H-Town Man

I think Midtown is great, but the areas around the Wheeler station and Greyhound are horrible. And there is not a single new, completed building along the rail line between the museum district and downtown other than a CVS (and only one new building in the museum district). This is especially curious because so much of the land along the rail is open lots and dilapidated buildings. If the rail wasn't built, I don't think this would be the case based on the outstanding growth elsewhere inside the loop.

Because speculators jacked up land prices along Main, as bobruss pointed out. Buildings are set to start going up along there within months though, so get your comments in while you can.

^ The gap at its narrowest point is what, about 50 feet?  And it is at its narrowest for literally only a point, and rather rapidly expands from that narrowest point.  Constructing a high-rise around that does not strike me as particularly difficult or costly.  I think we have at least one high-rise building tower in Houston that is only about 50 feet wide for its entire height.  Perhaps I am overestimating the size of the gap at the narrowest point.

Perhaps you are right, but that building is probably 50 feet wide and rectangular, rather than having to do some sort of odd curve. If you look at the footprint of this from an aerial view, it's a pretty odd shape, and building a highrise in that shape would add a lot to the cost. I think it's much more likely a developer would put a high rise on the eastern side of the block, either rectangular or trapezoidal in footprint, and use the northwest portion either for parking or low-rise amenities, or both.

This is a developer who knows how to take advantage of an incentive program. Building design looks like it was stolen from something on W. Dallas, name was read off the plat map, and website designed from stock photos. And they'll make plenty of money because no one was smart enough to get there first.

I think the embassy suites is fine. Had we never seen the first rendering, people would have been fine with it. We just got our hopes built up to something better.

And as 19514 says, another development could easily cover up the backside.

It would be easy enough to put something on the east side of the block, either a hotel or residential tower, but to have it also wrap around the north side of the Embassy Suites would be very difficult for the full height of the building. Maybe if you just had a low-rise wing on the wrap around that would be connected to the main building or put the parking garage there, but the gap is too narrow for a tower to cover both sides without it being very costly. I think park goers will be looking at the north side of the Embassy Suites for as long as it stands there.

Has to be the most intricate downtown building since what, Bank of America?  At this point you run the risk of making the rest of Houston Center look like East Berlin or something. Awesome renderings.

Found a way to save them, here are the pics ( source http://www.booking.com/hotel/us/eight-zero-six-main-street-houston-downtown.en-gb.html ) :

The giant sphinx wearing motorcycle goggles is an interesting touch.

Man, those are great renderings. Had no idea they were upping this thing to 55 stories. Those who can't see them are missing out.

The last proposed project I can remember was "The Shamrock", which was to be where Hines' 609 Main office building is going up.  

Don't mention that on here.

It's still a Greek church if you ask me, or any orthodox person. It is disgusting to see what they did to those icons

The Hagia Sophia is no longer a mosque - Ataturk made it a museum. But I agree, in my eyes it is an Orthodox church and always will be.

Although the original icons, if I remember correctly, were destroyed not by the Muslims but by the Orthodox themselves during the iconoclast era.

When a place called "National Flame and Forge" gets replaced by luxury townhomes, Houston has lost something permanently in coolness. Just a casual observation.

Mayor Bill White spearheaded the creation of Discovery Green around 2005 or so, with help of a private group led by Nancy Kinder, IIRC. Original cost was $82 million, most of which was for the underground garage.

Just worked for me!

At one point we had a rendering of a supertall adjacent to the Williams Tower, but I can't find it at the minute.

You wouldn't be referring to "Hines To Build Taller Transco Twin," the first great hoax of HAIF history?

Nice geometric interplay, although beige brick reminds me too much of the 1970's era high schools I grew up around.

incorrect. john pickard is typically the lead architect in most of their houston projects.

Then allow me to revise my previous post: Hines loves him some Pickard and some Chilton, but particularly Pickard in his Houston projects.

What about Pickard?    ;-)

I was under the impression that William Chilton had done more of the buildings in Houston. Could be wrong. Would be great to know who does which, so that we can get a sense of style/personality for each architect.

With a high end hotel accros the street a perfect scenario would be the Sakowitz building be restored into a high end department store. A great example would be Nordstrom’s. They are more rare than others so it would be an automatic draw for people to head into downtown and from my understanding since they are higher end they don’t require quite as many sales as other would to remain in the black. In addition Nordstrom’s flagship store in Seattle was restored from a previous department store much like the Sakowitz building would need to be.

One thing that occurred to me is that it would be in Midway's interests to purchase the Sakowitz building if possible and make it part of Greenstreet. Otherwise you run the risk that somebody will tear it down to build a residential tower, and then the Alessandra loses its 5 star views.

Hines loves him some Chilton.

Oh, I like Skyhouse too.  I was just awed by the Exxon building in that photo.

Could be an Onion article... "Architecture Enthusiasts Applaud Design of Hotel Most Will Not Afford to Stay In"

"The views from that 25th floor check-in lobby must be phenomenal!" gushed forum member H-Town Man, who will himself never see the lobby in person, as he usually caps his budget "somewhere around Hilton or Marriott" when traveling.

As national wealth becomes increasingly concentrated in the top 10%, a wave of new development is catering to this well-heeled sector, even while the other 90% cheers the new designs.

etc.

Quick pic i took sunday before mass at the Cathedral.

What a fine building. The Exxon building, I mean.

To think that I almost didn't check HAIF this morning and focused on work instead. Feel like taking the day off now.

THIS is what I want I want to see moreof in downtown and midtown

I will agree with some of the other posters that development in an area has to reach a certain threshold before we can reasonably expect quality like that. Of course Finger built quality with One Park Place, and it was the first new residential highrise downtown in 30 years, but that was a phenomenal location. For architecture to cater to the most discerning residential buyer, you have to ask - will the most discerning residential buyer want to live surrounded by parking lots in a still-transitioning area? This building is probably the best we can expect here for now.

I do think we should applaud buildings that make efforts towards building an active, attractive streetscape (preparing the way for discerning buyers to want to live there in the future), and criticize those that don't. I was glad the downtown residential subsidy program makes it a condition that the building should be attractive at street level.

Texans quarterback should be #2 making the money gesture with both hands. Other than that, renderings look great, love the Gatsby feel.

And it's in the middle of nowhere. Doesn't synergize with anything.