HOUSTON | Development Thread II - Page 200

lockmat · #**3981** Posted: **Jul 27, 2012, 9:02 PM**

We noticed at HAIF that Astoria is now triangular, too, not square as before. It was confirmed that the McDonalds will come down and it will be built in it's place. This is a sweet building.

photoLith · #**3982** Posted: **Jul 28, 2012, 8:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexasPlaya

Downtown Renovations:

Almost finished project

From Jax on HAIF

Looking very sharp.

Uhm, that photo is most definitely mine, Im tired of people stealing my photos, this is like the third time in a month someone has downloaded one of my photos calling it their own. And I just posted that back on page 195.

TexasPlaya · #**3983** Posted: **Jul 29, 2012, 3:16 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoLith

Uhm, that photo is most definitely mine, Im tired of people stealing my photos, this is like the third time in a month someone has downloaded one of my photos calling it their own. And I just posted that back on page 195.

Sorry man. I'm just passing along what I saw on HAIF.

llamaorama · #**3984** Posted: **Jul 29, 2012, 4:43 AM**

First, Jax sees the photo here and hotlinks the image for the HAIF thread without adequately crediting you. Jax being a well known and prolific Houston urban photographer and forumer himself, TexasPlaya assumes he was posting one of his own images and credits him when posting back where it came from...

Detective Llama solves the case

The solution is for anyone crediting images to find and link to the image's primary source(a flickr photostream for instance) and not cite a forum post to make credit.

photoLith · #**3985** Posted: **Jul 29, 2012, 3:02 PM**

^
Fair enough

Anyways, Im glad they are turning that POS Carter building into a hotel. I hope they restore the original facade and rip off that dog ugly 1970s facade. Who would have seriously looked at the beautiful original facade and thought, hey guys you know what would look better than a decorated beaux arts facade? Some white and black stripes.

JoninATX · #**3986** Posted: **Jul 29, 2012, 3:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoLith

^
Fair enough

Anyways, Im glad they are turning that POS Carter building into a hotel. I hope they restore the original facade and rip off that dog ugly 1970s facade. Who would have seriously looked at the beautiful original facade and thought, hey guys you know what would look better than a decorated beaux arts facade? Some white and black stripes.

Lol... yeah the exterior is not eye pleasing at all.

JoninATX · #**3987** Posted: **Jul 29, 2012, 3:34 PM**

Midway Cos. breaks ground on new CityCentre building

Quote:

by Shaina Zucker, Reporter
Date: Friday, July 27, 2012, 5:00am

Houston-based real estate and development firm Midway Cos. has just broken ground on a new six-story, mixed-use building in the CityCentre complex.

CityCentre Four, at Beltway 8 and Interstate 10, will be nestled next to CityCentre Three, also under construction. The first floor of the 132,500-square-foot building will be reserved for retail, and the upper stories will accommodate Class A offices.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/p...nd-on-new.html

N90 · #**3988** Posted: **Jul 30, 2012, 12:45 AM**

The Astoria just like the Titan before it is a beautiful building that Houston deserves. Lets hope someone with an imagination like that can conjure up a 800/900/1,000 foot building with strikingly beautiful design like that.

It's Houston though, so I already know that's not ever going to happen but hey a guy can dream right?

YakuzaIce · #**3989** Posted: **Jul 30, 2012, 2:05 AM**

While we are sort of on the subject, what is the story with the building next to the Wilson building. 1014 Prairie. It seems to be in pretty good shape, but the first floor is all boarded up.

Doing some more research, it seems in 2009 they tried to auction the building, but didn't manage to sell it. The facade was recently restored, but the interior is a shell.

drecey · #**3990** Posted: **Jul 30, 2012, 9:44 PM**

Does anyone know why Houston hasn't been using a lot of those LED Billboards. They're the new thing. I was just curious as to why we havent started using them as much as other cities. That would make freeways look so good at night.

Double L · #**3991** Posted: **Jul 30, 2012, 10:36 PM**

Houston passed a law in the 1980s that said no new billboards could be built.

AviationGuy · #**3992** Posted: **Jul 31, 2012, 2:01 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Double L

Houston passed a aw in the 1980s that said no new billboards could be built.

Can billboards be replaced with better looking ones? Or if an old one falls down, no replacement?

photoLith · #**3993** Posted: **Jul 31, 2012, 4:08 AM**

Wow thats weird, so no new billboards since 1980? So hopefully they all fall apart and never get replaced, that would be nice. I sure wish Houston had more neon lights though all over town, like the El Real and the old Alabama Theatre signage. Houston needs like a neon lights district or something like Piccadilly Circus used to be.

Double L · #**3994** Posted: **Jul 31, 2012, 5:34 AM**

Apparently the law was retracted in 2007 as part of a court ruling that it violated free speech. The original law did not allow defunct billboards to be replaced.

Quote:

Judge shoots down city law that curbs billboards
She boosts billboard owners' case, claims code hurts free speech
MATT STILES, Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
Published 05:30 a.m., Thursday, September 27, 2007

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the city from enforcing its 27-year-old sign code, ruling the regulations could violate free speech protections in the First Amendment.

The city code, which covers most signs, prohibits new billboards in Houston or the outer ring. But it allows those with political, religious or other noncommercial messages.

The court took issue with that distinction, citing a 14-year-old Ohio case involving the regulation of news racks, stating that the city cannot treat billboards differently based on their content.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-te...ds-1626932.php

J-a-x · #**3995** Posted: **Aug 1, 2012, 11:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by llamaorama

First, Jax sees the photo here and hotlinks the image for the HAIF thread without adequately crediting you. Jax being a well known and prolific Houston urban photographer and forumer himself, TexasPlaya assumes he was posting one of his own images and credits him when posting back where it came from...

Detective Llama solves the case

The solution is for anyone crediting images to find and link to the image's primary source(a flickr photostream for instance) and not cite a forum post to make credit.

I saw the image here and I just pasted the image URL into HAIF without really thinking about it. I saw that it was a URL from Flickr but I didn't have the address of the original Flickr page so I couldn't have linked to it or given the photographer credit even if I wanted to. figured that the original photographer probably posted the direct image URL here and so they wouldn't really care if it was on HAIF. I certainly didn't take credit for it and I am sorry if the original photographer didn't get credit.

I don't post direct image links to other people's work unless it's the only option. I don't like it when people do that to my photos but I generally tolerate it as long as they aren't profiting off of my photos (which really pisses me off). Once the Druge Report (I kid you not) stole one of my Flickr photos and would not respond to my emails asking for them to remove it. That really pissed me off!

Anyways, I want the photographer to know that I'm sorry that their image got thrown around without credit. It was just so good, I had to share with HAIF how good that building looks now.

photoLith · #**3996** Posted: **Aug 2, 2012, 3:04 PM**

Quote:

UH, Metro come to terms on rail line route

Construction of a light-rail line that would cross University of Houston property can continue now that UH and Metro officials settled differences that threatened to delay the project.

UH announced in a statement Tuesday that university officials have agreed to allow the Metropolitan Transit Authority to start the next phase of construction of the southeast line along Wheeler Avenue. In exchange, Metro will address concerns involving access to UH's facilities.

The Metro board has agreed to pay $1.5 million to take the steps included in the agreement, according to spokesman Jerome Gray.

"We have worked diligently together to reach an agreement," UH President Renu Khator said in a statement. "We have come to a resolution that both the university and Metro are happy with and that is in the best interests of the community."

...

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-te...te-3751395.php

GrimReaper · #**3997** Posted: **Aug 2, 2012, 3:17 PM**

Good, we need trains throughout Houston. Building bigger road does not help.

photoLith · #**3998** Posted: **Aug 4, 2012, 4:57 AM**

Galleria area developments, I missed a few, actually a lot but these are a lot of the major ones from today.

High St.

Gables at Post Oak

Astoria, setting up their leasing office on the lot where they are tearing down that two story McDonalds.

I thought this project was dead but they are building something at the Turnbury Towers site and their leasing office was accidentally unlocked but stripped of everything but the model.

3009 Post Oak across from the Turnbury Tower site.

BBVA Compass Bank

BBVA Compass Bank Building

The Mellinium Apartments/Condos with the BBVA building in the background.

Gables Tanglewood

I never remember what this ones called as theres no signs out front but its across from the Marriott off of Westheimer. Looks like its finally TO too.

kingkirbythe.... · #**3999** Posted: **Aug 4, 2012, 7:00 PM**

Nice trespassing. Should have slipped that model in your pocket.

TexasPlaya · #**4000** Posted: **Aug 5, 2012, 2:01 AM**

Thanks for the updates photolith.