Dakota79

While I do agree with him that a majority of what we see today is total cheap garbage (in this country), I would have to say a majority of his work is total garbage. 82 Spruce Street is a scar on the NY skyline. Yes, up close the wavy curtain design is cool to look at, but from afar it gives off that weird news camera filming an old school computer monitor look.

I agree. I don't necessarily care for his stuff either. It all looks the same. I miss Phillp Johnson.

As they say in church - Amen brother. AMEN

http://gizmodo.com/frank-gehry-thinks-architecture-today-is-pure-shit-1649914255?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Should be a nice quiet corner. Easy in and out. Let's buy it!

well, this is indeed a bit difficult to so casually explain my pal purdueenginerd. i mean.. oh my, this is so very difficult... you see, we all love randall davis and his continuous thirst for adventure. however, there are times when he announces a brand new edifice to be placed upon our fair city... the architecture seems to be a bit over the top. or there is always something that seems amiss... whereby in scope and overall scale of the structure itself.

there may be loads of statues / gargoyles / king tut's / phoenix's ect.. i guess that what i'm trying so hard to articulate is that... whatever theme his current edifice is trying to convey... you just may acquire a theme overload to the extent that the completed rendering is somewhat difficult to imagine in the city of houston... or actually, anywhere upon this earth.

but hey, we do so love randy and his continuous thirst for adventure. we are just continuously trying as per all of our might... to love his structures. (did i do a decent job of explaining this?)

I would say you did a perfect job. It's great that he has a vision and even competes it. We (IMHO) would rather the details emphasize quality rather than quantity.

And he never quite "finishes" them. That's my main gripe. Go by any of them. All the first ones are detailed on one or two sides and then look worse than our downtown jail on the other sides. (Forgetting that they can be seen from all 4 sides). And the Cosmopolitan needs a spire or something as it looks "lopped" off at the top. Still, they do provide infill and they do always find buyers. So who are we to judge?

Nice article that shows we should continue in this upward path for a while longer. (Let's hope 10 more years, ha!)

http://m.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2014/10/22/houston-named-no-1-real-estate-market-to-watch-in.html?ana=e_hstn_bn_breakingnews&u=rk2EuYuQdoSK5Ppt+g57jw%2FFsC6&t=1414005237&r=full

Do you know what materials will be used? Will it be glass?

I will ask. I can't imagine how it would be black and white.

Dead serious.

Some of the older, tenured guys i work with pull in $200,000+ a year, easy, but thats only because we are in Texas, a "right to work", good ol boy, anti-union, southern, republican area.

Up in NYC, where the unions are strong, tower crane operators in Manhattan are pulling down half a million dollars a year.

$500k in NYC is about the same as $200k here. Our affordability is one of the best in the nation. I've had friends move to NYC because their pay is being doubled. Then the call me and say they are struggling to make it in a tiny apt etc.

Ive been told it's black and white and unlike anything Randall has done in the past. (That's a relief)

Then again, they may be counting on EB-5 visa seekers to fund it.

I have friends in his Highland Tower and they love his quality and service. I think the Bland Family project will do well.

Wow. Crazy. That's a great video.

wow! new micro center store is now officially open... AND WE STILL HAVE NO RENDERINGS OF THE AMEGY BANK TOWER! simply amazing...

Irratting is more the word! It had better be worth the wait!

Hello, Our neighbor from Mimosa told us today that the owner of the two complexes in question does indeed live in California and has been the owner for some time. The neighbor said the owner owned the black complex first and more recently purchased the white complex. The neighbor does not believe that either has been sold. But the tenants who are being asked to move out told our neighbor that the owner himself wants to develop the property. The neighbor keeps hearing a gated community of patio homes or townhomes.

That's more likely. There is right at zero chance for a 38 story building, IMHO.

Any news at all on this? I drive by it several times a day. I think the window for it to be profitable is starting to close with all the other high rise projects in the works.

Wouldn't it be incredible to see something this tall, or close to it - here in Houston?

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/NYC-432-Park-Avenue-Tallest-Residential-Building-Skyline-Manhattan-279137981.html

One of the frustrating things about the United States, as you may know, is the general reluctance of mass transit. Europe has its trains, but there's just no analogue to that in the United States, and it's a bit sad that mass transit just isn't as popular as we would like.

A lot of this manifests as some sort of attack on highways and the private automobile, and with that belief, it's easy to see conflicts come into play in mass transit and mass transit funding. However, I decided to take a step back and try to see the bigger picture--why aren't people riding more mass transit?

I think part of the problem is it has a bad reputation.

Trains, of course, have been discussed more times than we can count, and trains have the unfortunate problem of requiring density to really cook, which is why it works in Europe, India, and the Northeast but not so much here. Even so, buses are the more economical choice in so many instances. But buses, as you may know, have a pretty poor reputation.

This article on Megabus kind of explains a lot of the problems and solutions. It goes onto state a brief history of the bus in America.

Both inter-city and intra-city bus service has suffered, and now, most people who can afford it avoid the bus system. The purpose of this thread is to not to get another tired rails/highways discussion but rather to improve buses (and mass transit as a whole) by talking about it.

One of the biggest problems is a lack of security on buses. Remember the AC Transit bus fight? That never should've gotten escalated to the point where punches were thrown, and that's the type of crap that cause people to stop riding (specifically, the woman seen in the video dubbed "Amber Lamps" was ID'd later on a Facebook posting saying she wouldn't ride on the bus again).

What do you think could improve the PR of buses and by extension mass transit? Try to keep it positive!

I agree with your entire post. I think what would improve our chances of mass transit are 3 fold.

#1 - More out of state or international people calling Houston Home.

#2 - Parking and congestion getting bad (and expensive) enough for people to be forced to abandon their cars for even a few of their weekly trips.

# 3 - new politicians (or even the current ones) along with the average Houstonian traveling outside their comfort zone to cities that have mass transit and thereby seeing how great it is.

I understand we wouldn't use mass transit for every trip. But if I could get to the galleria in 20 minutes from upper Kirby everytime, or to IAH in 40 minutes everytime by utilizing a train you can bet I would choose to do so. It's pitiful that we are still talking about this 34 years later!

One of the frustrating things about the United States, as you may know, is the general reluctance of mass transit. Europe has its trains, but there's just no analogue to that in the United States, and it's a bit sad that mass transit just isn't as popular as we would like.

A lot of this manifests as some sort of attack on highways and the private automobile, and with that belief, it's easy to see conflicts come into play in mass transit and mass transit funding. However, I decided to take a step back and try to see the bigger picture--why aren't people riding more mass transit?

I think part of the problem is it has a bad reputation.

Trains, of course, have been discussed more times than we can count, and trains have the unfortunate problem of requiring density to really cook, which is why it works in Europe, India, and the Northeast but not so much here. Even so, buses are the more economical choice in so many instances. But buses, as you may know, have a pretty poor reputation.

This article on Megabus kind of explains a lot of the problems and solutions. It goes onto state a brief history of the bus in America.

Both inter-city and intra-city bus service has suffered, and now, most people who can afford it avoid the bus system. The purpose of this thread is to not to get another tired rails/highways discussion but rather to improve buses (and mass transit as a whole) by talking about it.

One of the biggest problems is a lack of security on buses. Remember the AC Transit bus fight? That never should've gotten escalated to the point where punches were thrown, and that's the type of crap that cause people to stop riding (specifically, the woman seen in the video dubbed "Amber Lamps" was ID'd later on a Facebook posting saying she wouldn't ride on the bus again).

What do you think could improve the PR of buses and by extension mass transit? Try to keep it positive!

I agree with your entire post. I think what would improve our chances of mass transit are 3 fold.

#1 - More out of state or international people calling Houston Home.

#2 - Parking and congestion getting bad (and expensive) enough for people to be forced to abandon their cars for even a few of their weekly trips.

# 3 - new politicians (or even the current ones) along with the average Houstonian traveling outside their comfort zone to cities that have mass transit and thereby seeing how great it is.

I understand we wouldn't use mass transit for every trip. But if I could get to the galleria in 20 minutes from upper Kirby everytime, or to IAH in 40 minutes everytime by utilizing a train you can bet I would choose to do so. It's pitiful that we are still talking about this 34 years later!

The view is at the back of the building on the Welch side of the building looking east.

I was wondering if the ledge went on that side. Thanks for the correction.

sfpinserts092114-4-ground-floor.pdf

That view doesn't look right. Downtown is to the East. Maybe I am not getting it.

We are homeowners in the Heights West district since 2003.

Background is we purchased a small bungalow with the intention of tearing it down and building something more appropriate on the property. The foundation is shot, electric is in marginal condition and the heating / cooling bills are sky high due to poor insulation. It was never a house that we wanted to live in.

Life has a habit of throwing curve balls, and an overseas job, then the crash in 2008, postponed our plans to build. By the time we 'recovered' - the City had rammed through their historic preservation ordinance and we were again unable to move forward with building on the property. The immediate neighborhood moved on in the interim and our little crappy bungalow is surrounded by $1MM McMansions.

Remodeling is not feasible as we would have to completely skid the existing structure and replace the foundation. The costs to remodel are just not practical and we could never recover the costs in terms of increased market value. We are deed restricted and are fine with meeting the covenants of the deed restrictions that preceded the new historic ordanance.

So we're resigned to moving out of town, possibly keeping the existing property as a rental in the hopes that future City leadership will become more development friendly. I know that no one will shed any tears as the moving van shows up, but I do think the rigidity and short sightedness of the Historic ordanance needs airtime. People do get to vote with their feet.

It sounds like that ordinance made your life difficult. In all fairness though, you won't find another city "less restrictive" than Houston. I find it hard to believe you left our great city solely for that reason. I imagine in this market someone else would buy it and give it a go. I hope so for your sake, and I hope you are able to be made whole financially on it. None the less - I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

I feel the earth move...

That's odd because I feel the sky tumbling down.

I've never seen this before, but these distorted roads still look smoother than ours!

http://www.postcards-from-google-earth.com

i hope this is true! heh..

I know some of those neighbors and will ask around. It is adjacent to Avalon and I'm sure they would scream if this were to be true. I highly doubt it, although I could see more "Chateau 10's" or that type of building going there.

I didn't realize the Houston Club was 18 stories tall.

http://m.bizjournals.com/houston/blog/breaking-ground/2014/10/how-to-demolish-a-building-in-downtown-houston.html

That makes a lot more sense than it being a coincidence.....

Wonder if they think the arguement was worth it now? What knuckleheads. Lots of ruined lives for what?