cougarpad

14 hours ago, tigereye said:

Yes. This spot.

In fact, the half-way house lot the Astros now own would also make a perfect spot for an Astros Hall of Fame building, next to Heritage Park, the ballpark, and across from Union Station. 

Too bad they did not have that land when they built the place because the ridiculous Crawford Boxes that are more beer league than MLB would not be a reality. The Minute Maid outfield could of been built without such crazy outfield dimensions which would of also allowed for more seating in the outfield. They could of shifted the whole basbeball park over and put more seating in front of the tracks while not having such short home plate-to -wall dimensions in the corners of the outfield.

On 11/23/2020 at 5:07 PM, Andrew Ewert said:

I will never get over how a few dozen or hundred property owners are holding hostage an infrastructure project that will benefit millions and be a major win for the environment. Just take your fair payout and let the rest of the world make progress.

Also the land needed for the rail line is not that massive with a good chunk of the rail going through a power line corridor. The rail line also is raised so if this has to do do with cattle than I'm sure a cow can go underneath the raised rail like cars would at an intersection. Would these landowners rather TEXDOT build a massive freeway through their property to help ease congestion between Houston and Dallas?

On 7/28/2020 at 9:41 AM, ttuchris said:

I am sure the Astros are focused on revenue generating improvements, but the park has needed a paint job for years and several of the windows in Union Station are rotting.  I wonder if they have any plans for general maintenance.  I would hate to see a historic structure fall into disrepair.  Does the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority require any minimum repairs from the Astros?  I took other similar pictures, but they were too large to load.   

 

They really should try to incorporate a little blue in the building paint scheme since it is the team colors. I also think it be neat if they made the outfield seats blue or at least some portion of the seating blue.

Does anybody have access to the top pool deck at the Market Square tower? I'm curious how this new building will block the view of the skyline from that pool deck especially the glass infinity pool. That is such a unique feature of the building and it would suck if the view was completely blocked by this new tower. I am sure that pool deck is also a selling point as well and tenants in that building probably will be dissapointed if the pool deck view is gone.

20 hours ago, Ross said:

Much of the railroad infrastructure in the 1800's was built by railroads who received huge quantities of free land from the government. Technically, the railroads built the lines, but there was a huge incentive.

It still doesn't take away from the fact that capitalism was involved in the construction of the railroads. It was just not government building by itself. When investors are involved it means that the projects will be built as efficiently as possible so that there is profit. You can look to California as an example for a true boondoggle when a government tries to build on their own using tax dollars with no financial restraints on blowing budgets. Just as in the past with railroads being built with capitalism, it is going to take the same approach if we are going to see highspeed rail in the US. 

Please stay away from the politics and bashing voters. I support the current president and also support high speed rail. It should also be noted that Trump is all for using tax dollars on infrastructure. He has also mentioned rail in the past with private public partnerships. It short sighted and very ignorant to label all people a certain certain way just because you dislike a political figure. I am all for Highspeed rail and believe this the best way to do it through capitalism. The 1800s railroads were not built by the government but instead capitalist who saw a good investment.

9 hours ago, Trae said:

If the original design to the Embassy was built then it would be holding up well today. The current ugly ass building gets worse with time.

 

 

versus...

 

 

Even just putting the top and spire on the building as in the original plans would of made a difference in making the building look more complete.

Any updates on the construction and reconstruction of the Farmers Market?

Perfect place for a grocery store. HEB shoud be all over that vacant Forever 21 space.

Still trying to figure out how much of the skyline this new tower is going to block from Market Square's sky deck and pool. Would suck to have paid rent for the amenities in Market Square including the scenery to now have it obstructed. 

I am a conservative and I never can understand why Republicans act like mass transit is the boogie man. The inner core of Houston does not have anymore room for more roads. Mass transit is needed as an alternative to gridlock, and also not everybody has a car. To all those who where trying to shut down the Post Oak line, I would like them to show me where else they can build a road in that area to help in lessening the congestion? The money they always are ready so spent on projects like the Grand Parkway is no different then spending money for a BRT line, both are used in the movement of people it is just that the BRT line is moving people in larger groups instead of a few people as is being transported in a car. I dont live in Houston but if able to I would vote for Buzbee who at least is open to mass transit and I believe would follow the will of the people if the Metro bond passes which it should.

I could never vote for the weasle in Turner.

15 minutes ago, gmac said:

We'll see, and we'll just have to disagree. I probably won't live long enough to see this thing started/completed, but I think it is a useless project that adds nothing. I have no skin in the game, just hate to see people lose their land for a vanity project.

A big chunk of the land is in a utility corridor on people's property that already is owned by a power company. Also how is it a vanity project? All these investors are not putting money on the line if they did not think the ridership was there. The line is no where near as big of a footprint as TXDOT is taking out of properties across the Texas to build highways. The company is paying the property owners for the land as well. It is not like they are just walking up and taking the property without compensation.

51 minutes ago, wilcal said:

 

You don't have any concerns about them not having the cash?

 

They need like $17 billion, right?

You do realize that the partner Japanese company  behind this has other lines built and running around the world? It is not like this is some start up company building their first rail. The builders have plenty of financial backing.

39 minutes ago, arbpro said:

You are in error. The school has long wanted a medical school. When the idea was finally facing fruition, the University considered all options, including the TMC. When it was decided that the focus would be on primary care for an underserved area, the TMC option was no longer viable. The school then proceeded with its business plan idea which had the side benefit of allowing the medical school to be near the main campus. Apparently you think that was a bad idea. What you are really saying is that you think having a medical school dedicated to primary care in a need location is a bad idea. 

3 minutes ago, cougarpad said:

The UH administration also thought it would be better if the med school was located on campus so that there could be a collaboration with other colleges on campus. Also by building the med school on campus, it assists in the accreditation of the whole UH main campus as one and especially towards more tier 1 and academic awards.

3 minutes ago, cougarpad said:

 

38 minutes ago, innerloop said:

I am on an unrelated Board for U of H, but we were briefed a number of times on the Medical school and choosing the location was a tough, but very well consider decision.  They seriously considered being in the Medical Center and even identified an available piece of land, but in the end the choice was to be near campus to reinforce the ties to the university.

 

As for the exact location and preserving the trees, I'm afraid that whole area will probably be developed over time.  If you're not familiar with the U of H area, the campus is pretty hemmed in on the north by I-45, the east by the railroad tracks (with the exception of the Innovation Center (ex. Schlumberger facility) which is really a separate location) and the south by viable residential in University Oaks/Riverside Terrace.  So I think that area of land to the southeast is destined to become part of the campus.  There is political pressure from Third Ward leaders for U of H to not expand to the west as they feel that it would diminish the historically African American nature of the neighborhood.  Plus TSU and Yates High School are right there on the border already.  There is some room to expand to the north right up against I-45, but that land is currently serving as sports fields and personally I think that's a good idea as intramural sports add to the University experience and the mind-boggling to me 6000+ students who live on-campus need recreation areas. 

Based on rendering it looks like they are going to carve out room in the trees for the building and parking lot. I just hope they do this with any future expansions on the land. The campus they are building in Pearland is being built with maintaining foliage in mind. Also, I believe there is a chunk of the land in the flood plain so they can not build on some of it anyway. 

52 minutes ago, bobruss said:

This is all part of the Universities campus. Just like the petroleum engineering school and other energy related programs that have taken over the old Schlumberger campus just across the rail lines to the east. This is just an extension of the southern end of the campus, and room for a family living center for students staff and faculty. It lies right across the street from MacGregor Park. You can ride your bicycle from there to the med center along the Bayou.

The school will be less than ten minutes from the med center and will have shuttles, just like U.T. uses for its students to get around the med center.

 

I don't have a clue what's going on at HBU. I don't go by it ever, and just don't know.

Start a thread and fill us in. 

 

That property has thick woods on it. I hope they do right by designing the building into the woods without tearing all the trees out. It be nice if they would just carve out room for the buildings and parking then leave as many of trees as possible on the land.

The med school will have a real grand entrance from MLK Blvd!

1 hour ago, mattyt36 said:

 

Um, no, you can blame the HCSA for giving them the concession contract.

There also has to be some shenanigans going on that somehow HCSA always chooses Aramark. Like to know if some of the board members own stock in Aramark or there is some under the table money exchanging hands. 

4 hours ago, Angostura said:

 

 

Up until recently, the approach had been to surround stadiums with nothing but acres of parking, so people had no choice but to pay $18 for a beer inside the venue. This approach is... better.

You can blame Aramark and their overpriced and crappy food for the ridiculous beer prices at Houston sports events. It amazes me how they basically have a monopoly on all the sporting venues. UH wisely just gave Aramark the boot from its sports facilities. I know many UH fans are happy about it.

10 hours ago, wilcal said:

 

Riiiiiiiight. I'll believe that when I see it. That date has been pushed back so many times. 

 

Will a full connection make sense, or would it be better to have it as a stub with its own bus or two? Basically, how much extra time would it take if you were doing Galleria to Downtown.

 

I'm not against the idea unless it's less than 8-10 minutes. 

The proposed high-speed rail station is supposed to be only a couple of blocks from the Northwest Transit Center. The Uptown BRT would only need to be lengthened a short distance north. The schematics that I have seen for this new Metro plan have the BRT accommodating for this.

19 minutes ago, cougarpad said:

I always thought it would be smart to make the golf course a 9 hole one and turn the other 9 holes into an expansion to the zoo they could have even built a nice pedestrian bridge over the road to connect the old part of the zoo to the new.

The golf course doesn't bring in more revenue to the park then the zoo does. Plus you can make more open habitats for the African animals.

I always thought it would be smart to make the golf course a 9 hole one and turn the other 9 holes into an expansion to the zoo they could have even built a nice pedestrian bridge over the road to connect the old part of the zoo to the new.

1 hour ago, rechlin said:

The annoying thing is a subset of people saying we should vote no on this because they want more money spent on rail, unhappy that this puts a bigger focus on BRT.  But I'm pretty sure that if this fails, Metro will take this as the people just rejecting mass transit in general, so those people would be shooting themselves in the foot.

It's on Metro than to do a better job marketing their plan. They need to give people a better idea of what BRT is and that it is not a generic bus. Also, it is smart to design the BRT buses to look like light rail cars much as possible. It is going to come down to imagery. It be great to have all light rail but based on Houston's culture and the massive finances it has little chance of happening. Metro didn't do any favor for themselves with the boondoggle they turned the last light rail initiative into.

Don't forget about connecting the Washington and Uptown BRTs to the highspeed rail station at the old Northwest Mall. TCHR is reporting that they are on pace to break ground in the next year. 

12 minutes ago, Nate99 said:

Does Southwest just outbid the other carriers when the slots come up, or is there some other backroom deal going on? 

I'd like to know that too. I do know that United and South West have a stranglehold on the Houston airports and that is why Houston is one the most expensive cities to fly into. I know there is a masterplan to add another runway to Hobby. I would have liked to see Jet Blue build another terminal on the opposite side from the new international one at Hobby. Austin currently has the most Jet Blue routes in Texas.

It always has not made any sense to me that Houston is the 4th largest city in the US and doesn't have more direct routes from the major airline like New York, Chicago, and LA. Heck if Delta was smart they would make Ellington into a Hub for them with the new Spaceport there.