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Brooklyn173

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Everything posted by Brooklyn173

  1. Brooklyn173
    I was in the art store next door yesterday and they said that they had to be out by the 31st. So, when do you think demolition and the new foundation will start for tower 2? My guess is that they'll want to do it as quickly as possible to maintain the construction economies of being established next door. No idle time could mean serious cost savings.
  2. Brooklyn173
    I passed the site today on the light rail and it looks as if the northeast corner of the building is already being torn down. There were lots of bricks flying as some equipment was tearing down the wall.
  3. Brooklyn173
    Any idea at what point Cayden starts on the second tower?
  4. Brooklyn173
    Page 19 has some details http://ridemetro.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=5&clip_id=1651&meta_id=37658
  5. Brooklyn173
    I'd like to see what the other blocks are going to be filled with. While the renderings are encouraging, it will take the whole development to 'make the neighborhood'. But, like those on this board, I am very optimistic.
  6. Brooklyn173
    I wonder how long Randalls will last here. With Whole Foods coming and the very limited size of the grocery and their larger corporate issues, I don't think this Randalls is long for the world. I read a while back about Golds Gym (and the other gyms part of that company) looking to expand into vacant retail spaces. I think that would be a nice addition to the community.
  7. Brooklyn173
    On a Sunday stroll, I noticed a drilling rig doing what looked to me like soil samples in the Central Bank parking lot between Milam and Travis (2217 Milam but the drilling was closer to Travis) in Midtown. The bank occupies the entire block. Pix attached. This is across the street from the new bar, Pour Behavior, that is supposed to open this winter at 2211 Travis St. I’m not sure what is going on there. Does anyone have any insights/baseless rumors?
  8. Brooklyn173
    Nicely done.
  9. Brooklyn173
    I too would love for this building to be saved and possibly even used as a focal point for whatever replaces the Pierce Elevated. As for Gracie Mansion, I'm not sure what you mean "in modern times", but it has only been the mayoral official residence since the 1940s. though George Washington did have a command headquarters there for a while in another building near the site. And, as far as my memory goes, all mayors (including DeBlasio now) have lived there - except for Bloomberg. The City took advantage of that opportunity by doing extensive renovation and modernization during that relative downtime. The building was still used for official functions during the 12 years of Mayor Mike. And, while a car dealer owner has apparently bought the site, and owns lots of other property around the area, why is everyone just assuming it'll be a car dealership? He (they?) are business people and may be positioning themselves to take advantage of the increasing interest in Midtown. As an aside, much of the high rise development on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River is owned and operated by a trucking magnate who just happened to own a lot of waterfront property when the waterfront was 'rediscovered'. Suddenly he realized that he was also now in the real estate development business. Now it is all highrises and new parks and homes. And Ed "How am I doing" Koch, was never married.
  10. Brooklyn173
    3300 Main
  11. Brooklyn173
    I'm still pretty new to Houston, so this is an honest question. The two Skyhouse apartments near the Bell Street light rail station seem to be to be roughly the same height and bulk and density to the ongoing Caydon project. However, the Skyhouse buildings do not seem to have had a dramatic effect on the surrounding neighborhood. The ground floor retail for the two buildings is still underdeveloped. Across the street is still vacant with no (?) rumors of development. Understanding that, while the two sites are probably just a mile or so apart and there is certainly a difference in the surrounding existing residential and entertainment development (i.e., bars), why is there such a consensus that Caydon will so dramatically change the Midtown area while Skyhouse hasn't had much impact on its neighborhood? And yes, I understand that a long-planned residential tower on Main Street is also now under construction just a few blocks away. To me, the Bell Street Station site seems more similar to the McGowen Street Station site than not. Bell is closer to the Downtown attractions while Caydon is closer to the more developed Midtown residential area. But beyond that, how different are they? I'm asking to be educated.
  12. Brooklyn173
    Multifamily Occupancy Up Sharply in Downtown Houston HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Downtown Houston has more than 8,000 residents, up from 3,800 in 2012 when the city began its Downtown Living Initiative, according to a new report by the Central Houston organization. The multifamily market in Downtown Houston registered an 11 percent gain in occupancy over the last year, hitting 70 percent occupancy, said Central Houston. Some 600 units are under construction, including the 271-unit $132 million high-rise project by Camden and the $54 million 229-unit Regalia at the Park by DLC Residential at 100 Crawford. Another 1,179 units are proposed in downtown. Multifamily construction is picking up again across Houston. Thirty-eight apartment communities, with a total of 10,207 units are under construction currently. Another 65 multifamily projects, with 18,238 units are proposed, according to Transwestern’s second quarter report. The citywide occupancy rate is 89,9 percent, Transwestern reported. Aug. 6, 2018 Realty News Report Copyright 2018 http://realtynewsreport.com/2018/08/06/multifamily-occupancy-up-sharply-in-downtown-houston/
  13. Brooklyn173
    In NYC (which here is all Manhattan, but as a Brooklyn boy I must add that the other boroughs are also going through significant development changes), it is a mixed bag. Older buildings with small floor footprints in areas like downtown are often repurposed to residential. FiDi (Financial District) is now a real neighborhood where 20 years ago it was an area where no one lived. New and bigger developments are going ahead in older rail and industrial areas. The Westside Yards, over an active rail yard, is probably the biggest, but there are others. The city just re-zoned East Midtown (roughly north and east of Grand Central Terminal) to allow bigger as-of-right buildings. Many of the older office buildings predate the 1959 zoning resolution and are larger than what would be allowed by zoning. The recent change in zoning to a greater FAR will likely spur the complete knockdown and reconstruction for newer, more modern (hi-tech) buildings. (Btw, these new building will be required to pay into a transit fund to increase/improve pedestrian and public transit in the area). This was a major focus for the Bloomberg Administration before they left office. The EIS and approvals were finalized about a year ago. The zoning changes are now in place. There is a large building (1,400 ft tall) going up close to GCT (started before the zoning changes but requiring variances now codified in the new zoning regs, and has been required to fund $200+ Million to pedestrian and public transit improvements at GCT and the surrounding area) and I think that will be finished in a couple of years (https://www.onevanderbilt.com/). Expect similar smarter, newer and shinier buildings in that mode for Midtown. I don't think Houston has a neighborhood that is a Midtown or even Downtown Manhattan counterpart. Maybe older automobile-oriented cities like LA and similar would be a better comparison. I know almost nothing about LA. I know almost nothing about a lot of things.
  14. Brooklyn173
    The covering is off now and the concrete in front of it has been replaced. I only took a quick look but there appears to be lights in the sidewalk now that will shine up on the mural. At least that's my guess...
  15. Brooklyn173
    Interesting amenities planned for Caydon's projects. "Caydon will provide the top-of-the-range Amazon Echo Plus in each of the 1,205 apartments in the Hall St and Margaret St buildings in the Mason Sq. precinct of Melbourne. Caydon is also in talks to bring the deal to its first American condominium development, the 29-story 8th and Cherry Street project slated to break ground in Seattle next year, and is in the planning stages of similar digitization integrations at its 27-story The Midtown multifamily project currently underway at 2850 Fannin St. in Houston." http://www.costar.com/News/Article/Residential-High-Rise-Developer-to-Include-Amazons-Alexa-in-Every-New-Unit/201769
  16. Brooklyn173
    Thx
  17. Brooklyn173
    I'm just curious. Has anyone ever done a population weighted 'center' of the Houston SMSA?
  18. Brooklyn173
    Maybe it's just me, but I thought the reference to Fiesta and design decisions was just sarcasm regarding the 'love' for the Sears building.
  19. Brooklyn173
    Some early concept drawings https://archpaper.com/2018/05/west-8-reveals-plans-houstons-first-botanic-garden/
  20. Brooklyn173
    "They could really exacerbate it coming to fruition with some investment money and technology." I'll assume that you meant 'expedite' since exacerbate means to make a problem or situation worse.
  21. Brooklyn173
    This whole project sounds amazing and almost exactly as I would have envisioned it in my urban design fantasies. The last item on my wish list would be to have Rice University open up a new Computer Science building there, with state of the art computer facilities for classes, leased time, etc. This would help prime the pump in the area with new people and a new culture. Maybe even dormitories in the future. But I can't really complain based on all of the good news coming from Wheeler nowadays. Related but completely different, NYC has a wonderful example of a department store's transformation to an academic institution. Completely different architecture and environment, but if you ever get a chance, a visit to the CUNY Graduate Center (nee: B. Altman's Department Store) on 5th and 34th. The interior is completely changed (and wonderful) and the exterior is as handsome as it ever was. http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2013/04/b- altmans-palace-of-trade-moves-uptown.html
  22. Brooklyn173
    The scaffolding has been coming down slowly the last month or more. The Main Street (light rail) side scaffolding is still up. Ii don't know about the ground floor commercial. The leasing office is open and the other spaces seem to me to be tenant areas (mail boxes, community rooms, that sort of thing) when I compared it to the apartment building across the street. The park is beautiful and the designers and buildings deserve a pat on the back for their work. Now it just needs to be maintained at a high level. I'm new to Houston and originally from NYC and a big fan of street front commercial, but considering all of the vacant street front commercial around this area (and others), would it matter if there was more street front commercial added in this development? I know the area is changing dramatically with all of the new construction, but I'd like to see the existing commercial space absorbed before more is thrown on the market. But I'm new in these parts, and I've been wrong before, so maybe I am wrong again. Every market is unique. What I'd really like is some larger commercial development added to Midtown (retail stores like Target or similar, BedBathBeyond type store, multiplex movie theaters, sporting goods, office supply, etc). That is what I think is missing now.
  23. Brooklyn173
    The article was written by a NYTimes staff writer and was originally published in the Times. Here is the original link. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/business/post-office-redevelopment.html The 'golden age' quote came from someone at Lovet (Kirby Liu). It's not an editorial comment from the Times. The Watertown newspaper just carried it as a syndicated story. As far as I know, it has no other relationship with the NYT.
  24. Brooklyn173
    I wouldn't get too literal with the rendering. It's generally more of a conceptual and emotive image and not meant to be technical. There's a reason they don't give paint brushes to engineers.
  25. Brooklyn173
    It has nothing to do with what I noticed a while back around the old Sears, but more rumors for the Wheeler Station area and other sites. http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Innovation-Corridor-could-be-lasting-legacy-of-12529073.php
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