TheSirDingle

1 hour ago, shasta said:

I still am shocked how much they VE'd this project from the original design and layout. This project is right up there with the downtown Embassy Suites level of ruined projects, if you ask me. maybe even worse because it will continue to get worse. It looks really bad.

 

It went from a collection of architecturally different buildings and interesting urban streetscapes to a cheap looking ruin of the mill monolithic apartment building . Even the retail is cheap looking..I drive by it everyday and shake my head of what could have been!

 

At least we have City Center and the River Oaks district for developers that understand what quality mixed use developments are supposed to look like.

 

Too bad because this one has the best location and the potential to be the best new project in all of Houston. What a colossal disappointment.

 

In 10 years, this project will be considered so low quality that it might be well below market rate apartments.

IDK those white, ghost buildings are looking absolutely stunning!!!! 

You know I wonder what the plausibility of using existing freight tracks as commuter rail/local rail lines would be? 

Lets say you use the freight line going besides I-10 with trains that have a schedule akin to the metro park and ride buses, this line would go from NWTC (Maybe CBD directly or on a transfer) to even Katy; maybe Brookshire. This could even be done for something like the 290 corridor, or go down east I-10 and you can have a Baytown line. 

It doesn't seem that crazy, well excluding political pressure and maybe even railroad push back. It would definitely help the super commuter problem, and pairing it with the current planned expansions would make most of the Houston Metro's main hubs and spokes easily navigable by train/BRT, while also allowing for lower car use. 

But how much would that cost, especially connecting it to the local PT network. I would think the CBD -> Cypress line alone would be in the $500 million range (including electrifying the rail, stations, ROW, etc). Would this even be worth it for lets say a potential 15k/day boarding total? 

All of these LRT extensions and BRT additions are making me wonder how we can use/update existing infrastructure to compliment this massive inner city system we have in the pipeline. It would be a great thing to have, and would help the connectivity of the city even more, but would it be easy to do? Hell no. Do I think it is possible to do and within the next 20 years? Hell yes!

17 hours ago, staresatmaps said:

Must be a lot of people excited to pay $25 for 3 mini tacos.

1 hour ago, staresatmaps said:

It's probably the most expensive taco shop in the entire city.

You sure about that?

more like $25 for 15 😂

5 hours ago, pacarlson said:

Any official structure height for this one yet?  I'm guessing it has a reasonable chance to exceed 400' given trending FF office heights.

I'm betting 508' total, so shorter than one park place and taller than Hess tower. Knock on wood, but I'm betting every building in this development will be in the 500'+ range. 

1 hour ago, Avossos said:

So how do we rank with other metropolitan areas?

Here's some figures (warning might be incorrect since I don't know the metro areas to well)

New York: 44 in the city but blank on the metro.

Los Angles: says 2 in the city but I don't know the metro.

Houston: 24

DFW: 22

Minneapolis-St. Paul: 18

Atlanta: 16

Austin: 2

San Antonio: 2

Some journalist or person on city data might be able to generate a full ranking of the metros in the next couple of weeks, but this is what I got from the few cities/metros I looked at.

3 minutes ago, hindesky said:

There is now way they finish this for Fall '21. Possibly Spring '22 but I doubt that too.

Ye, the quote says they plan to open Fall 2022. I was just joking about how fast they were going considering the 38 days ahead part. 

Law Center has officially topped off. It's also 38 days ahead of schedule, I guess they're pushing for that fall 2021 opening rather than fall 2022 😆.
 

Source: https://www.law.uh.edu/news/summer2021/0604ceremony.asp

Quote

The last beams were placed on the University of Houston Law Center's new state-of-the-art John M. O'Quinn Law Building during a recent "topping off" ceremony.

“I am so pleased that the contractors have made so much progress in light of the pandemic,” Baynes said. “In fact, they're 38 days ahead of schedule which is absolutely amazing. We thank them for their hard work.

Shepley Bulfinch served as the architecture firm for The John M. O'Quinn Law Building, and Austin Commercial is responsible for the construction of the facility. The building is expected to be open for the Fall 2022 semester.

 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLWn8OJpZVw&t=66s

7 hours ago, texan said:

It appears the tuition revenue bond bill died in committee in the Texas Senate. This would've given Texas A&M, MD Anderson, and UT Health $90 million each to support construction of their buildings at TMC3 (among many other university construction projects). These buildings were planned prior to inclusion in HB 1530 so they'll still move forward using PUF money, most likely.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=87R&Bill=HB1530

Dang must be nice to have a $22 billion fund to pull from. Anyway it's definitely moving forward, they're just gonna pull it from the PUF like you said (as we can see from the construction). 

UH Sugar Land Updated Master Plan

Just like the Katy campus it seems like another substantial buildout. Wonder how big they plan the system to get?

Update UH main campus master plan: 

Current Plan Goals: 

- Cullen Boulevard Rebuild 

- MacGregor Tract Master Plan

- Centennial Master Plan

Future Initiatives: 

- Create a strong first impression

- Celebrate the heart and life of the University

- Build a walkable, welcoming, memorable campus

- Connect people, places and disciplines

- Design a sustainable, resilient campus

Building Updates (added or removed)

- The HUB (formerly “Auxiliary Retail Center”)

- John M. O’Quinn Law Building

- College of Medicine

- New Room Tower for Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management

and Purchases or Boundary Updates (added or removed)

- None

Landscape, Art or Misc. Updates (added or removed)

- Color Field Temporary Art Exhibition

Notable Footprints:

- College of Medicine district 

- Moody replacement

- 2 Buildings by stadium (garage and athletic center?)

- The Hub (replacement for the satellite)  

- 3 buildings north of the loop road.

Update view the UH Katy Master Plan: 

Seems like quite the build out. Wonder what colleges/buildings they plan to add to the campus 🤔?

Damn, this is almost as bad as the Texan's last season 😆.

1 hour ago, hindesky said:

👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀

Tie Backs (for reinforcing retaining walls) and Soldier Piers (For load spreading for the foundation I think)

Air Rights:

List after April 1st 

1 hour ago, MarathonMan said:

I’m completely confused.  Seems as though Caydon is dumping and running, but the Realty News Report article says they’re about to start the Fitzroy?  Really?  After foreclosure?  All of the on-site promotional banners for Fitzroy/Kimpton came down last weekend (replaced by graffiti - yay!) and everything online indicates the development is defunct.  Unless I’m missing something, whoever researched this article did a horrible job fact-checking.

Yap most places are saying they dumped/sold out.
one example: https://www.buzzbuzzhome.com/us/fitzroy-residences

To bad, this could of been a great development, guess you shouldn't default on a loan when trying to build a mixed-used development. 

Also does anyone have word on who owns this now, and what plans they have for it.

Just now, H-Town Man said:

Does Biv really know something or is he just regurgitating old information?

 

Your guess is as good as mine. This whole development has been a rollercoaster of mystery.

14 minutes ago, hindesky said:

Caydon is selling their Midtown Drewery Place apartments.

https://realtynewsreport.com/caydon-selling-drewery-place-apartment-tower-in-midtown/

I'm betting it goes for around $120-$145 million. Also it seems like they're still going foward with the rest of the development 

Quote

Having completed the Drewery Place  tower, Caydon’s next Midtown project is Fitzroy, a 32-story tower pairing 191 condominiums with a 190-room boutique hotel operated by Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants.

Caydon is expect to expected to break ground in mid-2021 and complete the Fitzroy condo tower in late 2023.The 558,000 SF tower will be the second phase of the 2.5 million SF mixed-use district Caydon intends for three city blocks – about 3.5 acres bordered by Main, McGowen, Fannin and Tuam, and adjacent to Midtown Park.

1 hour ago, Paco Jones said:

Project:

Parking Vault Houston

 

Address:

1441 Walker St.

Houston, TX 77002

(Northern Corner of Walker and La Branch)

 

Owner:

Parking Vault, LTD.

 

Architect:

Gensler

 

Project Information:

16-level 305,000 SF parking garage exclusively used for drop off and retrieval of vehicles by automated parking system.

 

Parking Vault Video and Video Link:

Pros of Automated Parking/Parking Vault Overview/Test Facility Demo
https://vimeo.com/435206621/df76963be9

Location Overview/Animation of Car Parking in Parking Vault

 

 

Dang ngl that system they showed is pretty cool, but sheesh you can definitely put something sizeable on top of, and to the side of this deus x brought to life luxury garage. Wonder if they have plans to add something more, I feel like you would with a garage of this size and quality.

Looks like things are finally coming back up.

Residential Market

Occupancy Rate: 84.1%

Note: This is up dramatically from the previous quarter low of 82.2%, I'm projecting it be up to 87% by the end of summer. 

Residential Units: 6,279 units

Under Construction: 1,317 units 

Note: This includes The Brava (373 units), Trammell Crow (309 units), Sovereign (229 units), Fairfield (286 units), and Mckee City Living (120 units). A pretty significant lineup to look forward to.

Planned: 275 units

Note: don't know what this one is, but I assume it's a low ball considering the updates going around the forum. 

Looks like everything should be going back to normal, I'm expecting foot traffic and in-office occupancy to be back to, or close to normal later this year. 

Source: https://www.centralhouston.org/filer/0/1618017844/493/

21 hours ago, Texasota said:

And if they don't want to move? It's really never that simple. Places have value beyond the purely monetary. 

And that new freeway frontage isn't free either. People who were a block away from the freeway (which might have seemed like a reasonable compromise at one point) will now be right next to a feeder. Those (primarily) homes might still exist, but their quality of life will likely change.

3 hours ago, crock said:

wow thanks for backing that up with literally any facts or knowledge or opinion.   Did I see you at any of the txdot or CoH meetings the past 3 years? 

3 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

Literally everything in your post is false.

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!