Purdueenginerd

I used to live next to the train line. 

I would notice the sound of one passing occasionally, but normally it rarely kept me away anymore than City Traffic, Sirens, or any other misc. sounds within the city. Thats not to say it wont bother some people, but for me... hardly at all. 

Looks pretty good actually. Close to rendering. 

Ah Thanks, far less exciting.

Saw a variance request sign near Bar Munich/Chase Bank/Latin cuisine resturaunt...

Couldnt see what it was... but that whole block is developed (aside from some surface parking for the aforementioned businesses.)

It's hiding under the name "Old Central Bank Building."  Here's a link:

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/90-old-central-bank-building/

Its in the midtown sub-forum. 

/edit: Nevermind, replied to wrong person. 

UtterlyUrban's comment has a degree of truth to it.  haha. Nonetheless, if theyre starting construction, it's essentially free gravel for their equipment to drive on and gain traction in the mud. --thats my guess. 

Jokes on us guys. Gonna be a High rise for the NSA, 100 floors, black, no windows, and a moving flaming eye at the top that looks down on the city of Houston. 

impressive

The back-side facade was nearly completely removed. 

I like the little castle tower at the corner. 

With proper maintenance and the occasional rehabilitation, you're looking at centuries for large scale high rises. Recall, that the root cause and reason for demolishing a highrise is (most of the time) not because of engineering design deficiencies, but because of economic constraints such as square footage and altered needs for the land. One could argue that controlling factor for life expectancy of a highrise is not engineering, but rather economics.

Now, my profession deals with the rehabilitation of structures--- including highrises. If I remember correctly, The empire state building and sears tower or both steel frame high rises; the (likely) primary deterioration mechanism that supporting members will undergo is corrosion, thus reducing the structural capacity. Lets say zombie apocalypse happens and the building is totally abandoned. Without maintenance; I'd give your average highrise about 50 years+ before large scale structural collapses could occur- Will the building look like shit before that? hell yes. Will it collapse--- maybe. Will it stand--- maybe?

Quick example: Sterick building in downtown Memphis, TN-- built in the 1930's... Has been abandoned since 1980s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterick_Building

 http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/may/03/memphis-officials-pushing-plan-redevelop-long-vaca/?print=1

There's plenty of pictures of people sneaking inside and snapping photos all over the net: looks like shit. I guarantee it could be fixed (albeit probably expensive).

A concrete highrise is going to be a different. Carbonatation is a likely (long term) deterioration mechanism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonatation (assuming everything else is perfect. Even then... I'd give it more than 50 years before major major issues started to occur. 

Even in the industrial world, I've worked on process unit structures that are over 100 years old and thats saying a lot since MechE's and ChemE's tend to not give a shit about Civil infrastructure Maintenance 

Structurally unsafe caused by deterioration/age on a skyscaper is only going to occur if the owners are negligent that their structural members are deteriorating or the building is abandoned. To give another example, The old Days Inn and Central Square here in Houston have been both abandoned now for several years. I'll put money on the fact that the central square renovation had some structural repairs. 

To answer your question in TL:DR form: With proper maintenance and continuous use: A long long time.

I'm just glad that I totally didn't have to look up the word fenestration.

Haha. Me too.

I recall AP european history (way back in 2002). The defenestration of Prague... where they threw some A-holes out the window.

This rendering appears to be more in scale with the surrounding buildings. That will be a dominating highrise on the skyline... especially from 10 and 45. 

Mast Climbers going in!

this project is definitely picking up!

Do we even have a rendering?

This rendering is clearly based in fantasy land! There's no way the TSA would be operating that efficiently. They need to add at least 200 more people to the line, and decrease the amount of functioning x-ray scanners to about 2... maybe 3. 

An office building, with cheaper rents than downtown (I'm guessing)

Saw large sections of the original window facade removed (facing I-45). 

wow, very bad housekeeping. 

I like the brick streets but man... the roads are in bad shape. 

In response to your post, and your avatar...

Building that was there is completely demoed now. They were cleaning up the debris this weekend. 

Fire damage to reinforced concrete is a serious concern(I see it all the time in Pipe-Racks and process units). It alters the chemistry of the material and it's material properties. I would imagine the GC, or Owner have hired a forensics firm to validate the structure. Core samples would be taken from exposed elements, and from that, very easy to discern the fire effected concrete. If it was bad, it'd have to be shored, partially demoed, and repaired. 

Fantastic photos!

no, a few blocks away. Saw the demo ongoing this weekend... one laborer was beating away at a CMU wall with a sledge hammer... seemed--- inefficient.