Howard Huge

Sure. Dirt Bar, Jan 1, 2020.

ZING!

Sweet mother of mercy! LET IT BE!

Can we all throw a "Block 334 completion party" when this madness is finally over? Jeez

I don't see it taking 50 years for those lots be developed, south downtown is quickly becoming THE residential district of downtown with the Beaconsfield, Houston House, Skyhouse 1 and 2, Fairfield residential, Leon Capital, Block 334, Allied orion and The Hamilton all in the same general area. Once all the newer ones comes online it's only going to spur more residential in that area, and the remaining surface lots anre gonna get scooped up. I'd say closer to 5-10 years before we see more residential plus retail projects filling up the remaining south downtown surface lots.

So there will be a tunnel under pierce?

Well you can't have buildings on top of it unless it is super deep and built to support structures.

In Boston the park isn't a barrier at all, it depends on how it's done.

Huh??

Who said anything about building buildings on top of the pierce elevated? I'm talkin bout tearing it down to reveal the remainder of the surface lots that have been hidden under there forever and using them as real estate again.

I dont get why everyone here says it should be turned into a park or greenspace.

Why?

Why not tear down the elevated and turn the real estate into what it was originally......REAL ESTATE.

I thought the whole point was to break down the "barrier" that divides downtown and midtown. If you keep the elevated and make it a green space, the barrier still stands.

Turn them back into city blocks and let more skyscrapers, condos, apartments etc be built on top of them just like the old days, we increase our block count, our building count, our density and most importantly the barrier comes down and Downtown/midtown become seamless....

Morning friends. About to pour.

Post a video!

I remember their being an asbestos abatement issue as the main reason this building has sat vacant for eons.

Holy Toledo.

You just won the internet.

How many floors is this up to now?

Ahhhh, an Austinite. That explains everything.

I like how even though it's a "fluff" piece on Houston, it starts off with the backhanded comment "Hidden in the haze of petrochemical plants and beyond the endless traffic jams".

Monarch must be loaded.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/13/us-usa-houston-idUSKCN0RD0E420150913

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Hidden in the haze of the petrochemical plants and beyond the seemingly endless traffic jams, a Texas city has grown so large that it is poised to pass Chicago as the third biggest in the United States in the next decade.

Houston has been one of the fastest-growing U.S. cities for years, fueled by an energy industry that provided the backbone of the economy, low taxes and prospects of employment that have attracted job seekers.

But Houston also embodies the new, urban Texas, where political views have been drifting to the left, diversity is being embraced and newer residents are just as likely to drive a hybrid as a pickup truck.

Houston's move is also indicative of demographic shifts unfolding in the United States that will increase the population and political clout of the Lone Star State over the next several decades.

Within eight to 10 years, Houston is forecast by demographers in the two states to pass Chicago, which has seen its population decline for years, as the third-largest city.

Houston is projected to have population of 2.54 million to 2.7 million by 2025 while Chicago will be at 2.5 million, according to official data from both states provided for their health departments. New York and Los Angeles are safe at one and two respectively.

Houston has long been associated with the risk takers in the oil industry and more recently as one of the better cities to find a job.

"Texas has a long tradition, and Houston has it in spades, that we are not so much interested in where you are from. We want to know what you can do," Houston Mayor Annise Parker said in an interview with Reuters.

Chicago officials were not immediately available for comment.

Apart from domestic migration, about one in five Houstonians is foreign born and more than 90 languages are spoken in the city.

"We have that international mindset that the rest of the United States never saw," said Parker, a former oil executive and city controller who has a collection of urban achievement awards and rodeo belt buckles in her office.

On Houston's fringes are petrochemical plants that fuel the economy, space agency NASA that attracts aerospace jobs and a port that handles more foreign tonnage than any other in the United States.

In between is a mass of relatively unplanned urban sprawl, strip malls, ethnic enclaves, trendy restraints and burgeoning green spaces lying under an umbrella of oppressive heat that lasts more than half the year.

ROLLER COASTER ECONOMY

The energy industry, which accounts for about 40 percent of Houston's economy, has sent the fortunes of the city on a roller coaster ride for decades.

With oil currently at around $45 a barrel, the brakes have been slammed on job growth, and a slight chill has entered into the booming construction sector.

Since 1969, Houston has been one of the most successful major U.S. cities in terms of per capita personal income growth. Since about 2003, about 650,000 jobs have been created in the Houston area, according to the University of Houston.

The Houston-area unemployment rate has remained below the national average for years, according to government data, while the Chicago-area has recently been above it.

However, Houston's growth, coming with few zoning restrictions and a loose regulatory system in Texas, has led to persistent problems in air quality and traffic congestion.

'HOW THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN?'

Mayor Parker, who is leaving office after six years due to term limits, made headlines when she was elected the first open lesbian to run a major U.S. city. She capitalized on the media attention as a chance to promote the city as a good place to do business, she said.

The city purchases more renewable energy than any other in the United States, said Parker, who has launched a $250 million project to put bike and hike trials along the bayous, or small rivers, that run through the city like veins.

On social issues, residents in one of the most racially diverse U.S. cities are seen as "tolerant traditionalists" who espouse conservative values and open minds when it comes to social issues, according to a poll from the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Houston's Rice University.

Residents generally have a positive view of immigrants, favor same-sex marriage and are more progressive than the state's socially conservative Republican leadership, it said.

The city ranks near the top in the United States in terms of resettling refugees from abroad and when the price of oil picks up again, it will see a fresh wave of migration from those seeking employment.

"If you see the way the crowd is going, you might as well jump in front of it and make it a parade," Parker said.

(This story has been refiled to add dropped word "by" in second paragraph)

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Additional reporting by Terry Wade; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Nada.

I liked Christians so much, I am going back on Sunday to watch some football.

Well there you go.

Short version:

Downtown doesn't affect the flight paths as much as a tower in the museum district.

Long version:

Downtown is partly inside the surface segment of Hobby's bravo airspace (the restricted airspace for just controlled traffic arriving or departing), which starts is usually 8 nm from the airport (about 9.2 miles). West of Louisiana and North of a east/west line from Rusk @ Louisiana to Ruiz @ Chenevert, Downtown is not in the surface airspace.

The museum district fully inside the airspace, and it's also on the extended center-line from runway 12. The proposed tower would only be 4 blocks away from where an ideal approach would guide a plane in from the northwest.

I suspect the FAA is much more inclined to modify the turning approaches coming into the runway (the ones that curve around downtown right now) compared to a straight in approach; that is the kind that might have to be done with a plane that doesn't have as many instruments

This is still dumb, neither should affect either.

If countless airliners a day can fly right over Manhattan with its 1,776 ft tall freedom tower why can't our planes just do the same and fly OVER any tall buildings we build?

Key word, OVER. As in, even if the proposed skyscraper is DIRECTLY IN THE FLIGHT PATH TO HOBBY, you still simply fly OVER it, I can think of no reason why any craft would have to dip as low as 1,000 ft (our tallest building) and below to land in Southeast Houston.

It's nonsensical.

You're right, who am I fooling. Christians will be a massive failure and will be shuttered within a few months.

Also the car is going the wrong way down Leeland

So then it's an accurate depiction of downtown drivers.

All true. But how well did Live sports bar do in downtown with all those sports nights?

Live sports bar is no Christian's Tailgate, not even close. Lives food sucked, the ambiance sucked and the service was terrible.

I checked out Christian's Tailgate last night. Looks promising. Tried getting a bite to eat, but it was actually full at the bar. Place had a strange smell though. Anyways, the fact that it is busy is a good thing I think.

I hope it works out, but sports bars have not done that well in the past in downtown. NFL games are only 20 or so Sundays a year maybe a few more games sprinkled in on weeknights? What's the sports going to do the rest of the year? Live had trouble with lunch time crowds.

But I won't be a Debbie downer. Like I said it looks promising. Big huge windows on congress (live was like a cave) nice patio, feels like part of the neighborhood.

What's the food like? I heard they have good burgers.

Yeah it's too bad we don't have professional sports teams in baseball and basketball, that would be another 162 games for MLB and 82 games for the NBA. An added bonus would be if those teams were competitive and made it to the playoffs, like the Western Conference finals, that would be even MORE games to watch at the bar.

But yeah, sucks Christians only has 16 games of football a year to draw people in.

Look, I'm glad they're refurbing an abandoned homeless urinal, how bout that. One less abandoned building in downtown.

I think I read once that I.M. Pei originally designed Texas Commerce Tower at 80 stories but the FAA made them knock it down to 75. Don't know if its true but we would still have the tallest building West of the Mississippi if it was.

Like it a lot.

Howard doesn't like though which is a real shocker.

You can't polish a turd.