Vy65

3 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

 

Zoning forces all high-rise development in Austin to be downtown or immediately south across the river. If not for zoning, you would certainly have high rises offering amazing views in places like Mt. Bonnell, Tarrytown, Westlake, South Congress, etc., and a portion of the market would be taken away from downtown. Nowadays most younger high-rise renters are drawn to downtown Austin for what it has become, but that draw would not have been so strong 10 years ago, and it would have taken longer to develop. The GFR requirements have also done a lot to create an interesting and agreeable neighborhood downtown, without things like hulking parking garages and curb cuts with cars speeding in and out hurting pedestrian life in places like 6th Street or Congress Ave.

 

On the other hand, zoning slows the process for buildings like 600 Guadalupe to come out of the ground due to all the approvals and negotiations needed, and the Capitol View Corridors have driven up land prices for high-rise sites by limiting supply. Houston held the record for most expensive land in the state with the sale of the Chronicle site a view years ago, but Austin has blown past that since.

 

 

I was reading a thread about a high-rise being planned near the Houstonian, and someone commented that the project was "another example of Houston having all the density with none of the benefits." I think your post is a good explanation of why that's the case. 

...

lol

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

Should put one of these in Katy while we’re at it

Pretty sure NASA is in several other cities. And I’m sure those other facilities have more going on than what’s down in clear lake

1 minute ago, houstontexasjack said:

Having worked Downtown the past three years, I've noticed a number of new restaurants opening up within the several block area near Main as well as the emergence of a hotel restaurant scene with the number of new hotels that have opened up, such as Xochi at the Marriott and Oxbow 7 at Le Meridien.  It appears as though the bar scene on Main St has become what Washington Avenue was 8 or so years ago--appealing to the younger/fresh-out-of-college crowd.  I was quite surprised by it one evening after leaving from a Astros game.  

 

I suspect Downtown appeals to newer, and generally younger professional, residents of Houston who are looking to be closer to their places of work and some of the city's amenities (e.g. Theater District, Minute Maid Park, etc.).  It's not a place I'd necessarily want to raise a family, but it's no longer desolate on weekends.  There are festivals to be had in the daytime at Discovery Green and plenty going on at Market Square Park.

I've been working down here for two, and I really haven't noticed that much. Granted, I'm up in the theatre district where there is some stuff planned, but not a lot going on. 

I hear you on the restaurants/bars. They're better than nothing. But they're also fairly underwhelming, in my opinion. You might not be saying this, but I don't really see much urbanism (I think it's still pretty desolate) and, more importantly, development/progress towards something that will deliver an urban experience. Which is to be expected in a city that wrote the handbook on suburban sprawl.

Just now, Naviguessor said:

What neighborhood in Houston has more then downtown? 

Off the top of my head, Montrose, the heights, the Woodlands master-planned suburbia (although it is my personal version of hell), and maybe even the galleria (although that could be a toss up).

Just now, cspwal said:

Most basic reason to live in downtown, midtown, or eado is you are 30 minutes to pretty much every single Houston suburb when there's no traffic, as well as not having to choose between hobby or bush.  If you change jobs,  your commute's never going to be too terrible, and if you want to go to a large event (rodeo, football, baseball, basketball, etc) you don't have to worry about parking.

This is kind of my point. There's nothing downtown that, as others have said, slaps you in the face. If commute time and parking is all a so-called "up and coming" neighborhood has going for it, there's gonna be trouble. 

I hear all of that, but for some reason it's not all that satisfying. I guess I don't understand what the draw is to living downtown. Austin, I get - it's all the stuff there is to do downtown. Same for Chicago, NYC, etc... I get the appeal to living in downtown Seattle (proximity to work/an actual urban core). I just don't see what the overall appeal is to downtown Houston. To be clear, I'm not saying that there can't be one. But a bunch of somewhat dinky parks, sidewalks, and bike lines really doesn't do much for me.

Again, I could just not be seeing it - so maybe someone can help me out?

4 minutes ago, Naviguessor said:

The same impact as any pioneers provide.  A path and example. 

I don't know, that's why I was asking. I welcome more and more people downtown because I'd love to work and live in a thriving urban environment. But, for all that people tout the progress of downtown, I really don't see much that would compare to a place like NYC, Chicago, Boston, etc... And I don't really see much cause for optimism on that front (but I'm happy to be wrong about that).

That's where my question was coming from - i.e., do people envision downtown's trajectory to be one that will provide a similar experience to the NYC's of the world (hell, even the Austin's of the world), or will it be something lesser/different/etc... I don't know the answer to those questions, hence my curiosity. 

Serious question: what lasting impact do you see the 8,000 or so residents living downtown currently having on the area over the next 5-10 years?

Bringing the long-dormant Western Union building out into the open will be part of a $15 million project that could add up to 30,000 square feet to the 56-story skyscraper. Sydness said work is to begin in February or March.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Bank-of-America-Center-to-bring-hidden-building-12456235.php

Inside the loop, things look different. Downtown, for example, has no grocery stores other than Phoenicia, an upscale gourmet food store.

Why is that?

Jaggi said it comes down to availability of land, and in some of these urban areas developers tend to make more use of land by building up.

“So it’s difficult for a one-story user to compete with the user, or the development, that’s going to be eight, nine or even 20 stories,” she said, “because they are building vertically with more rentable square-footage.”

So it might become inevitable for retailers to think in those terms, too, when it comes to urban expansion. Jaggi expects to see more grocery stores taking up part of multi-story buildings, as the urban population keeps growing.

Chains like HEB are already exploring that.

 “Next year, we’ll open up our first two-story store in Bellaire, on Bissonnet and Rice,” Perez said. “And a part of the reason that we’re going to multi-level stores is because it is increasingly difficult to find large pieces of property to build a single-story store.”

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2017/12/06/254946/houstons-grocery-market-growing-fast-but-not-equally-across-the-region/

Ok, great. Nice edit btw

What makes you think that the sears redevelopment will end up looking like Twitter HQ?

While that’s a fine building (looks much better than what we have), do you prefer that to the alternative (razing/building a high rise/mixed use development) instead?

edit: here’s 1871

Does anyone honestly believe that the sears will will end up looking like something in the same realm as that?

13 minutes ago, dbigtex56 said:

Now I understand.
There's a peculiar sense of pride that some Houstonians take in their ignorance of and contempt for the preservation and renovation of architecturally significant old buildings. The words 'dilapidated' (sometimes spelled correctly), 'eyesore', and 'outdated' are featured prominently in their criticisms.
Never mind that such sad, ridiculous figures as Houston-raised Barry Moore (FAIA, senior associate with Gensler architects) finds merit in the architectural history of this building. And never mind that a properly renovated building will no longer be dilapidated. These concepts are difficult to grasp, and it's easier to cling to ones ignorance as if it were a virtue.
You could, I suppose, click on the links I provided, read the articles, and issue a thoughtful rebuttal; but you won't.

Except that I did. Posting an article about a department store’s history isn’t some grand defense of a large, concrete block. Instead, it’s a sad statement of what passes for “landmarks” in this city. And that’s putting the whole issue of whether and how it will blend in with other planned renovations in the area. Are we going to pioneer the Art Deco tech hub? How does that look? Will it, as others have suggested, maintain its style while the other newer developments reflect a more modern bent?

Saying some good said some nice things about it once is equally dissatisfying. Do all architect’s agree on that point? Are we not allowed our own opinions? Or do we just do the appeal to authority thing (and make snarky comments about spelling while we’re at it)?

In the abstract, I am not opposed to renovating the building. But those renovations should line up with its intended purpose. That’s not the case here. And at the end of the day, this is a sears department store. Bolstering that up as “culture” because it has some flare is pathetic. 

It can have all the history it wants (putting aside the sad ridiculousness of treating a Sears as a cultural landmark). It’s still a dillapadated concrete block. Even with some Art Deco flair, I’d want better for a tech hub.

I've long thought that you could turn Allen Parkway into a version of the miracle mile with developments like this. You'd have the bayou/park on the north and mixed use along the south heading right into downtown.

Now you need to develop those other empty lots off Allen Parkway into something similar and trash the villages and you're onto something nice. 

It’s a big concrete box. That was a Sears. It’s great that they’re repurposing it for a cause/institution I totally support. But acting like it’s some cherished architectural landmark that must be saved is a bit much. It’s a dilapidated department store.

I'd tear it down. Art deco surrounded by aggressive/modern "tech" buildings doesn't sound too appetizing to me.

Can’t happen soon enough 

They need to either completely redevelop Bayou place or burn it to the ground and put something useful there. It's a dump, as it is.