Ion District In Midtown

[phillip_white]

3 hours ago, hindesky said:

Looks like they're about to start striping.

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[77002er]

Nice to see a lot of seating for the homeless to set up house.

[monarch]

1 hour ago, 77002er said:

Nice to see a lot of seating for the homeless to set up house.

^^^ actually, "the homeless" are not only human beings, they are citizens of our fair city.  please BE BETTER!

[004n063]

12 hours ago, 77002er said:

Nice to see a lot of seating for the homeless to set up house.

Nice to see a lot of seating for like, ya know, sitting. Sometimes it's really nice to be able to sit down when you've been walking for a while.

[phillip_white]

18 hours ago, hindesky said:

I drove by the garage recently and was extremely impressed with the level of detail and expense Rice has put into it. I can only imagine how good the future phases are going to look.

[Big E]

On 5/7/2023 at 8:40 AM, 004n063 said:

Nice to see a lot of seating for like, ya know, sitting. Sometimes it's really nice to be able to sit down when you've been walking for a while.

There are in fact outdoor seats specifically designed to discourage people doing things like sitting on them for long periods of time or laying down on them, to discourage the homeless for congregating. Japan uses them all the time. These seats may not be designed with that in mind, though they probably should be, to encourage people to sit while not encouraging vagrants to congregate.

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[77002er]

On 5/6/2023 at 10:03 PM, monarch said:

^^^ actually, "the homeless" are not only human beings, they are citizens of our fair city.  please BE BETTER!

I will when they stop harassing me on a daily basis

[hindesky]

[editor]

On 5/8/2023 at 5:43 PM, Big E said:

There are in fact outdoor seats specifically designed to discourage people doing things like sitting on them for long periods of time or laying down on them, to discourage the homeless for congregating. Japan uses them all the time. These seats may not be designed with that in mind, though they probably should be, to encourage people to sit while not encouraging vagrants to congregate.

That design also discourages skateboarders from using them as launching and sliding pads.

[monarch]

^^^ @hindesky superb illustrations!

[hindesky]

As certain heavy industry sectors make plans to decarbonize their activities, a Greentown Labs Houston member looking to serve those potential clients landed significant funding.

New York-based Ambient Fuels, which has a coworking space at Greentown Labs' San Jacinto Street location, landed up to $250 million from San Francisco-based Generate Capital for planned green hydrogen projects.

[bobruss]

I've heard from reliable sources that this whole project is going to slow down. With Rice's new administration, and reorganization of Rices direction they are rethinking their future plans for Ion, and a hoped for master plan for  Rice's property in the Village.  They have released their real estate team and reorganizing their priorities. They have dropped RDA which has been an important community compass helping to guide the city in the right direction. Apparently this project doesnt fit in with the new direction Rice plans to go. I hope this isn't true but I do trust my source.

[Houston19514]

https://www.ricedesignalliance.org/about/faq#:~:text=RDA discontinued all fundraising activities,fundraising as a standalone entity.

"This evolution is a shift away from a fundraising-dependent, membership-based model—which it became over the course of 50 years—back to RDA’s original mission, which is focused on urban and design advocacy in Houston and beyond with more direct community engagement."

Edited May 21, 2023 by Houston19514

[BEES?!]

I wonder what “new direction” they want to go in? That’s so disappointing! This is one of the most exciting and promising developments in the city :(

[texan]

To confound matters more, this post from a director at the Ion says the Ion District is growing from 300k sqf to 3M.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/joeysanchez_ionaf-ionhouston-iondistrict-activity-7064970171894935555-SVp0?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

[Dewey]

19 hours ago, bobruss said:

I've heard from reliable sources that this whole project is going to slow down. With Rice's new administration, and reorganization of Rices direction they are rethinking their future plans for Ion, and a hoped for master plan for  Rice's property in the Village.  They have released their real estate team and reorganizing their priorities. They have dropped RDA which has been an important community compass helping to guide the city in the right direction. Apparently this project doesnt fit in with the new direction Rice plans to go. I hope this isn't true but I do trust my source.

At least we now have that parking garage to compliment the existing surface parking lots. I was worried we wouldn't have enough in Midtown. 

[Houston19514]

On 5/21/2023 at 1:12 PM, bobruss said:

I've heard from reliable sources that this whole project is going to slow down. With Rice's new administration, and reorganization of Rices direction they are rethinking their future plans for Ion, and a hoped for master plan for  Rice's property in the Village.  They have released their real estate team and reorganizing their priorities. They have dropped RDA which has been an important community compass helping to guide the city in the right direction. Apparently this project doesnt fit in with the new direction Rice plans to go. I hope this isn't true but I do trust my source.

I'm curious if there have been any actions taken or even statements made by Rice's new administration that show they are reorganizing Rice's direction?

This sounds like typical campus rumor mill that spins like crazy when a university gets a new President.

I also note that in January they launched a "Building Rice's Future" planning process, so it's unlikely any major changes in direction regarding The Ion would have been decided before the planning process is completed (and the process is planned to take all year).

Somewhat related; the new President has pretty cool video  on this page:

https://president.rice.edu/

 

Edited May 22, 2023 by Houston19514

[clutchcity94]

14 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

I'm curious if there have been any actions taken or even statements made by Rice's new administration that show they are reorganizing Rice's direction?

This sounds like typical campus rumor mill that spins like crazy when a university gets a new President.

Somewhat related; the new President has pretty cool video  on this page:

https://president.rice.edu/

 

He looks very much like former Rocket Mario Elie!

#UserNameChecksOut

[bobruss]

This wasn't from a student rumor mill. This came from an architect who I trust would know.

[Houston19514]

1 minute ago, bobruss said:

This wasn't from a student rumor mill. This came from an architect who I trust would know.

It's not only students who engage in rumor mills . . .  especially when it comes to academia.  😉

Edited May 22, 2023 by Houston19514

[bobruss]

19514 This architect has no relationship to Rice except for his firms work. He does have insight into the changers that are happening from within. 

[Houston19514]

6 minutes ago, bobruss said:

19514 This architect has no relationship to Rice except for his firms work. He does have insight into the changers that are happening from within. 

Okay.  We'll see what the future holds.

[mkultra25]

5 hours ago, clutchcity94 said:

He looks very much like former Rocket Mario Elie!

Could be cause for concern if someone spots him doing this.

[clutchcity94]

1 hour ago, mkultra25 said:

Could be cause for concern if someone spots him doing this.

Kiss of death for the Ion??

[CREguy13]

On 5/21/2023 at 11:35 PM, texan said:

To confound matters more, this post from a director at the Ion says the Ion District is growing from 300k sqf to 3M.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/joeysanchez_ionaf-ionhouston-iondistrict-activity-7064970171894935555-SVp0?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

HBJ released an interview this morning with Jan Odergard, Executive Director at the Ion.  Maybe the above architect source was referring to Rice walking away from having a lead role in future development of the District? Jan mentioned they were going to JV and essentially get out of the way on the development side.  Pretty clear from the article they are extremely bullish on the area's growth potential in the near to long term. This has been my experience of working in the building, the energy is palpable and constantly buzzing with activity.

Lot of talk on Multifamily in the interview... I'm guessing this is next.

[ChannelTwoNews]

2 hours ago, CREguy13 said:

HBJ released an interview this morning with Jan Odergard, Executive Director at the Ion.  Maybe the above architect source was referring to Rice walking away from having a lead role in future development of the District? Jan mentioned they were going to JV and essentially get out of the way on the development side.  Pretty clear from the article they are extremely bullish on the area's growth potential in the near to long term. This has been my experience of working in the building, the energy is palpable and constantly buzzing with activity.

Lot of talk on Multifamily in the interview... I'm guessing this is next.

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2023/05/24/ion-district-houston-jan-odegard.html