Brian Reading

Glad something is being done with this.  This is a prime spot!

It's fun to think about how dense this area is becoming, by removing these surface lots.  I like to think of how it will look in a few short years with this, the TC project, Marquette, and how that will push development north of the ballpark.  To be able to have all of these districts (Historic, Convention, Theatre, Financial, etc.) coming to fruition, and see them start complementing one another is very exciting.  Picturing all of that, and if Lovett were to repurpose the Post Office into a new market place or any of the other great ideas this forum have suggested, there will be a wave of new money that will constantly circulate throughout the businesses of downtown.  Not that this isn't already what everyone thinks about, I just get all amped up thinking about it.  Two years ago, I would have never pictured myself living downtown.  Now I'm moving 2Q 2016, and am ready to begin contributing to the vibrant success the area will bring.

 Welcome to the neighborhood! Any particular place you've picked out?

That reflection is wonderful and sure it would be nice if it was 50 floors taller, but you didn't get that view from Foleys.

Yeah, that's what I always tell myself.  Although we all wish it was taller, it certainly is a large improvement in height from Macy's/Foley's.

Poor Beaconsfield.  It's really getting swallowed up in all the mix.

Ah..while the new SkyHouse is just chugging away, good ol' Block 334 is still moving at a snail's pace.  Here's a shot from today:

^^^ would love to have something of this magnitude in houston... wow / yummy!

Everyone would love it, and then for some reason its hours would be 7AM-3PM Monday-Friday.

I'm just saying it not with in walking distance of most of campus

It's closer in walking distance to places like Cougar Field, Moores School of Music, and the Architecture building than other residential buildings like Bayou Oaks are.

I really don't think it will be as bad as people are making it out to be.  As the area gentrifies, this will be prime land.

This was incredibly interesting and useful for me.  Thanks for posting this.

well, unless I'm writing a rent check, I'll continue to refer to it as The Rice Hotel.

I'm there with ya.

This may or may not happen, but as the inner loop becomes more dense, and the reversal of white flight happens, developments like these are inevitable for an area like the Third Ward and East End.  In other words, if not this one, then there will be another proposal.

I'm not one to flat-out say that there are such a thing as "ghosts", but I have personally had experiences at a particular location that I have absolutely no way of explaining.  I grew up in Freeport (sixty miles south of Downtown on SH 288), and at the present-day campus of O.A. Fleming Elementary School, I can personally attest to unusual happenings experienced by myself and my family.  I apologize for the length of this, but it requires some background.

This current school campus and the field areas surrounding the campus were once the site of two divided campuses: Freeport Intermediate School and O.A. Fleming.  Freeport Intermediate School was rebuilt at a different location, and was abandoned by 1997.  Before that, from 1930 until 1944, it was the campus of Freeport High School (known today as Brazosport High School along 288).  I have no idea how long the elementary school has been there, but perhaps prior to 1930.  Freeport's origins come with the origins of Texas itself, as it was the site of The Battle of Velasco and the Treaties of Velasco.

I actually attended school at the campus when it was Freeport Intermediate, and the kids would always rumor about how it was "haunted", but I always assumed this was just kids being kids.  One of the rumors was about how the toilets would flush themselves in the second story bathrooms of the main building.

My mother worked as a teacher at the elementary school since I was very young, and she was thoroughly passionate about her job.  She preferred to stay working in her classroom long after school, and sometimes until late into the night.  My brothers and I were bussed to the campus after school where we would stay until my mom was ready to leave.  A couple of years after FIS had their new campus built, the elementary school announced that the elementary campus next door would move into the abandoned intermediate school buildings while their own campus was razed and rebuilt on the same spot.

My mother's classroom was moved into a small building that the intermediate school kids once referred to as "the science wing" because of all the science classes being housed there.  It was a long rectangular building with entrances/exits on both of the short ends.  We continued our routine as usual, and with school year just starting, my mother stayed very late one night attempting to get the new classroom in order.  Looking at the clock,  I noticed that it got to be about 11:50 PM until I reminded my mother just how late it was.

We decided to wrap things up.  Just as we were about to leave, the clock struck midnight, and mayhem happened in that small building.  The bell system began to ring erratically in long and short bursts.  Surprised, I ran out into the hallway, and noticed a vacant trophy case literally shaking.  We were very frightened, and quickly left the building.  What happened after we closed the door to the building was just mind-blowing though.  The entire bell system just shut off the second that the door closed.  The next day, my mother questioned the janitors, whom she knew well.  She asked them if they knew of any scheduled alarm bells that were set to go off at that time, and they noted that the bell system was not in operation.  Furthermore, they had no method of sounding in the manner in which they did.  Yes, in the past, there were patterns that the bells would ring if there was a fire drill, but they were steady short bursts.  There was no way for them to ring in erratic short and long bursts.

Although extremely unusual, I let this roll off my back, and chalked it up to a fluke.  However, a couple of weeks later, the bell incident happened again.  Although, this time it was even more unusual.  After the first incident, we had decided that we would no longer stay there to see what would happen at 12 AM again.  So, when it got to be around ten 'til, I was upset with my mother for keeping us there that late.  However, we got out of the building before anything happened, and we walked out to the car in the parking lot.  When we got there, my mother claimed that she had forgotten a bag she needed inside the classroom.  I urged her not to go, but she was insistent.  We walked back to the building, and as she was unlocking the door, I noticed that the ceiling-mounted clock in the hallway showed that it was actually five after midnight.  So you can imagine my complete shock when the minute that my mother opened the door, the bell system chimed again in the same eery manner.  Believe it or not, my mom still ran inside and got her bag.  The second she closed the door, the system immediately stopped again.  Completely unexplainable. 

Later on, my stepfather had his own unusual experience at the school.  He himself, was an employee at the school, and was attempting to enter the main school building after hours.  He walked from the parking lot to the building, when he realized that he had left the key inside the car.  Rather than walking back to the car in the brutal Texas heat, he decided to see if the janitors were available at the basement entrance, as they had their office there, and would sometimes be around.  He walked up to the door, and first checked to see if it was open, but it was locked.  He then knocked on the door, and luckily heard the voice of a woman ask who it was.  When he identified himself, someone opened the door for him.  However, when he stepped inside, there was literally no one there.  Confused, he walked through the basement into the school building to find a janitor on-duty vacuuming down the hall.  He walked up to her and asked if she had opened the door for him, and she told him that she didn't, and couldn't physically do it because she was so far down the hall.  She also told him that no one else was on-duty at the time.

Eventually the new elementary school campus was built next door, and my mother moved out of the building.  But even today, she and my stepfather have confessed to hearing the voice of an old man down the hallway that yells and curses at them to leave.  She has said that sometimes teachers have claimed to hear a large group of people talking in the teacher's lounge while using the restroom there by themselves, only to open the door and find no one there.  My mother seems to be desensitized to such events these days.

There are other instances that I can talk about, but I'd rather quit, because this thread is getting too long.

In 2005, the main building and science wing of Freeport Intermediate School, along with many surrounding buildings were torn down and remain as fields next door to the elementary school.  But, if you're interested in the site of the old "science wing", see Google street view here.   The field next door was the site of the main building pictured below.

10-4

Speaking of 10-4, is anyone going to make it out to the Red & White spring football game on-campus at Robertson Stadium this saturday? I honestly think we're looking at a top 25 team again this season.

Here's an update on the Wheeler Housing East project. These were taken yesterday.

not sure i'd call this midtown like khou is calling it. this is more 4th ward. here are some conceptual plans.

Ha, yeah kind of like how they say that the University of Houston is in "Southeast Houston" rather than Third ward. If we're in Southeast Houston, Downtown must be in Northeast!

try this i think her quote was..."it's a bowling alley"

Doesn't sound too bad. You can show up in a t-shirt and jeans with some flip-flops. Seems pretty casual to me. It sounds like they just don't want ghetto, thug trash in there.

Wouldn't it make more sense to allow for anonymous editing? I mean, we're already registered here at HAIF. Not even Wikipedia makes their users register, and there's a lot more traffic there. Basically, the list wouldn't be so out of date if it could be easily edited.

I did a thought experiment and concluded that if I were a high school student, Calhoun Lofts would not entice me to attend U of H. However, a new engineering building/quad, imho, would be much more appealing.

What?? You've GOT to be kidding me. You think a high school student would be more interested in an a new engineering building over where they'll be living on-campus? Students want exciting, new places to live.

Also, I don't believe that Calhoun Lofts is the same business model as Cullen Oaks, Bayou Oaks, and Cambridge Oaks. Calhoun Lofts is physically owned by the university, not just the land its on. It's possible that they're doing some contracting for management, but that'd be it. The store is currently under construction as well.

I personally doubt the university is really interested in creating "learning communities." Like "Tier 1" it's just a buzzword they must have picked up somewhere and like "Tier 1" the phrase "learning communities" is just meaningless enough to take to mean whatever they want. So anything they build from here on out, no matter how overly expensive or how much they give up to for-profit corporations, will be categorized as being "Tier 1" or "scholar research community"-based irrespective of reality.

So I'm guessing there is no real road plan for Tier I either. UH is condemned to be a crap school because they don't care about their students or about their education. It's all just a made-up little conspiracy to allow for administrators to line their own pockets and beat their chests about how much they've ripped-off the community. Is it that, or is your opinion of the administration is that they're wholly incompetent. What IS reality to you?

I figured it was about time for an update. Here's a shot of the construction along Wheeler for the new "Freshman Village" or "Wheeler Housing East".

You can't think of any reasons? Anyway, I think a significant portion of the people who live there will leave for the summer. U of H is hellish during the summer.

No, I can't unless the student has ill-planned their housing. There are other places to live on-campus that don't require a twelve-month lease, and others that don't offer the option. The reason why UH is "hellish" is because everyone leaves. It's a catch-22.

Again, I haven't seen that particular setup at any other school's on-campus housing. That was my initial point. It is less like the typical "on campus housing" setup and more like an off-campus private dorm. If, as you've said, this is their way of fostering a "bustling community" I'm not sure what precedent exists.

Most other universities typically have off-campus residential areas that are purely student-living communities. UH doesn't have that because it's surrounded by Third Ward, and those who like to stay in one spot after the school year ends are mostly living off-campus in the Medical Center or Midtown. Therefore there is a precedent on other campuses, because at other large campuses, there isn't such a difference between the surrounding off-campus area, and on-campus area like there is here.