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UtterlyUrban

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Everything posted by UtterlyUrban

  1. UtterlyUrban
    This is good to hear!
  2. UtterlyUrban
    Are these shorter buildings the "town homes" that they mentioned? If so, this is an effin homerun!
  3. UtterlyUrban
    I always assumed that they would use the ramps in the existing garage and tie each floor in. Likely have a "residents" gate on each floor. But, given the comment directly above, I am not sure I am correct. If they are unable to use the existing garage ramps, that property is so narrow, would be amazed if they could build a garage! Anyone know how it could be done?
  4. UtterlyUrban
    I assume so, especially when one considers that one of the designs had this tower and the hotel linked by sky bridge. In that fashion, hotel guests would have access to the tunnels via the Hess resi tower, hess garage, hess building, another set of sky bridges and into the parkshops then into the tunnels. I am sure that the plan was to coordinate construction with the hotel. However, with oil's uncertainty, I am betting that this resi tower will wait.....
  5. UtterlyUrban
    I think that this project will wait for the next cycle......
  6. UtterlyUrban
    I am trying to thing about downsides to the area around 800 Bell. A few blocks away is a probable large residential area that includes houstonhouse, SkyHouse I and II, block 334, etc. I don't think that the proposed use of 800 bell as a "law enforcement and municipal courts" building would impact that Area. In fact, the extra law enforcement around might actually benefit the area. So, I think that I agree with you.... This might be the best outcome......
  7. UtterlyUrban
    Will the petroleum building be apartments? I didn't see that in the article. My guess is that you are correct but, I actually hope that they are condos. I also hope that the townhomes are all brick and attached. Maybe like the back bay of Boston. That would be nice but, my first impression is that they will be "oddly out of place" in downtown Houston.
  8. UtterlyUrban
    WOW! This is GREAT news! In this great redevelopment news, let's not overlook a new Marquette property too!
  9. UtterlyUrban
    Fully agree. I am very glad something was done here.
  10. UtterlyUrban
    If appears that BigFootSocks simply wants to Insult anyone who disagrees with him or her. That's fine. Apparently we are too dumb to comment now "before its finished" (I have already explained why that statement on its face is odd for a historic renovation) and none of us should have ANY opinion that disagrees with BFS until the building is finished. Of course, I have made NO comments about the building itself and I have limited my comments ONLY to the difference between a "historic renovation" and a gut job. Then apparently folks who disagree with BFS are "crying". Again, I really don't care about the project and they could have flattened the building as far as I am concerned. Now apparently I am a "delicate flower." In all of this BFS simply doesn't address the fact that a building that was supposed to be a historic renovation, has actually turned into essentially a gut job..... If that were to be the case, they just should have said so from the beginning.....then gut the building and build something nice. Fine with me. What is most interesting is that apparently, in this town, few folks, including BFS care that a project that was supposed to preserve a little history has actually not done that. Any thoughts about what would have happened if this very same "historic renovation turned gut job" been undertaken in Boston, Chicago or Manhattan? My prediction: there would be a significant outcry from the architecture, history, and political class. Here, likely nothing. Different place. Different culture. Now, let me ask this question: does anyone know if the color of the brick at least matches the Original facade? Did they actually remove all the crud from all the years and match the original brick color? Or, did they just pick something that will look "nice"?
  11. UtterlyUrban
    I am not "crying" about this building as I could care less if they bulldozed it, historically renovated it, or simply gutted it like they did. What I care about is calling something in the press a "historic renovation" (as I recall) when it is not. The picture above of the "before" image shows a badly worn building. While it is possible that this is not the original facade, my bet is that it is. Notice it also shows a building with a specific set of window placements of a specific size on one facade. That has changed. The brick is all new. It seems that no effort was made to conserve any of the old brick above the "urine line". My further guess is that this brick is also totally modern brick. It likely has a different chemistry and look from brick of 1900. The windows all appear to be new but appear to have the same design. That's good. The final building might look great and be very functional but it will not have been "historically" renovated. Rather, it will have changed in a material ways. I am totally and completely fine with that change. Bothers me not. But, the press before construction should have been accurate and simply said that the building would be stripped bare and renovated to fit modern uses.
  12. UtterlyUrban
    The very fact that we should "wait for a finished product, yeah" is indicative of the fact that this was not a "historic renovation" as described in the press prior to work starting. Rather, it seems to be a complete gut and rebuild job.If it was a historic renovation, we would KNOW what it was going to look like, right? Personally, I am fine if they wanted to bulldoze the thing and build new. But let's not call it a "renovation" of a historic building when it is not.....
  13. UtterlyUrban
    With such a radical change of, well, everything..... Why bother to save anything...... They should have bulldozed it and built a modern structure from scratch. The entire purpose of historic renovations is to renovate historic buildings (often at significantly more cost than new). But, if they were essentially going to create a new building, why bother to do anything but bulldoze?
  14. UtterlyUrban
    My thoughts exactly. I was really surprised when I saw the paint job. I really hope that this is paint specifically for bike lanes. If not, it could well be an ice skating rink in a light rain. Surely the city has worked with the bike community on this one though and figured this out, right?
  15. UtterlyUrban
    I am uncertain if we have reached the cap. But I am fairly certain that Novarre received DLI incentives for this project.
  16. UtterlyUrban
    Several months a go I read somewhere that it was something like 45% leased and that number was well ahead of predictions. If that trend has continued, they may be upwards of 65% now. I also seem to recal that a building in the 85% range is considered "fully leased" and anything above that is just icing on the cake. At one a year or so ago, One Park Place was reported in the news to be 94% leased (if I recall correctly).
  17. UtterlyUrban
    Is it just me or does this building no longer feel "historic"?
  18. UtterlyUrban
    Do you ride the metro bus to work?Do you take a metro bus to specific activities on your leisure time? Like, say, the Rodeo or an Opera? If you do, how do you like the experience? If you don't, why don't you?
  19. UtterlyUrban
    Woof. This fall? No wonder they are moving so fast. But, it is only one hotel, right? The other one bailed as I recall.
  20. UtterlyUrban
    This building is flying upwards. Can someone remind me how tall this will be? I am very excited about this one. My company currently has "deals" with about 8 of the downtown hotels for room rates. This hotel's price point should beat them all and save us lots of money. Best still, it is also very convenient to our office.
  21. UtterlyUrban
    I know.But, cities are generally loath to close a sidewalk for "no reason". If this is only related to this Hines construction project, what would be the reason? There seems to be no pedestrian safety concern related to the construction. What would be the reason to close the entire block? Just because there are "no" businesses on that block does not mean that a sidewalk can be randomly closed as there is a public conveyance issue. If there is nothing else going on, I wonder what Hines used as the reason to close the sidewalk to pedestrians (not even cover with a pretective scaffold but, to close)?
  22. UtterlyUrban
    Something is weird here. I just can't see why the city would allow the sidewalk for an entire block to be closed. It doesn't seem like that is necessary for construction of this building..... Is there something else going on too?
  23. UtterlyUrban
    Why are they blocking pedestrian traffic on that entire block on main? I don't understand.
  24. UtterlyUrban
    Also today, Citi analysts, if I recall, called this a "head fake" and are suggesting oil at $20-ish per barrel this fall..... OPEC suggested today that demand this year is actually going to be 400,000 BPD more than estimated last fall. The only thing that is certain is uncertainty and that will keep the "redline" in place for now.
  25. UtterlyUrban
    What is the approximate date of these images?
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