AnTonY

I'd certainly make the trade if that were the only choice. Otherwise, I'd rather not have an arbitrary height-cap as well. Let the city grow and breathe east without any cookie-cutter regulations to increase COL.

11 hours ago, Naviguessor said:

Houston doesn’t have lax zoning. 

Houston doesn’t have zoning. 

"Lax" because it still has some regulations on development that would typically be packaged in a zoning ordinance. And some of these regulations actually limit the urban growth of the city.

On 3/12/2019 at 11:42 AM, Angostura said:

 

Don't need 'em.

 

I'd rather we get buildings that look good from the sidewalk, rather than from a helicopter, freeway or rendering. You can actually get tons of density at mid-rise heights as long as you don't surround the buildings with surface parking or green space that no one ever sets foot in. They've also managed to keep the internal rights-of-way reasonably narrow.

 

Cities like Paris and Barcelona achieve really high densities with essentially nothing over 8 stories.

On 3/12/2019 at 1:30 PM, Sky-guy said:

See Washington, DC

Houston has lax zoning, anyway, so the sky rises would go up as long as the market demands it.

We'll deal with the gators and moccasins the same way they in Australia deal with crocs and taipans.

This development will truly set great precedent for linear development farther east down the bayou. Houston is going to become a real Bayou City! Much more long-term value than staying out west, with nothing but flat land and cow pastures.

13 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

 

I’d go for the Swimming Hole as part of the development first.

 

The Bayou has water quality issues ... not sure why people would want to kayak in it.

Or have both.

The bayou water quality issues are mainly a factor for the eastern end near the industry. And even that area would afford the best recreation for this city if it gets cleaned up.

@JJxvi, and also the section of the bayou (narrow upstream vs wider downstream).

29 minutes ago, kennyc05 said:

The shot from Buffalo Bayou the weakest shot of the skyline lol!!!!!!!

Again, looking in from the west or the north?

The northside bayou view isn't perfect yet, but it has some BIG TIME potential: natural frame along the waterfront, combined with clear visage of both historic buildings (allowing one to see the true age of this city) and cool modern buildings (Market Square Tower, 609 Main, etc). A few new buildings, and it will become the signature skyline shot (with the south view coming in at a close second). On the other hand, the west side bayou view puts too much focus on the ugly 80s boxes, which are spaced out in a way that makes the city look suburban.

22 hours ago, kennyc05 said:

I hate that shot with a passion!!!!!!!

The western, right?

On 7/2/2018 at 4:06 PM, Timoric said:

Great pic, really shows off the new buildings on the left thickening and extending the skyline

Yep. But recently, I've been feeling that the skyline is sort of a lost cause from the western shot. On the other hand, the northern shot has much better attractive potential: better framing, along with good orientation of building geometry.

22 hours ago, Angostura said:

This shows what's possible when you build a compact street grid in what used to be a large industrial site. Contrast this with what's happening west of downtown, where similar (albeit smaller) sites are developed as surface parking lots dotted with big box retail and pad sites. And Midway will end up making a lot more money per acre.

East side has more natural desirability than west side ever will have. There, I said it.

As for the whole Amazon thing, the failure of HERO back in 2015 is likely what killed Houston's chances, especially in conjunction with other factors. LGBT friendliness is a huge (but unspoken) factor regarding Amazon's HQ2 search:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-amazon-headquarters-gay-rights-20180427-story.html

No city in a red state will get picked.

4 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

The structure isn't windowless. It's just the cladding on top. 

Yep, there's an art deco construct hidden behind the facade:

Way too far away from Houston. What a big miss on the development.

On 4/3/2018 at 11:27 AM, Angostura said:

 

This.

As long as most people drive most places, the market will demand a significant amount of parking (whether city-mandated or not). And the #1 predictor of how many people arrive at a given destination by private vehicle is activity density (the number of residents + jobs in a given area). As long as 1/2 to 3/4 of the land area of even the most valuable parts of our city are dedicated to automobiles, the activity density will never be high enough to result in people choosing other forms of transportation. 

 

So every s.f. of structured parking is a s.f. of land freed up for other development. We need to build more parking garages so that, someday, we won't need so many parking garages.

Or just end parking minimums city wide.

5 hours ago, John Shepherd said:

 

Yaupon Holly is another great Houston native plant that you don't see nearly enough of

Maybe not the city proper, but I've seen them used prominently in suburban landscaping. 

@HoustonIsHome, mostly good choices. Quite a few deciduous trees are indeed good in context (i.e. vitex, bald cypress, etc).

@kbates2, no, not to my knowledge.

The less parking garages, the better.

@HoustonIsHome: totally agree that there are lots of beautiful natives to use. But I also feel that they should be less conservative with their use of (suitable) exotic plants, both overseas and domestic. That will take landscaping in this city to the next level.

Landscapers in this city need to use more exotics instead of just staying native. More palms and broadleaved evergreens, please. Spice things up around here.

@samagon, you still have time to play. The golf course operations there don't end until April 1.

@Twinsanity02, yup. Despite what people are thinking, these things aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

1 hour ago, Texasota said:

 I'm scared.

Of what?

37 minutes ago, Avossos said:

For reference - The Dallas Arboretum is their botanical garden. It is a little out East but not too bad. it gets 1,000 people per day... It is amazing and truly beautiful.

 

I bet ours can be just as good or better.

Yeah, if Dallas can do it, then so can Houston's. Even at Glenwood, the garden will still spur enough revitalization to connect East End with the rest of the city.

@Ross, nevermind. Just was going off some initial street-views of the area along the bayou trails.

Another thing: how come Mason Park wasn't considered as an option for this project?

@Naviguessor, actually, upon closer inspection, Glenbrook still looks to be salvageable as an urban location, so far that any future PT line to Hobby is placed along Broadway St. But the resulting urban development is best confined to the triangle bounded by 610, 45S, and Sims Bayou. If need be, 610 and 45S along the area can be sunken, and converted into deck parks to complement the new garden.

Still wouldn't beat the Gus location, though.

@Naviguessor, hopefully the benefits of Gus (light rail connection, urban fabric, etc) can be replicated at Glenbrook. Otherwise, there's a bit of a loss in terms of potential. 

@bobruss, it's still accessible as a golf course, as work hasn't begun yet. It will be closed off starting April 1.