MarathonMan

8 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

 

I kinda doubt that Wyndham is long for this world.  Probably not worth applying lipstick.

The Wyndham is not a small hotel, but it looks TINY next to the Intercontinental/Latitude.

3 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

 

This is much higher quality development than Skyhouse, which builds the same building over and over. This also synergizes with the Superblock park and the nearby bar and treatment center district. With downtown, you have high parking demand which makes those blocks hard to develop with anything other than towers.

 

In addition, there’s the simple difference in physical scale between Downtown and Midtown to consider.  Because Downtown has so many tall office buildings already, the two Skyhouse towers (along with the forthcoming Camden, Marlowe, etc.) end up almost invisible.  They don’t make a big impact.  Conversely, Caydon and District I & II (600’+ and 400’+ tall, I think) will have a huge visual impact in Midtown because they’ll be the big kids on the block, so to speak.

4 hours ago, thatguysly said:

 

I think part is that it is full of so many people not from Houston or Texas and there was never an identity to rally behind. Dallas is the same but the show Dallas really gave it a national identity. Houston is huge but never the focal point of a tv show or movie. Atlanta has an identity that has come from music and entertainment. 

Atlanta hosted the ‘96 Summer Olympics, too.  There was a lot of investment and attention payed to Atlanta in the 90s.  I think they’ve benefitted from that ever since. 

12 hours ago, ekdrm2d1 said:

One thing about the downtown vs. uptown discussion is the homeless situation. Huge difference between those two districts. I’d say Uptown has a cleaner presence in general. 

 

I know this subject is highly controversial. That, I mean the homeless situation.

 

Caydon will be facing this in a year. Some parts of Main Street are just trashy. No offense.

The Main Street corridor does have seedy sections, but it is QUICKLY turning a corner.  The new high rises in Midtown, Rice’s pending “Innovation Zone”, Midtown Park and the probable host of other future developments will collectively push the homeless away and make Main Street a blindingly bright light in this town.  Fortunately, the developers investing here have the vision to see this area’s potential instead of accepting that it will always be a haven for homeless.  The greater problem is that the homeless will just migrate to some other underdeveloped part of Midtown or other neighborhood once Main Street is gentrified. 

The Hardy Yards development has always seemed a little off to me.  I can’t put a finger on why.  It just seems like the wrong type of development for the neighborhood.  Really, everything just north of the Bayou on the north end of downtown is awkward to me.  Steps from downtown and yet a world away.  I’m sure the freeway has a lot to do with it.

14 minutes ago, Timoric said:

What percentage of oil company and related industries office workers are young talent? And at good salaries how long until they want to have kids and discover the lack of basic infrastructure (a decent grocery store) and decide five years of that was great but now I want something else and Pearland, the Woodlands, or Katy are better for that?

The city has plenty of infrastructure (i.e. grocery stores).  I’d submit that people choose the suburbs for the cheaper cost of living and schools.

I have a bias because I live in the city, but I’d agree that, all other variables being equal, a corporate office downtown would be a much bigger draw for young talent.  There is a vibrancy downtown that is simply lacking in the suburbs.  The benefit is probably impossible to quantify, but it’s real.

Interesting.  RD’s least-intricate building design turns out to be, arguably, the best-looking.   

14 hours ago, houstontexasjack said:

This link from the Caydon thread suggests a high rise is going up at 4510 Main:

 

https://www.berkadia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Q2-2018-New-Development-Maps_Houston-FINAL.pdf

 

This link also lists a 600 unit high rise by PM Realty at 2601 Main.  What’s THAT all about?  That address is The Greensheet building at Main and McGowan

I’m confused.  DC Partners lists Arabella & Marlowe as their developments.  So does Randall Davis.  What’s the relationship?  And if they work hand-in-hand, should we worry about DC’s The Allen???

I haven’t heard of the 600 unit PMRG tower rumor.   What is that?

In terms of neighborhood, Alexan is more developed.  Eighteen 25, on the southern fringe of downtown, is in a more sketchy locale, but things will improve in coming years as more development happens around it.  In terms of the living space itself, both seem very nice!  If I had to choose, I’d go with Alexan.

10 minutes ago, thatguysly said:

The highways can't really be expanded anymore unless you do a funky underground thing like DFW did with 635. Point being that mass transit, light rail especially, must be more heavily considered. I cannot believe expansions like 288, with all that room they had to work with, didn't integrate a light rail extension from the Med Center.

I think driverless car ride sharing will be the eventual direction we go with “mass” transit in Houston and elsewhere.  Driverless cars would  reliably navigate our existing freeways and streets more effectively and efficiently that human drivers ever could.  Capacity increases, accidents/deaths decrease and we don’t have to invest in a complete new infrastructure.  

On a a side note... extensive light rail mass transit in Houston seems impractical.  We’re too spread out.  It works for the central, more dense parts of the city, but would put the city under financially if we tried for a large network.

This is starting at lightning speed!  It begs the question:  In general, is it more cost-effective to put more people on the job and expedite it, or keep head count low and draw it out?  There is such a wide range of paces on the various projects around town, I’ve often wondered this.

1 hour ago, Mattie said:

I’m slightly confused. The slim rendering above is the same building as the b&w one posted initially? I don’t see it.

Same building.  Different angle.  The B&W image is the view from Market Square Park (looking west).  The color slim rendering is the view from Block 58 (looking north), where the new Hines office tower is going up.

1 hour ago, Mattie said:

I’m slightly confused. The slim rendering above is the same building as the b&w one posted initially? I don’t see it.

Same building.  Different angle.  The B&W image is the view from Market Square Park (looking west).  The color slim Rendering is the view from Block 58 (looking north), where the new Hines office tower is going up.

1 hour ago, Twinsanity02 said:

With this and the three going up by the Australian developer, I count five high rise apartment buildings on Main Street midtown. All in a short time span. Quite amazing. 

What is the fifth one going up?

5 minutes ago, roadrunner said:

 

Finally, an interesting glass high rise residential tower in Houston.  I didn't think that was possible here.

 

I hope this is a turning point for Houston.  This building definitely raises the bar.  It makes sense to design a building with some serious eye appeal and then use that as a marketing tool.  I doubt Hines will have any trouble filling this quickly.  I’m looking forward to following the progress of this and The District I and II.

The next logical light rail line would run East-West, connecting downtown to Uptown to Briar Forest to the Energy Corridor. Extending current lines to IAH and HOU would be nice, too.

6 hours ago, wxman said:

Is block 58 the market square garage that the long rendered highrise with the curved side will be built on top of?

58 is the current Hines tower construction site.

21 minutes ago, htownbro said:

 

I find it strange that Houston doesn't have the tallest residential tower in Texas.  Nice design of this building though!

Good point, and it begs the question:  Why are the new and proposed residential/mixed use towers in Austin significantly taller, on average, than those in Houston?  Is it because real estate is much more expensive there?  Rents in central Houston have to be comparable to those in Austin.  And newly-delivered units in Houston fill quickly, so the demand is definitely there.  Why, then, the hesitation to go taller in H-Town?

Nice!!!

11 hours ago, Tumbleweed_Tx said:

I never posted a finished picture of the light wall at HoB.

 

 

http://imgur.com/gallery/huDlpxi

 

By the way, the light wall at the HOB is a perfect example of the various “swing and a miss” efforts at Greenstreet.  It’s arbitrary and underwhelming.  If you want to make a statement, you’ve got to SPEAK UP.  This is a half-hearted whisper.

Greenstreet is so inward-focused.  It is very unwelcoming from the street.  For the life of me, I don’t know why they designed it that way or why they can’t change it.  At the very least, if the businesses can’t all open to the street, give the outside some pizzazz— cool lighting displays, LED Jumbotrons, anything to bring some electricity (no pun intended) and excitement to an otherwise BLAH development.  Make it a destination, not an afterthought.

I doubt that CBDs will fall out of favor.  True, some workers may work from home, but many of those people will have to appear at the office periodically and won’t want to drive a long way to get there.  Also, vacant office space created by downsizing will eventually be filled by new companies to the area.   And there will always be an appetite for city culture that will draw people downtown to live.  Houston’s CBD is getting more residential and much more attractive as a home base.

I’d liken it to air travel.  While the internet offers plenty of opportunity for video conferencing between remote locations, business travel seems to be alive and well!