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Pleak

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Everything posted by Pleak

  1. Pleak
    In the rebuild from a few years ago - they redid some of the connectors but not all of them, and on others only redid a part of them or expanded them. Maybe it's a full-blown rework of the connectors. What they did a few years back, was a 100% improvement over what was previously there.
  2. Pleak
    Meanwhile back to the construction..... Nancy Sarnoff posted some interesting numbers over the weekend from an "unnamed source". Still makes for interesting speculation. http://www.chron.com/business/sarnoff/article/Sarnoff-Exxon-Mobil-project-s-value-could-3621219.php $1.2 billion in costs broken down by: "1 $700 million for 3.5 million square feet worth of buildings, including their interior finishes. 1 $150 million for parking garages. 1 $100 million for site development. 1 $200 million for furniture, fixtures and equipment. 1 $75 million for architecture, engineering and related fees."
  3. Pleak
    Agreed. I know Houston is transitioning from 2-3 story apartments upwards. But i wish they would skip the 3-5 story phase on these large projects and go straight to 6-8 stories. This is a location that should have the increased density - just like West Avenue. A spine of these type of developments along Westheimer and Kirby would be a nice addition.
  4. Pleak
    I didn't realize downtown needed revitalizing. We are talking about Houston's downtown - not Buffalo's or Detroit's - right?
  5. Pleak
    Well aware of that - hence what I drive. Mass of my front bumper alone more than = mass of vehicles of most of the slowly weaving people with both thumbs and eyes in their lap. I'll be safe. They'll make a nice hood ornament.
  6. Pleak
    To quote (almost) the movie Incredibles "If everybody is a hero, than nobody is a hero." But can we still call you an ungrateful communist? Just for kicks.
  7. Pleak
    So is Houston ever going to need one? Or do the tower farms and antenna on top of downtown buildings suffice?
  8. Pleak
    Let us know what you drive so we can avoid your weaving, slow vehicle.
  9. Pleak
    Putting in new rail lines is darn near impossible due to NIMBY's (same problem as power lines, pipelines, etc) so I guess that is why they are proposing elevated rail on existing transit corridors. That does seem terribly expensive. Wonder what the price differential is vs double-tracking all existing rail lines (since the right-of-ways are already there) in conjuction with separating grade crossings. I know that is really expensive - but it obtains really good results for both the rail and the road that it crosses.
  10. Pleak
    Toyko just opened the Sky Tree this year. And we have pictures somewhere at home from the base of the tower in Guangzhou (didn't have time to go up) from last year right after it had just opened. It seems like a surge of these new massive towers for communications and observation are being built. Why? Are these just vanity projects for the cities involved or do they make financial sense? For communications - why not just stick antenna on top of existing buildings like One Shell did? Or create tower farms like out in Missouri City area? It seems this would be so much more cost effective. Does the income from an observation deck or two and the prestige from a cool new tower come anywhere close to justifying the cost of building one of these? Or is the cost of constructing a 600m observation/communication tower substantiantally cheaper than constructing an equivalent height occupiable building? If so - then by all means I hope someone builds a 600m oil derrick/shuttle observation tower on the block bounded by Louisiana, Milam, Walker & McKinney.
  11. Pleak
    That's true for 20-year ago builds - but for new builds - even no-name builders are pretty efficient. My in-laws bought a big 2-story last year from a local builder - can't remember who, but I remember there was a website devoted to the shoddy work they did on a development on north side of town (Foxwood maybe?). Their electricty usage is ridiculously low - they are having to pay the extra charge each month for not meeting the minimum usage on the contract they signed.
  12. Pleak
    They pumped all the water out first - took a few days. Wasn't around when they got it drained low to see if they caught the fish and put them in the other ponds. Or took them home and ate them.
  13. Pleak
    Have no idea - but the other retaining ponds on the site by back by the Bechtel and other office buildings are still there and full of water. (and I believe they are actuall all interconnected under the roads) So maybe the critters relocated themselves.
  14. Pleak
    Went by today on the way to work. The drained main pond structure has almost been rebuilt - albeit about a 50% smaller footprint. At least they left some of it and some of the nice cypress trees. The rest of the old pond footprint has been back-filled. Looks like they are beginning to start on foundation work now.
  15. Pleak
    Isn't this what we have BNSF and UP for?
  16. Pleak
    That building in the picture above was my grandfather's battery shop back in the late 30's/early 40's. I need to go find the old scrapbooks and pull some pictures to scan in.
  17. Pleak
    I didn't see this posted anywhere else. Will house the collection of modern and contemporary drawings. Should be finished in about 3-5 years and be about 18,000 square feet. Another addition to museums/galleries definately most welcome. http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/06-07-12-15-56-menil-announces-architecture-firm-set-to-lead-the-design-of-the-museums-innovative-new-drawing-institute/ http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2012/06/menil-selects-los-angeles-firm.html
  18. Pleak
    Does man of the cloth = frequent poster on HAIF?
  19. Pleak
    Ehh - he planted the million trees twelve years ago. It's not exactly old growth forest he's clear-cutting.
  20. Pleak
    Is this the link to the one you are talking about that burned down? http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/24029-agora/
  21. Pleak
    It only takes one tiny crack and they are in! Then those little buggers will hollow out that whole skyscraper from the inside out. Woe be to the one that sneezes in the wrong place.
  22. Pleak
    Do you have a camera hidden in the hedge across the street? I'll go down and adjust the angle in you need.
  23. Pleak
    When I heard the story on the news, this is the first thing I thought of also.
  24. Pleak
    That word right there. Waaaay over-used.
  25. Pleak
    It would be a bear to tent that thing when you got termites...
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