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Houston19514

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Everything posted by Houston19514

  1. Houston19514
    Whatever the reason, it is what it is. And YOU may think they should be considered the same submarket, but every commercial real estate analysis I've ever seen, considers them separate submarkets. I'm sure they must have some reason for that. For purposes of the comparing CBDs, it only makes sense to compare CBD submarket numbers. Every CBD has reasons/excuses for it's high or low occupancy rates, as the case may be. (And nobody is better at manufacturing excuses than Downtown Dallas boosters) Houston's CBD would be healthier than it is if it weren't for the direct competition from Houston's uptown submarket, but that doesn't make Uptown Houston the same submarket as Houston's CBD.
  2. Houston19514
    The developer of Houston Pavilions says that they will be unveiling a number of new fashion tenants over the next 6-8 months.
  3. Houston19514
    HBJ has a story about the building at 806 Main being emptied in preparation for a gutting and conversion to a hotel. HBJ Story
  4. Houston19514
    One could read every word of your narrative, and agree with it, and still reasonably make the statement that Dallas's CBD vacancy rate is "pretty bad". Because, let's face it, Dallas CBD's vacancy rate is, by any rational analysis, pretty bad... and has been for, oh, about 25-30 years.
  5. Houston19514
    Apologies. I misread your post.
  6. Houston19514
    If we use Metro's stated 22% operating ratio and the 1.5 Million annual cost, I think that means they are getting $330,000 in fare revenue per year. Doing that math (330,000/365 days) gives us 60 passengers per day, still quite different from the earlier reports. Have the passenger numbers really dropped? If so, the reporter completely missed the story in his ignorant haste to do a hit job. One wishes the reporter could have been bothered to even attempt to convey some real information.
  7. Houston19514
    Two thoughts on Devon. (1) With Hess leaving Allen Center, there's a good deal of space opening right there for them. I'm thinking plenty of space, especially given the second thought: (2) Devon is in the process of selling their international and Gulf of Mexico assets. That's what their Houston offices handle. If they sell the assets piecemeal, (which seems to be direction they are going), Devon's Houston presence and their Allen Center operations could be hugely scaled back or eliminated entirely. With or without MainPlace, I wouldn't be counting on Devon triggering the construction of 5 Allen Center.
  8. Houston19514
    No, my friend, as usual, you are off by an infinite amount, not by six months or 1 1/2 years. YOU told us Metro would not review the service. Period. Full stop. That was simply not true. False. Incorrect. Further, I am not accepting the reporter's numbers at face value. If he was actually working from Metro ridership numbers, why didn't he give them to us? There is something wrong with the numbers. We have had earlier reports directly and indirectly from Metro that ridership was up to 100 per day and then up to, perhaps 300 per day. The reporter's numbers would give us current ridership of roughly 55 per day. Had he been interested in reporting actual facts and information, he could have told us what the initial ridership was, what the current ridership is, and what the costs are (the only item he actually gave us a firm number for). Instead we get the standard Channel 13 sensationalistic hit piece. hmmmm... MetroMogul, are you actually a Channel 13 reporter?
  9. Houston19514
    As usual, someone has to come in behind MetroMogul to correct his misstatements and exaggerations: What Metro actually said regarding reviewing or discontinuing the service was that they won't review the service until it's 2-3 years old. (and that is trusting the interpretation of Channel 13's reporter, which I am not particularly willing to do.) This Ch 13 story is their typical sensationalism over nothing. As they even admit in the story (and of course MetroMogul failed to share), the portion of this trip paid by the riders is comparable to the portion paid by the riders of all Metro services. That's why we have a sales tax supporting Metro services. If and when ridership grows, the portion paid by the riders of this service will far exceed the portion paid elsewhere in the system. If ridership does not grow sufficiently, the service will almost certainly be discontinued.
  10. Houston19514
    Actually, they are proceeding with that plan, slowly but surely , step by step. On the whole, they are proceeding better than most "master plans" (e.g. the Main Street Master Plan a few years back)
  11. Houston19514
    If you indeed have such a problem with "paying taxes to enrich the billionaires that benefit from stadiums" (as if they are the only ones to benefit), it is completely within your control to avoid paying those taxes. Don't rent any cars in Harris County. Simple as that. (And for what it's worth, back to your original post on this topic, the people in Katy already support the stadia just as fully as you do...for most of Katy, their car rentals and hotel rooms are taxed to the very same extent as yours.)
  12. Houston19514
    So let's all agree to reconvene when any of those things happen. In the meantime, the only "taxpayers" paying for stadia are those renting cars and hotel rooms, just as I said.
  13. Houston19514
    How many cars do you rent and hotel room-nights do you book in Houston in an average year? The only other way you might be paying for any of "these dumb things" is if you actually attend an event at one of them.
  14. Houston19514
    Really good news for downtown. KBR has decided NOT to consolidate into a new campus in West Houston, but will instead expand downtown. They expect to ultimately need 1.2 million square feet of office space downtown. That appears to be about 300,000 square feet more than they currently occupy downtown. HBJ KBR story
  15. Houston19514
    Not sure what the sparse attendance at some random indoor women's soccer game has to do with the Dynamo or the Dynamo stadium, unless you were trying to show that indoor soccer would not be successful... The Dynamo had an average attendance of 17,000 last year.
  16. Houston19514
    Nope. Musicman's post was incomprehensible.
  17. Houston19514
    The FEIS shows a 3,000 space parking garage at the Hillcroft Transit Center. (Table 2-13, Page 2-49)
  18. Houston19514
    MainPlace is pre-certified Silver, with a goal of achieving Gold status.
  19. Houston19514
    HBJ reports today that ExxonMobil plans to build a new very large campus in Spring (west of I-45 at the point where the Hardy Toll Road intersects with I-45). The plan is to consolidate pretty much everything except for the downtown operations. Also reports a rumor that at least parts of the Refining & Marketing HQ operations may move from Virginia.
  20. Houston19514
    Nothing about what you say makes it difficult to compare the trips between IAH and downtown Houston vs. Midway and downtown Chicago (or McCormick Place.) Yes, a portion of the trip is dissimilar, but one can still compare distances and travel times and costs. (And keep in mind that is was the original poster who claimed the trips were approximately the same distance... clearly not true.) Clearly, it makes more sense to compare IAH-downtown with ORD-downtown and MDW-downtown with HOU-downtown, but that's not what the original poster posited, so that's where the discussion has led. That said, I agree that the Metro Express fare is a little high. IMO, $10 each way would be a whole lot more palatable, and of course, $5 would be even better.
  21. Houston19514
    If you're paying $45 for a cab from downtown to Midway, I think you're getting ripped off. ;-) The best information I can find suggests cab fare from Midway to downtown Chicago should be around $25. The flat rate for Hobby to downtown Houston is $22-23. (And fwiw, the flat rate for Bush to downtown is $44.50/45.50.)
  22. Houston19514
    No. 2009 County and metro population estimates should come out in March; City estimates in July.
  23. Houston19514
    Huh? the trip from IAH to the downtown transit center is roughly 22 miles. Add the distance from there to your residence. At the most, by taking the long way through downtown, your trip from Midway to McCormick Place was 15 miles. (The distance between your origin and destination (from Midway to McCormick) was only about 11 miles) The Houston trip was more than 50% longer, more than 100% longer when you compare the actual distance between origin and destination). Not sure that falls into the "roughly the same distance" category. For a complete comparison, how many minutes did each of the two trips take?
  24. Houston19514
    ;-) If you're suggesting we'll take as long as the KC team's stadium search (13 years), then we have to wait another 9 years, not just 4...
  25. Houston19514

    Tubular Rail

    Houston19514 replied to lockmat's topic in Transit

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