Houston 2020

[SouthernBoy205]

Originally Posted by David Dollar

Well the % of each group won't rise. One or more group's % has to go down. I do think that the non-hispanic white % may actually rise as the metro rail makes more and more "hoods" accessible. Gentrification will run out more and more lower and middle class families as we watch Houston's income disparity soar even more.

Well skip the hood part, the white % will probably shrink throughout the whole metro since according to websites, 89,000 whites moved to or were born there last decade.

[David Dollar]

Originally Posted by SouthernBoy205

Well skip the hood part, the white % will probably shrink throughout the whole metro since according to websites, 89,000 whites moved to or were born there last decade.

I don't ever talk metro. I have no interest in the suburbs. I only like to talk about Houston, and I do believe that the demographics inside the city limits, perhaps just inside the loop, are going to begin to change.

[Johnhw2]

Originally Posted by annie_himself

Real estate and lending markets are in the toilet, especially for huge skyscrapers.

Which isn't built right? It could happen though, especially if some come up around Dynamo stadium and throughout East Downtown as it gentrifies.

Outside of the Ashby Highrise and the few people it would have personally angered, do the people of Houston want zoning laws for buildings? It's one of the identities of Houston that you notice when you get here.

How then is ExxonMobil buillding a new campus or BP built a new building? Houston is unique in that major oils can build without the help of the clueless building finance community, and they wont build until they are sure of the longer term demand which they produce. How did the Hess building get financed in DT, perhaps it was before the financial collapse?

You wont see major corporations building large offices in most cities so once again Houston is different than most

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by Johnhw2

How then is ExxonMobil buillding a new campus or BP built a new building? Houston is unique in that major oils can build without the help of the clueless building finance community, and they wont build until they are sure of the longer term demand which they produce. How did the Hess building get financed in DT, perhaps it was before the financial collapse?

You wont see major corporations building large offices in most cities so once again Houston is different than most

The campus on 59 and the Beltway? That's not a skyscraper, I don't know of any others going up by BP.

[MikeyAusmus]

Here is what I expect in Houston by 2020:

#1. Houston will overtake Chicago as the 3rd largest city in the USA with an estimated population of 2,608,822 while Chicago continues to receed in population down to 2,510,447.

#2. Grand Parkway will be complete from TX-146 in Baytown counter-clockwise around to IH-45. The segment A from IH-45 to TX-146 will be under construction.

#3. 5 Allen Center will be complete in downtown Houston

#4. Dallas will still be infinitely inferior to Houston (sorry had to throw that in there!!)

#5. TX-35 will be under construction from US-90A to BW-8

#6. US-290 will be under construction from IH-610 to TX-99 being widened from 3 lanes in each directions to 4 general lanes in each direction and 3 managed lanes in each direction.

#7. IH-69 will be complete between Houston and Corpus Christi and from Houston to Lufkin.

#8. US-90, the Crosby Freeway will have the missing freeway segments complete.

#9. TX-249 tollway will be complete from just north of Spring-Cypress Road to TX-105.

#10. All light rail segments will be complete for MetroRAIL.

#11. Commuter rail will still not be in the Houston area.

#12. Freeways/Tollways will still be king in Houston.

[SouthernBoy205]

All of this in 8 years time??? WOW

[Spade]

You need to lower your expectations on population. I highly doubt 500,000 people move to to the city of Houston 2020 by to put it at 2.6 million. The trends are not showing that is going to happen. If anything, it should be at 2.3 million. And the reason why Chicago fell is because they tore down the projects. Chicago is actually booming right now with more highrises going up than anywhere else except New York. I don't expect their decline to last.