wxman

I heard today that Norwegian is done and will only exist in the history books along with a smaller Australian carrier. I would imagine IAH is trying as hard as it can to keep what it has, much less add any new flags.

I'm sure it'll look so good when it's done. I wish they'd do something with the Marriott. That thing looks old and decrepit. The 'futuristic' space ship/space port look is tired. Has anybody ever been in there? Is it nice?

4 minutes ago, ArtNsf said:

 

From those last few photos, looks like this is for a pretty tall tower like maybe the one they were first talking about and then we didn't hear anything about for a long time until recently -  that is, the 54 story tower, yes/no ?

I think this just ended up being a low-rise doctors office, less than 10 stories if I remember correctly. Hate to be the bearer of bad news.

Is work on all these high rises still going on as scheduled or are they stalled with the quarantine? 

1 hour ago, j_cuevas713 said:

I ate at Finn Hall with my cousin from Wharton last nite. He loved downtown. I can only imagine our city center in about 5 to 10 years. 

Exactly as it does now with no new towers for years to come if the Corona crap hype and the downturn in oil have any say in the matter. It could be a gloomy, gloomy decade for Houston.

Developers in Houston have a very low bar for what they deem "exciting." A roller rink in downtown is not exciting. Putting a Joseph A Bank or a sandwich shop isn't a retail space that's going to get people excited and want to hang out downtown. A 20, 30 or 40 story building isn't going to cause a frenzy of activity. It would just be another highrise amongst a sea of others.

I think about other cities: San Antonio (Alamo, Tower of the Americas, Rivewalk), Toronto (CN Tower), Atlanta (Aquarium/Coke Factory), Seattle (Seafood Market, Space Needle), Nashville (Grand Ole Opry), San Fran (Golden Gate, Painted Ladies, Coit Tower, Alcatraz).

I realize not all those attractions are downtown and some of them are quite historical. What's my point? Why don't developers plant a landmark here that would be a draw for the downtown area? An example would be a observation tower similar to Tower of the Americas or CN Tower. Maybe a large, world-class museum? There's not a single thing downtown I'd want to fight traffic for to go see or hang out at. Hell, even a 100-story, really cool, futuristic tower with an observation deck would probably be enough to get people drawn in and spur other development. I just find it hard to believe Skanska has anything of the caliber listed above planned for this area. Hope I'm wrong.

1 hour ago, CREguy13 said:

Had a chance to view these renderings.  This building will have even more terraces than Texas Tower.  I think this forum will be very impressed by the redesign.  High quality project - hopefully it gets capitalized!

Can you give us an idea of what it looks like? Does it still retain the curved facade? Floor count?

4 minutes ago, Texasota said:

All of those problems are true of trains/trams in shared lanes and are solved by dedicated lanes, as is planned for every magenta line (and the Regional Express network not shown) on that map above. And a full network can be built out much more cheaply than rail. And that matters- a working, interconnected network is worth far more than a single line, no matter how good it is. 

 

What good is this 'well planned out network' if nobody rides the stupid thing. It's embarrassing honestly. Have you seen the clientele METRO is trying to move around? I bet you dollars to donuts it's not somebody you'd want to sit next to.

And btw, Harris County is home to over 5 million people -- of which METRO serves only about a 1/3 of that population. If you add in the surrounding counties, you get another 1.5 million. So the problem with congestion is coming from outside the city limits which is why the focus should be on transporting those people to and from without using the freeways that are busting at the seams.

This city, known for its innovation in aeronotics and space along with advanced medicine is so freaking backwards. When will city officials understand that buses are NOT sexy and they have a negative connotation that they serve only the lower classes of people in our city--lone exception being The Woodlands Express.

Trains are much fancier, sexier and attractive and the focus should be bringing commuter rail to the main suburban centers like Sugar Land, Katy, Clear Lake, The Woodlands and Kingwood. Buses are a thing of the past. They add to congestion, ride slowly in the fast lanes and are constantly stopping on main thoroughfares like Westheimer backing up cars and traffic to let one or two people off at a time. 

To see so much planning and energy being put into a stupid bus is typical government at work. So much money, so much time and so little in the way of moving our city into the 21st century. 

The high speed rail is also sort of a joke on Houston's end. The main terminal is in a piss poor location at a conjunction of two major, clogged freeways that is convenient for exactly nobody unless you live in Oak Forest. To stop before even reaching Houston is silly. I mean is it asking too much to at least get it to the Galleria area? It would be best to get it downtown like Dallas. 

I'm doing a 5 Asian city tour in March and I need some inside info:

I'll be flying IAH to NRT on United (14.5 hours)

NRT - BKK on Thai Airlines (8 hrs)

BKK - SIN on Thai Air Aisa (2.5 hrs)

SIN - KUL on Thai Air Asia (1 hour)

KUL - PEK on Air China (6.5 hours)

PEK - IAH on Air China (13.5 hours)

How is the flight from IAH to NRT? Is the food decent? Is it a comfortable flight?

How is Air China? I'm trying to determine if I should pack a bag with food. I'm a picky eater and would hate to think I'll be going without anything to eat on the flight from KUL to PEK to IAH.

Anybody flown Thai Air Asia or Thai Airlines? How are they? Anything I should know about any of the aforementioned airlines?

Thanks!

4 hours ago, KinkaidAlum said:

Auckland? UA already has a JV with the Air New Zealand flight. I cannot imagine there'd be room for double daily flights to Kiwi and connections to Oz.

Agreed. I've also heard that the Houston-Sydney route is struggling as well. I don't know that there's that kind of demand to go down under? Anybody know?

A new budget, domestic carrier will launch at HOU. Allegiant air will kick flights off in May. 

Yawn.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2020/01/14/allegiant-air-adds-44-new-routes-including-boston-chicago-houston/4458672002/

Wow! Me likes 

16 minutes ago, ekdrm2d1 said:

I was told Hanover BLVD Place Phase III is a 50 story mixed-use tower with a hotel. It will go in the old Construction Office lot next to Hanover BLVD Place.

 

Whoa! Any idea as to when?

Anybody know the floor count of this?

Can somebody please explain why soil sampling is important? I’m purely ignorant on the subject matter and would like to know. 
 

I assume that the soil sampled a block or two over (Likely sandy loam/clay) would be the same for said property. I doubt the soil changes that drastically from block to block.

If you go back and read the OP from August 1st, you'll see that what my idea of affordable housing (and your idea maybe) is not correct. I think 'affordable housing' units as being soviet style building blocks or some ghetto ass, run down stick apartment building -- or maybe something as 'nice' as the complex just outside of downtown on Allen Parkway, across from the Fed Reserve.

But in the OP, 'affordable' units will go to those who make 80% of the median income of that area. Of the 387 units in the building, 185 units will be 'affordable' while the rest will go for market value. Two units will be set aside for on-site management. 

Wow! Like....wow. 

Can this topic be locked and burned? This tower is d.e.a.d. And it ain’t ever coming back. I got all excited for nothing when I saw the topic pop up at the top. Ugh

23 hours ago, Nate99 said:

Baking foundation...

 

 

Can somebody please explain what's going  on here? I've never seen or heard of this before. What makes this different from all the other pours where they pump the concrete in and it's done?

With Diaz mentioning Madrid, Vienna and another southeast Asia destination, I suspect one of those three will be the next nonstops added to IAH. It sounds like Air India might have some legs to it, too. I've heard Air India rumors in several places and with Diaz also mentioning it, it sounds like Delhi or Mumbai on Air India may be the next new flag at IAH. I think Rome would be a cool addition along with Tel Aviv.

I didn't realize the proximity of those two buildings. I mean in a way I knew they were next door but this really puts it in a cool perspective. 

7 hours ago, gene said:

dang! lots of awesome photos...i missed it somewhere i am sure but what is the expected finish date? summer 2020 or similar?

 

Summer 2042 at the rate they're moving...

22 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

https://www.highstreetresidential.com/en/portfolio/block-98

 

42-stories, 2Q 2022 completion

 

If 2022 is the case they better had broken ground yesterday. That seems really aggressive. Then again, they built the Empire State Building (102 stories) in 1 year so what do I know.

Damn. It may not be tall but geez it's definitely a statement of a building IMO