Popular Post Highrise Tower Posted November 22, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted November 22, 2020 Basement removal. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Highrise Tower Posted November 29, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted November 29, 2020 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Highrise Tower Posted November 30, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted November 30, 2020 On top of the The Metropole garage. I called and asked permission. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff8201 Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 (edited) On 11/20/2020 at 10:39 AM, Geoff8201 said: So there is some activity, but I believe it has to do with groundwater cleanup.... They are digging towards the south end of the property. A notice went out to residents nearby indicating a Microsoft Teams meeting in the near future concerning groundwater contamination. Correction, the groundwater cleanup online meeting I was referring to is for 3509 Texas Street. The digging goes and is progressing slowly. I’ll post a photo from atop the Lamar Tower when it looks more progressed. Feel like I’ve posted enough pics of an empty lot for now. Highrises’s photos nailed it. Edited November 30, 2020 by Geoff8201 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Highrise Tower Posted December 6, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted December 6, 2020 Still breaking up the concrete. Hopefully they start site work next. A BGE staff member originally said it'll start in 2021. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Urbannizer Posted December 8, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted December 8, 2020 The portion Michael Hsu is working on is now listed on their website. https://hsuoffice.com/project/the-ro/ 16 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 3 hours ago, Urbannizer said: The portion Michael Hsu is working on is now listed on their website. https://hsuoffice.com/project/the-ro/ I loooooove small buildings like this! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highrise Tower Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Highrise Tower Posted December 17, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted December 17, 2020 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff8201 Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 (edited) Heard through the grapevine not to expect anything happening here all through 2021. A big scale back may happen cutting the building heights in half, or potentially combining their functions and cutting the number of buildings down. But in the age of Covid, for a giant site that was going to house restaurants, a hotel and an office building, is anyone surprised. I personally hope the wait and see method pays off, and post covid the demand for everything comes roaring back. Edited December 23, 2020 by Geoff8201 Grammar edits 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Highrise Tower Posted January 10, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 10, 2021 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrohip Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 On 12/22/2020 at 4:17 PM, Geoff8201 said: Heard through the grapevine not to expect anything happening here all through 2021. A big scale back may happen cutting the building heights in half, or potentially combining their functions and cutting the number of buildings down. But in the age of Covid, for a giant site that was going to house restaurants, a hotel and an office building, is anyone surprised. I personally hope the wait and see method pays off, and post covid the demand for everything comes roaring back. Site is dead. I don't see any heavy equipment, no activity, nothing has changed in months. I look down on this, and use my binocs to search for signs of life. There's more activity on Mars than The RO. 1 2 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 Even if this has fallen through, this tract of land will become something incredible regardless. Houston is developing and changing for the better. We may just have to wait another year. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrohip Posted April 24, 2021 Share Posted April 24, 2021 21 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said: Even if this has fallen through, this tract of land will become something incredible regardless. Houston is developing and changing for the better. We may just have to wait another year. I wasn't saying it's fallen thru, I have no insight into its development. Just that it's dead, no activity at all. 100% agree on the land. It is *prime* inner-city real estate. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Urbannizer Posted May 28, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted May 28, 2021 Now listed on Pickard Chilton's website as proposed so maybe there's still hope for this one. https://www.pickardchilton.com/work/ro 20 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specwriter Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 8 hours ago, Urbannizer said: Now listed on Pickard Chilton's website as proposed so maybe there's still hope for this one. https://www.pickardchilton.com/work/ro Looks great. I do hope PC gets on with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Highrise Tower Posted November 11, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted November 11, 2021 Marketing brochure for Parcel 1 - Office. https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/3120-Buffalo-Speedway-Houston-TX/17591132/ 14 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrohip Posted November 11, 2021 Share Posted November 11, 2021 Thanks for the update. I was just looking at this land last week (from 100' in the air), wondering when they were going to do something... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted November 12, 2021 Share Posted November 12, 2021 Love the scale of this. The design feels inviting 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxtethogrady Posted November 14, 2021 Share Posted November 14, 2021 On 11/10/2021 at 9:45 PM, Highrise Tower said: Marketing brochure for Parcel 1 - Office. https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/3120-Buffalo-Speedway-Houston-TX/17591132/ Until office leasing picks up, I wouldn't expect this anytime soon... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted November 14, 2021 Share Posted November 14, 2021 18 hours ago, toxtethogrady said: Until office leasing picks up, I wouldn't expect this anytime soon... If it were some spec office building in some random place in the city, than I would agree with you, but we have seen with the building of the Texas Tower, and Discovery Green West that it really doesn't matter whatever the vacancy rates are like if the building is designed for a specific purpose and for a specific client, and designed with other things around it in mind then they will build it. This project is being built with a particular aesthetic, and clientele in mind. All they need is one or two big tenants and this will get built pretty quickly. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post astrohip Posted January 3, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 3, 2022 It's alive!!! Activity has started at the RO. Today there were a couple of heavy-duty electric utility trucks (eg, Centerpoint) inside the fenced in compound. Another truck or two on the outside, including one with a trailer with a backhoe. And all along the Buffalo Spdwy sidewalk, outside the fence, there are utility flags in the ground. 23 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 On 1/3/2022 at 4:50 PM, astrohip said: It's alive!!! Activity has started at the RO. Today there were a couple of heavy-duty electric utility trucks (eg, Centerpoint) inside the fenced in compound. Another truck or two on the outside, including one with a trailer with a backhoe. And all along the Buffalo Spdwy sidewalk, outside the fence, there are utility flags in the ground. Any pics? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twinsanity02 Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 A quick and somewhat irrelevant question. Is this large development considered to be part of the Greenway Plaza area? Visually it looks connected to the Greeway plaza area and not quite close enough to Upper Kirby. Our great city is tough to define it being multivarious. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrohip Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 14 hours ago, Urbannizer said: Any pics? Funny you ask... I was driving by it again this week (I live practically next door) and noticed nothing going on. The flags are still there, but no trucks, no people, no nothing. I'll try to get some pics in a few days. I'm always driving when I go by, and try to focus on driving and not other distractions. But I should be able to pull over and get some. As far as what it's part of, since everything (according to Marketing) that's inside the Loop is "River Oaks", I'm sure that's the main focus. It is (IMHO) closer to Greenway Plaza than RO. There was a news story earlier this week about a shooting at a "River Oaks apartment complex". But in digging down, it was located at San Felipe & 610. But hey... that's River Oaks! 🙄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 1 hour ago, astrohip said: Funny you ask... I was driving by it again this week (I live practically next door) and noticed nothing going on. The flags are still there, but no trucks, no people, no nothing. I'll try to get some pics in a few days. I'm always driving when I go by, and try to focus on driving and not other distractions. But I should be able to pull over and get some. As far as what it's part of, since everything (according to Marketing) that's inside the Loop is "River Oaks", I'm sure that's the main focus. It is (IMHO) closer to Greenway Plaza than RO. There was a news story earlier this week about a shooting at a "River Oaks apartment complex". But in digging down, it was located at San Felipe & 610. But hey... that's River Oaks! 🙄 This is an example of "concept creep" which happens when small or minor shifts in semantics ends up pushing or expanding the boundaries of a defined concept, idea, word, etc... If River Oaks is the place that many people want to be, but the space available is limited then overtime you will have those on the periphery who will then attempt to link themselves with River Oaks by simple association just so they can say they "live in" River Oaks. Over time as more and more people start naming themselves as River Oaks the boundary that once was the actual River Oaks begins to be diminished. As the name River Oaks expands the name will get further diluted over time to a point where nobody really understands what River Oaks even means anymore, and its at that point you would then start to see a shift or change. Its a natural and emergent phenomena that's really interesting once you look into it. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 22 hours ago, Urbannizer said: Any pics? Nothing going on when I took these pics today. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 9 minutes ago, hindesky said: Nothing going on when I took these pics today. Well I don't remember there being a lake on site, so I guess thats progress?! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 1 minute ago, Luminare said: Well I don't remember there being a lake on site, so I guess thats progress?! I believe those were old fuel/chemical tanks used for chemical experiments after all this was the old Exxon Chemical offices/labs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twinsanity02 Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 The way I understand "River Oaks" is north of Westhimer, west of Shepherd , and east of Willowick with a further westward bulge to Inverness. All this calling areas all the way to the Loop "River Oaks" seems like to put it politely pure piffle. If you don't live in River Oaks pretending doesn't make it so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big E Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 7 hours ago, Twinsanity02 said: The way I understand "River Oaks" is north of Westhimer, west of Shepherd , and east of Willowick with a further westward bulge to Inverness. All this calling areas all the way to the Loop "River Oaks" seems like to put it politely pure piffle. If you don't live in River Oaks pretending doesn't make it so. I have a hard time thinking of anything west of those train tracks as River Oaks, though apparently anything north of Afton Oaks and East of the loop is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff8201 Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 This discussion on boundaries got covered on the previous pages of this thread. The RO doesn’t fall within the boundaries of River Oaks, Upper Kirby or Greenway Plaza. Google any one of those with “Boundary Map” and you will see the borders. Some maps are more accurate and detailed then others. Take Realtor provided boundary maps with a grain of salt. With the boundary of River Oaks being a block away, and the name “The RO” not being used elsewhere it’s no surprise they used it. Maybe the initials RO don’t actually even stand for River Oaks? 🤔 Centerpoint has been doing work along W. Alabama replacing poles and aging equipment. Sanitary Sewer updates have taken place along Buffalo Spdwy and W. Alabama is supposed to get updated in the coming years on the Upper Kirby (Buffalo to Shepherd) and COH (Buffalo to Weslayan) sides. Both plans would replace storm sewers, replace the streets, add sidewalks and add bike lanes. As for the RO, last I heard they were looking for more Capital. Bears the question if Spear Street is still on board. I’m just hoping in the short term, they fix this leaking valve that has been pouring water since the freeze last year. That’s it. That’s all I know for now. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 40 minutes ago, Geoff8201 said: This discussion on boundaries got covered on the previous pages of this thread. The RO doesn’t fall within the boundaries of River Oaks, Upper Kirby or Greenway Plaza. Google any one of those with “Boundary Map” and you will see the borders. Some maps are more accurate and detailed then others. Take Realtor provided boundary maps with a grain of salt. With the boundary of River Oaks being a block away, and the name “The RO” not being used elsewhere it’s no surprise they used it. Maybe the initials RO don’t actually even stand for River Oaks? 🤔 Centerpoint has been doing work along W. Alabama replacing poles and aging equipment. Sanitary Sewer updates have taken place along Buffalo Spdwy and W. Alabama is supposed to get updated in the coming years on the Upper Kirby (Buffalo to Shepherd) and COH (Buffalo to Weslayan) sides. Both plans would replace storm sewers, replace the streets, add sidewalks and add bike lanes. As for the RO, last I heard they were looking for more Capital. Bears the question if Spear Street is still on board. I’m just hoping in the short term, they fix this leaking valve that has been pouring water since the freeze last year. That’s it. That’s all I know for now. Good luck filing a 311 complaint. Every time I fill one out it gets sent back that I need to take further action. It's completely ridiculous. The city never just forwards it to the proper channel. And matter's like this pic above take months to fix. It seems the people at 311 enjoy doing the bare minimum. I have a chunk of utility pole hanging above a sidewalk on W Alabama that's been sitting that way for weeks with debris from what appears to be a car accident still not cleaned up by Upper Kirby Management District. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 6 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said: Good luck filing a 311 complaint. Every time I fill one out it gets sent back that I need to take further action. It's completely ridiculous. The city never just forwards it to the proper channel. And matter's like this pic above take months to fix. It seems the people at 311 enjoy doing the bare minimum. I have a chunk of utility pole hanging above a sidewalk on W Alabama that's been sitting that way for weeks with debris from what appears to be a car accident still not cleaned up by Upper Kirby Management District. If it's a power pole, call Centerpoint. The City doesn't fix Centerpoint's stuff. On 1/14/2022 at 4:49 PM, hindesky said: I believe those were old fuel/chemical tanks used for chemical experiments after all this was the old Exxon Chemical offices/labs. A friend worked there., It was Exxon Production Research, later Upstream Research. I think the Chemicals research part of Exxon is in New Jersey or somewhere up that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 9 minutes ago, Ross said: If it's a power pole, call Centerpoint. The City doesn't fix Centerpoint's stuff. A friend worked there., It was Exxon Production Research, later Upstream Research. I think the Chemicals research part of Exxon is in New Jersey or somewhere up that way. Yeah I know but my issue is instead of them forwarding my complaint they force you to go back and call them yourself. Of all of the issues I've reported from sidewalks to debris, I get varying answers from 311 on what the city handles and what it doesn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highrise Tower Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 On 1/13/2022 at 6:27 PM, Urbannizer said: Any pics? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aachor Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 On 1/15/2022 at 2:58 AM, Big E said: I have a hard time thinking of anything west of those train tracks as River Oaks, though apparently anything north of Afton Oaks and East of the loop is. I think it's just supposed to sound "prestigious." There are businesses that use "River Oaks" in their name as far east as Montrose, and even south of 59. Unfortunately, I think Google uses stuff like business names (e.g. "popular opinion") in how they define an area on their maps. So, someday we may see the entirety of the west loop evolve into "River Oaks." haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ozone Files Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 I saw a truck and crew doing some kind of soil sampling on this site over the past few days. Anyone heard anything about this moving forward? 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff8201 Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 I saw the same thing. Took some photos but until I see heavy equipment in droves and a crane foundation getting built I’ll hold my excitement. Also in curious searching I found 1. Spear Street Capital is no longer on board as the have listed the RO as a sold asset (https://spearstreetcapital.com/portfolio/sold/) and 2. Transwestern still has listings for leasable space at the RO. These listings have been there for a while. (https://transwestern.com/property/the-ro-3120-buffalo-speedway). (attached photo was taken on July 13th) 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 All the equipment is gone but did see a core drillings spoils barrel and a few new surveyor stakes. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post The Ozone Files Posted July 23, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted July 23, 2022 Trees are being removed! I’ll try to take photos this afternoon. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted July 25, 2022 Share Posted July 25, 2022 Van and Sons Drilling, I've seen them at multiple spots around town. Ulrich Engineers. http://ulrichengineers.com 6 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted July 25, 2022 Share Posted July 25, 2022 Man, some of these projects are activating just in the nick of time. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Highrise Tower Posted July 26, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted July 26, 2022 On 7/23/2022 at 10:54 AM, The Ozone Files said: Trees are being removed! I’ll try to take photos this afternoon. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post astrohip Posted July 26, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted July 26, 2022 I walked over today, to get a closer look (and came back drenched--it's hot!). It looks like they're trying to save the trees. I don't know if they're going to move them, or build barriers around them, but it's definitely not your typical "doze 'em to the ground" process. Lots of them have those dirt walls around them. 10 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 19 hours ago, astrohip said: I walked over today, to get a closer look (and came back drenched--it's hot!). It looks like they're trying to save the trees. I don't know if they're going to move them, or build barriers around them, but it's definitely not your typical "doze 'em to the ground" process. Lots of them have those dirt walls around them. That dirt wall is to mark off the "Drip Line" of the tree. Any grading that is done can not breach that drip line or the tree will die. This is usually a process coordinated between the Architect, Landscape Architect, Civil Engineer, and GC. As far as moving them, not sure myself. I don't remember seeing any markings on a previous site plan noting which trees were marked as "Existing Tree to Remain" or "Existing Tree to be Relocated". I guess we will know soon enough. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Geoff8201 Posted July 27, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted July 27, 2022 (edited) I heard today that they intend to transplant the trees within the site, or at least attempt it. That’s why the dirt lines were placed, something about it and the trees root system… makes it easier somehow to transplant them? I’m not sure how it works, I’m no arborist. I also heard the residential tower will end up being 12-14 floors of occupancy… but on top of a multilevel parking garage. Much shorter than the 37 floors originally proposed but this was expected. I found the following on Emporis listing the first building as 17 floors, which makes sense with the 12-14 floors on top of several levels of parking garage. https://www.emporis.com/buildings/1400038/the-ro-tower-i-houston-tx-usa We will likely see a 2023 start to the construction, but the site will still be divided into 8 parcels which means we should still see offices, a hotel and lots of retail in multiple phases. Edit: The Emporis site lists the 17-floor building use as commercial office. So some clarification is lost as I thought they were referring to the residential tower. We shall see. Edited July 28, 2022 by Geoff8201 10 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Highrise Tower Posted July 31, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted July 31, 2022 Soil testing continuing for Parcel 2. 11 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highrise Tower Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 A Plan Review Fee permit was pulled yesterday for a new apartment. Lets go!! 7 1 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrohip Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 1 hour ago, Highrise Tower said: A Plan Review Fee permit was pulled yesterday for a new apartment. Lets go!! Is this the type of permit that would be used for the project as proposed? Or does this indicate a change in direction? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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