Subdude

It is unfortunate they are removing the railings from the balconies.  Usable balconies would have been a great amenity for workers there. 

The discussion about the justice aspects of freeway routing deserved its own thread, so moved to a new topic here:

https://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/45779-equity-aspects-of-freeway-routing/?tab=comments#comment-612150

Thanks

The second photo has the only clear picture I've ever seen of the Western Union building that was incorporated into the Bank of America tower.  

On 1/24/2020 at 1:16 PM, H-Town Man said:

 

You mean you hope that someday someone comes along and restores Houston Center back to its original anti-pedestrian, 70's fortress look?

 

No, not necessarily, but I think the Houston Center restorations could have been more sympathetic to the original architecture.  

2 minutes ago, bobruss said:

You make a good point. Perhaps down the road someone with more money will come along and restore this little hidden jewel.

I wish the same about the Houston Center renovations. 

To my point in the Houston Center renovation thread - more often than not, "modernization" is ultimately ill-advised.  What were they thinking?

Keep it on topic please.  Political discussions are fine in the appropriate forum section.  

23 hours ago, ChannelTwoNews said:

 

Don't know what board they were using, but that last rendering in the piece sent the tower to Manhattan.

 

It's like Where's Waldo - The Skyscraper Edition.  Just keep hiding BoSW tower in different locations.  

My concern is that misguided modernizations are almost always regretted in retrospect.  A perfect example is the "modernization" of buildings on Main Street during the 1960s.  Plenty of buildings had new "modern' facades slapped on them - in some cases mainly at street level, and in other instances (Lamar Hotel, West Building, 806 Main) entirely new facades.  Without exception the results were horrendous.  Just about every one of them has been demolished, whereas if they had kept the original character (Rice Hotel) I think the odds would have been better that they would have survived.  The Houston Center redevelopment design strikes me as looking just as slapped-on, and I'd wager that sometime in the near future people will be saying "What were they thinking?". 

I hate to quibble, but quibble I must.  Had the BoSW Tower been built, it would have been on the block directly behind One Shell, to the south of Two Shell.  Otherwise, cool photoshops.  

12 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

Latest design for The Shops at Houston Center

 

I appreciate what they are trying to do.  Four Houston Center has always been fortress-like from the street, in line with the original vision for the complex, so opening it up to the street makes sense.  That said, the renovations are so unconnected in style with the original structure that they seem like they were just tacked on the facade.  Instead of just trying to look generically modern, I would have made more of an effort to integrate with the building.  At a minimum, matching the brick facing would have not made it look like so much of an afterthought.  

1 minute ago, Houston19514 said:

 

Interesting... I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw they were not going with the white.  I didn't think it went with the upper part of the building, at all.

Agreed.  I never had a problem with the existing look of the complex, so I was dubious of the value of trying to update it.  

Put that head-to-head with the Cybertruck.

So if estimated downtown damage from the Harvey flood was $100m, at an estimated cost of $131m it wouldn't take that many potential downtown floods for the North Canal to pay for itself.  It is unfortunate the project has been kicked around for so many years.

At one point this block was targeted for hotel.  I guess there's more demand for parking.

Changed topic title accordingly.

Note duplicate topics for this location merged.  I'm leaving the thread title as is since the point is that the property is for sale, not that there currently happens to be a hotel there. 

Carry on.  

Ah, but this is an "RV Resort", so I'm sure it will be appropriately swanky. 

Done

3 hours ago, dbigtex56 said:

Moderators, it's been ten years since the Houston Metropolitan Dance Co. deal fell through. Please consider renaming this thread.

OK, gave it a boring ol' address title.  

I didn't think the restaurant was particularly good, but I hope the building can be re-purposed.  Unfortunately old theaters are hard to remodel to other uses.  Bookstop was certainly  one of the best theater remodelings.  

I like the old..

The LBJ statue placement comes off as pretty awkward, but I supposed it's an improvement over what's there now.

If that design were built from scratch I wouldn't mind it, but knowing that there's a beautiful structure that lies beneath, I could never warm up to it.  

On 10/13/2019 at 2:22 PM, EllenOlenska said:

My favorite thing about big ambitious non-building focused projects like this is the fake orange midrises they put everywhere. Once we build this nice park--waterfront midrises and charming Continental European malls are gonna pop up everywhere. 

In the renderings, I mean. 

Yes, the Buffalo Bayou plan renderings were amazingly optimistic.  I don't think many people are going to want new apartments next to the jails.  

The obvious name for the new island will be "Alcatraz".  

I remember reading that the canal project was initially proposed in the 1930s.  So there's progress.