Wow, that whole foods is massive, hopefully it will raise land values around there.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...n/92910063.jpg

I realize this photo sucks but it adequately illustrates Discovery Green's new neighbor. Guess one out of two isn't bad (since the Discovery/Hess Tower is looking good).

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...n/92910068.jpg

The latter will indeed look great next to the park.

There are no words...

What's the thing on top? Looks like a pot for a plant.

Have yall seen some of the buildings DT? There are some fugly buildings. I realize it sucks this is getting built next to our new park but life will go on and it really isn't that big of a deal.

If there was something taller behind it, I don't think I'd notice much. But yeah. I knew that thing was going to be ugly, but I didn't think it'd be THAT ugly.

An all glass column on the side that faces the park would have been nice. Oh well the only thing i can think of is to build a 700+ footer behind it, a very fancy looking one with a SPIRE.

:wizard:

I may be way off on this one but when I look at that terrible building I just cant stop thinking about ancient Egyptian architecture.

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...y/philae13.jpg

Rumor Alert:

Word has it that a big tower crane has now been erected at the site of the proposed Exxon-Mobil expansion at I-45 and the Hardy. Can anybody confirm this? The Washington Post had an article about the move a few days ago that I posted on HAIF.

Rumor Alert #2:

The Woodlands may be closing in on a deal to bring a Neman Marcus to the mall amongst other stores in Market Street.

I can definitely see this part of North Houston blowing up like West Houston around the energy corridor. Along with the Exxon consolidation, many buildings in the Greenspoint area are upgrading to LEED status.

I think the main concern though is what lies between downtown and greenspoint. Strip bars, porn stores, furniture outlets and rundown apartment buildings. I wish somebody would buy them out and demolish everything from 610 N loop to the beltway. Nothing but undesirables there and numerous hideous billboards and eye sores.

Hopefully when they upgrade the stretch of 45 between DT and BW8, it will cleanse the area of some of the more seedy businesses and billboards. However, that might be 10 years from now.

BIG NEWS!

Coventry has announced major plans of a new community at the Hardy Toll Road and 45 (3 min south of The Woodlands at the county line) of 5,000 homes, 8.5 million sq. ft of office space (mainly along 45 from looking at the renderings) and 1.5 million sq. ft. of retail. This is BIG!

In addition, this is the location that Exxon-Mobile is proposed to be. According to a Jan. 28th article in the Houston Chronicle, it will be an elaborate campus with 20 buildings and 3 million sq. ft. of offices.

Renderings:

http://www.springwoodsvillage.com/im...us%20Label.jpg

http://www.springwoodsvillage.com/im...0Districts.jpg

http://www.springwoodsvillage.com/im...20Corridor.jpg

http://www.springwoodsvillage.com/im...20Corridor.jpg

http://www.springwoodsvillage.com/im...ng%20South.jpg

Ugh! Another "new town" that adds nothing but sprawl and traffic to Houston's fat and clogged arteries. If this is intended to be a bedroom community for Exxon-Mobil, then I will have better views on this development.

I will give it props for considering a vast mix of housing types and uses.

Out that far it doesn't matter much, and props to The Woodlands for at least aspiring to be something besides just another suburb.

Changing subject a bit, I was driving into downtown from the Eastex and noticed that MainPlace looks great lit up at night.

This is very near where the Exxon expansion is to be. I'm wondering if the 'corporate offices' along 45 in the rendering IS the Exxon complex? It's interesting that the Chronicle stated that it would be a complex of 20 buildings and if you look in the rendering, there is approx. 20 buildings being depicted budding right up next to 45.

I am all in favor of new urbanist type developments like the one above but why do they have to build them in such random places? Why couldnt they have decided to build something like this in an already built up place like inside the Woodlands? So, that is pretty much just sprawl. They need to revitalize parts of town, not ignore run down areas and just expand out.

^^^^ Looks neat. I'd certainly be happy to live there. Specially with all those beautiful parks in between.

My question is...why not build it? It's convenient to The Woodlands, IAH and at a soon-to-be major intersection between the GP, 45 and the Hardy. It's not built inside The Woodlands because there is nowhere else to build. Second, The Woodlands is its own city (or soon will be) and clearly this 'master planned community' will be in direct competition with The Woodlands. The developers are out for their own successful 'Woodlands.' With Exxon-Mobile setting up shop very near this site, it only makes sense to capitalize on the thousands of employees that could potentially call the area home.

This new major proposed development, called "Springwoods Village", is located in the Houston suburb of Spring, TX.

Spring, TX is right next door to The Woodlands, another Houston suburb.

With Exxon-Mobil's upcoming exit from downtown Houston into its planned suburban office campus of 3 million square feet anchoring the I-45 corridor of Springwoods Village this development proposal is a pretty sure bet to happen for Spring, TX.

The Woodlands is going to benefit enormously from the development as well.