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Texasota

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Everything posted by Texasota

  1. Texasota
    It's like diet Zaha
  2. Texasota
    Hopefully that's a sign that the renovation of Great Southwest is moving along...
  3. Texasota
    ...I'm kinda ok with this.
  4. Texasota
    Food market sounds really promising.
  5. Texasota
    It looks like the newer rendering effectively lost one "floor" from the crown.
  6. Texasota
    I agree that the site plan we've seen looks fine, but it's an old site plan and could very easily change. And that's the thing. The moment it becomes private, the developer can do whatever they want with it. They can gate it. They can fill it in. They can covert it into a pit full of spikes. Making it private makes anything possible.
  7. Texasota
    I would think that a temporary (12-18 month) closure could be worked out that would be preferable to abandonment. It looks like they're also narrowing the street. One issue is actually that the street has a vast array of arcane rules regulating street width, lane width, number of lanes etc that could pose a problem. I wonder if they could reclassify it as an alley? Or
  8. Texasota
    I also think that the argument for abandoning a street that dead ends into a major street really only makes sense in the context of cars and buses. If you're on a bike or walking, having a cut-through to a major street like Main can be really valuable.
  9. Texasota
    It would be great if they've standardized the design enough that, like Skyhouse, they can plop multiple copies of it down quickly and (relatively) inexpensively. Of course, Skyhouse gets away with that partially by separating the parking garage and letting that change shape depending on the site, but blocks in and near downtown are similar enough in size, and there are plenty of entirely vacant blocks, that I could imagine this developer making it work if they were thoughtful with the original design.
  10. Texasota
    And now it will dead end at Fannin, so we can abandon that block. And then it will dead end at San Jacinto, so we can abandon that block. And so on.
  11. Texasota
    But Jesse Jones had a hand in an enormous amount of real estate. Soon every block downtown will be the Jones something-or-other...
  12. Texasota
    This was originally multiple lots that they are converting into a single lot (which apparently includes abandoning the street and incorporating its ROW into the lot.) You know...I like this project. I do. But the city needs to start being a lot more careful about abandoning ROW. Yes, these individual blocks of side streets are not that big of a deal (individually), but the city really needs to get something from the developer out of it. Like money. Or maintaining a pedestrian cut-through. Or low-income housing. SOMETHING. This land is not worth nothing. Edit: OK, looking at the site plan I see they're basically just converting it into a private street, but then, why is that ok? Why is the city just abandoning their authority over the street, if it's not even meaningfully necessary for the development's design?
  13. Texasota
    I don't understand "my street will be full of cars" as a complaint. It's a public street; that's where cars belong. I do understand if drunken people are obnoxious in front of your house, but they really shouldn't be driving anyway... Not sure what the solution is other than continuing to increase density and improve transit. Maybe some kind of program to encourage people to use Uber?
  14. Texasota
    And it would really tie the whole neighborhood together with the Rice and the new towers right nearby.
  15. Texasota
    Wait, are they naming it after the smaller building next door? The Great Jones Building? That's... weird. https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7589348,-95.3634507,3a,75y,274.54h,96.73t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7KflKh-NxXnH6uWjTmbfNA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1
  16. Texasota
    It looks like they're reintroducing retail at the corner of Rusk and Main: http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/Commissions/docs_pdfs/hahc/Application_Materials/April_MATERIALS/712_Main_Gulf_Building_App_Materials.pdf
  17. Texasota
    Actually it looks like they're not touching the Texas Direct Auto sign; they are just putting a (underwhelming-looking) bar in at the ground floor.
  18. Texasota
    yeah, that faux plaster effect is hideous.
  19. Texasota
    yeah, it might be time to figure out some other permeable pavement and abandon this (probably pretty expensive to maintain) lawn.
  20. Texasota
    I'm sorry, but a golf course is not a park. I am otherwise very sympathetic to this argument though. How much of the gardens really need to be restricted access?
  21. Texasota
    That's really great; they're anchoring all four corners with retail. Hopefully they get some diverse tenants.
  22. Texasota
    This is being funded by the Downtown District, NOT the city. Now, obviously that money is coming from somewhere, but it's likely coming from residents and businesses downtown, not anyone in Montrose or the Heights.
  23. Texasota
    Just a permanent farmer's/flea market would be fantastic
  24. Texasota
    A real market would be absolutely fantastic here. Something like Reading in Philadelphia, Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis, or something like SA's mercado. Possible a bit smaller scale I suppose.
  25. Texasota
    The worst thing about the J W Mariott is that it is literally directly across the street from the Gulf Building, one of the finest buildings in the city. It is a broken, wretched mockery of a building that, by its very existence, sickens and befouls everything around it. the J W Mariott is an abomination.
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