The Great Hizzy!

I notice that most of the commentators at the Chronicle forum are idiots. Reading such idiocy may provide me with a good amount of entertainment later on

Raising Cane's? No?

How 'bout the first upscale Krystal's?

Seriously, though, my guess is that they're probably just rehabbing the old Chevron.

Inn At The Ballpark hadn't even been completed yet. Heh.

I don't know what will be more fun, reading all the panic when the building doesn't break ground EXACTLY on the first day of fall or watching the building actually go up.

Didn't they used to have a Jamba Juice on the ground floor of the Rice Lofts?

I haven't had any Frenchy's chicken in at least six months.

Anyone want to start a pool on when the first complaints about "gang bangers" ruining HP shows up on The HAIF?

Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick....

As for downtown's purposes, the financial district would seem to be along Smith and Louisiana from the bayou to the Pierce Elevated.

This conversation is really cracking me the hell up.

"Pee On Me" Kroger?

LOL! I don't think I even want to know.

It appears that the proposed dimensions of this unnamed Hines Tower is about 75% of that for Main Place. So we can roughly expect something around 35 stories and between 450 - 480 feet if it comes to fruition.

The bigger issue is that it has decent height and will fill in a prominent void at a high-profile intersection (Texas @ Main).

::Fingers crossed::

Man, are they!

Great pano, indeed. The foliage alone is worth the shot.

I like Chuy's for the most part... PF Chang's not so much.

Houston: doomed to fail... since 1836.

Unless the so-called smart people can be made to feel really cool after college.

Makes me giddy to think about the prospects! Show me more. Maybe when we get it together we can be like New Orleans and Miami. Oh, boy!!

People who actually--gasp!--like Houston don't count. It's more important to check in with a group of so-called smart people, who apparently need sizzle, like TV screens along streets, a spot on Real World and a nice writeup in the latest urban snob publication reminding them how coooooool they are.

If not, the city will fail. Fail. FAIIIIIIIL!!

I'd like to thank the spirit of this thread for giving me a new slogan: Houston Is Fail!

In other words, the eastern edge of the building is vertical--that is, about as straight as any normal building--but the western edge is built so that each superior floor extends further out in relationship to the one beneath it, ultimately giving the side of the building a veering left profile. Nothing more than that. The building isn't exactly "leaning" like the Tower of Pisa or anything like that. Just has more of a sloped design.

No, construction is still on-going. In fact, they've added the frame to one of the newer buildings in the Phase I redevelopment and workers are still on the scene (at least, they were on Friday).

The last weekend the Astros were in town, on a Sunday afternoon, and I saw about a dozen or so people with Astros gear on tooling around the park, so I suspect that a good number of them use it (or have used it) prior to or after a game. We'll see if that becomes routine, like going to the B.U.S. or Home Plate.

Fellas these projects don't happen overnight. There have to be meetings, and then there has to be meetings about the meetings. Then we can start talking about setting up the next meeting to discuss the action items of the first meeting.

You would think people will have learned from the Pavillions ordeal. Then again, there's the Shamrock debacle as a counterpoint.

I guess my real point is don't obsess over it. I try to focus on the numerous project underway to get a feel for how they may help shape the areas in which they're located. It's great to speculate about potential projects but they don't really add anything tangible to the current landscape until they actually break grown.

Take the new tower on Studemont under construction along Memorial Parkway. I think that tower is really going to change the visual landscape of that portion of Buffalo Bayou, and I'm anxious to see what impact it may have on future development in the area.

I really like the Mediterranean mod on the east loop of Parkwood. It's being remodeled right now (and has been for the past 1.5 years, as I think the current owner either bought it with the intention of moving in eventually or is about to sell it for several more than what he invested--not sure which). I'd imagine that the house would go for at least $750K. If only I had a couple extra nickels...

I still laugh at the fact that they have height/size restrictions for dogs in certain areas of the park. "You're too big! Go over... THERE!"

It loosely reminds me of those old "Go Home, Snoopy" specials that I used to watch as a kid.

The Dallas Convention Center expands over S. Lamar St. and, as has been pointed out already, the KC convention center does something similar. So there's plenty of precedent.

If the GRB really needed to expand, I think they'd do one of two things if not both: build another level and/or extend a portion over Polk to the south or I guess Walker/Rusk to the north.

This looks fantastic! I don't know how I've missed this.

You should see in person walking/driving up Louisiana from the 527 Spur. It's juxtaposition from the Calais really gives a different perspective of the Midtown/downtown corridor.

The mix of expanse + height provides a really unique view for your average Houstonian driving up/down Kirby or Westheimer. We usually see buildings like this as part of maybe a hospital complex or warehouse but this is high use residential presented in a fairly unique manner.

I can't wait to see how it looks from Kirby on the NB side once the final exterior elements have been put in place.