On 9/15/2019 at 10:42 AM, Amlaham said:

 

I love Whataburger but I also love In-N-Out! Thought this video was pretty cool. 

I'm in the Whataburger NEVER "in-n-out" camp and damned proud of it.  but, hey, try for yourself and enjoy it if you like it.

On 11/17/2019 at 4:12 PM, ekdrm2d1 said:

Rendering.

 

 

excellent design and eye catching.  exactly what we need more of in this area and downtown btw.

20 hours ago, Skyboxdweller said:

It’s a beautiful day in the hood. 

gorgeous blue Houston sky and why Fall Winter and Spring are Houston's best (comfortable) seasons.  Although, summer really ain't too shabby either, considering all there is to do at that time of year.  This building is going up quickly now.  I'm so happy to see it's progress.  thanks for the pic !

9 minutes ago, ChannelTwoNews said:

Larger version of the above rendering now on the Mathis Group website...

 

wow, pretty cool looking just for parking, and I love it !

3 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

 

So entrepreneurialism-by-committee hasn't worked anywhere else, but it will work in Houston because we have some special, "local" brand of activism that's different from the usual kind?

 

By the way, this sort of thing is pretty new to Houston. Our past development has not been a combination of "activism, progress AND development in a carefully thought out environment." About 99.9% of it was pure self-interest on the developer's part, which has been good for everyone, since it's in a developer's interest to build something that people want.

 

 

Yep, just like I said.  Houston is a different animal totally and if a well thought out cooperating committee is going to work anywhere, it is here because of our can-do attitude.  Our residents in the area are way more prouder of Houston than in the old days and thankfully, there's a whole new crop of younger people that have moved in that are willing to work with existing and historic ideas, while introducing new ones.  Sort of thinking outside of the box and yes, this includes NEW and existing local developers from what I can tell.  But, see for yourself I suppose.  I've only lived in the area for approximately 50 years, so maybe just not enough observation and experience on my part.

3 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

 

Everyone should carefully read that article, especially the part where it says that this will be "the first CBA in Houston." What you will see in that article is a prime example of how development takes place in cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Baltimore, etc. Cities where activism has replaced entrepreneurialism, and grievance has eclipsed growth. Cities that other cities look upon with fear and describe with terms usually associated with the toilet. Cities that have been sitting ducks for Houston over the past 50 years as we've surpassed one after the other.

 

If this kind of thing takes hold here, bid a fond farewell to the growing, dynamic boomtown that we've been. The most worrisome part of all of it is the role that academics are playing. No one understands economic reality less than an academic, with the possible exception of business and economics professors (emphasis on possible). These are people who generally have stayed in school their entire lives, whose advancement has depended on their ability to flourish inside of a kind of mandarin system of groupthink, where any time spent in the "real world" is looked upon with skepticism and distrust, where any pushing against settled academic norms and conventions is swiftly and viciously (and often silently) punished, usually with loss of opportunity to advance further. Academic involvement in real estate development is like putting sugar in a gas engine or salt in a garden. They are the antibodies of progress, total agents of destruction. They would probably laugh giddily, print it out, and post it in their department hallway if they read this post. And it would be the only tangible thing they accomplished in the entire week.

 

Next post I'll tell you what I really think.

 

Pardon me, but holy crap what a crock of old world thinking. 

Houston is a forward progressive town whether the "old guard" likes it or not.  The founders of this great City as well as civic leaders and mayor after mayor have demonstrated this time and time again to our great success as one of the major metropolises in America.  Our diversity, education and well paid work force (because most Houston employers know the value of their own human resources - people) will always make sure we grow, especially with our own local brand of "activism" pointed in a forward direction of meaningful evolution of ideas and thoughts.  and guess what ?  it CAN be done and will be done here because of our can-do approach to any and all local, regional and national problems, knowing full well that a stagnant city without growth and development isn't a model that would ever work in Houston.  It is a combination of both activism, progress AND development in a carefully thought out environment that fosters both, but honors the historic past.  And, when I say "honors the past" I mean honors the past that was good, not honoring bad experiments and ideals that didn't work or ended up doing more harm than good.

So, I would suggest having more of an open mind about the Ion development and seeing where it goes before trying to drag it into the national conversation over progress versus development, which IMHO is a complete false choice, much like environmental changes and planning for ongoing climate change, versus jobs - complete nonsense and old 20th century thinking.

On 11/8/2019 at 6:55 PM, hindesky said:

From the tower crane operator on Sept. 6th.

Wow, spectacular photo of our dynamic Houston skyline(s) and very interesting weather phenomenon - unparalleled IMHO.

18 hours ago, hindesky said:

Wow, wish all our developments were able to move forward at the high speed of this one.  This is phenomenally fast IMHO.

really wish this tower would start to happen soon.  starting to get a little worried about it, though.  It's been "in the works" for a very long time, just like the new "Chevron Tower" we've all been dreaming of...

2 minutes ago, enriquewx91 said:

This is awesome!! 48 stories is probably the max they can go for in Midtown though so don't expect a 50+ building mostly because Midtown is directly under the Arrival Procedure for Hobby RWY 13R and it is the most used runway at HOU. That's the only reason i think midtown will never have a supertall building, FAA won't allow it. 

I've read many times now, that this height restriction because of Hobby Airport, is pure bunk, and I tend to agree.  There is no approach that far from downtown that brings airlines even close enough to a tall building that it might "hit" on the way to landing.  It is a myth I've heard over and over as an excuse for these developers to stop at 50 stories.  More importantly, and maybe a big factor, is the rumor that anything above 50 floors supposedly increases the cost of the building exponentially due to the need for multiple elevator shafts, etc...  Perhaps, but then what explains, other than just excessive oil income for certain developers, the Williams Tower, Chase Tower, and a few others way over 50 stories ?  Vanity ?  I say good, we need a bit more vanity around this town.  After all, there is no vanity large enough in Texas to overcome the bloated self image of certain cities to the far North or central Texas by a long shot ! LOL!  Remember "Houston Proud"?  Maybe we should all live that way in our day to day lives and by example increase tourism as people are hungry for a different kind of urban experience, but one that is friendly to pedestrians and mass transit users ?  At this point, I'd say it's just a matter of money and the will to erect a few super talls (well over 1100 feet) to make Texas' larger than life reputation just that more genuine, especially in the nation's FOURTH (about to be THIRD) largest city in America.  It is way past time we should have taken our rightful place in this country.  However, because of so much caution by those with the money and power, it will take some time to achieve.  After Rome wasn't even built in a day, either.  Take this as you want to, but I know I'm correct in my assumptions after so many years of watching, observing and participating in Houston's architecture movements and on this awesome forum.  Just my 2.5 cents worth.

On 10/5/2019 at 1:29 PM, H-Town Man said:

 

We just need to build a tourism industry. Downtown is drawing people from the suburbs for staycations, Astros games with an overnight stay, etc., but word has not gotten around the state yet. Actually I have met some couples here in Austin who like going to Houston for things; they are not originally from Texas and so haven't been infected with the anti-Houston mentality. We need to keep building up the local draw and then work our way outwards.

Amen !  I've been saying something similar to this for decades on this forum.  Mostly, I get a beating down by a few posters about "not being mean to" fill in the blank ....  other cities, etc... which imho is a bunch of full on b.s. !

15 hours ago, Triton said:

 

Photo with newer camera (still not 100%)

 

Hardy Yards by Marc longoria, on Flickr

 

Hardy Yards by Marc longoria, on Flickr

 

 

 

beautiful shots !  shout outs and  thanks goes to Marc Longoria as always !

8 minutes ago, ChannelTwoNews said:

https://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/Kimpton-Hotels-to-open-first-Houston-property-in-14488855.php

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow !  Now that is an interesting design and great height if they go for it.  Exciting for the area without a doubt.

2 hours ago, brijonmang said:

I'm not having any luck viewing it... it's keeping me at a login page.  Do you need an account to view them now?

same happening to me when I try to login using any of the login techniques

On 9/16/2019 at 5:38 PM, JBTX said:

Sadly, the tree is gone.

 

Maybe if we had those Greenpeace protesters tie themselves to this instead of the bridge...

 

 

yes, very sad.  those protestors were basically at the wrong debate and preaching to the choir.  still a colorful newsworthy spectacle that keeps Houston in the spot light - can't complain too much

3 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

https://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/Caydon-s-luxe-Midtown-tower-not-for-luddites-14420409.php

 

 

 

Wow, 48 stories !  That's as tall as any of the new buildings that have been completed in central downtown in the past 5 years or so.  Hope it sparks a super-tall trend...maybe...

2 hours ago, august948 said:

I'm sure the incentives help, and developers will gobble those up if they're offered, but the economics have to work as well or the developers or their successors will end up with an albatross.  As for breaking up the areas into smaller municipalities, that's a double-edges sword in a metro like ours.  Local control can bring faster and finer-tuned  change, but the trade-off is increased balkanization and nimbyism.  I lived in Atlanta for a while and it's metro area is much more balkanized than we are.  That results in endless bickering about region-wide improvements.  The one of particular note in my mind was the MARTA rail system.  Rail system expansion there has been stymied by the surrounding municipalities so that it' doesn't go much further than the Perimeter (their version of the Loop here).  You think we have disagreements now about Metro expansion? Try making everything outside the loop into many separate municipalities.

Agreed !  This redevelopment in Stafford of an existing large site also shows that developers are willing to buy up and improve just about anywhere within the realm of the "Houston area" which bodes well for the entire area's future improvement.

Plus, I think Houston needs to really start annexing land and neighborhoods again like it used to in the 70's and 80's so there aren't as many outlying "towns" and "villages" all with unwieldy city governments and citizens to start complaining always about "Houston did this, or Houston does that" and "we don't want to be like Houston".  That is a bunch of B.S. IMHO.  If you don't want to be "like Houston" simply move far away.  This city has been in existence since 1836 and so it is a very old well established, yet dynamic and ever changing region.  Most locals know that after they've lived here a year or two.  That's the time to realize that this way of existing for our great city isn't going to change any time soon.  I for one, welcome one large municipality using local resources and talent to run the city with a large and broad vision for the future, not one of a bunch of small privileged towns and villages attached at the fringe that want to simply try to "keep Houston and Houstonians out" or worse.  Thanks goodness we can leave that old worn out multiple "cities" and "towns" making up an area to a place like DFW, a nightmare in itself and certainly not as much diversity, development, improvement or progress as we have, and always have had, in the greater Houston area.  Yes, there is some of that in the closer suburbs, but as we've witnessed in recent years, that model is dying and more and more people want to be a part of this bigger entity and even live downtown (OMG heaven forbid!).

I've read articles not long ago that the "brilliant" Texas legislature has made it more difficult for big cities to annex surrounding and adjacent areas where there is obviously no separate municipality in control and even where the residents would prefer to be a part of the larger city.  Where this came from is anybody's guess, but we are talking about the Texas legislative philosophy in the last few decades that has done little to improve life state wide.  Evidence appears to indicate that most if not all, positive changes innovations are being initiated by the big cities, especially Houston, and are then spreading as word of successes spread.  In this day and age of rapid information transfer, this is a good thing.  It means necessary and/or desired changes to the way we run our city(ies) happens much faster in response to the citizenry.

Sorry for the long rant, but all of this is important and necessary to weigh in considering the benefits of these mostly inner city building projects, AND in consideration of future expansion as the people desire and can be conveyed to the local governments.  I feel as though there are many more people out there in our region that desire inclusion in the bigger picture, instead of exclusivity and isolationism that goes with incorporating "new" cities or suburbs/subdivisions.  I think we have enough outlying municipalities already, it's time to expand the City as needed in the directions where there is a desire by the residents and room to grow, our currently legislative process allowing.

10 hours ago, Triton said:

The lit up clock tower looks really amazing, especially with the city skyline in the background. I'll have to wait until my next camera comes in until I get good night shots again... Here's what I got for now:

 

Hardy Yards Downtown Houston at Night by Marc longoria, on Flickr

I'm loving the contrast and all the colors added to downtown's night skyline, and very visible, even from this distance.  Thanks for the cool photo !

On 8/24/2019 at 11:05 PM, mkultra25 said:

 

An eternal debate between equally partisan camps, which will never be resolved. Which side you land on usually depends on whether you grew up in California or Texas. I eat at Whataburger more often than I should, so I'm partial to it, but on the occasions I've had In-N-Out in California, I thought it was a pretty good burger, definitely a place I'd patronize regularly if they ever build one here that's more convenient to me than Stafford or Katy. 

 

The best burger I've ever had was the chili cheeseburger with a fried egg on top at the late, lamented Jay's Jayburger in LA, the backstory of which can be found here.

 

Whataburger rules ! IN and Out ?  Gag me totally, and they are small and overpriced.

On 8/17/2019 at 8:08 PM, nyc_tex said:

^{Over the last twenty years the number of FT tenure and tenure track positions have diminished by roughly the same proportion of admin jobs that have been created- - of course, this is occurring at differing degrees depending upon the types of institutions as shown in those charts. The last statistical estimation I saw placed nearly 2/3rd of all higher ed faculty as PT/contingent.  Yet, the average cost of a college degree has nearly quadrupled in the same time period. Tenure, for all intent and purpose, is teetering on total collapse, less so at top ranked privates and publics but it's only a matter of time.}  

^{With a pending educational bubble explosion, unless something is done about all the unpaid debt (college debt now exceeds average credit card debt per capita) as wages have ONLY increased for those in the top 10%, the country may be in a world of hurt in the next decade or two.} 

 

 

Agreed.  But, there are those in power at high levels that are trying desperately to sound the alarm about the historic and record breaking student loan debt that even those of middle age still owe and how the rates are so high, they'll probably never be able to pay those debts off.  Some relief has to come soon, or the beginning and younger graduates out of high school will no longer have college as a viable option, especially once they realize their own parents are still struggling with student loan payments with high interest rates.  It seems that the student loan banking industry has more power to get what's "owed" them than even the IRS and those guys are ruthless, by going after a person's relatives and estate even after one has died.  Maybe the adage should be rewritten to say "death, taxes, and student loans".  Anyway, something has to be done and soon before this "bubble" bursts just like the housing one did 12 years ago.  If not, having beautiful colleges and incredible faculty won't matter much if the students can't afford to even walk through the front door.

cool.  these renderings sure have a "space city" feel to them, which I think makes sense and it's something different than most of what we've seen being developed lately around town.  thanks for the screen shots !

2 hours ago, Twinsanity02 said:

I'll put my two cents in. If the choice is between numerous mid size buildings ( 20 to 50 floors)  to a one or two super (300 meters+) or mega tall (600 meters+), I prefer the midsize skyscrapers. These mid size skyscrapers have done a nice job of filling up our downtown and adding to the skyline. The Hines buildings are wonderful examples of this as are several others.   Nevertheless I would love a few supertalls like One Vanderbilt in the downtown. I understand the market doesn't justify it, but one can dream. 

absolutely my point too, agreed.

3 hours ago, rechlin said:

 

I seem to recall reading here a year or two ago that one developer (Hines maybe?) said that with typical office floor plate sizes (presumably in the 25-28k square foot range), 45-50 stories or so (assuming that includes a parking podium of 10-12 stories with its own separate elevators) was the limit of a conventional 3-bank elevator system.  If you want to go higher, you need to start doing more complicated elevator systems (such as skylobbies or dual-floor elevators), though maybe the new elevator systems where you select your floor when calling the elevator (for increased efficiency) could allow taller buildings with just 3 elevator banks.  So I think their point was that making a building more than about 45-50 floors will make the price per square foot go up enough that it's harder to justify in Houston.

Your ideas definitely make sense if the elevator situation is what sets the limit here locally.  I do recall working in the First City Tower (back when it was known as that) and touring the Transco Tower (way back when as well), and they have multiple elevator shafts that stop going up at various levels, and that also begin at certain floor levels, more than two or three if I remember correctly in Transco, which is 65 stories (and an incredibly beautiful super tall building).  I guess the cost was easier to cover back then before prices for just about everything went up faster in some areas, not so fast in other areas, but still a steady rise overall - over 30 years now, including construction materials and labor.  However, I know for a fact that Houston has some mighty wealthy developers and locals just like any other city, even the 3 larger cities in America that are bigger than Houston, and you know, prestige and bragging rights do come to mind.  In Texas at least, that makes a HUGE difference to most of us architecturally minded people.  It almost becomes reminiscent of a sport - go figure...  I hope Houston will always remain the biggest and best city in Texas as it already is, but adding more taller buildings would be some mighty tasty frosting on the cake, indeed !

2 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

 

I think if you are a person who likes skyscrapers in general, then especially liking supertalls pretty much follows. It's the age-old fascination with height. When the people of Beauvais built a taller cathedral than all the other French cathedrals, probably some folks grumbled about the vanity of height, but most of the townsfolk were probably happy about the situation.

 

Would you be cool if Dallas had a taller building than Houston? How about Austin?

 

Thank you for putting it the way you did here.  And, NO I would absolutely NOT be okay with dallas or austin having a taller building.  It's a Texas thing I suppose down here, but that would so not be cool at all !

I'm just going to throw this out here, as I haven't read anyone else specifically ask about it on this forum.  But, why is the magic "ceiling" in downtown not exceeding 50 "stories" any longer ?  Is there some sort of exponentially higher costs associated with adding floors at 50 and above ?  Don't get me wrong, I'm very appreciative of all these mid height tall buildings we've gotten in the past 8 to 10 years, without a doubt.  But, seems strange that every time something is proposed at 50 plus stories, it either sits on the table for years and dies, or is cancelled altogether.  Cases in point, El Museo Tower 54 floors (although not in downtown, but further south) and the new Chevron Tower right at 50 floors, still pending with no movement on the project in at least 5 years now.

I know the 1980's were a different time in Houston and America in general, and there were some high powered forces that allowed us to get our "super tall" buildings downtown at the time, but I really can't imagine what is keeping these sorts of taller projects from happening again, especially at this time in Houston.

Just my two cents and maybe someone in this forum has some factual insight on this.  I would love to see a move toward some super talls downtown soon, especially like they have been doing in NY and other international cities where they are pretty skinny, but very tall.  Seems like that would be a money saver in and of itself?