kennyc05

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/articleComments/City-Council-rejects-Chick-fil-A-request-for-an-17228493.php

4 minutes ago, dbigtex56 said:

For some reason, Michael Graves's buildings aren't as popular in Houston as in other places. 
IIRC, one of the major functions of the Fed building was to provide enough space to process checks. Even before it was completed, laws were changed to allow electronic facsimiles rather than preserving the paper check. The space allocated for the sorting and storage of checks suddenly wasn't needed.
Now that checks are almost obsolete, I wonder if the Feds might reexamine the need for all of that unused space, and divest themselves of this building.

They probably have all types of uses for all that extra space 😊

2 minutes ago, jmitch94 said:

Why all the hate for the Fed building? I don’t see them moving it anytime soon if really ever. That would cost a fortune. 

I think it's a nice looking building.

All that parking out front 😒

43 minutes ago, hindesky said:

I wonder what kind work they are doing? It's only 8 years old.

Someone from Sonic Automotive told me awhile back that the area where they wash cars in the garage was leaking. Maybe it's repairing that. 

13 minutes ago, Nate99 said:

T

Get this, 800 Bell and everybody's favorite former transcendental meditation center/junkie-squatter-sky-hovel renovated and filled with residents and that's a pretty big neighborhood on top of the other stuff that's already (or about to be) occupied. 

Has there been any talk about converting 800 Bell into residential? That would be a lot of units!.

It's time for BLVD place to get some more highrises going!

3 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

Via Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/comments/uwrv8n/the_skyline_at_dusk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Impressive!

37 minutes ago, august948 said:

That's a step too far...it's all fun and games until you find yourself in Dallas.

This will work!

It does seem bigger to me as well.

59 minutes ago, samagon said:

this leaves the people of freeport totally exposed, can this loop go farther south to include Clute, Lake Jackson, and Freeport?

basically, from Wharton straight down through West Colombia, pick up 36 down to Surfside Beach. from there, you can go straight through to Bolivar. 

nothing like a good old fashioned 6 lane highway along the beach!

and on the west side, you may as well push out to East Bernard, Sealy, Hempstead.

eventually at some point we're going to have to talk about one of these loops including Key West, Havana, and Cancun, with signature bridges between each.

Bring it on down to Victoria 😏

46 minutes ago, houstontexasjack said:

Yeah. It’s ugly—unfortunately, the Livable Places ordinance won’t come in time to make the levels be covered. The one positive I can find is that the parking podium at least looks like it’s designed with flat levels that can be repurposed down the line.

How would the garage look different under the livable places ordinance?

Looks like a bootleg Dallas 👀

2 hours ago, Tumbleweed_Tx said:

Driving up 59 inside the beltway was a surprise for me - THEY EXTENDED THE HEIGHT OF THE MEDIAN BARRIER!! You can't see opposing traffic anymore if your car is low (like mine). So far, they have done between the Beltway and halfway between Bellaire and Hillcroft.

I don't understand why they won't raise the barriers between the feeder roads and freeway.

I can see the crane from 59!

24 minutes ago, BEES?! said:

Wow, Galleria area is gonna have a little building boom. This project, M-Square (not sure when that’s going up though), plus the 3(?) residential towers…am I missing anything else! There’ll be quite a lot of towers popping up here! 🙌

4944 Woodway possibly?

https://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/47408-4944-woodway-dr-land-for-sale/

5 minutes ago, august948 said:

Drive 59 between Kirby and 527 at night and you'll understand.

I get that! I was wondering from a technical standpoint 😁😁😁

1 hour ago, august948 said:

I'll be shocked if they can get the lighting on the bridges to work.

Why?

2 hours ago, wxman said:

2nd quarter of 2023 is a full year from now. This thing is likely to be cancelled, put on hold, and eventually value engineered down to a one story mattress firm by the time it actually breaks ground. Bet.

1 hour ago, Tumbleweed_Tx said:

Some of the highways in other states now have 6' high median barriers. The new I-10 construction in Louisiana has these. Not only do you not see wrecks on the other side unless you drive a high vehicle, the glare from opposing traffic's headlights doesn't mess with you anymore. That is the best reason for high walls.

I notice Atlanta has high walls as well!

Reading different articles I think they still have plans to eventually cap it one day.

4 minutes ago, editor said:

After looking at the presentation, I'm relived by what I see.  This could have gone very bad, but as it is — it's fine.  It's not spectacular, but it's far better than a lot of freeway trenches and caps that were poorly executed in other cities (*cough*Cincinnati*cough*).

I'm not excited about the Third Ward Signature Bridges.  They look very much like the ones over the existing trenched portion of the Southwest Freeway.  And I expect them to be maintained just as carefully.  Meaning, not at all.

That set of bridges used to be a spectacular asset to the city.  Now they're an embarrassment.

I hear there's gonna be a cool signature bridge over Buffalo Bayou.

13 minutes ago, mattyt36 said:

You make a good point, I wonder to what extent anything has actually happened. I mean they’ve spent, what, $750 million on land acquisition, does that mean they have what they need or is there still a lot to go?

Yeah I've been wondering too and that dealership was just built.

3 minutes ago, mattyt36 said:

I'm sure it varies by parcel--they take what they can get.

Legally there must be some standard by which the land can be acquired (e.g., freeway footprint plus a certain "buffer" area), but in practice it has to be negotiated with each land owner.  I'm sure it some cases you get more and in some cases you get less than "desirable," but still allows the project to work.

I'm just curious because where Doggett Ford and tractor dealership are the new freeway pretty much takes their front parking out.

When right of way is purchased along the freeway north of 610 is the whole property purchased or just the portion of the property effected by the freeway expansion?