Houston19514

I've only been to Vic & Anthony's once, but it was one of the very best dining experiences of my life. Great steaks (and side dishes and desserts), outstanding service, and truly superb atmosphere.

193 are being marketed as a package by CBRE.

Very interesting. Those would be the units that are currently rentals, and I'm guessing they are looking for a condo converter to buy the package.

That does not really contradict the point being made by KincaidAlum.

I do agree with you it is highly unlikely the Museum Tower will go condo.

And, btw, there are 193 units at Parklane for sale right now

TNJ

Where do you get that information? They sure aren't showing up on HAR.

Interesting. I wonder if the retail development will actully be owned by Metro. It's not unusual for transit authorities to become heavy hitters in the real estate game. It helps them change traffic patterns. Not a great example, but probably the most famous complex owned by an authority was the World Trade Center in New York. Though the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is more akin to the Port of Houston Authority, but you get the drift.

In the case of the TMC Transit Center development, Metro will lease "air rights" to the developer. The developer will then build, own, and operate the hotel, retail, residential and office structures above the transit center.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/hei...ws/3489461.html

That article does not really tell us much. It says DOT will "explore a number of alternatives that will lead to a design that is less intrusive on nearby neighborhoods and will remain within the existing right of way."

It does not tell us anything about what those alternatives might be. Is it possible tunnels are one of the alternatives that will be explored?

Thanks for the info. I would probably mostly be looking at completed ("used") houses anyway, so THAT's a relief. Good to hear you think they are well-built.

Your experience and others like yours is one reason I'd lean towards a used product. Dealing with people like that would drive me over the edge. I hope you can get it all worked out; You have my sympathy.

Sorry, everyone, for kind of taking us off-topic.

Now, we return to our regular programming.

It only makes sense there would be long turn lanes/extra capacity at a major intersection like Hwy 6.

Depends on the market. Miami is seeing a glut of condos going up. Our firm just closed on a unit that pre sold for $850,00, 15 months later the seller sold for $1,300,000. It is all speculation, just like the tech boom for the 90s, at some point, the bubble will burst in certain markets. I think it is fair to say that the market for condos will rise in Dallas and Houston. You are already seeing it.

The one problem that does arrise is a warrantability issue. Say you have a development that you want to buy in, only one problem, it is 90% investor owned. Good luck trying to get a loan unless you want to pay cash. This is a problem I see daily. I do believe that something must be done about the investor concentrations.

I and the article were referring to the financing of the building of condo developments, not the financing of the purchase of individual condos.

That would explain Bush Intercontinental

Notice the past tense. There WAS a federal regulation. It seems possible that federal regulations might have been changed in the intervening 50 years or so...

From the Hobby Airport website:

To honor Hughes, the name of the airport was changed in July 1938 to "Howard Hughes Airport." But upon discovering that no federal airport improvement funds would be granted to an airport named after a "living" person, Houston City Council reluctantly changed the name back to Houston Municipal Airport later that year.

http://hou.houstonairportsystem.org/about#...HOBBY%20AIRPORT

Any thoughts here on the Braesmont or Braesview Terrace subdivisions next to Meyerland and Bellaire? We are currently making an offer on a house on Maple right on the border of Bellaire and Braesmont (after a disastrous experience with Lovett Homes). We're thinking it may be like living in Bellaire without paying Bellaire prices. Thoughts?

I'd be interestd in hearing more about your experience with Lovett Homes. I hope to be shopping for a home in Houston fairly soon and had gotten the impression they were a pretty good builder. Is that impression wrong?

It's pretty standard to have additional (turning) lanes at intersections. That is not the same as having a "four-lane feeder road

FWIW, there was an article in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week to the effect that lenders are pulling back from lending money on condo projects all over the country, and requiring the developers to have a lot more "skin in the game" .

This is intersting:

In 1938, the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, known at the time as Houston Municipal Airport, was re-named "Howard Hughes Airport," but the name was changed back after people objected to naming the airport after a living person.

I recall reading that there was actually a federal regulation against naming an airport after a living person. (Not that it was against the law per se, but, if you violate the regulation, no federal funds for you...)

I'm pissed at Hobby Airport . They supposedly remodeled the interior, but it STILL looks subpar with many of the other large airports I've seen. It's an airport with restricted landspace, so, like, at LEAST remodel Hobby to the point where the interior is luxurious and sparkling. Think of Dubai's airport (from a previous thread), or an international airport. Creme yellow color and gold all over. Why can't that be Hobby? How about a huge glass wall facing the street similar to the airport for Washington D.C/Baltimore? Chandeliers in the lobby? Red Carpet? Shiny Sofas? Plasma screen t.v.s for while you wait? An internet cafe? Maybe more people would prefer Hobby over Bush Intercontinental if Hooby had a much more competitive setup to that of Bush's new terminals. It's Houston. Think Hobby Center, dammit.

Only one thing positive to say about Hobby. It's about damn time that they started landscaping the area around that airport.

Calm down. The Hobby terminal remodeling/reconstruction project is not done. It is an ongoing project scheduled for completion in 2008.

Reading all of these posts about the new freeway, I decided to drive to my parents' house in Spring for Thanksgiving dinner down the new I-10. It will certainly be nice when finished. Parts of the mainlanes are already in use, as are some feeders.

I have to say though, I can think of no bigger waste of space and money than a four lane feeder road. Feeders have two purposes...facilitating entry and exit to the freeway and access to the businesses along the feeder. 3 lanes accomplishes this task well everywhere else, why not Katy? Very poor use of space and concrete.

The Katy Freeway website shows the frontage roads all being 3 lanes, not 4. Have they changed the design?

Your smugness might lead you to believe that your "cleverness" went right me. Get over yourself. I don't need to make digs about the war. If you want to debate the war or Cheney policies or liberal vs. conservative theory - I'm game. "Bring it on" - is that familiar to you?

Otherwise, try not getting your nose bent out of shape because someone took an item from today's news and asked a question relevant to that news and to this forum. I do not care if you think it's relevant or not. If you don't, the easy, mature action to take is to not post to the thread. Let it go. If you are that sensitive, you might want to avoid public forums.

Remarkable. If you "don't need to make digs about the war" then why did you?

You had to cook up a rather preposterous scenario (that if the war in Iraq were not going on the money could be re-allocated in equal portions to the 20 largest cities (and only the 20 largest cities)) in order that you could make your facetious claim that your question is relevant to the news.

You can't seem to understand even though I have stated it clearly and repeatedly, that I DO NOT WANT TO DEBATE THE WAR at least not here on an architecture/development board. There is a reason this board has an off-topic category. And apparently, since you made your little point and then begged people not to debate it with you, you don't really want to debate the war either. You seem more interested in just lobbing in a verbal hand-grenade and then standing back saying "Who, me?"

Library Support, Holdings, and Utilization

These five variables were indexed to determine a total score and consequent ranking:

1. Number of school media personnel per 1,000 public school students

2. Number of branch libraries per 10,000 library service population

3. Volumes held in the library per capita of library service service population

4. Number of circulations per capita of library service population

5. Number of library professional staff per 10,000 library service population

i thought this was interesting - and i don't think this particular premise is too questionable

That might be one of the less-questionable categories. But even here, there are lots of questions raised. E.g., In cities such as Houston, where there are both county and city library system branches, did they count both systems or just the city library? Why did they apparently count media personnel in the schools but not numbers of volumes held in school libraries? I must say they covered this category better than the bookseller category. In libraries they counted both the number of branches and the size and volume of "business" conducted by those libabries. In the bookseller category they just counted the number of booksellers, paying no attention whatsoever to the size or volume of business of those booksellers. So a corner bookstore that sells 5 books a day counts the same as a Bookstop on Alabama which no doubt sells hundreds or thousands per day. Very curoius way to measure.

Another of the seemingly endless stream of tireless and meaningless "studies" based on questionable premises that get WAY too much attention from the media, especially when they portray Houston in a negative light...

In "studies" such as this, Houston is hurt by having a large central city relative to the size of the metro area.

As is so often the case, the "study" is worthless, because it compares apples to oranges, and in the end does not show what it purports to show.

Unfortunately, it has less to do with buyers being savvy, as it does buyers having $1,000,000 to spend on 2,000 sq ft. Buyers do not rush to pay $500 per foot.

And no, the Orion is not going to be built.

Again I ask... Did the 2727 Kirby people tell you they had to have 400-500 per square foot to break even? If not, on what information are you basing that statement?

I don't want to talk about the war, at least not here on an architectural/development message board. My point (which apparently went right past you) was to object to your sly approach of trying to have it both ways... i.e., you get your "dig" in about the cost of the war while imploring others not to respond in kind. I'm quite familiar with the approach.

Here's a thought...

If you don't want to talk about the war, and don't want others talking about the war, then don't start a thread TALKING ABOUT THE WAR.

What does this thread offer beyond the other recent thread "what would you do with 15 Billion Dollars?

Did they tell you that? Are you basing that on their list prices?

What are their prices? I can't find any on their website.

While there certainly have been condos sold in that price range (400-500 per square foot) and above, I would think it would be quite a challenge to sell out an entire building averaging in that price range.

One of the homicides was committed by an evacuee. But, here's the interesting part. The Chron reported that the victim approaches the evacuee's apartment, ARMED, and bangs on the door. The evacuee thinks it is the same person he had an altercation with earlier, and shoots through the door, killing the victim. HPD arrests the evacuee for murder.

Does anyone remember the Scotch tourist who banged on a homeowner's door in a drunken stupor about 15 years ago? The homeowner gets scared and fires through the door, killing the tourist. No charges are filed on the homeowner. A grand jury no-bills the homeowner.

Sounds like a double standard, doesn't it?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metrop...an/3489626.html

I remember that incident. But I don't remember that the homeowner shot through the door. That could be the difference.

Also the fact that Plano and Richardon compete with Dallas. And this is to a much larger extent than Sugar Land and The Woodlands compete with downtown Houston.

What is your evidence for this proposition?

True, but it sent the entire office market into a funk that they are still trying to recover from.

Incidentally, my brother-in-law was in town with my sister for Thanksgiving. The subject of Richardson's freefall came up and he said the office market there is still in shambles, 10 years later.

Downtown Dallas' office market was in a funk long before the telecom industry implosion. Its problems stem from the oil & gas and Savings & Loan implosions of the mid-80s. The downtown office market has never recovered.