SkylineView

From Sept 2.

From Sept 2.

From Sept 2. Absolutely nothing going on at the site.

From Sept 2.

From Sept 2.

From Sept 2.

Tower crane is up. They're moving right along.

Pumapayam is correct. New website on the trailers... http://www.astoriahouston.com/index.html.

Triangular building, McD's appears to stay.

The outcry against this perplexes me. Wouldn't it be better to reduce street traffic immediately adjacent to the ballpark and create a dense street-level pedestrian experience? I for one will miss parking in these lots for $20 and walking across the street to the ballpark, but it never really seemed like a long term situation. It would be a bonus to approach the park around or through something other than an empty parking lot with homeless dudes.

As an aside, the last game I attended I parked across the street in one of the lots taken up by this development. I showed up in the 3rd inning and there was half the lot full. Most people aren't parking here anyway, and are walking from further afield. Given the size of the ballpark and multiple entrances, I can't imagine many scenarios that would increase the walking distance more than 1/2 a block.

At least they are starting to get the site ready. I drove past and it looks like they are carefully boxing up the trees for relocation.

Well that's an interesting comment. Is it possible that the dilapidated trailer parked at the McDonalds on north Post Oak is the future sales office of something?

Sorry to bump this, but this is a question I've had for a while, is the Hotel 31 even open? I drive past this all the time, and I can't even tell.

Thank you Jay, Chris, and Lockmat. I didn't know where to drop this Terranova trailer observation. They've been there for about 2 weeks, so I have to believe it's not a short-term parking issue. That said, they look like @ss and have not been improved in any possible way since being parked there. Wasn't Randall Davis involved in Terranova? Could this be the prelude for a new yet-to-be-released project sales office?

Much appreciated.

Checked out the Skanska website... looks like it's only 14 floors now?

http://www.usa.skanska.com/Brochures/3009-Post-Oak/

Thanks for posting the pic Lockmat... in fact, thanks for TAKING the pics. I'm all for density, and I love uptown, but that corner facade is hideous.

Thanks for the info DevelopmentX... I have to ask though, why is this such a prime spot for a Whole Foods? There a Rice Epicurean literally across the street, and there's a Randalls Flagship one block down San Felipe. Going the other way is another Rice, a Target (full grocery store), and a Central Market. Given that Blvd place will ultimately have traffic and (if convenient) 'complicated' parking, I just don't see how this works... unless they really do put 1,000 residential units on the west side of the development, but that seems optimistic.

Eh... has anyone else noticed the cladding they've put up on this guy? Right now it covers the full south east corner (maybe the bottom 3 floors)... it's visible on the webcam. Mother of God. It's maybe the least pedestrian-friendly facade I could imagine... unless they were to actually just make it a solid concrete wall right up against the road. I know this is covering a parking garage, but it looks like a prison.

Out in 2018 would mean moving in 2017 would mean construction starts in 2015 which means design is done in 2014... (ish). So they have 18 months to plan their new home.

I feel like this place is in a no-mans land. You won't have apartment density to drive interest in anything more than a coffee shop or maybe a bookstore within walking distance of the neighborhoods across the street. People aren't going to drive by here and stop because the traffic down Westheimer is awful, and if they want to drive through it they could just as easily go to Highland Village, the Galleria, Uptown, or even West Ave. I'd say this could be another development like what there is at Wesleyan / Richmond, but there isn't 4.2M sq feet of office space next door... I support Kinkaid, drop the retail... or at least call a spade a spade, cut it back to two smaller spaces, and drop a Starbucks logo on one of them.

mfastx... are they not redoing the 610-45 debacle with the rest of the work on north 610? If not, that's a real travesty.

I'm not sure this is any different than anywhere else in Houston. As stated, they already have thousands at Greenspoint, and many live north of town. If anything it will cut traffic going further south (until the buildings fill back up). I view this like another Greenway Plaza. In fact, the "trivia" page on Greenway's webpage says they have 13,000 parking spaces, so 10k employees wouldn't be too far off. It's a rush from 8-9 and 5-6, but otherwise everyone meanders in and out orderly.

I agree the plans look vague... part of the issue is that it's a rainbow orgasm of an engineering diagram... my eyes can't super impose the final design over the top of the right-of-way lines, shifted lane configurations, and overlapping ramps. If I even get it half right, it looks like 610 SB gets it's own chimney rock exit (along with an improved 59 NB/SB split) that merges with a pre-exited 59 SB lane to avoid the merge while existing 610 SB to 59 SB braids over the top. It also looks like 59 NB to 610 SB will braid over exiting 610 SB at Fournace, with something similar happening going NB. For that matter, it looks like the ramps are going to be lofted about half a mile in advance of the stack, a la west 8 @ 10. Finally (hopefully) it looks like they may also braid over the 610 SB to 59 NB stuff, which would solve the cluster at Wesleyan.

This project was news to me. Glad to see they are at least considering it. The 610 south to 59 exit situation is quite possibly the worst abortion in the Houston area. Did anyone happen to attend the meeting back in April?

http://www.txdot.gov/project_information/projects/houston/59_610.htm

/Walked into the middle of something... turns and exits through the side-door.