intencity77

No offense, but that is a big part of the problem. That ever popular Houston mindset of being so anti-government regulation of any kind in part, lets these developers get away with building these piss poor projects. And boy did we see quite a few in this last booming period. Local government involvement is the only way to ensure quality architecture and better design standards of proposed projects.

Honestly, now that it's nearing completion, this building does nothing for me, even if that's an unpopular opinion on here. It replaced something that was still fully functional and fairly profitable with another cold, sterile looking office building. Too bad Macy's wasn't incorporated into the base of the building as was originally planned. A renovation of the existing building or a complete demo/overhaul, downsizing the store would have been ideal. Very bad move especially with all the surrounding residential developments coming in. The nearby "Retail District" plan now just appears to have been a knee jerk reaction to the loss of Macy's, since not many (if any) retailers have bitten. Without Macy's or some other large chain anchoring the area, retail confidence went rom being on life support to plummeting to zero and will probably stay as such for the near term. Woulda, shoulda, coulda, I know...oh well.

I still don't get it...

East of downtown, desirable, sure... but mostly due to it's affordability and proximity to downtown. This project would make a lot more sense in uptown, downtown, med-center, etc. places that aren't quite affordable to their target demographic.

Probably because prices are too high in those sectors. While high itself, the EaDo and East End sectors are quite a bargain compared to most areas within inner loop west.

I'm aware of the age of the bridge, as I grew up in this part of town. I just assumed the 610 Ship Channel Bridge would have taken precedence over this, as it is much older and need of replacement. While the new bridge rendering looks great it sounds like an unnecessary waste of money.

But the current bridge isn't even that old?!

NO, just no! At least it'll look decent when the nameplate inevitably downgrades to a Best Western in a few years. But on the other hand, this building will have a purpose now instead of being disused and dilapidated.

Yikes! While the "floating cube" concept is cool, it had already been done long ago similarly in Plano's EDS Campus.  It's too bad they didn't stay downtown (building an urban campus instead) because that seems to be the nexus of where everything is "happening" today.  Sorry but their old downtown building has more character and personality than this suburban monstrosity ever will.  

Unless it's a full fledged theme park (which I realize there isn't any space for one near downtown), then it's going to be lame.  Not to mention, this looks cheap, too kiddish and out of place near our high density downtown.  It's as if Fertitta is trying to recreate his Boardwalk/Pleasure Pier on a smaller scale in downtown Houston and that style development looks just plain wrong in an urban setting. IMO, if a developer is trying to attract a family/child demographic to their downtown attraction at least try to be aesthetically conscious of your urban surroundings in your development!  Discovery Green is a great example of doing just that and tastefully. I guess we can't expect much change from Fertitta's usual cheesy projects. 

A project this size seems way of scale for little old Lovett Commercial. I hope they know what they're doing.

am I the only one that thinks this will never really happen? it's likely being awarded the first teleport terminal or first station for a train to the planet jupiter,

Even if it is built I have doubts that the renderings they've released will be the final product. Wouldn't surprise me if it was watered down drastically.

Marshalls and other suburban strip stores are directly across from the high end Galleria, in the heart of Uptown and have remained for decades even with all the towers surrounding them. Why anyone would think this Target store will deviate from the Houston norm of suburban abutted next to high rise/density is beyond me. It isn't going anywhere anytime soon IMO.

Wow! Awesome project. Always imagined this would make a great conversion to lofts.

Yikes! Looks just awful and it doesn't even match the building. Should have left the classic stone cladding alone. Not every tower needs to look like it's sitting on top of a parking garage podium because essentially that's what this looks like now, albeit poorly done.

Pretty disgusted and appalled at this but then again Houston embraces and encourages destroying its past with such a passion. I imagine the new building will look similar to the ugly ones surrounding it.

Its probably been discussed before, but why were McKinney and Lamar streets made to flare out like that, even pre GRB?

Was it part of the grandiose Houston Center plan that never happened?

I would imagine it was so traffic could still flow seamlessly on those two streets around the yet to be built convention center.

I know, I know I'm nitpicking but that block they made for the signage up top is atrocious. To me, the signage would have looked better on the bricked sides.

Loving this building!!! While still essentially a box, it is definitely breaking Houston's current obsession with conservative style architecture.

I'll say it again, this store's only chance was to go-big. That was the original plan. It was scaled back in size drastically making it essentially the same as several other Whole Foods Markets located nearby that aren't so intimidating.

Not only that but the original master plan of the whole complex became smaller and very disjointed. And to me, disjointed is the way it appears today. I mean a very sleek looking grocery store here, then a nice but rather random high rise next door (is it, is it not part of the center) and a smaller random strip across a vast empty lot. There's a severe lack of connectivity. The developer probably would have been better off building the majority of the complex all at once, much like River Oaks District is doing. High rise residential towers may help to bring in some much needed pedestrian retail traffic but without cohesion (like the Hanover Tower), the center as a whole will suffer. If the once proposed (probably now dead) Apache Tower(s) were to have been built without integration into the complex as I last saw on the master plan, then I'm glad those tower(s) won't be built. This complex could have been similar to City Centre especially being at such a prime intersection, something that ROD lacks IMO.

A huge letdown, it feels criminal! But not surprising as this bait and switch crap has become all to rampant nowadays with the larger developments in Houston. It's not bad, just screams mediocre. This new design looks like it could belong anywhere from the Energy Corridor to The Woodlands. My perspective is this is the heart of downtown, go big (either in size or design) or get out. I can't believe we've gone through a booming period without any true iconic pieces of architecture like we pushed out in the 80's.

I've heard that the new Whole Foods flagship store isn't doing as well as expected and that they have even gone as far as warning employees about possible cuts. Can anybody substantiate or add to this? Geez, it's only been open a little over 2 months.

I'm not strictly opposed or hate the idea of palm trees. I actually like palms but I sort of question how they will interact style wise with the surrounding urban/downtown environment. Maybe once they're planted it'll look better than I think.

And another mall...

Are you talking about another new addition to the Galleria or a whole new mall all together nearby?

I heard they updating the Houston location with a new unisex bathroom for transgender people. That way you wont have to be confused anymore. Hurray!

Alright Houston

While I'm not condoning MetroWest's childish and sarcastic comments, referring to transgendered people as "confused" is pretty ignorant in itself. This topic has nothing to do with that issue and moderators should remove it from the thread.

Hope not, so B: NO!

Liu's been buying up a lot of big and small properties around the East End for years now and from what I've seen, has done absolutely nothing with the majority of the properties except sit on them and let them deteriorate or become overgrown weed lots. I'm not holding out much hope for his other big property at Harrisburg and Lockwood. Even though that particular lot calls for something mixed use or dense, since it fronts the rail line, I'm betting when it's finally developed it will be some type of crappy suburban strip.