wxman

As a homosexual, I think Pride parades do more harm than good. Just my two cents. Never been to one and don't plan to start this year.

Well I am 25 yo, educated, homosexual (since it bleeps out the g word) and am active in sports, exercise and leasure. I work on the southwest side of Houston---not far from Missouri City and yet I live off Rayford Rd. in Spring. My demographic would probably much rather be inside the loop. However, I enjoy The Woodlands. I enjoy the trees, quality of life and people's way of living. I'm not an eclectic person---a free spirit with a blase attitude. I'm conservative and I appreciate and respect the ideals around me. I love to go to ball games and events in Houston---Discovery Green, Reliant, Galleria, ect..but i would not want to live there. There's nothing wrong with that. To say that every 20 something yo would much rather live in the city versus the burbs is a misrepresentation of the entire demographic. I like it out here. It's not far from Houston, contrary to popular belief, and if it were me working for Exxon, this campus would be God sent.

IMO, I don't think Exxon really give a rat's behind what it's employees think of it's new location. They probably see it as they don't have a choice but to relocate if they (the employee) want to continue to work for Exxon. Plus, if they end up moving people here from Virginia and other states, I'm sure the burbs are more appealing to those moving here---less traffic, good place to raise children, ect.

This has been an on-going discussion for a long time now. See the 'Going Up' thread.

With the Exxon campus being in unincorporated Harris County---basically touching Montgomery County---will this entice Houston to annex this area? City limits basically follow 45 all the way up to Splashtown so it wouldn't be hard to do. Once the Grand Parkway cuts through, Exxon is operational at the new site, I bet there will be tons of new businesses going in that location--especially if Springwoods Village comes to fruition like it seems to be doing.

That is SWEET looking. Too bad it's way off in the woods and can't be seen from 45.

Appears to be on "this side" of the Federal Reserve directly in the middle of the pic.

Yeah, Terminal B is for very short flights (Little Rock, Shreveport, Corpus, ect.). Personally, I liked the round terminals. I remember going in there a few times (before 911 when you could go all the way to the gates) and my sister and I running around looking at all the planes. IMO, IAH is probably the most boring airport i have ever been in---and I have been to A LOT of airports.

Big news: Terminal B to see $1billion dollar upgrade. Just got the release. I can't tell you anything more until tomorrow when the announcement is made at City Hall.

Just before I left work today, I had a small meeting with other co-workers and I was informed that we, my co-workers, are waiting on a press release from the mayor's office regarding massive reconstruction of Terminal B. Please note that this is speculation on our part. We are not quite sure what is about to be announced but we, our station, thinks it may have something to do with a big project at the big airport. No other info. was readily available. I'll let you know if I hear of anything further.

I passed by this on the freeway and there are definitely some big cranes popping up over the trees....like 5 or more.

Holy crap. This is the best construction porn I've ever seen! I started the freakin' thread and forgot to check back in to see what everybody else had. Wow! Great pics...

I just downloaded the latest version of google earth on my mac and I zoomed into The Woodlands area to scope out my neck of the woods when I discovered a HUGE gaping hole in the middle of the forest---the Exxon Campus. I'm surprised they did not make an announcement in April like they promised they'd do. But the pics we've recently seen, including those from google earth clearly verifies that this project is going forth.

It is very unlikely, imo, that any of these buildings will be more than 3 or 4 stories. If there are 20 buildings on site with 3 million sq. feet, that means all the buildings will average 150,000 sq. ft. Hardly enough sq. footage for a building of significant height.

On my way in to work this morning, driving south on 45 and going over the Rayford/Sawdust bridge, I could clearly see a crane poking out above the trees in the Exxon campus area.

SAME HERE! I was just logging on to say that. lol...

I had the privilege of speaking with an Exxon media relations guy and I informed him of the arial photographs we had of the area. I asked him straight up if indeed Exxon was moving forward with an elaborate corporate campus. The gentleman said "I can tell you that site work continues at that location and all options are still on the table---that's anything from leaving things as is on one end to building a new corporate campus on the other. I replied to him, "but sir, there have been thousands of trees cleared from the area and clearly this is in the exact location of the planned corporate campus according to Springwoods Village. Site work requires the removal of thousands of trees?" He replied, a statement on the campus would be released "very soon" and that all he could confirm is that site work continues at that location. When I asked what "very soon" mean, whether it was days or week, he would not comment. So that's the latest from the horses mouth.

I don't think that low interest in this project is particularly surprising. The majority of the people on this forum have high interest in construction that occur in Downtown/Midtown and the immediate areas surrounding. TMC has been booming for years now, but that construction has never generated high post counts either.

I think it's all about the location of the post. Personally speaking, I rarely look at the other threads on here except 'The Woodlands and North side" being that that is where I am located. Outside of that, I always look for big projects in the 'going up' section.

Yeah, but a lot of those buildings sit empty. Condo/office vacancy in that part of Dallas is high, due to the speculative building that they do there. In Houston, there does not seem to be as much speculation. Oh, and Dallas has zoning. That's the only spot in Dallas where highrises can go up (for the most part). In Houston, buildings go up all over the place.

You make a valid point about the zoning. Makes sense. I just wish there was a way to improve Houston's image as a clean, fun, cosmopolitan town. When people think of Houston, IMO, they think dirty, trashy, boring, congested and the delicate flower step child. When people think Dallas, IMO, they think glitzy, trendy and relatively clean. Anyway back to the building, I think it's okay, just nothing spectacular.

It's nothing out of the ordinary. A 20 story building will be less than spectacular in a sea of skyscrapers on Post Oak. I think the forum is 'dying' simply because we are all tired of these fabulous renderings that come out and ultimately the project gets cancelled or the rendering is scaled down considerably. As much as I like Dallas, I hate that when they propose something, 90% of the time, they break ground and build it. Their uptown is booming right now---evidence by the numerous of cranes on their skyline.

Breaking News: THIS IS HAPPENING! On my way home tonight (I like to drive with the windows down) and upon getting to the 45/toll road interchange, the strongest odor of pine you can imagine hit me like a wall. I looked to my left and saw that thousands of trees have been cleared to the left of the freeway and you could see dust and dirt being moved around by heavy equipment. Now they left a wall of trees up along the frwy, but you can clearly see a massive area being cleared out. I think we are underway.

I just want to make sure that I've got this right - 8 new buildings - 1.4 m sq ft - LEEDS certified w/ retail - bland and boring.

Is it the project or the location that you guys consider bland and boring? My guess is that this group would be collectively hyperventilating if this was being built inside the loop.

I couldn't have said it better myself. I don't know when people are going to realize that The Woodlands is NOT that far out and that it IS a nice place to live and there is a LOT to offer here. I see jealousy written all over some of these posts. Bachanon, what is Waterway 2 and how many floors/sq. ft is it? Where will it's location be?

I called Hines' Interest and spoke with the media relations lady. She confirmed for me what was in the biz journal. There is no tower imminant at this time. There is no timeline. There are no set renderings. No official height. No floor count. She just said that at this time, there is a tower that may go there in the distant future. Not anytime soon.

Doesn't look much taller than about 35 stories. The design is pretty cool but I have yet to see a building turn out exactly like the rendering....especially the first rendering that came out about 3 years ago.

According to the Houston Biz Journal, we are now the 5th largest metro in the U.S. with 6.1 million--passing Philadelphia. I updated wikipedia, but can somebody add the source? I don't know how to cite the info.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2011/03/07/houston-5th-in-metro-population.html

I hear you on the small and innocent. I wasn't even alive for the first half of that decade! In movies/shows you can catch glimpses of the old Houston skyline. One of my favorite shows growing up was 'Knight Rider' and in one episode, he came to Houston to track a fugitive. They showed a pic of the Houston skyline when One Shell Plaza was the only true skyscraper we had. Then in the movie 'Urban Cowboy' at the very beginning, you can see the Houston skyline with some of the buildings under construction.

So I've always wondered what the Houston skyline looked like through the years as each building was erected. Most of the buildings downtown had a vast impact on the way we view the city. So does anybody have old pics of the Houston skyline? Pictures of the skyline with buildings under construction? Anybody have pics of 700 Louisiana under construction or the Enron, Continental or Wells Fargo? I ran across a few that I will try and post here.

Williams Tower under Construction:

JP Morgan Chase:

JPMorganChaseTower-001.jpg

JPMorganChaseTower-002.jpg

Enron (1600 Smith)

1600SmithConst.jpg

If anybody has any more, please add. All these pics I found on a basic google search.