Luminare

Thought this was relevant to the overall discussion.

It's a great series of videos btw.

Alright I'm sorry for getting this off topic >.< Lets get it back to the townhomes.

This. Please don't let the Washington Ave residents become the next Afton Oaks-esque rail opposition. Like I said, there were already two rail lines going along the Washington corridor.. It's not like they are putting a rail line in place where there wasn't one before. If they didn't like hearing trains/having negatively effected property values they should of never moved next to an active rail corridor...

There is also plenty of room for more rail along that corridor!

His sights on Galveston is especially telling because in order to set that up it absolutely needs to go through town. Mean if not now at some point it will go into and through downtown. This also what I said earlier. A private company focuses on future markets and that helps fuel where the line will go.

You know who we need as an investor in this. Someone of the caliber like Elon Musk.

I do agree on the Chron.com comments lol. Those were a complete joke.

http://blog.chron.com/thehighwayman/2014/11/bullet-train-a-hit-with-city-council-but-with-concerns/

TCR CEO takes a serious look at implications of taking the train to downtown. Most likely will go along Washington Ave corridor which means that the post office site is well in play.

He is also sees Galveston as a future destination.

Of course he is already probably getting hate mail from the Washington Ave area about the train. Now is the time they create a stellar PR department and also get boots on the ground to go to each of these areas to layout exactly what will be done as to dispel myths that people might have about this.

The article also finally discloses possibly areas where the rail will get investment. It's possible that they will get investment from abroad particularly from Japan. It also gives further details in terms of possible job creation, construction, and train assembly.

Yes.

Source:

http://www.munozalbin.com/62-houston-post-office.html

Official in that this site plan is an official Master Plan done by this firm for this site, but that's it. The person wanted to know if it was official that this was the plan that was going to be used, which isn't official! Just saying yes and posting a link to something that we already have doesn't mean that this project is officially happening!

The issue with rerouting Washington would be how to deal with the I-10 HOV entrance/exit. Obviously with a little funding you could realign it, but where to?

You would reroute the I-10 HOV to Bagby. Ideally if the Pierce Elevated were to be demolished someday then Bagby St. would be the ideal entrance into and from I-10

Cloud I think the one you posted of Hines should be the standard. That or better. No excuses. No accepting anything below that. I don't think the city would accept anything below that.

It seems like it would be smart thinking for Midway or whoever controls the site to wait about 5 years to develop until all the other residential projects downtown are built and stabilized, and something of a walking and shopping culture starts to develop. That would allow the development here to be a lot more ambitious, and lenders would be less worried about something with no precedent downtown. Of course no one likes to wait, but a piece of land like this comes along once in a generation and you want it done to its fullest potential.

Of course. I just don't understand why EVERYONE is all the sudden jumping on this one master plan that was found by a very curious Urbannizer. Urbannizer was simply curious because he hadn't seen it before, but I mean this is Urbannizer. He usually idicates if its a present plan or one that is going to get moving. He simply stated that he had not seen it before and now everyone is freaking out about it -.- I honestly don't see any development on this site or anything near or around the Pierce Elevated and that area of Washington Ave until more is known about TCR and their plans and future plans of the city. That means that all of this is simply speculation because this site won't be developed for YEARS! I guarantee that. This also accounts for exactly what you stated. The market is crammed full of projects right now. This area isn't even officially part of Downtown I believe, meaning it wouldn't be eligible for TIRZ funding or residential incentive programs. All in all I think everyone needs to just calm down about what Urbannizer posted.

Oh, we could do canals if we wanted to - just reconfigure those giant toilet cleaner blue retention ponds in the burbs (or clog up the storm sewers).

In an alternate timeline, it's not to far-fetched to image us as a city full of canals if maybe the city started 100 years earlier

Ok ok I was wrong I get it lol

By all means disagree and I will support you in your right to do so, I just don't think it's the best thing coming up even when it was French and not English.

There have been rumors that midway will develop the post office project and Midway uses Munoz Albin for several projects including CityCentre

Rumors are rumors I don't believe anything until I see a Press Release, a statement from the city of Houston (since this is city property), or more details (renderings, etc...).

NOOOOOOOO!!! Saint Honore was one of the best low/mid rise residential structures planned for the entire city.

lol Cloud...your sarcasm slays me.....no really that was your intention right?

Dunno if this actually means anything, but I haven't seen this before.

 

http://www.munozalbin.com/62-houston-post-office.html

 

Went to the website and there doesn't seem to be anything else, but this master plan. To be perfectly honest, firms are hired to do master planning all the time without there being a project afterwards. Many times it's simply to theorize what could be done to the potential site and generate ideas for a future development. Once they get their ideas then they hire another firm to develop the full project. From their collection of projects in their portfolio it seems they have done a lot of master planning projects including one for Galveston.

I don't know how old this one is though because they don't really give any info. This master plan is pretty standard. Like very very very mediocre. It's not very inspiring at all and if this did become what would go at the post office site this would be quite the disappointment. I mean it does nothing with the surrounding area, it doesn't interact with the bayou, and it doesn't leave anything open for future growth especially in terms of mass transit which with the movement of TCR now full steam ahead into their environmental process I think that any plans for this site are on hold.

Good find though Urbannizer!

I guess they're thinking big picture hug Luminare?

hug luminare? You're creepin me out bro...

...Urbannizer this is too much lol You've lost your mind today!

Blah!   I would expect to see something like that in suburban DC, not Houston. Lofty ambitions brought down to Earth by escalating costs.

So French style....ok that's Houston. English style....moo not very Houston. No offense that's pretty daft. I don't really understand the reasoning behind it lol.

Dang Urbannizer, you are on a roll today!

Like I have said before, I'm not someone who is in favor of replicating this type of architecture.....but this is pretty nice. I don't really care for the pinched roofs on top. That seems like an after thought! This isn't pushing any boundaries in terms of its architecture nor is it set in our contemporary times, but this is this style of architecture done right. Not bad.

Before we go gaga over this stuff. I think we need to see an up-to-date master plan with the buildings mentioned. We have seen a few before, but that was quite a ways back and I'm sure much has changed since then. I think we are all still stuck on the rendering that continues to be the one shown whenever this project is mentioned. Are they staying true to walkability? What's the street presence like? How far along are all these projects in terms of design?

Not bad. Not bad at all. I'm still curious as to why its this far down Westheimer when this would be perfect for Midtown, Neartown, or even around Washington Ave. but I'm not going to complain. It will definitely be an improvement to that area.

I'll have to get a pic, but there is a small sign on the property since last week. Apparently it's a violation notice for not keeping the property mowed lol. I thought it was pretty funny. I agree though, this needs to get going.

No link?

yeah I was wondering the same thing.

No