bobruss

It's a joke, so relax! I'm very positive about Houston. Hell Ive lived here 72 years. Some of us can poke fun and some can be curmudgeons. Lighten up a little bit.

4 hours ago, shasta said:

Meanwhile, the McNair's prime Uptown lot, on Post Oak, still sits undeveloped.

Breaking news .

The developers of Regent Square have been hired to turn it around for the McNairs>

Hindesky, I'm curious why the crane came down. Was it not allowed to spin freely or was the wind just too much for it. The reason I ask, is because when I asked you about the crane on top of X being worrisome during a storm you said as long as it was free to spin with the wind it would be ok. Is this a different kind of crane. Not trying to be difficult. Just trying to understand the dynamics. Thanks

This is an example of how not to develop a large scale project. This has been an embarrasment since they first took down the existing residential properties. They might not have been the best looking or well maintained, but a lot of people were happy living there. Now what, 15 years later, this is all they have to show for their lack of efforts. Pathetic. Total ineptitude.

And meanwhile just next door Hanover has built out a major portion of their project in less than 5 years.

When my son first told me about plans for this project back in January, I wasn't sure how long it would take for them to get under way. I'm glad they have finally shored up plans. One of the things that's really interesting about the Auberge group is they all have a person on staff who is the experience person. For instance in Austin at the Commodore Perry, where our son works, one of the experiences they offer is a side trip to Marfa Texas to explore Marfa, Chinati, eat local and then hop back on a plane to Austin. They also have a party at a bootmakers shop. They close down the shop for a private event and you get fitted for boots while being serenaded by Austin musicians and drinking Margherita's. They're all a little over the top, but that's what makes this hotel group so interesting. Our son took us to the Auberge in Fort Worth for his and my Birthday. It's called the Bowie and it was magnificent. It's a new build, but very close to all of the Museums on Camp Bowie. While we there we were entertained by Ginny Mac a great Ft. Worth musician who plays accordion. If you ever get up to Fort Worth check out the hotel, and look to see where Ginny Mac is playing. She is amazing.

I'm sure this addition to the Auberge group will be stunning since this is where the head of the company lives.

6 hours ago, 004n063 said:

Very curious what those same people think Nashville is going to be. 

It's close to the healthcare industry and that is the other reason Oracle is moving there. They are focusing on Healthcare

What ever happened to the project a little south and on the east side of Montrose where they tore down several houses for a proposed high rise. Did that bite the dust? I believe there was a bodega on the property.

I was just going south down Durham from Washington Avenue, and when you come up over the bridge at Buffalo Bayou, and look towards the downtown that is an amazing view with all of the mid to high rises going down Allen Parkway and all of the other new and under construction mid to high rises that fill up the space. Its really pretty stupendous.

You can see the new tower going up on Waugh and the X in the background. It's really beginning to have some density of high rise buildings from that view. Id love to see some drone images from that location looking east and southeast of Shepherd and Memorial drive. Hint to Hindesky!! 

Buffalo Bend

I believe we saw the same treatment of Sycamore's in Wiesbaden near a Casino. They had flat tops almost like umbrellas but really shaded and beautiful. I wish they would have trained the ones downtown like that.

Sycamores are beautiful but they are an extremely difficult tree to clean up after. The bark falls off, the large round sees fall off and break up, the huge leaves fall. It's constant maintenance. When the bark does fall the new white bark is really beautiful

After hearing the news about Austin's major setbacks this week, I'm glad to see that Houston is taking a slower pace at growth and not putting the cart before the horse. Steady wins the race. Oracle has decided to move to Nashville, stating that Austin is not a good town for startups due to lack of funding, cost of living and the fact that Austin, isn't what people thought it would be. Tesla to lay off 2,500 workers, thanks to Elons ability to ruin things with his poor judgement. He might be a genius but he talks too much and a lot of things he says rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Several of the new office towers coming online have no one to fill them to go along with an empty Google building and the stories concerning the fact that many of the tech companies are going back to Silicon Valley, Houston and other places, doesn't bode well for the new tallest building in Texas. 

Watch for a hotel in Rice Village. It's coming.

On 3/12/2024 at 2:30 PM, hindesky said:

I guess they aren't building any time soon because they sprayed on green liquid grass.

When I just glanced at this image I thought they had put in a lagoon pool in downtown for our downtown swimming hole.

Just add a couple of umbrellas and a beer stand and then we might not have a rush hour.

Just be patient. I know there are several things I'm excited about. Density and hospitality.

Wait till Rice comes out with their twenty block plans.

It seems that one thing our Major League Baseball and football teams have in common is their owners are not very good on the development end. I also think Crane made a terrible mistake in getting rid of his G.M> All the guy did was got them to the A.L. Championship series. I know their pitching has had problems but it now seems there is a lot of turmoil on the team. No love. If it aint broke don't fix it. Is Abreu getting ready for social security? I bet this affects their plans for moving forward on their village plans.

I had the opportunity to visit with Mr. Cannady last Saturday at our gallery. He had come by to see Paul Hesters Fotofest exhibit. Paul was one of William's students many years ago, and has been photographing architectural projects in and around the state of Texas for many years. He contributed to Cite magazine and Texas Architect. He also has been one of the Menil's main photographers of artwork for ever. He taught at Rice for 18 years.

We talked about the new building bearing his name, and he was very pleased with how the building was sited. He said he was looking forward to being there and being able to walk down the mall to his good friends (Brockstein), coffee shop.

He also told me that one time he was sitting on the curb weeding his flower beds at his home on the corner of Bissonnet and Montrose and a guy walked by and exclaimed, Wow, who do you think lives here, And Bill said "I do", to which the guy replied," yeah, sure.!" He thought that very funny. He 's looking forward to the opening of Canady Hall. I invited him to join us on HAIF. He said he would check it out.

If you're interested the exhibit featuring Paul Hesters fifty years of photography, and Sarah Sudhoff's work will be up until May 18th. Andrew Durham Gallery, 1821 West Alabama. Come by we're open from 11-6 Wed. thru Sat.

Love to see some HAIFER's come by.

Funny, I drove by here yesterday and wondered what had happened to the proposed residential tower. I seem to remember a half sphere high rise shaped building by Ziegler Cooper or Genzler going there, but thought it was another of the here one day and forgotten the next. Glad to see it's still in the mix.

I believe this plan only encompasses the land Rice already owns which is a fair amount of property. 

I would love to have a pedestrian bridge between Scott and Calhoun that would connect both sides of Cullen and the U of Houston.

When I was younger, the group that I played with was asked by the Houston Ballet to write and perform the first full length rock Ballet in America. It was Caliban, based on Shakepeare's Tempest. This was in the 70's and it was quite an amazing event. We played on stage with the ballet at Jones Hall for a week of sold out performances. Through the time we spent rehearsing with the ballet, I developed a real admiration for their skills, artistic talents and the beauty of dance. I wanted to create a work that would have been performed on the roof of one of the more centrally located buildings, one that had the best sight lines and space for a live performance. I thought it would be great to present this at a time that would be most successful for viewing. Unfortunately it never happened but I still thought this would be a unique and special event. So yes, office buildings offer a blank canvas for art.

44 minutes ago, goofy said:

Or like a sleep-no-more style performance piece in an empty office building. 
 

It would have to go on the north side of the Bayou, because River Oaks, and ROCC are not going to allow pedestrians, runners or cyclist in their backyards.

It might be a good place for a highline like in NYC, above Memorial drive. That would be an incredible view of downtown if costs didn't matter.

If they can build a museum like The Kinder, or CAM, or Menil, which I haven't read being broken into, I'm sure they could invest and build  a secure and well guarded satellite site downtown. A new civic building on the East side of downtown would be a boon to the area. Promote the area as a destination for east side residents. Spread the arts out a little more. I know the Menil and The MFAH, have thousands of works that rarely get seen due to the size of the collections. Perhaps it would be a joint project between all four, the arts alliance and the state arts commission, might help support. The city might even help fund in some way. I don't have all of the answers, but I do know that it would be another option for short term visitors to do something different downtown. Look at what the Guggenheim has done around the world. Bilbao, Abu Dhabi to name a couple. And who says Houston couldn't be a trend setter. Many major metropolitan areas  Museums are downtown. Chicago, New York, Cleveland, San Francisco, Paris. to name a few. Never say never and always think positive. It would act as an intro to many, of some of the wonderful things to do in Houston. 

On 2/23/2024 at 12:03 PM, OkieEric said:

PNC is closing its branch at 2401 University Blvd:

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2024/02/23/pnc-bank-branch-cuts-include-houston.html

Interesting that it's the only location they are closing in the Houston area.

 

That's part of the master plan I was talking about in January along with all of the property from Greenbriar to Morningside. Might be big changes to the west side of Rice campus like the stadium area. Lots more too come!

Does anyone have access to Rice Universities holdings in the village. That's the key to the plan. All of their property will be 

redeveloped with this new plan.