It looks like engineers have begun soil testing the thin strip of land left along Crawford St. downtown between the Hess Tower parking garage and the surface parking lot where the new Marriott Marquis hotel is about to go up. Conveniently for the rendering above showing Ziegler Cooper Architects’ design for a 39-story residential tower on that 72-ft.-wide site, there’s nothing there yet to block the view of the building’s lower portions from Discovery Green — but without the hotel in place the skybridge drawn in at the second level connecting across Crawford to the nonexistent second story of a parking lot does look a little strange.
The new apartments are being developed by Trammell Crow. They’ll sit on a 12-story garage podium. Some of its 314 units will have views of the Texas-shaped “lazy river” on the Marriott Marquis’s upper deck, but they’ll also have their own pool piece above the garage, with this view of Discovery Green and the George R. Brown:
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Here’s a view of the site from yesterday, looking south-ish along Crawford St. to the Hilton Americas hotel. Soil-testing trucks are parked along the Walker St. side:
Construction on the new building isn’t scheduled to start until early next year; it’s expected to take 2 years to complete.
Renderings: Ziegler Cooper Architects. Photo: HAIF User Urbannizer
Fantastic! Right on the light rail too. Amazing that you can put a 39 story building on such a small piece of property. I love everything that’s going on in Downtown. Retail can’t be far behind, with all these new hotels, apartments, and condos. Question: why would there need to be a skybridge connecting an apartment building with a hotel? I guess it could be a link in a larger above ground walkway system, but aren’t we trying to get away from that sort of thing and put people back on the street?
Cool project. With more like it, downtown Houston can become a vibrant place, and support more retail, restaurants, and nightlife. I can’t say enough about what a smart move Discovery Green was for the city.
It may be a bit early for nominations for 2014 Swamplot Awards, but I’ve gotta say, this building wins hands down for “Best Redevelopment of a Parking Lot 50 spaces or Fewer.”
What a marvelously efficient use of space. Hope it comes to fruition.
It’s amazing how all these new apartment buildings have the same look. It’s ok I suppose, better than a parking lot, but seriously can these architects actually design an original building! It really doesn’t look that tall in the images, I guess it’s the parking underneath and thus the shorter stature. All and all a bit of a disappointment, but whatever, I’ll never live there.
This is pretty cool! I left downtown Houston 2 years ago for school in College Station and when I return to my old stomping grounds to say hello to a few old co-workers (at the Hilton Americas), downtown will have such a different look and feel. The one thing guest would say is they wish there was more going on near discovery green… everyone loved it but just wished there were more people, restaurants, shops, etc…etc. This is just the beginning and for that, I am truly excited. The Dynamo might even get a few more fans in the seats with more people living so close to BBVA Compass Stadium. If you haven’t been to a game yet, go! You’ll enjoy yourself!
For a second there I thought this was the building going up next to Market Square.
While I’m generally optimistic and happy for projects like this (especially when they replace a surface parking lot), I kind of have to agree with Shannon. I just got back from Chicago, and while Houston should never try to be like any other city, it would be nice if we had more architectural diversity and more signature skyscrapers rather than cookie-cutters that just look “nice” and not amazing.
Yea Garrett! You need to bring your enthusiasm back to Houston.
Same architects. I guess they’re being “efficient” whith their design.