Pleak

Here are the latest updates to the IAH construction.

http://www.fly2houston.com/0/3920701/0/83280D83283/

Summary

• Terminal B Updates.
  
• Beginning Terminal D minor upgrades.
  
• A lot of utility and central plant upgrades (which really needed to be done).
  

Doesn't Houston Pavilions have a lot of available space........

bring back Orbit!!!!!!!!!!!!

No - they need to bring back Chester Charge, not some amorphous green blob. I seem to remember that he even had a cannon that he would fire.

Not sure what words I'm supposed to be putting in people's mouths.

For the record, I've said before and I've already said it today, I don't think non-commerical drivers should be expected to know the weight of their vehicles.

Well I'm not sure if that's just lazy or stupid or both.

If you are going to drive a 4000+ lb deadly weapon (just read the bicycle thread) you should at least have the mininum knowledge of your vehicle. And if it is remotely tall - you should also know the height.

i would imagine they would'nt have much of a choice if they wanted to achieve economies of scale, unless they do less units that are just very high end (think belle meade or chateau 10). i don't know the size of the adobe property but as a comparison i recently heard that marvy may be planning a 20+ story highrise on the art institute site on yorktown and that parcel is 1.3 ac.

And the 29 story residential tower being built at BLVD Place has a footprint of 1.2 acres from what I have read.

That's good to hear. It seems like Greenway Plaza area has been quiet for a long time except for 1-2 story strip centers.

Have you ever been to a tiny Texas town that would have absolutely no tax base to speak of?

This is known as hyperbole. There is not enough traffic on Yale or Heights to result in "major gridlock". But, it is fun to read these posts anyway. I imagine veins popping on s3mh's neck as he furiously types these posts.

And I thought it was wayward bicyclists causing gridlock in the Heights. Now it's 18-wheelers.

Man - y'all have a lot of traffic problems.

It looks like they were working on the 17th floor when I counted on Monday night.

After the eighth floor, it appears the floors are taller. I presume that is the end of the parking and the start of the actual office floors.

I'm most interested in this project because of its potential. Wish somene would build a stucture that has a huge HD tv screen to show the news and etc. on it like in Times Square. Wouldn't that look impressive driving down poat oak from the Galleria?

Do you own a wrecker? Because this is the best idea to keep wrecker drivers employed I've seen in quite a long time. Just imagine the fun of all the people on the West Loop craning their heads to see what is on the big screen and not seeing the car in front of them slamming on the brakes as it crests the hill at San Felipe.

Golyadkin - you'd not only have a giant TV out your window - you'd have live demolition derby out the other side of the building also.

Thanks for the quick response. Makes sense. The traffic merging onto the freeway has to mix with and cross the traffic simultaneously exiting Chinney Rock. Whenever I don't take the bus in the morning, I exit the freeway there - it is always a take-your-life-into-your-own-hands proposition during morning rush hour. It also causes the Chimney Rock exiting traffic to back up the right two lanes of the freeway just at the Westpark curve.

That whole stretch from Westpark to Newcastle has a lot going on in a short space.

Not sure if this is related to the rebuild plans or not, but at the northbound lanes of 59 over Chimney Rock - they have busted out the outside barrier wall and off to the side they have formed up the rebar for what looks like concrete support columns. It almost looks like they are going to add a lane or two to the main freeway lanes over Chimney Rock.

Anybody know what is going on?

And Red, why on earth did you start a thread on needing a tile contractor? That must be one fancy outhouse you are putting in.

I think we have a picture of that action here......

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/?p=55692

So would Jabba the Hut exceed the weight limit?

Are those the blueprints to the Death Bridge?

There is an endandered chipmonk? Why am I just now hearing about this? This thread is totally useless without pictures.

Crane is mostly up today. It's as tall as it's going to get - just have to finish building the rest of it.

It might be a bit bland, but compared to what was there before - 8 story concrete tower from the 70's - which would you rather have? Plus if it really fills up with all these foodie restaurants like the press releases hint at and becomes a destination for great food - will anyone actually care if it was the world's tallest faux stucco monstrosity?

When did having orangutans in movies stop being popular? Was it project X? I think we have really lost our way in the world without movies featuring these majestic creatures.

And was there an offsetting uptick in upemployed orangutans lurking around Midtown and the Greyhound Bus Station turning an otherwise pristine neighborhood into an urban jungle?

Thats not THAT far fetched.. Peachtree hotel in Atlanta is 70 floors with a 1000 rooms.

I was looking at it more from a cost point of view. Comparitive cheap price of land in Houston vs. cost of a super-tall tower (which 70-80 floors is pushing). Nowadays, Houston has become extremely practical and I think more land (which we still have an abundance of) would be used over extra height.

Unfortunately - for the tall building nerd in me.

That can't be used as a comparison because it makes s3mh's point invalid...and s3mh being s3mh said that we know it would take longer. WE KNOW!

I most profoundly apologize. I shall now scurry back to the dim recesses of the Sugarland and the Southwest Forum.

Guess what? We have something called standards that are in place so that there is never a risk of a bridge failure (people tend to get killed when a bridge fails--not something you want to mess with). Once engineers find that the structural integrity of the bridge has reached a point where the risk of failure begins, they have to close the bridge until it is fixed or replaced. Exceeding the load limitations just puts the bridge on the fast track to the day when the engineers order the bridge to be closed. If the bridge gets closed prior to the time funding is available to build a new bridge, it will just sit there for months or years.

A permanent replacement bridge could not be constructed in 6 weeks under any circumstance. In fact, anything less than a year would be fast.

Currently, the plan is to start construction in 2016 (http://www.khou.com/...-165670506.html). If the load limitations are violated continuously, causing the bridge to degrade faster, we could end up having the bridge closed for three to four years total, including construction, instead of one year.

It took just under a year to rebuild the I-35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. That was something like an 8-10 lane bridge and 1200 feet long. I realize that the big ditch by the Heights can see extraordinary currents - but are you really comparing it to the Mississippi?

I agree. The fact of the matter is, this is going to be a substantial building. A 1,000 room hotel will not be skimpy or small by any stretch of the imagination. Even a dinky 250-ish room Embassy Suites turned out to be 20 stories.

It would be really cool if a straight extrapolation of those numbers would mean we were going to get an 80-story hotel. Unreasonable, but cool.

Or one like the big air freshener on top of the Memorial Hermann building at Gessner & I-10.