Tag: Discovery Green

Downtown, Openings and Closings, Retail

30 Comments

The owners of the international foods emporium voted best grocery store in the city by Swamplot readers last year have announced they’ll be opening a second location Downtown, across the street from Discovery Green — whose opening day was voted the Best Moment in Houston Real Estate in the Swamplot Awards the previous year. What Swamplot Award-winner mashup will they think of next?

The new 28,000-sq.-ft Phoenicia Specialty Foods — smaller than the 55,000-sq.-ft. store on Westheimer near Kirkwood — is expected to open at the end of this year across McKinney St. from the Downtown park, in the ground floor of the One Park Place apartment tower. But park visitors will likely have to walk around the building to get their freekeh on: The store’s entrance will face Austin St.

We know what you’re wondering — will the pita be floating down from the ceiling on a conveyor belt Downtown too?

77010, Discovery Green, Downtown, Grocery Stores, Openings and Closings, Retail

Discovery Green

02/03/10 3:43pm

How Does a Nice Meal at Discovery Green Sound?

Downtown, Restaurants, Washington Corridor

21 Comments

The Wall Street Journal‘s Katy McLaughlin picks on a few loud restaurants:

Many of the most cutting-edge, design conscious restaurants are introducing a new level of noise to today’s already voluble restaurant scene. The new noisemakers: Restaurants housed in cavernous spaces with wood floors, linen-free tables, high ceilings and lots of windowsâ€”all of which cause sound to ricochet around what are essentially hard-surfaced echo chambers.

Upscale restaurants have done away with carpeting, heavy curtains, tablecloths, and plush banquettes gradually over the decade, and then at a faster pace during the recession, saying such touches telegraph a fine-dining message out of sync with today’s cost-conscious, informal diner. Those features, though, were also sound absorbing. . . .

Restaurateurs often say the only complaints they get about noise are from older clientele. As people ageâ€”and particularly when they are 65 or olderâ€”they often lose acuity in hearing high-frequency sounds, making it harder to understand speech, says Mark Ross, a professor emeritus of audiology at the University of Connecticut.

77007, 77010, Acoustics, Discovery Green, Downtown, Restaurants, Sound, Washington Corridor

Commercial Real Estate

11/16/09 1:03pm

Kiddie Party on the Plaza: A Discovery Tower Construction Update

Downtown, Green Design and Development, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings

No Comments

A reader sends in photos of the new Hess Tower, formerly known as Discovery Tower, under construction adjacent to Discovery Green Downtown.

You can see the tower isn’t quite finished yet but it sure looks like that plaza in front of it already is! Though really, all those office workers look a little young, don’t you think?

More pics:

77010, Commercial Real Estate, Discovery Green, Discovery Tower, Downtown, Green Design, Highrises, New Construction, Office Buildings

06/23/09 12:51pm

Discovery Green Odor Alert

Gardening, Quicklink

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]

77010, Discovery Green, Downtown, Gardening, Odors

Art

05/29/09 3:32pm

Just a Few Blimps on the Houston Landscape: Inflatables on the Move

Castle Court, Downtown, Parks, Public Art

3 Comments

Scenes from the latest blowup in the Houston art scene: Giant, blobby creatures emerge onto Sharon Engelstein’s Castle Court driveway.

Where’s that Grand Opening?

77006, 77010, Art, Castle Court, Discovery Green, Downtown, Public Art

Development Strategies

04/28/09 3:10pm

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

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.

â€˜Images are preciousâ€™ and other tidbits from reams of Mayor Bill Whiteâ€™s e-mails with downtown developer [Texas Watchdog]
Take a gander at Mayor Bill Whiteâ€™s e-mails; if you see anything that deserves looking into further, e-mail us [Texas Watchdog]
One Park Place Rejection Letter [Swamplot]
Maybe He Just Liked the Party Hat on Top? [Swamplot]

Photo: Serendipity Photography LLC

77010, Development Strategies, Discovery Green, Downtown, Mayor White, One Park Place, Online Resources

03/31/09 11:30am

Seen on the Street: Houston in the Machine Age

Transportation, Woodland Heights

In this episode: Katy Freeway anthill mover, moon-unit coffee, and that robot on the porch.

What’s this special delivery rushing down I-10?

77009, 77010, Discovery Green, Downtown, I-10, Transportation, Woodland Heights

Apartments

01/28/09 3:11pm

Maybe He Just Liked the Party Hat on Top?

Downtown, Parks, Quicklink, Real Estate Marketing

8 Comments

MAYBE HE JUST LIKED THE PARTY HAT ON TOP? Mayor White takes a turn hawking the expensive rentals at the Finger Companies’ One Park Place highrise Downtown. Rick Casey thinks he could have delivered a better pitch: “When it comes to a place to live, people are motivated by a dream. Only a pocket-protected city planner could have his dreams triggered by such phrases as ‘residential infrastructure,’ or ‘leisure destination,’ or ‘luxury multifamily rentals,’ or ‘price points lower than you would think,’ or ‘landmark project on a unique site.’ The mayor managed to stuff all these infelicitous phrases and more onto a single page. One can only speculate why White wrote the letter. He had already done enough, it seems to me, by marshalling the money, the research and the architects to build Discovery Green, a beautiful and exciting 12-acre park across the street from Fingerâ€™s property. Itâ€™s the best front yard an urban dweller could want, and the city mows the grass.” [Houston Chronicle]

77010, Apartments, Discovery Green, Downtown, Mayor White, One Park Place, Parks, Real Estate Marketing

09/03/08 11:55am

Discovery Tower Discovery Green Discoveries

New Construction, Office Buildings, Parks, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing

Aerial View of Discovery Green and Discovery Tower, Downtown Houston

Never mind the virtual obstacles: The website for Discovery Tower has a new promotional video that pays silent homage to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Also: more fancy renderings of the office building, now under construction.

More interesting to Discovery Green fans, though, will be a few new aerial renderings that depict the Downtown park in urban glory, surrounded by a crowd of real, planned, imagined, and soon-to-be-axed new projects. But . . . uh, which is which?

That orangish tower perched on Discovery Green’s southwest corner: the stalled 22-story Embassy Suites hotel. That sorta-identical but mirrored Hilton Americas on the north side of the park? The Convention Center Hotel Part Two!

So . . . what’s going on behind Discovery Tower?

77002, 77010, Discovery Green, Discovery Tower, Downtown, Hotels, New Construction, Office Buildings, Parks, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing

04/09/08 11:22am

Discovery Green: Brand New Park Downtown

Financing, Parks

Performance at Discovery Green, Downtown Houston

Lou Minatti asks the $54 million question:

Why is Discovery Green a sea of brands? Waste Management, Inc. Gardens? OK, I understand the revenue issue. Are these naming rights perpetual?

Dunno about the perpetual part, but the list of brand and donor names on the new 12-acre Downtown park’s many features does go on and on! A few of our favorites: The Kinder Large Dog Run, the Martin Family Scent Garden, and the Marathon Oil Bike Racks.

Fortunately, Houstonian Kim Borja didn’t have to pay anything to choose the park’s name — he won the naming contest:

The response was overwhelming: more than 6,200 entries were submitted, and a theme soon emerged. Houstonians wanted a name that was distinctive and unusual, including elements that mirrored Houston itself. Words such as “surprising,” “unexpected” and “vital” were reoccurring.

If this place had ended up with a name like “Unexpected Gardens,” we’d all probably want there to be a serious donation behind it.

After the jump: that long list of Discovery Green’s branded park parts — plus: a few yet-unbranded park features may still be available!