jt16

Cost overruns on an Australian LNG project will make chevron want to move to the burbs? That makes zero sense. One project is many billions and another could never reach that magnitude. Sounds like your well connected friend is speculating to me.

ummm.. say what? why would a residential tower never get off the ground in a city that cant keep up with its residential demands? now will it look the same as rendered? maybe not.. unfortunately it may end up losing its twist (pure speculation), like Shasta said, "look for them to streamline the design a bit". but TEMA has owned this plot of land for a very long time with the intentions of developing it into additional residential towers..

as for "neither will several others - looks at Chevron".. i had to stop taking you serious at this point (and probably should of stopped bothering to type this reply, heh). you do realize Chevron JUST bought another block next to their downtown campus with the intentions of using that block for a staging site for construction of the new tower in 2015, before using the site for future parking when the campus is expanded..? now tell me, why would Chevron buy an additional site when they already own one vacant site in downtown (1600 Louisiana), and another half vacant block next to 1500 (thats primed for a 4th Chevron tower in the future)? Chevron is committed to downtown Houston. i wouldnt be surprised to see a corporate HQ relocation in the next decade/after the current CEO retires.

i agree we are overbuilding in the office submarket (unfortunately i have come to the realization International Tower will probably never see the light of day :/ at least not this go round.. maybe in the next cycle of office construction a few years down the road), but the Chevron tower will be taken up entirely by Chevron. its not a speculative tower like other projects around town, fighting for tenants.

how is the energy sector retreating? maybe youre getting it twisted because the Houston economy is diversifying and isnt dominated by oil and gas like it once was? and you do realize these energy/oil&gas companies are some of the largest in the world, meaning they have some of the largest capital in the world? you dont think they will use that capital when the time comes (they already are..) to focus on alternate sources of energy? companies like Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ect arent going to just fade away when the next major source of energy comes around.. they are going to adapt. yes fracking is making oil cheaper, but its also creating one of the biggest booms in the oil industry since the early 1900s.. that can only mean good things for the oil & gas companies around Houston.

what forcasters are predicting this doomsday prophecy for Houston?

I've not seen one doomsday forecast for the houston economy. If anything it's the opposite. The "next" energy source is most likely gas. And it's becoming a global commodity. And that will be another economic boon for the houston economy. I would hate to be invested heavily in biofuels right now.

Looks really nice. There will probably only be about 1/5th of the people in the renderings actually walking around, but still... nice.

Ever been to city center? It's almost too packed with people walking around.

At the rate we're going, we'll have 10 million people in the metro area by 2040. I agree with both of you, and I would add that Houston really needs to build a mid-high speed subway/train system (at least around the inner loop area and out to the airports).

Subway in Houston? You must be new to the conversation.

When I was shopping for apartments last summer and asked about all of the new construction, I was told it will make no dent in apartment rent rates as demand is so high all of the new projects will simply fill existing/future demand. If anything, prices will continue to rise.

Told by who? Someone trying to rent you an apartment long term?

Without injunctive relief, the project would just move forward anyway and the developer would appeal or settle the jury award.

I actually saw what looked like a truck doing soil samples at the DT site last week. Could be nothing but would be weird to acquire lots of DT real estate only to build a large XOM style campus in the woodlands.

It's on the original location according to the video. Great for them and they provide a wonderful and needed set of services for the community. I'm not sure how this doesn't fit the "community." I think alot of new people in midtown/Montrose don't fit the community and should return to the suburbs with their exclusionary mentalities.

Or maybe the poster was trying to point out it's not close to the people it seeks to serve. But don't let me get in the way of the insults. Exclusionary? You just put huge amounts of people (suburbanites into one of your tiny boxes).

I have been to over 50 countries, I've been to hundreds of cities, Houston is the only place where residents act like homeless are some novel, alien creatures.

I got drunk and lost in Seattle but some homeless people have me awesome directions to my hotel. I would have been wandering around in the rain if it wasn't for the neighborhood hobos.

In Cork, Ireland one of the people buying rounds of beers to welcome us to the city was a homeless girl. Didn't know she was homeless till after. She was just a person who didn't have an indoor home.

I think many people like to feel themselves victims and ashamed to say no. Many of these homeless people are really friendly. Yeah some do commit crimes, but most are harmless.

People keep saying midtown won't improve because of the homeless, but hey I was asked for money right down the street from Buckingham Palace (well closer to Kensington).

Homeless are everywhere people. Its not a Houston thing. They stay where they get fed.

The greyhound station is a dropoff point on your way back from prison. There are undesirable people in the area, not just homeless.

What are the major risks?

Enough ROW for emergency vehicles.

The majority of the comments favored the tunnel option.

 

Then the majority probably didn't understand the major risks involved with a tunnel option.  I didn't until I actually read about it.  People making comments say what they want, but people studying the issue actually know what's feasible and what isn't feasible.

The renderings are definitely cartoonish but it does look like fun. They remind me of the poster maps one could get at Six Flags or Astroworld back in the day.

 

It's kind of hard to have renderings of 600 acre park without making it cartoonish.  Otherwise your renderings would show very little of the overall plan, or you would have way too many of them to really get people interested.  I think what I see looks like a good plan. 

Correction - moving to total plaza

my company has a membership, and they claim to be staying put last time we asked.  I don't know how, but that's what they are saying.

I think I prefer the more spread out uptown view actually.

We can't pretend that the Dome meant more than that? The NY Times a few months ago called it "the most important, distinctive and influential stadium ever built in the United States." It tripled the world record for longest unsupported roof span. The LA Times yesterday called for it to be saved. The referendum results today are being covered in almost every national media outlet. The whole country is trying to tell us that "the Dome meant more than that"; why are we refusing to listen?

 

As to Italy, they make nice money off of tourism for their historic monuments, although I believe if you ask them, they probably see a value in those monuments that can't be boiled down to how much money they take in. They have a word for this mindset - barbarismo.

 

Then come up with a plan that isn't asking everyone else to pay for it.  If it's so important to all these people, money would be pouring in from preservationists.  But it clearly isn't. 

Supposed to be redesigning the lobby to be more open and glass (like the redo of El Paso building is how the leasing manager described to me). I don't remember but may also be trying to redo to make the lobby street level instead of on the 2nd floor in the current layout.

This group should try to actually visit that course on a Saturday or Sunday morning. When I played golf there you could hear extremely loud music and a girl barking the Fiesta deals of the day through a loud speaker non-stop. It is anything but serene.

So Vik, are you saying that if I build a great building that people love, I shouldn't be able to tear it down 30 years later if I get tired of it? That seems pretty much like telling Bob Dylan he couldn't play electric guitar instead of acoustic.

That's why I hate the "community" liberals have created. It usually means a small minority are going to try and bully the masses into what they tell you is good for you. This new concept of community is just an erosion of personal freedom.

It's a pretty modern building as is. What exactly needs renovation?

So that square on the roof of the garage rendering is where the tower will go? I hope they don't shorten it from the 38 story plan

At this point, just the old Texaco building reno is a big win. The additional tower is icing on the cake. I don't think anyone here would have put money on that building surviving five years ago.

I'm guessing swtsig may be referring to Levey park project?

It's owned by hildebrand ventures, whose owner also owns rapidly growing Hilcorp Energy.

Hermann Park should replace the golf course with more gardens and usable park space. Hundreds, even thousands enjoy Hermann park in a day, but the half that is golf course is used by a few doxen at most. Seems like an inefficient use of the land. they should put a real aquarium there too.

If only I were a rich influential philanthropist.

. Bad idea. Public golf courses are in such demand and low supply in this town. Just because it doesn't suit you doesn't mean it's not good. That course is always jam packed. I don't care for Shakespeare in the park but that doesn't mean we should take out the sparsely used amphitheater to suit me.

Just a hunch, but I would suppose the thought is they aren't breaking ground until 1st Qtr 2014, and fencing that much property cost money.  They fenced while they had some prelim work going on, but no longer need the fence until real ground breaking.  I also don't think an open grass field poses any risk to the general public.

 

This is just my guess.  I wouldn't get worried about the project overall.