jermh

I'm guessing these are glass mockups for the pyramid canopy?  For reference the top picture was 8 am this morning and the bottom photo was from 6 pm last night.

Common Bond is almost completely built out. Rough guess but I'd imagine it'll be ready to open within the month.

20 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

I can't get the whole article. Is the argument that the sidewalks aren't wide enough to offer Euro-style outdoor seating? Are they suggesting altering the paving so the sidewalk physically extends all the way to the train tracks or just closing off those blocks in a non-permanent way?

 

I interpreted it as temporary for now,  just taking over the lanes for now with temporary physical barriers between Texas and Commerce top stop cars, and adding some temporary ramp so access to the lane tables would be ADA compliant. A permanent implementation would involve be altering the and curbs and extending the sidewalk to the tracks.

Idea to rescue bars, restaurants in downtown Houston would put customers on the street

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/transportation/article/downtown-Houston-bars-restaurants-street-customers-15443004.php

I hope this actually happens even if it's only temporary. It would be interesting to see Main as a pedestrian/bike only thorough fair, but I predict that specific section of Main St. is going to have a problem with homeless people harassing patrons. I'm not sure if there has been an increase in homeless population since COVID, or there's just less of a buffer since there are less people Downtown in general right now. I have a lot more daily interactions walking around that area, and people are way more aggressive. It's equal parts heartbreaking and frustrating because there isn't a easy cookie-cutter to help everyone who has found themselves homeless. 

I'm guessing that pulley I photographed ( now removed ) was remanence of an old elevator? I knew that Dean's has one of the oldest electric elevator in Texas (3rd oldest in the country), but I didn't realize any of these other small buildings on Main St. had them. 

They're booking it. Rain or shine.

I've been watching 511 Main get some serious roof repairs on a giant hole the past week or so. If this is too small of scale, for Going up! please move it.

I'll continue to taking snapshots of the progress. 

This is from today 

Additional renderings here, or at-least non paywalled renderings.

https://www.hines.com/news/hines-signs-250-000-sf-lease-at-600-travis

6 minutes ago, nate4l1f3 said:

 

Thanks! I've been curious to see what HOK proposed ever since I found out they won the project. 

8 minutes ago, nate4l1f3 said:

Boomtown coffee closed for good? How long has this been the case?

The Boomtown location on Main St. shut down when COVID kicked off and hasn't re-opened since then. All of their tables and equipment were still in place last time I walked by.  The location inside Understory (Bank of America Tower) was open last week when I walked through. 

Cafe Express (Main Street Side of 601 Travis Garage) and Azuma (909 Texas Under the Rice Apartment Canopy) have both closed and removed all furniture, equipment, and signage.

It's a little hard to make out on Flickr, but you can see the same "drilling" going on up top as what's being done on the bottom.

It looked like they are working down the building, drilling the same holes they did on the ground level from the top via the window washing platforms. I snapped some photos with the telephoto lens from the Rice garage roof last week, but I never really looked to see if they came out. If they suck, I'll get out there today or tomorrow and take some more.

I was lucky enough to take a tour of the project back in the spring. It's come along a lot further than when I was there and looks great. Fun fact that I didn't realize until told. The window system used the visitor center is actually wood not metal. I don't know the reasoning behind using that system vs a conventional metal one, but you basically have to know it wasn't metal and thump on it and notice it.

I didn't get a picture but, the scaffolding on the Jones Hall side of the building was blown over by wind gust about 4:30-5pm yesterday. Most of it fell on to the ramp to the basement garage, and by 8ish the company that put it up was onsite removing the collapsed scaffolding debris. All but about confirmed my previously irrational fear and not being a fan of walking under it.

10 minutes ago, wilcal said:

 

If only it extended down to Hermann Park as well

 

It'll just be "community bikeway" south of HCC with painted sharrows and wayfinding signs. 

I'm think the portion south of HCC is already done. Last time I rode from Herman park to Downtown there the new sharrows were marked decently, frequently. and the traffic was low enough that it didn't feel dangerous to me.

Per HBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2019/10/28/its-official-hines-pe-firm-buy-houstons-tallest.html

Quote

 

Renovations are planned for 600 Travis Street, which is the tallest building in Texas at 75 stories and contains more than 1.7 million square feet with 22,237 square feet of retail space. Improvements will include major updates to the lobby and exterior plaza area; the addition of connected, collaborative workspaces as well as a new conference center; and enhancements to other building common elements, per the release. The plaza's focal point — Joan Miró's "Personage and Birds" sculpture — will remain on-site. St. Louis-based architecture firm HOK is designing the renovations.

 

"Our goal is to enhance 600 Travis’ position as one of the top office buildings in the southwest," John Mooz, senior managing director at Hines, said in the release. "With significantly more activated common space and opportunities, the repositioning will promote greater tenant attraction and retention and will be a testament to Hines’ unmatched ability to maintain an asset’s architectural heritage while fostering a contemporary image for the modern workplace."

 

There was an RFP to a few architectural firms for concepts last year, but I hadn't paid attention to which firm was awarded. Looks to be HOK per this article. 

5 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

So someone from Lovett contacted me about doing some animation work to promote PostHTX on their website. They referenced Printworks in London and Kraftwerk Berlin. Gives you an idea of the vibe they want for the venue.

FYI: If you didn't know already, Lovett has a job listing for a "graphic designer" on Linkedin right now, but the description reads more like a UI/UX design and Animation role. Required proficiency in Adobe XD and After Effects, so it looks like they are using "graphic designer" as a catch all title in this case. No affiliation or anything, I just happened to randomly read the description yesterday.

Scaffolding on both Travis & Capitol now.