Downtown

Disaster Aftermath
07/20/09 1:47pm

When the Spindletop Stops

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Downtown, Openings and Closings, Restaurants
8 Comments

A longtime fan of the rotating Spindletop Restaurant perched on top of the Hyatt Regency Hotel Downtown writes in to note the passing . . . of the restaurant’s website:

I last called them in January to see about a reservation but they were still closed from Hurricane Ike. The gentleman who answered insisted they would re-open someday soon and I was intrigued. I continued checking their website for an announcement every few weeks but it never arrived and then the site itself disappeared Sadly, when websites revert to parking pages, it’s all but assured the business behind them has folded.

If the Spindletop is indeed gone, a slowly revolving icon of Houston’s oil boom days, what would the Hyatt do with such a, umm, unique structure perched atop it’s hotel? Landry’s Heliport and Cloud Bar? Rennovate it to become *the* foremost penthouse in the city? “Hey baby, not just the bed rotates, but the whole penthouse!” Perhaps just another semi-adequate restaurant with a unique and stunning view?

What was the city perch like in its glory pre-Ike days?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Downtown
07/01/09 8:48am

Houston Pavilions Goes Office

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Leasing, Mixed Use, Office Space, Retail
5 Comments

And suddenly, Houston Pavilions gets some action:

NRG Texas and Reliant, NRG’s retail electric company, have agreed to lease 240,000 square feet of the 11-story Pavilions Tower, which comprises most of the building at 1201 Fannin.

NRG/Reliant will take 10 floors. The law firm Sheehy, Serpe & Ware has the top floor.

The bottom three floors of Pavilions Tower have always been designated as “swing space,” which could have been used for retail or office space, Houston Pavilions co-developer Geoff Jones said. NRG/Reliant will take all of the swing space, as well as some additional space on the second floor that initially had been designated for retail, Jones said.

How much of that lonely and vacant retail “additional space” on the second floor is being turned into office space?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Downtown
06/23/09 12:51pm

Discovery Green Odor Alert

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Gardening, Quicklink
1 Comment

DISCOVERY GREEN ODOR ALERT “‘Over the past month or so you may have noticed a slight farm-like odor on the grounds,’ [Discovery Green] has told supporters by e-mail. ‘In May, DG began a new organic fertilization program that is going to help improve soil biology so that this 100% man-made park can start building a healthier, richer ecosystem. We’re bringing the earthworms back.’ DG’s Claudia Morlan tells Hair Balls they haven’t gotten any smell complaints yet, but wanted to be ‘pro-active’ in addressing the issue. ‘DG will be fertilizing on the lawn spaces every other month with a light layer of organic compost fertilizer made by a company called EarthWorks,’ the announcement said. ‘The park staff will do their best to work around the programming schedule and fertilize on days that have little or no activities.’” [Hair Balls]

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Downtown
06/10/09 4:28pm

Why Houston Needs a Dome

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Hazards, Proposed Developments
7 Comments

Too bad we can’t embed the video here. So here’s a transcript of the rationale — presented by the writers of the Discovery Channel’s Mega Engineering series — for building that massive, mile-diameter geodesic dome over Houston (or at least the Downtown part):

Houston, Texas — the country’s fourth most populous city — is in peril.

Houston has always been vulnerable to killer hurricanes: From the great storm of 1900, the deadliest in U.S. history, which killed 8,000 people, to Hurricane Ike in 2008, which caused more than $10 billion in damage, and forced the city center to shut down for nearly a week.

And it’s not only hurricanes. Searing heat and humidity also oppress this great city. On nearly 100 days each year, the temperature climbs above 90 degrees, which in muggy Houston feels even hotter.

Air conditioning provides relief, but at a cost. Houstonians’ soaring electricity use has nudged the city ahead of Los Angeles in the race to become the country’s number-one producer of greenhouse gases — a dubious distinction. And the problem is only getting worse.

Forced to spend a fortune in a losing battle against nature, and with energy costs spiking unpredictably, Houston finds itself square in the path of an environmental juggernaut, which threatens to make the city unlivable.

That’s why some think that the only way to save Houston is to move it indoors.

Diagram of Houston Dome: Engineering, Discovery Channel

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Comments
06/09/09 8:20pm

Comment of the Day: Floating That Houston Dome Idea

by
Downtown, Proposed Developments, Quicklink
2 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: FLOATING THAT HOUSTON DOME IDEA “This TeeVee show and Gus both imagine the enclosure extending all the way to the ground, in which case it has to withstand surges or deflect bayous or whatever, but Fuller did not: by WWII it had been discovered that a dome that was very open around the base, and vented at the crown, would actually set up a standing current that sucked cooling air into the top and expelled hot air at the bottom (counterintuitively). I believe this was used to turn Midwestern grain bins into instant comfortable barracks for GIs serving in Asian desert theaters of operation. As for whether it could work “around” here, my own scale model tests have been inconclusive, but I know that after the war Fuller set up something like a 30′ radius dome in Kenya and the visitors complained it was too cold – though probably not to the point of condensing the humidity and dribbling it on you.” [Neil, commenting on We’re All Astrodome Now: The Mile-Wide Dome Over Houston]

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Construction Materials
06/09/09 11:55am

We’re All Astrodome Now: The Mile-Wide Dome Over Houston

by
Downtown, Proposed Developments
28 Comments

Okay, Discovery TV engineers, we’re all on board with your idea of building a ginormous, 1-mile-diameter, 1500-foot high dome over Houston. Dibs on the thermostat!

Too bad, though: It looks like all that lightweight geodesic Buckminster Fullery goodness only gets you coverage over . . . Downtown. Isn’t that all air-conditioned already?

We’re especially looking forward to the next episode of Mega Engineering, where you describe that giant ring-moat bayou drainage bypass carved through swathes of Midtown and the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Wards they’ve gotta be planning to go with this.

So . . . how’s the Houston Dome supposed to work?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Downtown
05/29/09 10:47am

Where the Dinosaur Bones Are Hiding in Houston

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Transportation
9 Comments

It doesn’t take long for Covenant Community Capital Corporation summer intern James M. Harrison to learn where Houston’s oldest secrets are buried:

. . . for having not known a soul in Houston 24 hours ago, I feel like maybe I’m doing decent. Part of why I feel this way is thanks to Leon, a homeless man at the Amtrak station who sat and talked to me for an hour while I waited for my ride to come.

Leon is a treasure-hunter, a “modern-day Indiana Jones.” He walked up to me and said, “I’m a rock collector, check these out” and proceeded to show me some of his latest finds. Rubies, emeralds, amethyst, and gold, so he claimed, all embedded in pieces of railroad track ballast. He didn’t want to sell them to me, because he knew that I couldn’t afford any of them. “I charge top dollar,” he said.

I asked him where the rocks came from. “The Rocky Mountain,” he said. “These stones just fall off the train when it rolls through.” He also told me about a secret mine in Colorado that he knew about called “The Gold Nugget,” and explained how he and his friend were going to go up there and excavate the largest piece of gold in the world. “It’ll fill up six railroad cars,” he said. I asked him how he was going to do it, and he replied, “I don’t know man, but two hands are better than one!”

Leon is also a hunter of dinosaur bones (“there’s a few down there in that parking lot,” he told me), 16th century books, and ancient coins, among other relics. He talked my ear off.

Leon the treasure hunter was the first person I met in Houston. I think he introduced me to the place pretty well. “Treasures are all over this city, you just have to look at what’s under your nose,” he said.

Photo of parking lot at Amtrak Station, 902 Washington Ave.: James M. Harrison

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Development Strategies
04/28/09 3:10pm

The Mayor, the Developer, the Apartment, and the Park: A Group Project

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Downtown
8 Comments

Yesterday Texas Watchdog released 99 pages of emails and correspondence it received as the result of a public information request it sent to the mayor’s office in January. The collection documents communications sent and received by Mayor White concerning Discovery Green, and includes messages from and to Marvy Finger, developer of the adjacent One Park Place apartment tower.

One tidbit from that stash was yesterday’s revelation that the mayor had apparently rejected a tax abatement request from Finger Properties — and that the letter he sent out promoting the Downtown residential development was offered in part as consolation for that refusal.

Texas Watchdog is asking for help from its readers in combing the documents for other interesting leads. “If you see anything interesting that you think deserves more digging, let us know,” a reporter for the independent nonpartisan organization writes.

If you enjoy snooping through other people’s emails and memos, we hope you’ll lend Texas Watchdog a hand with that effort. But if you do, please keep Swamplot in mind. Swamplot has no use for stories that “deserve more digging,” because this website isn’t properly armed with shovels. But we do love hearing entertaining details that help expose the machinations behind Houston real estate developments.

The documents are divided into five sections, all linked at the bottom of this Texas Watchdog story. If you find any particular goodies in there that you think other Swamplot readers would enjoy reading, please send us a note with the relevant quotes. Also: please tell us where you found them, and why you think they’re noteworthy.

Photo: Serendipity Photography LLC

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Downtown
04/27/09 10:08am

One Park Place Rejection Letter

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Quicklink, Real Estate Marketing
5 Comments

ONE PARK PLACE REJECTION LETTER That letter Mayor White sent out in January touting One Park Place as “THE residence of choice downtown” was apparently meant as a consolation prize for the Finger Companies, which had sought public assistance for the project. White refused to support Finger’s request for a tax abatement — and offered the letter in its place, according to emails recently made public. “[Developer Marvy] Finger added that he appreciated the mayor’s willingness to write the letter, and that he hoped at the time it would help, although he does not believe it earned any additional lessees. ‘If someone rented because of that letter, I’m unaware of it,’ he said. The documents were obtained through an open records request that was originated by Texas Watchdog, a Houston-based nonprofit that promotes open government and investigative journalism.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]

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Downtown
04/24/09 11:16am

Downtown Warehouse Rehab: Houston’s Next Permit Office

by
Flooding, Green Design and Development, Public Buildings, Renovations
No Comments

This 1923 former rice warehouse at the far eastern end of Washington Ave., used more recently as an annex for the Downtown post office on the other side of I-45, will become the city’s new permit office, reports Monica Perin in the Houston Business Journal. The building will replace the current 2-story office at 3300 Main St. in Midtown — which Public Works officials consider flood-prone — and consolidate permit offices from 3 other sites.

A LEED-certified renovation of the 4-story concrete-and-brick building, which sits on a 2 1/2-acre site Downtown — and which sat on the market for several years — is expected to be complete by the fall of 2010.

The property purchase is expected to close in July, along with council approval of a contract with Trammell Crow Co. as the developer, and Studio Red Architects as the design firm. . . .

“A building of this age and being a warehouse is relatively easy to recycle,” [Studio Red’s Bill Neuhaus] notes. “It lends itself to an open plan and lots of daylight. We can do an economical job here, and it will be an extremely pleasant working environment.”

Permitting offices eventually will share space with the city’s new Green Resource Center, which is opening this week at 3300 Main St.

“The re-use of existing buildings is one of the greenest and most sustainable things we can do,” Neuhaus says.

He says the building’s prime location is part of the civic campus, next to the police department, the post office and rail station.

Photo of 1002 Washington Ave.: LoopNet

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Downtown
04/10/09 11:56am

Uptown Traffic Grid

by
Galleria, Quicklink, Streets, Traffic, Transportation
16 Comments

UPTOWN TRAFFIC GRID “As we all know, traffic is incomparably worse in Uptown than it is in Downtown. Downtown has more of everything: more streets, more freeways, more transit, more pedestrian use. The most important part, though, is that Downtown has the grid, and Uptown does not. Uptown is a lot less dense than Downtown, and yet it’s reaching a breaking point. There are critically few ways in and out, and even though those are mega-roads, they concentrate traffic BY DESIGN rather than diffusing traffic as the grid does. If Uptown had a fine-grained local street grid the traffic there would be a fraction of what it is today, but it’s too late to put in a grid now. The best we can hope for is for benevolent developers to include new connecting streets to break up some of the super-blocks when they come up for redevelopment.” [NeoHouston]

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