adr

Oh.  And sorry if the post above made you think a major grocer was headed to downtown. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henke_%26_Pillot

Henke & Pillot  (809 Congress) is having their soft open tonight.

@mkultra - they seem a lot more like folks that got priced out of Brooklyn rather than people who moved there to be an artisanal food star on their parents dime.

I don't blog about traffic.  I do live and own a business downtown, which will color my responses.  Here are some great reasons to dislike the tunnels

• Zero data reception on your phone, and often no text or cell, in a labyrinth where you are trying meet people for lunch and no one can decide where to go, so eveyone just goes to subway because it's the only place who's name anyone can remember. 
• Brooklyn Meatball Co. is so delicious that it being sealed off from the world at 3pm just plain sucks.  In fact, sometimes I'll be thinking about those meatballs with that balsamic sauce and how it would hit the spot after having some drinks on Main street and then I'll remember that it is nearby, and even though there are lots of great retail spaces available just one floor up from where it is buried, it's down there locked in a cave and having one of those sandwiches for dinner is just a sad old man's dream and then suddenly I've wandered into Subway and am crying into a shitty meatball footlong.
• You know that if there is ever a zombie outbreak, it's going to start in the damn tunnels and some object that is required to save the world or whatever is going to inevitably end up being down there and you'll have to fight your way in and out to get it.  SUCKS.
• They've got those flood gates, so you can't stuff paper towels in the running sink of one of the Subways bathrooms and flood the entire system, causing Pennzoil let you and your colleagues leave early on a Friday.
• The Chronicle won't let you use their access stairs unless you can prove you're a subscriber, and every conversation you have with them puts you at risk of their "accidentally" upgrading you to twice daily delivery plus La Voz. 
• Mayor Holcombe's ghost is always down there throwing shit around and complaining about how they should have named Bissonnet Street after him.  Dude is seriously the crankiest spector.
• Every now and then, especially during knee-high-boot-season like it is now, I'll be in one of the connecting tunnels and think for a second that maybe, just maybe, I've been transported to the world of Star Trek and that big smile comes out and then I round a corner and see a line at a Subway.

There are a few already down here, but the big enchilada won't be ready for us to sneak into until next year.

As of Sunday.

GUYS THE SCENE IS DEAD.

Site status as of January 1st.  

As of January 1st, 2015.

As of January 1st, 2015.  

As of January 1st, 2015.

Project Update: January 1st, 2015.

As of January 1st.

State of the hotel as of January 1st, 2015 for future generations to marvel upon.

Projects as of January 1st, 2015.

Convention Center Improvements. by differentryana, on Flickr

The Greater Houston Partnership Building by differentryana, on Flickr

Greater Houston Partnership Building by differentryana, on Flickr

For future reference, state of the renovation as of January 1st, 2015. 

For posterity, here is the state of this project as of January 1st, 2015.

For posterity's sake, here is the state of the building as of January 1st, 2015.

Keep in mind that the Harris County Jail is, by Sherif Garcia's telling, the largest mental health care provider in the state.  Mental illness and/or substance abuse and homelessness run hand in hand, and because of resource constrains on Harris County MHMRA, etc, most of those people are going to end up in jail, rather than a hospital.  When they get out, they usually find themselves at the corner of Commerce and San Jacinto.   As long as this is the case, there will always be a significant homeless population downtown.  

This is a close-up of the retail sales brochure for Frank's Pizza Tower.  Notice the pocket park extending to Main (very cool).  Do you think that the Barringer Building (Clutch City Square) is not shown because of the height of the State National Building, or is this notice that they plan to tear it down?

Frank's Pizza Tower Retail Map by differentryana, on Flickr

For clarity's sake, I refer to this building as Kim Son Tower and the other Market Square residential building as Frank's Pizza Tower.  Can we rename the threads accordingly?

Just as long as the  Dollar Nineteen Store stays open.  Saved me a trip to Target/Lowes/Kroger more times than I can count.

Have we talked about 502 Main?  Kaor?  Anyone got a line on this?

502 Main. Kaor. by differentryana, on Flickr

502 Main. Kaor. by differentryana, on Flickr

That rent is blowing my mind.