Houston19514

Agreed. Not overly thrilled with it and would still prefer they not close off Prairie Street. But at the end of the day it will be a big plus for downtown.

^ great news. I hope we're finally going to start seeing more of these downtown projects get underway soon.

Perhaps something like Willis Tower in Chicago sticks out, yes. (Although that particular picture exaggerates it and shows what one can do with clever camera angles and cropping. But even that does not stick out anything like Williams Tower. Williams Tower is in a league of its own for "sticking out."

Yes, and there is one reason the expansions on Sam Houston were necessary and there is one reason expansions of GP will be necessary, whether in just a few places or everywhere, ... more traffic than initially planned for. I guess you just don't want to acknowledge heavy traffic on a freeway as a "success". ;-)

Of course you know very well nobody suggested tearing anything down or, for that matter, even blocking construction. I have looked at the area in person (even though I don't live in the immediate neighborhood I am allowed and able to do that). I know very well that it is all about context and I don't think this building fits in the context of Washington Ave ... at all. I recognize you disagree. That's totally cool. C'est la vie.

One has to live in an area to know what it looks like from the ground? Very odd.

Good grief, man. I have no hostility or anger whatsoever. I detect a little psychological projection going on here... ;-) One doesn't look at a skyline by holding up one's hands to block the portions one doesn't want to include in the picture (and thus view only the buildings within 100-500 feet.) One looks at the skyline as it appears in front of one's face. No matter what angle from which one views the Uptown "skyline", the Williams Tower stands out like crazy, more than double the height of anything near, FAR more than double the vast majority of the buildings. Viewing the downtown skyline from any angle with the fantasy 1400' building over by Minute Maid, the view would include many buildings significantly more than 1/2 the height of this new tower. Here are the facts. The top 30 buildings in Downtown and Uptown (including the fantasy 1400 footer downtown), showing how they other buildings in the respective areas compare to the tallest. Downtown buildings fare much better compared to the 1400 footer than Uptown buildings do to Williams. And that doesn't tell the whole story. The downtown buildings are all withing 1 mile (the vast majority well under 1 mile) of the tallest. Uptown buildings spread out more than 1 1/2 miles from the tallest in a couple directions. The taller ones are especially far from Williams. Downtown: 1400 1002 (71.6% as tall as the tallest) 1/2 mile distant 992 (70.9%) 2/3 mile distant 780 (55.7%) 1/2 mile + 762 (54.4%) 3/4 mile 756 (54%) 2/3 mile 741 (52.9%) 1/2 mile + 732 (52.3%) .9 mile 725 (51.8%) .2 mile 714 (51%) .6 mile 691 (49.4%) .8 mile 685 (48.9%) 678 (48.4%) 662 (47.3%) 630 (45%) 606 (43.3%) 600 (42.9%) 579 (41.4%) 550 (39.3%) 550 (39.3%) 523 (37.4%) 523 (37.4%) 521 (37.2%) 518 (37%) 502 (35.9%) 490 (35%) 453 (32.4%) 452 (32.3%) 428 (30.6%) 410 (29.3%) Uptown: 901 625 (69.4%) 1 1/2 miles + distant 562 (62.4%) 1 mile + distant 444 (49.3%) 1 mile distant 444 (49.3%) 1 miles distant 420 (46.6%) 1 mile + 401 (44.5%) 1/2 mile 389 (43.2%) 1 mile 351 (39%) 1 mile + 351 (39%) 1 mile + 351 (39%) 1/2 mile 334 (37.1%) 333 (37%) 330 (36.6%) 330 (36.6%) 322 (35.7%) 321 (35.6%) 321 (35.6%) 318 (35.3%) 315 (35%) 308 (34.2%) 298 (33.1%) 290 (32.2%) 289 (32.1%) 271 (30.1%) 245 (27.2%) 243 (27%) 242 (26.9%) 242 (26.9%) 188 (20.9%)

^ What evil tactics? What possible reason would a landlord have for shutting off someone's cable? If thy want people to move out, all they have to do is give them notice. MikeRichardson needs to take his complaints to Comcast customer service.

You said the "four traffic lanes on the GP will probably need to be widened in the next 5-10 years. Mark my words." The only possible scenario for a need to widen the GP within 5-10 years is that it was wildly successful.

hOh for petes sake... he does know. We all know. Those apartments days are numbered.

Either way, there is scant evidence of room for 30,000 or 39,000 people, as was supposed to be the case according to the urban myth.

Sweet! (Maybe we can hope for something taller on the other side of the park.)

What is the landlord supposed to tell him? No landlord in his right mind is going to broadcast to his tenants that he is in negotiations with someone who plans to tear the building down at some point in the future. If you are under a lease, you have the right to occupy the property until your lease expires, and beyond until the landlord gives you notice. If you are on a month-to-month tenancy, you have the right to occupy the property until the end of the month (and probably the end of next month if you have not yet received written notice to vacate.) That's it. You are entitled to and should expect nothing more. Giving hasty notices to tenants that someone might plan to tear down your building at some time in the relatively near future, depending on financing, the market, the state of affairs in the mideast, etc etc etc, is a bad business plan. When they have definite plans and need him out, rest assured, they will tell him.

So you are predicting that the Grand Parkway will be more wildly successful than the rail lines?

That's kinda the point. The largest building in the area, by far, is 12 stories. Everything else in the Waugh/Washington area is low-rise. This proposal is 25 stories. FWIW, I'm not crazy about Hines' San Felipe proposal either, but it is less inappropriate than this one. For the record, Triton apparently has a different definition of "next to" than I do. According to Google maps, right next to this site (to the south) is a community of townhouses, not a 12-story building. Next to the community of townhouses is the 2-story United Way headquarters. The 12 story building is across Waugh from the United Way HQ.

Nobody ever said it wouldn't stand out. In fact, I specifically said it would indeed be prominent. But you told us it would do some Williams Tower kind of sticking out. That is simply false. As I demonstrated, when one compares the relative heights and proximities of the other downtown buildings and then compare relative heights and proximities of the Uptown buildings to Williams Tower, it is abundantly obvious that it would not stand out anything like Williams Tower (which was your initial claim). Not even close. FWIW It wouldn't even stand out as much as the 845' Devon Energy Center does in Oklahoma City. (And 1400' would not be double the height of Heritage Plaza, nor even One Shell Plaza (quite close on Shell, but not quite double.)

Decent-looking building. But this must be the most inappropriately-located development project of everything going on in Houston right now. I hope this one does not happen.

Does MikeRichardson think this is the Comcast customer service board or something??? I hope we're not going to start seeing posts from everyone who has a complaint about cable, cell phone, electric or gas service. Or how they were treated by their waiter at Chili's...

Isn't Trump's Chicago building just hotel and residences?

Not sure that's true. I don't think they ever explicitly stated when construction would start, but they did say that the "final investment decision" would not be made until 2Q 2014, with construction to start some time thereafter, and occupancy to begin in the 4th Q 2016. It always seemed unlikely that construction would start before the 3rd Q.

Sorry, but old news is old news. And posting entire articles is a violation of the forum rules and of the publication's copyrights (in this case the Houston Chronicle.)

Good idea. It might also make a good location for regular art festivals.

Slick Vic is right on top of things as usual... That statement and article are 7 1/2 months old.

Delayed the start? Until when?

As this section of the Grand Parkway opens, keep in mind what we've been told. Nobody will use it... nobody lives out there... nobody works out there... nobody will use it as an alternative to 290. ;-)