Golyadkin

So the site closest to San Felipe is the location of the square tower that was first revealed years ago? I guess we always thought this new rendering was replacing it, but it's not. Correct?

That's where the confusion is. When the tower that's currently going up (the curved one) was first announced, it was made to sound like it was a replacement for the tower that was always talked about to go on the small block formed by Sky Lark, Post Oak Ln. and San Felipe (this tower: http://swamplot.com/...-blvd-place.jpg). But given that the site plans on their website show both, with that site looking the same as it always has, there's no clear information one way or the other. Personally I'm hoping they go back to their original pre-recession 57-story plan (here: http://www.slideshare.net/whyarc/2012-jy-hanover), but I'd be very happy to see a tower of any kind go there. I'm all for parks but a little patch of grass in that area is frankly IMO.

I'm fairly certain a separate residential building is going in there. I think it's in the BLVD Place master plan.

It is. The plans for that one are still on their site plan map (here: http://www.blvdplace...rojectPlans.htm). Initially that was the site for the Hanover Tower, so there's a little confusion over what's going here now. It may be that Hanover is actually going to be putting up two residential towers here. No concrete information about it that I've seen at this point.

There are two construction sites shown in the photo. One is the Whole Foods complex, I'm not sure what the other is but ChrisPHous seems to indicate that it is Hanover tower. I think he is referring to the bottom photo in which piles are being or about to be driven.

This is the Whole Foods, which actually is basically all of the remainder of BLVD Place, assuming the finish everything planned for that site.

And you are correct, this is the Hanover Tower site:

That looks a lot more than whole foods and Hanover

The main constuction happening isn't just Whole Foods, by the looks of it it is all of the remaining BLVD Place - Phases 1, 2, and 3. And it looks like they've fenced off the area behind the park where the Hanover tower was originally supposed to go and where a tower still appears on the site plans, so we'll have to see what happens there.

Excellent. Any pics of the Mickey D's getting smashed?? Breaks my heart!

It was still open last I went by. I'm sick right now, but when I'm next up for it I'll head over and see if I can't get a definite timetable from someone.

From today:

As long as there is space for people to build a few 10-20 story buildings they will do that over a supertall. Unless there is some massive amount of hubris that drives a developer to build it, the space limitations that necessitate something of that size just don't exist in Houston at the moment. New York keeps getting more and more because they have literally zero land available. Their only option is to demolish something and build something taller where it was. Until downtown gets so dense that that becomes necessary, I don't see anything in the 800-1000+ foot range for a while. I think the most we'll be seeing is 500-600 or so until we fill in at least most of the surface lots downtown.

It's going up on the McDonald's site down the street from BLVD Place (here: http://goo.gl/maps/sElzl). There is a pre-sale trailer that has been in the parking lot for a few months now, and the McDonald's is scheduled to be demolished in January last I heard.

It appears that site prep work as officially begun for the residential tower (this one: http://swamplot.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/hanover-blvd-place-revised.jpg). The site is fenced off, the trees are cleared out, and this thing went up Monday:

I'm not exactly sure what that thing is. I want to say it's like this thing from the BBVA site last year: http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff345/bppedersen/Architecture%20Photos/DSC_0078.jpg, but there isn't a distinct drill-looking thing it in.

From Tuesday afternoon:

I suspect nothing specific is planned for that site, and they just colored it in on the map to indicated that they plan to eventually put something there, and the rendering only includes a single-story building because the guy doing the rendering didn't know what to put there and decided to go with the least obtrusive thing he could.

Sorry I've taken so long with another update shot, and sorry about the quality because of the rain, but here's the site as of 2 minutes ago:

They've finished the underground parking and are well into the construction of the first story.

I just tried to line up a picture from Google streetview with the rendering, and this was about as close as I got:

Rendering:

http://assets5.pinimg.com/upload/133489576426675039_ZuFsGpWk.jpg

Streetview:

http://goo.gl/maps/Qw63V

One thing that I didn't notice before and that I hadn't seen mentioned (sorry if it has been and I missed it) is that it appears that this, like the Hilton Americas, will have a skyway connecting to the GRB.

Is there any info out on phase 2? I couldn't find anything on there.

They tore down the south end zone bleachers today. I walked by as they were tearing them apart. One of the most horrible grinding and tearing metal sounds I've ever heard. Although I suppose my emotional connection to the thing made it seem a lot worse to me that it actually was.

And don't forget "materials native to the state." Loosely translated, this means Limestone and Prairie Grasses. Possibly some cacti and maybe a mesquite tree. It will provide an authentic Texas look, as imagined by a San Diego developer and Chicago landscape architect. But maybe, just maybe, they'll surprise us with Thurber bricks and Trumpet vines.

I wouldn't be surprised if they just covered the landscaped areas with bluebonnets and called it a day.

With the construction of the new FB stadium going on at the same time as the light rail, they decided to hold off on closing Cullen. They also plan to do significant renovations to Hofheinz soon, so that could hold it off as well. I would think that the earliest that they will close Cullen would be 2016. If that were the case, we would only have 3 or 4 more years of wear and tear on that street with heavy construction vehicles running down it. Should be in really great shape by that time.

Factoring in the heavy equipment from all of the construction, after several more years and with the state it's in now, it'll be a gravel road by the time they close it.

I knew they have been planning to close Cullen, just not how far down or what exactly would be done with it. Any ideas on a timeline for that? It may explain why they haven't attempted anything even vaguely resembling maintenance on that road for a long time now.

It reached its full height a good two weeks ago. Not sure what took them so long to have the official topping out. The glass has been going up REALLY fast. At the current rate, I'd say the entire structure will be covered before the end of next month.

They still don't seem to have started construction on the garage extension, though.

The only thing about it being so close to parking that is awkward to me is there doesn't appear to be even so much as a covered walkway between them. I just feel like there should be some kind of connection between the two structures for some reason.

I noticed today when I walked by the stadium that someone spray painted some graffiti on the upper walls of both sides.

I hope they take the opportunity with everyone already expecting a bunch of construction issues to just repave Cullen entirely. It's one of the worst roads in the city.

Actually they installed those over a weekend about two weeks before Thanksgiving break. They closed Cullen late Friday afternoon and reopened it Monday morning.

It's not just UH:

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Gunman-flees-after-robbing-Rice-student-at-bus-4058861.php

From a few minutes ago. A lot of glass has gone up. I'm really liking the facade so far:

And from a few days ago:

It's reached its full height, they look to just be installing the mechanical floor at the top.