From fuzzy video stills to washed-out photocopies: In the agenda handout for today’s Planning Commission hearing are hazy images that provide even more details about the new 40-story hotel and condo tower Medistar wants to build on Main St. in the Medical Center, at the eastern boundary of Southgate.

The drawing labels identify the hotel as the Houstonian Texas Medical Center, or Houstonian TMC for short. The architect is the Hill Glazier Studio of HKS, out of California. And a section drawing gives an actual height for the tower.

After the jump: It’s very tall!

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How tall is it? 458-and-a-half feet, according to the drawing — just shy of the listed 500-ft. limit. Will that make it the Medical Center’s tallest building? It looks like it: Marketing materials for the recent Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza tower claim a height of 430 feet.

The tower appears to jut in front of the building base along Main St. That would require the building-line variance Medistar is requesting. The base contains the building lobby and an 8-story, 1200-car parking garage.

The updated plan drawings in the packet should go a long way toward clearing up some of the questions Southgate Civic Club president Neil Kelly asked at the last Planning Commission hearing, when he spoke against the project. Whether they’ll win over the neighborhood, though, is another question. A report in last week’s River Oaks Examiner described the developer’s meeting with neighbors:

Many residents spoke during a question and answer session with Medistar, noting that although they were satisfied with the attempts of the developer to address their concerns, they were not pleased with the overall idea of a high-rise adjacent to their homes.

“No matter how you put it, its not the friendliest thing in the world. But I congratulate you for trying, seems like you’ve taken every precaution short of lopping off 10 floors of the building,” said one resident to [Medistar founder Monzer] Hourani.

• Public Meeting Agenda [City of Houston Planning & Development Department]
• High-rise developers say they’re ‘committed’ to Southgate area [River Oaks Examiner]
• Building Features and Amenities (PDF) [Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza]
• Live on TV: New Med Center Hotel-Condo Tower [Swamplot]
  
• Newest and Tallest: The Texas Medical Center Goes Condo [Swamplot]