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Houston19514

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Everything posted by Houston19514

  1. Houston19514
    You're probably thinking of AIM. Different company. Different building. Different part of town.
  2. Houston19514
    Texas Eastern was the original owner/developer of Houston Center. They owned all the land all the way to Hwy 59 and donated the land for the GRB to the city. Original plans for Houston Center covered all of that land, I believe, including what became the Hilton Americas, and what is now becoming Discovery Green and One Park Place. The original plans for Houston Center included covering a whole bunch of blocks of streets, with a new "outdoors" a couple levels above street level, sort of like they did above San Jacinto between 1 & 2 HC, but extending for many blocks (at least that's what I was told on an architectural tour of downtown Houston a few years back.)
  3. Houston19514
    Do some research, man. Boston, for example, has an extensive commuter rail system and it serves fewer people than Houston's HOV system, at far greater cost. (I cannot find the numbers I saw a few months ago to support my statement. In fact, the numbers I have located thus far contradict my statement.) Nevertheless, the following statement still holds true: Just because some cities are stuck with 19th century systems (and other cities are blindly trying to reproduce 19th century systems) does not necessarily mean such systems are the best transportation option for the 21st century. A relatively flexible HOV/P&R bus system can do everything commuter rail can do PLUS things commuter rail cannot do (such as greater flexibility in number and location of stops, sharing the transit facility (HOV lanes) with carpools and other buses etc.)
  4. Houston19514
    ... or Metro Rail.
  5. Houston19514
    Despite all of the statements and misinformation earlier in this thread to the effect that the tower portion of Victory Tower was already under construction, photographic evidence has proven that NOT to be the case. Further, the latest information is that construction on the tower will begin in January 2008, at the earliest. For those interested in checking on which posters are reliable, scroll back through this thread and see who said the tower was already under construction, who said it wasn't, and who predicted it might be delayed beyond the then-projected Autumn 2007 starting time... I'm just sayin'... ;-)
  6. Houston19514
    Yeah, that's the site of the parking garage for Heritage Plaza. It's been mentioned on this board before. ... and the Orion??? Not even close. Man, you really do need to get yourself some better "ears on the ground." ;-)
  7. Houston19514
    <cough> <cough> ;-)
  8. Houston19514
    No. The garage is the one across the street to the south of the first lot (or third lot, depending on which end you start from...) It's the garage on the block bound by Main, Polk, Fannin, & Clay. There will be a skybridge across Polk connecting to the 2nd level of HP.
  9. Houston19514
    You may be confusing metro population growth with city population growth (In this case, only the city numbers are relevant, as the city's zoning or lack thereof would not likely have any significant effect on suburban growth, or lack thereof) Here are the numbers from the US Census Bureau: Houston: 1990: 1,630,553 2000: 1,953,631 2006: 2,144,491 Dallas: 1990: 1,006,877 2000: 1,188,580 2006: 1,232,940 Atlanta 1990: 394,017 2000: 416,474 2006: 486,411 Numeric Growth 1990's: Houston: 323,098 Dallas: 181,703 Atlanta: 22,447 2000-2006: Houston: 190,860 Dallas: 44,360 Atlanta: 69,937 1990-2006: Houston: 513,938 Dallas: 226,063 Atlanta: 92,394 Percentage Growth: 1990s: Houston: 19.81% Dallas: 18.05% Atlanta: 5.7% 2000-2006: Houston: 9.77% Dallas: 3.73% Atlanta: 16.79% 1990-2006: Houston: 31.52% Dallas: 22.45% Atlanta: 23.45%
  10. Houston19514
    That all makes a lot of sense. BUT, don't they need to get working on building the thing REAL soon if they are to have it ready for play by the time they need it?
  11. Houston19514
    Yeah, that's what they thought in the early 80's too. $100 oil was just around the corner... and 20+ years later, we still haven't gotten around that corner, even in nominal dollars, let alone in real dollars.
  12. Houston19514
    We shall see soon enough. Mid-2009. Parking will be available at a former K-mart in Humble with shuttle service provided from there. Because, oops, nobody thought about the need for parking for a 400 room hotel ;-)
  13. Houston19514
    Do you really think the hotel developers didn't notice the pieces falling off the building before they purchased it? And again, (and agreeing with Subdude) there is no way the hotel developers purchased the building without having a clue of how they were going to handle parking. No offense, but I think you need to look for some new "ears on the ground." The ones you have now don't seem to be serving you very well.
  14. Houston19514
    That strikes me as very unlikely to be true. The people doing this are experienced in the hotel and development businesses; They surely inspected the building thoroughly and crunched the numbers exhaustively before buying the building (and they have already bought the building... the new owners took title earlier this month). Whose doorman? Again, this strikes me as highly improbable. Developers and hotel operator/developers don't generally just walk in and plop down probably seven figures for a building without first inspecting it and knowing whether it includes parking space... Calm down everyone... The bathroom attendant at the Houston Club told me it's a sure thing. Work will begin soon.
  15. Houston19514
    Thank you. I was thinking the same thing.
  16. Houston19514
    Wow. Another major screwup for that sorry excuse for a newspaper (the Chron) (Thanks for the explanation Tory)
  17. Houston19514
    LOL It must be a little difficult being a doom and gloomer in Houston these days, what with the murder rate plummeting, downtown hotels not going out of business and new downtown hotels under development, Discovery Green spurring huge developments even before it's completed, Houston Pavilions under construction, BLVD Place about to break ground...
  18. Houston19514
    I have no new information. I'm just quoting from the newspaper article that announced One Park Place. Was that bad information? Have I foolishly believed that the Chron got something right?
  19. Houston19514
    I'm sure they have figured something out, in consultation and cooperation with their landlord. Yes, my guess would be all-valet parking.
  20. Houston19514
    I presume you are speaking of Golconda. Is 251 one of the blocks they own? You are right about their general lack of motivation to or interest in selling, but of course that does not make it impossible. They HAVE sold properties in the past. But if it's not Block 251, which block would be the parcel of land adjacent to One Park Place on which Finger has a contract to purchase? (Perhaps I overstated slightly by saying he controlled the block... but if he has a contract to purchase it, he does in most respects control it.)
  21. Houston19514
    There is plenty of room. This building will be at the very southeast corner of the site. There is an open space at that corner that is approximately square and something like 225 feet on each side. That's 50,625 square feet. The building will be 3 or 4 stories and contain a total of 70,000 square feet. So if it's 3 stories, they only need a 23,333 square foot footprint, less than half the space that is available. If it's 4 stories (and that's what it looks like in their renderings), they only need a 17,500 square foot footprint, about 1/3 of the space that is available. There actually does not appear to be any reason they could not start shoveling on October 1.
  22. Houston19514
    Not speculation, really, and not worthy of its own topic post at this time. That's all there is to it. There is no more information. At the time the first articles came out about One Park Place, it was stated that "Finger is also under contract to acquire an adjacent parcel of land where a second tower could be built." The adjacent parcel pretty much has to be the block to the south of One Park Place.
  23. Houston19514
    Daniepwils is correct. The planned location for 6 HC is to the north of 1 HC. IIRC, the block you are speaking of (between the Four Seasons and the new Embassy Suites) is controlled by Marv Finger and he has plans for another residential building there following One Park Place.
  24. Houston19514
    Let me count the ways... ;-) October 1 is indeed one week away, but that of course makes October 31 more than 5 weeks away. I believe they have said construction will start IN October. Nobody said it would start ON October 1, did they? Furthermore, they have been quite clear from the very first announcement of this project that it would be built in phases and in a manner so that existing tenants would be able to move directly into their new locations without shutting down in the interim. The most recent article also makes that quite clear: "The first building will rise at the project's southern boundary, at the northwest corner of Post Oak Boulevard and Ambassador Way. The 70,000-square-foot building will house seven tenants currently in the Pavilion on Post Oak and Fashion Place retail centers that are relocating to Blvd Place -- including Cafe Annie, Americas and Hermes. Once the tenants move, the older retail centers will be demolished..."
  25. Houston19514
    That particular runway plan was not adopted. The new north-side runway will go in between the two existing runways, IIRC. There will also be a new south-side runway approx. 1 mile south of the current south-side runway.
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