Jump to content

UtterlyUrban

Full Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,911

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by UtterlyUrban

  1. UtterlyUrban
    Cranes, cranes and more cranes!
  2. UtterlyUrban
    With all those markups on the ground, it would be pretty funny if they figured out that it wouldn’t fit! That would be an “ oh flurf” moment.
  3. UtterlyUrban
    This is going to be fantatic!
  4. UtterlyUrban
    There are homeless all around downtown including the park shops. These include the certifiably insane guy who sits in rags at the bus stop at Austin and McKinney 24 hours a day and packs of grifters who come and go. The homless have not been a problem for any of the restaurants at greenstreet. They are always crowded. Nor have the homeless impacted the show goers at HOB. And the folks who like to bowl, they see to go to the alley in droves. But, 4 years millions spent on pedestrian improvements, lots of fancy buzz words ...... and no new retail. maybe Brookfield will figure it out. I hope so. But then again, 4 years ago, I thought that midway would have figured it out too given their amazing track record.
  5. UtterlyUrban
    This is great and I hope that it works! But, frankly this sounds exactly like midway’s pitch for greenstreet 4 years ago.... “outdoor concerts and event space”, “vibrant retail”, “dining”...... blah, blah, blah. 4 years later, is Greenstreet humming with hugely increased activity and lots of newly attracted traditional retail? No. Two blocks away from greenstreet is the parkshops. hopefully Brookfield can take this “mall” that is now essentially a food court and medical facility and turn it into a true retail experience. 20 years ago this mall had a brooks brothers, a quality jewelry store, a shoe store selling Johnson and Murphy, and a luggage store among many others. How do I know this? Simple: as a downtown worker/commuter, I purchased shirts, jewelry, dress shoes, and a briefcase during various lunches. And, a personal friend of mine also owned a small boutique/high end candy store in the mall. All gone now replaced by doctors and nachos.
  6. UtterlyUrban
    I think that you missed my intended sarcasm.
  7. UtterlyUrban
    It’s a shame that we are going to put all innovation in one place. I guess that in a few years only non innovative companies will be scattered around the city conducting their mundane and drivel and won’t be able to locate there?
  8. UtterlyUrban
    I like these renderings a lot. Thanks for finding and posting!
  9. UtterlyUrban
    There is a non-profit with a successful track record of making stuff like this happen in Houston....... http://www.scenichouston.org/ perhaps those coordinating a project like this might contact them?
  10. UtterlyUrban
    Wow! This is terrific news!
  11. UtterlyUrban
    They obviously know what they are doing but, wow!, the logistics of getting that concrete there and then getting it poured “in time/before it starts to set-up” must be a sight to see! wow.
  12. UtterlyUrban
    I am not buying the “office workers stay only in the tunnels” arguement. They don’t. Go to any non-tunnel connected restaraunt at lunch. Lots of people. Walk over to discovery green. Lots of people. Etc. as for retail following rooftops, yes, I understand. However, as I mentioned, there are 100,000 well paid office workers that come to Downtown M-F. There are thousands more that fill hotel rooms/conventions and thousands more that come to downtown to “hangout, entertain, whatever”. Downtown is about one mile x one mile. All those people....... all those walets..... in one square mile..... No retail in a decade of trying........
  13. UtterlyUrban
    I do hope you are correct and I am wrong. But, frankly, we have all been hearing Houston talk about retail “coming” to Downtown for about a decade. Millions of dollars have been spent to attract it. Yet, during that time, more retail was lost than created DESPITE all the housing, hotels, and entertainment created. You mention new owners for Houston Center as one leg of a cure. Perhaps you are correct, I again hope you are. But were the old owners just stupid and not able to get retail? Or is it something deeper? Midway made a BIG SPLASH when they bought The Pavillions, what?, 5 years ago. They built a hotel on previous retail space and planted some grass. In the last 5 years have they attracted retail to the empty spots (like the old bookstore)? No. In fact, they lost retail with that high end women’s store closing. Midway is a talented company. They are not stupid. So, if the retail is still not filled after five years, does it point to something deeper as the cause? houston leaders have done an INREDIBLE job transforming Downtown into a place where people can live and where they and others have access to work, arts, dining, drinking, and entertainment. An astonishing transformation in roughly a decade. Yet, they have been unable to attract retail. There is a point where the “it’s coming” hopefulness simply starts to ring hollow. That time, for me, is fast approaching. For me, others may absolutely and legitimately feel differently, Downtown either needs to get retail soon or simply stop talking about it. Downtown is a great destination for entertainment, conventions, etc. If retail is not here within about 24 months (again, my opinion only), after a decade, a mayoral study, and millions of dollars spent to attract it, then Houston should just “rebrand” Downtown as the FANTASIC entertainment zone that terrific leadership has envisioned and built.
  14. UtterlyUrban
    That’s the issue. my guess is that the city/Downtown management districts HAVE BEEN pushing for it. My guess is that They HAVE BEEN pushing for it since BEFORE we spent millions of dollars on Dallas st —- the entire reason for its construction was NEW RETAIL. But, Crickets. Despite the retail-sector disruption, there ARE new retail store openings happening around the country continually. NONE of them are in Downtown Houston. Millions spent, zero return (so far). If several new retail stores —- real ones which sell clothes, shoes, furniture, etc. —- don’t get announced within about 24 months, i think that the prospects of Houston ever becoming a “thriving” downtown will diminish. A thriving downtown needs: 1) residents , (got it) 2) eateries/bars (got them in droves) 3) entertainment/arts (got it in droves) 4) real retail........ crickets. A new pedestrian mall (on Dallas) lots of new Downtown residents and 100,000 white collar/office commuters in 1 square mile M-F and no new retail stores willing to open. I think that says less about the retail sector and more about Houston’s ability to market itself. If Dallas street doesn’t work, Maybe the Post Office site might be able to pull something off and get real retail and keep the retail dream alive.
  15. UtterlyUrban
    And ugly. you may have found the ugliest and most expensive garment in the place. That said, I think that the store is on the expensive side. But the clothing skews “young man” and it seems that between midtown and downtown we have quite a few of them who likely also have a bit of disposable income.
  16. UtterlyUrban
    I’ll take it. In fact, I would be happy with just about any store that sells clothing, target? Sure nieman marcus? Sure tj Max? Yep. saks? Yep. up and down the price points, i’ll Take it. millions have been spent on Dallas street improvements. So far, nothing.
  17. UtterlyUrban
    And this side of downtown or anywhere in downtown, frankly, could use places like this: https://stagprovisions.com/
  18. UtterlyUrban
    I think that the buildings that I mentioned above would not be in the correct orientation from this vantage point. the best tool that I have found to use to help me visualize is Apple maps 3D view on an iPad. Really helps me to “see” the rough angles.
  19. UtterlyUrban
    I can’t say . But, from the relative positioning of the Gulf building and the Eperson building, I would guess that this shot may have been taken along maybe Bell or Pease in what now would be the area maybe just inside 59?
  20. UtterlyUrban
    At the rate they are going, they will be finished building on Tuesday, have their occupancy permit Wednesday, and the first tenants will move in Thursday. wow.
  21. UtterlyUrban
    How about an urban Target concept? I think at it would be smashing there.
  22. UtterlyUrban
    The physical logistics of building a building that on this site will be impressive to watch. Safely Navigating the turns inside that finished parking garage up to the 11th floor will take until Lunch. i am thrilled that this project is coming out of the ground (hopefully) very soon.
  23. UtterlyUrban
    We’ll just have to bribe the Roach Coach driver for excavation status details!
  24. UtterlyUrban
    With this being a hotel, any ideas or known plans on how they intend to handle guest parking?
  25. UtterlyUrban
    This is a cool shot...... why? Because of what I think is missing........ isn’t the building that now contains the Le Méridien not yet built in this image? It looks like there is ar three level brown building there...... and, I wonder what building this image was taken from?
×
×
  • Create New...