HOUSTON | Downtown Development Updates - Page 6

Xeelee · #**101** Posted **Oct 2, 2008, 10:05 PM**

Yes this is true. My cousin just bought some land there. He saw the value quadruple overnight.

diablo234 · #**102** Posted **Oct 2, 2008, 10:38 PM**

Did they actually start construction on the park yet? Last I heard there was no work being done.

Trae · #**103** Posted **Oct 2, 2008, 10:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by diablo234

Did they actually start construction on the park yet? Last I heard there was no work being done.

If you're talking about Earth Quest Adventures, then no, it hasn't started yet. The Earth Quest post is in the wrong thread (it's in this one).

Saddle Man · #**104** Posted **Oct 2, 2008, 11:00 PM**

Retro-fitted green roofs are easily done. Just look at Chicago.

Saddle Man · #**105** Posted **Oct 2, 2008, 11:01 PM**

double

Von · #**106** Posted **Oct 3, 2008, 2:09 AM**

hey guys I notice that recently a parking lon in the corner of Milam & Jefferson has been gaten and looks like it's being prepared for some type of construction... just a lito thought that ran through me head

diablo234 · #**107** Posted **Oct 3, 2008, 5:48 AM**

That is where the YMCA plans to build their new facility. There was another post on here somewhere with renderings for the new building.

Metro Matt · #**108** Posted **Oct 3, 2008, 6:04 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by urbanactivistTX

I'm definitely wondering about OPP's lighting scheme now. And I have to wonder... whatever happened to the all green lighting on the Wedge tower!! We must have gotten cheap all of a sudden. It's time for this city to light up again!

Wedge hasn't been fully illuminated in a very long time. Only the top borders get lit up now, but even that is a rare sight & mostly during holiday season. I wish they would light up the whole thing again that would be awesome.

The original tower wasn't designed with that green lighting. It wasn't even added until several years after the building was completed & was copied after BOA in Dallas.

Complex01 · #**109** Posted **Oct 5, 2008, 12:11 AM**

I went for a bike ride today. To my surprise, they were adding another crane at Discovery Towers work site. Didnt get a picture, sorry. But the site looks awesome...

So now there are now 2 cranes for Discovery Tower and 2 for Main Place. I have to see they look kewl. DT very much moving forward...

Complex01 · #**110** Posted **Oct 10, 2008, 12:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Wedge hasn't been fully illuminated in a very long time. Only the top borders get lit up now, but even that is a rare sight & mostly during holiday season. I wish they would light up the whole thing again that would be awesome.

The original tower wasn't designed with that green lighting. It wasn't even added until several years after the building was completed & was copied after BOA in Dallas.

I fould this night picture, and shows the lighting scheme for the wedge tower, it looks nice. i Have to say i wish DT was lit up like that now. I have never seen it before, they should bring it back. It looks awesome.

pic from: 2008 Eventful, Inc.

TXLove · #**111** Posted **Oct 10, 2008, 3:13 AM**

^^^Wedge needs to turn its lights back on!!!!!!

Xeelee · #**112** Posted **Oct 10, 2008, 7:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Complex01

I fould this night picture, and shows the lighting scheme for the wedge tower, it looks nice. i Have to say i wish DT was lit up like that now. I have never seen it before, they should bring it back. It looks awesome.

pic from: 2008 Eventful, Inc.

Those were the good old days... never to return. Thanks to high energy prices, our reliance on fossil fuels. All perpetuated by bush-cheney-bigoil.

Complex01 · #**113** Posted **Oct 15, 2008, 2:59 PM**

Some updates from yesterday.

Main Place...

Discovery Tower...

Coming along nicely...

urbanactivist · #**114** Posted **Oct 15, 2008, 3:38 PM**

I can't recall...

Main Place is tunnel-connected correct? Is Discovery Tower???

Complex01 · #**115** Posted **Oct 16, 2008, 12:02 AM**

Main Place will be connected to the tunnel. While Discovery Tower will be not...

Metro Matt · #**116** Posted **Oct 22, 2008, 10:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xeelee

Those were the good old days... never to return. Thanks to high energy prices, our reliance on fossil fuels. All perpetuated by bush-cheney-bigoil.

None of that had anything to do with Wedge turning its lights off.

Neon lighting is not cheap to maintain, especially that much of it. Hail storms, lightning, & high winds are notorious for breaking the fragile glass tubes that high up in the air.

TexasBoi · #**117** Posted **Oct 22, 2008, 11:27 PM**

Both these towers are going to rise FAST.

KevinFromTexas · #**118** Posted **Oct 23, 2008, 4:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

None of that had anything to do with Wedge turning its lights off.

Neon lighting is not cheap to maintain, especially that much of it. Hail storms, lightning, & high winds are notorious for breaking the fragile glass tubes that high up in the air.

Yep. Our 4th tallest (the one with the blue lights) took a beating back in May with 70 mph winds and baseball sized hail. A bunch of the lights were busted out. Several skyscrapers had broken glass. The Frost Bank Tower had at least one piece of glass busted out in the crown, and even the Capitol had a few windows broken out in the upper part of the dome.

salaverryo · #**119** Posted **Oct 23, 2008, 11:40 PM**

Discovery Tower will be finished for the summer 2010. That's what the sign at the construction site says.

urbanactivist · #**120** Posted **Oct 24, 2008, 2:03 PM**

http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_..._id=1224536353

GRB Goes Green

October 20, 2008

by: Laurie Johnson

Houston's Convention Center is going solar-powered.the pilot project will test the feasibility of using solar panels to power the city's largest buildings. Laurie Johnson reports.

> click here to listen

Two types of panels will be installed on the 16-acre roof of the George R Brown Convention Center.

Thin film panels will lie flat against the roof. Larger panels that resemble windows will be mounted at angles along the edges of the building.

Houston Mayor Bill White says the $1 million project is funded primarily by the Houston Endowment.

"Our utility bills have gone up. We are more and more aware, in part because of pioneering work funded by the Houston Endowment, of the need to have clean air and what we do to clean that air. And we are a city that likes to be affordable, which means that we want to make investments that reduce our operating costs over the long run. Solar panels do that."

The design for the solar roof was put together by the Houston Architecture Foundation. Bryan Malarkey says they want the solar panels to be able to function in times when regular power sources are unavailable, like during hurricanes.

"They perform very, very well. They are designed to take a certain amount of hail damage, wind...and we are definitely taking that into consideration in hindsight of what's just happened here."

The current plan is to use the solar panels to power the GRB's emergency lighting system.

If the pilot project is successful, the city plans to install enough panels to provide 20 percent of all energy used at the GRB.

Laurie Johnson. Houston Public Radio News.