houstontexasjack

I did find this story regarding appointment of a new vice president:

https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/rice-names-associate-vice-president-industry-and-new-ventures

I certainly would not be surprised if he let some people go and wanted to reevaluate aspects of the Ion District. So. I also noticed the norcity.io website for the food park that was proposed is just not operational. 

I’d be surprised if Rice abandoned the project altogether given the resources put into it. But, delaying and modifying plans as @bobruss indicated seems likely. The proposed 2024 start date for Phase 2 probably has longer odds than the Rockets winning the NBA Finals at this point.

2 minutes ago, Sanjorade said:

Apparently the entire leadership team of The Ion and Greentown Labs were let go last week. Guessing they weren’t able to attract enough renters. 

As a startup guy, The Ion is a nice idea but doesn’t actually deliver what most early stage companies need. There’s a major disconnect between the stakeholders and startup founders. 

Will be interesting to see what comes next …

 

What’s your source? I haven’t seen any news on this front.

Aria Real Property, LLC just acquired the site at 5445 La Branch St, the lot bounded by Calumet to the south, La Branch to the west, Crawford to the east, and Prospect to the north. It is between X Houston and Boone Manor.

It appears the entity has a registered agent named Chong On Yi, who is associated with the group behind FM Kitchen and PKL Social. The entity also owns the lots on the SE Corner of Westheimer and Montrose, including the complex that formerly housed the Montrose FM Kitchen. That hopefully portends a restaurant and/or pickleball use for the site.

On 4/6/2021 at 8:25 PM, mkultra25 said:

That would be less than optimal, considering that it's one of the only theaters in town that has (or had, at any rate) the ability to screen 70mm prints. Not that it matters all that much now, as the exhibition industry is practically on life support and the chances of anyone doing a limited 70mm run in a non-repertory setting are probably between slim and none for the foreseeable future.  

I just want to comment that 70mm would have been great for “Oppenheimer.” I found this post while going down the rabbit hole on that. And that’s it. 

Get this moving and it should motivate Tillman Fertitta to build even taller on the lot he just acquired. 
 

Because………

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/b409e703-038e-42b8-908a-7dbd7f4fa944

3 hours ago, J Money said:

Looks like it’s another Randall Davis joint. Comparable lot size and unit count as the London House, I would expect a similar scale development here. Definitely won’t be the Michael Hsu render from before. 

The Oxberry guys previously did The Mond at the Museums (neé The Mondrian).

17 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

New Design:

https://medistarcorp.com/innovation-tower/

Santa Urby strikes again!  Merry Christmas @Urbannizer!

1 hour ago, nate said:

29 condominium residences at 2360 Rice Blvd.

There's a sign on the property and a website.

https://chaucerhouston.com

I’d think this would have to be scaled up from the previous rendering @pacojones showed us in order to accommodate 29 residences. 

43 minutes ago, Highrise Tower said:

There are two different Loopnet removals I've noticed.

- When the payee subscriber does not renewal their monthly fees, so the listing is temporarily removed.

- The property has been sold, and the listing was permanently removed.

I believe the difference is the wording, one says "is not currently" and the other "is no longer".

Ah. TIL. 😊 Considering it’s the first of the month, that makes sense. 

Aaaaaaand the listing is back:

https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/2001-Hermann-Dr-Houston-TX/29464137/

🤷‍♂️

The listing for this one was pulled.

That inspired thought. An observation platform with a rocket shaped base (think the tripod design like you see in cartoons) and a crown shaped like a wide-brim cowboy hat would be fun on this site. Replace the Ferris wheel above with that design.

On 3/16/2015 at 4:10 PM, The Pragmatist said:

In reference to the FAA junk, the story from the 600 Travis website is interesting:

 

 

Source: http://www.chasetower.com/building.php?sect=1

 

Apologies for contributing to the off-topic part of this thread.

Apparently, Hines lore has it that the FAA wanted to do a 2-year review of the 80-story concept in the late 70’s but determined 75 stories was okay without such review. Gerald Hines didn’t want to risk a downturn killing the project and decided to proceed at 75 stories. Considering what happened in the oil bust, that was the right call.

A lot has changed in aviation since the late 1970’s. Engines in general are more reliable and shut down less (one of the fears is having an engine fail during takeoff from HOU, forcing the aircraft to have to return under power from only one engine) than those from the 1970’s. 

There just hasn’t been interest in even attempting to build something in that height range that would compel the FAA to do a new analysis as to the upper bound of what they might consider a “hazard to air navigation.” If one wanted to go higher, I think the issue would require new analysis by the FAA.

1 hour ago, monarch said:

^^^ we NEVER die... we MULTIPLY!

Well played, sir

Goldman Sachs just broke ground on this in Dallas:

https://www.goldmansachs.com/media-relations/press-releases/multimedia/groundbreaking-dallas.html

That’s a pretty far cry from the conceptual rendering above.

The Pickard Chilton office tower looks nice. Nothing really to write home about. Let’s see if it actually happens.

1 hour ago, monarch said:

dallas is just as "affordable" as our fair city of houston, yet, THEY NEVER EVER STOP DREAMING BIG AND BRINGING THEIR RESPECTIVE DREAMS TO FRUITION.  what on earth, has houston performed lately?  heck, we are still awaiting news (after a decade) on our prospective W HOTEL... remember?  (what a JOKE we have become

I can’t think of much in Dallas proper that’s been done in the last few years that I’d say I’d envy. There’s Klyde Warren Park, but we have a bigger and better analogue in the pipeline with the I-45 reroute. 

Austin….okay, yeah, they’ve got stuff I’d want. Rainey Street’s under construction density is eye-popping.

7 minutes ago, shasta said:

THIS is what I was expecting from Jim Crane and the Astros 

The stadium complex at Flushing Meadows is far more akin to NRG than the Juice Box. It’s bordered by a freeway.  Oceans of parking not bounded by any urban grid. 

1 hour ago, jhjones74 said:

Which is why you really have to question why Houston owners seem to lack the vision that they could have given how good the Astros have been. Reinvest the billions that have been made the last several years so that even when/if the team falls off there’s still a good reason for people to want to come to and spend money around games.

Realistically, the only way to get folks to come out in the long run is to win and keep winning on the field. You can’t have too many long lulls.  I do think the Astros are getting to that point where we just expect them to be in it every single year. I recall the bitter disappointment of 2019 and the fear that it was our last shot to win a 2nd title for a long time. Now? I’d actually be surprised if the Astros weren’t in the ALCS again in 2024.

Other teams with ballpark villages that this forum wants us to emulate, such as the Cardinals and Braves, have had very long periods of success to the point their fans expect they’ll be in it in any given year. 
 

55 minutes ago, monarch said:

^^^ with a brand spanking new $8 billion proposed DYNAMIC POWERHOUSE development such as METROPOLITAN PARK, they are already "winning".  the ASTROS have seemingly invested in "winning" and what do we have...?

Since 2017: 2 World Series; 4 American League Pennants; 6 AL West titles (every full season since 2017); 7 consecutive American League Championship Series appearances (a division series era record).

The Mets…..well, . Mets.
 

I’m curious if this is intended as an addition to their available housing in Midtown (some of the Midtown site is slated for demo for the I-69 trenching) or intended as a full replacement of it.

On 10/13/2023 at 9:35 PM, hindesky said:

Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission voted on this at the Aug.3rd meeting.

Any tax reduction benefits of such a designation?

Also, it occurs to me the “for lease” sign might have tax benefits. From an ad valorem property tax standpoint, I reckon it would help to show the building can’t command the rents needed to justify an office valuation.

30 minutes ago, Texasota said:

The triangular floor plate definitely helps, but you still have an oversized service core for a residential building which means unleasable space. 

That said you brought floor plans to an architecture fight and I always appreciate that.

It remains weird that they're keeping two towers and tearing down the third. Why? If not floor plate differences, why tear down old triangley? 

Just looking at the site, Building 3 sits in the middle of the garages and demo would free up a large rectangle of space to develop. 

On 10/17/2023 at 1:07 PM, swtsig said:

Building 3 and garage will get demolished. They'll convert that space into a "City Centre" type development. No idea if a denser component like hotel or multifmaily will be a part of that but it didn't sound like it. Taking a surplus of obsolete office space and converting it to walkable retail is definitely the play.

I guess demolishing Building 3 frees up a lot of space along with the garage. I think there was once a Loews hotel planned nearby. That would be cool to shift over to this site but that’s just me being wishful.

Austin’s office binge is akin to Houston’s in the early 1980’s.