Houston19514

Bravo!

You are sure doing a good job of it, for not trying. ;-) 30-40 years for 4 new residential buildings, one hotel, and a small stadium (which I don't think is quite correct, but let's go with that for the moment). And you think that should likely take 30-40 years? In Houston Texas? There's a LOOOOOONGGGG distance between the out of sight building (and overbuilding) seen in Las Vegas and Miami and the VERY slow building that would be required to add 4 residential buildings, one hotel and a small stadium (oh and the addition of a parking garage to the convention center) in 30-40 years. Let's look at the past 30-40 years, shall we? In the past 30 years, in that general area of downtown. -- The huge GRB Convention Center (built and added-to). -- Hilton Americas (equivalent to the hotel in your list) -- Discovery Green -- One Park Place -- 5 Houston Center -- Discovery Tower -- MinuteMaid Park -- Rehab of vacant International Trade Center into Inn at the Ballpark -- Fulbright Tower -- 4 Houston Center and The Shops at Houston Center -- Four Seasons Hotel and condos -- 1 Houston Center -- Toyota Center -- Toyota Center parking garage -- Hilton Americas/GRB Parking garage -- Holiday Inn Express -- Lofts at the Ballpark -- Stanford Lofts condos I'm sure I'm leaving some out. And as Redscare already pointed out, the vast majority of this list was accomplished, not in 30 years, but in 9 years! Let's see, that's 1 huge hotel, 1 large hotel, and 2 small hotels. 1 large and 1 smaller stadium/sports facilities 1 huge convention center 1 shopping mall 3 residential buildings (plus the condos in the Four Seasons) 5 large office buildings and Discovery Green. Makes the 4 residential buildings, one hotel and 1 small stadium in 30 years, let alone 40 look like a major underachievement. (FWIW, I believe that 2 of the buildings you are counting as residential are actually slated to be hotels.)

I think your time-line may be way too long. Did anyone think even 20 years ago that the east side of downtown would look as good as it does today?

I think that is parking (or least mostly parking). That is something that has concerned me. They appear to be leaving themselves no space whatsoever to ever expand the GRB (unless they can go up).

Nice looking rendering. But who else thinks $160 Million for this 57 story condo building, completely rehabbing an old building into a 5-star boutique hotel, and building a park with underground parking is, how shall I put it, unlikely?

I do not live or work downtown, but I do go down there often, on weekends and evenings. I am baffled by the alarm over the bums. While I have seen quite a few bums, the numbers are not particularly surprising compared to other major cities, and I have never been the least bit harassed or bothered by any of them. Honestly, in any listing of downtown problems the "bum problem" ranks well below the problem of bird s*#t covering Main Street Square, the plaza in front of The Wortham Center, and other areas of downtown.

It would be great to get a W downtown, but it will not be at this convention center site. W does not do large "convention center hotels". This is planned to be a large hotel on the scale of the Hilton Americas (in the range of 1000-1500 rooms). Think Marriott, Grand Hyatt, Sheraton or Westin.

Uh... read the quote at the bottom of your posts. The Sabine Promenade is a beautiful park and trails area developed along Buffalo Bayou in Houston (not Dallas or Atlanta). Based on your quote (and its laughable falseness), it seems fair to presume you are not interested in being aware of any of the good developments that have taken place and are taking place in Houston.

Nothing you'd be interested in. Everyone knows nothing good is ever built or accomplished in Houston. ;-)

Puma got it right? That's what I told you 2 days ago...

Ditto

Here is the gist of the story from the Houston Business Journal: "Lucky Strike, originally slated to open on Nov. 26, is scheduled to resume construction on Dec. 1 and the delay could push the opening back to early 2009. Karen Mulville, general manager of Houston Pavilions, says the contractor has been waiting for pieces of equipment and millwork to complete the 24,800-square-foot venue for the past couple of weeks.

You mean you still have not jumped off that ledge?

Cool. I would honestly be surprised to see huge changes. But note, everyone, that there is actually some flat space on that non-flat roof... it is possible they could surprise with a pool on the top of the tall portion. (But my money is still on the lower structure's rooftop.)

Why would Lucky Strike have someone answering the phones in Houston? As has been duly noted, they are not open and won't be for over a month. They have already told us why they will not make their original opening date. What more do you need?

What in the name of Sam Houston are you talking about?

You don't have to go to Austin to find a rooftop pool above the building itself... There's one two block away from this site at the Hilton Americas. Another a few more blocks away at the Magnolia. Nevertheless, in the case of the Embassy Suites project, for which we have seen renderings showing a non-flat roof (at least in part) along with a lower "pedestal" it seems likely the rooftop pool will be on the roof of the lower pedestal structure.

9 stories is a high-rise? ;-)

How about a forum-wide poll asking how many are tired of the incessant whining about flat roofs, especially in threads regarding buildings we have no reason to believe will have flat roofs? ;-) (And I don't care what anyone says, Houston's skyline is so much better than Austin's that to even write about them in the same sentence is silliness.)

It can be. See post #36, above.

It is completely neutral news. Just a construction delay. Nothing more, nothing less.

LOL And the mad search for negative news continues apace. All is as usual at HAIF. The rooftop pool will most likely be on the roof of a shorter portion of the building. Much like 2727 Kirby, Mosaic, and others have rooftop pools...

Before anyone gets apoplectic about the loss of 3 floors, keep in mind that there is at least a 50-50 chance this is just an error by the Chronicle. ;-)

Well bully for you. I know you mean that as an insult, but the fact is, that is really pretty much what the developers intended it to be. (And of course, to judge it "outside of HOB/Luckystrike components" is pure silliness.)

Victory Park was ill-conceived from day one. Everything FAR too high-end, and the location is too much of an island unto itself. As someone above said, no critical mass. Despite the fondest hopes of many Dallas boosters, the fact remains, Victory Park is NOT in downtown Dallas, and therefore neither benefits from nor contributes to the creation of a critical mass that might have supported the retail space. As it is, I don't think even mid-scale retail would likely be successful there.