dbat_01

I Found this today, they have an approximate completion date and architect:

"Houston Pavilions, a 700,000-sf mixed-use project in downtown Houston is expected to open in late 2007, according to its developers, Geoffrey Jones and William Denton. The $200 million project covering three city blocks, will be bounded by Dallas St. to the north, Polk St. to the south, Main St. to the west and Caroline St. to the east. The project will have 350,000 sf of retail space, 200,000 sf of office and a 12-story condo tower with 140 units. The developers have lined up a $8.8 million development grant from the city and a $5.5 million grant from Harris County. The House of Blues, a Los Angeles-based group, will open a concert venue/nightclub in the project. Other House of Blues locations include Las Vegas and Orlando. Architects for Houston Pavilions include Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, Inc. (HOK) and Dallas-based retail design architecture group Laguarda.Low. The BlackRock Realty Tower Fund is the principal financial partner of Houston Pavilions"

I am a CE EIT and should be taking my PE exam in October. What are the sizes of these tanks? Basically, the detention pond size depends on the size of the development. The larger the impermeable land, the larger the detention pond. For example, we worked on a new subdivision for Alvin and the required storage for detention was approximately 27 acres. For those applications, I would assume that your product isn't applicable.

It would be applicable in any situation. The tanks can stack up to be over 7' tall and placed side by side to accomodate any situation. If you had a subdivision like in Alvin, instead of placing the raintank all in one area like you would a surface pond, you figure out the total cubic feet of water storage needed, and divide it up among the number of houses you have. You place these tanks under each individual driveway and along ditches. The benefit to this is that, if you choose, you can use the stored water for irrigation. All the water that drain off of the road and into the ditch will be treated as it permeates through the soil, and you can eliminate storm drains and expensive inlets. It also gives you the opportuntiy to build 81 more houses on that 27 acres that was once used for a pond. We actually have KB Homes interested in putting these in their subdivisions, and I anticipate others will follow. If you want to sit down and talk about it feel free to give me a call at 281.923.4517. From now on let's move this conversation to the "retention / detention pond" forum so these pavillion guys don't get upset with us. Good luck on your PE exam.

I don't know who the CE of record is, but I do know that nothing has begun yet. People are still parking in those lots and on the streets. I parked there for the Mavericks game and will do so again when I go to the Heat game on Sunday.

dbat - Are you a CE? I assume you might be because of your thread on detention ponds.

I'm not a CE but I just jumped into this Storm Water Management business and I'm trying to prospect for great opportunities to begin pushing this Atlantis Raintank product into the Houston market. We actually have our first installations in Houston coming up in the next month. One will be at the new Commerica Bank on Gessner and the other being at English & Associates Architects. I am hoping this will springboard this product into the front of C.E., architects, and developers minds. It is a great low cost alternative to surface detention/retention ponds and the traditional underground concrete or pipe system.

Does anyone know who the civil engineer on this project is? Also, do you know if they have began to move dirt on the sight?

This product is made out of recycled polypropylene, making it lightweight and modular. the traditional underground retention pond is made of steel or concrete pipe and is expensive, as you said. The other great thing about this product is that when you dig the hole to place the underground detention pond, the product will fill 95% of the hole leaving 5% extra to wrap the geotextile cloth around the tank, whereas other products require 70%, with 30% excess. Below is the website if anyone is interested. www.atlantiscorp.com.au. The cost would be appr. $5 per sq.ft.

The thing about this new concept, is that it is modular and there is no pipe(other than the pipe used for irigation). This product is called a rain tank and it is made out of post consumer recycled material. It basicaly looks like a milk crate that is stacked as high and as long as needed to meet the EPA regulations on foot acres of water required per acre of dirt moved, and is wrapped in a mesh cloth that acts as a filter that cleans sediment out of the water. There are two pipes conected to this system, one for overflow that pushes clean water into our streams and bayous and the other for irrigation. Commerica Bank is in the process of adding these raintanks to their new facility. As far as pricing is concerned, it would cost the same to buy the realestate and dig the hole as it would to buy these systems. The difference is the wasted opportunity costs you lose with retention ponds. The other interesting use for this product is ditches. You can put these in any ditch, cover them with soil and grass and they will retain water until the land absobs it or it flows into the streams and bayous. Again it eleminates mosquitos and prevent people from running into colverts and ditches with their cars.

I have a friend who is an architect here in town that absolutely loves retention ponds because of having water features on site, I on the other hand think they are a waste of real estate, they breed large crops of mosquitoes every year, and if they are not turned into an actual pond and properly taken care of they become an eye sore. I am looking into going into a business that would eliminate the retention pond and place it underground beneath parking lots (commercial use) and driveways (residential use). This system will also retain rain water, and with the use of a simple pump you can use that rain water for irrigation rather than using potable water. It will also add 12 LEED points to any green building that is to be built. My question to you is: Are retention ponds an eye sore and do you feel that we need a solution to get rid of them?

On top of that, the size of homes has increased to an average near 2500 square feet. I would suggest we own entirely too much JUNK as a society. I bet if you looked through 99% of these storage units, most all of the stored junk has been replaced by some newer model of that junk in the person's home, rendering this junk obsolete, in addition to being junk.

The self storage that was tore down is to be replaced with a new bank owned by Metro National called Metro National Bank and Trust. The rest of the site will be retail. The bank will reflect the same style as Memorial City Mall.

This is something new I found today on Houston Pavillions. I'm sorry if it is repetitive but it does give an exact location.

City and county officials are planning governmental incentives to induce the development of Houston Pavillions, a $200 million mixed use project proposed for downtown Houston. The project will be bordered by Main, Caroline, Polk and Dallas. It will include 200 condo units, an office tower and almost 400,000 sf of retail. The development group includes William Denton of California and Geoff Jones, a Houston developer who is also affiliated with CB RIchard Ellis.

HOUSTON-A $200-million proposal for a mixed-used development has moved a step closer to reality with city officials' approval of a downtown tax increment reinvestment zone (TIRZ). The Market Square TIRZ, as it has been named, will be used to float $14.3 million in bonds, of which $8.5 million will come from Harris County and the balance from the City of Houston.

Partners William Denton and Geoffrey Jones are proposing to use three city blocks--Main, Caroline and Polk streets--to develop Houston Pavilions. The project is envisioned as having high-class retail, entertainment, condominiums and office space--all packaged in about 360,000 sf. But sources have noted that, due to the high cost of downtown land values and development, a TIRZ creation was necessary to help fund the project and push it forward.

"Yesterday, the commissioner's court approved it and last night, the TIRZ's board of directors approved it," says David Turkel, director of community and economic development for Harris County. The city council also has approved the TIRZ creation. "The next step is for the city and the developers to enter into a formal agreement," Turkel tells GlobeSt.com, estimating that TIRZ agreement could be finalized within weeks.

Jones, senior vice president and managing director of CB Richard Ellis Inc.'s Houston office, and Denton, president of Entertainment Development Group Inc., based in Agoura Hills, CA have formed the Houston Pavilions LP, to move to the next step of the process. If all goes according to plan, the Houston Pavilions will be similar in scope to Entertainment Development's successful 350,000-sf Denver Pavilions, which opened in 1998.

K. Havanian bought Brighton Homes a few years ago and has used them to push themselves into the Houston Market. It is interesting that they are beginning to sell K. Havanian homes instead of Brighton Homes. I guess they now feel they have large enough of a presence.

I met with the HR Director at Metro National a couple of weeks ago, and while in his office I saw some OSHA records hanging on the wall that told of injuries. Out of their 300+ employees only 26 had non life threatening injuries caused by on the job accidents. This is a small fraction. However it cost the company over 400 days of absenteeism that they had to pay for. I'm not sure how much that cost the company, but if you take the average cost of an employee to be paid for 365 days, it probably cost over $36,000, not to include the loss of productivity. All of you guys bring up great points about management looking at profits from quarter to quarter, but the best time for me to get a company in the shape they should be in is when they are moving facilities and they have to spend the money any way. I rarely even mess with companies that are not moving or remodeling because it is a near impossible sell. Did you guys know that Metro National is tearing down the doctors offices at 902 Frostwood and building condo's there in the next 3 years?

I am glad I have so many people interested in ergonomics. However what I said in the posting was that it was a study they had done over the course of the past 5 years, from 2000 to 2005. And who's administration was involved then? Besides it doesn't even matter. I appologize for not being more specific. If you want to turn this into a political conversation that is fine, but it is not my intent. My job, and the reason that I am even on this site is to help educate companies on how to reduce overhead costs that are often associated with workmans comp insurance and the overwhelming cost that companies have to absorb do to musculoskeletal diseases, carpel tunnels, and eye fatigue. Muscoloskelatal diseases cost American companies over 800 Million Dollars a year, only second to the common cold. What DOW is trying to do is work ergonomics into the process called "Sigma Six" which is the standard deviation where only a very small fraction of products will become defective out of every 1 million attempts. If you have ever taken a business statistics or operations management class, it is the basis of these classes. The actual link that will get you to the article is http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticl...article985.html.

Also if you type in DOW and OSHA you will find the 4 peices of the article.

Thats funny that you know what the term ergonomics means, however very few engineering companies actually give their employees the resources to combat these ailments. Yes engineers developed the technology behind ergonomics, but do you think a civil engineer, a electrical engineer, a chemical engineer, or a large portion of mechanical engineering companies care one bit about ergonomics and the fact that another engineer came up with the idea. They wait until there is actually a problem before they do anything to improve it. Usually by that time, long term damage has already been caused. I know you guys enjoy archetecture, but what good is the outside of a building when you are trying to attract the best and the brightest employees, attract the most profitable customers, and grow your business to levels only imaginable. The only way to do this is to think through every process and make your business a place that your employees want to work, your customers want to visit, and supply a product or service that can not be surpassed by any of your competition. Your building is the first thing your employees and customers see, but your offices are the last. And those are the two things they will remember most.

Texas.road.cyclist....

Are you looking for something that is very contemporary or are you looking for something that is different, but more elegant...traditional? I notice that there is a growing trend for companies that in the past have gone with traditional looks, and are now moving to a more contemporary look, such as law firms and some banks, but as far as the oil and gas industry there has been little to no change. The industries I am focusing on and trying to understand are both car dealerships and companies, such as oil and gas, that hire a large amount of Engineers. The reason I am trying to focus on engineering firms is because they generally do not think about all of the internal factors associated with keeping your employees healthy and happy. OSHA is pushing a lot of regulations associated with ergonomics, and with every study, they will crack down more and more on companies not complying with providing basic ergonomic work place solutions. There is a study that DOW Chemical did with OSHA over the past 5 years that you should read. It is at www.spineuniverse.com. just type in DOW in the search sites search engine. After reading the article I met with the guy at Dow that is in charge of purchasing, Tary Schumacher, just to talk about the market and what he saw from the inside, having to deal with OSHA, and he believes that there is going to have to be a major change in the way that these companies do business. If you would like any other information or ideas, my number is posted above, or you can leave a message here, I check it every morning.

Sales people get such a bad reputation! You guys probably see every sales guy as someone in a cheesy suite with a gold pinky ring, one step above a car mechanic or lawyer and one step below a politition. I guess it is something we have to deal with. I will be this sites official sales person to tell jokes about. If you want you could even take lawyer jokes and convert them into sales person jokes. I hope you guys have a great week and hope to see more of you on here. All of you really make this site great.

That is a suspicious set of occurances. The truth is that I have this website on my favorites and check it every morning to find out what is going on around Houston and find out where some opportunities may be. You don't have to woory about me setting you guys up. I never expected to even find a single lead in here. I was just using it for information. However if you guys do know of any companies that may be moving, needing to get more out of their existing location or are in need of a serious image make over, I would be happy to sit down with them and talk about how I can make better use of their space, make their work environment more user freindly, and show them how, in most cases, I can make their work stations pay for themselves within 5 years.

I'm fairly familiar with the west side of town and I will keep an eye out for some interesting office space. I have a real estate broker that I highly recommend named Woodard Nunis with Oxford realtors. He specializes in helping small to medium sized companies find space. He has a good grip on the market and what is out there as far as office space is concerned. His number is (713) 647-6400 x 232. Tell him David sent you. Otherwise I really like your idea. I am in the Commercial Office Furniture business and my specialty is consulting small to medium sized companies on how to make their offices more efficient, user freindly, and ultimately able to retain the best and the brightest employees and customers. If you are interested in getting together one day and talking about the vision for your company feel free to call me at 832.264.9342 or email me at battsd@jtyler.com. Attached is an article I wrote on the most efficient way to equip your new office. I hope you enjoy.

Explore_Your_Space.doc