Houston19514

That rendering still shows traffic lanes (for cars) in the 1200 block (the Marriott/GreenStreet block).

Those cranes must be there to start tearing down buildings... You know, after Shell moves to their new campus north of the Woodlands. ;-)

??? Downtown is a sub-market. Just saying it's a sub-market does not rule out downtown.

What is the deal? Those fountains are operating most of the time, by far. (Except for the video wall fountain which I have not seen working even one time... that should be torn out.)

You've posted this bad information about the Sears property ownership before and I've corrected you before. (On the earlier occasion you told us the property was owned by Rice University.) The midtown Sears property is owned by Sears. Sears has not been investing in any of their stores for quite some time, whether owned or leased (I think they own most of their stores). That is just one of their many many problems.

Where do you get the idea the block in front of Marriott and GreenStreet would be closed? Doesn't appear to be the case from the map you linked.

... and?? How does that give us the number of people who use the freeways?

How many people use Houston's freeway system every day?

It seems Livincinco's point is still a good one. Chicago's low job accessbility by transit is hardly a ringing endorsement for mass transit. Even more interesting, Houston performs better on this metric than a number of cities we have been told ad nauseum have far superior transit systems, e.g.: Dallas, Atlanta, Philadephia, Chicago, Los Angeles...

What Naviguessor said is correct. However, also to be considered is that burying the lines, especially in already-developed areas, is not just a little more expensive, it is exponentially more expensive and the cost, like it or not, would be paid by the ratepayers (that's you and me). Further, while it is certainly true that the underground lines would be more stable and need repairs less often, they are not fail-proof and when they do fail, they are exponentially more expensive and time-consuming to repair. We also need to keep in mind that these overhead delivery systems carry not just electricity, but telephone and cable services. If we want to get rid of the poles and overhead wires, all of those need to be buried, meaning even more expense. That is not to say we shouldn't consider it or maybe even do it, but we need to be fully aware of what we are getting into and just how much we would be paying for it. Edit: From a recent NYC study regarding the possibility of burying their electric distribution system (What? Cities other than Houston have above-ground electric wires? Even the most urban and cosmopolitan city in America???): To the extent that a reduction in adverse aesthetic and visual effects of overhead systems is a desired result, that may not be achievable because the electric utility poles currently in use serve multiple functions, including support for hard wire telephone service, cable television lines, and other fiber facilities. The physical removal of poles would therefore depend on placing these infrastructure elementsunderground as well, at a considerable additional expense. A recent study recently issued by a national utility industry trade group, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), attached hereto as Appendix B, found that over the last ten years, at least eleven studies or reports have been generated by various states on the merits of undergrounding overhead electric lines as a means of dealing with the impact of large storms. To date, however, no state utility commission hasrecommended wholesale undergrounding of the utility infrastructure. EEI conducted surveys of consumers’ willingness to pay for underground infrastructure, and found that residents typically were willing to pay an additional 0-10% on the monthly retail bill for enhanced security from undergrounding. However, the EEI study also found that the capital cost associated with undergrounding entire utility systems would, on average, double residential retail bill charges.The principal benefits and challenges to undergrounding were examined in the EEI Report. The perceived value of undergrounding includes both heightened reliability and improved aesthetics. Possible problems associated with undergrounding include costs, operation and maintenance concerns including longer repair times, and a lessened longevity of components – potentially only 30 years for underground system elements versus as long as 50 years with overheadfacilities. I think you would probably enjoy taking a look at the full NYC study.

In connection with some of the comments in this thread, I think it's relevant to note that in the years 2007-2010, Harris County had net positive migration from the central county/counties of all of the top 15 metro areas in the country except Washington DC (and even that one is positive for Harris County if you reasonably consider the central counties to be DC/Arlington & Fairfax, VA/Prince George's & Montgomery County, MD). (1) The combination of New York/Bronx/Kings and Queens Counties (New York City) (2) Los Angeles County (3) Cook County, Illinois (Chicago) (4) Dallas County, TX (5) [Harris County] (6) Philadelphia County, PA (7) (8) Miami-Dade County FL (9) Fulton County, GA (Atlanta) (10) Suffolk County, MA (Boston) (11) San Francisco County, CA (12) Riverside/San Bernadino Counties, CA (13) Maricopa County, AZ (Phoenix) (14) Wayne County, MI (Detroit) (15) King County, WA ( Seattle) http://flowsmapper.geo.census.gov/flowsmapper/map.html Denver County

The urbanized area of Los Angeles/Long Beach/Anaheim is the most densely populated urban area in the United States.

^ Ditto

and how has that changed since deregulation? It is no more or less difficult to come up with a funding mechanism for burying electric lines now than pre-deregulation. Here is an interesting article on the topic of burying electric distribution lines.

Very interesting. Does anyone know why they chose this method of demolition rather than an implosion?

What has changed regarding the delivery of electricity? The delivery is still completely regulated.

I guess it depends on what one wants to walk to. In downtown, one can walk to one's gym, walk to meet friends for drinks, walk to Phoenicia for groceries, walk to church, walk to any number of performing arts performances pretty much any night, walk to Rockets games and concerts at Toyota Center, walk to MinuteMaid Park, walk to BBVA Compass Stadium, walk to Discovery Green, etc., etc..

Just the postcard that was posted earlier in this thread.

Expansion of Terminal D is in the works.

Haven't a lot (maybe even most) of those period houses already been demolished and replaced with new, larger houses?

There appear to have been stars on the building after its 1920s expansion.

Kinder Foundation contributed $30 Million to this project.

IIRC, the current Irving HQ has less than 400 employees.

I would love to see a hotel/residential combo on that block. Or, even better, office/hotel/residential

I haven't been able to see the whole article either, so I have no idea if it mentioned the RIDA hotel (Marriott Marquis), but it is definitely on track. (The full article will probably be available tomorrow via Google.)