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Porsche River Oaks: Auto Dealership At 4007 Greenbriar Dr.


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14 hours ago, hindesky said:

The part of the lumber shed still remaining. I wonder what their plan is for it?

 

That is curious. Perhaps the structure is being saved to become the area where Porsches are delivered to their new owners (do people own Porsches or do Porsches own their people?) I could see it housing amenities like a gift shop and perhaps even a biergarten! Woo-hoo!

"Congratulations on your purchase, Sir / Madame. Enjoy a mug and bratwurst as we perform a final detailing on your new car but remember to partake responsibly. Prost!" And in these days of the pandemic, "Zum Wohl."

I do not think it would meet the contemporary needs of a service garage though.

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The tower crane is being erected today. Talked with a worker from Consolidated Crane who was installing it and he said it was going to be a luffing tower crane due to the close proximity to the 2 high voltage power lines next to the project. He also said they had another crew at the Pearl Rosemont project.

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I assume they kept this part of the lumber yard temporarily for a lunch room but will probably demo it.

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This is a random question and I doubt anyone knows the answer, but did this place have a railroad siding for lumber delivery and was it by chance what kept the old branch along Westpark east of the junction still intact for so long?

I am not sure where the eastern end of those tracks was originally but I feel pretty confident in guessing the line was cut back when the southwest freeway was built, given that the abandoned right of way intersects with the freeway at Montrose Blvd. That would have been way back in the 1950s or 1960s then.

However the section around West U was still there up until the year 2000 I think, as a kid I remember seeing a train parked on it back in the 1990s. My Dad mentioned something about the circus train using it to stop across from the Summit, too.

 

Edited by zaphod
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3 hours ago, zaphod said:

This is a random question and I doubt anyone knows the answer, but did this place have a railroad siding for lumber delivery and was it by chance what kept the old branch along Westpark east of the junction still intact for so long?

I am not sure where the eastern end of those tracks was originally but I feel pretty confident in guessing the line was cut back when the southwest freeway was built, given that the abandoned right of way intersects with the freeway at Montrose Blvd. That would have been way back in the 1950s or 1960s then.

However the section around West U was still there up until the year 2000 I think, as a kid I remember seeing a train parked on it back in the 1990s. My Dad mentioned something about the circus train using it to stop across from the Summit, too.

 

The old rail line ran along what is now the SW Freeway RoW up to a rail yard between Hutchins and what is now Emancipation, North of Pease. YOu can see that on this map http://www.harriscountyarchives.com/Maps/imgZ.html?img=houston1907_Full and it is visible on the 1944 aerials on Google Earth(the application, not Google Maps).

Not sure why the rails stayed there for so long, other than to  keep the right of way open for the railroad. The circus trains did use the tracks until they were removed, at which point the circus used the Eureka yard that's under the TC Jester bridge near White Oak Bayou

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15 hours ago, Ross said:

The old rail line ran along what is now the SW Freeway RoW up to a rail yard between Hutchins and what is now Emancipation, North of Pease.

I worked at a company that used that line & yard. We were at (roughly) Polk & Dowling, and there were trains being switched thru there all the time. We had a siding that came to our building. We had one large supplier that shipped by rail (Magic Chef appliances, for you old-timers). The switch yard lines were only about 30-40 yards west of our building, so we got the horns. All. Day. Long.

I lived in Southampton back then, and the only time I ever saw a train on those SWFwy tracks was the circus, once a year, which always made the news. Then at some point, they shut down. Although the humps on Shepherd & Greenbriar are still there.

It would be very common for lumber yards to use rail. I was in the building material distribution business, and rail was often used. Still is. Look at all the lumber you see on rail cars tothis day.

Edited by astrohip
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  • 3 weeks later...

With a crane that close to the high voltage power lines, is it possible to set some kind of "lock out" for certain orientations in the crane operator's controls so he doesn't accidentally hit the lines?  Or is there no protection so one must always be extra careful there?

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33 minutes ago, rechlin said:

With a crane that close to the high voltage power lines, is it possible to set some kind of "lock out" for certain orientations in the crane operator's controls so he doesn't accidentally hit the lines?  Or is there no protection so one must always be extra careful there?

I don't know about current tower cranes but the old ones I operated didn't have that feature. Current models of RT cranes do have an option that the operator can set to stop you from booming down too much or from swinging in a certain part of a turn. I'm guessing that modern tower cranes probably do now though. So many things on cranes have computers that can control a lot of functions.

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  • The title was changed to Porsche River Oaks: 5-Story Auto Dealership On Greenbriar
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On 3/1/2020 at 10:20 AM, jgriff said:


I live in upper Kirby and drive all the way to Porsche north Houston because Sonic dealerships are the worst. I’ve bought 7 Porsches since 2007. Sonic is so bad I’ll drive 15 miles up 45 to avoid them.

I'm in Montrose but same here.  This new dealership will only be 2 miles from me but I'll still be going to North Houston.

Edited by takeshi
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Porsche of North Houston is one of the top performance Porsche dealers in America and is a treat to visit. I see this being a mommy-mobile dealer with mostly the SUV's and sedans. I am excited to see this flanking the Audi dealers across the freeway though. 

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With the Mercedes-Benz dealership just down the freeway and a Volkswagen dealership lurking somewhere on Richmond this will be German automobile central. I don't believe Volkswagen does this (I haven't looked at one lately) but the other three need to get rid of  touch screen poking up on top of the dashboard instead of integrated in it. It looks like someone Velcro'd his iPad to the dash. IMO it is not a good look for a supposedly high-end automobile.

I do like that the appearance of the most recent Benz "dashboard." That is two LCD displays together across at least 2/3 of the fascia but i can see the $$$$ if or when they need to be replaced.

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Unrelated sidebar: I used to wait tables there 15 years ago when it was called Nick's Pasta Place.  What a mess that place was.  Anyway, some of the regulars would tell me about how the building used to be car dealership and a hot dog stand before Nick bought it and turned it into an Italian restaurant.

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They're also emphasizing the old River Oaks title just like Helfman did on his Kirby- Dodge/Jeep location.

Obviously these are both no where near R.O. . They could have done just as well to call themselves West U.,

or Southampton motors.

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