rechlin

Guys, stop arguing about stupid things. You're acting like children. Let's go back to posting photos.

Here's the current progress of the top of 806 Main. The top 5 floors are pretty much done, the mast climbers have been shortened another segment, and now they're just putting the final colored texturing around floors 18-20. They've also painted the southwest side of the penthouse. I still wonder if they will do something about the windows up there, because at the very least they need a coat of paint, yet the scaffolding is gone with no progress (click for a bigger view):

Since I know they are a point of contention, here's a closeup of one of the stars:

Here's a photo from 5 minutes ago, Triton. There's a bit more sky visible on the left and right sides of the upper floors than there used to be! Click for more detail:

Not all of it. Still missing the detail from the roof level (22nd floor), though it looks like the detail below the roof level has been mostly retained. Compare, for example to this rendering from before. They said it would be an "abstract" interpretation of the original appearance, but it does seem like they've scaled the design back somewhat (click for higher resolution):

Here are the more recent renderings, where you can see the missing detail (they even only have a nighttime rendering of the top to make it less obvious!):

Yes, H-Town Man, the Sky Lobby has been open for at least a few weeks.

Back to 806 Main, they've made tremendous progress this past week. The penthouse is now painted on the southeast side (changed from white to tan), and the façade now has paint down to the 17th floor. They added more detail between the 20th and 21st floors with a circle/arc pattern. They also added a little bit to the southwest façade wrapping around the corner (not really visible in this photo but on the left side). Click for a larger view:

Back on topic, I can now see daylight coming from above when looking in the top floor windows, so they've clearly scraped the roof off already. There's a big yellow excavator on the roof doing the damage; unfortunately I was unable to witness them lifting that thing up there, or I would have taken a photo.

They also added (or have almost finished adding) a few more mast climber lifts now that the old fire escape is gone. It will be interesting to see how quickly things progress from this point.

bobruss,

User brijonmang is correct. Here's the uncropped photo, taken from the Chase Tower Sky Lobby, with BG Group Place in the middle and 806 Main in the lower right (click for 3 megapixel resolution):

Someone said they are going to add a rooftop patio for the JW Marriott, but I'm not sure where it will go. As you can see, on the top there isn't much room for it, so either it will go there anyway around the penthouse and A/C equipment, or more likely, it will have to be on the roof of the next-door Battlestein's, which is much larger, and already has a door to it from the 13th floor of 806 Main.

Today they removed part of the fire escape, and they've now removed the top 11 floors of windows, and finally they removed the old Chinese Cafe sign from the south corner. Also, they've been carrying dumpster after dumpster of debris off the roof.

Here's a photo of the fire escape partially removed (as always, you can click these photos for a higher resolution image):

The Chinese Cafe sign just before removal:

Dumpsters of debris being brought down:

And a bonus photo from early last week, when they were putting the cab on top of the crane:

I thought you guys would be interested in another update.  As always, click any of the photos for a higher-resolution view.

These guys have been making a lot of progress texturing and painting the façade this week:

Here's what it looks like right now.  They've added more paint to the upper floors, along with some more relief and texture between the 20th and 21st floors:

However, I'm a bit concerned with how "convincing" the fake stone is.  Under the right (wrong?) light, you can see the imperfections in the finish, making the various bumps and stuff in the fake stone very visible:

Also I took a photo from above, so you can see what the top looks like, plus the other sides of the penthouse:

In other news, I also noticed Battlestein's department store next door has gained some crude new graffiti on the top floor windows.

Some of you have asked me about updates on this, but I haven't posted anything in almost 4 weeks because there's been very little to report on. I don't know if it was because of the Christmas and New Year holidays or the cold weather or if they were working mostly inside, but I've seen little change to the exterior.

The biggest things are they have added some more white panels to the penthouse, and they have started making some more interesting relief between the 21st and 22nd floors. First they welded some metal bars at about a 45 degree angle, then they put flat paneling on it, and then they put the curved pieces to be more attractive. Finally they added boxes to the bottom of it yesterday, and then covered it with gray texturing today. They also cut down the left lift a little to make room for the relief (the right lift is still the height from the last shortening, so they have a gap in the relief for now). Below is a photo showing all of this, and you can click it for a bigger view:

I've also noticed they've been doing work on the inside, where some floors have insulation in the interior walls, some have drywall up, and some they are doing the mudding on the drywall, but it's hard to see from my angle.

As promised, here's a ground-level photo. They have a couple more segments in the crane tower now. As before, you can click for a bigger photo:

Today they have a very large mobile crane, which I assume they are using to build a more permanent construction crane (you can see the beginnings of the white scaffolding right by the old building).  I'll try to get a better photo of it later today, but I just thought I'd share this one right away (click to enlarge):

They were pouring a whole lot of concrete for it on Friday.  It's surprisingly well built for something that will only be up a few months.  They've also put more lifts around the side of the building.

I was surprised they didn't build the crane on a part of the block that won't need to be excavated for the new building, because this means it will have to be torn down and a new crane built later for construction.

I know some of you have complained about a lack of renderings of the back (southeast) side of the tower, since most renderings just show the front (northwest) side in detail.

I was at the Hines office today so I took some photos of the model. Unfortunately, it was too bright today so the lighting was bad, so I may have to come back again on an overcast day.

For any of these photos, you can click for a higher-resolution version.

First, a full view of the back (southeast/Fannin) side:

Next, a closeup of the lobby on the southeast side:

Next, a lower view of the front (northwest/Main) side:

Next, a closeup of the lobby on the northwest side:

Finally, a closeup of the side of the patio:

Finally some visible progress! Today they just started building the construction lifts on the southeast and northeast sides. Sorry for the poor picture, but lighting just wasn't good today.

Click for a larger photo:

It's been a week and a half since my last update, so I thought I'd let you guys know what's going on today.

You can click on any of the images for high resolution versions.

Earlier this week, they put a bunch of filler over the cracks in the penthouse, and then painted the whole thing with the turquoise sealant. Now they are putting the white panels on it to make for a new façade. I was wondering if they'd do that; now I wonder if they'll also do the windows:

The last few days, they have been adding a lot more relief to the main façade (by the outer pairs of windows, from the 15th floor down) to make it more interesting:

Also this week, they have made a lot more progress in putting the gray texturing on the main façade on the upper floors (17 through 19):

Finally, today it looks like they are actually starting to take down the top of one of the lifts. I wonder if as they finish it from the top down, they'll gradually remove them?

I noticed yesterday that they have finally shut down the whole parking lot, putting a green fence around the entire block. Looking good for progress!

They've made a little progress on the façade in the last couple weeks, with the most visible progress being today.  They've now added relief to the pilasters on the ends and have mostly reinforced the attachment of the white backing boards. Hopefully this means they'll be putting the gray texturing over most of it soon. Also they've put a bunch of boards for platforms on the scaffolding around the mechanical penthouse.

Quite a lot more activity today.  There are several guys on the roof by the southwest side of the taller building, where they have set up another structure, a ladder up to a third floor window by the south corner, a few more guys hanging out a fifth floor window that has been removed (hard to see in the photo but just above the ladder), and they've removed a bit of the façade between the third and fourth floors on the southwest side of the shorter building.

Sounds like you know something about construction. Can you describe this process, i.e. what are the different layers?

I don't know much about construction, but I can explain what I have learned from watching various buildings go up.  They're taking a similar approach on the lower floors of SkyHouse.

First, there are two options.  Either they will paint the existing wall (brick or whatever) with the turquoise sealant, or they will attach a metal structure, put green USG Securock gypsum boards on that, and then paint that with the turquoise sealant.

Then, they cut the white façade substrate material to shape (I don't know what it's made of), spread a dark gray adhesive on the back with a trowel, and stick it to the turquoise sealant.  This acts as the fake stone and is shaped to provide all the relief that they want.

Next, they put dark gray texturing on top to smooth everything out.  I don't know if this is the same stuff they use to adhere it on the back.

Finally, they paint it the color they want.

Back to the progress, they have done a lot of work this week.  This morning they finished putting scaffolding on the southeast wall of the penthouse.  Hopefully this means they will refurbish it, because it's definitely showing its 85 years of age.  Also, they have almost finished covering the turquoise with the white façade substrate on the southeast side:

There was a whole lot more activity today, too.  They had a crane there this morning which appeared to lift something onto the roof of the older building (I have a clear view of the roof of the new building, but nothing was put there), but the crane is gone now.  They also had a whole bunch of trucks parked near the RV.  Also they have a new trailer of some sort, but I didn't get close enough to see what it was.

Also, this afternoon they added some kind of lift structure (looked like what they use for window washing) on the roof of the southwest side.  I'll report back later with pictures if things get more interesting.

There are other garages that open up to the streets light rail would go on. I always wondered about what would happen.

Now that they've made more progress on the light rail, I can now see why this was necessary.  It looks like they are building a rail station right where the old garage entrance was, which would have completely blocked the garage entrance, so they were forced to reconfigure the garage in this case.

Work on tearing down the old Texas Tower is now visibly progressing.  They are now starting to build the (de)construction elevator on the northwest side:

Also, they are lifting a large number of barrels of iodine into the building.  Disinfecting?

Back on topic, things are starting to look really good at the top now.  They have apparently nearly finished the work on the 22nd floor, and are now mounting the white backing boards (on top of the sealed USG Securock) in preparation for texturing the 21st floor:

Here's a closeup of the upper façade plus the apparently-completed work on one of the pilasters around the 17th/18th floors:

This is just speculation, but having been in the garage and watching the construction from my building, I think I know what is going on.

The garage entrance was on Rusk.  With the light rail going in right by it, that would no longer be a safe entrance.  So they are reconfiguring the lower floors of the garage to move the entrance to San Jacinto.  No idea if Metro is paying for that or the owners of 1110 Rusk, though.

Just this morning they started adding some of the fake stone façade to the upper floors:

Closeup of the "stone":