shasta

It is quite a severe pullback from the earlier plans. I can't recall a more drastic downgrade by a developer who also floated the original knock-your-socks-off proposal. (I'm hopeful that BLVD Place won't ultimately fall into this category.) My expectation was that, if the property were redeveloped at all in the next 10 years, it would be more along the lines of CityCentre. I.e., a taller residential profile around a high-end hotel, plus retail.

I am glad they kept the ground-level retail in the plan, at least. That would distinguish it from the other high-end rental complexes currently under construction in the area. It will also be a nice amentity for those of us who live in the area and like to walk places, w/o having to risk one's life walking to the other side of 610.

Who is the developer of this project?

It's beautiful. Eight stories, built to the sidewalk line. Nothing more to ask. Build these up and down Kirby.

Quoted since my last comment put these pics on the previous page.

I agree Kirby Drive/ Allen Parkway has the potential to be THE premiere back bone of the city of Houston. Imagine it in 20 years, starting from Downtown, snaking around the buffalo bayou park improvements, a dense vibrant Regent Square, through picturesque river oaks, into a dense upper Kirby, up to the Rice Village and on to Reliant.

Kirby will be our Broadway...how do we want it to look?

We

From Metro:

CENTRAL STATION - MAIN DESIGN COMPETITION

Thank you for your interest in the Central Station Main Design Competition. The public comment period has ended. Please refer back to this site in early March when METRO will release the information on the winning design.

Have they announced a winner yet? Wasn't it supposed to be announced in early March?

UH has released a flash-based slideshow showing exterior shots of the UC renovation, for which groundbreaking occurred this morning.

When is this renovation expeced to be completed?

Houston streets or horrible in general because there are so many milles of them that have to be maintained. I guess that is the cost of building a city that sprawls as much as Houston does. If Houston were 50 percent less spread out imaging how much money would be saved on less roads, less maintenance, etc.

I definitely agree citykid09. The problem with a city that expands and annexes to capture a tax base is purely short term thinking. They are thinking what is in it for them now and are totally ignoring the fact that they are going to have to go in an maintain the infrastructure and possibly even replace it in 50 years or so.

Houston is entering that stage where they are going to have to allocate a large chunk of their budget to replace aging infrastructure. To add insult to industry, the lack of zoning, city plan, and pro 'sprawl' mentality may actually force that expected tax base to be located outside of the city limits. Where are they going to get money to repair aging infrastructure. The federal government? We all know Texas and Houston is not as aggressive in hunting out federal funds but the Kirby infrastructure project is a great example of a federal/local project. We have to continue to do these and possibly shrink the city limits to maintain.

I sure hope our city leaders is preparing for this future.

I think what Trae means is that in the long run, Dallas will be better of because they actually planned for the future. In the future ridership should increase in Dallas. You can see this will all of the developments that have went up and are going up around DART. Houston has decided to build its rail in areas that are already developed (although for the most part suburban). METRO opened the light rail in 2004 and there have been very little TOD along the line, complete opposite of Dallas' DART.

Very little TOD development along the light Main Street Line?!?! Are you sure you want to say that? I would imagine there have been a billion dollars PLUS of new projects along the Main Street measured from a 1/4 mile of the line. MainPlace, Houston Pavilions, One Park Place, Discovery Green, Hess Tower (I haven't even left downtown yet) . New apartments in midtown, museum district, reliant area.....etc.

Give it a little time to come together but there has been ton of activity in ONLY 8 years.

Taking that into consideration, it seems likely that this would be for a big project. You wouldn't pick this conference to unveil a simple 20-story building?!? This seems more like a "Splash" making announcement.

And also, if it is indeed the Texas/Capitol/Main lot, I would expect any project Hines does here to have ground floor retail and restaurants due to the site's close proximity to Metro's planned "Central Station" and the convergence of 3 light rail lines.

I wonder if the rendering will be drastically different than the previous rendering we saw a few years back for a Hines building on this site. that one was pretty bland and generic so hopefully the city's new direction will force Hines to make this building more dynamic.

I'm not sure how the magnolia is doing but a mixed-use Office, Hotel (maybe a few end condos at the top), Retail building on this lot would be perfect. I know Hines has done these type of projects in other cities. Couple that with the fact that the city is BEGGING developers to add hotel space, even to the point where they are offering attractive incentives for those who do.

Unfortunately, they are not getting a whole lot of takers and had to develop the Hilton on their own and are now looking to develop a second hotel on the other side of Discovery Green, which was another city of Houston development.

Like the old saying goes :If you want things done right, do it yourself" and the city of Houston is all in on this philosophy.

Thanks plumber2,

Do you have experience flipping? If so, what do you look for when you are looking for a house with potential?

I'm starting to look into the idea of purchasing houses and then based on the current condition upgrading the house or making design changes to increase its value and then selling them for a profit.

Does anyone have any experience or any advice on where I should get started?

Anyone know when they are going to announce the winner of this competition?

Someone from Hartman-Cox architects replied to my email last week and said, "we have not been involved with this project in some time" and referred me to the developer.

I don't know if that is a neutral or bad sign. They aren't the lead architect. What is the role of architects after they have provided the developer with the drawings? Do they still have any involvment if no alterations are needed?

This probably means very little at this point. Various architecture firms were commisioned as 'design architects' to give the buildings differenct architectural styles with Schwarz acting as the 'Master Plan Architect'.

For the most part, those firms did what they were commissioned to do already. Morris Architects was the production architect, or architect of record, and was commissioned to put the buildings and the CD's toegteher and then see it to construction.

The questionshould be- Is Morris Architects still involved in this project as the production architect and how much, if any, did the master plan change? It may actually be a good sign that Hartman-Cox had not been workign on this because their orginal design will stay the same. This is assuming the project is back online.

Groovy, I can't wait to see a rendering.

According to the article, the timeline is 5-7 years and they (MFAH) aren't exactly sure what they want the museum to be so we may be waiting for a little while.

I was looking back at the submissions and i had an idea for #4 that i think would improve the design. What if they got rid of that pattern and added thin LED screen panels. Those two vertical pieces could be used to run houston tourism clips, advertisements, tv channels, etc. The top of the horizontal 'stop' section could runner ticker type of screens or multiple screens on that area.

Thsi could be like a mini-Times Square and could add synergy and possibly even attract those who aren't catching the train. They could show Texans, Astros, or Rockets games on the vertical pieces so people can watch or catch a score as they are walking down the street. It adds something to the street.

I hate to say it, but Baylor's proposed stadium looks much better.

This stadium doesn't have any defining characteristics. Kind of disappointing, but it's new, so at least it will have a better facade. It'll grow on me I'm sure.

On the other hand, the outside of the basketball stadium looks pretty good.

Baylor's funding includes one prominent ex Houston Major Leauge Babseball owner who just made a killing on the sale of his team. Too bad Houston money will be used to help a University in Waco.

Also, this in NOT the final design. It is a marketing design study used to generate funding and to market the project. They have only recently issued RFQ's to begin the actual design of the stadium.

Btw, we should dream up a song about Houston....anybody?

Dean Martin did....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCDcp5xwNFA

# 1 runs away with this thing...isn't even close

who is the developer on this one?

It seems that is the latest fad.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7655882.html#ixzz1STlambli

So, from the article are we to assume Regent Square will be either:

A) A mixed-Use development similar to previous one planned or...

just Luxury Apartments

Not sure if this thread has been created yet but they've narrowed the designer of the new building down to three architects.

http://swamplot.com/the-three-finalists-chosen-to-design-the-mfahs-next-building/2011-05-31/

Unless we get some residentail towers. This recent glut in the real estate market may now make those projects more feasible.

Looks like Mid Town is expanding.

http://innerlooped.com/809/post-midtown-phase-iii/

unfortunately, hines has no obligation to make a contribution to the synergistic urban fabric of downtown houston. the bottom line is.....well, the bottom line. it is the suck, but it is true.

but they have in other markets

No. Those things are no longer true. What was important is gone, with scant context remaining.

Besides. How, precisely, would condominiums in conjunction with office space be paying homage to the past?

In context of the current urban fabric, we already have a rental building across the street in the Rice. So, we know we already have a successful residential component in this area so it works. We also know that we have a light rail, and Main street upgrades, that the city has invested in to become the main axis of downtown. We also know that another light rail is under construction nearby connecting the Theater district. We also know that there is some foot traffic near this intersection.

A mixed use building, not just condos, will continue the synergy that has been created. A good example is the Discovery Green- Hilton- GRB connection. These developments spill into each other.....the crowd from the GRB visits DG and some stay in the Hilton. Walk in the lobby of the Hilton on a given Saturday and look at what you see. Compare that activity and synergy to the spill over affect with Hess Tower and its lobby...It is not the same.

I'm not sure what the best use for this building will be but given the context of the site, I would hate to see a typical office tower with a guarded lobby that would just kill all of the momentum the city has worked so hard to re-create. A signature building with activity (rental, condo, hotel, retail, office, just some combination of these elements) will be better than a 9-5 structure.