arche_757

Hey now. That's insulting to reptiles!

I'll say this I much prefer Lopez+Wright to any one employed by the Texans! John Harris has sophomoric/childish takes and is embarrsing. Vandameer is so PROTEXANS its sick. That and I hate the Verizone players show where they interview players at some cell phone store on Tuesday's - most of the time they are players of little interest. Lopez and Wright have low moments but by and large are some what interesting when they're actually discussing sports. Nick is pretty good if he'd just veer away from so many comments about Beyonce (she's really not all that). And while we're at it - Rich Lord is a pretty bad radio personality. I'll also echo the sentiment that MAD Radio is pretty good with Meltser and Payne (Payne's really good for being a former NFL'er) and Meltser seems to play off him fairly well.

I doubt it would be a boon. Florida is positioned much better for interaction with Cuba. The port will grow regardless of Cuba even existing. Perhaps the cruise business would grow - though that's a long way from Galveston/Port of Houston to Cuba across the Gulf.

Global uncertainty because a major power starts rattling sabers would cause the price of Oil to jump north. All the Russians would need to do is sink a tanker or attack a refining operation in the Middle East to really cause some panic. And they could do so without formally doing so as "Russia" they've got proxy organizations I'm sure they support and could even play up to an ISIS or Al Qaeda to cause some additional turmoil. Now, I don't believe the Russian's would resort to something like that - but who knows what they'll do if the Ruble falls too low?

Because we're all experts and want to express our expert opinions. In regards to the former post with retail under 5-6 floors residential... that's not a hotel? Right? So are we expecting residential rather than hospitality in this area? I'd assume any future big hotels would locate in the Downtown district rather than out of it...even if just a block or two away...unless the developer gets some hefty incentives from the city? I think the East End will see (in years to come) some nice smaller scale hotels on par with Hamptons and the like. Probably just a couple, and probably 5+ years away (though the Super Bowl push is pretty impressive).

You know... I've been thinking its a shame this building is just 1 block away from the biggest/tallest building Downtown. Yes we'll see 609 often enough in various angles on the skyline, but the "iconic" Houston shot from Eleanor Tinsley Park will not have said building visible. Personally I'm not a big fan of that view because the 40-50 floor towers along Smith Street typically obscure many of the other buildings in Downtown. (by the way: thanks for the continual photo updates folks - its nice to see for those of us who do not work/live etc. in the central city)

Just a hunch here... but I'll wager the big oil companies have studied how many/how often to hire. I'm sure they have contingencies in place for just about all the scenarios that are playing out currently. I don't think Exxon, Chevron, Anadarko and even the smaller mid-majors/small companies etc. just forgot about the 1980s! Very unlikely. No doubt some will lose jobs, and there will be retraction - but that was going to happen sooner than later. I don't think the gloom and doom is going to wash over us like the 1980s. People need to lighten up, be realistic, but lighten up.

It isn't a problem. Its the fact the Chronicle is a sad news paper for the 4th largest city - and 6th largest news paper in the country. We routinely get news articles relating to San Antonio! Which is a shame.

Duh... we have the Astrodome!

I wouldn't say that many abandoned homes. Galveston lost nearly 100% of the government subsidized housing - which is being rebuilt...maybe in the near future. Some homes were swept away on the far west end. Other than that, I guess perhaps there are simply fewer people living in some homes? You know Galveston - great on one street, complete dump on another - its possible that homes that previously had 2+ families living in them now have only 1 in a few areas? Overall though I'd say that Downtown is doing well in terms of residential. Galveston has a healthy proportion of mixed-use building on and near the Strand, most have residential in some capacity or scale in them. Most of the buildings downtown are also pretty nice - high rents for the most part.

Have you been recently? Galveston hasn't been pre-1900 level of booming since 1899! That's a fact. I'd say we've they've caught up to pre-2008. The big difference now is there are about 10,000 fewer people living full time on the island. But it does need some additional retail growth + some additional white collar jobs. I still think the issuance of a TIRZ for the Strand areas and the doubling up of convention center space coupled with bay to gulf transit (eg: trolleys) would be good. Add in a business incubator that focuses on global shipping/freight and transoceanic issues and things might start to move faster. The problem is MOVING forward from just concept. Who will do those things? The Moody's? The Mitchells (probably not with the father passing away), the Sealy's? They're already so heavily invested in the UTMB complex. Perhaps UTBM can jump on the post-Ebola (post-USA ...so far) scare and get some additional dollars for more Biocontainment Level-4 stuff on the isle? Why not?

I think there is a perception that Galveston has failed. That's not true. Galveston is - probably the best example in Texas - of a "rust belt" city that's seen its heyday come and go. It has not not failed; it could certainly use a white collar or even skilled blue collar boost. I think with the expanded port facilities under talks both for Galveston and Pelican Island it will get a boost...hopefully some white collar jobs will creep in too.

^What do you mean Luminare? NYC has added A TON of new highrises since the revival post-9/11 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_New_York_City Since 2004/2005 8 of the top 20 tallest buildings in NYC have been built. I'd say the skyline hasn't been static, just that its such a grand skyline only additions like Hudson Yards, WTC v2.0 and a few others make any impact.

Nope. Architectural firm on the isle.

Bravo! Hope that this starts to move forward. With the power and weight of the TMC there is little reason why Houston can't be a world leader in medical/biomedical/nanomedical technologies and research moving into the remainder of the 21st century. My hope that they think big! Be bold!

And yet Galveston is the caretaker of the beach. You - non-Galvestonian - do not pay much more than $0.30 cents out of each pay check towards coastal improvements for the entire coastline of the state; but largely you don't pay much to repair, clean, keep the beach open. When you leave Galveston you don't worry about the trash, the mess etc that is left behind and as you shouldn't... but don't expect to come to any place and simply get in free, make a mess and leave nothing behind in the way of recompense. The paid meters are nothing. If you can't afford $8 or even $16 to park for the day - move along. Parking meters are everywhere in the world - Galveston should have them, why not have them by the beach too? The issue with those meters is the supposed additional security from them. Like I said - add some business incubators and see what happens. Also, Galveston can add a few tax incentives to the mix and see if that helps? The schools need work too. Make the schools even slightly better and the allure of the historic town will help attract a few more people.

You could repave the roads. Wouldn't be too tough. The problem is its down all the major roads in town except Harborside and Broadway.

Yep. And if they decided to delete the trolleys I think they also need to remove all the track! I imagine that caveat alone would make it hard for them to not restore them. The costs to restore would be cheaper than pulling up all that track - all over downtown, UTMB, Seawall, 25th Street... its all over the nicer parts of town.

Yeah, read that. Apparently some design critics think that tall+narrow+featureless = architectural masterpieces. NYC produces nice, quality designs from time to time, I don't think many of those small billionaire condo towers are very good.

Like what? There are/have been decent stores on the Strand and Postoffice Street for years... there are also dumpy ones. I think one big solution: - Galveston needed the convention center downtown (but Tilman built it by the seawall so that someday it can become a casino...see the long term thinking here?), and along with that there is a need for a few decent smaller hotels eg: Hampton and a Marriot Courtyard or similar in/near the Strand. Tremont and Harbour House are pretty pricey - national brands that aren't owned by Mitchell Historic Properties would be a good addition. Add to that my longstanding wish for a convention center basically over the whole train yard behind the Santa Fe Depot and then the transformation of the Santa Fe building into a Hyatt or Marriot (or similar) would be a big boost. I'm talking a 2-300,000 sq. ft. exhibition space. People like conventions in touristy areas. It would play off itself. - Also, Galveston needs a small business start-up center like Houston Technology Center. While it may not seem like much in Houston, it'd be huge for Galveston. Think of the long term economic asset such a place would be. That and TAMUGalveston is really poorly located over on Pelican Island. May as well be in Texas City. Had it been built somewhere just south of there on Galveston Island that would have helped an entire area of the city. Consequently my firm is working on the redevelopment of a rather large, run-down building that could serve as a catalyst for an area. No details beyond that, but perhaps in the next 6 months?

Galveston has a booming cruise economy. However, most people who come to town for the cruises spend about 4 hours on shore, then board the ships and sail off. That's Galveston's problem - booming tourist economy, yet *a lot* of the people who visit Galveston spend next to nothing while IN town. That's your common weekend visitor who comes down for Saturday (for instance).

Well, Tanger does very well up in Texas City, an outlet mall of same scale and size - except in the Strand area (in lieu of Tanger up north) would have done well and given a boost in the arm for retail on the island. The trolleys - in case you missed my point - are at some point either a) to be restored, or b ) removed and money given back to the government. There has been zero work done on it. I'm of the opinion the city wants them only if they can find a way to make money off them... Trader Joes would do well, but the other 50% of Galveston's demographics would drag down any projections that they would use to determine IF they should build in Galveston.