texan

4 hours ago, Some one said:

Yeah, can we work on recalling this guy? It's one thing to halt projects before they break ground but to actively halt projects in the work and undo finished projects is another. It seems like he's hellbent on sending Houston back to the 20th century.

I'll even go a bit further. There should be no ability for the mayor to change projects that have already been designed using public input. The USDOT's website states of public input: "Transportation practitioners have the power and obligation to incorporate the voices of their communities in transportation decision-making." Ignoring public input and changing a project after public input has been considered is a failure to fulfill that obligation. If he believes there was a flaw in the public input process, then you redo the public process. You don't filter out the voices you don't want to hear and only listen to the ones you do. He certainly should not be able to use the permitting office to hold projects that he doesn't like hostage. The purpose of permits are to ensure structures are built according to building codes and applicable laws, not to use as a political force to impose one's will. It's an unethical overreach of power that is somehow legal.

https://www.transportation.gov/public-involvement

There was a time when a state Senator John Whitmire wrote a letter of support for this project. I really wonder how ignoring the community input to create this project is even possible halfway through the project. I didn't think the mayor had this much power over the city or had this much narcissism to claim he can do the traffic engineers' jobs. More importantly, I wonder who gave him a campaign contribution to cancel this project and how much that was.

The parking reduction is a much better compromise than I thought we were going to get. While I still think having the fire lane and any parking between the patios and the trail will create a lesser ambiance than the trailside of MKT (the patios won't be a natural extension of the trail like they are at MKT), I'm content with this compromise.

Mays Business School has received a $25 million lead gift for a new graduate education building. It is expected to begin construction in 2026 and be finished in 2028. The university aims to raise another $30 million to support it’s construction.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/lifestyle/article/25-million-mays-business-school-a-m-19420399.php

https://www.galvnews.com/news/galveston-council-defers-solarus-development-decision/article_caad5383-299b-5b2c-a801-ca98475855f8.html?block_id=531919

Deferred until a new council is seated in May.

On 5/9/2023 at 2:45 PM, Urbannizer said:

Nova Northgate

 

This project, now called Aspire A&M, has secured construction financing. Hopefully some movement starts soon. I'll be keeping an eye out for it on my next trip through College Station.

https://www.multihousingnews.com/harrison-street-jv-lands-loan-for-texas-student-housing/

At the campus's budget review with the Board of Regents, Colonel Fossum stated the campus would be requesting a Campus Construction Assistance Project (CCAP) from the state legislature in the upcoming session for the Immersive and Simulation and Learning Environment (ISLE) Building. Hopefully the legislature will fund CCAPs this year.

The RELLIS Campus will be the new home of the Meat Sciences & Technology Center, which will be moving from West Campus (Kleberg, I believe). The second picture is of a transportation lab on the campus.

Notes from Texas A&M's budget review: the Aplin Center, despite a pause (on all capital projects not currently in construction last year), will be moving forward with a groundbreaking in January of 2025. The new vet hospital will be located at the corner of University and Agronomy Road, rather than at the corner of University (or Raymond Stotzer at that point) and Harvey Mitchell. This will necessitate the demolition of an extremely old existing building.

A slide from Texas A&M's budget review this week about the space institute. No new information besides an interior rendering, unfortunately.

A Galveston organization, BUILD Galveston, is working to develop workforce housing as roughly 60% of people who work on the island live on the mainland. Finding ways to get these people to live on the island could help stabilize the island's population. The Landing article provides some historical context to the issue. The main roadblock appears to be land availability.

https://houstonlanding.org/theres-not-enough-housing-for-galvestons-growing-workforce-heres-why/

The first portion of this project was approved in May of 2023, the second portion in November of 2023, and a third portion was added to the scope of the project and approved for construction in February of this year. The third portion adds $62.5 million bringing the full project to $423.2 million and includes a parking garage, warehouse, and adds a 6th floor to the office building. 

More renders/plans for the new cruise terminal:

Artist Boat today announced they raised the required $6.5 million to protect the Anchor Bay property, a 140 acre tract of land sandwiched between the current bounds of the Coastal Heritage Preserve. They'll close on the land in June.

6 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

Don’t see Texas A&M going for this lot as they placed their plans for a new tower on hold after building the parking structure for it.

The site where that tower was planned was ground-leased to Medistar to build office space and serve as a revenue source for the A&M System. That space was not planned to be used by A&M. Medistar put that project on hold, similar to how they put their down the street Innovation Tower project on hold.

This could be a very natural lot for campus expansion for Texas A&M or HCC.

New rendering of the data center:

Whitmire plans $3 billion in improvements to downtown over 30 years using hotel occupancy taxes. 

'"The entertainment district will be going three miles in each direction. It will reach the arts and theater district," Whitmire said.

He said plans are in place to expand the George R. Brown Convention Center to compete with other convention centers.

"We are going to have larger conventions," he said.

And they want to attract big things, possibly even another professional sports team.

"Yes, Toyota Center will get ready for hockey," he said.

Most importantly, the mayor said the purpose is to clean up downtown. Problems that Carol Churchill said she's just seen grow over the years.'

https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/harris-county/mayor-whitmire-downtown-houston-investment/285-b3403310-d7c2-47c3-b26f-cfea56dc337a

On 4/10/2024 at 4:17 PM, Triton said:

Damn... So now Trump will be against this? 

Once upon a time he considered it an infrastructure priority. Unfortunately, consistency doesn't mean anything to most politicians if it can be traded for winning.

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/01/24/report-texas-bullet-train-among-new-federal-transp/

Houston has fantastic weather for shaded terraces and patios. Hope to see more development that embraces it like this one become more common. 50 of these and the building under construction next door spread around inside the loop would be fantastic!

The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation contracted Stoss Landscape Urbanism to provide a potential plan for a remade, pedestrian friendly waterfront in Galveston. The parking would be moved to garages that could also have greenspace or other pedestrian space (like the sand on the garage in the lower right of the photo). No action was taken but the wharves board may form a committee as this is a priority of the city.

https://www.galvnews.com/news/galveston-port-talks-boardwalk-green-space/article_091e3f86-b92c-507a-9b87-ed411128c6d3.html

16 hours ago, ChannelTwoNews said:

"Intuitive Machines Inc. (Nasdaq: LUNR) was named as one of three recipients for NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services contract, which has a combined maximum potential value of $4.6 billion for all awards to multiple companies. For Intuitive Machines, the initial award is valued at $30 million for a feasibility assessment, which will take a year to complete.

The vehicle will be used for NASA's Artemis III mission, which is the agency's first return to the moon since 1972. That mission is anticipated to launch no earlier than 2026. Intuitive Machines' initial award could be followed by further task orders with higher dollar amounts for a term of up to 10 years, the company said April 3."

Axiom Space is a partner on an additional winning proposal, this one by Venturi Astrolab. Venturi's proposal is admittedly less sexy than the other two winners.

Additional renderings/plans for the fourth cruise terminal:

Visioning from October 2023

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