rechlin

I wonder if they are still planning to do the second phase, with the condo tower on top of the garage, or if that is postponed indefinitely.  Considering how quickly the other new condos downtown have sold (Marlowe), I wouldn't be surprised if there is a good market for it.  Perhaps they will start on that once the restaurant buildout is complete?

I've been meaning to post this for a few weeks, but now the art on 901 Main is Sam Houston.  It will be in place through April.  More details here:

https://www.downtownhouston.org/guidedetail/art-blocks/main-street-marquee-sam-houston-style/

I wonder what the long-term plan is for the "apron" part of the lot facing Kirby?  It will have two buildings, the existing Beck's Prime (which I assume is at least presently under separate ownership), and the new small building going up as pictured above, which I think someone said was going to be a restaurant as well.  I wonder if they will stay low-density like that, but perhaps be made into something higher-density in the future?  Or maybe they are planning to keep it like this in order to protect the views of the residents?

Also, it was weird looking at the beginning of this thread, seeing a bunch of unrelated posts from 2004 that talked about Christmas, especially since the renderings that replaced the first post were from probably 2014.

Seems they haven't fully rolled out that new imagery yet.  Google Earth is still not allowing dates after 10/2017 to be chosen, and in Google Maps for me, when the "globe" mode is turned off, it still only shows the 10/2017 imagery.  With "globe" mode on, Google Maps still shows the even older, undated (but apparently late 2014 from construction status) imagery.

Can you post a screenshot of the new imagery?  As you can see, for me it's still showing the 10/2017 imagery (Midtown shown here), which has been online since at least this spring:

Seen on reddit, courtesy of /u/N1302-L, at https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/9z59po/shot_of_downtown_during_one_of_my_flights/

Old skyscrapers can be gutted and remodeled periodically for centuries.  I can't see something like 1001 Fannin ever being torn down.  It might get a new curtain wall at some point in this century to add floor-to-ceiling windows and perhaps might even be barely recognizable after a significant renovation, but there's no real reason to tear it down.  I don't believe the floor spacing is quite as high as the Capitol Tower, but it's close, and certainly not insufficient for a modern office.  I can't see a point where that building will ever be undesirable, as long as it's upgraded and remodeled to meet changing needs.

Construction progress from last night:

Looks like this is dead.  From an email sent to deposit-holders today, blaming Harvey and Trump's tariffs:

Quote

During the last six months, our construction and estimation crew at Surge Homes have been working hard to obtain the final construction cost of Isabella at Midtown.  Over 50 construction trades and suppliers have submitted bids for each of their disciplines in order to compete for work and get the lowest cost possible without sacrificing quality.

 

Many changes have occurred since we first purchased the 4001 Main street site.  As you know, following the historic hurricane Harvey, construction costs increased significantly and one year later they have not come down.  Additionally, recent tariffs on imported construction material to America are contributing to a rise in construction costs.

 

The process has been a challenging effort because costs went up dramatically.  These increases are totally out of our control and our market research has indicated to us that our VIPs at Isabella at Midtown are disinclined to pay a higher amount for their condominiums.  Consequently, as per our VIP Certificate stipulates, we have decided to exercise our rights to not go forward with the construction of Isabella at Midtown.

 

We are really sorry about this turn of events and we want you to know that your deposit of $1900 per VIP Certificate is totally yours, in an escrow account as always, and will be addressed the way you choose to.  Before you make your decision regarding your deposit, we invite you to consider the fact that Surge Homes owns several current residential developments that are move-in ready or currently under construction in Houston's Inner Loop.  This available or upcoming inventory is not affected as much by construction costs hikes and represent great purchases. As a VIP Certificate holder you will be able to purchase at a discount.

 

I went on Sunday afternoon.  I expected it to be crazy busy since it just opened on Saturday, but it had surprisingly few visitors.  I really like the architecture.  Photo from the front:

Photo from the other side:

Photo inside the main hall (that "sculpture" on the left is really cool, especially the shadows it casts):

The empty lot next door has a couple of the "channels" in it similar to what's in the lawn just north of the main Menil building:

Already pulled, though I got a good look at it earlier (and it's still in the Google cache).

The renderings seemed to make it pretty clear that it's the lot just north of AT&T.  The size is right, too, as I'd guess that lot to be just under 5 acres.

Perhaps the fact they are planning wood construction rather than steel/concrete above the retail implies they don't expect this to last long, and this would be replaced with something using the space better in 30 years or so.

The Chronicle is covering its demolition, complete with photos of the carnage:

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Downtown-landmark-Houston-Press-building-reduced-13348410.php

And of course you can't forget the iconic Baha'i temple in New Delhi.

That particular Baptist church wouldn't need a cathedral anyway, since they don't have a bishop to sit on the cathedra.  And the co-cathedral downtown was just built a decade ago and is also quite nice (a Ziegler Cooper design).

As promised, here's a photo.  Again, I'm sorry for it being stretched, but until the image posting bug is fixed in this forum (if any of the admins are still watching this site), I can't figure out how to post images that aren't stretched:

Not a lot of visible progress in the last 2 months, though they are working on it.  It's just starting to go vertical.  They have the first floor pillars (to support the second floor) poured, but that's it.  It's hard to get a photo from a moving train (with windows that aren't always especially transparent) of something that doesn't yet look very impressive, but I may try to take a photo one of these days.

At the very least I'd like to see them power wash the façade.  It's starting to look very grimy and black, and it's an embarrassment to the architect in this neglected state.

View from this building as posted to reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/9p0bbe/first_look_at_the_view_from_caydons_midtown/) by /u/thebigham1:

Upload to imgur.com and then drag-and-drop the image from the imgur page into the post editor textbox and it won't use your quota.

A rumor I heard is Chuck-E-Cheese is moving across the street to where OfficeMax was.

The garage is now complete.  I believe the monthly contract rate is $187+tax.  From a promotional email:

• Garage is open to the public starting October 2018
• Garage is used for both visitor and monthly parking
• All garage functions are managed from the 803 Fannin garage office located on the ground level of the garage
  • Office hours from 8am to 5pm M-F
  • Onsite Security 24/7
• Traffic flow through the garage is all one way
• 1,050 Spaces
  • All unreserved spaces
  • Handicapped spaces located on levels 1 and 1 ½ first come first serve
• 13 floors, approximately 399,600 sf
• Three elevators located on the Northwest corner of garage at Fannin and Rusk
• Clearance Height 7'
• Two entrances at Fannin
• Two exits at Walker
• Pedestrian door access
  • Two at Fannin
  • One at Walker
• Traffic egress assistance 4PM-6PM M-F
• Parking access
  • Parking card
  • EZ tag reader
  • High speed roll down grille
• Location
  • West half of the block (block 94)
  • Bounded by Rusk, Fannin, and Walker streets
  • Adjacent to 1110 Rusk Garage
  • Adjacent to renovated Le Meridien Hotel (Formerly known as Melrose)
  • Aloft Hotel on the opposite side of Fannin street
  • Directly beside the Central Station Capitol EB (Red Line) rail on Rusk
  • Directly across from Texaco building (The Star Apartment) on Rusk
  • Across from Club Quarters Hotel on Fannin and Rusk  

Photo from a few minutes ago:

No.  Southwest 737-800 from SJC to HOU.

View from above this afternoon (apologies for the blur, but that's exhaust from the 737-800 turbofan):

View from above this afternoon (apologies for the blur, but that's exhaust from the 737-800 turbofan):

View from above this afternoon (apologies for the blur, but I was behind the engine's exhaust):

View from above this afternoon (click to view it at the proper aspect ratio; I don't know why this site is stretching it now):