Houston19514

Well done, Lockmat. That is fun stuff, indeed.

Hmmm... so apparently there are already two buildings going by the name Sage Plaza.

FWIW, the water wall is running again, after being down for quite a few weeks for presumably expensive repairs. Not the sort of thing one imagines an owner would bother with after "announcing", or for that matter even considering, that they are going to tear it down.

No you can't. You are probably confusing "metros" with "combined areas". But I'm also not sure where this idea that we are 5th largest came from . As of the 2007 estimates, the Houston metro is the 6th largest in the US. 1. NYC 2. LA 3. Chicago 4. DFW 5. Philadelphia 6. Houston We are almost certain to be 5th largest following the 2010 census, given our growth and Philly's lack of growth.

How so?

2727 Kirby construction topped out this past week. That building is looking amazing!

The design is attractive enough and would be fine for Sugar Land or even Midtown, but totally wrong for downtown. Very disappointing. They should have teamed up with one of the office or hotel developers and gone into a new high-rise/mixed use development. The Y in Charlotte did that many years ago... in a then-new high-rise for First Union (now Wachovia).

That's a bit of revisionist history.

I think you kind of missed the point of the corporate entries.

2010

I think it's actually one space per BATHroom for apartments and condos. (At least that's what I was told by a realtor when looking at some lofts downtown... and the parking that came with the lofts comported with that ratio).

Sarnoff has a bit in today's Chron about the old Days Inn. It seems it has been sold again, to an entity called New Era Hospitality. Sarnoff's column The name of the entity suggests they are likely aiming for a hotel, rather than a loft redevelopment. Let's hope this one goes somewhere...

Yes, but the comparison was to USAirways. I am curious where you can go on USAirways (with reasonable connections) that you cannot get to on Continental with similarly reasonable connections.

Excellent thoughts, RedScare. Could not agree more. Besides which, at least when driving in on Allen Parkway, the parking garage is barely visible in the skyline. You pretty much have to be looking for it to see it at all.

Hotel ZaZa (I think their restaurant is named "The Monarch")

You get what you pay for... ;-) And I can't help but note that "going" for a higher price is not the same as "not going" where you want to go... I doubt there are many places at all served by USAirways that are not also served by Continental.

and USAirways does? ;-)

I don't think he's talking about building code or legal requirements for parking. I think he's just talking about "market" requirements, i.e., you either have parking available or you don't lease out your office/retail/apartment space.

MainPlace is approximately 50% taller, so one presumes they will need a significantly deeper and more substantial foundation. Plus, I would imagine that having the Stowers Building to work around (and protect) does not exactly speed up the process.

Nothing's been announced yet.

Yeah, I think it's something like 11 or 12 stories.

I was just looking through the latest renderings and site plans on Wulfe's website. The site plan now actually includes the Ritz-Carlton logo! Go to Image 12 of 12 http://www.wulfe.com/BoulevardPlace.asp

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Finally, someone has made an honest, rational attempt to answer the question. (although we could have done without the editorializing at the end... ;-) ) You may be right about the fuel efficiency argument, although I'm not certain that it's an absolute slam dunk... I don't know. I'd be interested in learning more on that topic. Also, in the long rain, we are led to believe, the investment in rail cars is more efficient than investing in buses because they last longer and require less maintenance. (At least that's what we're told regarding light rail vs. bus and BRT). I am also familiar with the train bias, but I'm not entirely convinced that with a good system and marketing that could not be overcome (in fact, I think Metro has gone a long way in overcoming that with it's very successful park & ride system. I mean, who would have thought, say 20 years ago, that this many Houston suburbanites would ride buses from far suburbs to downtown. Unthinkable. I don't doubt that most would choose a train over a bus for the same route. The problem with that, though, is two-fold. (1) That totally ignores the relative costs of the two systems (I believe a commuter rail system is still a LOT more expensive). (2) They would not necessarily run the same route. For example. current commuter buses run from northwest Houston to multiple stops in downtown Houston. Passengers drive to the P&R lot, ride a single bus and walk a short distance to their downtown office. The proposed commuter rail would take them to the northwest transit center, where they could transfer to MetroRail and transfer to at least one more MetroRail line, and then get off downtown for a short walk to their office. Are very many people really going to prefer a train over a bus in that scenario? And that, in the end is probably my biggest concern with this proposal. I believe stopping any commuter rail line at the Northwest Transit Center is Short-Sighted with two capital S's. It seems to me that if they can't build it all way to downtown, we are better off sticking with the P&R bus system (for the reasons mentioned above, to-wit: the current P&R bus system simply provides better service than a commuter train terminating at the Northwest Transit Center ever could. I like the idea of train service to Galveston too. But if they could provide service with P&R buses, personally, I'd be happy to take that to Galveston on a weekend.

Sooooo... Instead of presenting ANY argument whatsoever in favor of commuter rail, you have resorted to personal attacks and posting bad information. I must say I'm disappointed in you, Red. But whatever, I suppose we'll manage to carry on without you. I might add, I gave a lot more than opinion... I posted facts, some of which were necessary to correct your misinformation. ;-)