monarch Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 so now, not only is it far uglier than anything imaginable... but it's basically three floor's shorter? wow, what a catch! maybe we can change the name from alessandra to alex. straight and foreboding as an arrow... and absolutely no more curves and sensuality... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANTHONYHTOWN Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I hope they are still not considering it saying its a luxury hotel, thank God for the JW Marriott. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 how many 20+ story hotels arent luxury? as has been pointed out.. Hotel Sorella is way worse than this, architecturally speaking, yet it ranked as the best hotel in Texas/the southwest.http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2014/10/houston-hotel-tops-cond-nast-list.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbates2 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 In one weird ranking. Nobody else even ranks Sorella 5 star that I know of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swtsig Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 In one weird ranking. Nobody else even ranks Sorella 5 star that I know of.Weird ranking??? You should read up on Condė Nast. I won't pretend to know the hotel industry well but I'd be willing to bet Hotel Sorella much prefers this ranking over an additional star. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfastx Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I don't think Houston has anything to do with it. Chances are this would of happened in practically any US city outside of NYC and Chicago. I guess, Houston tends to have more boxy buildings though, Atlanta, Dallas, LA, Boston and Philly all have more "interesting" buildings, Houston really loves its boxy buildings. Downtown is full of typical buildings, the one that I like is the Bank of America building. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I guess, Houston tends to have more boxy buildings though, Atlanta, Dallas, LA, Boston and Philly all have more "interesting" buildings, Houston really loves its boxy buildings. Downtown is full of typical buildings, the one that I like is the Bank of America building.I'm not so sure. A quick glance at Emporis reveals that..Atlanta has 366 buildings over 12 storiesDallas also has exactly 366 buildings over 12 storiesLA has 636 buildings over 12 storiesBoston has 318Philly has 461You know how many buildings over 12 stories Houston has? 615. The only city comparable in that list is LA, and I think it's safe to say they have their fair share of boxes too. IMO its definitely easier for "unique" buildings to stand out amongst a small(er) skyline.. See Frost Building Austin. Houston just happens to have one of the biggrst skylines in the country. i noticed you didn't complain about the number of boxes in Chicago or NYC... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtterlyUrban Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I'm not so sure. A quick glance at Emporis reveals that..Atlanta has 366 buildings over 12 storiesDallas also has exactly 366 buildings over 12 storiesLA has 636 buildings over 12 storiesBoston has 318Philly has 461You know how many buildings over 12 stories Houston has? 615. The only city comparable in that list is LA, and I think it's safe to say they have their fair share of boxes too. IMO its definitely easier for "unique" buildings to stand out amongst a small(er) skyline.. See Frost Building Austin. Houston just happens to have one of the biggrst skylines in the country. i noticed you didn't complain about the number of boxes in Chicago or NYC...Not trying to start a flame war here....But, do consider that the City of Houston is probably 5 times bigger than the City of Atlanta, 10x bigger than the City of Boston, and much bigger than the City of Dallas or Philly.While Houston may have many more tall buildings, they are spread out.(but still inside the sprawling City limits). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Not trying to start a flame war here.... But, do consider that the City of Houston is probably 5 times bigger than the City of Atlanta, 10x bigger than the City of Boston, and much bigger than the City of Dallas or Philly. While Houston may have many more tall buildings, they are spread out.(but still inside the sprawling City limits). while you have a point too, Boston is the only city mentioned thats noticeably above Houstons CBD. Philly pretty much ties it. everything else is way behind. 1. Midtown Manhattan- 213,818,31 2. CBD Chicago- 130,317,15 3. CBD DC- 107,337,31 4. DT Manhattan- 76,000,76 5. MT S Manhattan- 74,577,47 6. CBD Boston- 64,407,32 7. CBD SF- 45,176,67 8. CBD Philadelphia- 44,261,375 9. CBD Houston- 43,214,941 10. CBD LA- 32,159,55 13. CBD Dallas- 26,890,00 17. CBD Atlanta- 17,288,368 since Boston and Philly are the only ones that rank at or above Houstons CBD size, here are pictures of the 3 to compare their skylines.. with a few notable exceptions in each city, the majority of buildings are boxes in all 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANTHONYHTOWN Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I think we all agree that we live in an amazing city and we understand and agree that we have many more buildings then any other city in the nation aside NYC. We have a few unique buildings in downtown must most are typical box looking type with nothing " unique". My opinion is we need to be more unique or should I say some of these developers need to take consideration that some more detailing should be taking into consideration but hey i guess it's not my money. I think most of us feel that we need to be more unique specially with our downtown area, we just love Houston so much we all have many opinions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunstar Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Frankly, I think this design fits in well with the already boxy Green Streets. Plus it will breathe some life into that development, which is still looking for a raison d'etre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbates2 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Weird ranking??? You should read up on Condė Nast.I won't pretend to know the hotel industry well but I'd be willing to bet Hotel Sorella much prefers this ranking over an additional star. If they ranked it as the best hotel in the Southwest then their ranking is weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 If they ranked it as the best hotel in the Southwest then their ranking is weird. You must have had an unpleasant experience while staying there? Otherwise what basis do you have for thinking Conde Nast is wrong? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swtsig Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 If they ranked it as the best hotel in the Southwest then their ranking is weird. if your goal in this little exercise is to confirm our suspicions that you have no idea what you're talking about i'd say you're doing a good job. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator Purify Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I just thought about the rendering change and got pissed all over again, lol. This was the one (the ONE) high-rise that had some sort of architectural significance, and now we're left with a CityCentre building in the heart of the city. I lauded Midway for their efforts prior to this, but now it's painfully clear that they'd have been better off staying in the suburbs. GreenStreet is a dumb name (tourists are going to assume it's on Green Street and not Dallas), it has no worthwhile tenants, and now it has an ugly hotel to look forward to. Hmph. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Huge Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I think we all agree that we live in an amazing city and we understand and agree that we have many more buildings then any other city in the nation aside NYC.Uhhhhhhh.....you ever heard of a little town called CHICAGO? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANTHONYHTOWN Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Uhhhhhhh.....you ever heard of a little town called CHICAGO?I sured do, I used to live there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbates2 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 if your goal in this little exercise is to confirm our suspicions that you have no idea what you're talking about i'd say you're doing a good job. If your goal in this little exercise is to claim that the word weird is not a subjective adjective or that publicized rankings are not the same I'd say you are failing. I haven't had a bad experience there at all. I thought it was a nice place but I didn't think it was close to the best that I have stayed at in Texas, thus I think the rankings are weird. Carry on with being a weiner. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 If your goal in this little exercise is to claim that the word weird is not a subjective adjective or that publicized rankings are not the same I'd say you are failing. I haven't had a bad experience there at all. I thought it was a nice place but I didn't think it was close to the best that I have stayed at in Texas, thus I think the rankings are weird. Carry on with being a weiner. Please differentiate who your are calling a "weiner" when addressing two different responses from two different people. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbates2 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 My bad arche, not pointing the wiener at you. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 if your goal in this little exercise is to confirm our suspicions that you have no idea what you're talking about i'd say you're doing a good job.Jeez what the hell mate? Always over-reacting and attacking people... 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Children behave or I swear I will turn this car around. They are tearing the new rendering apart on swamplot. Not with any solid ground to stand on, just the usual pseudo-elitist stuff. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfastx Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I'm not so sure. A quick glance at Emporis reveals that..Atlanta has 366 buildings over 12 storiesDallas also has exactly 366 buildings over 12 storiesLA has 636 buildings over 12 storiesBoston has 318Philly has 461You know how many buildings over 12 stories Houston has? 615. The only city comparable in that list is LA, and I think it's safe to say they have their fair share of boxes too. IMO its definitely easier for "unique" buildings to stand out amongst a small(er) skyline.. See Frost Building Austin. Houston just happens to have one of the biggrst skylines in the country. i noticed you didn't complain about the number of boxes in Chicago or NYC... I'm not talking about total buildings, we just have a different style in Houston, it's not bad particularly, but it's a shame that this development was going to go against that style and now is just conforming to the norm. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C2H Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Children behave or I swear I will turn this car around.They are tearing the new rendering apart on swamplot. Not with any solid ground to stand on, just the usual pseudo-elitist stuff.I read this to mean that maybe there's hope that the developer might change back to the original design due to the outcry of the swamplot comments. Wish it was enough.I too am extremely disappointed. Such a missed opportunity and is a painful relived moment of the ES hotel. Still glad it's getting built nonetheless. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 how many 20+ story hotels arent luxury? as has been pointed out.. Hotel Sorella is way worse than this, architecturally speaking, yet it ranked as the best hotel in Texas/the southwest.http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2014/10/houston-hotel-tops-cond-nast-list.html Well, there's always the Heaven on Earth Inn, at 30 stories... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Stonian Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 (edited) yay! Another thread flushed down the drain with Dallas v. Houston talk. I'm so excited! No, actually this thread was flushed down the drain when Urbannizer posted the new rendering (thanks Urb ). How in the world did Dallas get inserted into this discussion anyway? (Monarch ? strange dude, but I guess we could use a few more strange characters in the world) I've never seen so much beachin and complaining over a 20-something story building's redesign in my life. There's at least 10-15 posts over the last couple days repeating the same comments, it's like you guys all just happened to post at the same exact time or didn't care to read that others had already made your point. Seriously, I appreciate the passion, but the comments about no longer holding Midway in high regard are nothing more than childish temper tantrums. Grow up folks! Edited January 24, 2015 by 'Stonian 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Stonian Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 (edited) Hotel Alessandra will for sure start in the "3rd Quarter this year"..., reliable source. I rarely have much inside information on these developments however I happen to be associated with someone who relocated to Houston specifically to work on this project. After the redesign 'delay' last summer, I was told Hotel Alessandra would start construction in September '14, but thank God it was later delayed a second time while undergoing additional re-design over the fall. Let me offer some perspective. The renderings (construction drawings) I was shown in July that was set to begin construction were FAR less appealing than the rendering Urbannizer posted the other day. Picture this if you will: basically the drawings showed the square box of the lower 20 floors in the latest rendering - absent the top 3 recessed floors and without the glass corner facade on floors 4-20. The exterior materials were listed as cast-in-place concrete with stucco accents. Since last summer, additional redesign added the top 'crown' and more glass on the corner. I'm told the facade of the new hotel will now be similar to the brick textured exterior of the new Hanover Post Oak tower at BLVD Place which IMO turned out better than the renderings. Although the all-glass 'conceptual' drawings with retractable roofs, curves and swoops may have been released to generate buzz, lets count our blessings this thing did not get started last year as the truly value-engineered, watered down version that I saw in July and that someone at Midway actually cared enough to go back and add extra features. The new rendering will most likely fit in more with the facade of the existing Green Street/Pavilions as others have stated. Edited January 24, 2015 by 'Stonian 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Huge Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 I rarely have much inside information on these developments however I happen to be associated with someone who relocated to Houston specifically to work on this project. After the redesign 'delay' last summer, I was told Hotel Alessandra would start construction in September '14, but thank God it was later delayed a second time while undergoing additional re-design over the fall. Let me offer some perspective. The renderings (construction drawings) I was shown in July that was set to begin construction were FAR less appealing than the rendering Urbannizer posted the other day. Picture this if you will: basically the drawings showed the square box of the lower 20 floors in the latest rendering - absent the top 3 recessed floors and without the glass corner facade on floors 4-20. The exterior materials were listed as cast-in-place concrete with stucco accents. Since last summer, additional redesign added the top 'crown' and more glass on the corner. I'm told the facade of the new hotel will now be similar to the brick textured exterior of the new Hanover Post Oak tower at BLVD Place which IMO turned out better than the renderings. Although the all-glass 'conceptual' drawings with retractable roofs, curves and swoops may have been released to generate buzz, lets count our blessings this thing did not get started last year as the truly value-engineered, watered down version that I saw in July and that someone at Midway actually cared enough to go back and add extra features. The new rendering will most likely fit in more with the facade of the existing Green Street/Pavilions as others have stated. Awww, how nice of Midway. Midway came out and promised to build a lavish modern River Oaks mega mansion with a huge pool and a grotto, and then in classic bait and switch form, changed the plans to just build a third ward row house. And now you're basically telling us all "hey, they WERE gonna change it to just a homeless cardboard box tent, but they felt too guilty about that, so all of you little children just shut up and be thankful for the third ward row house!" Yea, no, foh. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largeTEXAS Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Yeah, I agree with Señor Huge. Not thrilled about this ol' bait and switch that Midway just pulled on us all, even if this current version is "better" than the shanty-town box they were going to build. Actually, makes it even worse that they strayed that far from the original. You've got to wonder why the original drawings were released in the first place. Is Midway that dense or did they intend to deceive. We can always write wonderfully nice things to Midway on their website: http://midwaycompanies.com/about/contact 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C2H Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 (edited) Call me an optimist or whatever.But I don't see what continuing to whine and complain about what we can't change is supposed to do other than make our lives further miserable. Promises or not, in reality, Midway owes us nothing. None of us ponied up any $$$ for this so why should any of us expect anything? I'm more inclined to believe Stonian's story because at least it somewhat softens the blow, because happy or not, this is what we're getting.Misery loves company. Am I happy with the new design? He'll no. But what I'm gonna do is kick back with my six pack beer and watch some of you all cry about whats not changing while I rejoice that we're getting a unique hotel to Houston above a mixed used development that Houston has never seen before amist much other construction and development, in a new time that also Houston hasn't seen before. Edited January 24, 2015 by C2H 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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