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arche_757

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Everything posted by arche_757

  1. arche_757
    Thanks for that! I was looking for something with an actual figure on the square footage of the Dome, and after I exhausted my interest in the first couple of links I found... I gave up. I wonder where the 9.5 acres came from? Probably the surrounding lawn?
  2. arche_757
    My guess is an indoor ski-slope! That would be a game changer!
  3. arche_757
    9.5 acres = 413,000 sq ft No doubt that a smaller number than that is the actual unobstructed flat "playing field" space. Clearly with all the levels and multiple zones within the Dome we'd come up with a larger square footage than 413,000. Now, what I'm curious about SMF is why do you think the ski-slope/hill idea is so bad? I'm not arguing for it or against it (though it would be unique), I'm just curious why you feel so vehemently against that idea. I mean you're nearly fighting it. Why? The Dome Park proposal will fail if it is not a destination park for average Houston citizens and metro-wide residents. Its not like a covered park is going to attract millions per year. At least not the way that it has been proposed. I still maintain my idea that converting it into some sort of refrigerated Alpine environment with the temperatures of say a Jackson Hole, Wy. would be really fantastic... the problem of course is maintaining the temperatures and climatic feel of the space.
  4. arche_757
    Yes and No (in regards to San Jacinto)... Its where the battle was, however it would have been great if say the overall design/layout of the Montrose and Main Circle had incorporated a 550' tall monument. Sadly one of the best architectural works in Houston is mostly unseen/unvisted (if thats a word) and largely ignored by Houstonians. I agree we should start pushing for more grandiose civic works that include fountains and statues of great people.
  5. arche_757
    MMP controls the parking lots directly south of the park on both sides of 59/69. I'd like to assume that we could eventually facilitate a 2-3 level (at least) parking structure on one or both of those? I think this sort of stuff is all in due time, as once this part of Downtown fills in enough the demand will be there for parking structures. Also, San Francisco + Oakland + San Jose = a larger Metro population than Houston: 7.44 million MSA, 8.47 million CSA (for San Francisco), compared to: 6.17 million MSA and 6.37 million CSA (for Houston). Hard to compare a Metro area with 2 million more people than we have. Obviously it would have a larger TV audience.
  6. arche_757
    http://www.in.gov/iwm/ That is a monument to the soldiers and sailors - otherwise known as the Indiana War Memorial. We have a larger memorial than that over at the San Jacinto Battlefield, except its so isolated and remote from the rest of the town that few people even visit. It doesn't have any fountains incorporated into it however. A shame that the Monument was built where it was, I've always thought it would have been an impressive addition to our skyline. Oh well. Indianapolis has 3-4 War monuments in and around downtown Indy. Wish we had more monuments to noteworthy people and places in Houston. I can think of DeBakey and a couple other scientists around here that are deserving... much less monuments to any of the past conflicts we've fought in (though I do believe a monument to WW2 or WW1 is a little late in coming now).
  7. arche_757
    Looks a lot like "Greenwater" by them in Austin....
  8. arche_757
    Good points. I think you could agree that as we've seen in the past - the louder people talk typically the less impressive something is. I hope I'm proven wrong, and I'll be happy if this building is a great addition to the skyline.
  9. arche_757
    Bingo. Sorry for missing the address. But this is an example of a Hines building that is less than inspirational in design quality. And its about what I'm expecting of the proposal for Amegy.
  10. arche_757
    http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2013/09/hines-to-break-ground-on-san-felipe-office-tower-in-60-days/ I was under the impression this was a Pickard Chilton design, with Ziegler Cooper serving as architect of record? Is that not the case? Either way - this is not a wonderful building.
  11. arche_757
    That is a 30+ floor building.
  12. arche_757
    I'm more than familiar with Hines' quality of work. He built 90% of Houston's big architectural works, though not everything he's touched is gold. The San Felipe Tower (also by Pickard Chilton) is an example of a design that is not very nice. Nice enough for what it is, but not architectural beauty. I'm expecting much of the same with this tower. Bankers seldom make for grand design advocates. I'm more worried that the build-up some are placing on this building will... make for a great disappointment when we all see this tower. Unique doesn't translate into quality. I guess we will have to adopt a "wait and see" approach and all hope that this thing is as nice of a design as some on here are saying it will be?
  13. arche_757
    I'm doubting this thing will be the "best building on the west loop"! In fact I'm insulted to think that this proposed building would even challenge Transco/Williams for that honor. When I think of this proposed building I imagine the Memorial Hermann Tower at Memorial City Mall. That's what I see. Hope I'm wrong.
  14. arche_757
    I'm simply saying that without Rice we would have a lot less. Rice Alliance is huge (clearly - they fund a lot of things)... Indeed some of the business incubators listed were... small and not of any real consequence, but Austin having more is a shame. I do hope we can continue to see a rise in the number of new business startups here. I'd love to see the Biomedical side really take off. Goodness knows other cities have a firmer grasp on that area than we do - unfortunately.
  15. arche_757
    Just found a list of Texas Business Incubators. Austin - 22 Houston - 18 Dallas/FW - 21 If you took away Rice's 4 incubators then we're sorely lacking. Particularly when you consider the number of people and the number of major coprorations that are located here. The big problem however, is that energy doesn't seem to have the desire to 'incubate" businesses the way tech firms do. When I think of the size of Houston + business capital + two major research universities + largest collection of medical facilities in one single place in the world - and I'm left with a sour taste in my mouth that we're way behind what/where we ought to be at this time in this arena. Hopefully we will continue to see additional investment in this area.
  16. arche_757
    Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship is.... well.... kind of what I figured. Not bad mouthing it, its more of a competition between any one and everyone. At least that's the take I got from reading their "about" section on the webpage. If this continues to grow in scope and scale that would be great! I hope it does. I think you and I both agree that we need to be able to keep a lot of these types of companies here in town.
  17. arche_757
    Yes, but *how* involved is Rice? Working "closely" with some one or some organization is often a misrepresentation. I mean - if Rice had a goal of driving the Houston tech scene, they could. HTC must have a few professors tied into their organization, but I truly wonder how important it is to the Rice heirarchy to support this more than just a little? What I'd like to see: HTC morphs into what the UH Energy Research Park is becoming. Something truly serving as a catalyst for the area. Yes, we have a lot more energy companies than tech firms, but why not see if Rice (and/or UH too) could push the HTC into a larger role? And while I agree we don't need another building for the HTC (there are two now if memory serves me right), I'd love to see a need for additional buildings nearby that feed off of and with the HTC to grow that sector. And the *new* Medical Center Accelerator is... well... new! How many years ago did we hear about Texas Biomedical Park? I realize a few of those buildings sorta happened south of TMC, but not to the level and size of what we should have given our clout and size in the medical world. Compared to Boston its really sad actually.
  18. arche_757
    I think Swtsig wants to see more. Houston Technology Center is great and has spawned a lot of new companies over the years (many of which LEFT town for greener tech pastures). Keeping the majority of those tech companies would be great. I'd love to see the Houston Endowment (or other philantropic orgs) give some millions to the Houston Tech Center to build another building that focuses on bio-tech/nano-tech and draw Rice into its umbrella. Why not? Perhaps one of these new office buildings would better suit them for expanded growth - this one or the other? Could be the start of something big. Maybe the developers know something we don't? Hopefully so.
  19. arche_757
    ^It is possible the developer wanted the number of spaces, and not the city? Could be wrong? I like it - its simple and clean and a new looking design for Midtown.
  20. arche_757
    They are primarily closed. I wouldn't call it "open year around" Besides, they're a client of ours and that's how they refer to it, so I was only repeating what we've been told from the client. Sections of the park are open, but most of it closes for maintenance and construction work. Take out the Christmas Holidays and a weekend or two in October and only the waterpark that is indoors remains open.
  21. arche_757
    Nope. They close after Labor Day.
  22. arche_757
    ^If true, I'd like to see them change things up a bit with tower 3. Hire a different firm to do the design.
  23. arche_757
    33 months is the estimated completion for this thing. By my count we're down roughly 2 of those, so 31 months remaining. Good to see someone get started on a proposal. This developer wanted to get a jump on some of the other high-rise residential proposed for DT.
  24. arche_757
    I think the indoor ski-slope idea would be huge. Houston has a large contingent of avid skiers who make the seasonal planes from Houston to ski-towns in Colorado worth it. If we save the Astrodome, why not go big? I'm of the inclination the more I think of it that if it is saved from the wrecking ball, then we need to either A) use if for a pure sports related purpose (such as indoor track and field, or lease it to the US Olympic Committee for a southern training facility), or "B" ) do something really grand like an indoor ski-slope, or indoor alpine biodome? Why the heck not? If we're going to spend money on it, lets spend money to really make it worthwhile.
  25. arche_757
    Ah, shows how out of touch I am. Though in 2006 I was talking with my UH budies and we all agreed a UH Medical School centered around St. Joe's would have been a good thing. I do like the idea of UH building a new healthcare campus. Hopefully (as someone else mentioned) it'll be constructed somewhere else in the city where there is no existing healthcare facility. Great addition for the East End/Navigation neighborhood...
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