The Great Hizzy!

Nevertheless, it's there.

And...

Hopefully they won't be doing construction late at night.

I hate to tell you this but... "BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!"

LOL @ "This isn't so ugly but THAT's horrible." "No, THAT's the ugly one and the one you're talking about is absolutely horrible."

It's a good thing designers have thin skins.

Yeah, dude. A little more practice and you'll be as good as Dominax.

Alright, now. Behave! LOL!!

This is true. I noticed this yesterday as I was coming in to work.

As for the Pavillions announcement...

largeTEXAS = two for two.

Hi Everyone,

I've been visiting this forum for a while, but this is my first post. Anyways, it looks like they really will make a big announcement tomorrow, based on the Chronicle.

-------------------------

Jan. 24, 2006, 8:12PM

Houston Pavilions signs first big tenant

Helluva first post. I don't know of too many people who could top it.

The Eastex near MMP is definitely a popular hangout spot for the Homeless. Of course, a shelter is nearby so...

largTEXAS' reputation = solid

I hope he isn't double-crossed this go 'round.

When was this taken? Pre EnronII?

Couldn't have been. I see Calpine in the photo. I think Enron II is hidden behind the Continental Airlines Tower.

Maybe the web designers noticed this too and reworked it.

Ah, thanks for the info.

There are several former or current oil fields in southern and southeast Houston, hence the large gaps of undeveloped land you can see on any street map. I'm with 'Coog, however; I'd want to have some extensive soil sampling and soil remediation done before I committed to anything big down there.

OTOH, there have been a couple of developments to move forward in south Houston along 288 over the last year or so, specifically south of Airport Blvd. If the COH has records, I'd be interested to know the history of those developments to see if they did soil sampling, environmental safeguarding and the like.

All of the townhome construction around Buffalo Speedway on the south side of the Loop may be an indicator of what will eventually come of the former Astroworld site. Speculations have always been there concerning some residential components south of the Astroworld site once the rail was completed. The Astroworld land sale might just speed it up.

I see the tunnels as a very considerate feature. The simple truth is that there is a large number of us who are very sensitive to the elements (today, in fact, I had a lady say that it was a bit too nippy for her to walk over to Jason's Deli--this at a very enjoyable, IMO, 64 degrees). So given that, the tunnels serve a distinct and faithful clientelle.

OTOH, in providing for the sensitivities of one group, developers/planners may have gone overboard and to the detriment to traditional street retail. I think the best balance is to find a way to provide better linkage between street level and tunnel access. A pretty good example is the McKinney Garage Entrance on Main Street. You can grab a donut a Krispy Kreme or stop by CVS for whatever and then head down to Rajin' Cajun. Imagine if you then added a higher profile retailer like Old Navy or TJ Max to one of the Main Street Square parcels?

In this, I hope the new park and parking garage will provide a prototype--linking underground Houston with street level Houston in a not-before-seen harmony.

The dog run has been in the plan since the first Site Activity Plan was first released many months ago. I personally think it's one of the very best features of the park. If we want people living downtown, we have to expect some of them might have dogs.

The total relentless negativity on this board is getting quite tiresome. If projects are done with local architects/designers we attack because we're not drawing in fresh world-class talent. If projects are done in a low-key way, we attack because Houston is not doing anything flashy/attention-getting/cutting-edge. If projects are done by world-class designers from outside Houston (such as this park) and they try to make something world-class, we attack because we're trying to be too flashy. If projects are designed without public input, we attack because the powers that be are imposing their designs on us. If projects (such as this one) are designed with huge amounts of public input, we attack because they are trying to please everyone. If downtown parks are vacant green space used by nobody but homeless (which is exactly the current situation of the green portions of what will become this park), we attack. If the city proposes to develop a park that has great potential to actually be used by thousands of people in many different way, we attack. If restaurants/developments are built without adequate parking, we attack. If plans are made to include parking, we attack. For crying out loud, we even attack for the audacity of giving names to projects. I don't think they've named this park yet; I hope it won't be considered to pretentious for it to have a name.

I'm laughing like hell because this is the post I would've made if I had the desire to go through the process of typing it. It's almost to the point where I don't even read info on projects anymore to gain information but to watching the frenzy of people picking every nit possible to the point of contradicting a point they made about another project.

The project will be imperfect. I can't think of one that ever comes out perfect. Anywhere. Then again, going back to some other famous nitpicks to be found at HAIF, it may all be a smokescreen, a fraud. It may never even be built.

Which will take some of us back to another old reliable complaint. You know, the one about nothing ever getting built in Houston.

I'd love for this board to be part of a focus group concerning a proposed project. The developer might kill him/herself after a few readings.

Here's the direct website for the Houston Pavillions project:

http://www.houstonpavilions.com/pavilions_content.html

I would say the the master website for EDG was designed in Korea (look at the copyright date, for example).

Heh. Just created a new thread for this under "Downtown".

Slated to begin construction by end of 2006. The garage would be beneath the large mixed-use public park that would take up two existing parking lots on the south side of the current Houston Center Gardens. The proposed underground garage would replace the lost ground-level parking.

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/sto...09/daily32.html

Trader Joe's could've been (or still could be, I suppose) a tennant at the Camden project on the superblock.

Yes, I've seen this as well, and I'm not sure if they're talking about a different project from the one that shows a picture of a two-story building with retail or not.

One thing that concerns me, though, is that there have been retail parcels available at the HCC building on the southside of Elgin for years and only a copy center and computer supply joint have leased space. I hope it's not an indicator of retail interest in the area.

A Baskin Robbins, at the least.

I know that by the mere fact that we are Houstonians, we fear the worst anytime demo permit and old building are used in the same sentence, but there are some suggestions that this might not be the case. For instance, why paint over graffitti if you are about to knock down a building?

The photo earlier in this thread clearly shows interior demo. There is a huge pile of plaster/drywall on the roof of the one-story addition. Why would they go to that trouble if the entire building is coming down? These are just a few things that I noticed that don't add up to the usual total demo.

Maybe I am being optimistic. We will know shortly.

Good points, and I asked myself the one about covering up the graffiti specifically. Seems like a big waste of time if you were tearing the entire building down.

I wouldn't be upset about a complete demolition if I knew that a large-scale development was taking its place but I doubt the latter's in play. Our worst fears my include them demo'ing the entire building to make room for yet another parking lot to serve MMP.

That would be awful.

Nice pictures.

I thought the Cenikor building at one time had been slated to be yet another hotel and was owned by the same people who own the new Sam Houston Hotel (or whatever it's called now)?

I remember them doing some kind of demolition work to Ben Milam Square, but I think they were removing the fire escapes. It may have been in effort to discourage the homeless/addicts from sneaking in at night.

In addition to that, I've always thought a fountain would also be a good idea for the parking lot that's surrounded by Main/Prairie, Fannin & Preston (the empty lot south of "Live" sports bar).