HOUSTON | Development Thread II

[vjhe]

Originally Posted by kingkirbythegreat

Yay! A box.

Oh come on now, are you really surprised? What else would it be?

[Saddle Man]

/\/\/\/\ Hahahahah!!!!!

[KevinFromTexas]

Yeah, I suppose it could have been a triangle. Or even worse, an oval.

[Xeelee]

Or perhaps something more flashy. This is going to be good for the economy.

[CALMSP]

Originally Posted by TexasPlaya

Good to hear that this building will include retail and restaurant space. Now we just need to get some more people to live in DT.

maybe more people will with the continued hike in gas prices!!! I can't imagine dropping all that cash to drive in from the Woodlands/Katy/Kingwood. I'll take my 5 minute walk commute anyday!!!!

[Xeelee]

Originally Posted by CALMSP

maybe more people will with the continued hike in gas prices!!! I can't imagine dropping all that cash to drive in from the Woodlands/Katy/Kingwood. I'll take my 5 minute walk commute anyday!!!!

I agree. I find it hilarious that humans complain about high gas prices from their hummers, insurance prices, pollution, and long commutes. They likely do not posses the insight needed to see that they are sharing the road from the woodlands/sugarland/katy to Houston with 875,000 other humans who think the same way they do. Ugh. Pretty laughable stuff really.

[weatherguru18]

I drive in from The Woodlands daily. It takes me about an hour to get to work in the Sharpstown area. The burbs are so much nicer than the inner city IMO. Lower crime rate, quiet, lots of recreation, good schools and so on. There is a reason that The Woodlands will have 120,000 - 150,000 residents in the next couple of years. They can't build the homes fast enough. But again, that's my opinion.

On another note, why is Philadelphia getting a 1,500' tower???? They just got the Comcast Center which is just under 1,000'. They are losing population while Houston is one of the fastest growing and all we get are 30 stories. I don't get it.

[TritonHouston]

Originally Posted by weatherguru18

I drive in from The Woodlands daily. It takes me about an hour to get to work in the Sharpstown area. The burbs are so much nicer than the inner city IMO. Lower crime rate, quiet, lots of recreation, good schools and so on. There is a reason that The Woodlands will have 120,000 - 150,000 residents in the next couple of years. They can't build the homes fast enough. But again, that's my opinion.

On another note, why is Philadelphia getting a 1,500' tower???? They just got the Comcast Center which is just under 1,000'. They are losing population while Houston is one of the fastest growing and all we get are 30 stories. I don't get it.

Perhaps it's because Houston is growing outward and has land to expand upon while Philadelphia has no land and must expand upwards... besides that, I have no clue.

[Xeelee]

Originally Posted by weatherguru18

I drive in from The Woodlands daily. It takes me about an hour to get to work in the Sharpstown area. The burbs are so much nicer than the inner city IMO. Lower crime rate, quiet, lots of recreation, good schools and so on. There is a reason that The Woodlands will have 120,000 - 150,000 residents in the next couple of years. They can't build the homes fast enough. But again, that's my opinion.

On another note, why is Philadelphia getting a 1,500' tower???? They just got the Comcast Center which is just under 1,000'. They are losing population while Houston is one of the fastest growing and all we get are 30 stories. I don't get it.

Hrm... Linky?

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by weatherguru18

I drive in from The Woodlands daily. It takes me about an hour to get to work in the Sharpstown area. The burbs are so much nicer than the inner city IMO. Lower crime rate, quiet, lots of recreation, good schools and so on. There is a reason that The Woodlands will have 120,000 - 150,000 residents in the next couple of years. They can't build the homes fast enough. But again, that's my opinion.

On another note, why is Philadelphia getting a 1,500' tower???? They just got the Comcast Center which is just under 1,000'. They are losing population while Houston is one of the fastest growing and all we get are 30 stories. I don't get it.

I don't mean to sound rude, but you live in The Woodlands, tout its attractiveness compared to Houston, and are surprised why Houston doesn't have a 1,500 footer? Actually, it's not as simple as that though. Houston has much more free land to build on. Philly's downtown area is surrounded on two sides by two rivers and the Jersey state border is nearby with Camden being just over the border. So there's not much room for Philly grow out, so they have go up. Also the city is very old. It was our nation's first capital. The 2nd largest city in the British Empire during the 1790s, and the largest US city at one time. The city's population had also hit 1 million people by 1890 and an all time high of 2 million in 1950. So as you can imagine the city is blanketed with very old buildings with many national landmarks. So again, to preserve those the city has to build up, replacing other less historic structures. With Houston, you have plenty of land and no restrictions on development basically. So there's no incentive to build up. The other thing of course is that downtown actually has a height restriction imposed by the FAA. Originally the JPMorgan Chase Tower was supposed to be 80 floors. They scaled it back to 75 floors because it would have been too tall and high into the flight path. That was the reason I heard. Also by comparison Houston hadn't hit 1 million people until about 1965. By that time Philly had over 2 million.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by Xeelee

Hrm... Linky?

Post number 5461 is where the fun starts. Check out the renderings. Very nice tower.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...19627&page=274

[Xeelee]

What the hell?

[Wattleigh]

Downtown's three large office projects seem to be in swing in some form or another. Main Place's excavation continues as the excavation for Discovery Tower is just beginning. Here are some photos from this afternoon.











According to this article in the Business Journal (public in a few days), 6 Houston Center will begin less than 45 days from now. I also recall seeing a few men with hardhats on the site reviewing what looked to be floorplans on the site just this afternoon.

The article also goes on to mention that all three projects are working for a LEED Gold certification. I recall seeing Silver for each beforehand though. There are also a few details referring to the Brookfield Gateway Tract project. Apparently, it is planned to be 50 stories, all glass and working toward LEED Gold certification as well. It would sit on the surface lot adjacent to the Allen Center Garage/Racquet Club. Construction wouldn't begin until at least 50 percent of the building is leased.

A lot of things are going on out west too. The Memorial City Condo Building is actually starting to begin after some speculation the site hadn't succeeded. This afternoon, a smaller crane was in the process of setting up a tower crane on the site.

The Energy Plaza development is also being cleared out at the moment. This is the twin 17-story office & 14 story hotel project at Dairy Ashford & the Katy Freeway.

Signs have also started going up on the sites for Eldridge Oaks (14 Stories) & Three Eldridge Place (13 stories), both on Eldridge Parkway in the Energy Corridor.

[weatherguru18]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I don't mean to sound rude, but you live in The Woodlands, tout its attractiveness compared to Houston, and are surprised why Houston doesn't have a 1,500 footer? Actually, it's not as simple as that though. Houston has much more free land to build on. Philly's downtown area is surrounded on two sides by two rivers and the Jersey state border is nearby with Camden being just over the border. So there's not much room for Philly grow out, so they have go up. Also the city is very old. It was our nation's first capital. The 2nd largest city in the British Empire during the 1790s, and the largest US city at one time. The city's population had also hit 1 million people by 1890 and an all time high of 2 million in 1950. So as you can imagine the city is blanketed with very old buildings with many national landmarks. So again, to preserve those the city has to build up, replacing other less historic structures. With Houston, you have plenty of land and no restrictions on development basically. So there's no incentive to build up. The other thing of course is that downtown actually has a height restriction imposed by the FAA. Originally the JPMorgan Chase Tower was supposed to be 80 floors. They scaled it back to 75 floors because it would have been too tall and high into the flight path. That was the reason I heard. Also by comparison Houston hadn't hit 1 million people until about 1965. By that time Philly had over 2 million.

First of all, again, the City of Philadelphia, is losing population and has been for years. While I appreciate the history lesson (which I already knew), Philly is not building up due to historical markers. They are in the heart of the megalopolis. However, Houston is likely to pass Philadelphia in the next decade as the 5th largest metro area in the nation.

As far as the height restrictions go DT, that is no longer in effect (or so I've heard). They could build 200 stories if they want. The runways at Hobby do not line up with downtown and the flight paths take the plans safely to the southwest of the CBD. We have much nicer technology than we did in 1981 when Chase was built.

[guess]

Originally Posted by weatherguru18

However, Houston is likely to pass Philadelphia in the next decade as the 5th largest metro area in the nation.

Thats a useless way of looking at things. Philly's metro area is half the size of Houston's and double the pop density. Why the concern over the building going up in Philly?

Since I'm in Houston I'm more concerned about why a 2 story mall is going up on main street. What a great use of a prime block.

Or maybe the design of buildings like the one going up by the park, complete with a porte-cochere, that looks like it belongs in the energy corridor with the rest of the BP buildings.

[KevinFromTexas]

Ok, ok, let's not argue over it. I was just hoping to uh, indicate why Philly was getting it. And actually Houston has had some really nice tall buildings proposed. There were several proposals in the 80s that would have each been over 1,300 feet tall. I believe the reasons they weren't built ultimately was the economy and height restrictions because of Hobby thanks to the FAA. However, if I was going to expect Houston to get something that tall, now would be the time. The city seems to be doing very well. Residential highrises are springing up all over the place and downtown is in better shape then it's been in years. It's only a matter of time. By the way, I was in no way hating on Houston, if I had move out of Austin for some reason and I had my choice, I'd go to Houston.

[rdavis4559]

Originally Posted by weatherguru18

First of all, again, the City of Philadelphia, is losing population and has been for years. While I appreciate the history lesson (which I already knew), Philly is not building up due to historical markers. They are in the heart of the megalopolis. However, Houston is likely to pass Philadelphia in the next decade as the 5th largest metro area in the nation.

As far as the height restrictions go DT, that is no longer in effect (or so I've heard). They could build 200 stories if they want. The runways at Hobby do not line up with downtown and the flight paths take the plans safely to the southwest of the CBD. We have much nicer technology than we did in 1981 when Chase was built.

How definite is the assertion that there is no longer a height restriction? Anybody know?

[toxteth o'grady]

I think it's incorrect. The runways are oriented same as they ever was - directly at downtown. Which means the same concerns that the FAA had 25 years ago still exist.

[TritonHouston]

Originally Posted by rdavis4559

How definite is the assertion that there is no longer a height restriction? Anybody know?

Although I myself don't have a definite source, there has been an article that was discussing a past supertall skyscraper for Houston and it implied there was no longer any height restriction because airplanes are no longer allowed to come close to the central district especially after 9/11.

[CALMSP]

using our skyline as an excuse to limit our height is pathetic. If HKG could land 747 jumbos at the old Kai Tak airport, our little737's can land at HOU with a higher skyline.