Uptown Houston Becoming More Dense

[texasboy]

[The Great Hizzy!]

Now THAT's a sweet photo. The building in the foreground with the crane is the new Hilton Garden Inn. I look forward to the middle third of Uptown becoming denser. You have the four or five huge strip centers on either side of Post Oak Blvd and it sort of takes away from the overall affect.

[citykid09]

How tall will that be?

And texasboy where do you find these pics?

[The Great Hizzy!]

How tall will that be?

And texasboy where do you find these pics?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

From what I remember, it will top out at six floors (not tall at all).

[citykid09]

^If a 6 story building was coming to my town, (Bryan?College Station) it would be a big thing.

[brijonmang]

...well i would say there is a slight difference of standards between Houston and Bryan/College Station...but I really like that picture its a perspective of uptown that you dont get to see very often

[UrbaNerd]

I was in BCS today, at the A&M Fire Training Facility. It was my first time to BCS. Citykid, now all your posts make perfect sense to me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Anyway, I hope all of those strip centers go the way of the Pavilion.

[Sunstar]

Density doesn't always = urban or pedestrian friendly. I think Post Oak needs to do for the Galleria what Main did for downtown. It has to inspire people to get out of their car and walk around. It certainly sounds like they're headed in the right direction.

[texasboy]

Density doesn't always = urban or pedestrian friendly.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

lol. you hit the nail on the head. i started to put this in the discussion section, because although it is becoming more dense, it is not in the right way. I did like the photo though when I found it.

[jmancuso]

aww man! i figured something that would need such a crane would be taller than 6 stories. interesting locale though; tittie bar on one side and a dumpy apartment complex the other.

[citykid09]

aww man! i figured something that would need such a crane would be taller than 6 stories. interesting locale though; tittie bar on one side and a dumpy apartment complex the other.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

At least its not a one story building.

[citykid09]

I was in BCS today, at the A&M Fire Training Facility. It was my first time to BCS. Citykid, now all your posts make perfect sense to me.

I had heard that the Hilton would be 8 stories. Any idea where I might have heard that?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What do you mean my post make sense now? Where did you go while you were here?

[Guest danax]

Any additional 5 story or higher building is a good addition to the Uptown mini-skyline. It's architectural topography is starting to resemble a 1/4 scale downtown, with the huge, erection-like Williams tower making a statement of power, dominance, elegance, beauty and class; a perfect structure for that area. Johnson hit a home run with it.

It's such a great area. If we're going to be a light-rail city, it has to stop there. Is the Westpark line supposed to?

[citykid09]

Any additional 5 story or higher building is a good addition to the Uptown mini-skyline. It's architectural topography is starting to resemble a 1/4 scale downtown, with the huge, erection-like Williams tower making a statement of power, dominance, elegance, beauty and class; a perfect structure for that area. Johnson hit a home run with it.

It's such a great area. If we're going to be a light-rail city, it has to stop there. Is the Westpark line supposed to?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

imagine if the oil boom would have kept going what uptown would have looked like. Any ways I agree any building of at least five stories will help the uptown skyline fill in the many gaps it has.

[citykid09]

We drove around town, and then went to the A&M Fire Training Facility. We ate lunch at Koppe Bridge Grill. It was good.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have never eaten at Koppe before, there are two locations thought, you guys probably went to the newer one.

Did you like Bryan/College Station?

Was it bigger or smaller than you expected?

Did you get to see the A&M skyline and or major street Texas Avenue?

[citykid09]

Do you know what was around that area? (feed barn)??

You just thought it was small because I am sure you did not see anything.

A&M Campus

Post Oak Mall

the main street through both cities Texas Avenue

The many new upscale shopping places etc.

you can see some of it here:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread...25&pagenumber=1

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread...ght=bryan+texas

[The Great Hizzy!]

It's such a great area. If we're going to be a light-rail city, it has to stop there. Is the Westpark line supposed to?

There is a connector line from the Katy/Northwest Transit Center line to the Westpark line planned as part of METRO Solutions. No final word on whether it would go down Post Oak or an alternative corridor.

[kjb434]

That is a planned light rail corridor through uptown, but I don't see it coming into service for another 10 years or so. I think it'll definetly happen though.

I think the preliminary studies showed the alignment along North Post Oak then along the West Loop, and finally down Post Oak. It will have to cross US 59 to get to the East-West line that will be proposed along Westpark.

[LTAWACS]

This is what part of downtown should look like.

[kjb434]

The Hilton Garden hotel will be 8 stories. Also, by Sage and W Alabama there will be an 11 story hotel. I saw a post here or on the Houston BizJournal that gave the name of the hotel.

While 8 and 11 are not highrise, they definetly add to the infill of Uptown.

[citykid09]

If your standing on the ground level and look up, 8-10 story buildings look pretty high, and it will make the uptown area more urban feeling.

[kjb434]

True. Of course I don't what this urban feeling is that everyone talks about. An urban feeling to me would be that it is like urban but not really urban. It would be a fake.

I would rather say that uptown is getting a more dense feeling.

[westender]

True.  Of course I don't what this urban feeling is that everyone talks about.  An urban feeling to me would be that it is like urban but not really urban.  It would be a fake.

I would rather say that uptown is getting a more dense feeling.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So, would you say that urban is a matter of opinion?

[kjb434]

Yes,

Its definitely a matter of opinion. My home town of about 20,000 people has a downtown with many shops, bars, restaurants in 100 year old buildings. Looks kind of like a mini french quarter. On the weekends at night the streets are packed with bar patrons from the university and locals. During Mardi Gras the streets look like bourbon street. There are apartments and offices above the retail and restaurants. It is quite urban. You can easily just park and spend the whole day walking. And all this exists with a Wal-Mart Supercenter in town too. So much for killing small business like everyone claims.

I believe urbanity is a perception or an opinion.

[kjb434]

Just south and west of the galleria. The Hilton Garden hotel will be just south of Hildalgo on Sage and the other hotel will be by Sage and W Alabama.

[tierwestah]

Uptown Houston rules, while downtown lacks. Uptown houston is the place to be and i would love to see some sort the same type of Main Street development occur in the post oak area.

[UrbaNerd]

There were some rendering in the CHRON a few weeks back. Does anyone have any links to them?

[citykid09]

If you think that looks dense take a look at this!

[UrbaNerd]

Yep. Quite dense, indeed.

[Guest danax]

We are just toying with density. Imagine cities like Tokyo, Sao Paolo, even New York, LA and SF. And imagine how dense we and rest of the major world cities will be in 50-100 years. As much as sprawl gets bad-mouthed here it ultimately will help us. We have high growth capacity which will keep housing prices in step with inflation perhaps for the long term and we have enough room to breathe. We are enjoying a trendy sort of density as it's just enough to give an urban feel in places but not yet enough to where people begin to want to escape it, but I don't see how eventually, we'll be able to avoid that.