BEES?!

ughh they seriously look so good at night, though. How can they look so lame in the daytime 😭

This is like the biggest news all year, lolol!

Dang, that sucks. I went to whatever it was they had in December, and there was a good variety of vendors with all kinds of different wares.

They really ought to do away with the surface lots at their park-and-rides and go for garages whenever possible.

Oh, hey, cool, they have shaded tables on the roof now, it looks like! Nice, I was just thinking it'd be nice for them to better utilize the space up there.

Now for the weather to not be so hellish so I can go enjoy it! Haha, NOT!

I think I posted an article about it in another topic (somewhere...?), but I think that it's a structural problem with the way the park was built on top of the underlying garage, and there's not much they can do short of a full renovation to fix the underlying issues. I wanna say that they found there was water leaking in from the fountains above and so they turned it off altogether. I know the big facelift of Tranquillity is included in the Theater District Master Plan, but I dunno when they're aiming to do it. Frankly I wasn't wild about their initial proposals for what they want to do with it, but I'm sure they're refining it and will find something that's modern while still paying homage to the original park (and why it was erected.)

I'm guessing it's largely a cost thing. I don't think construction costs here are as inflated as some other cities (though, again. I'm a layman, so construction people, plz don't kill me), so repurposing an old building will likely require cash incentives in order to make it happen. Like the current conversion of 1801 Smith- I wonder what the cost comparison is for office-to-residential conversion vs building a new residential tower with similar specs downtown?

Beautiful pictures!

that hail is absolutely nuts!!

11 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

(I have never seen one of these monstrosities in real life. I do love the different little architectural touches for each of the brands lmaooo)

Related: a meme that never fails to get a laugh out of me.

Probably safe to assume the ones at Tranquillity aren’t gonna come back online…:(

Dang shame, but I know there are supposed to be some structural issues  (with the garage underneath iirc) and they want to do an overhaul of the whole park anyway.

I love Tranquillity and think it’s a gorgeous work of art, but I understand there are major issues there…too bad. 

2 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

As a writer for Esquire once put it, ideology is the gasoline for assholes. 

That is amazing hahaha

On 2/20/2023 at 9:10 PM, mkultra25 said:

Coincidentally, there was an interesting article in the NYT today about the surge in remote (telemedicine) prescriptions for ketamine, the potential for abuse, and some pretty significant downsides that can result from such abuse. There should be no question that it's extremely irresponsible to prescribe powerful substances that are known to carry a risk of addiction without the patient being under the direct and regular supervision of a qualified medical professional. You'd think that what happened with Oxycontin and similar opioids would have been a sufficient lesson in this regard.

A Fraught New Frontier in Telehealth: Ketamine 

Yikes, this sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. I thought Ketamine treatments were only given in-office. I guess not…

Oh! I saw this and didn’t even think to post it here. It sounds interesting and like it could be a fun time!

if they’re really talking DG + GRB + surrounding venues, they must mean for this to be a colossal event. 

That looks great!

Even though they have to put these up pretty high, it looks like they’re going to do a solid job making it feel welcoming from street level.

It looks to me that they’re incorporating the greenspace lawn at a height that probably isn’t high enough to put a structure on, but it will be more easily visible from the street and invite people in.

I’m curious about this building- the last few units I’ve seen go up on HAR have been for a pretty low price/sq. ft- quite a bit lower than other buildings. Is it because it’s not a building with a lot of amenities? I don’t think it even has a pool, which seems slightly unusual for Houston condo buildings. The maintenance fee looks to be around 0.60/sq. ft. I’m guessing it being a midrise rather than a highrise is helping it here, too. 

That was an interesting read, great article. 

I always had difficulty understanding why there were people who held what I thought were pretty incongruous views re: development compared to their other social policy positions. (Like When the author mentioned both the anti-BART signs and “in this house”-esque signs in the same yard)

The author did a good job explaining how this tied into other “left-wing” causes back in the day, and how there are still people who hold that worldview today. It makes a lot more sense with that context, plus explaining the pulling-up-the-ladder attitude that was/is(?) common with people who moved to CA.

It was very sad to hear about people coming to terms with the idea that their kids would never be able to afford to live in the area that they grew up in. I don’t believe people are necessarily entitled to live wherever they want, but what’s happened in CA is on a totally different level of unaffordable. These kids would have to be extremely wealthy to even afford a modest little bungalow- that’s insane to me. 

Evidently you’re a man who wears many hats, hindesky 😂

On 5/16/2023 at 4:11 PM, hindesky said:

I found a new launching spot but I have to keep my head on a swivel. At three other spots I have used, I have been asked for money, if I know a lawyer so a crack head can sue a music video producer for stealing his idea  for a rap video and if I'm FBI surveying drug sales. 🤷‍♂️😎👮‍♂️💵🕵️‍♂️

Rikers Redux?

4 hours ago, Justin Welling said:

I think the photo that @Urbannizerposted is from like 2007 

That makes sense, . Now that I’m looking at it. And @004n063 is probably right. (Starting in the 350s-400s would be the ballpark for something that would’ve been in the 240s in 2007, assuming they’re gonna try and aim for the same clientele)

I actually like it. I’m not really getting 80s Postmodern vibes from it, though. Like something about it really screams early 2000s for me, architecturally. When I see 80s Postmodern I feel like the colors are much louder and the ornamentation is different, somehow?

Architecture nerds, plz don’t kill me. I’m just a layman

Also, if these are going to be condos, then that’s really great. I feel like Houston’s missing that middle-class condo segment that other cities have. 

Congrats Luminare!

I always like seeing your insight into things!

(also I gave you a “thanks” reaction because it looks like a trophy, just in case you were confused lolol)

The food hall seems to be doing quite well, and as soon as we started going regularly, I wondered if they would ever consider expanding it somehow- like, could they get a couple of sit-down concepts on the second floor? And I can’t remember which place wanted to get one of the rooftop spaces, but that’d be so cool. 

I think they’ve done a good job programming the space. I’ve gone to a couple of their markets and they are fantastic and have a nice diversity of shops to check out. The one they had back at Christmastime was very nice and I got some cool gifts.

Some new places at POST:

Loy Loy Dim Sum (No site that I could find)

Twisted Grilled Cheese (already has a couple of locations in Houston, this one is listed as ‘Coming Soon’)