Twinsanity02

49 minutes ago, kennyc05 said:

Once they throw it up the area will feel more complete.

The very ugly Chronicle garage was knocked down and nearby a less hideous but still ugly garage took its place. Improvement of sorts. Just hope you all are correct and a building is placed there and the garage appearance is ameliorated somehow. It will then look more complete and more pleasing.

48 minutes ago, shasta said:

Serious question...why did the Karens scream over this project? There are many examples of mid rises in the Rice University area, and surrounding area. Many over looking residential. This is not out of character for this district.

 

The do need a stop light at Dunlay @ Bissonnet, with or without this building.

I have not spoken to anyone who lives in the area. I suspect they feel an invasion of privacy and a dislike in standing on ones land and staring up at a highrise.  I believe the neighborhood is called Broadacres. It is quiet, leafy, peaceful,and very beautiful. I do not live anywhere to it,  I do not have a dog in this fight and do not care either way, but I do understand their annoyance.

Fortunately, it is quite an elegant highrise, so they could have done much worse.

Houston is massive and has impressive regions: The Texas Medical center, the gigantic petrochemical complex and shipping channel, Downtown and Uptown with gleaming skyscrapers, and NASA. These are all serious economic engines. Regardless, they are not fun or "sexy" areas tourists like to visit (except for NASA). Until a few years back Houston did not even consider its downtown anything but a work place destination which vacated after 6:00 pm (except for the Theater district). Progress has been made in making the city more fun, but not at the level of NYC, Nola, or Miami. Most probable we will never reach that level of attraction. I must admit I am stumped regarding DFW. I would give DFW the same attributes of impressiveness as Houston but do not understand the attraction tourist have for it. Perhaps someone in this forum knows.

"The ways of commerce are exceedingly odd,sir".  Jeeves

Season 2, Episode 5. Jeeves and Wooster

4718 Hallamrk places it near the Wille G's seafood restaurant, correct? Confused because the plat places it in a location which should have a higher address number than 4718. 

1 hour ago, august948 said:

It's a method of creating a large water detention feature in a very urbanized area where there would otherwise be no room, saving the surrounding homes and businesses from flooding.

Thank you for that information. Very sensible approach as long as it does not impede greatly the ability to flee during a major hurricane. Tokyo has an amazing approach to deal with its flooding problems which I do not know whether it would be applicable in Houston.

As much as elevated freeways are an eyesore, how does sinking roadways in Houston ( or anywhere along the Gulf Coast) benefit the people living there? The rainfalls along the Gulf Coast can be incredible and no amount of pumps is going to prevent flooding and hence trapping people. If someone can explain the benefit of sinking freeways  ( outside of looks) please feel free to explain. 

1 hour ago, samagon said:

this leaves the people of freeport totally exposed, can this loop go farther south to include Clute, Lake Jackson, and Freeport?

basically, from Wharton straight down through West Colombia, pick up 36 down to Surfside Beach. from there, you can go straight through to Bolivar. 

nothing like a good old fashioned 6 lane highway along the beach!

and on the west side, you may as well push out to East Bernard, Sealy, Hempstead.

eventually at some point we're going to have to talk about one of these loops including Key West, Havana, and Cancun, with signature bridges between each.

Suppose it could be called The Kuiper Belt. 

10 hours ago, arche_757 said:

Of course we are talking about a city which has grown from a metro area of ~2.5 million to 7.2 million in 40 years?  So, just in my own life the metro area has grown by over 4million.  So 1/3 of folks here today were either born here or lived here back in the early 1980s.  The other 66% are either younger or moved here or both.

Also, people generally do not know much geography or history.

Very true.  An example is what happened in the freeze of 2021. The last vivious freeze we had was in 1989 ( there was another one in 1983). By the time the Valentines day freeze of 2021 hit, a large number of people in the Houston MSA had either been too young to remember or had moved from regions where such low temperatures either do not happen or do nor pose a threat. Hence many people did not drain their pipes and we had a repeat of 1983.

20 minutes ago, freundb said:

When do we start on the next ring?

20 minutes ago, freundb said:

When do we start on the next ring?

The northern segment could be Highway 105 in Conroe, the eastern I'm afraid goes into Galveston Bay or Gulf of Mexico, problematic at best. No more circular rings only "C" shaped semi-rings. Can't fight the Atlantic ocean.

Grand Parkway segment H and I are opening today. Good news for those of us who live in this section of the Solar system. 

5 hours ago, shasta said:

Didn't Randall Davis, with the Rice conversion to Residential, along with a few other pave the way before Fingers?

 

Plus, how many here remember the once proposed residential high rise on the block on Main that used to house a suburban style McDonalds?

Yes he did. I remember waiting for the bus by the Rice before it was transformed. The smell of frequent urination and whatever was hideous. North of the Rice on Main St. it wasn't much better

I'm guessing hurricane Harvey may have cast a veto, but not certain. After all Harvey and the October 1994 flood would suggest  proceeding with caution is best.

Houston's "eccentricities" can stack up easily against any other city in the U.S.

To paraphrase what Abraham  Lincoln said out George McClellan, "they've got the Slows".  Certainly do not have  "the Runs".

Someone correct me if I am wrong. I understand, that with Exxon Mobile move,  the Houston area will have the headquarters of 25 Fortune 500 companies. This will solidify further Houston's number two position in this ranking, NYC being number one.

47 minutes ago, Amlaham said:

A DO school IS a medical school lol it's not an opinion, the only difference is how they approach treating patients. 

I agree. My question is, is it built and opened?

The way I understand "River Oaks" is north of Westhimer, west of Shepherd , and east of Willowick with a further westward bulge to Inverness. All this calling areas all the way to the Loop "River Oaks" seems like to put it politely pure piffle. If you don't live in River Oaks pretending doesn't make it so. 

A quick and somewhat irrelevant question. Is this large development considered to be part of the Greenway Plaza area? Visually it looks connected to the Greeway plaza area and not quite close enough to Upper Kirby. Our great city is tough to define it being multivarious.

2 hours ago, MidCenturyMoldy said:

I either never knew, or had forgotten (both are equally plausible), that it had once been called San Felipe Courts. I've always known it as Allen Parkway Village. 

Depends where you are at. I  imagine in Egypt, Fertile Crescent, Turkey , China or the Indus valley 78 years isn't much. A drop in the bucket. Or for that matter Europe. Houston on the other hand.

21 hours ago, Big E said:

One Market Square is still, technically, proposed, just looking for a major tenant. I think Hines is handling that one, so with Texas Tower done, that's probably their next major project.

6 Houston Center is still proposed, as of now.

That 50 story Chevron Tower is still technically proposed, but its been on the backburner for years. If Chevron ever finally moves out of California, maybe it will happen. 

And finally there's the W Hotel proposed to be built above the Partnership Tower.

I also think there may be a proposal to redevelop the Bayou Music Center, including multiple towers, but don't know how far along that actually is.

Weren't two more residential towers planned for downtown? One, I believe, was north of Minute Maid Park, the other around Toyota center. A twin of Camden residential.

1 hour ago, Nate99 said:

Great shots. Once Skanska's projects top out, you have to get about a thousand shots from every corner of Disco Green. I was excited before, but even I am impressed at what a gem that park and area is turning into. 

It is quite an urban setting with all the highrises, the convention center, hotels, sport stadiums, and and the park amenities. Great place to relax and people watch. Hopefully the city will built the "W" hotel to add to the area.  

Blimey! I guess I'll hav to now travel to England to see the Cotswolds.

54 minutes ago, KinkaidAlum said:

Was just in St. Louis this summer for the first time ever. I'd love to have something like that. It's a similar footprint as Minute Maid with the only difference being the ballpark in St. Louis is just on the other side of a freeway from the rest of downtown similar to Dynamo Stadium.

 

St. Louis was a fascinating place. So much potential. So many grand brick buildings. So much decay. You can really tell it used to be an "it" city 100 years ago. 

From 1900 to around 1915 they were the 4th largest city. Had a remarkable World's Fair. Their population peaked in 1950 and has since fallen over 50%.