NewMND

Where is the McDonalds in that rendering?

Yeah, I think their original plan was for a 70 millions stadium that seats around 22K, but then the last few games at Robertson ended having over 30K in attendance, so now the plan is for 25,000. I can't wait to see designs for this thing, it could be some boring suburban looking stadium like in Dallas, or hopefully something nice like they're building for DC United.

I suck, I can't visualize where this is. I know where the Lofts are, but for some reason I can't picture the open land.

Ooohhh, I like Guadalajara's! I'm glad to see some local restaurants going into this project instead of some of the usual suspects like TGI Fridays, Bennigans and Shenanigans.

Still very retail lite though....

Okay, what is the difference between the two? Is it Colorado's heating field?

I think it's saying we should expect a no frills, boring stadium like the Rapids have, but it won't be as boring and no frills as Pizza Hut Park. Hopefully it's not true or I'm misunderstanding, because I'm hoping for something like DC United is getting.

What is the song singing? Do I love my mother?

I dunno what's going on with it, but they have built some apartments there.

What is considered a mega-city? Is there a certain population number attached to it or something like that?

Yup, not only does it seem BLVD Place is finally starting, but West Ave, Pavilions, and Regency Square are all under way. I guess the pessimist will have to move on to the Oaks District project for the "will it or won't it get built" discussions.

I saw that today! The fence was up and the demolition had begun! It's very exciting, to know this project is finally starting.

They have a Whole Earth on Shepard near the old Alabama theater. They don't have food like Whole Foods, but they have clothes and equipment for doing "earth" stuff, like hiking or mountain climbing, and they're all about eco-friendly stuff and tree-hugging and eating granola. I think their stores use "green" power.

Yeah, if you look at the renderings from the website, there is no Borders. There is a Whole Earth about where the Borders is in the above rendering, and the Lubys is on the other side, kinda in the corner.

I always liked Stinkadena, probaby because that was the first one I heard

Where is Willie G's going?

Wait, the Pavillions is supposed to open fall 2008? This whole time I've been thinking it wasn't opening til fall 2009? Is that a fast constuction timetable for the pavillions, or is roughly a little over a year and half average for something like the pavillions to be built?

I've never even heard of this place! Where is it located?

Anyone figure out where in Houston Sprinkles will open?

It seems like this is the area that a couple years ago, some company out of Colorado bought property with plans to build residential. At the time they bought it though, they said they weren't going to start construction for 4-6 years, they were going to wait until it made sense to build. This was before Pavillions and Discovery Green had gotten started. So maybe the time is right, now? Let me see if I can dig and find something on it, I could just be making stuff up.

I'd rather see the city go after more Superbowls than the Olympics. But whatever happens, the city has to do something with I-45. Most people coming from the airports end up on 45, and well, if that is there first impression of the city, it won't be a good one. That is one butt ugly stretch of freeway. I'd like to see the portion of 45 between Bush Intercontinental and 610 tunneled, just put it underground, then un-tunnel it (I don't know the correct terminology) near downtown, so people come out of the tunnel, and the bam, the giant Houston skyline is right there, I think that would be cool. But I know that would never happen, it would probably cost 3.7 trillion dollars. So maybe do it at least like the Southwest freeway near Shephard, that's nice.

With the Galleria and Highland Village, and the proposals for BLVD Place, River Oaks District, and HighStreet all in that area, it seems like they are going to be trying to sign every retailer on the planet! That's a lot of retail space. Is there enough retail to go around? I don't know much about shopping, but I know we don't have a Bloomingdales, a Barneys, H&M, or a Prada. Oh, and I just remembered there's West Ave going up down the road. Also Regent Square, but I don't know if that's supposed to have a large retail component. I'd like to see a high-end car dealership go in one of them, like at the Wynn in Vegas, just for window-shopping, I like looking at those cars and daydreaming. In 10 years this area is going to be off the hook crazy, it's exciting. Except for the inevitable traffic jams, not so exciting.

This is just out of curiosity, but with maybe 4 new building proposals for downtown, does anyone know if there are any office tower proposals for Uptown? I have no idea what the vacany rate is for Uptown, it could be ridiculously high for all I know, it just seems there hasn't been a new office building built in Uptown in forever. I rather see new towers going up in downtown, but since we have Uptown, might as well build them there also. I guess I just want to see the skylines of both downtown and uptown grow and change. Oh well, downtown gets the office towers and uptown gets the condo towers.

Oh well, too bad so sad. The W is now going to Uptown, in that River Oaks District project. There was rumor around these boards of a Mandarin possibly going downtown, any news on that? Or was it just rumor?

Looking at the map of proposed towers, it appears that the Brookfield site is on the west side of downtown. Isn't that the most photographed side of downtown? Of all the proposed towers, I think the Brookfield one will need to be the most architecturely significant one if it's going to be right out there in front, on the most seen side of downtown.

The model of the project that guy is standing behind sure this make the Oaks District look loverly. How long do we have to wait til this starts construction? With this and BLVD Place trying to come online at the same time, Regent Place starting construction anytime now, West Ave already under construction, and the High Street proposal, does it seem like overkill to anyone? Or can Houston support all of these projects? I feel one of these projects will be killed, or groundbreaking will be delayed by 10 years. Most likely High Street, because all the other projects seems to far along.

Wow, 4 Texas made that list, tying us with California and Florida. I wouldn't have guessed Houston would have been higher than some of the cities it beat on that list.