HOUSTON | Houstonian TMC (Hotel/Residences) | 458 FT / 140 M | 40 FLOORS | PROPOSED

[Wattleigh]

In brief, a 40 story hotel & residential tower, with 1200 parking spaces in the 8 story base of the building.

300 Hotel Rooms + 100 Residential Units at a height of 458 Feet, making it the tallest building in the Medical Center to date.

In the past few weeks, there has been a bit of buzz regarding a certain piece of land that is currently a surface parking lot at the intersection of Main Street & Dryden Road in the Texas Medical Center. It would be across from Rice's Collaborative Research Center and bordered by Baylor Clinic's garage & office building and the Hilton Hotel. There is a variance request sign at the location and since it was placed, the local civic club has made a presentation to the city's planning council on the magnitude of the project.


These are copies of renderings included in today's (3/13) agenda for the City Planning Commission.

Rough rendering


Cross-section


Overhead View of model


Rooftop Floorplan


Lobby Floorplan


See these blog entries on Swamplot for more...

Today's Planning Meeting: http://swamplot.com/houstonian-texas...al/2008-03-13/

First Mention: http://swamplot.com/newest-and-talle...do/2008-02-28/

First Planning Meeting:http://swamplot.com/live-on-tv-new-m...er/2008-02-29/

[futuresooner]

I like it, from what I can see, but what a plain name. Austin has the Austonian, now Houston's Houstonian, what's next, the Dallasian or Ft. Worthian. Get a more creative name y'all!

[Wattleigh]

Originally Posted by futuresooner

I like it, from what I can see, but what a plain name. Austin has the Austonian, now Houston's Houstonian, what's next, the Dallasian or Ft. Worthian. Get a more creative name y'all!

Actually, it would seem to be an extension of the Houstonian, which was a similar concept built Uptown in the early 1980s.

And technically, aren't people from Austin, Austinites?

[Shasta]

This is excellent news. If there is one area of town that is CRYING out for highrise living, it's the Texas Medical Center area.

Light rail access? CHECK

High density workforce? CHECK

Lack of land for expansion? CHECK

Semi-protected from economic downturns? CHECK

Build them and they will come.

[Xeelee]

Looks like a good sized tower. I hope however, they design it to be quite flashy for sure. We need another (or at least ONE) flashy tower.

[photoLith]

The medical district is turning out quite nicely as of late.

[Complex01]

Nice we have a thread on this one...

[NDPhilly]

I think that the design is a little to simple.

[Great_Hizzy]

Seems like its more a sketch than anything else right now. Some simplistic exterior designs, to be sure, but its hard to gauge the full impact of the design without seeing the materials used for the skin. A simple black-and-white doesn't really convey enough, IMO.

[Great_Hizzy]

I do think, however, that its cool to potentially see the St. Luke's Tower continue to fall down the list of the tallest buildings in the TMC. That alone would point to how much muscle there is in the Med Center these days.

[Wattleigh]

Originally Posted by NDPhilly

I think that the design is a little to simple.

That was only the preliminary sketch submitted to the city council for the approval process.

The updated renderings are a bit more flattering, however.

[Trae]

Where are the updated renderings?

[Wattleigh]

Originally Posted by Trae

Where are the updated renderings?

I remember seeing them in late March or early April when they went through the second round of permitting in the city council. The garage was a little bigger and everything was in color. Not sure if they're online, though I'm sure there's a better and clearer version that's been put together since then.

[Complex01]

It would be nice to see these new renderings. Very curious...