brian0123

I was wondering what the impact of cell towers are on property values within urban Houston (not the suburbs). Think of places like Montrose, Midtown, Washington Avenue, etc. where you have a bunch of townhouses and nearby empty lots. If a landowner of one of those empty lots decides to let a huge tower go up on it (say 100+ ft)... does that impact nearby property values at all, or is it not a big deal because there are already towers everywhere else in the city?

I am looking forward to this development and the adjacent garage as some good infill for Midtown, but doesn't the old Scout building retro-fit look a little strange? Maybe even tacky? Judging by the renderings, the old and new components of this building don't mesh.

I like the look. However, if people complain that it's ugly down the road... they could always put that same metal trim along the roof line over the stone sides. That would make the entire building mesh.

Mai's held their grand reopening over the weekend and I covered the event here: http://innerlooped.com/745/mais-grand-re-opening-with-a-dragon-dance/ There was an awesome dragon dance as part of the opening! The inside of the place is very nice now... but prices still seemed good.

The number for sale seems to continue to rise. Do you think it's more of the state of the market in the sense townhomes are usually somewhat transitional, and it's tough to get out of them in a bad market? Or are people giving up on the neighborhood in the sense it doesn't seem to be progressing? I guess I'm just venting cause it's discouraging.

On that note we could use a nice, friendly Irish pub on the southeast side.

I've noticed that too... but I think it's more a sign of a crappy market. Our neighborhood has always had a high turnover (docs buy, live there a couple years, then sell when transferred). I think townhomes are sitting around longer on the market now because most people aren't buying properties as quickly. Some have recently sold... but if you look at the rest of the city, there is a lot of inventory. I'm not worried about our hood. It has progressed in the couple years I have lived here. Midtown continues to grow and develop. The market just stinks right now.

To make matters worse, on top of not being awarded a shuttle, Houston's JSC is losing all its shuttle trainers and simulators. They'll be shipped off to places like Seattle; Dayton, OH; and College Station.

In exchange Houston gets two space shuttle seats.

That's not a "snub". That's an unamibiguous slap across the face, plus a middle finger...and I think Obama even said something about our mama.

I don't believe it was politically motivated. If it were, I would think that we WOULD have received the shuttle. LA and NYC are already politically safe for Obama... so he has nothing to gain by sending the shuttles to them. Houston (and Texas) is a place Democrats are going to try and make gains in w/ the growing Hispanic population and shift to urban areas. If it were political, they would have tried to woo over voters in potential battle ground states for years to come.

Review with some pictures just posted on InnerLooped

If renting makes more financial sense then owning, then why is it there are property management companies (Camden, Post, etc.) that rake in the $$ by owning properties and convincing people to pay them money to live there? Just like Realtors convince you home ownership is the way to go... there is also an entire industry built around convincing people to rent instead of own.

I hated renting, and love being able to do what I want to on my place. I like doing maintenance. I have no yard to cut. My mortgage w/ taxes and insurance is cheaper than if I were to rent a comparable property. I don't have to move my stuff from place to place anymore. When I'm older, I won't have a mortgage or rent to worry about either. Seems like a pretty good deal to me.

Ride your bike around North and Northeast downtown (near the jail)... it completely reminds me of Brooklyn.

I'm all for rail, but rail down Washington would be a total waste of money. The current rail design connects important landmarks and employment centers (Downtown, Rice, Hermann Park, Med Center, Reliant, Galleria, New Dynamo Stadium, etc.). Washington Avenue has none of those things... just bars. The scene on Washington will have moved by the time anything could get funded and built... and there will be plenty of bars along the future rail that you don't have to drive to.

I thought these changes were related to work and expansion at the church.

This building might be pretty cool, here are some of their other offices.

http://www.lakewood....WestonGreen.cfm Lakewood, Colorado

http://www.martineau...ng-projects.cfm Concord, NH

http://www.proconinc...=2546&Index=yes Concord, NH

Looks like they are really into green roofs... could make for some pretty cool views from other Downtown office buildings.

A 60K sq ft. office would be nice...

Good call on the green roofs. I would think that the one in Midtown will have one considering they are saying this will be their "greenest office yet".

I love it. Even though I know it's time lapse, my mind kept forcing itself to make Indy car "vroooom" sounds each time a canoe sped by.

While any development in this economy is welcome, and I wouldn't mind seeing more mid-rises and hi-rises going up in midtown.. This project doesn't get me excited. 40-60k SF is only 2-3 levels

And quoting from the first link, I wouldn't agree that "this corner over by St. Joseph is screaming for development"... it is 6 and 8 blocks from the two nearest LRT stations. That corner of midtown should be at the back of the line.

I'm glad its getting built, but it doesn't seem like anything to write home about.

When you live near it and have dealt with homeless camping on these lots (and walking out into traffic) for many years... it's a huge win for the neighborhood. Also, considering that the SE side of Downtown is still empty lots, I'll gladly take a 2-3 story building housing a national company. Plus, the area is a good location considering the easy access to 45, 59, 288, and DT.

Weston Solutions is going to build a new office development in the NE corner of Midtown near St Joseph's. The two blocks they are going to build on are the one's that typically have homeless that camp out on them... so this is going to make a huge impact on the area. More info here and here. Apparently one of the office buildings will be 40k-60k sq ft and the company's "greenest" office building.

SJL gets reelected because of her voting record, not because of her treatment of her subordinates.

Right on. I met Sean Roberts (Dem challenger) and Faulk (Repub challenger) during the last election. I told both of them that I can't stand SJL but she mostly votes correct on the issues. I voted for Roberts in the primary... but voted for SJL in the main election. Faulk was a nice guy but I told him to get lost once he started telling me about "evil Obamacare". I want a politician that will vote for my interests, not one that happens to be nice but votes against my interests.

You are talking about Midtown Grove (in Midtown). InnerLooped continues to cover it...

http://innerlooped.c...ove-is-planted/

http://innerlooped.c...-midtown-grove/

http://innerlooped.c...n-grove-update/

The tattoo/barbershop and salon next to Natachee's/Sigs are now open... http://innerlooped.com/517/big-kats-meow-open/

Thanks!

Typical garage look, except bonus bottom floor retails, so I won't complain too much. Plus, any parking garage in midtown is a MAJOR plus.

I love this development. After coming back from San Fransisco, I kept wondering why our Midtown/Downtown didn't have more garages w/ street level retail. This will provide plenty of parking for the restaurants under (and across) the street... so it will truly make it an area where you can park and walk to various bars/restaurants w/out having to hop on an airport shuttle bus to get you to the next place.

Well, according to the Wall street Journal, it seems that chicago reached 1920's level in its population. The census says that the current population is 2,695,598; a 6.9% decrease. Kinda makes me wonder what kind of shot we have at passing them this decade, but the WSJ seems confident that they will remain #3. Link

My judgement will be reserved until I see a more clear rendering. Thanks for the pics anyway, good start.

Your wish is my command... http://innerlooped.com/494/scout-square-renderings-posted/

hookah bar?

nice.

it sure feels like midtown is moving and building a lot faster this year than over the past few. good signs for the economy as a whole? like banks are making loans again, or more people moving to the area and business is noticing? or just the timing of it all?

Midtown was moving forward even during the downturn. Don't forget Camden Travis, Farb's apts at McGowen@Bagby, the development near Continental Club w/ Natachee's, etc. We've had some major developments while a lot of the city sat idle. Midtown will explode once the economy completely recovers. It's just too convenient of a place located between Downtown and Med Center along the rail line.

Perhaps not such a drastic move... but they should be made aware that they are only making the problem worse. If they care for them so much they should take them in.

I've always wondered why larger churches don't do that. They have huge gyms, admin buildings, (some have bowling alleys) etc. I always thought they could at least spare a couple rooms and put some people up temporarily... offer counseling, job placement help, etc. Seems like they would change more lives through a program like that then just handing out food and leaving the people to go sleep on the street.

I have Vegas 5 that I use for my movie editing and i really like its interface. I didn't know that newer versions had the functionality of Reason or PT . I'll have to look into it. I'm guessing I'll eventually learn how to use Studio One since it comes with the Presonus, but it's always reassuring to hear others like it.

Sorry for the confusion, Vegas is not like Reason. Reason is for midi/keyboard work, Vegas Pro is more like PT/S1 if you are doing strictly analog multitrack recording. It does not have built in functionality like PT or S1 though. Some people use Vegas as a way to multi track record, but import the audio from Reason/etc. PT/S1/Cakewalk are similar. There is Reason Record now that acts like a PT or S1, but I haven't played with it.

Glad to hear more positive feed back on the Presonus, not that I wasn't already sold on their stuff. Unfortunately though, I just don't have the computing power to take advantage of it yet. I have so many ram and latency issues that there's no way I'd be able to record live with an existing track. Not to mention buying a quality mic and monitor.. lots of mulah that i don't have right now.

Can you give me your thoughts on some of the various software out there? I've messed with a Fruityloops demo, then Mixcraft.. but I'm not really familiar with some of the big boy options out there.

Your latency issues could be the result of your sound card (and not necessarily RAM or laptop issues) and getting a Firestudio might help with latency problems. As far as software, I'm more of a guitarist/vocalist as opposed to keyboardist (use keyboard mainly for composing songs, then translating to a full band later... and SOME live parts for piano). Because I'm not a true keyboardist, I only tried a couple programs for the keyboard (FruityLoops, Reason, Ableton, Studio One). I ended up using Reason for concerts and recording because of the ease of use and sounds. FruityLoops is great for beginners or someone that wants to make a beat. Studio One is great for everything, professional, and cheaper than Pro Tools, Sony Vegas, etc. and the midi sounds are good (piano sounds especially). I wish I had more info about other synth software... but I just happened to stumble across a program I understood and is professional... so I just stuck with it.

Thank you, appreciate it.

My setup is quite primitive and pathetic.

Yamaha CLP230, my baby, hooked up with a direct USB-midi cable to my wholly inadequate laptop running mixcraft4 for the piano part.

The strings were done all on computer, either note by note or copying and manipulating my piano midi data.

Eventually I want to get a Presonus Firebox interface and some mics to record audio as well... that and a baby grand.

I use a MAudio Keystation 88 usb/midi into Firebox Mobile and can't say enough great things about Presonus. I use Presonus Studio One for my main recording (recording guitars/drums/bass/vocals), but like to do midi work within Propellerhead Reason and export into Studio One. Studio One also has good midi support, but I really like the samples and options that come with Reason.