Jump to content

X.R.

Full Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    564

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by X.R.

  1. X.R.
    You would have thought the pandemic would have allowed them to speed up the construction, but instead its sorta just continued. The Southmore bridge is way passed the promise date, and its just sorta been sitting at the same point for a while. They have finalized entrance and exit ramps during this time, and part of the south 288 in and around pearland, so I wonder if they are rushing to get that done, and then working their way up, which seems like an OK strategy.
  2. X.R.
    Man, if they have set up a tree preservation zone warding off potential construction workers...you wouldn't do that unless this thing is really underway, right? I'm getting Ion-levels of "is this really happening right now?" I'm sure dredging/digging up that area to create that pond is going to take a lot of time, and meticulous planning to not have it flood. They could be racing to have everything prepped by the time hurricane season ends so they don't have to worry tooooo much about torrential rain when they hit the digging part. An underrated part of this development is that its v accessible via bike/bus infrastructure. Still can't believe this is moving forward, or that they've already started to do this much work. Thanks for the pics!
  3. X.R.
    From friends in the food/service industry who have tried to either buy or have actually leased places close to there and a little further up the road closer to 59, alot of those lots are owned by people waiting for the big payday or demanding (in my opinion) incredible rents. I could actually see it go the other way, where they look at this and think "I'll just wait for the next Caydon to buy me out." Any yeah, whats going on with the AMCAL tower!
  4. X.R.
    Anything to not look like a 90's mall from the outside and a dingy mall food court on the inside. I used to hate going to our downtown office cause the shops was so depressing since all the good places were always busy and then some days finding a seat was a pain in the ass. Inside always felt like a crappier Almeda mall 😝
  5. X.R.
    Completion date 9/15/2022 sounds a bit soon doesn't it? For a 33 story building on land that has yet really show any movement... I cannot believe this is still moving forward with that design 😀
  6. X.R.
    Is it just me or is this going fast? Like, every other photograph new foundations are sprouting up, more excavation done...they seem to be really capturing the moment.
  7. X.R.
    It sounds like the museum park people are all reading from the same general thing. Also, whats hilarious is that the people against it are generally old, so they have been having technical difficulties apparently using a conference call system, lmao. I spoke momentarily, but I'll follow up with Shabazz, I was super disappointed with her comments. So bad. Should I include some of the other council members? MPNA does some very good things for the neighborhood, but they really don't talk for all of us. They cited some things like Light and Noise and Buffering that I have no no idea what they are talking about. The neighborhood is quiet, and honestly kind of too dark at night. I deal with the noise of the Allen Harrison development but their construction manager has a number of us on an email list and has been working with us on things the immediate neighbors would like to see. Great. MPNA comes off as anti-development which is whatever, but it felt like they were are pointing to the Southmore as a buffering problem...bro the Southmore is a great development and to me anchors that part of the neighborhood along with the Asia Society Center. Property values for people people around the Southmore are far most stable than the people near 59 and the intersection of 59/Almeda (trust me, I've been looking at other neighborhood house values for multiple years). The trees and esplanade by them is the best kept one on Caroline outside of the two by the park. Also, there are maybe 15 homes near the Southmore? The Southmore even employs its own constable, which MPNA has been trying to do for the neighborhood but hasn't been able to get the cash together for. Museum District people are lucky, they've gotten some high end development that gives them density other neighborhoods don't have without the negative externalities some may believe comes with such development.
  8. X.R.
    that is an incredible statistic. I don't know if 25k units is a lot to be under construction, but 90% of them being luxury to me sounds crazy high. The townhome style units sound pretty amazing, as does have direct access to the tunnels. Thats a bit of a coup for them I would think. If I worked downtown and had the cash, I would love to be"walking home" in the tunnels. Could never have imagined that 10 years ago. This, the preston,the mid-rise going in on the west side of downtown (fairfield), and the remodeling of the Houston Center/the shops are big wins despite the medium-term effects of the economy/COVID, as the article describes it.
  9. X.R.
    Due to a drop off in customers, a manager told ABC13 they have made tough decision to permanently close its Midtown location this week. On Tuesday, management said business has been difficult with all the homeless people in the area. A manager said they tried putting up a fence around the property to discourage them from coming on site. https://abc13.com/business/iconic-houston-fiesta-location-permanently-closing-this-week/6304620/ Real quick edit: if you're losing business as a grocer during COVID, things musta been real bad. I know at the MPNA meetings people would wish that they could to that Fiesta without the homeless issue, people made it seem like it was the only thing standing between them and patronage of that Fiesta. As I said, I shop there regularly, but I can see how some people could feel uncomfortable.
  10. X.R.
    Weird comment alert: that garage is v good looking. The stone pillars to the concrete with the black contract is such a handsome look. The look works well when going by, it really does vibe with the rest of the buildings on Montrose. I'm officially an HAIF'er, I am opining about a garage.
  11. X.R.
    Two things: 1) that fiesta has had a full parking lot all day with just regular joes cars, no big trucks with equipment, so I guess the community knows and is trying to get some deals; and 2) this morning I saw some bros in suits walking around the lot. Its hot outside for a suit right now, so I'm assuming this wasn't just some randoms walking around with suits in that area, lol. Strange day.
  12. X.R.
    Damn. Their meat outside of their shredded taco meat sucks, and their bakery goods sometimes are moldy within two days of purchasing, but they have great produce and seafood. During COVID they have provided a fairly stress-free shopping experience, not a lot of people and they have great selection for ethnics foods. Good beer selection too (arguably better than that overpriced Randall's). Also, when you go there and hear people who clearly know each other for years call out to each other and inquire about their families you realize that the Fiesta means alot to the people who have been in this area for a while. That churches offers gross chicken (popeyes is miles better) but its cheap, and the line on Saturdays for the cashing checks/issuing money orders is robust. Whatever Rice does, I hope the figure out a way to open a small grocer or something with decently priced food. I know based on interviews its unclear where they stand on bringing another grocer in, but there is clearly a community need that this Fiesta met. But yeah, that Jack in the Box sucks. That needs to go.
  13. X.R.
    So these canopy's and alcoves correlate to the gardens and meditative spaces they are creating around this development? Rode by yesterday and was trying to match up the schematics to what we're seeing. Edit: Looks amazing, btw
  14. X.R.
    @hindesky is that the mockup for the garage? If so, I guess this and that garage by Hermann park where they put that vine wall facing the park will be the two "green" garages near the city core. @CREguy13 Would not be surprised if demand exceeded expectation, given the comments. People within the tech industry in Houston on this forum had initial doubts re: occupancy, with good reason, to me, given Houston's relative lack of tech startup dollars when compared to Dallas/Austin. But, anecdotally, I've had friends come to Houston to interview at the medical/medical device incubator and say that those are pretty competitive as space was limited back in early 2019. So, maybe? @Moore713 yeah, was thinking the same thing this morning as I went by since this place sticks out like a sore thumb when compared to the stores in front of and behind it. You'd need a whole ecosystem there (small gyms, to go food, CVS 😝, etc) to support and they have alot of space to work with. I used to go to the barber shop pre-covid, hope Spot sees business from this.
  15. X.R.
    I would say so, in relation to GP. Fridays and Saturdays it would get busier earlier, although during the week when I went its always been pretty lowkey even after. yeah a friend went to Bamboo thinking it was the Vietnamese place with the great peking duck (it is certainly not that place) and was like "uhhh this is v mediocre." But, I enjoy BB lemons hamburgers (tho they are temp closed) and Nippon is enjoyable.
  16. X.R.
    Well, tech and startups are faring better than other companies during this time so I guess I shouldn't too surprised that they would have a full house but...I'm still pretty surprised that they may indeed be full upon open. That would be incredible and definitely exceeds my expectations for Houston's appetite for this development. Also, from the article it seems that these commitments have been there for a little bit, thus sort of confirming our thoughts that the CEO stepped down because she had gotten them to a positive place and wanted to take on some other challenge. Hats off to Rice, the Ion is on schedule and packed!
  17. X.R.
    What sucks is that row of food places and such just across the bridge just needs to hold on another year and then they'll have new people moving in here, the Allen Harrison place deeper in the museum area, and then the tower that will be opening just down the road. I know it will be hard though. Grand Prize will be busier than ever with this development, there goes our favorite hole in the wall.
  18. X.R.
    why would you get rid of the outdoor terrace when its basically the only saving grace for restaurants right now? I like the design otherwise!
  19. X.R.
    If its going up I have heard from multiple commercial real estate firms that everyone is doing everything they can to make sure it continues to go up unless they hit massive,incredible issues with cash. The reason being that everyone is salivating on being the "new" construction opening in mid 2021-2022 when things are thought to go back to normal. Bank/industry metrics are rating these 2021-2022 opportunities as can't-miss type investments. My money would be on the new crane being utilized.
  20. X.R.
    I rode by there last night on my bike because of the this thread to check it out. The lighting looks great, its to unfamiliar that I was like "where am I?" The part of the PDF showing the aerial view accentuates how much is going to change, having that outdoor space up top and have much more green is really going to change the way people view the shops. Rather than this lunch haven and not much more, I can really see this attracting people to utilize it after hours, potentially before sport events (when they eventually come back) or just unwinding after work. I can't help but think if this was only done 5 years ago how much more desirable downtown office spaces would be. But, thankfully, talking to a developer friend, he was saying this development might get a COVID-inspired boost in 2021 when its one of the only "new" office-adjacent spaces to come online during that time.
  21. X.R.
    There hasn't really been a parking issue this summer obviously because of COVID and the lack of people going to the park/zoo. Been plenty actually, outside of Lucille's lately (my god they are busy) and the area around Allen Harrison. The funny thing is that since I've gotten here about 3 years ago, the neighborhood has gotten younger but the level of wealth is greater (just based on cars driven, the fact that it doesn't seem like the kids of the new neighbors go to MacGregor Elementary, the price of the homes bought, etc). And most of the new people are obviously docs/nurses. The Allen Harrison apartments are going to start at near 2k a room for smaller rooms. The point I'm trying to make is that through sheer price of the rent/lease/mortgages alone, they are already not midtown. But with walkable places and the development it could spur, they are uniquely positioned to benefit from giving access to the funner aspects of Midtown/Downtown, while providing homes very close to the Med Center for those people. I mean hell, before Covid started I would see golf carts from the Med Center dropping off/picking people up from their homes since its so close. So much potential here.
  22. X.R.
    Would vote for this in the next election to be built, or am willing to beg the Kinders to help fund.
  23. X.R.
    Has Sawyer Yards vibes but with a bit more flavor. Is that a trolley or the light rail, lol? As someone who works in the legal field, I am amazed at what has happened and is happening in this area. 10 years ago you would have been laughed at and potentially called stupid for suggesting this could exist in this spot. And the best thing is that this naturally flows since as Luminaire said you get UHD students, people living in the new construction in that area of downtown, the legal peeps working over there, and then on weekends its just a few stops from the already vibrant mainstreet scene. Thanks @Urbannizer
  24. X.R.
    Anyone have an update as to this development? I did a bit of rudimentary searching myself via the methods I've noticed others on this forum use, but came up empty. I was thinking about it as I went jogging by the site last week, and musing about the need for more affordable housing.
  25. X.R.
    I'm going to guess synergism. Given how much work Hines and Gensler do in the city, and that this was planned "for years," someone at TMC3 must have known about this and vice versa. And if they knew/know about it, then you can't help but think that they will work together to not...cannibalize each other's potential. This is pretty astonishing and wayyyy out of left field. Checking the forums and going around town I just kept thinking we just needed to keep the momentum going from all of the projects currently being built, and here.we.go. With Hines behind it, and given how fast Texas Tower is moving, we should bet on which project begins to open up significant spaces first, this or TMC3. Absolutely nutty.
×
×
  • Create New...