wernicke

All three floors looked packed this afternoon... glad I can just walk over.

I'm sure potential retail tenants have to consider the parking issue...

This whole complex was dated almost as soon as it was built, and it has become more ghetto since.

You know, it just occurred to me that many of our younger posters have never actually seen the 'Thanksgiving Turkey Drop' episode. Some may not have even heard of it.

It saddens me to think this.

I'm 25... and I had know idea what y'all were talking about until I googled WKRP. Oldies

Here is Christof's latest take on Commuter Rail implementation.

So the Fiance and I walked over (we live at Calais) with the intention of getting a free 7-day pass. Turns out, Sarah's company (Deloitte) has a corporate deal that was quite good (45+25 for the two of us with no fees), so we joined up. We never would have payed their BS app/start-up fees (99+49), so I am pretty excited.

The facility is nice... the windows are great. Equipment is very nice and new. Steam room, sauna, jacquzzi and 3-lane pool are nice. They have a variety of classes scheduled throughout the day, starting at 530 AM -- abs/cycling/kickboxing/etc.

Incidentally, the 24-hour guy we signed up with (who was nice and investigated all our possible deals) said they were told a sushi restaurant, sandwich shop, and wine bar were going in on the first floor. I noticed about two days ago they started digging up the ground on the first level, I guess for plumbing installation.

I think the new design is terrible... and even more terrible if it is to be built downtown. Seriously.

Check out these new renderings from WHR Architects I found after a tip from skyscraperforum. The top of this building is awesome... some of the coolest new architecture is going up in the TMC.

I kind of like the blue glass... Discovery Tower, MainPlace, the Secret Tower. Altogether they should change up the look of DT a little bit, viewed from the East at least.

It can be like Picasso's Blue Period.

Well, technically none of the first floor retail has "gone up" yet...

This project sounds like a big deal for the area... soccer fields, a possible HCC campus, church with possible charter school. Interesting mix.

I like the Tower.

I hate Comcast, as do all of its customers... Comcast customer service at all-time low.

So how is it a development firm/construction company could make it through all the phases of preconstruction planning, start clearing the site, and throw up a crane only to have the project dissolve?

East End Kick Off from the Chronicle.

As streamers and fireworks shot into the sweltering air and opponents picketing outside, elected officials and East End community leaders today celebrated the impending start of construction of a light rail line in their historic neighborhood.

"It may have been said in the past, but it can't be said now that the city of Houston is overlooking the East End," Mayor Bill White said to applause from about 200 supporters.

So has speculative real estate purchasing already happened or is it currently happening on all the new lines?

Not that it matters, but the Menil Collection is the only Houston activity/attraction listed in the book 1000 Things to See Before You Die.

Some people sure are prolific posters on something they deem "only a strip center".

MARTA does some things quite well. It's a very good system if your destination is downtown, midtown, the airport, office/shopping areas up north in Buckhead and along the Perimeter, or downtown Decatur, and your origin is a neighborhood with convenient access to MARTA.

As the article above partly mentions, MARTA is screwed over by Atlanta's fragmented county make-up... Atlanta County Map. The different bureaucracies make it difficult to get things done.

Incidentally, this fragmented system has also doomed the city's county hospital system (in addition to rising healthcare costs in general)... as only 2/5 of the local counties are willing to fund the system, while the other 3 counties refuse to pay while their citizens take advantage. Grady has been running huge budget deficits (Grady Financial Crisis).

I guess Houston is lucky to exist within one county.

Check out this Washington Post article, with a photo album (Houston's Pipelines of Prosperity)...

Seems like H-town has been getting a ton of praise nationally in the past couple of months.

Newsweek

Business Week Yahoo

Which all stems from the fact that Houston is booming, while the rest of the country is in the midst of a recession. Nice to see Houston's image shift from fattest, most polluted city a few years ago.

More info on the new brewery location today in the Chron:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/5847046.html

Nice article. Wagner does seem like a nice guy... the two times I have gone to the Saturday "tour" -- really more of a beer fest -- he has been there, eager to talk to his customers. Hopefully the larger facility can create a real biergarten atmosphere a la Bavaria, just north of DT.

Well to be fair I wasn't expecting this to turn the Houston skyline into Dubai or anything....it's indeed closer to 10 though.

If you check out this office leasing plan it looks like it is 11 stories.

The developer's stated reason for not going bigger with the office building, and including the residential, was parking space requirements that could not be met.

i was obviously whining for a good reason. hence, the move.

Sorry guys, the play pen still occupies the prime real estate... I walked by this morning.

I agree, the location really doesn't make sense. The kid zone should be in the back somewhere.

A little off-topic, but... I went into Whole Foods on Kirby yesterday, and jeez that place is overpriced. I went into the prepared foods section and wanted to get this 4 oz. container of chicken pasta salad (small), and it was $9.50.

The idea of Whole Foods is good, but the reality is a bit much.

They fit a quarter million SF of residential units and parking on a half acre site that previously only had room for 1 fast food restaurant. You'll have to forgive them for not taking up valuable parking garage space with a sidewalk cafe or other street-level retail.

The original renderings had a fountain on the side.. you get a fountain on the side.. considering the developer could have just left it a blank wall, i don't think you should be so quick to criticize.

I see your point, but as has been discussed to great lengths in other threads, there is more than one way to make a parking garage aesthetically pleasing -- or at least not jarring to look at while driving down Post Oak.

Not too much hope... those three fountains seem like an after-thought stuck onto the side of a big ugly block. The developers/architect definitely weren't interested in tying the building into the surrounding milieu, which is a shame considering how Post Oak is developing.

They should have kept the residential component... this much retail in a DT with such a small residential population seems to have the potential to go the way of Bayou Place, which is nowhere.

On the other hand, I still think it has the potential to succeed... if they have LCD screens and 40 ft tall banners. JK .

Regardless, it is still good for DT.

Very cluttered! this whole vicinity is becoming jammed with just about everything under the sun. Drowning in concrete, glass and steel. I see accidents on the rise especially with that pathetic rail flying by so often. Imagine with the fumes of the waiting cars, etc. If you like that cosmopolitan feel you found the right place baby.

I was actually talking about that corner of the actual building, with all the sign-age...

Anyways, they started unloading 24-HF workout equipment yesterday and are still at it today. I'm still debating whether or not I should pay all the fees and sign up...