Highrise Tower Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 A few photos from the week. Monday. Friday. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freundb Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 Wonderful demo work. Can we send them two blocks over to take down the Holiday Inn? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 3 hours ago, freundb said: Wonderful demo work. Can we send them two blocks over to take down the Holiday Inn? Not possible. That building is a historic landmark, to be preserved forever🤣🤣🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
004n063 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 4 hours ago, Ross said: That building is a historic landmark Ah, so that's what X Houston is doing. An homage to Heaven on Earth. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted February 25 Author Share Posted February 25 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highrise Tower Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 It's finally down! The last concrete block. Can't find the after photo, but the whole structure is down. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highrise Tower Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Tires have been removed! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highrise Tower Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Orange barriers have arrived at the site. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted March 12 Author Share Posted March 12 I guess they aren't building any time soon because they sprayed on green liquid grass. 1 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfastx Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Another building torn down to let a vacant lot sit downtown. Hooray! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 38 minutes ago, mfastx said: Another building torn down to let a vacant lot sit downtown. Hooray! I talked with a guy who works for Metro, he told the parking garage that used to be here was red tagged and condemned by city inspectors. It looked in very bad shape. As far as the spray on grass, they do that to minimize erosion of the soli until they get ready to build. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highrise Tower Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 A little late posting these pictures. Thought I would share. Grass being sprayed. Grass after a few days. Equipment being hauled off the site. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 They are not proceeding immediately with the originally-planned structure, because Metro is rethinking the plan (and applying for some additional grants). The original plan was to provide facilities for Metro Police Department (which has to relocate; they are in one of the structures up by the Bayou that will be demolished for the North Canal project. Metrolift Metro Emergency Operations Center (currently dispersed among several facilities) Transtar support facilities and parking. Now they are considering incorporating additional Downtown Transit Center facilities. They say they need up to 22 bus bays at the DTC and currently have only 7 for buses and 2 for Metrolift. 1 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 (edited) This has to be a move from Brock. She is cutting anything she considers a waste. The problem is the mayor is going to be asking for even more from Metro. In todays city council meeting he mentioned asking the agency to use some of it's funds to build an underpass in the East End. The mayor seems clueless to the fact that an underpass is already part of the University BRT and that the neighborhood has already given their input. Edited April 30 by j_cuevas713 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 17 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said: This has to be a move from Brock. She is cutting anything she considers a waste. The problem is the mayor is going to be asking for even more from Metro. In todays city council meeting he mentioned asking the agency to use some of it's funds to build an underpass in the East End. The mayor seems clueless to the fact that an underpass is already part of the University BRT and that the neighborhood has already given their input. This is the opposite of a cut. This is adding significant additional elements to the project. Can we tap the brakes on mayor-hate? In yesterday's council meeting, there was a quite encouraging discussion about addressing the long-neglected rail crossings in the east end. The Mayor indicated full support for addressing the issue and merely said he would talk to Metro about the possibility of using some of its funds to help address the issue. There was NO indication of anyone's knowledge of the University BRT underpass, one way or the other. FWIW, the discussion exposed pretty huge failings on the part of the City on this issue. Apparently, the FRA funding from several years ago specifically calls out Houston as being the worst in the nation on the rail-crossing issue, but the City hasn't bothered to apply for grants under that funding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JClark54 Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 (edited) 20 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said: This has to be a move from Brock. She is cutting anything she considers a waste. The problem is the mayor is going to be asking for even more from Metro. In todays city council meeting he mentioned asking the agency to use some of it's funds to build an underpass in the East End. The mayor seems clueless to the fact that an underpass is already part of the University BRT and that the neighborhood has already given their input. METRO proposed a rail separation for the bus-only BRT lanes. As presented, it did not include passage for personal or commercial freight vehicles. The neighborhood requested the separation to accommodate all traffic forms, if a separation is built. Edited May 1 by JClark54 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilcal Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 13 minutes ago, JClark54 said: METRO proposed a rail separation for the bus-only BRT lanes. As presented, it did not include passage for personal or commercial freight vehicles. The neighborhood requested the separation to accommodate all traffic forms, if a separation is built. I know we are getting a little off-topic, but this is the partial story. The city, union pacific, some east end entities have also requested all traffic. The neighborhood basically said no takings, and the only way for that to be possible while also having all traffic is for BRT to utilize a single lane for bi-directional travel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JClark54 Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 1 minute ago, wilcal said: I know we are getting a little off-topic, but this is the partial story. The city, union pacific, some east end entities have also requested all traffic. The neighborhood basically said no takings, and the only way for that to be possible while also having all traffic is for BRT to utilize a single lane for bi-directional travel. Yes, we agree. The neighborhood requested for all traffic forms and the only way for METRO to do that is bi-directional traffic. I didn't bother get too deep into the weeds. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilcal Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 2 hours ago, Houston19514 said: FWIW, the discussion exposed pretty huge failings on the part of the City on this issue. Apparently, the FRA funding from several years ago specifically calls out Houston as being the worst in the nation on the rail-crossing issue, but the City hasn't bothered to apply for grants under that funding. For one, the city was awarded a federal rail elimination crossing grant for the west belt that was applied for a few years ago, and secondly, they do require matching funds and there are lots of rail crossings in the east end particularly. All of the CIP budgets tended to shift very flooding-focused after Harvey and rail crossings aren't primarily about remediating any flooding concerns. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobruss Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 On 3/12/2024 at 2:30 PM, hindesky said: I guess they aren't building any time soon because they sprayed on green liquid grass. When I just glanced at this image I thought they had put in a lagoon pool in downtown for our downtown swimming hole. Just add a couple of umbrellas and a beer stand and then we might not have a rush hour. 1 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 (edited) 21 hours ago, Houston19514 said: This is the opposite of a cut. This is adding significant additional elements to the project. Can we tap the brakes on mayor-hate? In yesterday's council meeting, there was a quite encouraging discussion about addressing the long-neglected rail crossings in the east end. The Mayor indicated full support for addressing the issue and merely said he would talk to Metro about the possibility of using some of its funds to help address the issue. There was NO indication of anyone's knowledge of the University BRT underpass, one way or the other. FWIW, the discussion exposed pretty huge failings on the part of the City on this issue. Apparently, the FRA funding from several years ago specifically calls out Houston as being the worst in the nation on the rail-crossing issue, but the City hasn't bothered to apply for grants under that funding. When he said “not what Metro can DO to a neighborhood but FOR a neighborhood” it sounded like he was taking a shot at the Green Line. He’s been very critical of Metro since day 1, but we’ll see how this pans out. When people like Marlene Gafrick come out and say “Houston will be a car dependent city for a long time.” That doesn’t sound promising coming from the Planning Dept. And she was Whitmires personal choice to run the dept. Even him taking shots at the Austin St bike lanes yesterday was ridiculous. Edited May 2 by j_cuevas713 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted June 27 Author Share Posted June 27 Design Firm - https://www.midtownengineers.com 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LosFeliz Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 So METRO is building a surface parking lot downtown along the rail line and adjacent to a bus transit center? 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted June 27 Author Share Posted June 27 Temporary surface lot is what the permit says. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfastx Posted June 28 Share Posted June 28 (edited) How METRO hasn't bought up land and built high density housing around rail stations is beyond me. EDIT: Or how the city hasn't partnered with a developer to do that. I realize it may be illegal (backwards US law) for transit authorities to develop real estate. At least it is here in the northeast which is ridiculous. Edited June 28 by mfastx 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LosFeliz Posted June 28 Share Posted June 28 They have $2.3m+ for a temporary parking lot... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highrise Tower Posted July 21 Share Posted July 21 Boom on site. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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