Lots of comments about how "dead", or, desolate downtown Houston looks. Simple reason. We have a tunnel system that connects all downtown buildings. No one goes outdoors, especially during 90 degree heat, or, rain. The tunnel system has everything, restaurants, stores, jewelry stores, gift shops, even furniture stores. The tunnel closes after 7pm. As for Houston's size, Houston is....as of the last (2010) census, the nation's 4th largest city. In land area, Houston is the 2nd largest city in the Western Hemisphere. The largest (true), is Jacksonville, Florida, due to its surplus of golf courses. I know, hard to believe. By the way, demographers are saying that Houston has just passed Chicago for 3rd largest city due to people moving out of Chicago. I'll wait until the 2020 census to come out. Houston has the 2nd largest theater district; 2nd only to New York. Houston is still under most people's radar, which, is fine with me. It's a great city. Got here as fast as I could (1968) and all my kids were born here. It's an awesome place with so much to do.
Houston is very spread out, the city is a little over 600 square miles. The downtown area is mostly a business district. I liked it better in the sixties because there were more movie theaters and department stores.
J Koch keep in mind houston land mass is 656.3 sq miles , nyc is a small 320 sq miles , chicago is a small 234 sq miles , houston has nearly 500,000 people in the underground tunnel , notice you said downtown - do you really know how big this city is . you can put nyc & chicago in houston tx land mass is 656.3 sq miles
like most US cities they are expanding out in all directions I bet years ago there was no Beltway 8 but now its just another HW ring around a city heck HW 99 is already being built around cypress and prob connect the woodlands porter and kingwood all together
Downtown Houston has a huge underground walking tunnel system. In the summer time it becomes really hot so people use the tunnels to walk since it all air conditioned and has a bunch of restaurants and shops. Because of this people tend to use it year round.
Houston downtown is not the most active but you probably don't see crowds of people because they use the tunnel system downtown because of the heat, houston can use a lot of work but it's still a great city. It's just different. Go uptown you might complain about too many people.
You say that Houston is the 10th largest? Correction: Houston is the fourth largest. During the entire 20th century, Houston doubled its population every 20 years. According to the current rate of growth, Houston is still growing at that rate.
Actually, Houston metro is the 5th largest, the Dallas/Fort Worth is the 4th largest metro. However, Houston is the 4th largest city in the country & Dallas is the 9th. Even San Antonio is bigger than Dallas if you count the cities only.🌃🌇🏙🤷♂️
Additional info: Houston's theater district is second, only to New York, in size. We have over 60 colleges and universities. Houston is home to the world's largest medical center. Metro Houston's land area is larger than San Francisco, Minneapolis, Seattle, New York and Miami, combined. Pay us a visit, but, set aside a week. And, yes, the downtown area can look deserted in the middle of a hot day, because, everyone is inside...in the tunnel system.
I don't get that downtown Houston looks dead there's more people here than you think and besides who wants to be walking inn 100 degree heat besides see the skyline now looks a lot different
Downtown isn't as vibrant as most older, northern cities by any stretch (or even other parts of Houston)...but there is a large underground section of downtown and its vacancy rate may actually be the lowest among large cities in the country. There is a building boom happening downtown right now, and the city is making strides to improve its street level cityscape. It has actually made a TON of progress over the last 10 to 20 years, believe it or not.
Paul Stewart I believe it but I been down there recently but it still appears like overkill to me. The population seems to not support the urban/downtown area. I remember walking blocks without seeing a soul
Jeschitown There have always been a ton of street level parking lots on the south and east sides of downtown. Perhaps half of them are going to turn into office, residential, hotels and mixed use just over the next few years. Downtown is easily going to triple its population in that time. That said, it will likely be several decades away from urbanizing its way to being on the level of somewhere like NYC or Philadelphia. THAT said, Houston is such a physically large city with multiple skylines that are beginning to merge into a possible massive urban core over time. The density inside the loop is growing rapidly, and it's scary to think of how bad traffic is going to be here in the near (and of course, distant) future. We put almost all of our eggs in the basket with the wheels and exhaust pipes...and that already isn't cutting it. As far as overkill is concerned, I agree if we're talking about before/after business hours...but again, a lot of people use the tunnel system during the day. Until now, downtown has always been built for people to work...not live. I for one am very happy that that's changing in a big way. The only problem is that it's starting to look like you're going to have to own a small country to afford to live there with some of the prices I've been hearing...and that makes very little sense to me. I guess we'll see what happens. Apparently, the demand is there.
Jeschitown Off the top of my head, I can think of the following projects that are either under construction or imminent in the next year or two in downtown Houston: Under construction: 23 story office building 48 story office building 14 story, 300 room Hampton Inn/Homewood Suites Hotel 29 story, 1,000 room Marriott Marquis Hotel 5 story, 207 unit residential building 7 story, 400 unit residential building 8 story, 240 unit residential building 28 story, 361 unit residential building 40 story, 463 unit residential building Conversion of abandoned office building into 323 residential units 16 story parking garage connecting to tunnel system 7 story convention center garage with I think 16 floors of office/hotel on top of that Redevelopment of 22 story office building Redevelopment of abandoned hotel into 215 room hotel Redevelopment of abandoned apartments into 166 room hotel Full restoration of the Alley Theater Two new light rail lines New magnet school (High School for the Performing & Visual Arts) Planned to break ground within the next year or so: 37 story office building 58 story office building 40 story, 309 unit residential building 32 story, 274 unit residential building 24 story, 336 unit residential building Phase 1 (of 2) 21 story buildings that will total 518 residential units 20 story residential building 6 story, 267 unit residential building 5 story, 220 unit residential building 12 story, 230 room Hilton Garden Inn Hotel 25 story, 225 room Hotel Alessandra 2 story, 60,000 square ft cultural center There are more planned buildings too, but these are all either already going up or just about to in the immediate central business district. That does not include the 24 story, 336 unit SkyHouse residential tower that was just completed or 328 room JW Marriott that was just converted from an abandoned office building. It also doesn't include the very similar explosion of development in Uptown (something like 20 or 25 high rises either going up or about to), Midtown, Montrose, Greenway Plaza, River Oaks, the Museum District, the TMC (pretty much the whole inner loop between Uptown and Downtown)...or even on the outskirts of town towards the Energy Corridor, Westchase, and The Woodlands for that matter. Inside the loop is especially fixing to get more crowded, though...and downtown proper is all the sudden running out of parking lots to build on.
Paul Stewart I'm glad to hear that Houston is thriving and in the mist of a development boom. Good to see residential and not just office going up that should bring some vibrancy to the core areas.
houston has tons of things here all these stadiums , westheimer , memorial , river oaks etc
I like the downtown atmosphere here, in Denver, better. But the architecture in Houston is AMAZING!!! Would be worth a trip down there!
Be sure to come hungry!
Lots of comments about how "dead", or, desolate downtown Houston looks. Simple reason. We have a tunnel system that connects all downtown buildings. No one goes outdoors, especially during 90 degree heat, or, rain. The tunnel system has everything, restaurants, stores, jewelry stores, gift shops, even furniture stores. The tunnel closes after 7pm.
As for Houston's size, Houston is....as of the last (2010) census, the nation's 4th largest city. In land area, Houston is the 2nd largest city in the Western Hemisphere. The largest (true), is Jacksonville, Florida, due to its surplus of golf courses. I know, hard to believe. By the way, demographers are saying that Houston has just passed Chicago for 3rd largest city due to people moving out of Chicago. I'll wait until the 2020 census to come out.
Houston has the 2nd largest theater district; 2nd only to New York. Houston is still under most people's radar, which, is fine with me. It's a great city. Got here as fast as I could (1968) and all my kids were born here. It's an awesome place with so much to do.
Houston is very spread out, the city is a little over 600 square miles. The downtown area is mostly a business district. I
liked it better in the sixties because there were more movie
theaters and department stores.
It might of being film on a Sunday morning
I've never seen such a desolate downtown of a major city. It's practically deserted. Where are all the people?
There's a underground walking system so mostly all of them use it because it's air conditioned
J Koch keep in mind houston land mass is 656.3 sq miles , nyc is a small 320 sq miles , chicago is a small 234 sq miles , houston has nearly 500,000 people in the underground tunnel , notice you said downtown - do you really know how big this city is . you can put nyc & chicago in houston tx land mass is 656.3 sq miles
like most US cities they are expanding out in all directions I bet years ago there was no Beltway 8 but now its just another HW ring around a city heck HW 99 is already being built around cypress and prob connect the woodlands porter and kingwood all together
ahh ahh they ahh ahh have life's and family's and jobs dumbass do you live in Houston I don't think so
houston is kinda spread out thats why it seems its like there are not alot of people but 6 million + people people are here and there
Downtown that is.
Downtown Houston has a huge underground walking tunnel system. In the summer time it becomes really hot so people use the tunnels to walk since it all air conditioned and has a bunch of restaurants and shops. Because of this people tend to use it year round.
I am going to move there in a few years from now
The screen captions were nice but you scrolled through them so fast I couldn't even read half of them.
This is a common point lol! Duly noted ;)
Houston downtown is not the most active but you probably don't see crowds of people because they use the tunnel system downtown because of the heat, houston can use a lot of work but it's still a great city. It's just different. Go uptown you might complain about too many people.
Gabriel Beverly
You speak the truth
Though, I had to go on with my life I sure do miss him. Does anybody know him?
You say that Houston is the 10th largest? Correction: Houston is the fourth largest. During the entire 20th century, Houston doubled its population every 20 years. According to the current rate of growth, Houston is still growing at that rate.
Correction: He said 10th largest METRO area, not 10th largest CITY
+Antoine Moorman isn't Houston the 5th largest metro?
Indeed it is per MSA (Metropolitain Statistical Area) numbers, 10th largest if you go by the CSA (Combined Statistical Area) numbers.
Actually, Houston metro is the 5th largest, the Dallas/Fort Worth is the 4th largest metro. However, Houston is the 4th largest city in the country & Dallas is the 9th. Even San Antonio is bigger than Dallas if you count the cities only.🌃🌇🏙🤷♂️
Additional info: Houston's theater district is second, only to New York, in size. We have over 60 colleges and universities. Houston is home to the world's largest medical center. Metro Houston's land area is larger than San Francisco, Minneapolis, Seattle, New York and Miami, combined. Pay us a visit, but, set aside a week. And, yes, the downtown area can look deserted in the middle of a hot day, because, everyone is inside...in the tunnel system.
No it's not its land area is larger than those cities by city limits not whole metro
I don't get that downtown Houston looks dead there's more people here than you think and besides who wants to be walking inn 100 degree heat besides see the skyline now looks a lot different
Beatuful city
656.3 sq miles , houston has about 20 areas that look like a downtown
I'm not really liking the ambient noise in the background. You should've played some nice soft jazz music instead.
be sure to visit 5th ward Houston the jewel of da city : P
No one's on the street because everyone has cars you can't live in Houston without a car it takes an hour to get to north Houston to south houston
I like Dallas more
Dallas sucks
@@jorgederas634 yeah houston is better and Houston has a tall building that's taller than all buildings in Dallas
Looks to me like Houston is over building because it's downtown looks dead kind of scary.
Downtown isn't as vibrant as most older, northern cities by any stretch (or even other parts of Houston)...but there is a large underground section of downtown and its vacancy rate may actually be the lowest among large cities in the country. There is a building boom happening downtown right now, and the city is making strides to improve its street level cityscape. It has actually made a TON of progress over the last 10 to 20 years, believe it or not.
Paul Stewart I believe it but I been down there recently but it still appears like overkill to me. The population seems to not support the urban/downtown area. I remember walking blocks without seeing a soul
Jeschitown There have always been a ton of street level parking lots on the south and east sides of downtown. Perhaps half of them are going to turn into office, residential, hotels and mixed use just over the next few years. Downtown is easily going to triple its population in that time. That said, it will likely be several decades away from urbanizing its way to being on the level of somewhere like NYC or Philadelphia. THAT said, Houston is such a physically large city with multiple skylines that are beginning to merge into a possible massive urban core over time. The density inside the loop is growing rapidly, and it's scary to think of how bad traffic is going to be here in the near (and of course, distant) future. We put almost all of our eggs in the basket with the wheels and exhaust pipes...and that already isn't cutting it.
As far as overkill is concerned, I agree if we're talking about before/after business hours...but again, a lot of people use the tunnel system during the day. Until now, downtown has always been built for people to work...not live. I for one am very happy that that's changing in a big way. The only problem is that it's starting to look like you're going to have to own a small country to afford to live there with some of the prices I've been hearing...and that makes very little sense to me. I guess we'll see what happens. Apparently, the demand is there.
Jeschitown Off the top of my head, I can think of the following projects that are either under construction or imminent in the next year or two in downtown Houston:
Under construction:
23 story office building
48 story office building
14 story, 300 room Hampton Inn/Homewood Suites Hotel
29 story, 1,000 room Marriott Marquis Hotel
5 story, 207 unit residential building
7 story, 400 unit residential building
8 story, 240 unit residential building
28 story, 361 unit residential building
40 story, 463 unit residential building
Conversion of abandoned office building into 323 residential units
16 story parking garage connecting to tunnel system
7 story convention center garage with I think 16 floors of office/hotel on top of that
Redevelopment of 22 story office building
Redevelopment of abandoned hotel into 215 room hotel
Redevelopment of abandoned apartments into 166 room hotel
Full restoration of the Alley Theater
Two new light rail lines
New magnet school (High School for the Performing & Visual Arts)
Planned to break ground within the next year or so:
37 story office building
58 story office building
40 story, 309 unit residential building
32 story, 274 unit residential building
24 story, 336 unit residential building
Phase 1 (of 2) 21 story buildings that will total 518 residential units
20 story residential building
6 story, 267 unit residential building
5 story, 220 unit residential building
12 story, 230 room Hilton Garden Inn Hotel
25 story, 225 room Hotel Alessandra
2 story, 60,000 square ft cultural center
There are more planned buildings too, but these are all either already going up or just about to in the immediate central business district. That does not include the 24 story, 336 unit SkyHouse residential tower that was just completed or 328 room JW Marriott that was just converted from an abandoned office building. It also doesn't include the very similar explosion of development in Uptown (something like 20 or 25 high rises either going up or about to), Midtown, Montrose, Greenway Plaza, River Oaks, the Museum District, the TMC (pretty much the whole inner loop between Uptown and Downtown)...or even on the outskirts of town towards the Energy Corridor, Westchase, and The Woodlands for that matter. Inside the loop is especially fixing to get more crowded, though...and downtown proper is all the sudden running out of parking lots to build on.
Paul Stewart I'm glad to hear that Houston is thriving and in the mist of a development boom. Good to see residential and not just office going up that should bring some vibrancy to the core areas.