Johnme

It's a bad time to be a mall. Especially one that was already struggling.

I work just down the street from the mall, and I wish it were better. I have shopped at Macy's, but the mall interior struck me as underlit and depressing (I haven't been in it for about a year, though--it may have improved).

The mall has not changed much in the past year with the exception of a few store changes and the upcoming closure of the Sears location. My blog at http://southernretail.blogspot.com/ has pictures and information from Greenspoint and other malls in Texas and Louisiana.

Here are a few shots around town from December 23

I have changed my opinion of the mall in the past few months. The owners have managed to refill almost half of the nearly empty food court and attract many new in-line tenants. I think that the mall has a good chance of rebounding such as Pasadena Town Square has. If they can get the anchor spot refilled facing 59 this mall will rebound. There have been many successful projects like the PlazAmerica plan that have refilled malls in the United States. The new owners of the mall are much more aggressive with marketing and taking care of repairs to the mall, so the mall is in much better hands now.

this is awesome, another crane in Downtown, left me a feeling wanting some proof,though

Check out my pictures from September 4th, 2009 at this link for proof. Work has officially started. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=164691&page=3

Here is a sample

I really like those pics.

Thanks; I wish that I had a better camera because of all of the glare that this one has in the photos.

Do you work nearby? You are really consistent with photo updates. Thank you.

I am actually the photographer on most of the recent pictures including these that were posted from upupup, and other Houston buildings. I visit downtown twice a month or more because my kids love the Discovery Green park. I take pictures of the high rise construction in the downtown area for the skyscraper page forums. You will see my updates there before you see them here.

I always like seeing what is under the ground. All those piers make me wonder what used to be there. Anyone know? Also, in the pics and video there is a big concrete ball and a red or orange circular structure taht looks like a well or somehting. Anyone that has seen this up close know what it is?

I was the one who took those pictures last week when I took my family to Discovery Green and I have no idea what those objects are. I took those pictures over the construction fence, so I did not see those items until I reviewed the pictures later. The next time I go down there I will try to see if I can talk to a worker about what those objects are. I go downtown twice a month and send my pictures to the skyscraperpage forum, so be on the lookout for more info there and here. My screen name is johnme there as well.

The mall�s owner and others have been floating proposals to redevelop the property with the help of public funds. One idea is to tear down the mall and build an open-air shopping center in its place.

But the core of the mall and its anchors have separate owners, which makes a large-scale redevelopment challenging.

http://www.chron.com...ss/6500196.html

I know that the mall went into bankruptcy, so did someone else purchase it? If that is not the case the owners do not have enough money to tear down a wall much less the whole mall. This mall really has declined since Macy's and Fingers closed; the food court only has one restaurant left! I have taken several pictures of the mall in the past year that I have posted on my blog at http://southernretail.blogspot.com/ . I have several other Houston Malls and I have created articles accompanying these photos. Check my site out and leave comments or submissions.

I've said this before and i'm going to say it again. I'm not suggesting that Houston be like Vegas or anything else. I merely pointed that out as an example as to how lights can have an impact on the city and make it more of a 24hour place.

I've talked with many travelers and yes, they go to Vegas primarily to see the entertainment shows and gambling. On the other hand, most of the time when they do talk about Vegas, they asscoiate, "I just love the lights and walking the strip at night".

Now for Houston. No you don't have to be Vegas, NYC, Tokyo, Atlanta, Dallas or anything else. There are many cities that light up their skyline tastefully without being too bright. Examples are: Denver, Portland, and Austin. But Houston could at least stop lighting virtually every building with Christmas lights and replace it with something else. That's all i'm saying.

Exactly, would you go to a store if the sign was off and it looked dark? That is the image downtown has now and some of the downtown clubs have suffered because the city looks like it shuts down after dark. Image is everything!

Point taken. But couldn't that be addressed with technology? Can't LEDs be used whenever possible? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they are quite better as far as the use of electricity goes.

By the way, the article doesn't say that they would turn them off completely, just from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m., when no one sees them but the night owls and truckers blowing through town.

I'd be happy if downtown Houston was well-lit for the same amount of hours that Dallas is talking about shutting down--4. 8 pm to 12 am is a good start IMO. Plus it looks as if the ordinance isn't limited to downtown Dallas, but would include nearly all businesses except those open between 2 and 6.

I agree with you completely; our downtown looks like a ghost town and we are the fourth largest city in the United States! Dallas and Austin have us beat on nighttime skylines and they are getting better with each new development. If they really want to save electricity they can shut off the lights in the unoccupied offices at night and that would make a real difference. We could go with a 10pm shutoff and I would be happy with that.

Oh gosh, think of all the energy that is wasted on that bridge, and in this era of conservation and environmental consciousness! And that golden, lit up building! Doesn't that drive away potential downtown residents?!

Wow Cleveland's skyline looks better than ours. What a shame!

I think we should take a page from Sydney and turn off the lights at night.

Glitz and glamour vs. global warming.

Just save the energy.

While you are at it shut down the factories all along HWY 225. There are much better ways to save energy.

Does anyone have a picture of Heritage Plaza all lit up? When I moved to Houston it was only pieces lit up at night, but at least it was something. Then one day the whole thing was on, and then never again.

I have some old videos of Houston at night from when that building was lit up, but I have yet to post those online.

Ummm i think the lighting downtown lately is terrible. the only building that has any lighting on top is the continental building. what happend to the light on top of the wells fargo tower or chase tower. the two tallest buildings in Houston dont light up the top at night. I realize it is probably more cost effective to not have lights on top but neon lighting dosnt cost that much. Downtown would look so much better if all the buidings were all lit up at night. Kind of like when we used to have that laser show every year, they lit up the skyline awesome for that event.

I agree with you completely; our downtown looks like a ghost town and we are the fourth largest city in the United States! Dallas and Austin have us beat on nighttime skylines and they are getting better with each new development. If they really want to save electricity they can shut off the lights in the unoccupied offices at night and that would make a real difference.

Yeah, I'm sorry but this whole "let's conserve energy by not turning on all of the lights" is a load of crap.

We need to light-up everything in downtown. A clear night shouldn't go by that WEDGE tower, JP Chase, and Wells Fargo arent' lit up from end to end. I think it looks tacky, and it does not show pride in our downtown.

Think about how visitors to the city feel. "Oh, that's downtown?? uh, ok, but I kinda like Dallas' better... it's big and bright!"

I agree with you completely; our downtown looks like a ghost town and we are the fourth largest city in the United States! Dallas and Austin have us beat on nighttime skylines and they are getting better with each new development. If they really want to save electricity they can shut off the lights in the unoccupied offices at night and that would make a real difference.

The Woodlands Mall has a Sonic inside too.

Here are some pics that I took when these lights were up; the greenspoint area was changed to red also during the same time. I too thought this was for Valentine's day. They should keep lights such as these on 100% of the time as in the past; the push to go green is not saving much electricity and makes our downtown look like a ghost town. I would be happy if the lights went on from dusk to 10pm as a compromise.