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bobruss

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Everything posted by bobruss

  1. bobruss
    I think the stretch of 59 from the downtown spur to Kirby is the most attractive section of freeway in Houston. The greening of the freeways make it much less harsh and is a pleasure to the eyes. Since I just go across the bridges and don't spend much time on it I agree with SWTSIG we need more of this type of improvements to all of our freeways. I always liked how L.A. took care to landscape their freeways and I applaud TEXDOT for finally wising up.
  2. bobruss
    That would be a great thing to do. They could build a Discovery Green type park above a parking area so they could kill two birds with one stone. This area has so much potential. They need a really good master plan to correct some of those problems you allude to.
  3. bobruss
    KinkaidAlum, I agree wholeheartedly. We used to live in the neighborhood, and would walk to the Rice grocery store and Alfred's and the five & dime. Our kids loved that place. The Village is truly a great place. If it wasn't for the traffic it would be better, but I love the mix of residential, retail and bars and restaurants. Half price books is great! Build a park and grocery store. The owner of Benji's is also the heir to grocer supply and I keep meaning to ask him to consider opening a small grocery store like used to be in West U. j.M.H, I think it was called.
  4. bobruss
    they really don't need any. Its all around them. This is the most walkable urban setting in all of Houston. I work around the corner and walk to lunch all of the time. All they need is a grocery store and a park and it would be easy to live there and not own a car. I think this is great project. Unlike downtown which has very little surface retail this area is all about ground floor retail.
  5. bobruss
    Except that there is no parking. I lived across the street from this building for 7 years and thought it had potential, but it's right on the Elysian viaduct, the parking lot across Elysian is hard to get to, and with Commerce being a one way street it's just a little too difficult to make it work. That being said it is big enough for a grocery store. I would have loved a grocery store there at the time. Until the Randall's was built in midtown we'd drive to Krogers on Montrose.
  6. bobruss
    I'm not very impressed with the images from the website. I hope they don't plan on doing something like those in midtown. They look a little on the suburban side.
  7. bobruss
    Wow!, wow! WOW, wow! WOW!,wow, wow........WOW!,
  8. bobruss
  9. bobruss
    I like the changes. Of course we haven't seen the other facade with the large letters but definitely an improvement! This is a great addition to downtown not only in scale, but also in it function, and a new dynamic it will bring. A lot of these kids will Be more interested in living downtown once they graduate.
  10. bobruss
    Bachanon you hit the nail on the head. They also have a much more vibrant movie and commercial film industry which attracts that crowd. Thats also why Austin has a W and all of those trendy boutique hotels, along with the music industry.
  11. bobruss
    Just a guess but maybe South of White Oak
  12. bobruss
    Has anyone heard anything about the Apache building? There was a lengthy story in the business section about Apach a month ago but Nothing about their building plans.
  13. bobruss
    Michelle Jarre was his name and it was the largest public crowd ever assembled, according to Guiness book of records, until he performed it in Paris or Japan and they had a larger crowd. We walked from West Dallas and Taft to sit on Allen Parkway in front of the old Jeff Davis Hospital, and watched in amazement. It was a sea of people on both sides of the bayou from downtown to Shepherd and the Pierce elevated shut down during the performance due to grid lock. Truly amazing.He was set up in front of allen center and played his keyboard while a dance group repelled down the sides of Allen center four. He dedicated the performance to the shuttle crew that died and Kirk Whalum, a local Jazz sax player who was friends with one of the astronauts played a specially composed piece for the concert. Of course a few years later they had the power of Houston which was another amazing spectacle. The best fireworks I've seen here though was the opening of the GRB. They brought in an Italian Fireworks company that had cascading fireworks that rolled over the roof onto the ground like a huge waterfall. It was beautiful.
  14. bobruss
    Going to miss their fried garlic tofu and spring rolls. I hope they have owned the property since the beginning. They should have enough to retire on. By the way the closing was mentioned in todays Swamplot.
  15. bobruss
    I know there is a thread somewhere, but I went back through 12 pages and couldn't find it so sorry if duplicated. I heard from a faculty member this weekend that construction would be starting this month.
  16. bobruss
    I could be wrong , but I believe Mrs. Menil was against building a high rise on the Menil properties. Lots of things have changed since Her death but I think that is one request they plan to follow.
  17. bobruss
    No, I don't think that anyone on here is against development. I would love to see a mixed use tower on that site, maybe with a W, but just by another developer.
  18. bobruss
    I have mentioned my dislike for his design of new developments. I have praised his early projects that he won the gold brick award for and I think every one of those were done very well.
  19. bobruss
    Maybe I'm the only one but I think three Randall Davis buildings in such close proximity are two too many. I was sad to hear this and had hoped he was selling this tract to someone who might do something stunning. I don't like his style and think they have a real cheap poorly designed look. I don't like his choice of materials, details or the colors of his exteriors. I don't think they will age very gracefully. I know its all about infill and high rises for the most part, but there has to be a point where we begin to think about aesthetics. I don't think Randall has any. Thats just my opinion and I'm sticking with it.
  20. bobruss
    Great shot of the massing on post oak in the last shot.
  21. bobruss
    I drove by the Fingers ballpark apartments today and it appears that the side of the building going up closest to Minute Maid is going to be retail, which I'm sure had been reported earlier. This will be prime space for all kinds of food and beverage places. Maybe another sports bar.
  22. bobruss
    Bistro Menil to open on October 1st. I walked over and went in Bistro Menil at lunch today and spoke with Greg Martin the chef Proprietor of the Bistro and he said the restaurant was shooting for the 1st of October. The place looks very nice and they are now working on the bookstore. The parking lot is open again. They're still doing some work on it but it's open. Once the plantings take and put on a years growth its going to look really nice.
  23. bobruss
    I think everyone is being a little critical of this building and I don't understand why. It will be a nice new shape on the skyline probably from the southeast and south views. No its not a supertall and it doesn't fill up the block to the sidewalks, but its interesting shape will be a nice fit for downtown and break up the monotony of boxes and rectangles. All buildings built downtown don't need to be supertalls or even 50 story building to have an impact. Look at the Pennzoil. It's 13 stories taller than the building it replaced so that's a positive gain. hopefully they will come up with an engaging plaza that will work well in creating a nice public space.
  24. bobruss
    James Turrell would do something very interesting, but since we already have three spaces that are accessible to the public I would like to see them commission Mineko Grimmer to do something reminiscent of her piece that was on display at the Menil from September 2001 to February 2002. It featured water dripping from frozen ice and rock stalactite shapes into pools of water with brass rods strung above the water and below the melting Rocky icicles. They would make chimes as the rocks fell from the frozen icicles and the lights that shown on the water reflected onto the walls creating beautiful patterns as the ripples moved. this to me would be the perfect kind of meditative piece Featuring water since that is what this space was built for. Holding water. I hope some of you will remember the exhibit or understand what I'm trying to explain. It was a great exhibit and had an incredible audience. I always thought the piece should maybe move into the old Byzantine chapel under the black box.
  25. bobruss
    I know the bank of the southwest tower was a real competition, which I think helmut jahn won. The economy went south and the tower went away. I remember the article about the 500 story structure. I think I still have it. It was more a discussion about what it would take to build a tower that tall. I think it was more of a charette type of study if I remember. I'll need to go through my collection of old news articles about architecture I saved. It was never meant as a real project for Houston. I think it also discussed Frank Lloyd Wrights mile high tower.
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