Very nice hotel design. Really unique. The east side of downtown is becoming very interesting. There's still a lot of space to build on that side of downtown, so there's no telling how things will look a decade from now.

WOW! Um, 'cuse me guys... I gottta go;)

That is one sexy building, wish all this nifty stuff would have gotten built for the 14 years I lived there. Oh well.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/n...?ana=e_hstn_bn

you left right when Houston decided to become the most exciting city in America, in terms of development.

If you stay away and come back to visit in 2017-1018, whole parts of the city, including downtown, will have an entirely different feel to them.

It is very exciting to watch it all change right before our eyes!

Bisnow is saying the roof will be partially retractable. Party deck?:cheers:

Still no word on who's going to operate the property for Midway. It will have financial incentives from Houston First and the DRA, though.

And in true homage to all things Houston, this five-star facility will be right next door to Forever 21.

That building's got a lot going for it - an initial 100ksf lease, Hines as the developer, a Galleria location. For a minute I thought this was the property Blake Tartt is trying to interest tenants in, but it turns out this is going to take the place of a Micro Center. I'm guessing this one isn't even at conceptual design yet.:tup:

Regarding the Amegy Bank headquarters planned for West Loop at San Felipe with Hines (Developer) Pickard Chilton (Architects) and Gensler (Interiors Architects):

Curious to see how vertical that 350,000 sq feet will be since it will be a Pickard Chilton design and it's such a visible spot. It would be great to see something iconic, but seems most likely it will not be more than 20 stories. I think it is going to be hard to stand out on the West Loop without going at least 30. Their "petite" Nashville building is really beautiful, but even that is 29 stories and over 500,000 sq feet.

Whoa

That Hotel Alessandra is stunning! It looks like something that would be designed for Atlanta and not Houston.....yeah I said it ;-). Seriously, we all know a design like this is super rare for this city nowadays and I hope the building stays true to the initial design.

I liked the old rendering more.

Ya hipster :D

Hopefully this brings a new trend of designs for Houston. I would love to see more of these types of designs.

Exciting exciting news!!!

So, a serious question to ask of everyone:

With all of the massive amounts of new construction going on near the Galleria, how exactly are people supposed to actually get there? The traffic is already absolutely horrendous at this time, and now I can foresee it becoming even worse! You're talking about virtual gridlock for upwards of 12 hours a day within the next couple of years! You can't widen the Loop any more, Westheimer is already very wide from the Loop westward, any reconstruction of the Loop/59 interchange is years away and probably $500 million as well, and it seems any legitimate public transportation is quite a few years down the road. Seriously, how in the hell can you keep building so many towers without doing something about the way in which people actually get to and from all of this new construction?

The new towers are awesome for all of the skyscraper geeks out there (and yes, I'm definitely one!), but how about being realistic? It's a hell of a lot more important to get some freaking legitimate public transportation in the area vs. a few more shiny towers!

Unfortunately, Houston seems to be woefully lacking in any urge to do something about the incredible lack of transit options in the city. The most important light rail segment proposed will ultimately be the last to be built. It's maddening, quite frankly!

Aaron (Glowrock)

I'm not sure what will happen, other than more reliance on public transit. It seems to me that in a state where supposedly infrastructure is a hot topic on the campaign circuit, $500 million should be easy enough to come up with. The massive freeway projects in North Texas are going to cost billions.

Anyway, the Building Permits section of the HBJ lists the 609 Main foundation work and the Pearl Citycentre at Town & Country (8 stories) as approved projects. That's in addition to three single homes each costing more than a million to build.

Latest census numbers show the Houston MSA gaining over 138,000 residents between July 2012 and July 2013, to over 6.3 million. The gain is the highest of any metro, even exceeding New York. In three years, the area has gained about 390,000 residents. Of those, 80,000 are international immigrants. Presumably, they're all able to find jobs and places to live.

They are already upgrading the 610/59 interchange and adding grade separated BRT along Post Oak that will connect to P&R.

There's not much more they can do to that interchange; as it is, the exit for Westheimer now begins south of the 59 flyover.

The BRT is going to be grade-separated? I thought it was going to be at-grade? I presume it's going to connect to the P&R up at North Post Oak and I-10? There really needs to be a direct connection to downtown as well, but of course with the NIMBYs along Richmond it's likely never to happen. :( The problem is that the Galleria is already so traffic-choked that I'm afraid that all of these new towers are going to result in absolute gridlock for upwards of 12 hours a day in the area.

While I love all the new construction from a geek perspective, from a realistic perspective it's great to have lots of new construction, but you have to handle the people coming in and out of the area as well. And the Galleria area is, hands-down, the most traffic-choked area of Houston right now already. :(


Aaron (Glowrock)

Yeah I'm kidding. The new rendering is 10 times better than the old boxy one

I had a bit of a shocked moment in Houston. I'm not that familiar with the inner loop roads but I underestimated the traffic thinking it's only on freeways. The surface streets have lots of potholes but the traffic level on those streets is mind blowing. Especially Westheimer in Uptown, both sides of Uptown from 610. They're actually doing construction of Westheiner in Upper Kirby right now. They're narrowing it. :sly:

I'm not sure that's the final result. I'm guessing there's a combination of repaving/utility work ongoing. But the road is narrow enough as it is.:titanic:

I went to the data page for the Woodlands, and the two 12-story buildings going up at Hughes Landing are not shown as under construction, even though the cranes are up. Time for an update?

I believe toxteth is correct. The work on Westheimer and Kirby is reconstruction and utility relocation. That being said, Westheimer is a complete traffic-choked nightmare at this point from roughly Shephard out past 610 roughly to Chimney Rock or Fountain View. N90's pretty much on the mark with the opinion that traffic levels on the surface streets in the Galleria area is mindblowing. That's my point to all of this. I simply do not believe this new construction boom is sustainable in an area where the traffic mobility levels are already abysmally low.

Aaron (Glowrock)

Exactly...repeatedly blocking the construction of the University and the Uptown Line will be the beginning of the end for Uptown. Many people find getting around there an incredible hassle right now...imagine with more density.

Remember when we had the NBA All Star Game and Uptown was forced to shut down? More of that to come. Trains give you the opportunity to collect hundreds (if not thousands of people) and quickly move them out of the area.

I honestly feel that if downtown can find a way to get a critical retail core (possibly even an upscale shopping district) you might see a shift away from Uptown and towards the more infrastructure friendly downtown.

They had a chance to secure the light rail line and told us "No Thanks...We don't want it"

have a look at this yall
http://www.ridemetro.org/News/Docume...esentation.pdf

There's nothing going to change. As fast as they rebuild and expand Westheimer and the freeways around the Galleria as well as any mass transit, the population will continue to boom and that area will remain congested. 610 and 10 was widened about ten years ago and it's still a parking lot.

I have to say flying into Houston, the gridded fabric west of downtown has definitely changed. The construction of townhomes and midrises has made a noticeable impact.

The Kirby Collection: New Design

http://www.thorequities.com/wp-conte...20header)5.jpg

http://www.thorequities.com/wp-conte...20header)2.jpg

http://www.thorequities.com/wp-conte...%20header).jpg

http://www.thorequities.com/wp-conte...20header)4.jpg

http://www.thorequities.com/wp-conte...20header)3.jpg

http://www.thorequities.com/portfoli...by-collection/

Yeah this one's pretty fantastic too.

From the floor plans on the website, it sounds like a renovation, but I can't match it with an existing building, so it's got to be new construction. There's no start date mentioned. But it will be a nice addition. :tup:

Beautiful.

Not much construction today, but a redo is in the works. Another hotel downtown?

Aloft Hotel Will Alight in Stowers Building Downtown

http://swamplot.com/wp-content/uploa...owers-bldg.jpg

Thanks, Urbannizer!

I was taking a drive through Houston and saw a large crane for supertalls or something in the Medical Center. Does anyone have any info on that?

Both from Urbanizer on Haif:

Block 365: 6-Story Residential Midrise Downtown

http://leoncapitalgroup.com/casestud...y-development/

http://leoncapitalgroup.com/wp-conte...51-760x280.jpg

1300 Capitol Street---proposed HSPVA campus Downtown

http://blogs.houstonisd.org/news/201...tle-more-real/

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hpho...35069284_n.jpg

I'm glad Downtown is getting more density.

Probably not a supertall; activity in the Medical Center has quieted down recently. Maybe now that the ACA has gone through its sign-up period and appears to be a done deal, some additional projects will get started down there. A&M supposedly has a second building in the works.

The Leon website says a Q4 start for this one. Bookmarked.:tup:

We're getting word that a skyscraper taller than the Williams Tower is being planned for the Galleria area, which means the possibility of it being a supertall is very high. Tune in to this thread as more develops:

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/h...galleria-area/

Hmm. Well I hope they take inspiration from the design of the Williams Tower. It would be very disappointing if it turns out to be a supertall version of the bland glass boxes that predominate in the neighborhood.

Williams as a building is not very spectacular, save for the beacon at the top. Whatever gets built will probably have green features, so I would be willing to bet there will be some sort of rooftop treatment that's distinctive.

As to whether this happens, I'd like to see who the tenant for this would be. The Chronicle points to a slowdown in the oil industry, and I can't imagine who would be a name tenant, since Exxon Mobil is building up north and Chevron already has their downtown digs. An office/residential mix sounds more plausible, given the current shortage of lots on which to build single-family homes.

Best bet is Chevron downtown.

Uh, please. Reality check.

Um, I can't say I'm too excited about the Supertall proposal for Uptown. I'd rather they build 5 200 foot towers than one 1000 foot tower. Uptown needs more density before it adds more height. If the rumor of a Supertall really is true, then I'd rather it be built in Downtown than in Uptown.

Another Downtown Hotel
 

Here is a pic of the Aloft renderings:
[IMG]http://media.bizj.us/view/img/2190141/louisville-aloft-hotel*600xx612-409-0-18.jpg[/IMG] << eh? what am I doing wrong

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/m...n-houston.html

The rendering in the article is an Aloft in Louisville, KY.

bite your tongue!

Uhh, yeah... Why would there be a rendering of the hotel at all when it's going to be a re-use of a current building to begin with? Chances are there'll be new signage, new windows, perhaps some awnings or overhangs in the front of the building, but it's still pretty much going to be the same.

A suburban Aloft in Kentucky it is not. ;)

Aaron (Glowrock)

Uptown needs better ways to get people in and out without gridlock. It also needs more density, but these two things MUST go hand in hand!

(And I agree, I'm not too excited over any rumor of a supertall in Uptown. Supertalls should be downtown, period. Though I think toxteth is nuts when saying that Williams Tower is nothing special. It's gorgeous!)

Aaron (Glowrock)

Uptown is pretty dense as it is, and the new projects will only make it denser. A 1000-foot building would not be out of place there.

But I think the most likely place for the supertall will be downtown.

Geez, the one time I post and it results in a face palm.