Jax

Anybody know if it's phase 2 of Esplinade or a brand new development? I live nearby and drive by this site on my way to work. I notice that it's really coming along. They've built a large parking garage and now they are working on the structures next to it. I don't see any signs that might say exactly what it is. I wonder if there's any chance of retail, since it's so near Mosaic with it's new retail, that would be really nice for the area!

I had the same thought last weekend when I walked by it - wasn't this place supposed to be architecturally significant? It looks like crap. AT LEAST there's street level retail. I wonder if that will turn into anything nice or just stay abandoned. I know that doesn't solve your problems but at least there's something slightly positive about it. Is it completely finished now? It looked like they were still doing some work last weekend, but I could be wrong. I took some photos of it last weekend that I was thinking of posting, but I couldn't find the thread right away and they looked so damn ugly I think I deleted them.

I don't mind them covering it with a tarp during renovations but damn, those renovations are taking a long time. There has been a tarp on the building since I have lived in Houston (a year and 2 months). That seems like a long time to me.

If anybody has a Mac you might want to download SlothCam, my dashboard webcam widget so you can watch some of these webcams in your dashboard. This is the best Houston webcam I've found so far!

I drive by the construction site every day on my way to work. It doesn't seem like they have done much lately, at least on the outside. I am sure they are busy at work on the internal structure now or something. I am still curious when the second tower will be started, and what the retail is supposed to be.

Check out this article on the CVS construction and urban development in general. http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/sto...44000%5E1481025

You work in west Houston or the west side of downtown? I thought we were talking about downtown here. I think downtown is much more "pedestrian friendly" than West Houston for sure, so if that's where you are I can understand. No sidewalks makes it the absolute worst. Even with sidewalks, walking on sidewalks along strip centers and busy roads with few trees in the direct sun (ie- Westheimer past the galleria) is completely different from walking downtown. If that's the case, you would probably notice a big difference walking downtown (more shade, less gang members in the streets, the occasional skyscraper induced breeze, etc.). That being said, I work west of the Medical Center (near the Astrodome but not close enough to the metro rail for it to be useful). Walking isn't really an option here. There are sidewalks but lots of strip centers with little shade. I kinda wish I was IN the medical center, then I could walk to lunch instead of driving.

I guess you can look presentable after walking in -30 (way below zero) except that when the ice that forms on your face melt and look just like sweat! And your hair looks worse after wearing a tuque (wool hat, that's what us Canadians call them) than walking through Houston's downtown 'wind tunnel'.

Yeah and I walk too. I often walk 5 blocks to the metro rail and go downtown and walk to dinner or the theater or whatever even happens to be there (like the art car parade). It's definitely nicer to walk in shorts and sandals but I can handle walking in my work clothes too (pants and a short sleeve polo shirt). Maybe I would agree with jgriff if I wore a business suit with a jacket and tie every day. That may account for our difference of opinions. Also I think it's two completely different things to walk in direct sunlight and to walk in the shade.

After living in Montreal and then Houston, I can vouch for the extreme cold being even more miserable than the heat (the heat doesn't bother me as much as many other people). Maybe it's because my mom's from Atlanta and the love of a hot climate is in my blood. I stand by my explanation that it's more palatable to walk around in freezing Montreal because there's just more to do and more to see on the surface than in the tunnels. Virtually all of the businesses offices restaurants and schools have entrances on street level. There are businesses in the tunnels but they're more like fast food courts, and Montreal, like Houston, is a food city. I think it's just more desirable to be outside and look at the architecture, watch pedestrians and see the sky then to be underground. Occasionally I used the tunnels in the winter as a shortcut to a subway station but not because I wanted to shop or eat in the tunnels.

I only guessed about NYC and Chicago (since NYC has so many tall buildings and Chicago is called the "windy city"), but the wind tunnel effect was worse in Montreal, at least between the McGill College Metro station and my classes at McGill. I don't know if the fact that the street was on a steep hill lined with 30-40 story buildings and I was walking up the hill made things worse, but it was pretty damn windy and cold on that street! I remember the wind being so strong it went right through my pants and coat and hat and scarf! That makes me more glad to be in Houston than anything...

I actually like the wind tunnel effect that the tall buildings create, it's better in Houston than other cities at least. It feels great especially in the summer when you walk from the hobby center back to the metro rail and it's hot out. And besides, it's not as bad as the wind tunnel effect in the north where it gets really cold. Montreal can feel damn cold when its already 30 degrees below zero and you have a strong wind blowing because of the buildings. I imagine NYC and Chicago would have the same problem. So the wind tunnel in Houston, in my opinion, is actually like outdoor air conditioning!

I find the tunnels kinda strange too. I personally hate being stuck in underground tunnels, and I especially hate it when I have to be underground for long periods of time in labs (at Rice and at McGill). A friend of mine from Moscow who recently lived in Toronto and Montreal was talking to me about the main thing that Houston is missing compared to the cities we are familiar with - people in the streets. The weird thing is that Montreal has an extensive tunnel system, probably larger than the one in Houston due to all the subway connections, and the weather is worse for most of the year (snow in November - April with Jan and Feb temperatures reaching 30 below freezing). Yet there are STILL more people in the streets. She said that when you walk in the tunnels in Houston during the work days (she now works for Shell), the crowds of people down there rival what you see in the streets in Montreal. So I guess what this means is that somebody really has to build something on the surface that will make it worth their while to get out of the tunnels here in Houston, just like they have in other cities. I think that if people walk to school/work in -30 degrees C (because street level has so much to offer), that people could stand walking a few blocks under the Houston sun if there was something up there to make it worth their while. And it doesn't seem like it could be that hard. If the same amenities existed on the surface that you see in the tunnels, what would you chose? If you could sit in a cafe and watch people walking in the street and see the sky and have natural light or eat in a food court underground with no windows, which would you chose? It's just that there aren't enough options on the surface. There are some good restaurants downtown but not enough choices I guess. And they are more concentrated in one area of downtown. And I guess if the tunnels are really crowded, people feel more comfortable going where other people are. One of the nice things about walking in Montreal is you never feel alone. If there was a reason to go to the surface, more people would leave the tunnels. If more people were on the surface, more people would feel comfortable being on the surface. One thing that is important about street level here in Texas though, is shade. What they really need is to keep the sidewalks covered either with awnings or trees. One of the worst parts about walking in Houston is that parking lots don't provide as much shade as buildings which are built up to the sidewalk.

They're starting the construction on August 26th. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/hei...ws/4913565.html I spoke to a woman carrying a model of the planned expansion and she said that they owned some property on Binz and Jackson that they would be building administrative offices on as well. I think the plan was to demolish an existing super ugly one story commercial building right next to some townhouses and build on that lot... but I could be mistaken.

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...showtopic=11166

I think somebody posted about this already. I'm pretty sure it's some sort of clinic... I'll see if I can find the thread.

I've never seen it without those grey tarps covering windows. I said I hate it, but I may reconsider if I have a chance to see it when the renovations are done. The ledge things may be practical as sun shades, btu it makes the building look almost like scaffolding, like an unfinished structure or something.

When I was on the Metro yesterday, I noticed that the angled corner that you can see in my photo is indeed an entrance facing the light rail, and there is another on the opposite corner of the building. So it's not going to be as bad as people though - at least it's not going to be an empty wall along the rail. It doesn't appear that there will be a drive through facing the light rail after all. It still would have been nicer to have a CVS in the ground floor of some sort of apartment building rather than take up a whole block, but I think I can deal with this. It will actually be pretty convenient for me and its better than another empty lot. On another note, I noticed a "coming soon" sign a few blocks south along the light rail in the block after taco-a-gogo where the storefronts are all empty. Does anybody know what that could be?

What's goign on? Are they tearing something else down? Shouldn't this be in "Going Up" as construction has already started? I am curious as to how tall it will be as well. Will it compare to the Hermann tower next door? Should make the skyline even more impressive as viewed from Rice!

Do you mean the restaurants and bars at the bottom of Midtown Square? Were they closed? Did they not do well? They always seemed popular to me.

Interesting. So Aggies are just students? Maybe it has something to do with agriculture? That's kinda boring. I expected it to be some kind of really fierce yet obscure mythical creature or something like that.

I know the "Aggie" is the mascot of Texas A&M but can somebody please explain to me what an Aggie is? Is it an animal, like most of the other US college mascots? Or a scary looking native person like some of the Canadian college mascots??

Canon Rebel XTi.

tierwestah... I took that photo. Sorry it hurts your eyes. Here's another one, hope it doesn't hurt too much!

Whole foods is too expensive, but Central Market is great. I like how Central Market has lots of organics but not everything is organic so you often have a choice, and it seems to be a lot cheaper than Whole Foods. Some things are even cheaper than Fiesta, and the shopping experience is much better than Fiesta or Randal's (or Whole Foods in my opinion). If there were a Central Market anywhere near Downtown, Midtown, or the Museum District, it would be the only place where I would shop.