Houston19514

The study is of cities, not metro areas.

How about Dallas' ranking at 35th. Do you find that statistic hard to believe?

Which of the listed establishments are "2nd incarnations"? I think very few of them are.

No need to re-read your post. I completely and thoroughly understood everything you said. I understand you are saying this plan allows them to grow. And clearly, since they will be gaining 2 gates above what they have now, that is the case. My only point was that this plan limits how much they will ever be able to grow DAL. I also understand that SW does not yet use all 20 of their gates at HOU. (And if your flights/gate/day numbers are anywhere near accurate, SW won't need those other 3 gates for many many years. I am skeptical of the reality of your numbers. I know SW aims for a 30 minute turnaround, but they don't always make it, and as I mentioned before, flights are not evenly spaced throughout the day, so there is going to be SOME dead time at gates. If they were achieving anything close to those numbers, I doubt they would be building all of those 20-and more-gate terminals at their "hubs" around the country. As you know, lean mean Southwest does not tend to invest capital in facilities they don't need.) But regardless of the numbers the bottom line is: whatever number of flights they can handle per gate per day, SW is permanently limiting their operations at DAL to a number that is 20% smaller than what they will be able to handle at HOU as soon as those remaining 3 gates are available, and much smaller than they can handle with current gates at Midway, Phoenix, BWI, Las Vegas, and even St. Louis. (And they are not restricted from further expansions of their facilities at any of those airports.) So it appears to me that they do not have huge growth in mind for DAL, at least relative to their other "hub" airports.

I like it. At the very least, they need to landscape and shade that walk from the MetroRail station, with fountains, artwork etc. along the way. They could even incorporate promotions of upcoming Reliant Park events.

Do they really need a reporter to process the press releases they receive from developers? ;-)

True, unless you consider Bossa and Cabo and Cafe Express and Cava Bistro and El Rey and the Flying Saucer and Frank's Pizzeria and Live Sports Cafe and Sambuca and St. Pete's Dancing Marlin and Zula and Mantra and Slainte Irish Pub and Boaka Bar and Mercury Room . . .

What about Alabama? Is there something about Alabama that makes it impossible?

Of course the flights are probably not evenly spaced from 6:30 to 11:30 pm. And whatever number of flights Southwest might be able to theoretically handle with 16 gates at DAL (and their actual gate usage at other airports suggests you are exaggerating the possibilities... as someone mentioned earlier, they run a lean mean machine. So I'm thinking they are not likely to pay for a lot of gates they don't need or anticipate needing). My point is, they are agreeing to a limitation at DAL that they do NOT have at their other major airports, and they have already built quite a few airport terminals to have a good deal more capacity than they will ever have at DAL under this agreement. To me, that suggests they don't plan a great amount of growth of their DAL service. They have recently completed a 20 gate terminal at HOU from which they operate 137 flights a day. Thay have 19 gates at BWI from which they operate 166 flights a day. 29 gates at Chicago Midway - 203 flights. 21 gates in Las Vegas - 219 flights. 24 gates in Phoenix - 201 flights. (According to your calculations, Southwest has built themselves sufficient capacity at HOU, just to take one example, to more than double their service. I'm not seeing any airline do that, let alone lean mean Southwest.)

Yes, but even SW has limits on how many flights they can handle per day per gate. The fact they are willing to settle for 16 gates at DAL while having just built themselves a 20-gate concourse at HOU suggests they envision a bigger operation at HOU for the long term than they have or will ever have at DAL, as much as 25% bigger (and with no contractual limit on expanding even more at HOU).

I was surprised SW was willing to settle for 16 gates at DAL. Don't they have 20 at HOU?

Are you suggesting that all of those cities have multiple movie complexes in their downtowns? Color me skeptical. I cannot think of any movie complexes in downtown DC, let alone multiple.

What's the story on that Nashville 'scraper? Is it really being built? Who is building it? Who is going to occupy it? It looks beautiful. I agree, it would look awesome in downtown Houston.

Why would you think speculators would not operate if we had zoning? I'm not following your logic.

and the second tallest building in Houston is also taller than the tallest building in Dallas.

What are the parking requirements for that area?

I don't know that Houston EVER had a good architectural reputation re: civic/public architecture. I rather doubt it. I have to agree the new fire station is underwhelming and disappointing.

I think CVS is actually more "worried" about making a profit than they are about "market saturation." Market saturation is merely a means to an end. And a far more important means to that end is "serving (and growing) their customer base". Having said that, you hit the nail on the head re: the "stupid set-back rules." Why in the world do they still have those set-back rules in mid-town and the TMC areas? Query: Is anyone on this board active in the midtown organizations or any other organization that might work with the city to get rid of regulations that encourage inappropriate development for Midtown? NMainguy blames it on the lack of zoning. This case appears to have nothing to do with zoning or lack thereof. (Houston's lack of zoning gets the blame for an amazing amount of negative development that it would do nothing to stop or change.) In this case, I don't see or hear anyone objecting to a drug store locating on this site, which is all that a zoning code would do (either allow or disallow commercial usage). Houston already as other land-use regulations (such as set-back requirements, parking requirements, etc.), and as in so many cases, here those regulations hurt more than help.

See Post #8

Lighten up. I did not try to call myself getting offended, whatever that means. I understood your point and in fact largely agreed with it vis a vis I-45 being ugly. Just having a little fun with your over-the-top "sick to my stomach" comment. There are noise reduction walls along Southwest Freeway too.

I'm a little confused by this. Are you saying the only noise reduction walls are at the intersection of Katy Freeway and the West Loop? I agree I-45 is not too pretty, but my goodness you must have an easily upset stomach. ;-)

Source for your 2005 Ft Worth numbers?

Any chance you could give us a link so we could see the realtor crime statistics?

I agree. Everyone boycott the Hobby Center garage. Not only is it ugly and badly-located. It's apparently very poorly designed, logistics-wise. The first time I attended a show at the Hobby Center I parked in the garage (only because we were running late). After the show it took something like 30-45 minutes to get out of the garage!! Never again! Tear it down and build a cafe back there overlooking the bayou... BTW, BEAUTIFUL PICs Travelguy. Thanks for sharing.