they can hold a thousand people. The good news is that the tents look like they have elevated floors so..... Maybe the grass can grow in the dark below the floors this week?The concept of an Active Park is crucial to the vibrancy of the area. I applaud park management for creating it. But, it is now time to throttle it back just a bit, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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