BeerNut

I think the original plan was to convert the "tower" into an office.  With the current glut of office space hopefully they turn it into residential. 

Rats, unkempt yards, garbage: Where Houston violates its own property laws

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Since 2017, city inspectors have found more than 3,700 nuisance violations on properties owned by public entities — the city of Houston, Harris County, the state of Texas, school districts, Metro Transit Authority, and a host of others, including parks boards and housing authorities — according to data obtained through a public information request.

I've been to Understory a few times.  It's like people don't even know that it's open outside of lunch hours.  All the other food halls downtown seem to have more people in the evening than Understory.  How's the lunch crowd here?

5 hours ago, editor said:

But my guess is that if buildings do go up on those lots, they will have parking at the bottom, and will be equipped with a pedestrian bridge, which is not great for the neighborhood.

I thought the parking garage is planned to handle all parking for the area once complete.

I'm putting my money on Grand Hyatt.

I live a few blocks from this intersection...the amount of accidents here was insane before this was done.  

First look: Houston Zoo sets opening date for 'Galápagos Islands,' introduces animals' new habitats

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The wait for "Galápagos Islands," the crown jewel of Houston Zoo's centennial capital campaign, is nearly over. The state-of-the-art, $70 million structure opens to the public on April 7, Houston Zoo announced.

5 hours ago, 004n063 said:

Any chance POST gets some of these murals?

Does POST have any large exterior walls?

https://www.papercitymag.com/real-estate/houston-downtown-new-hines-district-texas-tower-brava-skyscrapers-skyline-legacy/

"Calling a shopping mall or a mixed-use development a “district” has become something of a marketing gimmick. With many developers, it means little except branding. Everyone wants to tell you about their “district” these days. But Hines actually created a real-life district within the city, not some artificial environment that wouldn’t otherwise exist."

US rail projects take longer, cost more than those in Europe

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The reasons for the cost and time burdens are many, the report said. U.S. public transit agencies rarely have the structure, authority or experience to deliver a major transit construction project, which requires support from local jurisdictions, the ability to acquire land as necessary, secure local permits to close streets and relocate utilities, and flexibility to hire top talent to lead the project, according to the report. Agency staff also need appropriate training in order to manage projects, construction staff and consultants, it added.

Does anyone have any information about the future Metro rail stop in EaDo near 816 Ennis St?

Frontline interviews several of the scientist involved.  This is the first episode in a three part series. 

Maybe "Dock High"  is the name of the path.  🤷‍♂️

18 hours ago, BEES?! said:

I do agree we should be installing more bike parking etc. though, for people’s private bikes. It would be really cool to see something like what they have in Tokyo.
Though we’re more security-conscious so that would be a tough sell in the US. We don’t even really do coin lockers anymore :/

Or something like this.  https://www.ooneepod.com/

23 minutes ago, editor said:

I'm not clear what you are trying to say here.  Are you suggesting that developers should be required to have more parking in order to bring more people into dense areas, or just the opposite?

Every developer I've worked with tries to minimize parking in their buildings because it's basically non-revenue space.  In Chicago, developers flock to areas near train stations because they are allowed to have less parking, which means more revenue-generating office and residential space.  It's even codified in city ordinance as "Transit-oriented development."

Get rid of parking minimums.  Was trying to make a snarky comment referencing how everyone talks about Houston lack of zoning but we still have parking minimums. 

One of my issues with adding more lanes is future liabilities.  EV ownership and gas mileage increases present funding challenges for continued maintenance if funding is tied to gas tax .  Increased weight will also wear down roads faster.  

At some point there should be a limit to how many lanes you cram down your core city.  

We should get rid of the zoning through parking minimums inside the loop to allow denser housing to be built.  Maybe with some affordability component that would allow more people to live closer in and we wouldn't need to keep increasing lanes.

https://www.downtownhouston.org/calendar/trebly-park-grand-opening/110382/

What project is everybody looking forward to being completed this year?  Also any predictions/dreams on lots/buildings that currently haven't been announced.

I'll go first... I'm looking forward to Discovery West being completed.  My prediction(wishful thinking) is that the old downtown Holiday Inn is sold to a company that actually has a plan to do something with it.

If they turn it into anything that is a draw then access will be limited on event days.  I doubt the Texans and HLSR want to share and want to keep all the space to themselves during their events.  Maybe the county can sell some of the parking to fund whatever they want to do with the dome but if another tax vote to save the dome is on the ballot I'll be voting no again.

I somehow managed to miss all of the trouble.  Flew into LGA on 12/26 and flew home 12/30 no issues.  I did preemptively book hotel rooms if we got stuck in NYC for new years.  I have no plans to quit using SWA for domestic flights and cheap international getaways.  With TSA precheck I normally leave my house less than a hour(I've cut it way closer if getting dropped off) before boarding vs IAH leaving minimum 2hrs before boarding because of typical bs trying to fly out of there.

7 hours ago, Triton said:

Good to hear it is staying. JP Morgan has most execs and VPs from NYC and London stay at this location, and we've heard nothing but good things about it whenever someone stays there.

I've stayed here once and it's a really nice hotel.  My room had an ipad in it for guest services which didn't work.  Spoke with the front desk and they said none of them worked correctly.