4 hours ago, Montrose1100 said:

It could use some TLC on those tight little turns. Plus the general space down there is devoid of any human touches. Feel like you're riding a tram into an underground lab (Half-life or Resident Evil style).

They are working on a complete replacement, last I heard.

2 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

Wish there were more renderings of the Terminal D renovations.  Hard to make much of the ones in the presentation--they make the concourse look like it has lower ceilings than it does (unless those are photos of D1-D3).  I also wonder what's being done with all the pre-security space since it will no longer be needed.

Yeah, I've been curious about the plans for the soon-to-be vacant space in the Terminal D building.

4 hours ago, rechlin said:

That article says it's one of only 2 golf courses in the city ("It's one of only two courses in the city, for example.").  How do they come up with that?  Even excluding country clubs, there are three city-run courses inside the loop alone (Memorial Park, Hermann Park, and Gus Wortham).

The writer must be trying to get a job at the Chron.

6 minutes ago, kennyc05 said:

Subway?

Yes, that's the name of the pre-security inter-terminal train.

Slides from today's update to City Council Economic Development Committee:

https://www.houstontx.gov/council/committees/econdev/20230621/ITRP-Update.pdf

In another presentation today, a rough timeline for completion of major airport projects was mentioned:

ITRP (International terminal projects) - CY 2024

Major Projects (7-gate expansion and other Southwest projects at Hobby; Skyway, Subway and a Solar farm at Bush) - CY 2027

DTRP (Terminal A Expansion; Terminal D East Pier) - CY 2031

United Rebuild of Terminal B - CY 2027

Sounds interesting.  Can you provide a link?

Also, I'd love to learn more about the conversions of parking to other uses, but have come up empty in my web searches.  Could you provide any additional information  please, or links?

Re:  900 N Michigan, I found that they converted 8 floors of office to additional residential, but can't find anything about converting parking to other uses.

On 6/19/2023 at 11:38 PM, staresatmaps said:

If you want these facilities, you should encourage them in your own neighborhood. Concentrating homeless services has been shown to destroy neighborhoods. Share the load.

1 hour ago, editor said:

As luck would have it, this is my neighborhood!  And I would have no objection to a public hygiene facility replacing any of the surface parking lots.

And, as has been previously noted, such a place already exists downtown (in Editor's neighborhood) at The Beacon.

On 6/19/2023 at 11:38 PM, staresatmaps said:

If you want these facilities, you should encourage them in your own neighborhood. Concentrating homeless services has been shown to destroy neighborhoods. Share the load.

1 hour ago, editor said:

[Citation needed]

While perhaps not conclusive, one can see pretty strong evidence if one looks around The Beacon.

14 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

I was wondering the significance of the Sabin Vaccine Institute in related to the TMC. Is there an actual Sabin Vaccine Institute in Houston? As far as I know, the SVI is located in Washington, DC.

I ask because, on TMC's website, under the Member Institutions page, SVI is listed.

Anyone know why they are affiliated with Texas Medical Center? All the other companies are located in Houston.

 

Found this:  "Leaders of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital today announced an agreement to move Sabin's vaccine development program to Texas Children's and BCM as part of the recruitment of world renowned neglected diseases expert Dr. Peter Hotez."

https://www.texaschildrens.org/about-us/news/releases/bcm-texas-childrens-announce-recruitment-dr-peter-hotez-and-team-major-advance-develop-vaccines

36 minutes ago, editor said:

Can someone explain the use of the word "trill" in this context?  Is this a rap music term?

 

From a Texas Highways  story about Trill Burgers:

I asked Bun what sets his burger apart considering that it’s heavily influenced by “a big trend in California,” according to co-owner Nguyen. “It’s the trillness that sets the burger apart,” Bun says. The word “trill,” coined by Bun and fellow Houston rapper Paul Wall, is slang for being true or real. It might not mean much if you’re not into hip-hop culture, but Houston very much is.

https://texashighways.com/travel-news/cheer-sear-smashed-burgers/

Where is the Area Command currently located?

Very interesting. Any idea of what became of the central laundry?  Do they no longer have it?

3 hours ago, IntheKnowHouston said:

The site plan indicates a 52-parking garage on the corner Crocker St (located on the 708 Hyde Park Blvd and 714 Hyde Park Blvd parcels). However, in the variance request submission, developers state plans for a 54-parking garage.

 

Does the 54 possibly count the 2 cars parked in the Deliveries area?

18 hours ago, IntheKnowHouston said:

 

I think the former Woodshed space in Levy Park is leased or in lease negotiations. An entity was recently filed for Hearsay at Levy Park LLC. Maybe the restaurant is expanding to 3728 Wakeforest Ave?

At present, Hearsay has two locations in downtown Houston and another in The Woodlands.
 

… and Galveston 

3 minutes ago, astrohip said:

Not exactly Highland Village, but close...

Cyclone Anaya's is moving into the location formerly occupied by Frank's.

https://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/cyclone-anayas-mexican-kitchen-river-oaks-location/

I love the pic in the article, people milling around the front of it, strolling around the area. I guess they're going to relocate the 6 lanes of Westheimer that happen to be in front of this location.

Or 4 lanes of traffic plus a turn lane, but who’s cutting?  All of Westheimer inside the loop is slowly becoming more and more pedestrian-friendly.

38 minutes ago, txtiger said:

The 2022 'TEA Theme Index' from AECOM is available for referencing.  HMNS holding at no. 11 amongst US-wide museum attendance.

AECOM - TEA Theme Index 2022.1 (1).pdf(Review) - Adobe cloud storage

Additional link, here, if that above doesn't work:

Events & News - Themed Entertainment Association (teaconnect.org)

and Houston metro has three of the top 20 North American water parks. 

3 hours ago, trymahjong said:

COH has an environmental action plan

http://greenhoustontx.gov/contact-search.html

I wonder if raising awareness about faulty planting/planning of ROW, medians etc could be added to that-

it would take a huge amount of pressure  from citizens but it would be worth it.

COH could start with a simple program of handing out free native Texas seeds.....or native trees.....or trees to be torn down   could be transplanted stead.

surely that would cost no more, than the small replicas of recycle bins that were handed out last week at big PR thingy on illegal dumping.

 

How about something like this?  https://www.treesforhouston.org/tree-giveaways

Trees For Houston hosts monthly giveaways during the planting season!

3 hours ago, editor said:

I'm always dismayed when I see so much un-landscaped public space.  For example, the medians and sidewalk areas (called "margins" or "parkways" in other cities, I don't know what the term is in Houston).  Too often they're just dirt and some developer laid irrigation pipe over it and walked away. 

I wish there were neighborhood gardening clubs or other groups that could get permission to tend to these areas; especially the city-owned ones. 

There are such clubs/organizations in many neighborhoods (the last two neighborhoods I've lived in both had programs to landscape the esplanades or boulevards.  Many other neighborhoods with strong HOAs also landscape such areas.

But to your point, I've often thought it would be nice if Houston (city or an organization similar to Trees for Houston or Scenic Houston) made an effort to beautify and maintain the many esplanades/boulevards in the city/metro.  I think we have an unusual amount of them and if we landscaped/maintained all of them (or at least more of them), we could call ourselves the City of Boulevards.

16 minutes ago, Amlaham said:

Does this mean the metro bus parking will move all together? That would be a good location for a mix-use. 

IIRC, I think Metro stays in the remaining property, at least for now.

On 6/11/2023 at 11:23 AM, hindesky said:

"For Texas Monthly's round-up of "Best Hotels in Texas," one Bayou City destination made the cut. Well, two if y'all count an honorable mention.

La Colombe d'Or offers cozy quarters in Montrose and snagged the No. 1 spot on the Lone Star State magazine's list.

The Houston version opened as a hotel in 1979 and closed four decades later for a total face-lift. In 2021, La Colombe d'Dor reopened in a big way: with a 34-story residential tower, 19 guest suites, five Impressionist artist-inspired mansion suites, and a cluster of courtyard-facing apartment-style accommodations."

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/lifestyle/article/la-colombe-d-or-best-hotel-18143908.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaG91c3RvbmNocm9uaWNsZS5jb20vbGlmZXN0eWxlL2FydGljbGUvbGEtY29sb21iZS1kLW9yLWJlc3QtaG90ZWwtMTgxNDM5MDgucGhw&time=MTY4NjUwMDU4MzAyMA==&rid=ODVmNWI1NzgtZjFhOS00YzQwLWI5NTctZTc1YzE4ZjQ2OWU3&sharecount=MQ==

Actually, the article was "Best NEW Hotels in Texas", and also included the Galvez in its list of Best.  (The Chronicle of late seems to think their coverage area is solely within the Houston city limits, so they didn't mention the Galvez).

6 hours ago, quietstorm said:

The Beacon at the Episcopal Diocese downtown provides hot showers daily. If a person is mentally they may not know or have the capacity to locate the center; but many homeless residents shower there each day. 

Editor's eagerness to disparage Houston won out over the facts again.

31 minutes ago, Triton said:

Man, I'm going to be sad when they tear down Tout Suite. Someone was telling me it was the first Ford dealership in Houston... ?

There’s at least one thread on this forum about old Ford dealerships.  I don’t see anything about a dealership at this location. 

12 hours ago, hindesky said:

They are putting up a fence and taking away the sidewalk, I would have thought they would have done this first to keep the prying neighbors eyes off the project. 🙈🙉🙊

 

I thought it had been fenced for years.

6 hours ago, 004n063 said:

I figured they'd do the stations similarly to how they did them for the silver line, with each direction's stop being on the "before" side of the intersection.

I agree that the Montrose and Shepherd ones probably aren't changing - just making a minor critique. I think there could have been more discretionary trip catchment than there ultimately will be.

Have you taken any of the opportunities to share those thoughts with Metro?

I just discovered a new tab on the front page of the HAS website labeled "Redevelopment Projects".  A lot of good photos, renderings, and videos in there.

www.fly2houston.com

Quick update.  The Downtown Management District received an update on the Cotswold Fountain repairs at their recent meeting.  When the minutes come out we should be able to see what they learned.  Stay tuned.  (Unless you are one who prefers to stick with the belief that Houston's standard MO is to let everything fall into disrepair and never do anything about it.) 

I was pleasantly surprised to see the Chronicle had such a prompt story about Houston's number of Fortune 500 companies.  And they even touted that we have more than "any other city other than New York City".  That is false.  Chicago metro also has more than Houston.

And then, they reported our number wrong. With the number they reported, we would not even  be the third-ranked metro.  I was briefly confused because, despite at least suggesting that we had more than DFW, she reported fewer.  And the Dallas Morning News  even said Houston has more than DFW.

Fortune  even did the work for them, showing the numbers in the largest concentrations.

Houston   - 25 Fortune 500  companies, not 22 as reported by the Chronicle (and that's still without ExxonMobil, which will officially relocate in the next couple months).  In 2022 we had 24.

Dallas  - 24 (including ExxonMobil).  In 2022 DFW had 23.

1.  New York City  59
2. Chicago  31
3. Houston  25 (26 with ExxonMobil)
4. DFW  24 (23 without ExxonMobil)
5. San Jose  20

Texas is the top state with 55.  California second with 53.  New York third with 50.

2 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

Agenda for meeting, item 3, first person listed: Mario Diaz, Director, Houston Airport System.

https://www.houstontx.gov/council/committees/econdev/20230531/agenda.pdf

Not to mention:

(1) I'd say it's pretty "best practice" for an organization to trumpet a multiple hundred-million-dollar investment in one's facility, wouldn't you?

(2) The City has responsibility for any apron work, so it is not exclusively a United project.

While they may not want much press prior to the Board approval, the documents were presented in a public forum, so one would think it would also behoove them to "control the narrative."

Good for you, Matty.  Excellent digging finding that agenda.

I actually watched the meeting.  Mario was not there.  Another HAS person was there.  All he did was introduce the United Airlines people and United 100% made the presentation. 

I suspect they are in agreement that there will not be press releases until the United board approves it.