Houston19514

I went ahead and poked around the internet a bit to see how long the Kansas City team has been looking for/talking about a permanent stadium. It appears that they have been bouncing around the Kansas City metropolitan area since approximately 1996.

It appears thy plan to have shuttle circulators connecting the stations with the rest of campus. Plus, I think I saw some parking garages at at least one of those stations.

And how long has Kansas City been talking about building a soccer stadium? Just asking...

I think you need to look more closely at those renderings.

I think you've got your threads/sites mixed up. The ball room was on the site of the Embassy Suites. The drive-through bank was on the site of the Ballet building.

A bit of a tangent, but Niche mentioned the Downtown Management District's estimate of 140,000 workers downtown. I would love to see a real, well-sourced estimate of downtown employment. I recall reading estimates of 150,000 twenty years ago. If that was anywhere near accurate, the number would surely be substantially higher now... (at least 4 significant/major buildings have been added, and most companies house more people per square foot now than they did 20 years ago; e.g. when Chevron took over the former Enron tower, they installed cubicles for all)

Not everyone works downtown. In fact, the vast majority do not.

Very interesting. Has anyone else taken a serious look at your product? Has anyone gone forward with it? Edit: Where are you getting your Metro numbers? I believe the contract was for $1.46 Billion, covering approximately 20 miles of new rail. That comes to only $73M per mile, not 83. Furthermore,the contract includes 29 vehicles. Does your per/column number provide any stations? Does it include utility costs? Does it include operations and maintenance facilities?

Your ability to type that with a (presumably) straight face is awe inspiring. ;-) Of DFW's 25 Fortune 500 companies, I count only 3 in anything close to the telecom industry. All three of them are in Dallas (which is, of course the defining point of the discussion, not whether they are in a "traditional downtown location") Didn't really take long to explore and demolish the theory that Houston's higher in-town concentration of Fortune 500's is caused by oil industry's preference for traditional downtown locations vs. telecoms' preference for suburban campuses. Do you have any other theories? What Fortune 500 company is in Denton?

Very interesting. But aren't you comparing total system costs for Metro Solutions with merely the costs of the columns for the Tubular Rail? What about stations and rail cars? (and I'm guessing these cars would be very expensive) (And do you have a basis for your assumption of $400,000 per column cost? It's a really intriguing concept. Appears to be better suited to long distance than inner city service.

Your last line is exactly right. The article is a nightmare of confusion. But, that's our Chronicle. No mention at all of the fact that those two houses were moved to their current location earlier this decade. No mention at all that the locomotive was moved to its current location even more recently. No explanation of even hint of exactly where any of them would be moved to. And no explanation of why the houses would have to be moved before the light rail construction. One is left with the suspicion that the block where the second convention hotel is planned is very possibly not even involved in this project at all... It sure would be nice if the Chron could provide some actual information. [EDIT] After doing a little research in the city council minutes, I am pretty confident this has nothing at all to do with the "superblock" on which a second convention hotel is planned (Avenida de las Americas/Walker/Rusk/Crawford). But confusion seems to reign. The "explanation" in the backup material says that the proceeds from the sale will be used to reconfigure Avenida de las Americas between Rusk and Texas "which consists of the reconstruction of four concrete paved lanes with a median, sidewalks, street lights, and the relocation of existing parking meters." HUH? That section of Avenida de las Americas was just built (complete with median, sidewalks, street lights and parking meters, in 2004), shortly after the two houses were moved out of the way. Are they perhaps planning to make the street less wide? I've always thought that stretch of street was ridiculously wide and would be better with more landscape space, but damn I hate to be spending money to redo streets that are very new and in perfect condition...

No they won't.

Nope. It's going to be a single family residence.

FWIW, the closure of BB&B has nothing to do with City Centre. They are closing most, if not all, of their stores. Including the one in the Houston Galleria.

and the Hess Tower parking garage block. So, only 3 of those other 5 lots are still there...

Thanks for the info. But who is "the Master Plan"?

Any chance you could post a link? Thanks.

Let's not be putting TOO much weight on a forum poster's interpretation of what one unknown Metro staffer allegedly said. Having said that, the purchase of two properties certainly provides evidence of fair market value. It's absurd to suggest otherwise. At the end of the day, whether for negotiated purchases or for eminent domain purchases, Metro does not have the ability or the power to "establish" the fair market value on its own. In negotiated purchases, the seller has a lot to say about it. In eminent domain purchases, the court decides.

What, exactly, is unethical, unfair, or out of touch with reality, in the case of Metro negotiating purchases of property needed for rail lines, followed by the use of eminent domain?

Duplicate post. Apologies. Why don't we start with putting a stop to YOUR buffoonery. ;-)

Of course. The same is true for every highway project, and every other public project. First, they go in with offers, sometimes followed by negotiations, and then only if necessary proceed with eminent domain.

Not sure where you came up with that bit. It's not true. Harris County was completely willing to commit to natural grass and worked closely with the Louisiana Superdome and Pontiac Silverdome to develop the system that was ultimately used by the Silverdome. The World Cup folks were just not comfortable with the time available at the Astrodome to install the grass.

Well, you might go to III Forks rather than McCormick & Schmick's if you're interested in steak more than seafood (or vice versa if the opposite is true).

There has been some speculation in the past about whether Hess (nee Discovery) Tower would be connected to the downtown skywalk/tunnel system, and if connected, would it be through 5 Houston Center or One Park Place. I was riding bike around downtown today and it is now pretty clear that Hess Tower will indeed be connected via skywalk through 5 Houston Center. Sorry, I have no pic. 5 Houston Center has a hole cut in its side directly opposite a spot in Hess Tower that has a sky-walk-shaped opening in the facade.

LOL You are too precious. I suppose you've been too busy shopping at all of those "only in Dallas" international shops in Victory Park. Really, DallasBoi, you make it too easy.