roadrunner

The debris on that portion of the roof had been there before the hurricane. It is right off the stairwell on the 4th floor and is mostly ceramic debris where a furnace or transformer must have been operated at one point in time. I would not be surprised if they got a nasty letter from a neighbor about windfall debris after the storm and thus the reasoning for the cleanup.

If any rehabilitation is to occur, the eastern addition of steel frame will need to be demolished. It is currently collapsing under it's own weight with the addition of the window debris on it's roof. Also it should be noted that the addition's steel is strangely detailed and in some places inconsistent with other modules.

I don't foresee anything really being done with this building after sitting in on a couple meetings with the owner's reps, except eventual buyout &/or implosion.

That's unfortunate. My dream project is to develop the empty lot next to it into the new Texas Baseball Hall of Fame and also redeveloping the Ben Milam building into a boutique hotel. Yep, dream.

The fact that this building is still vacant is extremely frustrating.

I walked around it this afternoon and it was pretty dead. The stores open had pretty good crowds, though. It should be a solid project once everything gets going.

The website has a press release with the all of the store opening dates. It seems like this place won't really get going until December-January.

It would take a Houstonian or someone very familiar with the city to make that happen.

I don't trust none of them dang outsiders. They best keep on outta here anyhow.

I don't even care about that. I just think it would add a new dimension to the economy and keeps the dome in its original exterior shape without trying to make into some cheesy hotel idea.

astrodome studios now has a website

www.astrodomestudios.net

I am impressed with the website. It is really well done and give a lot of information around the plan. I hope they can execute this.

That's what I heard and confirmed a couple of times. I heard that the tenants are still a go and that they were very confident this thing would get done, just that it needed to get pushed back. Heard that the size of the project made it hard to get financing through one or two major players and that it was a simple of function of having to go to 8 or 10 people to get financed instead of 1 or 2. The negotiations get slowed way down and closings get put off, etc. Once you are almost there someone who promised $100,000,000 will balk and say they can give you 50, and then you have to start again with a new party to make up the difference. But, on the good side, they were confident that the market here is solid and will continue to be. It's just a liquidity thing. I also heard, for what it's worth, that some retail tenants have put a freeze on new locations until this thing passes. They are planning on filling this place with "ultra-ultra high end" stuff and while these retailers want a Houston presence asap, they want to wait until the big picture settles a little bit before they do anything anywhere. I got the impression that everyone involved kind of agreed to take a deep breath. Like one of those scheduled holds on a Shuttle launch.

He was also excited about the High Street project, even though it wasn't his. He thinks the two together will be incredible.

This is unfortunate, but expected. Oh well, at least it's still on the board.

I know they are having problems absorbing these towers, but I have to admit they are some of the best looking buildings that have been built inside the loop in the last 5-10 years. They look spectacular from the park and even better from 288 or Almeda. I love how the Museum District has towers that randomly pop up out of the trees. This area has almost formed a skyline of its own.

I see Qatar Air opened an office there... ha ha... that's interesting. And Lucky Strike is on the 3rd floor... didn't see that coming.

Also weird... HOB is on the 1st floor and 3rd floor but not 2nd.

High ceilings I guess? Or maybe an upper deck seating?

Heard the mini-train station was going to be remodeled. Has that happened yet? Have always wanted to get a pic of the old station location, with all those old miniature trains in their little graveyard. Thought the old train entrance would change, per the renovations elsewhere in the park. I wish those little trains could tell us where they all came from, just love them.

I don't know, but they are working on the new train station by the Rice U/Hermann Park Light Rail station.

I would support that too! I can think of no better use of the Alabama Theater than to be restored to a theater, and it'd be great to have a draft house style theater close by.

I won't get hopes up though. Weingarten will probably demolish it anyway just for spite.

This would be excellent for this area. I think it would do great business.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the Dynamo will not get a stadium and they'll be out of here in two years. That's my wild prediction.

If they don't have anything in place by the time Bill White is out of office, I would think it would be a pretty big black mark on his term here.

This is now a $50m museum, rather than the $30m - $40m previously reported.

Hopefully no construction delays.

I think construction has to actually start before there can be delays.

Why do you think they did not buy the 3 sets of townhomes here:

Do you think it good or bad for those owners?

If I were the owners, I would be thrilled. You're thrown right in the middle of this exciting multi-use development. Unfortunately, they will probably deal with 4-8 years of empty lots and construction.

I drove by this the other day and it looks pretty cool. Big patio, and it looks to be a trendy Midtown bar inside. I know people here hate trendy, but I'm pretty pumped to check it out. I think Houston has a ton of laid back bars, so I welcome these "hard night" bars.

Also, what's the name of the new bar right down the street from Maple Leaf where Late Nite Pie used to be? It looks cool, also.

I live in the museum district as well, and it sucks that the museum district doesn't really have any good cafes or bars. I really wish there was somewhere I could quickly walk to. I think your closest bet would be somewhere on Montrose.

Diedrich's, has wifi but you can't get beer, only coffee. Depending on where you live, that may or may not be out of walking distance, it's at least a mile and a half walk from where I live.

I used to go to Tropioca in Midtown but lately it seems to now be closed at random times and it isn't reliable enough to go to anymore unless I just happen to be driving by. The manager told me they were moving to another location in midtown but he would not tell me where. Also not a beer place though.

I also used to go to Cafe Artiste in Montrose but that place has also closed.

For beer, you might want to try the Black Labrador Pub on Montrose. Not sure if they have wifi but maybe the wifi from the library/cafe next door reaches into the pub.

Your best bet for close wifi and beer will probably be Montrose, or midtown as the closest options, and also Rice Village.

Also check out Agora on Westheimer near Dunlavy.

Thanks for the suggestions. I did a little research on my own, and noticed that Maple Leaf has WiFi in Midtown. I like that place, so that seems reasonable.

And I also wish the Museum District had a few more cafes or bars. It's all townhomes and museums....although that isn't so bad.

I live in the Museum District and would love to find a place where I could go sip on a beer with my laptop. Does anyboddy know any neighborhood joints nearby? Or is the closest option somewhere in Rice Village?

Does anyone actually think this thing is going to get off the ground in the next 18 months with the economy the way it is?

Is the observation deck still closed? And are they shutting off the water wall at night? I always thought that is when it looked best.

Hasn't this been up for sale for a few months now?

Do they have lunch slice specials? I might drop by there during my lunch hour from work.

I don't think so, but the slices are around $2. Two slices are probably good enough for lunch.

Just tried Luigi's on Almeda right on the border of the Museum District and Midtown. I thought the pizza was great. They serve it NY style by the slice. Nice little building with a patio. The guy behind the counter was telling me they've been open for 6 weeks and apparently doing well with schools nearby (HCC?). They have a small menu, but it what they have fits my taste for a neighborhood pizza joint. He also said it's BYOB, which is kind of awesome.

I'll be going back, especially when the weather gets nice. BYOB on the patio seems like it will be hard to beat.

I'm a homeowner in this part of town nowadays.. hopefully I'll stay here long enough to realize any gains from these big apartment buildings being laid down on the superblocks.

Last week I saw several tractors on the site moving dirt around. And there was a taco truck there, which means there must be a significant amount of workers there. Hopefully within the next month we will see an actual groundbreaking.

I noticed some dirt being moved in front of the Apex Hospital near Hermann Drive and Almeda today. Anybody have any idea what's going on?

Yeah I have noticed this also. Not sure what's going on here. It looks like they are actually just moving dirt around the hospital. Maybe a nicer parking lot??

Does anyone know when the results of the funding decision will be available?