Mister X

Obviously it's not that big of a deal to anyone but you.

Who cares who the hell builds EarthQuest. It could be built by Osama Bin Ladin for all I care. Houston needs a theme park. I like McCrady's attitude and commitment to the project. It sounds like he is very confident the park will be built. As long as I keep reading that he is confident - I will remain confident the EQ will be built.

This is great news. I couldn't be happier to hear that Contour is driving the project. Contour is a strong developer with many successful projects under their belt. Also glad to hear that other landholding companies are willing to step in to make this project happen. McCrady said,”Without a doubt, this will happen. If Contour fails, others are willing to step up. We are not putting all our faith in one developer. That is not the way we do business. We have backup plans A, B, C and D.”

CONGRATULATIONS TEXANS ON YOUR FIRST EVER PLAYOFF WIN!!! Not just a win but a BLOWOUT WIN! Life is good! In fact, right now, the Houston Texans are the only team in the NFL to have NEVER lost a playoff game!!! Enjoy the moment. Jinx and jinxers be damned. GO TEXANS - PLUCK the ravens.

Good luck TEXANS in your first ever playoff game tomorrow.

And just like that - Spring has an instant skyline. And Houston has another one to add to the already impressive collection. Cool.

Let's get real. No one was ever going to build anything better than what was built. There are still an abundance of parking lots for other 'better' developments to build on if the market should ever demand it (or even if it doesn't). I have absolutely no problem with the city giving incentives to corporations that are willing to invest in things that could POSSIBLY make dt Houston better. It will probably take a lot more investing in projects like HP to cause dt Houston to make a significant turnaround. DT Houston has been void of a vibrant retail district for longer than most of us have been alive. I see HP as one piece of the puzzle and possibly (another) starting point. HP is infrastructure. Now that it exist, it MIGHT possibly amount to something very cool one day in our lifetimes with the right management or direction. If HP never existed there is no reason to believe that anyone would have ever built ANYTHING on those particular lots in the foreseeable future. I'm not saying that it could not have been better or that a residential component would not have made it much better. I'm only saying that I'm glad that anyone was able to get anything with even this much potential built in that area.

I miss those 3 empty parking lots so much. House of Blues, Lucky Strike and those restaurants and shops are a very poor substitute for what was once a hotbed of social activity and life for downtown Houston for 100 years. Thanks Houston Pavilions for ruining downtown forever. If only they had left those parking lots alone another development corporation could have built something better in 40 years. Our grand children deserve so much better.

I'm already "excellent" and can only get better from here on out. The sky's the limit now and I live for being liked on the internet. There is nothing more important than what anonymous strangers think! And no one is stranger than Niche! :P Buffalo Bayou will be just exactly like Central Park in every conceivable way - so we just might as well get used to calling it Central Park right now.

So when are they going to actually start building Houston's Central Park?

I can't wait to walk around and start enjoying HOUSTON CENTRAL PARK. HOUSTON CENTRAL PARK will be fantastic. HOUSTON CENTRAL PARK will probably have many cool towers built around it. Everyone will love HOUSTON CENTRAL PARK. HOUSTON CENTRAL PARK will make New York's Central Park look like a pile of puke. I love HOUSTON CENTRAL PARK.

Thanks for the info and words of encouragement McKnight. What you say makes complete sense to me. I also agree 100% about your thoughts on Mr.Fertitta. The Galveston Pleasure Pier is going to be a fantastic asset to the area. And that multi-million dollar overhaul for Kemah Boardwalk sounds really exciting. Lets hope it all works out.

Some people (SoapBoxMom, others) just hate the thought of anyone having fun anywhere near Houston. There have been people posting negative things about this project since the first day it was announced. Why- I'll never know. It's not like there is a half billion dollar tourist mecca, funzone resort themed around sustaining the planet built in Houston every day. In fact, as everyone well knows, the Houston area is the largest metro in the country not currently served by a large theme park. A travesty IMO. Of all the nobel causes in the world to keep one occupied and things to get worked up over, it is mind boggling to me that anyone would want to try to stop EarthQuest from being built. Refineries, warehouse districts and parking lots - no problem, but try to build a place for people to have a little recreation in Houston and watch that scary shut-in scrooge element come out in full force to TRY and stop it. Not that anyone but the almighty dollar is going to stop anything from happening in this part of the country. Real Scam? LOL! Get real. Only one question, McKnight. Why would the less news we get, the better? I've been impatiently waiting to ride the volcano roller coaster for almost 6 years now. I don't know what soapboxmom's major malfunction is. I think she's trying to get people to visit her cheezy little no-credibilty webpage. I wouldn't worry too much about anything she has to say. But, there hasn't been any real news about this project in months and months and months - that DOES worry me. It almost seems forgotten about. Lots of grand projects announced in Houston just fade out and are forgotten about by the general public. I worry that is what is happening to EQ. I used to get regular updates from the EQ newsletter and invites to community briefings, but that stopped over a year ago. Any more info you can provide that would give me hope that this project hasn't been cancelled would be very sincerely and most appreciated. Thanks

It's too late. With 10 wins and 3 games to go and a clinched playoff birth and divisional championship, this CAN NOT be considered a disappointing season. In my opinion, the real goal of this season was to get into the playoffs for the first time. And they did it. Anything from this point on is just icing on the the cake. I certainly believe the Texans have the capability and potential to go all the way to the Super Bowl. But even if they lose in their first playoff game, this season should be considered a smashing success. Especially when you think about all the milestones that were achieved, winning game after game after game with all the star players injured and the pitiful state the team was in one year ago today. I think the Texans did the impossible in the win against the Bengals today. Watch the accolades pour in for this win. CONGRATULATIONS TEXANS and THANX FOR AN INCREDIBLE SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Told y'all this was a stupid idea. I think they should build a small refinery and warehouse district on those blocks. That would be easier and more cost effective. Get Real People!

I'm glad you told me that. I was just about to file a lawsuit on the Regency Square developers because I'm tired of waiting for groundbreaking.

What a fun, exciting, potentially positive game-changing idea for downtown Houston. The people here will absolutely DESPISE it. The last thing we need is any fancy-shmancy ideas getting us all worked up. We must never lose touch with that CAN'T DO attitude. No dreaming allowed. No exceptions!

Here is a construction photo of stretch of track that will be used for the new roller coaster on the Pleasure Pier. This photo was posted on the Pleasere Pier facebook page.

Glad to hear the park still has not been cancelled. It's taking forever to get this thing going. It took 12 years for Disney to build Walt Disney World. 9 of those years it was only in the conceptual/planning phase. EarthQuest may well be AHEAD of schedule. Building a 1600 acre, half billion dollar project must be a little more complicated than building a suburban strip center.

Huh? I bet a lot of people are really going to love this attraction.

I don't consider far North Houston close to far South Houston or far East Houston close to far West Houston. But we are all part of one big happy metropolitan area. If you are waiting for a major park to open anywhere within 20 miles of downtown Houston, you will be waiting for a very long time. Check out where all the amusement parks in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Dallas, St. Louis, and Cincinnati are. The closest one to the downtown area in any of those cities is about 15 miles - and in most cases about 30 miles. Land is too expensive to build theme parks anywhere except the outskirts. Galveston, Kemah and New Caney are all on the outskirts of Houston. Those cities may have the actual parks, but Houston gets all the credit! Woo-Hoo! Take that suckers!

Very few large cities have major amusement parks within the city limits. Almost all large theme parks are built somewhere on the outskirts of a large city. In Houston we already have 1 amusement park in Kemah. There is a 2nd one under construction in Galveston. And the BIG one being planned in New Caney (EarthQuest) is still moving forward (at a snail's pace) according to the latest statements from the East Montgomery County Improvement District. If EarthQuest is ever built, the Houston area will finally have a respectable number of venues for pukarama and family entertainment.

The Galveston Historic Pleasure Pier now has a website and facebook page. http://www.pleasure-pier.com/ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Galveston-Island-Historic-Pleasure-Pier/177272299004361 No new renderings yet, but on the website there is an illustrated silhouette of roller coasters and some other rides. This could be a very cool local attraction if that can be taken as an indication of the kind of rides they are planning to build.

Don't let your dreams and wishful thinking get in the way of reality. You might vote for Hitler over Obama but most America would not. Obama has the lowest approval numbers of his presidency and he STILL beats the republican candidates if the election were held today in most polls. The only one that comes close is Romney. Perry is doing an excellent job pointing out that Romney's faith total disqualifies him in the eyes of most republicans. Perry is sinking faster than the Titanic. And Cain (like Bachman and Gingrich) is a human joke waiting for a punch line. Really, it's time to explore other news sources. Fox "News" is highly UNreliable. And believe me, the republicans WILL screw this up. From you're perspective they already have. The 3 most viable republican candidates have so much going against them within their own base (not including the moderates -the people who actually decide elections) that even people who hate Obama will end up voting for him. After the OWS's energy is tapped by the left, you're side doesn't stand a change. This is the truth. Deal with it.

Off topic but I enjoyed watching President Obama win last night's republican debate. Watching those clowns destroy each other's credibility is pure gold. The grimace on Perry's face was priceless. Hitler would have been proud of all the republican candidates this year. They all seem to be running on hate.