GovernorAggie

Count me in supporting a coffee/cafe-type facility in a library. It could easily work in leased space inside the library or attached to it--purposefully away from the kids' collections. I also trust adults not to be so clumsy and spill liquids on priceless writings--which area and should be kept and not allowed out of specific areas anyway. A general collection book that has coffee spilled on it can be billed to that person--or maybe I trust people too much.

Any guesses on height. I'm no expert but judging by the number of floors and that "crown", is 450' a close-enough rough guesstimate?

Also, I guess this can now go into our Google-Earth HAIF edition, right? I think the tower is along Caroline.

that's why it's called family dollar.

As an aside, I've met and played a few good games of Risk against one of sons of the Levine (pronounced La-VEEN) family, founders and owners of Family Dollar. Due to his humility and average-guy persona (not to mention his gracious acceptance of world domination at my hands), you wouldn't know the guy was an heir to a multimillionaire. They consider one of my former roommates as one of their own sons.

I saw the fountains along what will be the model boat pond being tested Saturday night. The lighting is amazing. Speaking of lighting, the new lighted walkway that was Crawford Street will be an amazing entryway to the Hilton Americas and Toyota Center.

I think they've long started on this one. They were seeking help from the public for pictures of what the stained glass ceiling may have looked like originally, IIRC.

To a Houstonian, three blocks of walking is as good as a mile.

A country mile!

K... I was just going by what it looked like in this picture.

That could possibly be the Fannin bridge. The San Jacinto one looks a lot more "square". Count me in with those who can vouch for the impressiveness of this thing in person.

Wow. Just wow.

Given MainPlace's official groundbreaking on Earth Day in April, 6HC in March, and possible groundbreakings for La Quinta, Embassy Suites, Discovery Tower, and throw in the proposed Convention Hotel and East Downtown could have a lot of cranes in the air by maybe next summer (2009).

I would rather the Rodeo update Reliant Arena and allow to Dome to become something more than just another "multi-use facility" that would be a place to really brag about, even if its just to our family members who visit. Throw in the fact that apparently Houston is going t submit another DOA application for the Super Bowl that will be the most technically superior (liek Houston's applications for large events ALWAYS are) and used to squeeze what can be had from cities like Miami, New Orleans, and Tampa.

One word, three letters....W, O, W!!!!!!!

As far as the size, I'm sure some of our experts can help with that.

Got a look at the bridge work over San Jacinto last night (street was closed). It was AMAZING! It gives a whole new feel to that part of downtown. I knew this project would have great potential, but that structure alone what really raised my confidence level!

I like the idea but I think it would kill the Texans tailgate scene.

Maybe not quite...the Arizona Cardinals new stadium actually has indoor tailgating space IIRC. Maybe that's what the top level is for, part-time. I didn't like the idea of converting the Dome to a massive parking garage alone, but if a few levels of parking are built into it with other uses on top, then maybe that could be something to look at. The museum, event/exhibition space, and other things could maybe sit on top of say 7 levels of parking.

However, getting out of a parking garage that size after an event would be a not-so-nice endeavor IMO.

If the hotel falls through, I still prefer the museum idea. I would think the Dome has enough space on the inside to make it a one of a kind sports museum (which has been mentioned before) but complete it scale replicas (a la big league dreams in League City) of the old Houston stadiums like where the Buffalos played and even a modern scale replica of Minute Maid. For the indoor teams, an actual scale replica of the Rockets, Comets, Cougars, etc. courts and the Aeros ice could be put in. Each scaled playing surface could also be the exhibits of those teams (for example how many current Houstonians who may be Northern transplant hockey fans know that Gordie Howe, one of the greatest hockey players ever, played for and has his jersey retired with the Aeros?)

Another museum idea is to divide the Dome into levels and have sort of a Houston through time kinda thing, complete with the prehistoric days of what the area we know as Houston was like ages ago (it might actually have to be an underwater exhibit). There can then be a scale diorama of the battle of San Jacinto on another level, and then sort of a progression through time from 1836 to now, complete with scale models and old photographs such as of Main Street in the say, 1920s-1940s, what we now know as Uptown in 1960. I think that people would be amazed to actually get a visual representation of how much this city has changed in such a short time, and it could spur visits to other attractions here that most people may not think to look at, such as the free tour given by the Port, the San Jacinto Monument, everything done by famous Houstonians such as Jesse Jones, Howard Hughes (who most Americans may not know was a Houstonian), and so on. There could also be a section on famous Houstonians past and present (I mean how many people know that "Claire Huxtable" is a Houstonian?), and major contributions that Houston has made to the world, such as space travel, medical breakthroughs, energy, and anything else that can be attributed to the city. There could even be a "Hillcroft Ave" concept food court--since Hillcroft is one of the most diverse streets in town (given a Chron article some years ago that said that one can drive through 8 countries on Hillcroft)

Lastly, I personally think it would be kinda neat to see exhibits linking the names we hear so often today with the people or things they were named after such as Westheimer, Kirby, Travis, Fulton, Harrisburg, Scott, Cullen, Bissonet, Gessner, Hardy, etc. Just who were these people and what did they do to get streets named after them? Who was Harris County named after? Who is Sam Houston (aka the only person to ever be governor of two different states)?

Then again all these ideas could be dumb as a sack o' nickels

Crescent is breaking ground on 6 Houston Center in 30 days.

I realize that. What I meant was something other than the Brookfield Propoerties/6 Houston Center/Discovery Tower/Hines interest on Main/La Quinta/Embassy Suites rumors/proposals/plans that have been brought forth already.

Like a real project confirmation for Houston City Centre (besides just a nice graphic) would be nice.

EngCONS (and anyone else who may want to answer this),

Just two questions...

1. Have you heard of anything at this or a comparable scale for Downtown?

2. Have you heard of anything for Downtown.

No details needed, I'd just like to know if there's anymore besides the pending ones (i.e. Brookfield's two plots and Hines' alleged interest in the old Shamrock block).

If it even only halfway materializes (40 and 25 stories), it would still be great. I just hope that Downtown begins to see more movement from the hype factory.

Thanks a bunch!

It looks like a CVS.

Hmmm, how about a "Super CVS" or "CVS Signature" or "CVS Select"??

Plans eventually call for the highway to be called "SH122" and run all the way to Bay City. It's been on the books since 1961, killed by the planners at the highway department in 1979, and resurrected a few years ago. I wonder how they plan to take it down S. Post Oak before it jogs over to S.Main and Chimney Rock to join the current section? Maybe cantilever it over S. Post Oak? The ROW is kind of tight there, and I know the residents of Westbury aren't gonna be too happy about a new freeway for a neighbor.

I think it's just gonna plow through there. Remember, this is HCTRA's project, so Westbury residents may as well just be complaining to a brick wall. IMO, public involvement may be non-existent at its worst and begrudgingly sparse at best. Hopefully, they may at least reconfigure the street to where S. Post Oak acts as feeders to the new tollway.

I drove by there last week and was surprised at how much work is left to be done. It still doesn't look like a park yet.

There was a sign up at the Grove. It read something like "THE GROVE. RESTAURANT. BAR. VIEW" A little too cute, I thought.

But I hope it's a big success.

That might be the case from street level, but I saw it from the upper levels of the GRB and they've already laid a lot of grass.

The idea of congestion pricing is to make it less appealing to go somewhere.

I would agree with this and follow it up with "at certain times for people with certain income levels."

On a side note, I've seen (somewhere but can't remember) that the tolls on the Katy Tollway could go up to $5-$6 in the peak hour. I think that is what the cap was set to be in the agreement with TxDOT or something. A $6 toll goes to the notion of the "Lexus Lane", but you'll always hear managed lane and congestion pricing advocates use the day care example. In other words, a mom (or dad) running late picking a child up from daycare would be more than willing to pay the $6 to use the managed lanes instead of the $1 per minute late fee at their day care. I think a tollway in California may go all the way to about $9 for a toll.

Keep this in mind when you see "managed lane" or "HOT" lane projects listed for the area.

Am I the only one concerned that the private entity is "nonliable" in the cleanup effort?

*AHEM* So has anyone noticed the Pavilions construction progress this week? I was at the parade Thursday and was standing at the corner of Dallas @ San Jacinto and thought about how much nicer it'll be this time next year when HP is done. People attending the parade may be able to get their first look at HP.

Are the sidewalks between the 3 blocks still there? If so, will they be public or private space?

Yes, the sidewalks are still there. I can't see why they would become private space. We would've seen or heard something (I would hope) if that were the case, similar to Bolsover with the Sonoma development in the Village. The 'private' space will be the crosswalks over those intersections.

According to the article (which has changed the title to say that the project "may be dead"), it looks as if the new developers tried to cut the Texans and HLSR in on the profits. Those two seem worried about things like drink franchising rights, restaurants coming to the new Dome and not the Rodeo, and other things like that.

It seems to me that a deal could have been worked that allowed the Dome developers to do build the project but written into the deal that they cannot pursue or enter into contracts with entities currently involved with the Texans or the Rodeo unless those two agreed to it. It seems to me that Coke could have been the official drink of Reliant Park--period, for example, and that includes the new hotel. Maybe they could do something with scheduling, for example that the hotel provides most of it's proceeds from gamedays and Rodeo days to the Texans and HLSR. Just something to get the deal done.

Oh well. I am starting to lose hope that the Dome will be saved--especially since the Texans and Rodeo have veto power over any new redevelopment of it--whoever came up with that idea wasn't too smart, the County should be able to pursue deals that are best for the County, not the Texans and the Rodeo. So they'd make $99 Million instead of $100 Million. It seems to me that the critical mass would be worth more

But yeah, I was wondering how this was going to coexhist with the Reliant Center.

I'm thinking that it becomes, in a lot of ways, Reliant's convention hotel. Seems to me that the Texans would support it in order to help with their Super Bowl bids.

Read the final recital in the ordinance.

"Wheras, the City Council finds that the regulations proposed in this ordinance CONTROL ONLY THE USE OF LAND and do not affect landscaping or tree preservation, open space or park dedication, lot size dimensions, lot coverage, or building size;"

If that is not zoning, I don't know what is.

Yes. Zoning DEFINED is only about the use of the land.

I really couldn't believe what I saw in the Chron this morning! Even though I think that some sort of ordinance would be useful in the long-term, this is just crazy. I thought that the public needed to be able to provide comment in advance of something like this--this is a big issue and you'll only get and us vs. them comment period at City Council from the Bigwigs and the Developers.

Now, I'd have to side with the anti-zoning types on this one--IMO, this type of action confirms all of their fears.

I'm even MORE surprised at this given Mayor White's big speech about "some top-down planner deciding winning and losing developers" based on where it is. This was just YESTERDAY at the Central Houston Annual Luncheon! Did I mention that he seemed sorta belligerent in his demeanor when he talked about it? He hates the ideas of zoning or an ordinance? This is worse than zoning could ever be. It's cherry-picking an ordinance for a select few that could have repercussions throughout the city and ETJ, IMO. Maybe the repercussions could be desirable but we don't know that since there was never time for examination or discussion. Otherwise they should've taken a Texas Legislature approach to is saying that it only applies to areas bordered by a,b,c, and d streets. This is garbage.

I hope it doesn't pass OR that the developers take COH to court and win--and build it a 42 floors.

I can't believe I'm saying this stuff, but it's this sort of unilateral action that only fosters MORE distrust of the government from people! I'm also disturbed that council got this on Tuesday, but it's not in the Chron until Saturday? A non-business day when fewer people are reading the paper? It's kinda slimy to me.

Niche, where you at on this one?