Big E

10 hours ago, Texasota said:

Just because you disagree with someone doesnt mean theyre being disingenuous. Ad that's, at most, a difference of degree not kind.

If you don't think he's being disingenuous, that's your belief, and you're free to believe that. Nobody's going to tell you not to. Don't attempt to tell anybody else how to feel either.

7 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

Its Reddit. What do you expect?

1 hour ago, arche_757 said:

Those don’t have the harsh parking podium.

Because they built the parking garages separate from the buildings.

On 5/11/2022 at 12:52 PM, BeerNut said:

Saturday, May 21, 2022

---

GreenStreet 10th Anniversary Event

10:00a - 3:00p

GreenStreet is turning 10! Join us for Greenstreet’s 10th Anniversary Event on May 21st from 10 – 3 PM. The anniversary event will feature Yoga on the Lawn with Lifetime Fitness accompanied by a live DJ, followed by a vendor market, live music, live art, and happy hour!

 

10 AM – Yoga on The Lawn 

Enjoy outdoor yoga with Lifetime Fitness and a live DJ on the first lever GreenStreet Lawn. RSVP HERE: https://forms.gle/vny5171Y52Av2HbMA 

11 AM – Vendor Market 

Shop 50+ Vendors, artisans, and makers curated by BLCK Market & The Brunch Market on the second and third floors!

3 PM Astros Happy Hour

End the day with dinner & drinks at GreenStreet’s on-site restaurants and bars. Watch the Astros take on the Rangers that evening at any of our restaurant bars or snag a free 30-minute B-Cycle to Minute Maid ride at the event!

 

This event is free to attend and paid parking is available in the GreenStreet Garage, located at 1320 Fannin St. Stay tuned for more information!

 

Here's to celebrating 10 years of the most underwhelming development in Downtown Houston. Hip hip hooray.

On 5/11/2022 at 8:00 AM, samagon said:

there's the people who will be forcibly moved from where they've chosen to live their lives, or those who get to stay put, but have to deal with a huge construction project that lasts 15% of their lives that happens in their backyard.

The people who are being "displaced" are being paid for their property and being given assistance to move, so they don't need your pity. And the people living next to this project are already living next to a freeway, so this probably won't disturb them as much as you think it does. You can drop your feigned interest in these people you don't even know. Its not impressing anyone here.

2 hours ago, Amlaham said:

💀 I didn't saying anything that insinuates enslaving workers, poop trucks, or building more/fast skyscrapers. Not every statement/ post is surface level. The point of my argument, which I thought was clear, is that it shouldn't take 30 years to plan/ reconstruct a highway. No workers have been enslaved in the last 20 years of planning this project. This isn't about workers, there are projects that get planned/built in a way quicker timeframe than this project.

• Dallas' Klyde cap park was planned in 2004, constructed from 2009-2012
• Florida's I-4 project was planned in 2008, constructed in 2015-2022 (one of the busiest highways :))
• California's I-405 project was planned 2014, constructed in 2018-2023 (the most congested highway in the LA area)

I can list numerous other US projects but someone will eventually find another excuse. I also made sure to only include American projects since some people get offended by UAE and China. 

This project far dwarfs, at the very least, the Hyde Park cap. The state is rebuilding around 15 miles of some of the busiest freeway in America's fourth largest city, in addition to building new lanes, burying existing and new ones, building new roads, rebuilding an entire interchange, building multiple caps, etc. and doing it all while disrupting existing traffic patterns as little as possible. And this is after years of studies, back-and-forth with local governments, public meetings, impact statements, and the like. And now the project is being held up by the federal government itself, without which it would have already started, and ninth hour local opposition. You say it shouldn't take 30 years. I say you know nothing of the bureaucratic nightmare that is building anything in America in this day and age. Funny you mention California; they are learning this exact lesson the hard way with their high speed train project. A better comparison would have been the Big Dig, which lasted from 1991-2007 for primary construction, but planning began all the way back in 1982.

8 hours ago, Amlaham said:

I just love how this project has been on the drawing board since 2002 and expected to be finished 30 years later. 

 

Dubai did this.....in 6 years 

They also built islands in 10 years....

 

Are we not as advance as we used to think?

Also, most of those islands are sinking back into the Persian Gulf, and aren't even developed. 

Here is an article on this building in Culture Map Houston: https://houston.culturemap.com/news/real-estate/03-10-22-the-westcott-929-westcott-for-rent-memorial-park-washington-avenue-greystar/#slide=0

Also, this thread should really be renamed "The Westcott".

9 hours ago, Amlaham said:

I think turning that street into a park is a wonderful idea, there's already enough entrances and exits to the shopping center.

Will this stop the exodus of stores, tho'?

3 hours ago, wxman said:

2nd quarter of 2023 is a full year from now. This thing is likely to be cancelled, put on hold, and eventually value engineered down to a one story mattress firm by the time it actually breaks ground. Bet.

They would literally be throwing money away with how much this property probably cost to buy and pay taxes on.

21 hours ago, MaxConcrete said:

Rendering in HBJ

Honestly, this looks like a really early design, probably not fully reflective of how the final project will look. I'm willing to give the benefit of a doubt until they show us a more "final" rendering. At least its taller than the old designs. That's a plus.

1 hour ago, H-Town Man said:

I don't disagree, fair points, but some of the examples you mention aren't really paradigm shifts. So Apple went from devices to... different devices. Marvel found a cinema outlet for their comic creations. IBM got out of hardware but kept their services, which they had been developing all along. A parallel for oil and gas companies might be the shift from land-based oil exploration to deep sea in the 1970's-80's, to fracking in the 2000's-2010's. Pretty big shifts, but their core business was still getting fossil fuels out of the ground, refining them, and selling them to people. Asking them to "evolve" to a future without fossil fuels is a rather larger leap. It is much more likely that the big energy companies in a world without fossil fuels will be totally different companies.

But for the other reasons I mentioned, I think it is more likely that technological solutions will be found for the problems inherent in fossil fuels than that there will be a world without fossil fuels. Too much energy just sitting there.

 

 

 

What every one is missing here is that, even if we switched to nothing but clean energy tomorrow, oil would still still be the most important resource in the world, because nearly everything we have was made with oil. Anything with plastic or rubber in it? Oil. Paint? Oil. it would be easier to name the things not an ounce of oil went into than to name thing that have oil involved in its creation. Oil companies like ExxonMobil will be fine.

11 hours ago, X.R. said:

From that angle, that isn't the prettiest collection of lots in Houston 😝

I don't think its all that pretty from any angle.

My guess, the main reason its not being extended to Beltway 8 is because of the expensive ROW acquisition it would necessitate; there are multiple neighborhoods on both sides of the train tracks, and something is going to have to get taken out to get it to Beltway 8. By extending it to 610, they are offering an alternate way for people living in South Central Houston and those coming from the loop to get to downtown without forcing them to go all the way to I-45.

21 hours ago, texan said:

http://www.downtowntirz.com/downtownhouston/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Board-Book-FINAL-3.8.22.pdf

Plenty of red meat here for y'all to argue about. For what it's worth, I did genuinely find this informative and very fair in terms of how well TxDOT is working with Central Houston and how they are actually open to negotiation/changes. Very different from the story given in the media.

If this makes one thing clear, this whole idea the TxDOT didn't work with the city and local actors at all and ignored all outside input is a fantasy, pure and simple. TxDOT have been nothing but conciliatory. At one point, they weren't even building the caps, just making the freeway able to be capped. Now they are capping it themselves. They are also putting in detention ponds, rebuilding almost every bridge crossing, and reconnecting streets. Having seen this report, I have no complaints, about this project. I don't really see anything to complain about this. Its a net positive for the city.

4 hours ago, editor said:

For some reason you focused on the art studios and lofts, but dismissed the other businesses: the bodega, the restaurants, the concert venue.  Was this simply because it doesn't bolster your "no man's land" argument?  You know, it's OK to admit you're wrong. 

I was merely pointing out what was there. I wasn't wrong; most of what's there is various studios and art galleries, and some converted lofts. Do you disagree with that? There are may be one or two restaurants, a bodega, other small businesses. I didn't say those things weren't there, just that most of the old industrial facilities had been converted into art spaces and lofts, others were abandoned or still being used for their original industrial usage. Do you disagree with that statement?

4 hours ago, editor said:

There are more than two residential buildings in that area.

I had already pointed out there was some houses in the area. There maybe more, but it isn't an amazingly large number.

4 hours ago, editor said:

Please read more carefully.  I do not live in Dakota. I lived there at one time.

I meant to type "Okay you lived in Dakota". Its hardly relevant. The point is, you've established that you lived in the neighborhood at some point, which was the important thing to establish. Whether you live there now, or live there twenty years ago is hardly relevant here. The point is, you lived there.

5 hours ago, editor said:

I don't know anything about the Warehouse District in New Orleans, so I can't say if you're right or wrong.  Moreover, I can't say that the New Orleans Warehouse District is something that Houston should aspire to emulate.  So without any elaboration on your part, it's irrelevant.

The New Orleans Warehouse District is the most famous such district in the country. Its basically what every other Warehouse District aspires to be. Its where the National WWII Museum is located. Lots of hotels, bars, restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques, converted lofts, art galleries, museums, and even the farmer's market. The convention center is right along the riverfront in front of it, so a lot of convention traffic passes through it. Its what Houston's Warehouse District wants to be, but doesn't really hold a candle to it.

5 hours ago, editor said:

I still posit that it was a good neighborhood when I lived there, and it seems to have gotten better since then.

I don't doubt any of that. Is it poppin off like Downtown or East Downtown though? Since this started up by someone bringing up the NHHIP freeway cap in comparison to this project, I think it only fair to answer that question honestly. Which one will actually have a greater impact? Which neighborhoods will see more growth, realistically? Which one will be more utilized? The Canal will have a greater effect on the city as whole for flood relief purposes, but for recreational purposes, which will actually have a larger net positive effect? That's not to say the Warehouse District is completely run down or good for nothing. If I thought that, I would say that they should turn the canal into a lake and dredge that entire area. I'm just saying this won't have the amazing effect some think it will. The surrounding area isn't the best, and everything else of note is on the other side of downtown from it, with the exception of the Main Street historic district, which is still blocks away. The presence of the jails and court complex will limit its impact, as will the abandoned warehouses and other abandoned buildings. The Abandoned buildings will be dealt with in time, the jails and courthouses are here to stay for the foreseeable future. So we should keep our expectations realistic about what this will look like and what it will be expected to achieve. I just want you to see things from where I'm coming from.

5 hours ago, iah77 said:

Prada closed and it looks like Dior is taking over the spot. Bummer

Maybe its moving to the River Oaks District?

3 hours ago, editor said:

At Dakota.  The building across the street was also residential, as were several others.

Okay, you live in Dakota. The building across the street is the William Street Lofts. Got it. That's, what, two buildings? A few other warehouses appear to have been converted into studios for various uses: Sanman Studios, Studio 713 recording studios, Mother Dog Studios, Hardy and Nance Studios. Some small art galleries. Most others are either abandoned and completely boarded up, or in industrial usage. Ultimately not a lot of residential uses, but the type of post-industrial uses you expect of former warehouses.

3 hours ago, editor said:

There's even newish residential buildings I saw when I drove through there a few weeks ago.

I already mentioned that they were building what looked like a new apartment building on the far eastern side of the neighborhood. That seems to be the only real major development.

3 hours ago, editor said:

Yes, industrial buildings-turned-lofts do make a thriving neighborhood.

Yes, they can, but I don't see this neighborhood as being quite there yet. It not like the Warehouse District in New Orleans. It will probably never be there considering its size and the hard physical borders (the freeways, the bayou, the jails...). 

2 minutes ago, editor said:

It's not "no man's land." There's a bunch of people who live in that district. I lived there for the years. Even back then, there were we're at least a dozen residential buildings. There's probably double that's now. Plus all of the adjacent residential buildings. 
 

This is an opportunity that the city only gets once. Let's not screw it's up. 

Where exactly did you live? Next to the bus depot at Dakota Lofts or William Street Lofts? One of the few homes near Rothwell? Or maybe you lived in Near Northside, which actually stops at the rail tracks on the other side of the freeway? Or maybe you lived in downtown on the other side of the bayou?

Only the houses on Rothwell and the Lofts are actually located in the Warehouse District, and a few old houses and some industrial buildings-turned-lofts don't make it a thriving neighborhood. There appears to be one apartment complex currently under construction, on McKee St., on the far other end of the neighborhood.

1 minute ago, editor said:

I'll start printing the Keep Houston Ugly bumper stickers.  How many should I put you down for?

Not sure how a canal could make an area filled with jails and warehouses uglier...

10 hours ago, BEES?! said:

How do they not get seriously hurt/killed if, say, a strong gust of wind blows in? From the top of a high rise building, that has to be dangerous AF. 
that’d be my #1 fear lol

The danger is part of the thrill for them, along with the risk of getting caught.

8 hours ago, Luminare said:

I don't really understand what the fuss is about. If you go to the website the renders were produced by SWA Group which is one of the best planning groups / landscape architecture firms in Houston. They have done many projects large and small. By the way, they are the ones behind all the conceptual renders for NHHIP (including the highway caps). This render looks pretty schematic to me. With that being said I'm fine with the way its being conceptualized right now. Keep it simple. As some have said the primary reason for this project existing is completely utilitarian. Some of these other examples from other cities are waterways which have existed for years and are in prime downtown locations. This is being built from scratch and probably with a very limited budget. I would warn people to keep their expectations low. Just getting this built in the timeframe presented would be amazing. If this is has a design timeframe of 24 months then this is going to change quit a bit, and a lot can change with this being in conjunction with other large plans around it. If we get more than what is initially conceptualized here then count that as a plus.

That's what I'm saying! I don't know why people are expecting this grand park design for what is basically a large drainage ditch! Its a canal first and foremost people. The design looks like a real basic one, like an early rough draft of what they want. It will probably be better designed when they actually build it, but to expect this to be something on par with like the Riverwalk in San Antonio or Chicago riverfront is insane. We should be happy they are willing to gussy it up at all.

1 hour ago, JClark54 said:

As for the EaDo Cap park, in the I-45 thread a poster whose comments you liked often claimed that the west side of St E is worth losing because, aside from a handful of businesses, it's primarily warehouses and surface lots. How is that area a vibrant neighborhood in this thread but primarily surface lots and warehouses in the other? 

While the area west of Emmanuel is mostly warehouses and surface lots, East Downtown itself is undergoing redevelopment and gentrification and is far more along with that process than this area north of Buffalo Bayou is. Also, right on the other side of the cap park is downtown itself, and part of the purpose of the cap park is to stitch downtown and East Downtown back together, and it will be the centerpiece of the Sports and Convention District.

5 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

No man’s land? It’s north downtown. And the Warehouse District is right there. Not to mention all the development happening in that area. 

That area north of Buffalo Bayou is entirely industrial on one side, then a bunch of prison facilities and the Sheriff's department on the other, with a massive bus depot in the middle. Its separated from Near Northside by 1-10, and that separation isn't going away when they reroute the freeway and will only get worse when 1-45 is routed along the same path. Immediately to the south of Buffalo Bayou is Harris County's courts and administration buildings which kill any street life or redevelopment potential of the area just by virtue of existing. Its one saving grace is that Main Street/Market Square isn't that far away to the north, but the area on the other side of this complex is a sea of parking lots. That's what I mean by no man's land. Its literally in a part of downtown that nobody will frequent, either visitors or residents.

12 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

I thought you were in favor of the conceptual cap park above 45/59? How's that any different?

Its A LOT different! Lets start with the fact that its in the middle of a freaking neighborhood first, and not no man's land.

12 hours ago, Montrose1100 said:

Why wouldn't we make this connecting park land. It's a waste of space otherwise.

It wouldn't be a waste of space; it be a flood diversion canal, which is its actual main purpose. Any other use is purely secondary.

13 hours ago, Amlaham said:

Memorial park, Buffalo Bayou Park, Discovery green... aren't most parks off a freeway?

There's a difference between being off a freeway, and literally being surrounded by freeways and nothing else.

13 hours ago, Amlaham said:

The warehouses are temporary, we've seen a lot being repurposed lately, especially in the area.

Maybe so, but as of now, its basically an industrial area. And the only major change in store for this area is the rerouting of freeways for the NHHIP. Not exactly going to be a boon for local development while construction is ongoing, though moving the freeway north away from the canal should have a positive effect on the area.

13 hours ago, Amlaham said:

The prison is a valid point BUT its not like they have play time and can go outside

True, but how many people want to go to a park literally right next door to a prison complex? If the Prisons, courts, sheriff's office, and prisoner intake were moved to a different location and that area of bayou frontage redeveloped, it could be a nice area. As of now, it just doesn't have that much going for it. 

55 minutes ago, Montrose1100 said:

Yes, actually, we do need it. Parks improve our quality of life and this city is desperate for some nice places. BBP functions as both so why would this just be a ditch?

Who wants to go to a park surrounded by warehouses, freeways, and prisons?