Originally Posted by JManc (Post 6362371)

^ looks like an existing 20-story building built only in 1992 (!!!!) will have to come down to make room for that proposal.

Originally Posted by Urbannizer (Post 6361996)

Cool looking building going up in Memorial City, behind the Nexen Building. It's the new location for Jonathan's The Rub. Pic by Motis B Totis
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5535/1...7c337606_b.jpg

Originally Posted by Urbannizer (Post 6362730)

More renderings of the Midtown Superblock Park.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5525/1...4b49d7a7_b.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3684/1...d9b5377c_b.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3754/1...ff5ab8f7_b.jpg

Originally Posted by oscarinhouston (Post 6363594)

Originally Posted by toxteth o'grady (Post 6363201)

I wonder if that's the freeway-straddling project that was being debated here last summer as an attempt to organize the Energy Corridor?

Originally Posted by Chron

Convention center hotel funded and scheduled to break ground in 2014

Plans to build a $335 million convention center hotel downtown moved a step forward today with the announcement that the developer has finalized its agreement with Marriott International to manage the hotel and that it has secured funding to construct the property.

Houston-based Rida Development, in partnership with Ares Management, said financing for the 1,000-room hotel will come from a six-bank consortium led by Wells Fargo and BBVA Compass. The other banks include CIT Bank, MidFirst Bank, Frost Bank, and PNC.

Construction is expected to start on April 11, and the property — the Houston Marriott Marquis – is projected to open in the summer of 2016 just west of the George R. Brown Convention Center near Discovery Green.

The project is expected to add more than 1,800 construction jobs and 700 permanent jobs to Houston’s hospitality industry, the developer said.

“Rida is focused on building a smart, efficient convention hotel to be managed by Marriott International,” president Ira Mitzner said in a statement. “Our company is looking forward to providing local Houstonians and businesses with jobs that will be created as a result of this project.”

Link: http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/...round-in-2014/

Originally Posted by Chron

That's good news for Brinsden, whose company is redeveloping GreenStreet, the former Houston Pavilions downtown.

"We're trying to evolve that into a true mixed-use destination," he said.
In about 60 days, the company is expected to announce an expansion at the complex, which now houses retail and office space.

"We think this project needed that third activity generator," Brinsden said.

Originally Posted by Chron

At Rice, future of another stadium also in question

Today, as the Rice Owls play for their first outright conference championship since 1957, it is an apt moment to ask whether the city's first great stadium, with seating for 70,000, has outlived its usefulness. Rice boosters say yes, reluctantly. And no, emphatically.

****

All true. Yet with the passing years it became a little too big, and a little old, and more than a little lacking in modern amenities. Now a plan is afoot to do something about that.

The school has contracted with HKS Architects, a leading national firm with the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium among its many credits, to do a study of stadium enhancement and athletic department needs. Their conclusions will result in a plan that will supplant the one approved by trustees two years ago that went nowhere. That in turn will spark a major fundraising effort to put the school's athletic facilities on a par with those of comparable schools, including Stanford and Duke.

"The former project is dead," said David Gibbs, an alum and major benefactor who has been devoted to refurbishing the stadium. "What I call the historic preservation and comprehensive enhancement of iconic Rice Stadium is just getting started."

School officials declined requests to discuss the 2011 plan, which included tearing out one of the end zones and building an 80,000-square foot facility for locker and weight rooms, offices, and several other purposes. The concept was poorly received among the alumni and donors and died quietly.

School officials also declined requests to discuss the bigger issue of how a stadium that was praised for its design following its hurried construction in 1950 can be made more suitable for a team that cannot, even on its best days, hope to fill it up. But it's going to happen, Gibbs said, and this time it will be done right and have a consensus behind it.

Full Article: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news...5043101.php#/0

Originally Posted by toxteth o'grady (Post 6367080)

For starter's they need to replace those bleachers with actual seats.

I suspect that if the stadium gets refurbished, there will be proposals to host other events in it, and then the NIMBY's will start complaining about all the traffic that would bring. But the '74 Superbowl was hosted there.

Originally Posted by JManc (Post 6362371)

^ looks like an existing 20-story building built only in 1992 (!!!!) will have to come down to make room for that proposal.