uhlaw09

Stupid Sam Houston race park two guys race-peeing at the urinals made the funniest commercials tv show. Yes, my parents have the remote. But I brought my wireless router to their house to keep myself entertained. If America's Funniest Home Videos or Who Wants to be a Millionaire comes on I'm gonna find some errands to run.

Unfortunately, I know precisely how you feel.

Its always bad timing for Houston. Whenever Houston starts to go building crazy it gets hit by some economic meltdown right before all the really cool projects get off the ground. Very upseting!

You're right. We were hardly able to build anything in the 70s and 80s before that oil glut.

Fantastic news.

Houston skyline being destroyed by giraffes in this recent Saturday Night Live skit (at 0:57):

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/vid...iraffes/810987/

Saw it and immediately thought about this thread

This needs to happen. I just don't see it anytime soon.

Channel 2 posted news on this recently:

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/sto...7502800^1736561

HBJ reports that things are back on schedule (original groundbreaking was to be October 2008) and work on the site is expected to begin in the Second Quarter of 2009. Also, they're completely renovating the Marketing Center for the development right across the street (have been working on it for a month, if not more). The developer is saying in the media that they're going ahead with it. Work has been very active over there at the Marketing Center, so I don't see any reason to think that they've changed course.

A lot could happen between now and 2Q of 2009, but things look to be on track for now.

The intersection near where the bridge will be built is surrounded by apartment complexes that have spurred new development, including a nearby Islamic community center funded by the Aga Khan Foundation that some civic leaders expect to be an architectural wonder.

I've seen this one mentioned a few times and the above is from the Houston Chronicle article . Does anyone have any further information or renderings on this one? Whatever the final design, I hope its woven into the urban fabric the area is deperately trying to create with the Fingers site, Regent Square, Archstone, new bridge, and the other proposals in close proximity to this location.

Agreed. I've looked for more information about this online and haven't been able to find anything. I am very interested to see what it will look like--though there's no telling when it will actually be built given the current economic climate.

As an aside, my first thought when hearing the name "Tolerance Bridge" was that the bridge's proximity to Houston's new Ismaili Center had to cross through the minds of those in charge of choosing the name. I would be surprised if they didn't at least consider the fact that the bridge will be right across the street from the future center of Houston's Islamic community.

I think more things should be named for Miss. Ima Hogg. Can you imagine it The Ima Hogg Bridge, which will be primarily for exercise and recreation.

Perfect!

You are a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day!

He's a ray of sunshine every day.

Of course it won't foster tolerance, any more than the Peace Bridge fosters peace. But that said, it's silly to take it literally. There's nothing wrong sometimes with naming things after laudable ideals is there?

I think most people are aguing instead that "Tolerance" isn't a very laudable ideal. "Tolerance" sounds very 1970s. As in, "I don't like those other cultures, but I'll do the right thing and tolerate them."

A hallmark of Houston is that it--far more than the vast, vast majority of other cities--welcomes and encourages people of all cultures, races, and ethnicities. It's one of the things that makes Houston a great city and provides international appeal.

If you don't believe it, then take a day this weekend and drive around the city. Try going to some places you've never been to before. It's amazing how eclectic Houston's residents are and how cohesively we operate as Houstonians.

Houston doesn't "tolerate" others--it embraces others. Even if it's a simple error in linguistics, the naming of this Bridge misses the point.

Thanks ChannelTwo. That last image in particular shows a lot about how the bridge will be laid out.

What if, i may be wrong, these are the same building , but are rendered from different views.

Besides it is unlikely that they have two different designs, i mean unless its a contest there should only

be one final design, and even if the architect made 2 designs he wouldnt go public about it.

Seriously when was the last architect that asked our opinion about a project?

But i may be wrong. Also the rendering with the glass part shows a concrete wall, and the

rendering with the concrete(or what ever it is, im not an expert) shows glass. But , my theory

on why the glass isn't portrayed in the same hue is that the 1st rendering is in the sunset..

Yeah, I'm not 100% sure about it either. Swamplot speculates that they are different renderings. Giving it a close look, I think, will reveal that the two aren't consistent.

Prior to the release of this design, I had wondered if there was a possible way to have the bridge also extend over Allen Parkway. However, it would likely be logistically more difficult, as it would have to be raised to clear Allen Parkway. Under this thought, the bridge would have 4 landings--and would extend entirely across both Allen Parkway and Memorial. Not gonna happen though...

I wish there was some better way to cross Montrose to get to the parks and to Memorial Heights / Washington than currently exists. A small pedestrian bridge near Montrose would do the trick...

Two (Apparently) Differing Renderings of Houston Ballet's New Building Downtown:

(courtesy of Swamplot)

Where did you pull this from... nice find

Not sure. It was referenced in some article I read online...

Tolerance Bridge:

EDIT: Added new renderings released.

For reference, here's a rendering of the area from the Discovery Tower thread, which includes a rendering of Embassy Suites.

That rink is looking pretty sweet. I'll definitely be heading down there once they open it up.

Thanks for the pictures.

Watching Rockets on ESPN it shows the blue lighting is back on. I love the blue.

It was white last night. Almost certain it was stock footage.

And something I noticed at the end of the animation on the Urban Partners West Ave. website I hadn't noticed before:

"Grand Opening for Phase I, February 1 09."

"Phase II opening in 1st Quarter 2010"

Isn't that the first confirmation fof plans to build Phase II immediately after Phase I?

I know there has been a lot of talk about Phase II around here, but I hadn't heard anything concrete on the plans.

Thanks very much for the pictures.

This tower is going to look awesome from Discovery Green. It's really going to change the feel in the park to have this thing towering over the park. OPP was a great start, but Discovery Tower is really going to change how this park feels.

Discovery Green, One Park Place, and Discovery Tower are all great additions to the City of Houston.

Thanks.

This intersection is looking great...

Thanks for the pics.

This place looks awesome so far. No qualifications...

This is new to me. I know there were other sites along Allen Parkway and Dallas that had some digs a few years back-- the old elemntary school in Freedman's town and spots near the Allen Parkway Village -- but I've never heard of anything going on at this site. Of some interest though is the fact that the old black cemetary is next door and this area used to be an old black enclave of the city. It was outside of what was considered freedman's town and was more of a pocket that had development build around it. There is an old church and a couple of shotgun shacks left down behind the Gotham and Backstreet Cafe. And for what its' worth the mob in the Camp Logan riot in 1917 turned from Buffalo Dr. (now Allen Parkway) to Dunlavy (then something else) and down a street a block north of Dallas that goes right past Daily Review. But I digress...

Pretty sure KJB is referring to this article:

http://swamplot.com/grave-concerns-for-reg...are/2008-08-28/

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/kho...ves.22ac15.html

I'm interested to know if any potential discoveries would cause problems during the development process.

What I was told is that the Rochow trailer park is the management office and that 1203 Dunlavy is the construction/hiring office.

The management office seems fully staffed and is buzzing with activity everyday.

^ That would make sense.

There was a lot of activity around the site today. About 15-20 cars parked on the former Allen House lot, and across the street the bulldozers pictured above tore up the entire parking lot for 1203 Dunlavy. There were a lot of workers on site and workers were up on the roof doing some sort of work most of the day. I'm not sure what the roof and parking lot work is for.

No changes noticed on the Allen House lots yet.

Keep hope alive.

I drove past this morning and the lot where UHlaw posted the photo above had about a dozen cars and trucks parked in it and there were new signs posted that said it was J.E. Dunn construction parking only. Now, despite seeing the cars and trucks parked there, I saw no people. I did not go by the offices/trailers that had been set up a few blocks away, so maybe they were down there. But I'm going to go out on a limb and venture that there were a number of folks taking a snoop at the property and having a meeting about it today. We've heard November start, so maybe this thing is really going to go. Either that or they were discussing the fact that everyone was fired. Time will tell.

Drove by at around 6PM today to look at this. There were no cars and no people on the lot, and I didn't notice any significant changes to the lot from before. I did notice a couple of small signs attached to the entry of the lot, so those are probably the J.E. Dunn construction signs you mentioned (which is good news).

However, as I was driving by I did notice 2 small dozers tucked away on a lot across the street. So I circled back and parked in the lot to see if I could find anything linking these to the J.E. Dunn / Regent Square.

This is the building and parking lot at 1203 Dunlavy--which is immediately across the street from the empty Allen House lots (this is not where the group of construction trailers are located. They are located further away at Rochow, I think, between W. Dallas and W. Clay).

I have no information about this development that isn't available here, but the recent activity (trucks on site, new signs, etc.) is encouraging: