Which Houston Skyline likely to merge first if Any?

[TexasTallest]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

Apart from CityCentre / Memorial City, the Uptown / Greenway connection is definitely furthest along. The whole area from the Loop to Highland Village along Westheimer is densifying rapidly - much higher buildings are slated to replace the office / retail complex where Kiran's is. Plus the 40-story apartment tower at Weslayan and W Alabama, along with a multi-story dense apartment development just west of Weslayan. So, this one's kind of already happening, though some of the projects are more of the 4-6 story type.

i agree the Uptown/Greenway connection will be the first major skyline connection we see in Houston. its already happening. we have the 40 story 2929 Weslayan that you mentioned, extending the reach of Greenway further to the west, and soon a 12 story, a 15 story, a 17 story, and an 18 story at Azalea Court (Mid Lane, just west of Highland Village), and also soon at the new Westcreek mixed use development, a 21 story office tower, and a 25 story SkyHouse "River Oaks". there are also 2 parcels still for sale at Westcreek that highrises could go on.

Originally Posted by 14Bricks

There's too much in between(Rice University, Heramn Park, residential areas) for it to be "merger" between downtown and TMC

as has been pointed out, high rises can and already are being developed along the edges of Hermann Park. there is supposed to be a new high rise next to The Spires, and the twisting 42 story Tower at Hermann Place (Park?) that is proposed near The Parklane on TEMAs site.

Originally Posted by HouTXmetro

There is nothing preventing TMC and downtown from connecting. As seen in this picture you can build around Hermann Park. Build up Midtown down to Hotel ZaZA and it's essentially connected. Build up along Almeda as well which is only a matter of time. The Mosaic Towers was the first shot in the bow as I expect more High Rise projects to pop up.

the main obstacle i see is building up Midtown. there has been so much low/mid rise residential development in midtown over the last 10 years near the light rail line that there arent many available parcels left that would be prime for a high rise development (i still say the parking lot just north of HCC would be an excellent location for a residential tower, overlooking the Super Block Park ala NYC/Central Park) unless they got creative and developed on partial blocks/multiple buildings per block, using up existing surface parking. there could definitely be a couple high rises there eventually. one high rise is already planned for midtown (the office tower component of Mid Main). maybe that, along with the redevelopment of Central Square Plaza will start a new trend of building taller/bringing office space into midtown. Hines Southmore high rise (25 stories?) will help extend the Museum District skyline further north, along with the 20 story Chelsea Montrose high rise.



i would love to see Uptown connect with Downtown, and of course then connect south with the TMC eventually, but its going to take a long time until we reach that point (probably at least 50 years), and be tricky developing around the existing neighborhoods without completely destroying them. i think there is a way around River Oaks (Greenway helps a ton, bypassing it to the south, and then coming up Kirby, with the existing highrises and the planned Kirby Collection, and the mixed use development slated for Kirby and Richmond.. but also the Huntington, and the other high rise next to it that, with the new Hines San Felipe 17 story going up will help get around/through River Oaks), and the areas east of RO are slowly filling in.. (areas around Waugh/Allen, like The Sovereign/potential future Regent Square development, 25 Waugh, ect). Montrose has a new 30 story residential tower planned, along with the planned mixed use development at Westheimer and Montrose thats sure to have a couple high rises. again, the main problem connecting the skylines is midtown (or the 4th ward in the case of Uptown-Downtown, though 4th ward is kind of "midtown" isnt it?).. there are no highrises planned in the 4th ward between Montrose and 45 (downtown), and the only one planned for midtown is at Main/Holman St. 14 blocks south of Central Square Plaza/2121(?) Main, and like 13 blocks north of Chelsea Montrose, so for a while it will be very isolated (and have some AMAZING views i would imagine.. thing Scott Gertners Montrose SkyBar, but most likely [hopefully] taller), with the exception of the 8ish story HCC midtown building. wether we can change the way midtown is developing with the recent high rise trend will determine wether we can one day connect our three major skylines (i suppose its possible to avoid midtown, and have the skyline running from Uptown to Montrose before heading south into the Museum District and finally the TMC, but then downtown would be left out).

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by HouTXmetro

Plausible:
Dowtown/TMC
Downtown/Greenway
Uptown/Greenway
Energy Corridor/Memorial City
Westheimer/Energy Corridor/Memorial City

Highly Unlikely:
The Woodlands/Greenspoint (Exon Campus could change this)

Lots has happened last 7 years. Uptown and Greenway's skyline's are the closest to merging. Some would argue this is already the case.

But the in betweens of Midtown and TMC are becoming impressive! Which is crazy since TMC's expansion is going south.

I saw people previously pentioning that the roadblocks to merging Downtown and TMC are Hermann Park and Rice. Rice is out of the way so I don't see why that one is a factor. But the biggest roadblock is actually Museum District. Midtown is rising, but Museum District's rise will have to be slower since it's a cultural institution.

Hermann Park on the other hand isn't a roadblock at all. As mentioned above, building around it would just give it a Central Park or golden gate park effect.

The most unexpected changes we have seem imo has been the developments along 4th Ward, Montrose and Buffalo Bayou that keep springing in. Really making the Downtown-Midtown-Museum-TMC-NRG corrodor feel more congruency with Uptown-Greenway-RiverOaks

[brock2010]

I haven't been to Houston since 2017. I'm sure the city's skylines have changed a lot even in that small frame of time. Anyway I need to get back down there to see that sights.