jgriff

But Houston's economy is based on more than oil these days. Maybe this will mean trouble to places like Midland, but not Houston. There's still the huge shipping/energy industry, for starters.

The shipping/energy industry in Houston is very dependent on oil prices. If they drop it will drop. 

Fracking has brought in more supply, and demand in a lot of countries remains weak, so it makes sense that prices will fall.  Also, in a falling price environment there is always the incentive for OPEC members to produce more than their quotas, pushing down prices even more.  It will be interesting to see the impact on Houston.  

The Saudis can produce oil much cheaper than we can. At $70 a barrel they will continue to make a lot of money but activity in Texas will slow considerably. It makes sense for them to push prices down in order to keep market share and shut down Texas. This could be really bad news for us. If prices get too low this boom in Houston will come to a sudden halt. I hope I'm wrong. 

The Saudis are saying "Get use to lower oil prices". This is not good news for Houston.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/13/us-oil-saudi-policy-idUSKCN0I201Y20141013

I've never been able to see the lake from the freeway. I used to stand next to it everyday waiting for the bus on Post Oak. It's full of ducks.  Unless you are looking for it it's not even very noticeable from Post Oak. I think the only people that really notice it are the few people who wait at the bus stop and the people who live in the million dollar condos across the street. Maybe with the new apartments going up there it will get a little more use as a dog park. 

The window in my hotel room looked looked right out on One57. It looks good from a distance but up close it looks like a building from the 80s. For some reason it already looks 30 years old. From a distance the mismatched colors of the glass looks good, close up it just looks like they replaced a bunch of windows and didn't get the color right. 

You are correct about 432 Park Avenue. It really is just a box. So were the World Trade Center towers though. I do like the concept of a perfectly square building with windows all around though. A building like this is all about the views for the occupants. There should not be a single wall without floor to ceiling windows. I find it strange that some high rises are not built this way. The urinal tower in the Houston Galleria is one of these, one side of the building has almost no windows. I just don't get it. There are ways to cover up the shower, etc... without putting up a wall on the perimeter. 

I believe H-Town Man was being sarcastic. That sometimes doesn't come across well on the internet.

More Details.....

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2014/09/30/new-details-emerge-in-citycentre-apartment-project.html

Yes but what if you live in City Centre and want to walk to Barnes & Noble? 

It's actually not much of a problem. I walk from my house that's a mile away through Town & Country to City Centre quite often.

If someone could build a sidewalk from the Barnes and Nobles shopping center area to CityCentre on Town and Country blvd that would be great. Has anyone noticed this and been annoyed by it?

If you park at Barnes and Noble and walk to City Centre you have a good chance of getting your car towed. These two shopping centers compete with each other. Town & Country Village doesn't want you using their parking to spend money at City Centre.

With a bust in the oil market the port would see far less traffic. 

i had a layover in newark yesterday. needless to say, i have tower envy.  there is a new construction that looks like it's close to central park, i'm assuming it's residential and looks to have a small footprint for it's height.  very curious. 

i was tempted to walk out to a cab rather than catch my plane.  if i hadn't been on a plane for nine hours already it might have been more tempting.

That's 432 Park Avenue. It's really tall, 1390 ft.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/432_Park_Avenue

Nordstrom tower will be even taller.

I just got back from a week in NYC. I stayed at Le Parker Meridian on W. 57th right at the park. I go there a couple times a year. I walk a lot in NY because it's the best way to get where I want to. I don't walk just for the sake of walking. If I could get in a car and drive 6 blocks faster than walking it I would. Every time I have a place to go there is a decision to be made... Taxi, Subway or walk. Whichever one can get me there faster wins. The subway system is very nice. It would be great to have that here but we just don't have the economic and geographic conditions to make that possible. 

In downtown Houston I walk because quite often the weather is nice, more often than NY in my opinion. If you stick to the side of the street that's in the shadows of the skyscrapers the heat is not much of a problem. I enjoy walking in Houston more, because the streets aren't as crowded. You don't have to fight a crowd of people to get through the crosswalks here.

I agree that most people you meet in NY are polite and friendly. You never know if a person you see on the street just stepped out of a $20mil apartment or if they commute in from NJ everyday. I don't like the draconian government there though. My wife smokes and it's almost impossible for her to do so without being fussed at. We're standing on a corner with thousands of cars passing an hour and people are worried about a little smoke from a cigarette. 

Hrm... ok...

 

However, there is no reason why this should not have been much more "unique" or "different" than most other buildings out in this part of the metro. Or is there?

Impressing people that drive by is not its purpose. The people that work in these buildings care more about how their cubicles are arranged and what is for sale in the deli that what the building looks like to passersby.

I'm in the middle of a move to a newly constructed building in the energy corridor right now. We've been discussing it for months and I've never heard one person in our company mention the architecture of the building. The height of the cubicle walls is a very hot topic though.

I've said this before but Novare has traditionally been a condo developer and I believe their business plan is to convert these rental units into condos once that market recovers.  The fact that they are building Skyhouses like crazy and have yet to sell any of those buildings to other REITs further supports my theory.

 

For the past couple of years capital has been flowing towards apartment construction based on fundamentals, however this will change in the coming years. Smart move by companies such as Novare if you ask me - build whatever the capital markets will finance.

 

I clearly expect quite a few other higher end apartment buildings to convert to condos in the not-to-distant future (i.e. 2929 Wesleyan, Hanover Post Oak).  The rents these buildings are going after are simply not sustainable. 2929 Wesleyan rents will supposedly average more than $4000/unit - that's ridiculous.

High rises are not cheap. I've always found it surprising that we have as many in Houston as we do. I've looked at moving into a couple and it just never made financial sense for me. I could afford to live in one but I'm not into throwing that much money away for a view and having to live with the inconvenience of an elevator when I can get a townhouse for much less with more space.

There are however, plenty of people in Houston who can afford to pay $4000 a month. These days $4k is not that high.

I live in Uptown and really don't think the traffic situation actually within Uptown is really that bad. It's mostly getting out of Uptown (San Felipe and Westheimer eastbound toward 610) in the afternoons that is insane. 610 backs up and then all the feeders to it back up as well and it starts to affect the roads in Uptown. It amazes me how well the Uptown district has managed do traffic management consider what a giant cluster it all is. At the end of the day, the only real options are 1. to make more road segments in uptown one way to reduce traffic light cycles (i.e. west alabama between sage and post oak) and 2. reduce/remove cutout in the median on post oak/westheimer that allow left turns at non-traffic lights (this will happen on post oak in conjunction with the BRT)

I agree. I live in the Memorial Villages area and worked in the Galleria for 2 years. I rarely had any problems with traffic. I think it's people commuting on the freeways that have the most trouble.

I thought that land was part of Terry Hershey park.

The EC may be bigger, but it will not have the number of residential highrises, nor will it ever likely have the same density of hotels as Uptown.

 

Also, the EC has the must mundane and boring skyline (if it really counts as one) in town - heck, even Greenspoint is more interesting!  Uptown is far more interesting, and while perhaps square footage of office spaces are smaller the architecture is of a much higher quality (Randall Davis and the Mercer notwithstanding).

 

I'm really never clear why people love the EC so much?  If anything its existence has greatly dimenished the density of Westchase, Memorial City and the inner Beltway I-10 frontage areas.

You have to remember that other people may have a different point of view than you. Some people don't like density. A lot of people want a big yard and a huge house. That's not something that's important to me but I understand that in Houston I am probably in the minority on that issue. 

Is it just me, or does it seem like AT&T cornered the market on featureless tan brick buildings?

They were built to house communications equipment. They don't need windows. 

I went there many times in the 90s. My memory tells me it was where "Classic Touch" is now.

i thought bruce godwin owned record rack in the late eighties/early nineties; he was either an owner or manager of numbers too.  i bought many of my hard to find industrial and club music cds at record rack. 

That is correct. Bruce Godwin owned the place in the 80s/90s. I went there many times.

This is similar to über vs. taxi and food trucks vs. restaurants. The old guard doesn't want to give in. But it just makes our city look silly. And as much as IT wants to think it's wishful thinking I personally have been to cities all over the world with excellent rail transit. It makes life so much easier.

Density is coming anyway. But makes the density easier to deal with.

Density is a forgone conclusion. Cities can and do lose population. Without transportation infrastructure this city will not get as dense as it could. For some people that is a feature not a bug. Calling someone a stupid redneck is not engaging in a constructive argument for one side or the other. People can have a different opinion without being stupid. When someone engages in name calling it's a good sign that they do not have the facts to make a good argument. They are arguing out of emotion.

Example: " It's just a very pleasant way to move about". That's not about empirical facts. It's more like "I want my rail because it makes me feel good. If you don't give it to me you're stupid."

Anyone against rail should swing by the TMC one work morning. Look at the mass amounts of people it brings in to a dense area with limited parking, and then think about the population projections for our city 20 years out. Rail is expensive, but the costs to build it 20 years from now (with land even more scarce) will be astronomical. The rail isn't a toy for the TMC, but a necessity for it's continued growth. It will be needed for Houston's future growth as well once other employment centers get as dense.

So, if you don't have rail it will be a  lot more difficult to have density. Is that a bad thing? Some may think so but other may not. 

I'm not super pro-rail or super anti-rail. I do wonder though... What is it about rail that gets people so excited? Is there something missing in your life that rail will satisfy? Even in a best case scenario where you can ride everywhere you need to go on a train, is you're life going to be radically changed? Do you feel the need to mix with people on some kind of public transit to make friends or find a significant other? Have cars or buses done something to you that causes you to hate them? Are you wasting your life away sitting on freeways? Why the rabid anger towards people who don't want it? 

Public transportation is like a public port-o-potty. People only use it when they absolutely HAVE to.  At the moment, most Texans don't have to or want to.

 

That being said, trains are cute. Unnecessary, but cute. And like mostly everyone else at HAIF I hope Houston gets more. If for no other reason, it might make you post a little less incoherent, pointless dribble at HAIF.

I rode the bus when I worked downtown. It didn't take much longer than driving and saved me a little money. I didn't have to do that. That being said I don't think I would ever use a train from the airport to downtown or any other train in Houston. They just don't go to enough places. Buses go almost everywhere.

Newsflash... it sucks to be poor. If it didn't I wouldn't have worked so hard all my life.