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HoustonIsHome

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Everything posted by HoustonIsHome

  1. HoustonIsHome
    Fact of the matter is that developers ignore street presence because they don't feel obliged to and they feel that way because we do not press the issue. We just settle for whatever we get. Even worse we stiffle efforts of those who do want more
  2. HoustonIsHome
    Market Square is already lively. Kinda small but I see people in and around that area all the time. My two biggest problems with it are that the preston and milam sides are not like the travis and congress sides, and the lower pedestrian feel. I think people would use the area more if there was more to do
  3. HoustonIsHome
    But increasing the pedestrian experience for tenants has been shown to be profitable though. People want to live in these areas. How much is it going to cost to put something other than a blank wall fronting the park? I can understand not putting anything if you are building low income housing in crappytown or out in the boonies, but this area is a destination. It is the historical district. People are going to pay top dollar for this area, why not make minor improvements to make the area more inviting?
  4. HoustonIsHome
    See prior don't understand that Houston can be walkable without the entire 60,000,000 sq miles being walkable. Its development concentrated with amenities and connected with some sort of public transportation that make an area walkable. We don't need stores in every building from the aquarium to GRB. But if there are clusters around MS, MSQ, GS and DG then that right there would make downtown loads more liveable. Right now the retail is a building here, one down the street, another around tge corner. Its so spread out or hidden under ground.
  5. HoustonIsHome
    That is exactly what im saying. But I would say that most visitors have more positive opinions of a place, if it has more. Seeing market square by itself people would probably say, oh yeah its a nice little park. Market square +Warrens + La Carafe etc they would probably say oh yeah its a nice little area surprisingly unique from the rest of downtown. Market square + Warrens/La Carafe + other amenities all around and it takes a bigger step and becomes more of an experience. Market Square has the appeal of something that is pure perfection if you squint your eye, but if you open them and take it all in you see that the meat isn't all that thick. I WANT MORE THICK MEAT, DRIPPING JUICE ON ALL SIDES. I could give a crap about buildings on all sides if its just walls. Might as well just put me in a box
  6. HoustonIsHome
    Again a smart planner can plan for retail in the future but it doesn't necessarily have to be used as such from the get go. They can be used for leasing offices, gyms or other amenities and as retail grows they can juggle things around. Luje I have been saying they don't have to make it but they can fake it.
  7. HoustonIsHome
    I see you are mute interested in architecture than public planning. That is fine. This is more of an architecture forum anyway. But some of us here are interested in architecture and how it fits in and enhances the area. Because you are more visual, I guess when you travel you don't feel the life that other squares have. For me when I visit the squares are both the open space and the life and continuity that the buildings around gives to the park.
  8. HoustonIsHome
    Htown man beat me too it. I meant exactly what he explained. As to building things and then after all is constructed, going in with amenities is kinda why downtown is not as lively ass we want it. You absolutely do not build and alter with ever single development. You build with amenities as you go along. No one is talking about flooding the area with stores, but sheesh, they could build with convertible designs. The design doesn't have to support stores right now, but at least it could look like it. Why not save money and build more easily convertible designs? I doubt that all these buildings will poke hoes in their facade once the activity picks up. That's why there are still blank walls around discovery green even thought the area is more active than 10-15 years ago
  9. HoustonIsHome
    This is ridiculous, the building itself is not bad. Simple design but classic look. What is bad is that most planners ignore gems like market square and the opportunity they have in a wonderful open space.
  10. HoustonIsHome
    Homeless shelters and church facilities, group homes etc are NOT jails. Residents are free to leave the facility and contributes to the street presence no matter how negative
  11. HoustonIsHome
    Can you read? Downtown has two census blocks. One entirely south of the bayou with a population near 5k, the other north of the bayou where the jail complex is located. You have posted no links, nothing other than your own estimates. I'm done entertaining this. Come back with hard evidence. All evidence I have seen have pointed towards the validity of the earlier poster's figures- about 5000 residents in about 2500 residential units. Its not rocket science finding out how many are in jail. You zoom in on the northern census tract and it breaks down into census blocks. There is one block that lists 9000 people in ZERO housing units what does that tell you? You were mistaken, move on
  12. HoustonIsHome
    This is going to make market square a lit better looking. It and Hines will transform the area
  13. HoustonIsHome
    I liked the building from the start but I agree with htownman. I think facing market square is the money orientation
  14. HoustonIsHome
    Sorry to be so argumentative but this is directly on topic. The census tract below the bayou had a population of 4200 residents in 2010 further backing up the posters quote of 5000 residents before the incentives beganhttp://www.usa.com/TX201100000.html The census tract with the jail Had a pop of 9652 http://www.usa.com/TX2012101001.html Going by zip or by census tract both show a residential pop at about 5000 so the dude was right.
  15. HoustonIsHome
    Why can't we get better designed buildings IN DOWNTOWN OF ALL PLACES
  16. HoustonIsHome
    Never. Those renderings are from developers who build in Houston but these are for other cities. We settle for less than we could get so that's always what we get, less.
  17. HoustonIsHome
    THIS is what I want I want to see moreof in downtown and midtown
  18. HoustonIsHome
    Im with lockmat, why should there be any poorly functioning side. Further, this side is only slightly better. Still stand offish. Still fortresslike.
  19. HoustonIsHome
    How do you pull up census figures per zip code. I found info for the city and metro but not zip directly from the census. The city website lists the downtown pop at 19k and lists a 1miles radius of greenstreet as having a pop of 23k http://www.downtownhouston.org/retail/demographics-reports/ Downtown is made up of four zip codes 77002 (including some of midtown)- 16,793 77010 (tiny area near disco green)- 400 77003 (more areas around disco green) 77020 (small area on the north end of downtown) All of 77010 are in downtown, most if 77002 is in downtown. 70003 and 77020 barely make it into downtown. If this info is correct subtracting the area of midtown from that figure I would say the downtown population including the jail is about 14k. Looking up the population of the jail in 2010 I found 8200. That would leave about 6000 as a figure for downtown people outside of jail. Heck going just by 77002 there were 8500 people living in that zip outside of jail. Throw in all of 77010 and whatever 77003 and 77020 contributes and you can see that the 5000 figure the poster gave was not far fetched. Again these are not directly from the census so...
  20. HoustonIsHome
    No one is getting carried away, im just following the thread: No one disputed the 2500units/ 5000 residents figure so I took it to be fairly accurate. That's all
  21. HoustonIsHome
    This is getting exciting
  22. HoustonIsHome
    Maybe this is just temporary. Might be shut down once the building is complete.
  23. HoustonIsHome
    Wow, I didn't see the fingers project in the spreadsheet. So in just a few years downtown is going from 2500 units to 5600 units. That's huge. Cant imagine a market being flooded with that many new units. 5000 is just crazy fast. That would mean 7500 units or over 14,000 residents. My mind is thinking of all sorts of weird stuff like does that mean downtown is getting 15,000 new parking spots? That's not even counting the new commercial buildings with parking, or the 16floor parking structure. I hope the surrounding hoods don't get plagued with new gas stations. Something is telling me that someone needs to take jumper cables to downtown to jump start development of other amenities. The next superbowl here is going to feel soo much different from the last one. Discovery green is going to be key, and with all these residents who are going to be walking distance away plus the 2000 new hotel rooms on the line that is a huge potential for pedestrian activity. I guess we can fill the void with street vendors during the day, but oh man we need more evening options
  24. HoustonIsHome
    This is nice. It would have been really grand if it was about three floors taller
  25. HoustonIsHome
    I agree. So much snapping lately. Someone asks a question or gives their opinions and people just jump on them lately. If you don't like the question no one forces you to answer. Remember mamma said if you can't say anything pleasant don't say anything at all. Anyway, I hope the poster`s concerns do not come true. I hope the building is built soon after thus one comes down
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