Thanks to some intrepid reporting lazy online-video scanning over here at Swamplot, we now have more information about Medistar’s 40-story hotel and condominium tower planned for the corner of Dryden and Main St. in the Medical Center.
Yesterday, the Planning Commission voted to defer any consideration of Medistar’s request for a lot-line variance along Main St. But the president of the Southgate Civic Club voiced his objections to the variance — and other aspects of the project — anyway.
After the jump, more stills from the civic-club president’s presentation to the Planning Commission, plus a few bits of armchair analysis from our crack crew of expert TV watchers.
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The model above shows a view of the tower from high in the air above Southgate: Travis St. runs across the screen in front of the building and Main St. just beyond it; Dryden runs just to the left of the tower, which sits on top of a multi-story parking-garage base. As we reported yesterday, the tower is oriented perpendicular to Main.
The section drawing shows the new building rising above the top of the St. Luke’s Tower across the street.
Neil Kelly, president of the Southgate Civic Club, told the commission it isn’t clear to neighborhood residents whether the building itself will come up to the requested 10-ft. building line along Main or whether Medistar wanted that extra space for a separate canopy. Apparently, the exact siting of the building will affect how close the parking-garage entrance (at the top of the image above, along Dryden Rd.) comes to Travis — and the Southgate neighborhood. The garage entrance to the Collaborative Research Center on the block to the north will also be on Dryden.
In this last image, it looks like the sign-language interpreter has done a pretty good job of capturing the gist of Southgate’s initial reaction to its prospective neighbor.
- Platting Activity – Section D (Items 103 – 116) (watch from 14:00 to 19:30 in) [HTV Streaming Video]
- Newest and Tallest: The Texas Medical Center Goes Condo [Swamplot]
