Montrose1100 Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Do you live in midtown and work Downtown? It's not fair... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purdueenginerd Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Do we have any old photos of the block from that angle? Itd be great to see if we can line up the foundation remains with the old buildings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Do we have any old photos of the block from that angle? Itd be great to see if we can line up the foundation remains with the old buildings. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps would be the best bet, at the Julia Ideson Building. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graystone Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Hey guys here is a quick update photo of the site as of late this afternoon. Looks like all the old basement walls are gone and getting chewed up for disposal. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purdueenginerd Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 whelp. so much for that archaeological adventure. haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I'm actually quite surprised that there wasn't any archaeological survey done. I mean that's market square. I'm sure there is at least something you might find in that piece of dirt. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
democide Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I'm still wondering how the existing garage will be renovated. It sure is ugly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I'm still wondering how the existing garage will be renovated. It sure is ugly. From what I read it's probably going to shrink a couple levels as they specified that they will not be needing that much parking and I'm guessing they are integrating it into the new building so that should help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
democide Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 From what I read it's probably going to shrink a couple levels as they specified that they will not be needing that much parking and I'm guessing they are integrating it into the new building so that should help. Sounds great, hope they do just that! It's just too big in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtterlyUrban Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I'm still wondering how the existing garage will be renovated. It sure is ugly.I was thinking the exact same thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 Here are some photos I took this morning. You can see the basement walls more clearly than he photos I took yesteday. I have some more I took during lunch that I will post later. The building on the right corner was the Bertallot Building, best known for housing The Cellar club (see article above). Demolished in May 1981. The smaller foundation immediately to the north of that was the Bethje-Lang building, which was the site of the original Warren's. It was built around 1868 (thanks "Last of the Past, Houston Architecture 1847-1915"). It doesn't say anything about what buildings were on the left along Preston, but my 1940 "Downtowner" map shows a whole string of businesses there: Breier, N Ulman, Barber, cafe, B&M Sales, another cafe, Newport K, Liberia, Bargain, N Halstead. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graystone Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Another quick photo update. Picture take 8/19. Enjoy! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brijonmang Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Thanks for the update! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxtethogrady Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 It sure looks like they filled in the hole. Progress? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 They were probably doing drainage work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 They were probably doing drainage work Can you elaborate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Think of all the cranes that'll be towering over the skyline in about a year. 609 (2 or 3 cranes), One Market Square (2 cranes), Hess Tower (2 cranes), Marriott (2-3 cranes), the 10-story building next to GRB (1-2 cranes), 6 HC (2-3 cranes), Macy's site (3 cranes). It's gonna be bad ass. It'll rival the exxon site I bet.Talked to a supervisor at 609 Main on Sunday morning (8/17/14), he said 3 tower cranes will be used. 2 for the office and 1 for the garage. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 My theory.. Since they don't have underground parking this will spring up like the SkyHouses, straight out of the ground without large excavations. They may of just needed to clear the old foundations so they don't interfere with the new pilings? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Underground parking in that particular location would be pretty vulnerable (remember Allison?). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 (edited) Can you elaborate?Digging up old utility lines and relocating them away from the structural supports of the sure. I imagine there would be a few utility lines running through the site since it was just a parking lot before construction. If there were, then they would need to be dug up and rerouted on a more linear path away from the site, most likely under the lane they have closed. This is just a guess though.This might just be because of the picture quality but if you zoom in you can see that it looks like they leveled out the site into a shallow pit. There's a ladder on the right side that goes down into pit as well as one in the top right corner. So maybe I was wrong based on my initial observation. Edited August 21, 2014 by BigFootsSocks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
democide Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Also, looks like there are two dirt ramps at the site. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infinite_jim Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 They were probably doing drainage workyep, looks like their digging to get some caissons into the ground for the retaining walls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infinite_jim Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsb320 Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 They dug out the dumptruck ramp on the Milam side this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tellez1984 Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 8/22/2014 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsb320 Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 They're still digging, but the only entry/exit is on the Louisiana side. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsb320 Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 They built back the Milam site ramp today. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted September 4, 2014 Author Share Posted September 4, 2014 HFF announced today that it has arranged financing for the development of Market Square Tower, a 40-story, mixed-use tower that will include 463 luxury residential units and 21,000 square feet of retail in downtown Houston. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hff-arranges-financing-for-high-rise-mixed-use-development-in-downtown-houston-2014-09-03 Edit: Website - http://www.marketsquaretower.com/ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Wow...that website...no one told them Y2K had passed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
democide Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Every cent (of the borrowed dough) is being spent on the tower, I love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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