zaphod

They need to do something similar to 1960 at 59 in Humble. The city of Humble and whoever owns the mall and surrounding properties would probably balk at such a proposal though. But there's ample space on the sides due to the huge ditches, and 1960 goes up to go over the railroad already. Having an elevated structure from the railroad overpass all the way to Townsen would speed up traffic and help with congestion at the freeway where Atasocita bound flows get tangled with flows in and out of Deerbrook Mall and vicinity.

Is it even possible to scrape off the asphalt? It seems to be flaking off naturally but how do you grind it down without tearing up the brick too?

The rendering of the remodel reminds me of what the Domain in Austin looks like.

I always thought it would be cool if one day they tore down the center part of First Colony Mall and had Town Center Blvd continue as a pedestrian-oriented street to the other side. Then where the movie theater is there could be apartments or townhomes. It would greatly expand that area into something more like a little city center for Sugarland.

It's a funky location. It could be convenient for a lot of people but on the other hand it would be hard to enjoy walking around your neighborhood. I wonder if long term there are plans to redevelop the warehouse building next door.

I don't think anyone pays attention to ornamental clock towers. If it claimed to be 13 o' clock it would have taken months for anyone to notice and they'd all be on this site, lol.

 I like to be honest, its inoffensively kitchsy.

I haven't seen anything to suggest that D&B is going out of business permanently but no doubt its hurting and will probably close some locations.

I drove out that way and there is now green fencing, heavy equipment, and lots of earth moving activity on the site.

In fairness, Meyerland is a million times easier to get to than Post Oak, and there's already an Academy near Kirby facing 59 to the east and the Academy that's out towards Memorial City.

I hope long term that shopping center ends up full of vacancies so its owner redevelops it into something much more interesting.

It looks good. I'm glad you guys continue to invest in this site.

Will BBCode being eliminated break older posts? Not that it bothers me, I'm just curious.

Those new renders are a big improvement over the earlier version and look really, really good. I hope this is built. Something about it looks fresh, it's a bit different from the way a lot of other residential highrises look(see Austin's skyline for example).

Without gas stations, I imagine Walgreens/CVS type stores would proliferate instead.

I imagine another advantage of a high rise would be security, and maintenance being something somebody else deals with.

If you lived in a high rise you could open your patio doors and any windows that can open on a nice day and not worry about anyone or anything getting in except maybe Spider-Man.

I wonder what the lifespan of an investment in a gas station is? Like do they expect to get 20 or 30 years out of them? How long does it take to pay off the loan and start making a profit off it? Because while they aren't there yet, it's possible to think that in about 15 to 20 years electric cars will start to disrupt that business. And based on how long cars tend to last, we could see a really substantial, terminal decline in the number of gasoline powered private vehicles in about 25 to 30 years. To put that in perspective, 25 years ago was 1995 and it seems like most of the newer gas stations from that era still exist.

I know that sounds radical, but between 2030 and 2040 many developed countries in Europe and Asia are going to ban new internal combustion automobiles. Even if the US never passes a similar rule, chances are the world's biggest automakers like Toyota and VW and Ford won't sink a lot of resources into continuing development of new engines just for our market and instead we'll get more and more electric models anyways. That will probably the tipping point - in 15 years battery tech is probably going to be both more advanced and also a lot cheaper. And because they'll be mass producing a larger number of electric cars they are probably going to drop in price to start matching gas powered ones. Just remember that 15 years ago we didn't have smartphones or facebook but now they have penetrated the market and are an inexpensive default possession that even relatively poor people own, analogous to owning a refridgerator. And for those wondering about charging infrastructure, it only took about 24 years from the introduction of the Model T to the first Autobahn being built in Germany and the first parkways being built around Los Angeles and New York.

3 hours ago, clutchcity94 said:

So in other words, Boston gets fancy and hip. We get industrial and boring.

To be fair, what function does the Boston office, as a physical brick-and-mortar place, actually have given the present trend towards remote work nowadays? A lot of the administrative stuff this organization does is probably not anchored to a specific city. After all, if you wanted access to the best experts you'd by necessity have a team scattered around the country and perhaps worldwide. And the floor space dedicated to startup work that needs physical presence is probably pretty plain.

The room or building in that picture looks like a glorified event venue for startups to pitch things to investors. It probably remains empty most of the time.

A legit science lab full of prototypes and instruments and test benches would probably employ far more people who might be inclined to live nearby in the city. And it would be an opportunity for creative new startups to take off, some of which may remain in the city and create networks that benefit Houston as a whole for decades to come.

Quote

According to Target's website, their first expansion out of Minnesota happened in 1968, and Houston was one of the cities for this initial expansion:

I had a part time job at a Target and I distinctly remember having to go on an internal website through a PC in the office to do training, schedule changes, etc, and there was a part where you had to select your store out of a list The list had the store's name and its number, and the store numbers are generally sequential so the older the store the lower the number. At least that's what somebody told me. Anyways this is memorable because there was a store in Dallas that was very low numbered, 008 I think, I believe the one by the old Valley View Mall and present day Dallas Galleria. From the outside it doesn't look too old but from Google Maps it has an unusual footprint and a substantial attic or loft in the center of the building which makes it look a bit different. Could it be from way back then? It seems to still be open.

I wonder what the oldest Target in operation is? For that matter I wonder where the oldest Wal-mart is.

It's very unusual to see a Target in a building that wasn't always a Target. The exterior doesn't really match their brand/look either, but then I hope long term the shopping center owners keep that brick and never try to cover over it.

I've always liked the 1990s trend where shopping centers had that eclectic brick/masonry exterior. Nowadays new shopping centers all tend to be modern, gray boxes.

At least it's something to make that part of town feel full besides just the medical center buildings. That area to the southeast of the core part of the med center around the future TMC3 is such a wasteland.

It would be a shame if the crane operator had to sneeze and those porta potties took a tumble...

Well, it looks like Galveston dodged a bullet. So we'll start seeing these rolling eventually!

Are they standard gauge? Maybe they could hitch them to the back of a freight train and take them out of town to a siding somewhere.

Awesome news. Just in time for another hurricane...

But yeah it will be neat to see these return. Maybe by the summer of 2021 we'll be free again and those will be rolling. Seems like good timing.

That's rather frightening...

It looks this thing is still higher up than that though, so it should be okay?

The training buses are having to go far and wide to avoid the construction I guess

Westpark and S. Rice

(all pictures by me)

They are parking in the westpark transit center now. I wonder if they are going to put paint or finish on that exposed concrete?

13 minutes ago, astrohip said:

This made me think, based on the "River Oaks" spread discussion in the other thread... is this the first recorded use of "River Oaks" in a name/description that is actually south of 59? 🙄😒

River Oaks Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge is south of 59 on Kirby. I couldn't tell you when they adopted that name of its always been called that but its been around a while from what I can tell.

But yeah, they should have kept the Sonic name as seen in the property flyer hotlinked above. Sonic the Porsh-ah has a better ring to it.

Who knows.

The idea of building a lot of small units gave me the idea that they could turn it into a dorm for the homeless. They'd have an efficiency unit and there would be onsite security guards. Eligibility would be based on history of involuntary institutionalization, substance abuse, etc. Get them off the street, that would go way further in de-trashing that area than anything else proposed thusfar.