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astrohip

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Everything posted by astrohip

  1. astrohip
    Site is dead. I don't see any heavy equipment, no activity, nothing has changed in months. I look down on this, and use my binocs to search for signs of life. There's more activity on Mars than The RO.
  2. astrohip
    Yeah, those renderings definitely made it look like it was to be saved. I would love to have some of those old timbers. Make great landscape timbers. I'll have to drive by on Monday when I'm back in town and see what's going on. Thanks for the updates @hindesky.
  3. astrohip
    The small structure on the roof is the top of a freight elevator. This thing was huuuuge, probably 20x20, or larger. Another weird factoid: both floors of the brick structure building are wood. Huge beams of wood, maybe 12"x12". They date back to the original construction in the 1920s, when it was built by Houston Sash & Door.
  4. astrohip
    My old building 😢😢. That small portion is actually a separate building, both structurally and (at one time, maybe still) per HCAD. When I owned that warehouse (813 McKee), that small building in the corner was not part of it. It was built/added after the original building (which dates to the 1920s), and stands on its own. I tried more than once to acquire it, but the owner had no interest in selling. Even though it was vacant 90% of the time we were there.
  5. astrohip
    Back when I was at 813 McKee (literally across the street), we rented that unused land for overflow parking. Something like $200/month. We used to park behind our building, on the vast empty land between us and the bayou. But we lost that land, so we struck a deal with whoever owned 850 McKee at the time to use it for employee parking. Originally, the land between our building and the bayou was empty. We used it for parking, and to allow 18 wheelers to move around. Then at some point (my memory fails on what year), Metro bought it for their bus barn. It turned out we only owned something like 100 feet behind our building, all the rest now belonged to Metro, all the way to the bayou. But we thought no one would ever want the land behind us, it was so crappy. So we struck a deal with Metro to let us use a little bit of the northern edge of their land, so trucks could ingress & egress.
  6. astrohip
    Is this office or residential?
  7. astrohip
    This is the building I owned, that I referenced in my post above. 813 McKee. Sold it in the mid-90s. Last time I drove by, a used office furniture company was there. Looks like I should have held on to it. 😬 Do we know what this is? Maybe I missed it reading this thread. $45MM project!?!
  8. astrohip
    There is a difference between blockchain technology, and bitcoins. Blockchain is becoming a commonly used tool in many applications, due to its publicly trackable chain (hence... blockchain). IBM is already offering a public-domain blockchain application. Bitcoins, on the other hand, is fabricated, electronic money, that uses blockchain to track each coin. The value of bitcoin is debatable, but the underlying technology (blockchain) has already moved into the public arena. Clear as mud?
  9. astrohip
    I don't remember that specific name, but there's a lot I don't remember from back then 🙃. I know Milton would rent out his movie studio for events. People had parties there, photo shoots, modeling events, anything to create a revenue stream. The Last Concert Cafe is right across the street, also. A few of those stories I do remember... 😇 🙈
  10. astrohip
    Coincidentally, another guy who owned several buildings in the same area (and a friend of mine) just passed away last month: H. Milton Howe. Milton bought a couple of those old, empty warehouses, and tried to create a movie studio business. He made one into a sound stage. He really pushed to develop the arts potential of this area. We called it the Warehouse DIstrict back then.
  11. astrohip
    Somehow I missed this thread the first time around, maybe the name change made me see it... I owned this building, and worked in it, for twenty years. Mid 70s thru mid 90s. In the left background is the Dakota Lofts. That was Bute Paint back then. Then RD bought it and made it his first loft conversion project, I think in the early 90s. We were still there when it opened. The area between us and the bayou was all open lot for years. Them Metro bought it for their bus barn. That area has always had immense potential. I loved the location. Had a couple other buildings in that same area.
  12. astrohip
    I worked at a company that used that line & yard. We were at (roughly) Polk & Dowling, and there were trains being switched thru there all the time. We had a siding that came to our building. We had one large supplier that shipped by rail (Magic Chef appliances, for you old-timers). The switch yard lines were only about 30-40 yards west of our building, so we got the horns. All. Day. Long. I lived in Southampton back then, and the only time I ever saw a train on those SWFwy tracks was the circus, once a year, which always made the news. Then at some point, they shut down. Although the humps on Shepherd & Greenbriar are still there. It would be very common for lumber yards to use rail. I was in the building material distribution business, and rail was often used. Still is. Look at all the lumber you see on rail cars tothis day.
  13. astrohip
    That's what I was referring to, in my post a couple above yours. Curious about it.
  14. astrohip
    I need to check in with my friend who bought there, and was one of the first to move in. I used to see her several times a month, but since Covid, I've only seen her once or twice. Last time I talked to her, she loved the place, but had a fair number of small, niggling problems. But that was months ago.
  15. astrohip
    I drove by this the other day. It was from the freeway, so I didn't have much time to look, but I thought I saw part of the old structure still standing. In the back left corner (SE corner). Are they saving part of it? Or were my eyes freeway confused?
  16. astrohip
    Quote for truth. One of the busiest, most visible stretches of Westheimer--Highland Village, RO District, etc--and it's paved like a third-world street. They recently finished the stretch east from BS to Kirby, so now let's go westward!
  17. astrohip
    Remind me here... (if you're old enough), after work, a few of us used to go to a small bar, that I think was on Jack St. It was on one of those small streets south of Richmond, in the curve of 59. It wasn't a big name place, mostly people who just knew about it. I'm thinking Sam Segura (sp?) may have had something to do with it. It had a couple letters on the door, that was the only signage I can recall. Let's call it 1977, plus/minus a year or so.
  18. astrohip
    Good point, and one condo buyers are becoming aware of. When we were condo shopping in 2018, our realtor (luckily, a close friend & condo expert himself) educated us on this. How a small building either lacks amenities, or they cost a fortune. How big buildings, maybe 100+ units, have issues of their own. We hit the sweet spot with 69 units. Large enough to have full amenities, not so big as to have traffic jams at the entrance.
  19. astrohip
    Most people who move to condos don't do it for the money. It's not whether it's more or less than your SF residence was, it's "condo life". As someone who made the house>condo move a couple years ago, I can tell you from talking to my fellow residents, there is not one single person who factored money into the equation. It's the lock & leave lifestyle, it's security concerns, it's having packages accepted for you 24/7, it's not having to worry about the roof or the A/C or the yard or the pool or floods... or anything. Maybe at some price point, or in some parts of the country, condo vs SFH is a real debate. But in the upper end segment of Houston condos, it's a lifestyle choice, not a $$$ one. Just my .02
  20. astrohip
    Condo, expensive, near River Oaks, where old people go to die... yep, Mausoleum 🙄 (And I say this with all respect, as I live in a hi-rise condo just down the street). Seriously, it doesn't help that this is being built on (and thus, designed for) a postage stamp sized piece of land. So instead of a more spread out base, you get this tall, skinny bottom that looks just like a... mausoleum.
  21. astrohip
    I love how the flyer shows West U home values up to $10.9M, but poor River Oaks only has home values up to $9.5M. And this is now in Upper Kirby! PS: It's not, UK stops at Shepherd.
  22. astrohip
    I worked in that building (circled) for about twenty years, from the mid-70s to the mid-90s.
  23. astrohip
    Aspire sent out an email yesterday... here is the text of the email, and the PDF attached... {whoops, too large to attach, if I did this correctly, it will link to the file} https://drive.google.com/file/d/16_JIbTd1__8AHOBTQOdQ-uGyDbvoN60J/view?usp=sharing Season’s Greetings! Here is your first gift of the season. Attached you will find and enjoy our latest and greatest edition of the Aspire Post Oak quarterly newsletter. This bulletin includes spectacular photos and more exciting details about our amenity package, interior design, and unique home features. Keep in mind, we are still several months from opening (August – October 2021) yet a few months from the introduction of floor plan images and announcing pricing. We anticipate Q2 of 2021 for the release of these details. As always, thank you for your patience and continued support. From our Team to you and yours, we wish you a safe and happy holiday!
  24. astrohip
    Nice video. But... I know that area fairly well (as most of you do also), and I'm having trouble figuring out certain shots. Did they remove some buildings from some views on that video? For one, I never saw The Huntingdon, which is right next door. And the view looking west (Galleria) seems to be missing lots of buildings that should be visible between the Revere and the West Loop. Just me?
  25. astrohip
    Come a long way!
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