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rechlin

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Everything posted by rechlin

  1. rechlin
    To be fair, that photo was taken around 1978-1979, so the last boom in building had already begun. Had it been taken in 1970 it would have been missing a bunch more buildings I think.
  2. rechlin
    Why do the awnings need both poles to support them from below and also cables to support them from above? Shouldn't one or the other be sufficient, not both?
  3. rechlin
    I think that's a temporary bridge. I believe West Dallas will be an underpass rather than an overpass once the downtown freeway loop is replaced (so figure 10 years or so?). Unfortunately since it will have 5 freeway lanes above it, it will be wide enough that it may become the new homeless encampment. But maybe if we get the pretty signature bridge for the new downtown spur with the red towers as was rendered elsewhere (can't find it now, but I swear I saw it here the other day), it won't be a problem.
  4. rechlin
    For the residents of each, it would be more considerate if the towers had a little more separation, like at least a couple blocks. In places like downtown, it is completely understandable when high-rises are right next to each other. But in lower density areas, it's always nicer for the residents when your view isn't needlessly obscured, so building farther away from existing high-rises would be nicer. Another good example of this is the new tower going up in the Rice Village (though that's more of a spite thing). Of course, a good view isn't going to last forever, but when there are still so many other places to build, it's not ideal when two high rises go up on the same block when surrounded by low rises.
  5. rechlin
    Façade removal on the south side is coming along nicely, with some long-obscured windows appearing; photo from last night:
  6. rechlin
    Slightly different perspective, from today:
  7. rechlin
    Cloud Column is now accessible to the public:
  8. rechlin
  9. rechlin
    Progress as of this afternoon:
  10. rechlin
    Looks like they finally decided on a color, now that they have painted the north side -- it will match the garage next to it:
  11. rechlin
    Sadly the Shops at Houston Center seems to be having a terrible time getting tenants. Places just keep closing, and nothing is taking their places. On the flier posted by Urbannizer above, at least 6 of the listed tenants are no longer open, and 5 of those were restaurants (Radio Shack being the only non-restaurant, and I don't count that against the Shops because that's a nationwide issue). In addition to those most recent vacancies, I can think of 3 other restaurant spaces in the food court that closed in recent years and have still not been replaced. Building management even temporarily covered up two of the vacant spaces with drywall to make their closures less obvious. Does anyone know why the Shops is having so much trouble keeping tenants?
  12. rechlin
    A food desert? There's a Randall's just three blocks from it. Sure, it isn't fashionable now that H-E-B has (thankfully) taken over Houston, but it's still a full grocery store.
  13. rechlin
    View from the east last night:
  14. rechlin
    I believe the plan is to first do the part of Segment 3 that is west of SH-288, then they will do Segment 1, then Segment 2, and finally the rest of Segment 3. This is very good for this innovation district because it means there will be no possibility of a nearby homeless encampment on Wheeler under IH-69 pretty much from day 1 (assuming freeway construction starts within 2 years as planned), instead of having to wait a decade for everything else to be finished first.
  15. rechlin
    If the Red Line rail went below grade for crossing under Wheeler/Main, I don't think there's enough room for it to get back up to grade level to go over IH-69, unless the station is partially trenched at an incline also; I'd guess they'd need about 500 feet to rise up from below grade, which is approximately the distance from Richmond/Wheeler to IH-69. And they aren't going to trench IH-69 deep enough to have the rail cross over it below grade (clearance below at-grade tracks for the Red Line will only be 16'5" per the current plan). I suppose the rail could go above grade, but the extra noise from that might not make the tenants of the Sears building happy. Another possibility would be to make Richmond/Wheeler, including the University Line, below grade under Main, to minimize interference. The Wheeler University Line station could then be below-grade, with a tunnel for pedestrians to cross over to the Wheeler Red Line station. And if they succeed in making Main pedestrian/bicycle-only in Midtown as some have proposed, then there would be no real concern about the Red Line maintaining an at-grade crossing over Main. For northbound Main traffic, the left turn lane would continue to bypass the tracks, and the right turn lane could be trenched below grade. This would all be very expensive, of course, but it would minimize interference between the Red Line and the University Line, plus it would allow Richmond/Wheeler traffic to avoid crossing the Red Line, which always holds up traffic.
  16. rechlin
    Below grade infrastructure makes lots of sense in Houston. That way the floodwaters are kept on the roads, when nobody should be driving, and away from the buildings, and then within hours the water is pumped out and everything is passable again with no damage.
  17. rechlin
    Paint is going up and the ground floor façade is being finished:
  18. rechlin
    The thing is, a parking podium doesn't have to be ugly. Look at the Catalyst downtown -- it surrounds the parking podium with more apartments so it has residences all the way up. Similarly, with the Kirby Collection, they put townhouses on the first couple floors of the structure, helping to obscure the parking garage. Office towers like 609 Main and BG Group Place continue the glass curtain wall down the parking garage so it seamlessly looks like part of the office space from the outside. Aris at Market Square has an attractive façade for its parking garage. But Randall Davis just likes putting up plain empty walls on his podiums. That's the difference between Randall Davis and more professional developers like Hines.
  19. rechlin
    They are getting ready to start taking it down:
  20. rechlin
    That was for removing the microwave antenna podium (the dark gray tower on the left side of the roof) from the AT&T building.
  21. rechlin
    I've been thinking about the renderings that were pulled and looking at them in more detail, and also looking back through the posts in this topic to get a better idea on what's going on here. The tower being built now is the "southernmost" (pretending that Main is a north/south street) of the three towers. You can see it in the background on a few of the pulled renderings, but renderings of that tower itself are still in this thread in earlier posts (such as this one and this one) and also on the construction fence around the site. This post here has the FAA filings for the next two towers, called Tower 1 and Tower 2. Tower 1 is on the block that presently has the Art Supply building. Tower 2 is on the block that presently has the Greensheet building. And this post here shows the property they had acquired as of about half a year ago, which seems to have everything except the far corner of the northernmost block. The renderings focused on these two blocks, which have much more striking designs than the tower being built right now. In the renderings, the one I was most confused by was the one of the northernmost block. After additional thought, I've realized that that is actually the southbound McGowen station (not the northbound station as it appears at first glance), and the person coming up with the rendering used a little artistic liberty to show green grass where the southbound Main Street lane is now, and a third set of rail tracks where the southbound Main Street sidewalk is (perhaps to emphasize the proximity to the rail?). Other than that minor details, the renderings make sense. The not-really-archlike thing it pictured going over Main Street would be to visually connect it to the mini park on the north edge of the Camden Superblock. Now lets hope they build the two blocks as pictured in the renderings!
  22. rechlin
    Looks like they are experimenting with different colors for painting the garage. Lots of beiges and browns:
  23. rechlin
    I noticed today that Market Square Bar and Grill, formerly between Warren's and Treebeard's, is now closed. I don't know how long it has been closed, but they had a nice outdoor patio in the back and were a decent lunch place. Also I noticed Fusion Taco, formerly between Barnaby's and Henke and Pillot, has also closed. Their tacos were good, but their service was so incompetent that twice I vowed not to go back again for a long time.
  24. rechlin
    From the Midtown/Museum District perspective, it looks like the proposed ROW of the trenching is not much different from the existing ROW, just going a little farther out than they have it now. From IH-45 North and More:
  25. rechlin
    View of the Capitol Tower progress on the left (plus other buildings) from One Shell Plaza:
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