arche_757

Yep. I wonder who the architects are?

Who says it needs to be a "Riverwalk knock off?" I do not understand the people - and there are a lot of them - that see that stretch of the Bayou, and its complete inaccessiblity save from the views of the uberwealth in River Oaks the purpose of not having even a decent dirt/gravel path along the Bayou? How natural is that stretch anyway? Much of what is now Houston was flat coastal plains with few trees (look at the old pictures from the turn of last century - such as those showing the Rice Institute for proof). Here is what I would like to see done on Memorial Park: cover over parts of Memorial and Woodway with useable spaces and safe pedestrain crossings. Do away with the golf course and open those spaces up for strolling, playing fields and the like. Add a minimal impact path along the Bayou on the south side of the park - hopefully continue that along the way eventually all the way to the Beltway at some point. Everything that gets built or landscaped ought to be low-impact vegitation, walkways etc. What is it about the vast unreachable spaces of Memorial Park that you (and others) so enjoy? The trees as viewed while speeding down Memorial or Woodway, or sitting in traffic at 610/I-10?

Is it not a symbol of the "illuminati"? Perhaps Beyonce and J-Z are silent partners in this project?

At least this area is more organized than the "energy corridor"!

I've always thought Memorial is a dumpy park. Central Park in NYC has "woodlands" too, not every inch of Memorial Park need be paved or plowed over for playing fields, but there should be some space reserved for public use that isn't entirely overgrown. I think its time the city get rid of the golf course and open that up for use as a set of public lawns and playing fields. Run maybe a couple additional hike and bike paths around through the thicket and allow access to the Bayou in places. I'm not advocating for complete deforestation, just take out a little space for people to use. Hermann is a nice park, and far more accessible - which is what a park is supposed to be. Memorial is more of a buffer between the Intersections of I-10 and 610, which is not great. Also, imagine if the north and west sides of the park had land around them for people to live by... instead we have 2 major freeways that will never ever, ever go away. How sad. Great planning by the folks who laid out the interstates back in the day.

Uh... YEAH! All the cuts at NASA and the loss of thousands of aerospace jobs (white collar/high paying) hurt Clear Lake considerably. Thankfully its bouncing back...sorta.

Considering the rest of the architectural gems that adorn that town (excluding Bryan's downtown and the A&M campus), this is easily what anyone in College Station should consider a remarkable development. I mean what did you expect? City Center? Which by the way, this development is similar to, except this is College Station not the Memorial area of Houston.

Nena, Yes I realize that Memorial Park was a gift, I just question why the city has done as little as possible for it over the years. Take out the golf course and Memorial Park is what 85% or so raw woodland (more like raw scrubby trees with undergrowth). It is hardly a "city park" and more of a green-space. Does anyone else feel like Memorial Park is vastly under utilized?

Palladio is spinning in his grave (which I fear he has done a lot of over the years!)

While I'm certainly not connected to this project, I think the rail is only between Houston-Dallas. I would doubt Aggieland and Baylor Town will have the ridership required to attract this train. If this development works, I imagine they'll expand the nework with a line down I-35 from Dallas, and one west-east from Austin to Houston to New Orleans or so?

I've never understood why the City of Houston ever allowed Memorial Park to be such an overgrown "woodland" anyway? Most of the park is not useable, and the portions that are accessible to the public are right on top of two major roads that bisect the park into a north/south portion. The people up in arms about this small stretch of Bayou would do much better spending their money and time to help the Katy Prairie Conservancy aquire more land and develop parks, or at least regional plan for the far western fringes of Houston, than worry about the loss of a little "wetland" that will eventually come back along one small stretch of Buffalo Bayou! And where were these people during the previous phases of development along Buffalo Bayou?

So now this thread will devolve into a series of "one sentence responses" ....Great! I can't wait! And lets all agree that Southwest does have a lobby - all the airlines do. Southwest is the 160th largest company based on Fortunes list of 500.

Agreed with Slick Vik. I think this thing would have been stopped by now, if Southwest was really trying. The rail - might be 90 minutes, same with the air travel. But figure in check-in lines, baggage claim and the like and you may have a figure closer to 2.5 hours or so for air travel. IF (clearly a big IF) you didn't rent a car in either Dallas or Houston you would be off the train and out of the station in 95 minutes. Presumably you would have the chance to arrive at the station within 5 minutes of departure and still make the train (unlike air travel). Southwest is fine. They've got a lot more options than they did in 1980 or 1984 or whenever the last attempt at HSR between Dallas and Houston was announced. This line will probably allow them to offer Dallas to Calgary flights they may have wanted to open in the past but can't because of the Wright Amendment and the need to have 30 planes dedicated to HOU-LUV daily (or whatever the number is). This proposed HSR would be a boon for DART and METRO and any other bus lines and taxi cabs. It could really open up how businessmen/women operate between the two metro areas. They could even eventually extend it to Denver with stops in OKC. Or to Chicago through Tulsa and KC? Who knows?

Southwest 20 years ago was a shell of the airline it is today. I don't think they will fight this development much - as it will take at least till 2021 till its open (and that is optimistic). LUV has had to operate with restrictions, but with the Wright Amendment lifted/ending I would suspect that Dallas Love Field will start flying less frequently to Hobby and more often to some other cities. Hobby on the other hand will also start offering flights to Mexico and other Latin American markets here in a few years. I would think the folks working on this focused first on making Southwest happy. Perhaps that is how they got the new terminal at Hobby over Uniteds great posturing and threats? Remember these aren't just business men, some of them are former government officials who held pretty powerful positions at one time and have connections. I think this system has teeth where the other one proposed in the 1980s was all bark.

Why? Please explain. If you had not left within the 2 week time frame would they have arrested you "for your own safety?"

From CityLab (formerly Atlantic Cities): http://www.citylab.com/commute/2014/06/the-big-texas-plan-to-copy-japans-high-speed-rail-success/372984/ Says this project has been progressing "under the radar" for 4+ years, and is undergoing an environmental impact study that could take 2-3 years. Expected delivery (or hopeful) delivery of this high speed rail system is 2021. Apparently this was the route picked by the Japanese out of a possible 91 others! So must be some real traction behind it.

I don't think it an adolescent response. More of a wistfulness that we continue to get nice buildings and additions to town. Houston's cultural scene is older than anywhere else in the state, and richer with possible exception of the 2 museums in Fort Worth, though I fully expect that MFA will eventually surpass those collections in time given the size and money of Houston versus Fort Worth. I too want Houston to have the best. If say the Duncan family decided to fund a new art gallery dedicated to Antiquities and hire XYZ Starchitect to design the space I wouldn't scoff at the idea because the Menil and MFA already have nice antiquity sections. I would very much applaud that! I understand what ArchFan is saying, and appreciate people having an interest in their city. Great things don't happen without a spark, sparks do not happen without first a dream of something greater. Perhaps ArchFan will make billions in reverse engineering pig fat and spend lavishly on a new school for the arts here in Houston? I'd be very happy with that idea.

Convention Center?! Wow! Not every town or suburb needs one, and if every town has one they become far less of an asset. And if you click the link on the above link - there's a bigger book... in that book it lists Exxon Mobil "World Headquarters" on the map of North Houston. Interesting. Probably just marketing, but still interesting to see that. http://issuu.com/hokmarketing/docs/vrmc_bookpdf_pages_highres/1

The most recent addition (from what I can tell): http://www.trump.com/Hotel_Collection/Trump_Vancouver/Trump_Vancouver.asp

Trump took how many years to make it to Chicago? How many years to make it to Miami/South Beach? He might be interested in expanding into Texas, but I would quite surprised if he did. Heck, he wouldn't need more than a 30-40 floor tower to make a splash. Think of all the neoveau riche that would love having an address in something called "trump"?! As for Galleria expansion... not sure why the new addition (when Nordstrom was added) didn't include a 3rd or 4th level? Of course at the time a 700,000 square foot expansion was (and still is) huge! I think Simon is seeing the hand writing on the wall with Boulevard Place and other centers opening up around the Uptown-Kirby-Oaks area and is starting to sweat a bit.

Great to see new parks, or in this case existing park spaces reinvigorated and renovated! The East End and Navigation areas will be very interesting to watch for the next 4-5 years with all the amenities soon to open up and allow access to other parts of town, plus the proximity to UH/Downtown and other areas!

Galveston has a fairly healthy residential market in Downtown area. Some people would be surprised most commercial buildings have residential spaces above, particularly anything in the Downtown area that's south of The Strand - Mechanic/Postoffice/Market etc. Your "question" was fairly clear. You aren't sure if condo's are ok for hurricane prone areas. As an architect who has projects in both hurricane and non-hurricane zones - I can assure you that hurricane rated construction is by and large much higher quality than non-hurricane/wind rated construction (its also much more expensive per square foot). Most of Greater Houston south of I-10 should use hurricane rated construction methods to mitigate the eventual (though hopefully many, many years away) strong catagory 4 or 5 hurricane that will inevitably strike this area. My comments puzzle? How exactly? I'm quite the pessimist, and usually try to be even keeled in responding. However, I work down in the coastal region and can get a touch defensive about this area. You also have a tendency to be rather passionate in your replies (how I read them) - and that's fine. Not criticising you, just saying that's how I read them.

What? Why wouldn't condo's be ok here? There are not any ground level living units in this building! Add to that this building is already existing apartments - not much is changing except people will be able to buy them, and they'll get new restrooms and kitchen counters. If condo's shouldn't be built in hurricane prone areas then pretty much the ENTIRE US from Brownsville to Boston needs to rethink their strategy about building anywhere within 20-30 miles of the coast. By your statement ALL of south Florida (Miami and Miami Beach on up) needs to be evacuated. Your logic puzzles me at times.

What is this topic again?

We often overlook that which is closest. Perhaps some on this board just wish we had a "modern" Menil family who wanted to build a new musuem? They see the Perot Cube in Dallas and think "WOW! Wish Houston could get something cool like that!" When in fact we've HAD that, perhaps not in as grand of a architectural piece as the Perot, but still had that for decades now in the HMNS. Or the Menil. Or decades old theater district. Or the University of Houston. Or Rice. Or much of the Medical Center.