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ArchFan

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  1. ArchFan
    Thanks for that link, the video was interesting and also very entertaining. I'm not into gaming or design work, but there was one concept I could really relate to my own work: the tendency of people to assume that all distributions are Gaussian (i.e., "bell curves"). I think people often get into trouble when they assume that the average value of a bunch of things is always the best estimate of the most common value.
  2. ArchFan
    I'm not aware that the Tenneco Building had an observation deck open to the public. However, when I was a kid, the place to go was the observation deck near the top of the Humble Bldg. (now the ExxonMobil Bldg.). The Petroleum club occupied the top 2 floors, so the deck must have occupied all of Floor 42. Besides the view, an additional fun feature there was a coin-operated machine that would make a rubber replica of the building while you watched. I wonder if the deck will be reinstated once XOM moves out and Shorenstein redevelops the building. I imagine the views now would be pretty cool -- since this building is offset from the main cluster of towers, rather than being right in their midst.
  3. ArchFan
    Similarly, on the east side of Skyhouse River Oaks, the units on the bottom ~6 floors will have close-up views of their parking garage and nothing else. The units above will have views of downtown, Greenway Plaza, TMC, etc.
  4. ArchFan
    In my experience, HOA fees are usually assessed based on square footage. From what you said, I calculated $0.32/sq-ft. That does sound low; my expectation (based on experience) is that it will go up after the developer sells all the units and the homeowners take over actual management of the facility. (Currently, mine are about $0.45/sq-ft in a building with modest facilities. There are places with more amenities that are twice what I pay.) I'm not in the real-estate biz, but from what I've seen online, a purchase price of $340/sq-ft would be reasonable in the Uptown/Galleria area. In fact, asking prices on har.com go much higher than that. There, I looked at some places in the general midtown area and they seemed lower. That website is a good place to get a feel for the range of asking prices, but ultimately you should talk to a realtor to get comps on actual sales prices. In any case, the best advice I can think of is to avoid locking yourself now into a price that might be significantly higher than you might be able to negotiate with a seller in a year or so from now. Granted, if you did that, you might not get the "pick of the litter" of units. Another bit of advice: sometimes there are construction defects that are not apparent until a couple of years pass. For example, one issue (which I personally experienced) is water damage from inadequate sealing of roofs or walls. My impression is that the developer of the project in question is new in this market, which would preclude seeing their track record locally. I assume that they will hire a general contractor who will manage the subcontractors that do the actual work on the components of the project. I was disappointed in the GC for my building, but we were lucky enough to have a developer with integrity who took an active role in making things right.
  5. ArchFan
    I have vague memories of lower Westheimer from the 70s, if not earlier. I remember it having a lot more charm before many of the grand, early 20th century (or earlier?) houses were demo'd or burned down.
  6. ArchFan
    I don't know how much time you have or your tolerance for long drives ... but you could try making a loop. For instance, SF -> Golden Gate Bridge -> Muir Woods -> Sonoma -> Napa -> SF. For that, the default Google Maps route is 116 miles (without stops: 2 hours, 46 minutes). You can add stops along the way as you like, such as Marin Headlands, Sausalito, Pt. Reyes Natl. Seashore. A bit north of the latter is the town of Bodega Bay, which was the town used in filming Hitchcock's "The Birds". If you did such a loop tour, I'd recommend staying in Sonoma Valley or Napa Valley (which probably wouldn't be cheap, though). I'm glad Slick Vic pointed out Livermore Valley. Years back, I enjoyed visiting Wente Vinyards there the tour was pretty interesting. I would definitely go back and check out other wineries there. However -- and someone correct me if I'm wrong --I think that the route from SF to Livermore doesn't take one as close as many other points of interest along the way, compared to driving either south or north along the coast from SF.
  7. ArchFan
    Sadly, if the proposed Galleria condo tower is built, many of the units will have views of The Mercer. I know this is a bit off-topic, but it strikes me that an advantage of living at The Mercer is that one can have views of the Galleria/Uptown area w/o having to look at The Mercer! Especially now, as the reptile slowly sluffs off its old skin.
  8. ArchFan
    Lookin' good, but will it attract the "hippie bohemian lawyers" that Randall D. was targeting? :-)
  9. ArchFan
    I stayed once at "The Inn Above Tide" in Sausalito ... spectacular views across the bay of downtown SF, Angel Island, Alcatraz. Also, just a short walk from the ferry to SF. In downtown SF, I've heard the newish Intercontinental is nice. Wherever one stays, a trip to Napa Valley is beautiful and fun if you enjoy wine. By ferry from SF or Tiburon (I think) Angel Island is fun to hike on and has interesting history. West of SF, the Cliff House has great views of the rocky coast and the food is good. To the north, Golden Gate Natl. Recreation Area across the bridge is nice for views and hiking. Further north is Muir Woods (which I haven't been to) which has some redwoods ... for more of those, you could also head south along the coast towards Santa Cruz. But, I think most of the coastal redwoods are north up the coast. It's a fun area to visit -- lots of stuff to enjoy whether you prefer city amenities or rugged nature.
  10. ArchFan
    It will be interesting to see what happens to this property. I would love to see that general area come back. I have many good memories of Spring Branch Hospital, at least from the early years (1960s). The earliest were as a kid, waiting in the nurses' station for my dad to finish making his rounds seeing patients there. Those are good memories. Later, however, I think the quality of care dropped off as the years passed. Years later, I had a bad expedience personally due to the negligence and/or incompetence of one of the nursing staff there. Ironically, I later heard that the physician treating me also had lost his mother there, allegedly due to poor care. After the hospital failed, a local physician told me that they had been bleeding money due to demographic changes in the area, which resulted in them having to provide care for people who didn't pay their bills.
  11. ArchFan
    Another interesting thing from the pic is to see the houses to the right side of the Pierce Elevated Freeway, under construction. I don't remember those. We lived on the west side of Houston at the time. To get to Gulfgate Mall or Galveston, we used Highway 90 (now I-10) to go as far east as Westcott, then travelled on Washington Avenue to downtown. From there, I think we used Pierce Street to get to the Gulf Freeway. The part of the trip through downtown was interesting. It would have been about the time the Humble Building (Exxon Mobil) was being built. Humble had a gas station and auto mechanic operation on an adjacent block that was in an interesting structure with a design that was -- at the time I though it was Spanish Colonial but now I'm not sure what to call it -- similar to the structures still remaining from the expo in the Presidio area of San Francisco.
  12. ArchFan
    It's interesting how much open green space is evident in that photo. I was a kid in the late 50s and early 60s, and I also remember being fascinated by the "topography" at Gulfgate. Also, it is interesting to remember that -- despite living on the west side of Houston -- when we needed serious shopping, we either went downtown or to Gulfgate. Eventually Sharpstown opened and for a few years, we always went there. I think Sharpstown was the first mall here that was built with air conditioning, although I think it was added to Gulfgate later.
  13. ArchFan
    In the 1964 pic, its nice to see the St. Joseph's Professional Building before they applied the ugly grey/white/red paint job and the 10-story-high neon crosses on the facade. When I see the latter at night, I feel like I'm in some 3rd-world country.
  14. ArchFan
    One thing that concerns me about the Westcreek redevelopment is that it is winding up being done piecemeal by different developers. I hope it will turn out well in the end, but I think if one good developer (McMillan) had done more of it, it might have been done in a more cohesive manner. I'm holding out hope that Regent Square will still be developed as part of a wider-scale vision by a single entity. While I do like a lot of the quirky, hodgepodge development in much of Houston, its nice to also have some places that exhibit good design and a bit of comprehensive vision.
  15. ArchFan
    The situations I cited were reported in the local media, but my interpretation of the motives of the politicians involved in those two particular situations is conjecture. However, there have been more recent situations in which officials' actions led to their downfall. I don't think it's "tinfoil hat" behavior for us to scrutinize more carefully the behavior of our elected officials. There will always be foxes who want to run the henhouse ... and they will, if we don't pay attention.
  16. ArchFan
    I get uneasy when I read of city or county officials getting involved in land deals in places in which they have some influence or advance knowledge. Such events are rarely subject to public scrutiny here, unfortunately. Perhaps related to that, I do remember reading about Macey being involved in the East End, way back before it was trendy. Before the GRB site was settled on, there was a competition between 2 big interest groups ... one wanted the east downtown site and the other (including Hines interests) wanted it to replace Allen Parkway Village. Not surprisingly, consideration of the latter site generated a lot of pushback from other (non-business) segments of our community. I also recall that the rather large plot of land for IAH was assembled by supposedly altruistic and civic-minded local businessmen, who "of course" would not work deals with local politicians to make a tidy profit selling it to the CoH. I never saw definitive evidence, but there were intimations that at least one highly placed CoH official may have been given a slice of that pie.
  17. ArchFan
    Good idea and actually rather appropriate. When it was under construction, I was told it was built by a foreign-born developer operating out of Dallas.
  18. ArchFan
    Wow, and to think that I was impressed that a Mormon-owned chain would offer in-room coffee!
  19. ArchFan
    I sat in the bar area this afternoon. it was crowded and lively; prices were quite reasonable also. talked to some nice people, it was fun, I think it's a very nice addition to the neighborhood.
  20. ArchFan
    Most people don't vote and the ones who do these days seem to be more highly motivated by fear. I think that fear is a consequence of being less knowledgeable about the world outside their immediate circle, which makes them easier to manipulate. This really helps certain politicians to feather their nests.
  21. ArchFan
    I hafta confess I have been really bothered by this building for many years. At this point, it reminds me of "Leviathan", the ruler of Hell in the Hellraiser movies, which I recall being depicted as a lighthouse-like obelisk, but with a beam of darkness emanating from it, rather than of light. I'm exaggerating for the sake of effect ... but, really, this building does seem to have had an unnatural longevity, albeit in a seemingly undead state. In googling about the "Heaven on Earth Inn", I found this in an old article from Rolling Stone (Issue 156, March 14, 1974): "Jesus Freaks are proclaiming Guru Maharaj Ji the antichrist, while the Baptist churches of Houston have alluded more temperately to false prophets in a full-page newspaper ad that includes a quote from Timothy 4:34: "For there is going to come a time when people won't listen to the truth, but will go around looking for teachers who will tell them just what they want to hear."" I wonder if there were any Halloween events on the darker side there last night! :-)
  22. ArchFan
    I agree with your general sentiment. I grew up in Houston in the 50-60s and one persistent mantra I heard was "we don't want to be hemmed in by smaller cities like Dallas" and (somehow by extension) wind up like one of those decaying rust-belt cities. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I don't see that Dallas has suffered by being surrounded by smaller incorporated cities. To the contrary, I think it is better off because the City of Dallas did not overextend itself. In contrast, I think that the CoH has assumed responsibility for more land area that it has been able to properly take care of. It seems to me that Houston is suffering from this: once a political entity gets so large that the sense of community within it diminishes, public apathy increases and fewer talented and committed people run for office and get elected. In the extreme, more self-serving crooks and/or incompetent people run and get elected, due to the lack of public scrutiny. In that class of people, I would also have to include single-issue ideologues who are willing to sacrifice the greater good to further their pet cause. So, I would favor letting suburban communities within Houston's ETJ incorporate. However, please also remember that Metro is a separate entity from the CoH, so it's reach would not expand even if Houston annexed those communities.
  23. ArchFan
    I agree. My reaction to the above photo was to think that bathing in that room would be an exhibitionists dream ...
  24. ArchFan
    UtterlyUrban, I just watched the video and well ... perhaps I might have critiqued it in a softer way, but I see what you meant. It reminded me of the speech Bobby Jindal gave a few years back, in which his speaking style reminded people of how an adult would talk to kindergartners.
  25. ArchFan
    Thanks for clarifying that term. I've always heard it used in a pejorative way, but the specific meaning was never entirely clear. Seriously, there could be many possible interpretations, some of which are unpleasant to contemplate! :-)
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