King Owl

My source is telling me that the Ritz in in the works but is more than likely not going to be 66 floors, it is probably going to be two 30 story towers, one for hotel, and one for condo.

That's really disappointing. Sounds similar to what the Ritz did in Dallas....not really a meaningful addition to the skyline. I think we'd all have preferred the taller, single tower. Any idea why they would change it up? Just too expensive to build one single tower?

Ok, that explains the stage looking thing that's on the site right now. I was wondering how that stage thing was going to fit into the construction plans. I can see the site from my office, so I look forward to watching the progress. Actually from where I'm at in One Houston Center, I have a birds-eye view of the construction at One Park Place, MainPlace and 6 Houston Center (and soon to be the LaQuinta, Embassy Suites and the parking garage of Discovery Tower...can't see Discovery Tower due to the Fulbright tower being in the way)! Quite entertaining.

Is there anything special with 6 Houston Center? I've heard 10 floors parking, 19 floors office, and that they're going for some kind of LEED certification, but I haven't really heard any distinguishing features of the building (like Discovery Tower's windmills or MainPlace's terrace). Is it just going to be a boring box? Why would any tenant choose the box over the more interesting MainPlace or Discovery Tower?

I just bought a 4 story townhome with a full floor rooftop deck just off of West Gray near Waugh. The views of downtown and uptown are awesome!!! I highly recommend the deck - I sit up there and read the paper and get on the internet and stuff when the weather is nice. It's pretty relaxing. I haven't had any issues with the flat deck and water problems, but then again, I just bought the thing, so maybe I should report back in a year or so

The thing is...with few exceptions, most folks on this forum are relatively young and not at all cancer-prone...in fact, many of them haven't yet had the opportunity to figure out that they aren't immortal. They don't know much about the cancer treatment process beyond, possibly, what they've picked up second-hand from their older relatives, and even their cancerous relatives don't have the total picture of what is going on behind the scenes as they are being treated.

I'm one of the exceptions! I'm extremely interested in what's going on in the TMC and at MD Anderson. I was a cancer patient there a year ago and they cured me! MD Anderson is one of the absolute finest hospitals with some of the absolute best doctors in the world. We're (especially ME) are EXTREMELY fortunate to have such amazing care at our fingertips here in Houston.

edit: by the way, I'm 29 years old, so I would hope that younger people (yeah, I still consider myself young at 29...) would be aware they they are not immune from cancer. Skin cancer and testicular cancer are especially possible for men in their 20s. I would hope that everybody on here would be aware of that.

Looking at the little awning / front covered entry way thing out front of Discovery Tower, it sort of reminds me of the look of the Apple store that's just Southeast of Central Park in NYC. How cool would it be if they incorporated something like that out front of Discovery Tower? For those of you who haven't been to the Apple store in NY, it's a big glass cube that has an elevator that takes you below ground to the actual store - visually very cool

http://picasaweb.google.com/federicoer/New...472207761388002

Probably a 40 story hotel/condo project...

FYI, I talked to the money taker on the parking lot where 6HC will be built, and they said that tomorrow is the last day to park there. Sounds like construction is right around the corner...

I think there actually may be some wind turbines in the top. There's some short little white poles that appear to have a spinning blade (very hard to see, but it looks like they're there....)

...and by the way - my office is on the 30th floor of One Houston Center, and there is a lot of wind at that height. You can hear it zipping between One HC adn the Fulbright tower almost every day for long periods of time

memebag - what is your solution? Can you offer up something instead of picking at everybody's else's ideas? Thanks.

looks almost the very same to me

I like the top - something unique, that's for sure

Step one is increased police/security presence (sounds like it's going the other direction)

Long term solution includes nuking the bus station(s)

I've lived in Midtown for 5 years and I constantly am looking over my shoulder when I walk to places like CVS, Randalls and the Chevron station. It's ridiculous how many beggars and bums are around. I can't believe people have put up with their presence for this long.

I work in this building, and the inside is awesome, too. Texas pink granite covers the entire elevator lobby area. I'll try to snap some photos one day. I wish they'd do something more interesting with the top of the building, though. Maybe a Memorial-Hermann style crown??? lol ok maybe not

I love the 4th photo down in the original post. HC looks pretty dense from that view

I'm a big fan of the color of brick used on this. It matches Minute Maid Park, the Inn at the Ballpark and Vic and Anthony's very nicely. This building is really going to be a nice addition to downtown and will set a great stage for the new park.

Sweet I just bought a townhome 2 blocks south of there. Hello higher property values?

Saw this in the Houston business journal today. Mentions a 20 story tower by the Novati Group (same company that bought the BofA tower downtown).

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/sto.../25/story1.html

Nancy reiterates that a Whole Foods will be at BLVD Place.....in the same article she quotes Ed Wulfe.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headli...iz/5557350.html

Aside from the crown being off centered, I think the building is really looking a heck of a lot better

can't wait to see the crown

Too bad on the Asian Shopping Center. I want Houston to have an urban Asian-district like in Toronto.

Is Bellaire not urban enough for ya? More residential folks near downtown is a great thing, in my opinion. Midtown has the early makings of a nice residential area

That is a picture of The Burlington in Dubai, not what they'd build here (unless they copied it for some reason...)

Some of you guys are awfully quick to dismiss the white bar that the Metro operator had, as well as the first hand account from the Metro passenger (see the Chronicle article). Just because you're pro-rail doesn't mean you can't fault Metro here, guys.

To me, that's like saying highway 59 isn't designed well form a safety point of view, as evidenced by the absurd number of incidents that have occurred since it opened (probably more than the Metro Rail).

...it's all relative...can you not deny that Metro Rail has had more accidents than similar systems of its size and type across the country? I'm not aware of HWY 59 having more accidents than other freeways

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5535446.html

Looks like Metro is now saying that the accident could have been prevented (by them)

A lot of people on this forum are obviously extremely pro-rail and I feel that it clouds their judgment and ability to reason around some of the safety issues at play here. I'm not anti-rail, but I feel that commuter rail is far, far more needed in Houston than the light rail. On top of that, the light rail was not designed well from a safety point of view, as evidenced by the absurd number of incidents that have occured since it opened. To Metro's credit, the red warning strips on the crosswalks are a big help to drivers to keep them from running through intersections, so they are taking steps in the right direction, at least.

Ok, so it seems that this lot is now open for parking, so I parked on it today. I asked the attendant what they're going to build, and he said that it would be a parking garage and apartments. Huh? He may have been clueless, though, since he was a parking attendant and probably wasn't as well versed as those of us who browse this forum with any regularity.

I thought the article said she was in stable condition. Did I miss something?

I was just going off the thread title. I don't know for sure if she died or not, just made that assumption based on the title

Maybe cars, busses, motorcycles, and bikes should have been designed much better from a safety perspective as well...

This is a weak argument unless you provide data that shows Houston's cars, buses, motorcycles and bikes are more accident prone than average. Our train system has data that shows a lot more accidents than other cities' trains. A reasonable person would conclude that the train could have been designed better from a safety perspective - especially considering a train is something very, very new for most Houstonians. We aren't used to them.

I am very sorry to hear about this. Let's look at the data on metro - there have been an absurd number of train-car collisions and now it looks like we have a bike-train fatality. The cold, hard facts are that this train is much, much more accident-prone than trains in other cities. No one can dispute those facts. It's sad to say, but metro simply should not have assumed that the people of our fair city would be perfect drivers and bike riders. People get busy and don't think to look both ways or drive carefully. It happens. Nobody is a perfect driver. Sadly it cost this poor woman her life. Metrorail could have been designed much, much better than it was from a safety perspective.