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Post a source supporting your claim. Maybe a list of all of the buildings in DT San Jose. And Downtown Houston IS dense. It may have some parking lots, but they are being taken up for new development. And the bland comment is your opinion. I'm convinced you're doing this just to mess around though, because it doesn't appear to be true.
I don't think you counted Houston's number buildings correctly. Emporis listed 352 buildings over 12 stories in Houston. Granted not all of them are downtown but I bet a large portion of them are. That said, I agree that Houston's downtown offers nothing more than San Jose's. San Jose's downtown is very pleasant at street level or looking out of the light rail. It is a nice downtown. I like it a little better than Houston's, though it is certainly not SF or even Seattle level. What matter at street level are the shops, restaurants, bars, etc. at the first story of most buildings anyways. The office space above the first story usually contribute very little to downtown vibrancy. But in terms of skyline, Houston wins hands down. No comparison.
Quote:
Originally Posted by durf
I never said the buildings were taller. They're not that short either. Most of the buildings in Dt San jose are 15-20 stories, and that's not bad. The tallest is the Mariott in dt San Jose, which is 28 stories. The second tallest is 23 stories, the 360 residences. The skyline of Dt San Jose is actually prettier than Houston's because they're are very colorful. When you drive along Highway 280 and 87, the skyline is very impressive. Oakland has relatively few highrise, albeit taller than San Jose's. Houston's skyline is taller with the tallest one being 80 story, but it's less dense and bland. When you go to Dt San Jose, just count all the buildings 7 stories and taller. You'll see who has more highrises. The fire department classified buildings 7 stories or higher as highrises, and I'm sticking to it. Sorry! Yeah, Tulsa, Oklahoma and Toledo, Ohio have very tall buildings, taller than San Diego, Phoenix, San Antonio and Baltimore, but they're skimpy skylines. You guys are one hundred feet taller, are ya?
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 16,034,220 times
Reputation: 4047
Quote:
Originally Posted by fashionguy
I don't think you counted Houston's number buildings correctly. Emporis listed 352 buildings over 12 stories in Houston. Granted not all of them are downtown but I bet a large portion of them are. That said, I agree that Houston's downtown offers nothing more than San Jose's. San Jose's downtown is very pleasant at street level or looking out of the light rail. It is a nice downtown. I like it a little better than Houston's, though it is certainly not SF or even Seattle level. What matter at street level are the shops, restaurants, bars, etc. at the first story of most buildings anyways. The office space above the first story usually contribute very little to downtown vibrancy. But in terms of skyline, Houston wins hands down. No comparison.
I'm leaving Chicago for Houston tomorrow actually. And starting next Monday, I'll be working in downtown. I would kill myself if they didn't have good food there. But they do! They've got plenty of variety, Italian, Thai!!!, Chinese, Indian, American, Tex-Mex. And of course some chain restaurants and the typical fast food places. And there's plenty of shops also.
So downtown Houston isn't bad.
But agreed, it's not as vibrant as it can be. But the same thing can be said about Dallas, Los Angeles, & Atlanta. They all have it set for them, with shops and food places, but they're not as vibrant as they can be.
EDIT: And I know Durf, I already know. You're going to get online and disagree with me on the food and all that. I already told you man, San Jose is more vibrant than Houston, no doubt. But I like Houston's downtown more- the style of buildings, the taller atmosphere, etc. Just my personal preference.
And San Jose's downtown needs improvement too. I kinda hope that its downtown can expand and cover a larger area. It is fine not to have tall buildings due to the airport, but there are plenty of spaces for development around downtown. Instead of having an impressive skyline and tall buildings, covering a large downtown area can be impressive too, like the DC way of downtown. I don't want San Jose to be as dense as DC. I want ample parking space and more green, but I hope its current density in downtown can expand a little bit more to the surrounding areas. The density of the rest of San Jose
is very unbalanced. The IT corporations (there are so many of them) all have big surface parking and take up huge spaces, squeezing the people's homes into small areas. Most residential developments in San Jose are actually with quite high density (different rows of townhomes are extremely close in residential districts) because it is the 10th largest city with a respectable population density (57xx/sq. mile as compared to Houston's 38xx/sq. mile). Given so much space is take up by the parking lots of the corporations and it still keeps some farm land in between (which I think is funny given the price of land), it is destined that people have to live in small, dense locations. It is a very interesting city indeed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OmShahi
I'm leaving Chicago for Houston tomorrow actually. And starting next Monday, I'll be working in downtown. I would kill myself if they didn't have good food there. But they do! They've got plenty of variety, Italian, Thai!!!, Chinese, Indian, American, Tex-Mex. And of course some chain restaurants and the typical fast food places. And there's plenty of shops also.
So downtown Houston isn't bad.
But agreed, it's not as vibrant as it can be. But the same thing can be said about Dallas, Los Angeles, & Atlanta. They all have it set for them, with shops and food places, but they're not as vibrant as they can be.
EDIT: And I know Durf, I already know. You're going to get online and disagree with me on the food and all that. I already told you man, San Jose is more vibrant than Houston, no doubt. But I like Houston's downtown more- the style of buildings, the taller atmosphere, etc. Just my personal preference.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 16,034,220 times
Reputation: 4047
Quote:
Originally Posted by fashionguy
And San Jose's downtown needs improvement too. I kinda hope that its downtown can expand and cover a larger area. It is fine not to have tall buildings due to the airport, but there are plenty of spaces for development around downtown. Instead of having an impressive skyline and tall buildings, covering a large downtown area can be impressive too, like the DC way of downtown. I don't want San Jose to be as dense as DC. I want ample parking space and more green, but I hope its current density in downtown can expand a little bit more to the surrounding areas. The density of the rest of San Jose
is very unbalanced. The IT corporations (there are so many of them) all have big surface parking and take up huge spaces, squeezing the people's homes into small areas. Most residential developments in San Jose are actually with quite high density (different rows of townhomes are extremely close in residential districts) because it is the 10th largest city with a respectable population density (57xx/sq. mile as compared to Houston's 38xx/sq. mile). Given so much space is take up by the parking lots of the corporations and it still keeps some farm land in between (which I think is funny given the price of land), it is destined that people have to live in small, dense locations. It is a very interesting city indeed.
The portion in bold, were you describing Houston there or San Jose? Sounds more like Houston, bit it's a bit off with recent times. Parking lots, yes, lots of them in downtown, but they're going away and in coming parking garages. Thank god!! I hate having to park my car in unprotected sun light!
San Jose has two towers proposed right now, both of which are meant to become the tallest in San Jose and the third tallest, and another one proposed to become the 5th tallest. San Jose actually has quite a good deal of projects out right now.
I was talking about San Jose areas outside downtown.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OmShahi
The portion in bold, were you describing Houston there or San Jose? Sounds more like Houston, bit it's a bit off with recent times. Parking lots, yes, lots of them in downtown, but they're going away and in coming parking garages. Thank god!! I hate having to park my car in unprotected sun light!
San Jose has two towers proposed right now, both of which are meant to become the tallest in San Jose and the third tallest, and another one proposed to become the 5th tallest. San Jose actually has quite a good deal of projects out right now.
San Jose is part of the Bay Area, so uh. You might as well compare the Bay Area to the League City/Texas City/Galveston "metropolitan area". It's not like the urban sprawl that is Houston is so small you can't fairly compare it to the bay area.
Economy
- Diversity (Economy) Bay Area
- Diversity (Food) Bay Area
- Diversity (Culture) Bay Area (Houston is catching up)
- Parks (Bay Area)
- Zoo's (don't know)
- Professional sports (I mean the ones in the MSA- Not the CSA!! those belong to Oakland and San Fran, but SJ does have NHL & MLS) (Bay Area)
- Natural scenery (Bay Area)
- Art scene (Bay Area, but Houston is not that far behind)
- Music scene (I'd lean towards Houston)
- Weather (Bay Area)
- Airport (Bay Area for having more)
- Public transportation (Bay Area)
- Roads (Houston)
- Cost of living (Houston)
- Quality of life (Houston)
- Shopping (Bay Area)
- Hotels (Bay Area on quality, Houston on price)
- Tourist attractions (Bay Area)
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