Bob Russell sends a fresh slew of downtown updates, this time checking up on the state of the George R. Brown Convention Center area’s ongoing redo. The structure’s main entrance on Avenida De Las Americas has been getting a major facelift — the supercolumns installed last summer have since turned white, and the glassy  facade has stepped outward and dropped a few stripes, in line with the plans released previously by semi-public city branding organization Houston First:
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Crews are still working on those fountain structures shown in the renderings; the flock of birds featured in the south-facing one below will be filled in for by the avian art piece that the city council begrudgingly funded earlier this year:
Looking west down Walker St. toward the soon-to-be-BG-Group-lessBG Group tower, the pool deck of the Marriott Marquis appears to be getting some touch-ups to the shade structure next to its Texas-shaped lazy river island:Â
Further north along Avenida De Last Americas (and past the skybridge connecting the Marriott to the convention center) is the for-now 10-story Partnership Tower:
Across Discovery Green to the right of 5 Houston Center, 609 Main can be seen getting its last structural bits put into place:
- Previously on Swamplot: City Will Pay Up for Off-Brand Birds at GRB;Â What It Looks Like When More than 65,000 People Try To Go to Discovery Green at Once; Â The Rise of the George R. Brown Supercolumns;Â The Second Convention Center Hotel, a Marriott Marquis, Is Going Up Starting Now;Â Adding to Convention Center District Easy as 1-2-3 . . . 4-5-6-7
Images: Bob Russell (all photos but 2nd), Pedro Velasquez (2nd photo), Houston First (1st and 2nd renderings), Marriott Hotels (3rd rendering)
The renderings look like a street fest in front of the brown.. Isn’t there a garage entrance on this street, are they ever going to open the garage again? It seemed to add a tremendous cost and complexity to the park if it will not be used any longer.
Sure looks better than the old steamboat motif … now what about redoing the awfully designed interior halls?
Ugh, all this work and it is still a giant barrier between downtown and the eastside.
Yes, I wish one or two of the streets that have been cut-off were made to pass through the convention center.
The Garage under Disco Green was never closed for the Work on ADLA an there still are a couple traffic lane access, in and out of the Garage. Of course they would not eliminate access to this asset. WR-They have done a lot of work improving the foyer areas
@John F
The foyer has never been a problem …. the exhibit halls are atrocious and remind me of the inside of a parking garage.