roadrunner

Sound stage is the best use for the Astrodome, anything else would not make fiscal sense.

Yeah I don't really know what this means, but I would definitely like to hear more. Nothing else suggested has really made sense.

It would be nice if this somehow created a small media/entertainment economy piece of Houston. Once again, I still don't really know what or how this soundstage would work. But that's why I would like it.

I've only been by westchase once, but greenspoint doesn't have any that look like this. Yes, it's square, but it's not a box either. I get what you're saying, I just disagree that it's "typical."

Like I said, I'm not going to complain about this. The only things that bother me are that it isn't residential and that it looks boring compared to Main Place (which isn't really fair since Main Place looks fantastic).

It looks like it's in an L-shape. Besides having 90-degree angles, where else have we seen something like this in Houston @ 30+ stories tall?

Westchase has similar buildings in the 20-30 story range. Same with Greenspoint. It just looks like a suburban office building - boxy glass.

To be honest, I am not loving this tower. It's a big glass box that MIGHT signal the end of the Texas Tower. I would hate to lose the Texas Tower. I've always held out hope that a residential conversion or hotel conversion would take place there.

Also, I had always hoped that residential would go on this site to compliment the Rice Loft Apts, Capitol Lofts, Hogg Palace, and St Germaine that are in close promximity.

That said, I am all for anything going up in this spot. Let's hope there's enough demand for office space to fill Hines' first tower. Too bad KBR couldn't have been lured to one of these new towers. Their bland 3 story office park around a lake is LAME.

These are pretty much my thoughts. This looks like a bland Westchase tower thrown into a prime block in a great downtown location. I don't think we are really in a position to complain about filling in surface lots downtown with 30+ story towers, but I'm not that excited about this.

This will fill a huge whole in Main Street. Once again, I hope this has street level retail. Still no confirmation if Main Place does.

However, I must admit that I was hoping this block would be filled by a residential tower ever since the Shamrock plans were released.

http://www.ctchouston.org/blogs/christof/

The map is on his blog link above. Here are the points he points out about the changes:

[*]I

I also work with consultants and it really is tough to do anything downtown. Especially the east side. We rotate between the only 3-4 restaurants down there everyday for lunch or dinner. It gets old. They stay out in Uptown and like the area a lot.

Needless to say, I'm very excited for the Pavilions to open.

I would like to keep Main more traditional. It has a trolley down the middle of it, brick road, classic architecture, and history. We don't need to make it into Houston's version of Times Square. If we need to have TVs (which is still lame), put them down the Pavilions walkway or something. Let Main be Main.

Installing big screens next to a bland office building, an empty building used for parking, and a Courtyard by Marriott doesn't seem like a good idea.

I was reading the Houston Press last week and noticed an ad along the lines of "New Sammy's" or "Real Sammy's". Anyways, the location was downtown, not the Midtown Main location. Does anyone know anything about this?

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/sto...tml?t=printable

Grand opening tonight, if anyone cares.

They were doing work on this building today. Definitely some sort of event they were setting up for. Really strange. Is this a permanent thing? Or just for this weekend?

Hey, you know how it is. October is just around the corner and somebody here is certainly going to hold you to that estimate.

If they just get this thing going before the end of the year I will be very happy.

I took some guys from Dallas and Chicago to The Grove to eat lunch today. The park was packed with people playing frisbee, sitting on the benches, kids playing, etc. The guys I was with were very impressed with the restaurant and the park. They were telling me how they have a completely different image of Houston now. Didn't even feel like my home town.

I went for a jog at the park last week and didn't like it. There isn't much gravel to run on which means you have to run on concrete for most of the course. I wish it was more than 1/2 mile too - runing in a circle 6 times is not fun.

Yeah any serious runner wouldn't use this park to run in. I don't know why they even attempted to put a running track in. I've yet to see any joggers.

However, the park over on the bayou by the north side of downtown is perfect for running. It's concrete, but it's still a great running park. If there were more residential around there I think there would be more activity in that park other than the homeless under bridges.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metrop...an/5715041.html

Looks like the old zoning debate is stirring again.

Best take I've seen on this issue in Kuff's blog. It pretty much illustrates everything I feel about the issue.

http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/011492.html

After stumbling out of a bar last night, I meandered (read: Staggered) over to The Disco G and it was very quiet and dead. I have yet to see it during the day on a weekday, but I would imagine quite a few people would use it just to decompress from stress. From what I have seen, some people might use it for primal scream therapy, the ones doing that now are homeless.

It has been pretty active during the day, especially during lunch hour.

I would hold off judgement on the park's pedestrian activity during non-convention days and nights until One Park Place is built. Even then, I don't think there will be many people frequenting the park at night unless there is an Astros or Rockets game. The neighborhood around it still needs to be built up. Like any other park, I expect it to be much more active on weekends.

i'm hearing that there's been some delays at BLVD Place as well....

Not surprised. As healthy as the Houston economy is relative to the rest of the country, it still matters if the financing is there or not. Unfortunately, I don't think these projects are locally financed.

I really hope this "Oaks District" (or whatever it's called) project makes it. With all of the other mixed use projects stalling to break ground, this looks like the most ambitious one that will make the biggest impact. I'm getting skeptical about Regent Square.

Is there any word on potential tenants?

To be honest, I haven't been that excited about this park. I have been much more interested and enthused about the development around it.

However, I walked around the park today before I went home from work, and I must say that I was impressed. I was pleasantly surprised by the Lake House, the ampitheater, and the canopy trees. The skyline views were okay. It will be nice when Disco Tower and the Embassy Suites are done. What really made me enjoy the park was the fact that it already feels like it has its own identity. It isn't trying to replicate Central Park, Millenium Park, or any other famous parks. It is pretty consistent with the Houston cultural image, as muddled as that might sound. I am confident this park will always be busy and will be a huge catalyst in attracting more conventions.

Also, I am buying into the hype of this helping downtown turn the corner. I think this is the first time I realistically thought downtown could evolve into an actual neighborhood. The park feels like downtown's playground. This along with the Pavilions really will give the east side of downtown the spark it needs. Greenspace to enjoy nice days, and entertainment for the nightlife. If a grocery store actually is placed at the bottom of One Park Place and residential development takes off downtown, I could actually see myself wanting to live downtown in a few years.

Cool, lets finally raze that pathetic excuse for a park @ market square, where I watched my Astros get swept in the world series on a giant balloon.

I'd rather see a surface lot there. . .

If a developer would take a chance on the lot south of Market Square, I think it that area would be the most attractive district in downtown. That surface lot and the ugly Kim Son make Market Square pretty blah.

Here's a random pro-rail post.

I live in the Med Center/Reliant Park area in a crappy apartment, but I got it for the location. I work downtown, frequent the Village and Midtown on weekends, and enjoy the affordable housing in the area.

It takes me 30 minutes to drive to work, park my car, pay for parking, and walk to the front door of my building.

When I take the light rail, which is as much as possible, it takes me 35-40 minutes to walk from my front door, get on the train at the Reliant Park station, get off the train at the Main St Square station, and walk to the front door of my building. That's close to the longest trip you can take on the Red Line. It is very much worth the extra 5-10 minutes that I get sitting on the train reading the paper and drinking a cup of coffee.

Now, that is during the peak traffic hours during the day. I admit that taking the Red Line on weekends for non-major events is silly. But, if I ever wanted to go to the Galleria on a Saturday, it would take me at least 35-40 minutes to hop on 610, sit in traffic at the Westheimer exit, slug through the Post Oak intersection, try to find a parking spot, and finally walk to the elevators. If the University Line was built, it would probably take me about the same time. I wouldn't be paying for parking, paying for gas, sitting in awful traffic, wear and tear on my car, etc.

All of this is true for me, who is someone who lives at the second to last stop at the rail line. It would be even more convenient for Midtown, Montrose, Greenway Plaza people. I have a friend who is living north of Central Park in Manhattan and works downtown. He has a 45 minute commute. The Inner West Loop is Houston's Manhattan. The density is a different animal, but the transportation is comparable.

Finally, I don't understand the congestion around the Red Line argument. I fly down Fannin in the morning to go to work without any problems, including the Med Center. The only bad light I hit is the Braeswood light, and I only have to sit through it once. If you're driving on Main St in Midtown or Downtown, then you are an idiot. It's a grid system....there are other routes.

Convert all existing freeways to toll roads, which would then be sold off to private investors. Sell off rights to construct new toll road corridors as well as tolled grade seperations at major intersections of grade-level arterials and at railroad tracks. Use the many billions of dollars of proceeds to set up a program by way of which poor people may lease inexpensive fuel-efficient vehicles at such a discount as they wouldn't dare drive around an old unreliable junker, forgo insurance, or ever under any circumstances use local transit provided by METRO. Eliminate all METRO services except for P&R, which would be expanded, adding more origins and destinations and providing more express service. Use remaining proceeds from the toll program (and there ought to be plenty) to purchase and hold straight-line corridors which may be used for inter-city transit on the order of maglev or TGV technology connecting the central business districts of major cities within Texas.

Any additional proceeds would be sold for a perpetuity, thus permenantly relieving some amount of the tax burden.

I can't say I've ever heard that one before. Is this a serious post?

Why does the Mix @ Midtown have the same picture as the Highland Tower/High Street section?

I'm guessing that picture is supposed to be the Mix because it looks like High Fashion is included in the pic. Unfortunately they didn't really give any details about the Mix, either. The article was describing the site across the street with the 24 HR Fitness.