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Houston19514

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Everything posted by Houston19514

  1. Houston19514
    LOL Revise history indeed. FWIW, in January 2007 you predicted negative absorption for 2007 and a bloodbath. Neither prediction came true. A(nd yes, it was fairly clear in January 2007 to even a casual observer that Houston would be having healthy job growth in the coming months.) Here is the quote cut directly from your January 25, 2007 post: "thats what happens when you build 17,000 units. yes, you read that correctly... we are expecting seventeen thousand units to come on line this year. *coughbloodbathcough* " (And by the way, your statement of 17,000 units coming on line in 2007 was inaccurate as well, as I pointed out at the time, and needless to say, did not happen) Very cute how you try to turn your past mistakes into an argument about current circumstances. No doubt the market is currently struggling more than during the "bloodbath" years of 2007-2008. Nobody claimed otherwise. Also, I never claimed Houston was immune from the national recession. But so far, we're really faring pretty darned well. IF, we lose 50K jobs in the next year and that is one giant IF, considering at last report, I believe we were still showing pretty decent job growth, we will probably see some serious difficulties. At present however, we're still a long way from anything like a blood bath, my friend. (A couple of new complexes giving extra free rent to try to fill up their complexes quickly does not equal bloodbath.) Who knows, maybe you'll be right this time and you'll get your bloodbath and move your "batting average" up to a solid 50% ;-)
  2. Houston19514
    Apparently you are determined to dislike Discovery Green and completely miss the point. -- Again, people will be quite able to fight their way by all the fortress buildings to get to Discovery Green, just as they do to get to Bryant Park, etc. etc. etc. -- The development plans/vision INCLUDE additional residential high-rise development to the north of Discovery Green. -- The downtown vision includes further residential development of a low to mid-rise nature to the south of Discovery Green. It is a little hard to determine exactly what your issue is, other than for whatever reason you have decided to dislike Discovery Green and continue to insist it cannot be successful even in the face of all of the evidence to the contrary. Is it that there is insufficient residential in the immediate area? Is it that people will not be able to ind their way into the park because it will be surrounded on all sides by tall buildings? In this latest post you seem to be arguing that it needs to have a destination institution such as a museum in or next to the park, (which, by the way directly contradicts your earlier bizarre requirement . . . that it cannot succeed as a destination but only as something that people happen upon on their way somewhere else). Further, do you really think Bryant Park thrives only because of the library? Far from it. It's success has very little to do with the library being next door. (FWIW, it is also surrounded by tall buildings. However does anyone ever get into that place?) Or Central Park only because of the museums or Millennium Park only because of the nearby Art Institute? They and others all thrive because of things going on in the parks themselves. Yes, some of that is the dreaded "programming". Whatever. It has been working well for quite some time, hasn't it?
  3. Houston19514
    Believe it or not, the NY Times has said nice things about some of our more recent architecture too. (e.g., the Beck Building)
  4. Houston19514
    Either you mis-heard or you were hearing a ridiculously pessimistic economist.
  5. Houston19514
    OMG, are you still clinging to that nonsense? The park is successful. Additional hotels and RESIDENTIAL structures in the immediate vicinity will only add to the success. A lot of people seem to be finding their way to and from the park, even though it does not happen to be on their way to somewhere else. Where did you come up with the idea that a park has to be on someone's path, rather than a destination? Bryant Park, Millennium Park, or for that matter, Central Park, Hermann Park, or Memorial Park, or Forest Park in St. Louis, or Grant Park in Chicago are successful almost entirely because they are great destinations, not because they happen to catch someone's eye while they are out for a stroll. How does it possibly matter whether Houston residents leave the park the same way they came in? (FWIW, I have been to the park quite a few times and have never left the same way I came in. Contrary to your assertions in earlier posts, there are many entry and exit points. It sounds like maybe you should actually go see the park sometime...)
  6. Houston19514
    This might be a good time to ask you what ever became of that blood bath in the apartment market you told us we were going to have in 2007... we're still waiting. ;-)
  7. Houston19514
    I completely agree. The problem is: I don't think the project has been canceled; only delayed (indefinitely). As hard as it is to believe, Nancy may have given the wrong impression. Maybe if we all hope and pray every night, they will change their minds by the time the economy strengthens and they will instead desire to anchor a new supertall downtown.
  8. Houston19514
    Well, of course you think it's a bad call when the mere publication completely demolishes your confident prediction that this building would never appear in any architectural books. I am not making any particular argument for or against the building. I like the building and think it is completely fair to include it in a book of the 21st century's best buildings. Do I think it is the century's greatest building? No. But one judgment does not require the other. For some reason many people on this forum cannot bring themselves to accept that anything good ever happens in Houston, let something worthy of note by the world outside of Houston. (And by they way, the subtitle you chose for this thread is a bit, shall we say, tendentious. NOBODY has ever claimed that the Hobby Center is THE GREATEST building of the 21st century. Buildings can be excellent and worthy of praise without being THE BEST of the century.
  9. Houston19514
    So, I guess your criteria for judging reviews of Houston buildings is not based on the qualifications of those making the judgments, but rather whether their judgments agree with your opinion. A random newspaper writer dissed the building. Whoopee!
  10. Houston19514
    What is it? Where is it?
  11. Houston19514
    So, you disagree. The fact that they did not poll the members of HAIF for this book does not make the book bogus.
  12. Houston19514
    You might want to be active in the Scenic Houston organization. These are the types of billboards that Clear Channel Outdoor has agreed to remove (831 of them at least). They are supposed to be gone by February 1, 2009. Scenic Houston is monitoring.
  13. Houston19514
    Did you give any thought at all to perhaps taking a look at the book (or the qualifications of the people making the choices) before making your judgment?
  14. Houston19514
    Oops. The Hobby Center has already made into an architectural book. Yes, it is included in The Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century Architecture as one of the "greatest buildings of the 21st Century."
  15. Houston19514
    I think you need to look again. It is not true that Dallas and Phoenix both exceed Houston on all of the charts (or Atlanta, for that matter). One or the other does in some charts. In other charts, Houston is above both of them. More to the point, however, I don't think they "highlighted Houston as the best example of an Opportunity City." They very much discussed other opportunity cities, such as Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, etc. If the Dallas chamber of commerce hires him to do a report for them, I am sure that report would focus at least as much on Dallas as this one did on Houston.
  16. Houston19514
    Not sure that either Dallas or Phoenix better exemplify Opportunity Urbanism or what causes you to say that. But it's not strange at all that Houston is singled out. The report was written for the Greater Houston Partnership, so of course its focus is on Houston. It does not ignore Dallas but specifically talks about it also being an opportunity city.
  17. Houston19514
    I had dinner at M&S recently and got very similar feedback. Was told they are very busy.
  18. Houston19514
    There is no half-built highrise. The building under construction was 4 stories. I don't think that would be considered a high-rise even in Dallas (which FWIW, DOES have at least one half-built high-rise; I guess Dallas really does get all the cool projects, don't they?). We really are a joke of a city. Dallas gets cool half-built highrises... We're stuck with a measly half-built 4-story building.
  19. Houston19514
    Yeah, I think that was decided quite some time ago. (Note: the date on the linked article was April '08)
  20. Houston19514
    The buildings look better in real life than they do in those renderings.
  21. Houston19514
    Two thoughts: (1) Never say Never. For the right price, everything is for sale, even an "important piece of land right in the MIDDLE of their holdings." (2) Preservationists have been expressing alarm about the whole shopping center, not just the theater. They could buy the whole shopping center. For that matter, they could buy the whole shopping center if that's what it takes to preserve just the theater. But of course, it's much easier (and easier on the personal pocketbook) if one can get the government to use its police state power to do your "work" for you.
  22. Houston19514
    Agreed. I think even $10 each way would be a LOT more attractive.
  23. Houston19514
    I think it's been very slow recently overall. Probably because they don't have much to talk about right now. I mean how many times can you repeat that you think Museum Tower is really going to be built? I think the most active thread recently has been the street level retail thread where they have been giddy about getting a 7-11 and a State Farm agent downtown. (While here at HAIF we complain that all we get is a large bookstore, clothing stores and significant concert venue/restaurant.) ;-)
  24. Houston19514
    Ummm... Houston has laws allowing for preservation of historic structures. Some other cities have laws requiring preservation (i.e. requiring people to do with their property what somebody at city hall thinks is best).
  25. Houston19514
    Any chance you've shared your comments with the library staff or administration?
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