Geoff8201

So things have been progressing, kinda slower, but still progressing. I can only imagine how the interior is starting to shape up.

On a progress note there are at least 6 big palm trees atop the exterior side of the7th floor "Aqua Level" now.

EDIT: Drove by again today (12/20), and took a closer look. There is scaffolding around the garage, so may see some finished exterior go around what is currently only concrete and cinder block.

I think we're not too far away from seeing the Mechanical Rooms, atop the roof, enclosed, and the 'Fin' and 'Hood' going into place.

There is glass up around the lobby area, and the lobby is starting to look like a lobby...

After the New Year I'll probably take another walk and get some more pics of this and West Ave. unless another Haif'er wants to beat me to it.

Kirby will indeed be beautiful in 100 years.

BAHAHAHA!!! Nice one. Maybe they can cut it down to 50 with some miracle grow.

I'm sure this intersection will look nice, I'm hoping for it. However the trees just wont look all there initially, but the layout should be nice... the main thing I'm excited about is West Ave. and 2727 Kirby themselves.

Seems like both projects have slowed down. I'm sure much of the work has moved inside tho... West Ave. building 3 is taking a while to get enclosed, but despite that I still see progress everyday. Just seems not to be going as fast as it was... or is it just me? And the "fin" and mechanical area atop 2727 is taking some time to get done...

I read that much of the street construction was going to be on hold during the holidays to relieve traffic congestion, and that it would all resume in January. Possible this scheduled slowdown is also factored into the buildings themselves.

Fantastic photo!

Ditto.

Those night shots can be tricky. Having to allow the shutter to stay open for so long can be impossible without a tripod or steady surface of some sort. On my Sony Cybershot the slightest little bump, or even pressing the button too jittery, to take the photo, can sometimes throw it off just enough that you end up with a blur.

No, silly. That is the chick's way of testing her date to see if he is a real and generous man. If the date is man enough to give the bum a buck, the chick knows that her date is not only wealthy, but generous...a real keeper. If on the other hand, her date goes on a rant about putting them on chain gangs and making them wear pink jail outfits, then she knows that her date is low paid, stingy and homophobic...best to dump him immediately.

So actually, lots of people like and appreciate the usefulness of bums.

Lmao, I love that.

Especially if its a cute old man bum who does a little happy dance before and after you give him the money. There's the exception to my "don't give them anything rule". They simply become part of the nights entertainment for a small fee.

actually you still can have chain gangs....Joe Arpaio has done it in Phoenix....you just have to have someone in power with the balls to ignore court idiots and the threats of lawsuits and find other ways to get around court ordered stupidity and destruction of society

same with loitering and begging

http://www.dui.com/dui-library/arizona/new...dressed-in-pink

Yes, I like his style. It makes prison unpleasant, and humiliating, which is exactly what its supposed to be! I bet there are very few if any repeat offenders after coming out of that program.

But those are drug dealers, murderers, thieves and rapists... I don't think they'd ever allow a punishment like that for simple loitering and begging. Punishment doesn't fit the crime, really there isn't much of a crime at all.

Media whores? No matter as long as it gets the job done.

you can carry a portable breath meter and test them for being drunk....then toss them in for that

You can toss them in for PI, but then what? They spend a weekend in jail, then right back to the streets.

Ever see that episode of South Park when the bums invaded?

As silly as it sounds it has a good point... they fed off of change and more kept coming to South Park till it was overrun. The way to defeat them was to not give them any change! (and also to trick them into going to another town, but there is a better way)

Unloading them to another city would just spark an all out war between cities and end up being a bum exchange program.

The best thing to do IMO is to NEVER give them anything. They have options... go to family for help, go to friends, go to a shelter... work and get back on their feet. Something other than drinking all day and sleeping on the sidewalk. Giving them handouts only keeps them looking for more handouts. There have been bums who puled themselves off the street, it is possible. There are people who "don't want help" but then beg for money, and they are hypocrites. Those are people (don't forget that) who need to swallow their pride and fix themselves. Those that are mentally ill need to be committed and treated, I'd rather see my tax money paying for their commitment and treatment rather than them out on the streets possibly hurting someone.

A lot of people would feel sorry for the Vietnam Vet hopping on one leg... but then I just think of all the people in wheelchairs and/or missing limbs, going up a handicapped ramp to their clean air conditioned office where they also make a living for themselves whom didn't let their disability stop them.

In the newly cancelled "King of the Hill", there's been a few episodes that bring the characters to a cartoon Houston. The skylines didn't look quite right, but I think in one episode, they got the color of the police cars right.

Wow, they finally canceled it? There were though a few episodes I liked. I remember when that show came on back when I was in Middle School... somewhere around 13 years ago.

Yea, I remember one when they have to go to a Hospital in Houston... we have so many hospitals, all with names, but this one was simply called "Houston Hospital".

Maybe they didn't want to play favorites with the hospitals... or maybe the writers were just too lazy to do any research on Houston at all! Or maybe I'm just overreacting ?

Houston is kinda like Rodney Dangerfield at times... We get nooo respect.

-workout machines that are hooked up to generators and fed through the power grid

Ok, I've used exercise bikes and elliptical machines that power themselves... but not the lights in the gym.

And one good thing about this, is the skyline during the Holidays looks that much more festive with the contrast of having no lights 11 months out of 12. It's much less spectacular if you see it all year long.

And offices can cut so much, and already are. Changing from 40watt T12s to 32watt or 28watt T8 fluorescents, not to mention changing to LED type Exit Signs in the older buildings has and will continue to help a lot.

So you want it downtown because that would be simpler for people to grasp? Don't fear complexity.

Williams Tower is the unofficial centerpiece now, just as the Niels Esperson Building was once the unofficial centerpiece of downtown Houston. Look at downtown Austin; the Frost Building there towers over everything else, having the aesthetic presence of a monarch. But the Austonian condos are under construction and will be taller still. In another couple decades, surely there will be buildings that trump even the Austonian. The point is, things change. And old triumphs should be revered but not held in such high reverence that new triumphs are discouraged.

Seems like that would be a preferable site to one further from Williams Tower. It'd make a nice tight cluster of tall buildings all in one spot. But that's besides the point from the CBD vs. Galleria debate.

Good points, however don't get me wrong. If this thing were approved tomorrow to go up in the Galleria, I'd be thrilled... tracking its progress, and out taking pictures of the construction to post so all Haif'ers can see the progress... it'd be even more exciting since I live closer to the Galleria than I do to downtown.

My only preference is, while its still up in the air whether it happens or not, if it were and the location for it were still open, Galleria or downtown, I'd chose downtown for the reasons I gave.

Although if it were built in the Galleria it would be one recognized as one of the tallest in the world outside of a central downtown region... something influencing the developers to want to put it in the Galleria, perhaps?

Downtown was based on an wharf that presently serves no commercial function and attracts fractions of a percent fewer visitors than the Galleria. How is that relevant to a highrise office building in the 21st century?

The preference to put this building in Downtown has nothing to do with why downtown is where it is. The fact is, downtown is there, and it is the home to all our 50+ floor super-talls with exception to Williams Tower. Yes, The Williams Tower will not be the tallest and most iconic building in the Galleria area forever, but nor will the Chase Tower be in Downtown (which is tall, but not so much iconic). DT is an area that has come really far in recent years, on top of being the oldest part of established Houston, I think it deserves first glance at building a new super-tall. And if downtown is an unfeasible location for the developers for whatever reason, and Galleria works out better then so be it.

And also I'm basing my entire debate on this building being an 80+ floor icon, being declared the tallest in Houston. If in the end it turns out to be only 60 or 70 floors, and significantly shorter in meter/feet height, than by all means, build it in the Galleria where it will be mighty impressive against the skyline it is in.

Why?

Here comes TheNiche to try to bust a hole in my logic. jk, love your posts and logical input, even if I don't agree with it sometimes.

It's not bad that we have many tall buildings spread out in different urban centers. Actually its great and makes us unique... the reason why I feel it is bad that this would be in the Galleria instead of downtown is for one, the city's sense of symmetry (the aesthetics of it if you will) on a more minor level and the historic value on a larger level.

Explaining on the minor level, which is entirely based on my shared opinion, yes... Is that an 80+ story in the Galleria just wouldn't look right. The unofficial centerpiece is the Williams Tower. To me downtown is downtown, and should have the tallest structure, marking it, making the postcard image, the image everyone thinks of when they think Houston. Also the question is where to build this? The latest I heard (and correct me if I'm wrong) is the corner of NW side of Richmond and Post Oak, which I don't think would look right on the south end of the Galleria / Uptown skyline. It would dwarf the Williams Tower to the north of it, while having little to the south of it. And consider the traffic it'd create on top of what's already there... an 80 story office building, and don't forget part of this originally was having a 40-50 story connecting residential tower along side it.

The key reason I feel though is that The Galleria is more or less based on the Galleria Mall... Downtown is where Houston started. A little over a hundred years ago space outside the inner-inner loop (where I-10, US-59 and I-45 surround downtown) was considered the "outskirts" of Houston. I simply feel that if Houston is slated for our first super-tall in more than 2 decades, it should go up in downtown, the heart of the city.

On an ironic note... I need to head off to the Galleria now...

If this did get off the ground (literally) I can see two things that will remain constant...

1. The decision to do this wont even remotely begin until the economy is better... maybe 2010 hopefully. Don't expect a building this size to be complete till, oh say 2013 at the earliest (estimating a speedy year to get it approved and 2 years to get the space ready, and the structure topped off).

2. The decision to put this in the Galleria has been a debated one, and my vote goes to putting it in Downtown, NOT the Galleria. Especially if it ends up being taller than the Chase Tower. There are still many surface lots in the downtown area that this can be built on. Downtown has exploded from just an area to work, to an area to work, play and live. Houston is a city with 3 downtowns... its bad when visitors have to ask which one is the official Downtown Houston... it'll be even worse if the people who live here have to ask that very same question.

I wonder if there are any film crews covering this construction for say an episode of Modern Marvels perhaps? I remember seeing one picture of the construction and there was someone holding a TV camera.

Is this the first building to feature Wind Turbines on top or have there already been others?

Anyone care to revisit my option of turning it into a park in the meantime? If someone cuts a whole in the fencing, I'll walk around the site and sprinkle grass seeds from my pocket!

It's really depressing that it is just going to sit there as an empty lot for so much longer in the future. I really liked Nit Noi and the Cafe Rabelais wine bar that were in the building they tore down too.

It wouldn't be the first empty lot to sit there for an extended period of time... a shame this particular instance has to be in the Rice Village.

I completely agree with your idea to make it a green space, if the development is going to be on hold for so long. An empty grass lot looks better than an empty mud lot, not to mention the affect it has on adjacent businesses. Who wants to have directions given to their business that go "Yes, we're located in the village, a block east of Kirby Drive, next to the big empty dirt lot"

I'm wondering if anyone out there by chance has a more detailed plan of the 7th floor, aka the "Aqua Level". I have this one, which is complete but rather small, and would rather have a good Vector graphic (.dwg or .pdf) that would maintain its quality at any size. I'm curious for a detailed view of this level.

I love the way this building isn't shaped like a typical rectangular building but more like that of a ship (levels 7-30), with the "bow" tilting outwards as it climbs higher.

Thanks for the images and update!

I'm excited about this building in particular, primarily due to its wind turbines and LEED Certification. The reason why I'm excited is the Houston image... so many time in movies, documentaries and magazines in the past the image of Houston always sat behind a layer of smog... I'm hoping the new image will be a Houston sporting clean air and skyline images with Discovery Tower in view.

It just bothers me that this looks WAY better than the Houston Pavilions, yet it does not get the recognition it deserves.

I second that. But I believe it will. HP and West Ave. have their differences, visually West Ave. wins hands down IMO...

I watched the rendering animation again (muted btw, simple as that ), the finished product is looking better than the renderings. Again back to the palm trees... West Ave. doesn't strike me as a tropical resort, nor a venue out of Southern California (those are the feelings palms give me at least). I'd like to see them choose something that can work in all seasons, as well as be Decked out in lights during the holidays (similar to Highland Village, but just not with Palms).

And something I noticed at the end of the animation on the Urban Partners West Ave. website I hadn't noticed before:

"Grand Opening for Phase I, February 1 09."

"Phase II opening in 1st Quarter 2010"

What's strange is if you move around too much, suddenly the older images appear again

Thanks for that link... I already have and will be playing with the bird's eye view for hours now.

Yea, I noticed that, they haven't updated some of the view angles on some of the views, so that's why it changes back to the old when you're rotating the view. I guess most would consider this a flaw, but in this case its a feature! Lets you really see how Kirby from Alabama to Westheimer has changed in just a few years, and even the new images are kinda old now (2727 was still approaching the 20th floor being constructed in these).

Off-topic, but with them being able to capture these images from so many different angles, the next version of Flight Simulator better be nothing short of immaculately detailed.

This is starting to turn into a Chuy's thread

I'm not quite sure the fate of the land Chuy's sits on... but here's what I know:

1. West Ave Phase II will likely continue southward, towards West Alabama...

2. Lets say a Phase III could be in the developers heads, but we haven't even seen Phase I open yet for residents or retailers to see how well business goes. After Phase II is constructed that may be it.

3. Chuy's, including its parking lot is a drop in the bucket in size compared to West Ave. in its entirety. Building III by itself is a hair bigger than that etire plot of land. If West Ave. acquires it, what would they use it for? Only thing I can think of is additional parking? Could it really be used for another, slightly smaller building, or perhaps if they took over the shopping center where Buffalo Hardware is for a larger building? Ideas?

Finally, I phrase this as more of a question than a statement... but there is plenty of space on the backside of West Ave. to do something with, west of the parking garage (the spot that used to be all the tennis courts). So far all I see are trailers and construction equipment. What is this abundant space going to be used for after Phase I is completed?

And here's a good reference for any project: Google Maps: Greater Houston Area Projects and Construction

The Satellite view on West Ave. is super old as of the day I post this, but its a good reference as far as size.

Took a little walk this morning... got some shots of this and West Ave., as promised... It was tempting to go through the holes in the fence and venture inside.... but I didn't feel like being arrested for trespassing today...

A few low profile shots and side profile. I had more but these pretty much offer what you want to see. The last one is my best effort to see inside the building, jc281, lol

Everyone likes pictures! Took these this morning on a little walk around the block. The first and part of the 3rd shot is building 3, which has been just bare concrete structure to this point, its finally getting some framing going up and hopefully soon we'll see it take shape. The last shot is the actual West Ave (the street going down between buildings 1 and 2), you can see the skywalks starting to be encased in glass

Been a while since anything has been posted about this building...

The crane has been down for some time...

Hurricane Ike caused some setbacks... some of the insulating material was peeling off and had to be fixed, but seems the damage, as far as the exterior and what I can see, is limited to that...

Currently almost all Windows have been installed, and presently windows are going in on the 30th floor, which is near almost fully glass encased. The North side of the building appears to be finished in the stainless steel paneling on the exterior, and half done on the south side. The garage section remains pretty much as it was.

And much more has happened to the top of the roof, in the Mechanical section...

This weekend I intend to take a walk down to Kirby and get some shots of this and West Ave. Hopefully nothing unforeseen will hinder my efforts

PS: Judging by all that has sold, including the penthouse, and all the listings I've run across online for units here, I'd say it is absolutely not true this is going to be a lease building. The only way would be is if individual owners lease their individual units.

I can confirm after speaking with the leasing agent that Phase II will replace Beck's Prime all the way towards Alabama.

earlier in the thread it mentions that several businesses are already closed and a few others will be closed in the near future in preparation for the expansion.

Glad to know my source was speaking the truth. I browsed this thread pretty thoroughly, but must have missed the posts about businesses already closing in preparation. Wow Kirby is going to be unrecognizable from what it was... frankly it already is with this first Phase, and 2727. I live in close proximity to these two projects and have watched them rise from re-bar and fresh concrete out of the ground.

I'll try to take some pictures of these buildings soon at their current stages and post....

I'm reading a lot here about West Ave's next Phase of expansion (even before Phase 1 is even complete, lol). Mostly about how the property could expand across Westheimer, from where Chuy's is, down to where Buffalo Hardware is potentially.

I've heard different.

I heard from a contractor whom said his company was doing the roofing on West Ave., that it'll expand in the opposite direction, where Beck's Prime is, going south all the way up to West Alabama.

Again, just something I heard, nothing definite or concrete... any truth to this?

Honestly, I'm not torn up about it in the least. I thought it was another run-of-the-mill concrete block with little elequence. I'm sure that eventually it will be replaced with something far more achitecturaly appealing. Just my opinion of course.

Yay! First post! Been browsing this forum for weeks, figured it was time to join. Anyhow, introductions aside, I agree with wxman. Although Turnberry may have looked pretty nice to many and was going to be loaded with amenities, it looked to me just like a larger version of the Villa D'Este.

I'll probably ask this question many times, but who is supposed to be moving into all of these new residential hi rises?? I'm guessing a shrinking number since this project was scrapped due to lack of sales?

Anyhow, I think the best use for that spot, ideally, would be something that compliments the Williams Tower and the green space of adjacent Waterwall nicely, whether it be a tower, mixed use, or shopping center.