KinkaidAlum

if all of these turn out to be the garden-style variety, then Houston will lose out again.

My bet is that all of these new projects will be security accessed, gated, residential enclaves with plenty of surface parking and maybe a token garage or two. Maybe we'll even see a sidewalk.

In the end, they will all end up being class B projects over time as something new and better with more granite countertops will be built just down the street.

This is a big YAWNer.

When I lived in Houston, I used the Angelika Theater all the time for movies. That place seems to do well (or at least it did).

The worst thing going for Bayou Place (and the Wortham and Aquarium for that matter) is that it is located in a sort of no man's land. You take your life in danger when trying to walk around there as all of the Westsiders who are fleeing downtown in their luxury vehicles speed through that area as Prairie becomes a freeway just past the light at Brazos.

One thing that could save the area is the Buffalo Bayou Master Plan. If they could link the places with a nice walkway that is safe, well-lit, attractive, and well marked with signs, then we might have something. I noticed last time that I was in town that some sort of work is taking place along the bayou right there. Lets hope its something more than just flood control!

Also, hopefully then the Hobby Center will realize it's grave mistake (turning its back to the Bayou and plopping down an eyesore of a garage on the banks). Maybe they will rip that pink crappy car holder down and add an addition that looks out onto the banks!

I can't see Tillman putting another Landry's owned facility (Joe's Crab Shack) right across the street from the Aquarium.

I'd also hate to see what type of "art galleries" would want to share space with a Hooters or a Rick's Cabaret!

The Mexican Consular Office is located in midtown close to the Spur.

I believe the French Consulate is located in a home on River Oaks (corner of Kirby and San Felipe?).

The Brazilian policies crack me up! They are basically making Americans put up with the same crap they have to put up with to travel from Brazil to the states. It didn't bother me one bit when I traveled down there last winter (Rio, Sao, and Floripa) but there was a story about an American Airlines pilot getting himself in quite a bit of a jam...

The latter.

The first two buildings she speaks of are very suburban looking. Heck, the one going up in Tanglewood is located in a neighborhood that used to be 100% residential.

In fact, the only one that looks "urban" at all is the one in The Woodlands. Go figure...

Starting teachers in poor inner city districts will make $20,000 a year if they are lucky and some moron who can swing a bat and catch a ball will make $119 MILLION.

Our country is nuts.

Just heard that the Monaco Condos are a no-go. Apparently, the price points were too high for the typical Houstonian who wants more space than a hi-rise can offer!

I have heard that they still plan on building a hi-rise on that site but they will revamp the entire project, drop many of the amenities, and start with lower price points and fewer units (thus, most likely a much smaller building). Was told this will be about 3 years away from actually happening though.

http://www.monacocondo.com/enlarge/images/new_monaco.jpg

Actually, I also don't mind the lack of lights. I'd rather work on street level activity during the day AND night as well as working on getting a higher occupancy level downtown.

As for the new courthouse dome being lit... even if they do light her in grand fashion, I'd give it about ONE week before there would be an official petition calling on turning off the lights because it's a waste of tax payer money... Building owners aren't the only cheap folks out there.

Hey Lowbrow-

That Star Market was nifty. I used to shop there quite a bit. However, Star has since been bought out by Shaw's. Shaw's actually just opened a HUGE store in the Prudential Center Mall right between Copley Mall and the Pru Mall. That place does a booming business.

Also, Whole Foods (formerly Bread and Circus) has a smaller prototype store right next to Symphony Hall. It's smaller than their average store but works out quite well.

In the South End, there are corner stores every three blocks or so and then there is Foodie's Urban Market. Foodie's rocks. It's on Washington Street in what used to be a really rough area (the Cathedral Housing Project is across the street) but now that Washington Street is a gateway street full of $500,000 condos, the mixture of shoppers at Foodies is unbeatable... Ricans from the Villa, blacks from the Cathedral, homos from the South End, and DINKs in the new condo lofts!

You're quite patronizing, midtowncoog.

So, apparently, if you think removing and elevated roadway which serves not only as an eyesore but also to cut off a neighborhood, then you aren't somehow a part of the real world?

Or if you are against a toll road through the Heights so that suburban commuters who avoid paying city taxes can whiz right by, you're a hippie?

Guess that makes me a proud hippie who doesn't live in the real world.

I am certainly glad that Houston used to have leaders with vision and we weren't a metro area inhabited mostly by people of your ilk. I'd hate to see what Houston would be right now without the ship chanel, the Texas Medical Center, Rice University, Intercontinental Airport, and a host of other things that I am sure were seen as pie-in-the-sky pipe dreams by those who didn't believe...

Do you ever have anything positive to say?

Even if what you say is true (that the entire North End of downtown is a wasteland) does that mean that we shouldn't do this project for the folks that are poor and still happen to live there?

Additionally, wouldn't a nice at-grade boulevard help with things that are on the drawing board like the Buffalo Bayou Master Plan and the proposed Hardy rail yard development?

Wouldn't this positively affect things like the San Jacinto and Dakota Lofts?

AND, just in case you weren't aware, here are a few townhomes going up right now in the shadows of the viaduct...

Sterrett Street Condos (18 units)

Richey Street (7 units)

I think the Rushmore Lofts is just the new name for the project that is already completed at the intersection of Elgin and Chenevert.

My facts are all taken off of the official www.tamu.edu website comparing enrollment trends and figures from 1999-2003. So, if you have a complaint with them, take it up with the institution!

Additionally, has it ever occured to you to ask why minorities are not wanting to attend ATM or is it just easier to say "we are accepting and they are rejecting?

As for my personal experiences with TAMU...

My older brother is a graduate.

I have been a "visiting" fan at numerous sporting events.

I have spoken to 4 undergraduate sociology classes as part of a speaker's bureau.

I have spent numerous weekends visiting friends who were students.

I have been to the Dixie Chicken.

I am sorry, but someone has to say it...

ATM can bring about a great sense of togetherness if you are WHITE.

As of 2003, out of the 44,813 students on campus, just 1,051 were African-American. I wonder how many of those were on athletic scholarship?

Since 1999, the student populations for African-Americans and Asian-Americans have DECLINED.

To this day, ATM remains over 82% white. That is shameful in a state as diverse as Texas.

Over the past few years, there have been major incidences of race-related problems on campus and a HUGE scandal involving rape and hazing in the sacred corp of cadets. Yet, most aggies turn a blind eye to these things and then spout off to outsiders that we "just don't understand" what it means to be an Aggie and that we have no business talking about "ATM family" issues!

Actually, 1900 Holcombe is a different project located across the street.

1900 is a proposal for a 30 floor residential tower featuring rental units. The developer is the same one that is constructing the Dominion on Post Oak building right now.

I am surprised nobody has mentioned this news... Lyme Properties of Cambridge, MA has announced that it has closed on property located at 1911 Holcombe between the Spires Condo and the Ronald McDonald House. Plans call for a building that will house 25,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space, 125,000 square feet of research and lab space, and 350,000 square feet of medical office space.

The best news is that Lyme Properties erects FIRST CLASS projects. Here's a look at a similar sized building rising in Boston's Longwood Medical Center right now. The Blackfan Research Center will have underground parking and rise 300 feet above ground (18 floors).

It's also another sign that the Texas Medical Center is really taking off. I cant wait to see what the Houston project will look like. To see more examples of Lyme's work, check out www.lymeproperties.com

What is up with this "Print It." nonsense?

What are you, twelve?

Apartments don't ruin a neighborhood. People who flee because they are too good to live near them do.

The first pic is of the Isabella. It is original and it is beautiful. One of those rare places that withstood the decay and never quite faded away.

Here are some more...

Here are some Midtown pics I took about two years ago.

Yes, there is definitely a Fox Sports Grill in the new Terminal E. It is actually quite neat. It is nicknamed the "Skybox" because it seems suspended up in the air near gates E 18 and 19.

I took a flight to EWR last week and you could hear the games being played on the large screen televisions from the boarding area.

Where in the hell did I say I was against all suburban development?

I was speaking directly about this location.

Additionally, if people would open their minds just a little bit, they'd realize that there are different type of development that can help out Houston in many ways.

Here are just a few pertaining to this site.

1) Parking garages instead of massive paved surface parking. This will reduce the heat island effect and will also reduce potential flooding problems not to mention reduce the pollution runoff of motor oil that will undoubtedly make it's way into White Oak Bayou from the proposed lot. AND, if the developers of this cash cow are feeling neighborly, they might even add a little green space as a token to the 'hood with the leftover land.

2) Get rid of pod sites. Setting up seperate sites for every little fast food joint or other establishment just increases the typical Houstonian's laziness. Instead, add the sites onto the Target store so that people wont be idling in their cars while waiting for their SuperTacos. With how fat we've become, we could use the short walk instead.

3) Build green. Instead of just building a plain big box store, build a big box store with a green roof and/or one made of recycled materials.

AND, before anyone starts shouting about increased expenses, I KNOW THAT. But, when do we as citizens start to demand more? We have rolled over and thrown our collective legs up into the air for developers for too long. It's time we make them pay for the ass-raping they give us!

Hell, these developers could spend quadruple the amount they are planning *(assuming that they are building a typical big box site with pod sites) and still make a tidy profit. Besides the obvious demand for a store like a Target, this area is also a TIRZ area meaning these fellas will make out like bandits with the tax breaks!

Suburban doesn't make sense at all. With what we now know, suburban development is unsustainable. It creates heat islands, pollution, increases flooding, and further develops our auto-dominated society.

Additionally, a huge suburban type development might actually hurt the local stores that inhabit the Heights in more pedestrian places such as along 19th Avenue.

Just because the plot of land is ugly right now and used for warehousing purposes doesn't mean we should just settle for bad development.

Great renderings! I actually like the newer version better than the old and I can't help but notice that the crown looks like it might light up at night. Additionally, kudos to the design team for integrating ground floor retail space along the light rail route. I also appreciate how the garage portion looks relatively hidden as opposed to some monstrous cement eyesore.

As for the Hermann Professional Building, it will become a primary care center for Memorial Hermann and will be preserved. It is obvious that the design team also placed the new taller Memorial Hermann tower on the Northern fringes of the lot so as to not completely overshadow the Hermann Prof. Bldg. Notice too that the pedestrain bridge will go over the light rail and has the familiar red tile roofing of the older Memorial Hermann facilities.

Kudos to Kirksey Architects for producing a beauty!