HoustonIsHome

We need Popeyes to make a return downtown .  Or a Houston version of Brother's from Nre Orleans. Brother's is a convenience store but they have a chicken counter with good cheap food.

They need to go easy on subway. 

There are a ton of fast food joints in tunnels but I know people who have worked for years downtown who don't know that there's a Wendys and Whataburger downtown.

This side of downtown needs more small convenience stores. But please not another CVS.

It's this going to be built in phases? 

Any idea what the other buildings will look like? 

Looks like this tower will take up 1 of the 2.5 blocks purchased. 

Will this building open before it's neighbor across the street?

I agree. 

They should rename the tower "Pioneer".

The scale of the project is also massive. 

They really squandered the super block. That huge setback on McGowen...

This project is two and a half blocks plus Drew.

Are they also going to make use if Dennis? Both Drew and Dennis are only two blocks long.

Who owns that big grass lot on Fannin and Drew  in front of that big mural? A garden/cafe would be awesome right there

Between McGowan and Alabama is still dead even with many improvements around Elgin.

These new residentials should help with pedestrian activity, restaurants and retail

Looks like a Joe Vs.

I love all these educational investments. 

If I were them I would raise the ground level on this lot by at least 3 feet

I have been saying we need a central plaza for years, but wouldn't the new build option be super expensive in the short term? It may save money in the long run by not having to rebuild every few months, but people hate to pay for things up front.

I do love the theatre district but this flooding has me thinking. 

Wasn't the River Walk idea supposed to mitigate flooding? It looks like the entire drainage system in Houston needs work. Retention ponds seem like such an antiquated fix to me

This looks like it will be transformative for the area. 

Might have to rename it Caydon Town.

I am happy they have such confidence in the area. 

I hope this venture is extremely successful. Lots of room for growth in midtown.

Any word on what the scaffolding is for? 

Maybe they are getting rid of done if the graffiti and boarding up some of the windows. I noticed a lot of shattered glass around the building

Scaffolding was going going up when I walked by yesterday. Took pics. Will try to post later

Is the tower going up as previously planned or is there a new rendering that came out after they decided to use the garage as a place hold?

On 6/25/2017 at 1:30 PM, houstontexasjack said:

At least there's been some sort of filing. I'd be shocked if construction on these were imminent, but over a longer timeframe, I'd mark this as "plausible" given the nature of urbanization in Houston.

I agree. Towers pop up any and everywhere in Houston. The chance that this are of midtown getting some towers is more likely than not

Although the buildings are not exceptional the sky houses have done wonders for the area

The gates to the garage had been taken off for days. But it read secured again Friday. I saw some teenagers walking up the ramp into the garage one morning but as soon as they turned the corner into the garage they ran out

I walk during my lunch breaks and I can assure the canopies make a world of difference. 

Trees do too.

Instead of archaic rules that hinder pedestrian development they should be encouraging developers to do this. Heck they should be giving these guys a tax break instead of making them beg for a variance. 

The big drawback I see with canopies are people sleeping underneath them and defecating and urinating right where they sleep.

But if this project is successful there will be a flood of activity around it and that would limit chances of vagrants fouling up the sidewalk

Can't believe all the celebration at the potential loss of retail.

When I lived in the area I used the Fiesta quite frequently to pick up a few things. 

What irks me is that huge surface lot between the Sears and the Fiesta and the underutilised green space around Wheeler Station. The area on both sides of the highway seem poorly used. 

A Ventana sized complex on that surface lot between Sears and Fiesta might help out the area a lot.

Although building materials are similar, these buildings seen disjointed to me. 

Looks more business park to me than university. Why is it so sparse between building? Come on UHD. Stop throwing up classroom and engage the outdoors.

1 hour ago, brian0123 said:

Residential on the outskirts makes tons sense, but not on the interior. Our response times could be negatively impacted by throwing other types of visitors/traffic in the mix. Also, the TMC is going to start getting taller (hence this project added 19 floors on top of an existing 6).

I think we are going off of two different definitions of TMC. I think you may be going off what we traditionally considered TMC (that area between Holcome and Hermann park. 

When I think of TMC I now extend that definition all the way down to the women's center and all the way east to the Veterans complex. I think housing in that triangle made by the original TMC area, the women's hospital and the Veterans complex would work.

Apart from MD Anderson that are between fanning, OST, Braeswood and Cambridge is basically empty. Lots of room for development and would link the fragments of TMC.

On 3/20/2017 at 8:35 PM, bobruss said:

Its amazing to see how dense the medical center has become.

Maybe a little too dense. They need to start building taller. I worked in the med center in the early 2000s and back then I appreciated the connectivity, but there were gaps. Now it's crazy how much in fill has taken place. Even on some green space.

If there were residential components ingrained in TMC it would be the most urban feeling area of Houston. I can imagine TMC being twice the size by now if residential was part of the deal from the start.

Target site= the new super block of the future.

11 hours ago, brijonmang said:

Well I went downtown and I did get a photo of the 609 Main building but it didn't really show much of the crown.  That said, it is still just lighting up the two angled upper sections of the crown.  I hope that the following picture I got this evening will make up for my insolence.

 

 

This is an awesome view.

It troubled me to lose the Houston club building for a garage. It also troubled me to lose the chronicle building for a garage. But if a tower follows the garage on the chronicle site as quickly as this one followed then I'm glad they did not hold off demolition of the chronicle buildings.