dbigtex56 Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 The headline to Lisa Gray's recent article in the Houston Chronicle regarding the alterations to River Oaks Plaza says it best: Beige, Blotchy and Bland. Quote:"The snappy black-and-white buildings are turning beige. Fake stucco and more of that blotchy sandstone are covering the nifty old bricks. Above the building's canopies, new, taller parapet facades screw up the once-low-slung center's proportions, and allow more room for bigger, brighter signs." I'm with you, Lisa, and am stunned that anyone feels that this botched-up job is in any way an improvement. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J008 Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 The headline to Lisa Gray's recent article in the Houston Chronicle regarding the alterations to River Oaks Plaza says it best: Beige, Blotchy and Bland.Quote:"The snappy black-and-white buildings are turning beige. Fake stucco and more of that blotchy sandstone are covering the nifty old bricks. Above the building's canopies, new, taller parapet facades screw up the once-low-slung center's proportions, and allow more room for bigger, brighter signs."I'm with you, Lisa, and am stunned that anyone feels that this botched-up job is in any way an improvement. (If there's an existing thread on this topic, please merge.)It is really hard to watch people actually working on making something ugly, and it really is ugly. Like someone intentionally parking an elegant classic car on the rail road tracks.Unfortunately, Ms. Gray fails to mention the tacky heart-works scattered across the property and featured at the formerly prominent entranceway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 (edited) It is ugly.. but i think demolished would be worse.Unfortunately for us.. this particular architectural gem that we love is a retail store. Not a museum, not a church, not a house... just a string of stores.Retail is business and signage and rents really do matter to landlords and tenants, more so than style. So that leaves us out of luck for having loved the wrong piece of architecture.River Oaks is a lost cause. It will have ceased to be special once the transformation is complete. Will that stop me from shopping there occasionally.. no.Is ugly, boring, and a reminder of a beautiful center better than gone.. I think so. Edited June 2, 2011 by Highway6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 Yuck...but no surprise. She wrote a follow up to an email received about the article: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/arts/gray/7583273.html I posted the GHPA notice about this in the River Oaks Shopping Center thread () but I think this deserves its own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 Maybe in the future, someone with some sense will reverse this travesty when it is time to renovate the exterior again....in about another thirty years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infinite_jim Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 So does this mean Design Within Reach will be relocating? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 I think that e-mail must have gotten to her for her to write a follow-up article about it. It's unfortunate, since the e-mail mixes a bad premise - that all discussion of architecture and the urban environment should be left to owners and developers - with schoolyard-type bullying. Stuff like that doesn't deserve a second thought.I do wonder who these people are, who act as unpaid cheerleaders for corporations focused on the bottom line and shareholder value. Are the board members at Weingarten breathing a collective sigh of relief now that some local economic freedom fighter has voluntarily written a letter to a Chronicle arts reporter taking up their cause?And then of course there's the question, why am I giving it a second thought? I guess because, as dismissible as something like this deserves to be, it can't be ignored, simply because there are too many people in Houston who think like the e-mailer, and it has a real effect on the city. To be more specific, there are too many people who associate public opinion and influence on architecture and urban development with the end of Freedom and the American Experiment, and some sort of descent toward Stalinism. Their arguments aren't very learned or logical, but they're loud, and they have influence. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 The headline to Lisa Gray's recent article in the Houston Chronicle regarding the alterations to River Oaks Plaza says it best: Beige, Blotchy and Bland.Quote:"The snappy black-and-white buildings are turning beige. Fake stucco and more of that blotchy sandstone are covering the nifty old bricks. Above the building's canopies, new, taller parapet facades screw up the once-low-slung center's proportions, and allow more room for bigger, brighter signs."I'm with you, Lisa, and am stunned that anyone feels that this botched-up job is in any way an improvement. (If there's an existing thread on this topic, please merge.)You know, I struggle to understand America's obsession with beige buildings. Go out to the suburbs and there are entire communities of beige houses. Has there ever been an era in architectural design so dominated by one color? I am convinced that when architectural historians look back on our time they will label it 'The Age of Beige'. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Their arguments aren't very learned or logical, but they're loud, and they have influence.Sounds like every other mainstream movement in the course of human history. You name it. The acceptance and backing of the bottom quartile is a prerequisite to becoming relevant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
20thStDad Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 You know, I struggle to understand America's obsession with beige buildings. Go out to the suburbs and there are entire communities of beige houses. Has there ever been an era in architectural design so dominated by one color? I am convinced that when architectural historians look back on our time they will label it 'The Age of Beige'.Here it's hardly noticeable. I just got back from Jordan, where every building actually is the same color - beige. I tried to find some beauty or even interest in it, but by the time I left I decided it was just completely depressing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 'The Age of Beige' The age of beige indeed...I love it! (the phrase, not beige! ) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsb320 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Maybe in the future, someone with some sense will reverse this travesty when it is time to renovate the exterior again....in about another thirty years.Think Midtown Sears and the strip center at Westheimer & Montrose. They were once art deco beauties. It will never happen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gooch Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Smart of Weingarten. SInce it looks like every other strip mall in this city, who would complain when they go to demo it in a couple of years? I mean... it's just another strip mall, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highrise Tower Posted July 4, 2021 Share Posted July 4, 2021 Orangetheory Fitness River Oaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Paco Jones Posted October 28, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted October 28, 2022 PROJECT: River Oaks Multifamily (assigned prelim name) ADDRESS: 1414 Waugh Houston, TX 77019 ARCHITECT: Page OWNER / DEVELOPER: Camden Securities Company INFORMATION: 34 floor residential high-rise tower containing 302 apartments with attached 6 level parking garage for 460 cars with amenity deck on roof. It will sit on the block bounded on the four sides by Waugh Drive, Bell Avenue, Rosine Street, and Pierce Avenue. The tower is approximately 594,826 gross square feet and the tower balconies are approximately 53,020 gross square feet. The parking garage is approximately 199,290 gross square feet. Residential floors will typically have private unit balconies on east and west elevations. Ground Floor areas will include the main lobby, building tenant services, office areas, fire command, security, mail room, maintenance, storage, loading dock, building fire and domestic water room, emergency generator, building electrical rooms, and drive through drop-off/delivery roadway. Tower level 6 is a tenant amenity floor containing fitness, recreation, socializing and workspaces for tenants. Contiguous with this floor level is the top of the parking garage where there will be 29,800 square feet of exterior tenant amenity spaces such as a lap pool, spa, lawn decks, paved decks, walking paths, fitness areas, and covered lounge areas. There is also a 2,063 square foot amenity deck at level 31 for social gatherings. The staggered picture frames on the exterior of the building will be translucent glass with internal LED lighting while the perimeter of the building elevations will be porcelain paneling. I have no information on the other phases except that a mid-rise / tower will be north of this one, between Bell and Clay. 37 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasota Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 Ho. Ly. Crap. Don't tease me with the redevelopment of that awful strip mall. It's my white whale. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cityliving Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 Looks like the location of this project is where the former Luby’s was. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasota Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 Phase I, yes. But look at the Phase II and III map. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cityliving Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 3 minutes ago, Texasota said: Phase I, yes. But look at the Phase II and III map. Yes, I saw that, looks like the River Oaks plaza will be torn down? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasota Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 That would be the "awful strip mall" I was referring to. I have to assume tear-down is the plan, but until we see a site plan who knows. And until we see shovels in the ground for that matter. Hopefully this won't be another Regent Square. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 Camden Securities Company is a NY-based developer. https://camdensec.com/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 That is the old Luby's that closed, big lot has a for sale sign on it. I figured it would be great for someone to develop. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sapo2367 Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 Love it :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonMidtown Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 Wow !!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntheKnowHouston Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, cityliving said: Yes, I saw that, looks like the River Oaks plaza will be torn down? Should this be merged with the River Oaks Plaza topic? https://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/24988-river-oaks-plaza-developments River Oaks Plaza's address is 1414-1576 W Gray St. From the provided documents, the owners of River Oaks Plaza are building a mixed-use development with residential in its place. http://camdensec.com/portfolio-items/river-oaks-plaza/ Edited October 28, 2022 by IntheKnowHouston 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 Threads merged Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasota Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 I really like the service alley and the separated garages so everything facing Waugh serves people rather than cars. The building itself is reasonably handsome though a bit too officey looking. If it werent for the balconies it would just be an above average office building. But it's not bad. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 They better not force Romano's out. That's one of my favorite places to eat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post freundb Posted October 29, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted October 29, 2022 What a view the eastern units will have 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EllenOlenska Posted October 29, 2022 Share Posted October 29, 2022 I love boxes truly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.