CSOM

No - separate businesses.  Two Shell will be vacated and Pennzoil Place has been vacated.  One Shell Plaza was recently renovated and nearly all CBD staff have been consolidated there.

Shell just completed two 12-story budings in the Energy Corridor. Would they be relocating employees there?

Agree very few, if any stops between downtown to downtown. I would compare it to the Eurostar between London and Paris. There is one stop on either side of the chunnel (Dover UK, Calais FR) and they are building another just for the station near Olympic park. Plus there are non-stop options as well. Only a few trains a day stop at the alternate stations.

If I were designing I'd have maybe a stop for The Woodlands, and possibly Huntsville, and only stop there maybe twice a day, while the rest run non-stop. If you want to add other options to DFW, have a direct line connection/continuation either into FW or up to Frisco/Plano at slower speeds, but the main terminus being city center Dallas.

A. Its their buildings and they can do as they please

B. Energy conservation is not "tacky" or "a load of crap"

THIS

Is this the Rise Lofts we're talking about?

Are these the $300K townhomes that are right next to a freight line? No thanks....not for that price.

Yes - those are the lofts

No - they are not near a freight line

My biggest question is always, why can't homeless people use the sidewalk? Why do they always have to walk down the middle of the damn street?

Are you basing this on recent findings? I ask as it sounds like the quality of food (including produce, of course) is what they aimed to improve upon as part of this grand re-opening. Things might have changed. I don't have enough experience with Specs/Rice Ep. to say anything about them but I can say that I thought the produce at Randall's looked pretty good to me--a person with a suburban HEB background.

They have expanded their organic produce section, other than that I haven't noticed much of a difference in the "new" Randalls.

But, since all the money they sunk into it, I guess the rumor that they were in trouble (I was the one to start the thread) looks pretty much dead.

Yeah, I was really impressed with the city lots and the shuttles. It is just as good if not better than the private lots.

My only beef with the parking cents lot, and the reason I stopped using them, is that their lot is SOOO big, that there were nights I would spend literally 20-30 minutes on the shuttle in the lot, just waiting to get dropped off in some seemingly random sequence. I took to just getting off at the first stop and walking as it was much much quicker.

Remember that lawsuit against Spy a few years back by a group of Asians? It really went nowhere. It was kinda funny seeing a girl who i used to hang out with sitting at the press conference with that group...lol

I was just confused how not allowing MEN into a club is RACE discrimination...

Happens all the time. Me and a friend have been denied access to certain clubs in midtown because we did not have any females in our group. Or "No guys allowed in right now, only girls..." You can hear that phrase every night all night at clubs. Isn't that discrimination based on race?

Race

That's one thing I miss while growing up a block from Eastwood Transit Center was the seasonal football game sounds/celebrations from across the freeway. As soon as we heard we opned the front door and had a free firework display from U of H parties! Your right though it was questionably louder. Apparently today's pyrotechnics have been improved. Maybe homes will shake from now on? Go Coogs!

I thought it was gunfire at first too since I didn't see any fireworks.... crazy.

My dog went nuts.

In addition to the Midtown location at 59/Gray? Jumping in big time in central Houston I guess.

still nothing happening here huh?

These are the ones on Elgin right? 1 of 8 has sold to the best of my knowledge...

They are akward inside, the model had an elevator in it for crying out loud.

They are reduced to the $360's, so as the rest of Midtown creeps toward those prices, I'm sure they'll go soon. The Tricon's were $290's and they sold very quickly, the Waterhills are mid-$300's.

God, I drive down San Jac. going downtown everyday, and the homeless problem at Search is awful.

Now I certainly don't mind people hanging out at a soup kitchen, employment finder, or whatever that place is; but that street is bad! I'll be in morning rush hour and vagrants are just strolling across the street, jay walking, drinking beer, and urinating in plain view.

Jackson & Crawford between Pierce Elevated and Gray is bad as well. But that's mostly because of the church, bread of life, and that's where some vans pull up to distribute food..

I don't know the answer, but when I figure it out, I'll sell it to the city.

normally true, but the one in downtown Austin is very tightly packed with no parking lot, only underground valet.

But if our CVSs, Walgreens and branch banks are any indication... its parking lot will take up more space than than the actually building.

I think of East End as the old Chinatown/warehouse area behind the convention center downtown extending East (not sure how far though).

Right, but North of the Gulf Freeway... South of the Gulf is the 3rd Ward.

What does this have to do with Midtown? Isn't it going to be in the East End?

No, not really... it is right by where 288 & 59 split, just a few (6-8) blocks from Baldwin Park. It is on the East side of 59, but not what I would consider true East End... more traditional 3rd Ward.

I know, i'm frustrated that this developent is not including a movie theater in it like they have in Denver Pavilions. Angelika Movie Theater isn't really a movie theater to me, its an art show!

I actually really enjoy the Angelika... it's in downtown so it's close to home, plenty of restaurants (not Bennigans, etc.) around it, not very many screaming kids, reasonable prices, etc... It's our new favorite theatre.

Ok, it may not have every latest blow-em-up "blockbuster" flick, but we've seen a lot of regular release films there this year including Ocean's 13, The Simpsons, Harry Potter and Knocked Up. Add the new east end rail coming near there and we're all about it.

Public Hearing November 8 @ 2:30PM for a 64 Unit La Quinta Inn at Hwy 59 between McGowen & Dennis.

This is on the 'other' side of 59/288 which seems to be a good signal on development, IMO. It also adds a much needed moderate priced hotel to the general DT vicinity, which is currently limited to the Holiday Inn Express and the Best Western on W. Dallas, which both still get rather pricey given the locations...

http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=h&trf=0&amp...39545&mag=1

There is a Midtown Town hall meeting at the Bahai center on 2419 Fannin St from 7:00pm to 8:30pm.

This is being put together by the Midtown Management District, local business and Carol Alvarado's office. I'm not sure of the official agenda of the meeting, but it would be safe to assume it would be consistent with the agenda of a town hall meeting.

Townhall Meeting info from the Midtown Management District site.

http://www.houstonmidtown.com/midtown.cfm?a=cms,c,2,0

Here is a map to the location:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=U...wloc=A&om=1

Hmm.... wish I had known sooner. Will have to look to the calendar more often for the next one.

Driving by the Doubletree, I noticed that there was a whole bunch of marking going on on the street. This caught my attention by the fact that the parking lot across from the Doubletree has been closed off. As I casually asked a very bored supervisor he told me they were getting ready to put in a new tunnel to the Lot and that there was some construction going to happen.

Are they building a new Garage or has something else slipped under the radar? Wasn't this supposed to be the location for the Orion?

You sure it was for construction and not prepping for the Race for the Cure Saturday morning? I was at the Doubletree today and didn't really notice anything...

(BTW - don't park at the 1100 Smith garage, even on business... $30 all day and they don't accept Credit Cards...)

Sorry for the confusion. Never trust a headline. ;-)

The Days Inn has some scaffolding around it right now on the sidewalk... good news or catching falling debris?

I sent a note both to the Mayor's email address (as listed on the City's website... so his filtered checked by someone else inbox) and the Midtown Management district stating my concern as a resident and property owner, and cited both this thread and the KTRK report... so far no response. Not shocking. Anyone else have any other suggestions or ideas to get the city to wake up on this?

got some good scoop tonight...i was talking to a friend who is on the board of a homeowners association on the east side of main in midtown. i hadn't seen them in at least a month and mentioned this thread specifically. the association consists of approximately 150 townhomes.

i asked how the crime situation was going and got a mouthful. they have lived there 8 yrs and said the last 1-2 yrs the crime has become considerably worse. of the 150 homes, ~125 have had their brass house numbers stolen. the lawn sprinkler systems have also been ravaged. the valves cost approximately 700 and many have been replaced 3 times. as a result they paid 1200 to construct covers on these valves to prevent the thefts but now they covers are being destroyed as well. according to what they said, no one has been caught.

EDIT: I forgot, drugs and prostitution are also widely available.

I'm one of the ~25 that didn't have my brass plate stolen. I hadn't heard about the sprinkler thefts, nor I have I had any problems with drugs or prostitution in our area specifically.

As a MT resident, if anyone hears of this Midtown Town Hall they referred to in the article, please share the info with the rest of us.

Luckily the shelter on the corner of Tuam and Crawford is never a problem, and Baldwin Park is mostly ok, but that center section of midtown by Rich's and the underpass at Pierce Elevated and Caroline/Crawford/San Jac, along with the McDonalds/Greyhound area need some serious work.

What are they doing to that? You're not referring to the Omni project I posted, are you?

No - the Omni is a conversion right across from the Hyatt.

The Texaco building was rumored as a Ritz Carlton once upon a time, which is why I mentioned it.

Now this project is another high end, but now 5 star, hotel, that may be new construction in downtown,