icanluv2

on where the Old Town and Country mall was located. I guess this is going to be similar to what Sugarland has kind of with condos, retail shops, and restaurants within a few feet of each other. Click on the video. Interesting report by Sher-min Chow.

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/kho...t.3853a54d.html

I've been hearing that the new park downtown is going to be built similarly like this. Retail shops down on the 1st level and residences on the upper floors of buildings surrounding the park. A water fountain, some restaurants, etc. added also.

Last week there was another driveway robbery in Sugarland.

I was driving on Westheimer towards Highland Village and noticed this furniture place called BoConcepts. It looked pretty nice as i passed by. Anyone been inside? How about prices? Thanks.

Yeah, i go there all the time. Can't wait until Texas Roadhouse opens. The Target there is smaller than the one in Sugarland though. Also, they really don't have a deli. The BW3 place is pretty nice though. I'm hoping they would build a 24hr Fitness Center there. It would be closer for me.

The Texans do not have much leverage when trading for Carr. Think about it, they got Schaub before they traded Carr. Now, other teams know the Texans are trying to unload Carr quickly. The longer the Texans wait, the more favorable it will be for other teams to leverage against the Texans. The Texans will be really lucky if they can get a 2nd round pick for him. They might end releasing him or trading him for virtually nothing.

Ordinarily something like this would be of minor interest to me, but when I saw that the Gap had closed its Highland Village store, I was overcome with curiosity as to what will move into that piece of prime retail space. There's a Variance Request sign up, which leads me to believe the space may be converted into a restaurant. Anyone have any scoop?

They might as well add a Pei-Wei to complement its sister PF Changs.

My take is that a predominately Caucasian high school will have a better educational plan and curriculum. It is just the way it is. Memorial was that way back in the 80s. Not sure what the makeup is now. If i had kids, i would prefer that they attend a school with different races and cultures.

Memorial grad here. I moved back to the MHS zone as fast as I could to give public schools a shot for my two kids. Exorbitant property tax bills, but at least I get the best that tax dollars can buy (and for less than having two kids in respectable private schools like Kinkaid or St. John's). Worth the stretch for my family.

And my take on the snobbiness issue - you will find it at any high school.

yeah, but some alot more than others.

My wife and I were headed for Vegas from NY when we were grounded in Dallas due to high winds last Saturday. A third of the flights had been cancelled so no Vegas flight till late Monday. We decided to rent a car and visit the folks and siblings in Houston instead.

Had to stop at Walmart to buy a new wardrobe, our luggage managed to get a flight to Vegas, no problem.

Anyway, we parked at Herman Park last Tuesday, and rode the light rail Downtown and walked around. I worked downtown in the early 80s (Superior Oil) when it was a hustle and bustle place, lots of traffic, vehicular and pedestrian, but now it was quite quiet. Obviously, Main Street diverts vehicle traffic away, but why so few people walking around. This was around 2:30 in the afternoon. Except for the former Foley's (now Macey's) there doesn't seem to be much shopping, but I saw several restaurants, though, that weren't around in my day. In the old days, downtown didn't roll up it's sidewalks till after 6.

Anyway, took a look at the former Rice Hotel Lobby which was cool, and noted all the new court buildings and general cleaner look up that way, which used to be quite scuzzy back in the 80s. I'm assuming it's not usually so quiet during the week, that something was up that day.

On baseball(Astros) or basketball(Rockets)nights, pretty crowded, but pretty much slow. It was much better in 6-7 yrs ago than it is now. At least on the weekdays.

Texans just signed 15 year defensive tackle vertern Jeff Zgonina to a 2 year contract.

LB Shawn Barber (Eagles) to meet with the Texans on Thursday.

So far, the Texans re-signed...

WR Charlie Adams

CB Roc Alexander

TE Mark Bruener

DE N.D. Kalu

OT Ephraim Salaam

P Chad Stanley

Texans hope to re-sign Ron Dayne.

God, i hope they let Ron Dayne and Sam Ngakta go. These guys were worthless! Also, unless the Texans get a decent deal for David Carr, he will be back unfortunately.

This is the Galleria & downtown in about 5 years...

Not quite. This is what it will similarly look like in 5yrs if they don't change their approach to downtown. BTW, he is going to happy hour alone.

Downtown Houston can be its own entity and doesn't need to follow any plans. you must remember the properties are individually owned and the owners dictate what is put there. the city can encourage certain things but can't dictate.

You made a good point. I think Mayor White or whoever is charge of downtown plans needs to get together with business property owners there to see what can be done to make it better. He needs to talk to the private parking lot owners to find a way to get rid of the parking fees period. Maybe some kinda contract or incentive. Also, the city should get rid of parking meters period!

This is not Las Vegas or New York, Houston's only 24 places will be IHOP's and Walmart's for a long time.

Maybe the mindset of Houston needs to change and someone,somebody,something needs to initiate change. Houston is too much status quo, conservative. Pretty sad.

Downtown Houston needs to follow the same plan as the Gas Lamp district in San Diego. I really enjoyed it! I am not sure if i went all over it, but after walking for quite some time around there, i didn't see many nite clubs. Maybe that is why it is so successful. Many nice restaurants. Just a very festive time. Seriously, Houston needs to follow the Gas Lamp district model.

yes, I was referring to Midtown Manhattan, while I didn't say it was going to happen next year, I was thinking about sometime after 2015-2020. As more building come online and the area gets to be more populated, it is VERY possible that not only would those that live in the galleria would work in the galleria, but also would work downtown and in the reverse would also be true as Downtown's population (workforce and living) increase.

Whether the galleria would go 24 hrs may or may not happen, but it is not out of the realm of impossibility. Especially as new hotels keep going online in the galleria.

As far as those strip malls yes, they will go away, it will just take time.

Actually, the galleria going 24hrs is a good idea. I don't think you can go wrong on that.

Parking is going to be even more of a b**** when they start building that shopping center and retail stores!

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the shopping center has its own dedicated parking garage. I am a bit surprised at the comment if you read HAIF downtown has an abundant amount of parking lots to service the demand.

I don't think it will be enough if the demand is high as many expect it to be. The new park downtown will have many boutiques around it also. I guess it depends on the type of stores. If you have high end stores, then sure it will be ok. Rich people also don't mind to pay for parking and can afford expense items. If you have lower end or typical stores, you will have a problem with too many people coming, especially big sales. However, if they charge for parking then that will turn off potential shoppers assuming lower end stores. That is going to be important.

Parking is going to be even more of a b**** when they start building that shopping center and retail stores!

All you have really said here is that you prefer the suburbs to downtown. Your opinion does not mean that others agree with you. In fact, given that the Astros draw 3 million visitors a season, the Rockets draw 600,000, and most of those patrons are from the suburbs, I would suggest that your opinion is a minority one. If venues open that are attractive to sports fans, tourists, and suburbanites who are not afraid of their shadow, the venues will succeed. The niteclubs do not attract baseball fans. Casual bars and restaurants would. Other businesses that attract window shoppers and people watchers will also encourage the sports fans to stick around a little while.

The goal is to make downtown attractive as a destination. It is not required that Sugar Landers and Clear Lakers come to downtown every time they go out. The goal is to make downtown an option. As it currently exists, the niteclubs only appeal to 20-something partiers. As HP opens, and the niteclubs convert to restaurants, bars, and shops, a larger demographic will be attracted. More options mean more visitors. More visitors means sustainability for the merchants.

I am going from the experiences i had in the past couple of weeks at night downtown. I used to go alot back in 99' and 2000' and i remember it being alot busier/crowded back then it is now. There are more bars, clubs, etc now, but the volume of people back then was alot more. I'm just talking about a typical Saturday or Thursday, don't know about other days since i don't hang out there on those days back then.

Now, with days like Astros playing or just special events i'm sure it would be flowing with people, but on a typical day not so sure.

I predict an Uptown nightlife resurgance in the next 5-10 years. I could see that area push for more upscale nightlife activity that's better than their 24-hour Starbucks. If that area's nightlife has been declared dead already, they may soon find it an opportunity to start from scratch (like upscale urban-developed clubs in the heart of the Galleria area this time).

Midtown is a toss-up. It will either become one of the clubbing meccas of the state, or will just die out. Really depends on if the new developments keep coming or not.

Downtown is by far the most stable area in Houston in terms of nightlife. There's so much potential there because of Pavillions and the park coming. What that area needs is 24-hour living, and hopefully Pavillions will be one of the steps to getting that. A 24-hour flagship grocery store Downtown would complete that for residents there (ideally along the park). Once you have the constant pedestrian traffic, and it coincides with the new clubs, restaurants, and bars from Main to Hiltons, Downtown will breakout I think.

I disagree. You might have only the people who live downtown frequenting bars, restaurants, etc. down there, but i don't see people from other parts of the city going there. I still see alot of homeless people and shady dudes at night. I had to walk with my head turning back frequently to make sure i wasn't being followed. Also, i've noticed that nightlife around Sugarland, Galleria, and FM1960 areas getting alot of traffic. Sugarland has really come along way. My other friends in the Clear Lake area have plenty of nightlife down there, thus no need to venture into downtown. Not sure about NE Houston area if they have any nightlife, but i just don't see Downtown booming at all. Potential is there, but i don't see it. Uptown has more potential than Downtown.

Just curious, since i've only recently worked Downtown after my company moved me there from Greenspoint. How come the restaurants around the Hyatt don't open a bit later like 10-11pm at night? Is it the crime? New Orleans PO Boy, Benihanas,Wimpy, and that Italian place(Pizzeria Historia ?) was already closed when we dropped by around 8pm. A co-worker of mine who was based in California came to town for a conference. He was staying at the Hyatt and after we were working late, i wanted to take him out to these restaurants near his hotel so that he can walk back a short distance after eating. I was disappointed to see that these restaurants were closed. We ended up walking to Cabo which was quite a distance away to get a bite.

Certainly, downtown is not like it was 15-20yrs ago, but it has fallen well short of expectation. When the construction started back in 99' i believe, there seemed to be much optimism. It seems like it hasn't been much better since. I seemed to enjoy Spy, Cabo, State Bar, etc back then. Many,including myself, stayed away afterwards because of construction and the ensuing traffic from it. I remember going downtown to watch the fireworks show on July 4th several years ago. The traffic that came afterwards leaving downtown was a mess! I just hate the parking around downtown and would rather go to the Galleria or Sugarland at night. It might take another 5-6 years before it really becomes the 'happening place' in order for Houstonians to travel downtown for nightlife.

A bit unrelated, but quick question for you older people. Was the Houston House used in the movie 'Urban Cowboy' with John Travolta? Was it the place where John picked up the gal at the bar and went back home to? I saw it the other day on some cable channel and it looked like it.

Downtown will be the next big 'suburb' in years to come.

I really feel downtown will be another suburb in about 10yrs. All the clubs that go out of business will be converted to lofts. Downtown will be another suburb with grocery stores, shopping centers, etc. I think there will only be a handful of bars/clubs in years to come.

The one on at 45 and Milby doesn't look very big. I think its about the same as the one off of BW8, which is at the end of Turtlewood or Turtle-something. It doesn't look very big either, but there are classrooms (I think) to teach Chinese languages.

It is not the one that i'm mentioning. The one i'm talking about is actually a house used as a Buddhist temple. It is in the Edgebrook and 45s area. Can't remember the exact street.