j_cuevas713 Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 So what exactly is the city of Houston's planning and development dept doing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angostura Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 52 minutes ago, j_cuevas713 said: So what exactly is the city of Houston's planning and development dept doing? They're not really empowered to do a whole lot. They enforce Chapter 42, and can allow variances under certain circumstances, but that's about it. When someone sells a site like this for development, they don't have a whole lot of say in how it gets developed. In theory, back when Sawyer Heights was being developed, the City could have used eminent domain powers to secure rights of way to extend Spring, Shearn and Crocket Streets to Oliver, then replatted the area as smaller reserves. They could then have extended those streets further, to Studemont, when the additional parcels became available several years later. Now, however, there's no street grid to connect to, so it's very hard to make a convincing eminent domain argument for this parcel. However, in order to have done this for Sawyer Heights (where Target it now), in addition to an uncanny ability to see the future, the city would have had to pay for the RoW. At $40/sf, it'd be $9M; more if they acquired ROW for north-south streets as well. In addition to paying for the RoW (and the lawyers for when they have to defend the taking in court), the city would be forgoing its portion of the property tax on the land they acquired for RoW, plus its portion of the sales tax revenue on a pretty big commercial development, as presumably much of the development would shift to residential after the re-plat. So for it to have made sense, the additional property tax revenue from denser development and subsequent appreciation in value would have to compensate for the cost to acquire the RoW, PLUS the forgone property tax revenue, PLUS the forgone sales tax revenue. And that additional property tax revenue probably wouldn't have kicked in until well after the end of the then-mayor's term. Oh, and the city would have had to have several million dollars laying around to do all this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angostura Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 I'm guessing this is a result of the traffic impact analysis. What I think they'll do is: extend the left turn lane that allows cars to enter the Kroger development from SB Studemont provide a right turn lane for cars on NB Studemont to turn onto the EB 1-10 feeder re-configure the median on Studemont to extend the left turn lane (from NB Studemont to WB I-10) provide a right-turn lane for those entering the development from the EB I-10 feeder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrosfan1 Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 Any updates here? Just dirt piled high these days 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted May 3, 2018 Share Posted May 3, 2018 Kind of surprised we have not seen any activity on this property, especially with the big boom in retail going on in the Heights area right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skooljunkie Posted May 3, 2018 Share Posted May 3, 2018 An Amazon drive-thru would do well here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 Wasn't this project under the Development List on the Gulf Coast Commercial Group website? I no longer see it there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 Appears to be a Houston Biz exclusive.... can anyone give a summary of the update? https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2018/06/27/more-information-on-two-new-mixed-use-projects-in.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 Now a mixed-use development. [/quote] Lower Heights District, a mixed-use development that's in the pre-development stages, is being planned for a site on the east side of Studemont Street and south side of Interstate 10 next to the Kroger at 1440 Studemont St., sources close to the deal told the Houston Business Journal. The project will be a mixed-use development with office, retail, residential and entertainment components. The site was recently appraised at $36.7 million, according to the Harris County Appraisal District. Lower Heights District was originally pegged to be a two-level big box retail development. Additional information, including a groundbreaking timeline and information on subcontractors, wasn't made available. Financing on both projects is still being secured.[/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 Wow!!! Sounds like it's substantially changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 Let's just pray they make it PEDESTRIAN! I just came back from dallass and let me tell you that they are doing a solid job building for PEDESTRIANS! It felt like a different city from just 10 years ago when I lived there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reporter Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 Not around Park Lane and Greenville Ave. Its a death trap for pedestrians just like the 99% of DFW that is not located in that 1 square mile known as uptown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Reporter said: Not around Park Lane and Greenville Ave. Its a death trap for pedestrians just like the 99% of DFW that is not located in that 1 square mile known as uptown. I'm simply speaking about how they are slowly building very cohesive development one after the other that's really starting to connect their neighborhoods. I also noticed fewer parking lots in many areas. Edited June 28, 2018 by j_cuevas713 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reporter Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 I live in Dallas. Where are you talking about? Because for every one example you may have of a "connected" neighborhood, I can give you a dozen examples of one's that are not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 Alexan will plant a multifamily complex here (Alexan Lower Heights), somewhere between 150-250 units. Construction begins by the end of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Visitor Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 4 hours ago, Urbannizer said: Alexan will plant a multifamily complex here (Alexan Lower Heights), somewhere between 150-250 units. Construction begins by the end of the year. As part of a larger mixed use project I presume? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 Yep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avossos Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 Hasn’t construction already started and the crane is up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 1 hour ago, Avossos said: Hasn’t construction already started and the crane is up? There are two projects on both sides of Studemont that I think confuse people. There's Lower Heights District and then there's Studemont Junction. The later currently has construction projects occurring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avossos Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 7 hours ago, Triton said: There are two projects on both sides of Studemont that I think confuse people. There's Lower Heights District and then there's Studemont Junction. The later currently has construction projects occurring 19 hours ago, Urbannizer said: Alexan will plant a multifamily complex here (Alexan Lower Heights), somewhere between 150-250 units. Construction begins by the end of the year. So is this thread the "Lower Heights District' which is where we were getting stacked big box stores, and the plans have changed? (LHD is east of Studemont and S of i10) - OR - Is this thread for Studemont Junction? (West of Studemont) where we have already one apartment U/C... I need the clarification because the information shared on this page is quite confusion... I believe there are separate threads for each. Thanks for helping! I might just be slow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reporter Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harementire Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 Wow. This area is huge! I wonder what's going to be built there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 This thread is for the Lower Heights District project but people keep adding Studemont Junction material here. I've renamed the thread now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avossos Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 1 hour ago, Triton said: This thread is for the Lower Heights District project but people keep adding Studemont Junction material here. I've renamed the thread now. Thanks Triton. I wonder what the plan is for the site, overall. We heard awhile back the plans had changed to something more truly mixed use. Hoping for the best! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specwriter Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 While this is certainly the lower Heights geographically and topographically I get a real kick out of the paradox of the phrase "Lower Heights." Hopefully there will be a seafood market that sells fresh jumbo shrimp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reporter Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 Lower always sounds like a lot more fun than Upper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 (edited) I just hope they tie it in well for pedestrians, especially considering the development around it. Even the newest developments do a poor job, like the Sawyer Heights/Yale shopping areas. I mean they're walkable, but not what they could be. Edited July 27, 2018 by j_cuevas713 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Visitor Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 3 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said: I just hope they tie it in well for pedestrians to the development around it. Even the newest develeopments do a poor job for pedestrians. Like the Sawyer Heights/Yale shopping areas. They could definitely make both better for pedestrians. Houston smh I think we already know the answer to this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harementire Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 I will send this to a good friend of mine. Thanks for the link!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harementire Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 Well, this is great to know. Thanks for the update about this! On 3/2/2015 at 0:32 AM, Slick Vik said: I know the guy who bought this land. Hilarious to see the chronicle's dollar amount, it's way off. Secondly it won't be a suburban style development so calm down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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