Houston19514

I saw an ad in the the Chronicle last week for a HUGE development on the very western tip of Galveston Island, named Pointe West. Have we known about this before?

But the deal DID go through. According to HCAD and Harris County Clerk's records, Landco bought the property from the Maharishi in 2004 and Landco still owns the property. One customarily conducts due diligence before recording the deed ;-) I suppose it could be possible that the deal came unwound afterwards, but no reversion to the Maharishi appears in the county records yet...

Is nobody else here the least bit curious about the Maharishi advertising to sell property he does not appear to own?

Randall Davis... LAME. He should stick to ugly loft buildings. He is out of his league and this will bankrupt him. Of couse that is if this is true.

Hasn't Randall Davis already gone well beyond his original loft building genre... and apparently so far managed to avoid bankruptcy?

The former Holiday/Days Inn building was advertised for sale in this week's Houston Business Journal, by the Mahrishi Peace Foundation or whatnot. That seems to indicate the project got axed.

Hmmm... That seems odd. Why can't I find the listing?

It's especially odd given that, according to HCAD records, the "Peace Foundation" does not own the building. It is owned by Landco (Raider).

I know the Dallas name has been a thorn in Jordy Tollett's side. When the Hilton was being planned, one thing that came up repeatedly was the name of the street and whether it should be renamed. He was head of the convention bureau at that time and was really pushing to change the name. In the end, i believe too many businesses said it would create havoc to rename that stretch so they left it as Dallas.

That's all correct, except for you conclusion. They did change the name. The Hilton's address is 1600 Lamar. No havoc created because the Hilton is the only thing on that short stretch of street.

This might be out of line, but I dont understand why churches like Lakewood and the new catholic church in downtown spend millions upon millions to build their churches. Seems to me that a simple church with adequate facilities would serve the same purpose as a mega church with expensive architectural designs to it.

They sure look pretty though.

But the same can be said about office buildings, shopping centers, restaurants, airports, performing arts centers, museums, hospitals, stadia, convention centers, etc etc etc.

This has been discussed in other threads for a while, I would just like this to finally take off. Yeah I know loads of planning is involved, I'm just a bit anxious. It sounds great

Completion date is '09 for this and '07 for Houston Pavilions, with ground breaking only a few months apart. I'm sure there are other factors involved but two years difference

Oh well as long as it gets built

Notice the second clause of the following sentence taken from the article:

"The project is set to break ground at the end of this year and open in 2009, with parts opening much sooner ."

A couple factors involved in the longer construction timetable would be:

This project is larger than the Houston Pavilions project.

This project involves building new structures, then relocating current tenants to the new structures, then destroying existing buildings and building replacement structures; a good deal more complicated and time-consuming than starting with a stretch of empty land.

I think the park is great. It's very exciting times for the city right now and should continue over the next decade. A couple surface lots are being filled in with smaller projects already. Does the new park cover any surface lots?

Yes, the park will cover approximately 2-3 blocks worth of surface lots

The Trinity Express that runs between Dallas and Fort Worth has nine stops over a roughly 40 mile route. 50 miles from Galveston to Houston could easily accomodate a stop every 5 or 6 miles, or 8 to 10 stops. It would not need to be a 5 minute stop either. It could be accomplished in 1 or 2 minutes.

In Galveston, it could start in the Strand, with a second stop near the new Courthouse complex at 59th. A stop at Texas City, Dickinson, League City and Webster would mean stops every 5 miles. Clear Lake, Ellington and Hobby stops in Harris County, before heading downtown, would mean 7 stops over 50 miles. Not too bad.

And we should note it takes 1 hour and 5 minutes to travel the 32 miles between downtown Dallas and downtown Ft. Worth. (One thing you have ignored is the deceleration and acceleration time required for each stop. Even if they only stay at the station for 1 or 2 minutes, the total time lost is perhaps at least 5 minutes for each stop.) If a train ran at the same pace from Galveston to downtown Houston, we're talking something like a 1 3/4 hour trip.

Perhaps the residents went for the minimalist look?

HCAD shows 51 residences sold, and roughly 75 unsold. HAR.com probably only listed 7 or 8 so as not to make it look bad, as in empty.

HMMM... I see what you are saying. I took the 8 available from Shirley Sanders.com, not HAR, because I thought her information was pretty reliable. Her website shows that 1 sold in March, 4 sold in April and that at the end of April, 15 were pending. That still doesn't account for the 75 unsold shown on HCAD.

I don't know what to tell you about all of the empty rooms you are seeing, but there are only about 8 units available for sale.

They're's part of what makes Montrose, Montrose. And they also deter dull, judgemental scardy-cats from moving into the neighborhood, for which I'm grateful.

Don't ya just hate those judgmental types? They're the WORST, aren't they? ;-)

According to the Google satellite image, the site is currently about 1/2 grass (and a few trees) and about 1/2 surface parking.

Breaking holy ground

Incarnate Word Academy will celebrate the 133rd anniversary of the Academy's Foundation Day and break ground for the school's new $8.5 million Fine Arts Center at 2:30 p.m. Friday, May 5.

The three-story center for the school, which has been in downtown for more than a century, will be built at the corner of Crawford and Capitol streets.

You know it'll be nice when they spell "point" "pointe".

pointe

Pronunciation: 'pwan(n)t

Function: noun

Etymology: French pointe (du pied), literally, tiptoe

: a ballet position in which the body is balanced on the extreme tip of the toe

LOL Good one.

Initially, in 1937 with the passage of the U.S. Housing Act.

More recently in 1968, when the federal HUD started making affordable housing part of its mission.

Nice try. It nevertheless remains primarily the role of the private sector to fulfill the country's housing needs. The government has assumed the role of making that easier and in some cases assumes the role of filling in the gaps when the private sector fails to meet a need... NOT the other way around.

For some reason people just love to compare Houston to other places. Dallas.. Chicago.. New York. I wonder why that is. Perhaps the city needs a stronger sense of identity. Maybe that's just something that will come naturally over time since Houston is still a young city.

Pardon me, but this was a story on the D-FW CBS affiliate. At least in this case it seems to be Dallas that is demonstrating the need for a stronger identity.

maybe it's because houston is so freakin unique. i choose this town over any other city in the world. when people from nyc or la brag about their towns, i find myself aloof. it's hard to not shoot them down and to remain polite.

i remember the first time i visited nyc. i went to restaurants that everyone bragged about. "five star" people said, "best chef in america". blah, blah blah. i've had better service and better food in houston for half the price. houston is the shiite, me brotha.

the difference between houston and other world cities is media attention, plain and simple.

Here Here!! I totally agree!

It's worth a try. Like so many other things in Texas, when the government fails to meet a need, private individuals take matters into their own hands. Let's hope it works for them.

When did it become primarily the government's role to meet the need for housing?

According to the Downtown Park website, the "official" (which I presume means final) design is to be released May 9.

That is hands down the best marketing piece I've ever seen for Houston. It's about time!

Sunstar, I don't understand your attitude. Why in the world do hot summers make it hard to tout comfortable winters???? That makes no sense at all. (And you'd have more credibility if you tried to be a little more accurate about the summer climate.)

May I suggest also letters to the Chronicle? Both standard letters to the editor supporting rail on Richmond and, perhaps more importantly, letters criticizing their lazy, incompetent and biased coverage of this issue. They are CONSTANTLY repeating the Big Lie about the ballot language without ANY context or balance.

I prefer not to become juvenile on this issue. I"m simply stating that the confusion is in the desciption of the various transportation corridors. The fourth one is called the Westpark Corridor which leads one to believe that's where it will be placed. Election ballot wording has always been confusing here and on many other issues particularly on controversial subjects. The ** items were supposedly rail specific corridors at the time and some have subsequently been changed to bus rapid transit.

1. NORTH HARDY

**A. UH-Downtown to Northline Mall

B. Northline Mall to Greenspoint

C. Greenspoint to Bush IAH Airport

2. SOUTHEAST

**A. Downtown/Bagby to Dowling

**B. Dowling to Griggs/610

C. Griggs/610 to Park & Ride in the vicinity of Hobby Airport

D. Sunnyside: Southeast Transit Center to Bellfort

E. Sunnyside: Bellfort to Airport Blvd.

3. HARRISBURG

**A. Dowling to Magnolia Transit Center

B. Magnolia Transit Center to Gulfgate Center

C. Gulfgate Center to Telephone Road

4. WESTPARK

**Wheeler Station to Hillcroft Transit Center

5. UPTOWN/WEST LOOP

Westpark to the Northwest Transit Center

6. INNER KATY

Downtown/Bagby to Northwest Transit Center

7. SOUTHWEST COMMUTER LINE

Fannin South Park & Ride to Harris County line

So, by the logic of the Richmond opponents, is route number 1 (the "North Hardy") required to run only on Hardy Street or the Hardy Toll Road Right-of-way?

Is route number 3 (the "Harrisburg") required to run only on Harrisburg?

Is route number 5 (the "Uptown/West Loop") required to run in the West Loop Right-of-Way?

Is route number 6 (the "Inner Katy") required to run on Katy Road or on the Katy Freeway Right-of-Way?

January 2006 passenger volume at Bush IAH:

Total: 3,295,043

Domestic: 2,685,638

International: 609,405

If they continue this rate of growth, Bush IAH will serve more than 43 million passengers in 2006, including more than 7 million international passengers.

Yes, but I would amend that slightly to say that all those homes are mostly in the 90k to 110k range.

If we're talking about a bigger/expanded "low-brow" mall (which is what Greenspoint already is), then I see where they're going.

Willowbrook is 20 miles from Greenspoint: at least 30 minutes' drive, or more if there is traffic on 1960. I think the overlap of the market areas for Willowbrook and Greenspoint is relatively small.

And the same thing with Deerbrook Mall; it's 22 miles from Greenspoint: just under 30 minutes' drive.

The Woodlands Mall is about 25 minutes away from Greenspoint. But it's targeted to an entirely different demographic than to what the current Greenspoint Mall is targeted.

What map and mode of transportation are you using, man? ;-)

Willowbrook is 9.4 miles from Greenspoint (not 20) and it would be crazy out of the way to go from one to the other by way of FM1960.

Deerbrook is 15 miles from Greenspoint (not 22).

The Woodlands Mall is 16.7 miles, not a 25 minute drive at most times of the day.

Does anyone know what ever became of the old Foley's (previously Sanger-Harris) store in downtown Dallas?