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Downtown Houston 2036 Master Plan


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On 11/9/2017 at 2:26 PM, samagon said:

 

I'm probably the only person that likes Tranquility park more or less as is. I would like to see it updated to include some food options. I bet it could support 3 different things like what Niko Niko's has on Market Square Park. 

 

It it needs the drug addicts and dealers cleared out. I used to walk past it every day. I quite often saw drug deals being made and saw bags on the ground.

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 http://swamplot.com/funding-for-downtown-houstons-new-island/2018-03-20/

 

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Houston-s-sprawling-drainage-project-would-help-12759536.php#photo-15263028

 

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Houston’s flood czar Steve Costello tells the Chronicle’s Mike Morris that the city plans to apply for FEMA resiliency grants in order to build the North Canal Bypass — the long-whispered diversion channel that would relink White Oak and Buffalo bayousbetween Main and Elysian streets. The waterway concept bubbled up last year in Plan Downtown where its course formed an island northwest of Allen’s Landing indicated in the imagined map above. By bypassing the bayou’s oxbow, the channel is expected not only to reduce flooding downtown — it could also “help lower the water level in White Oak Bayouall the way to the 610 Loop and in Buffalo Bayou as far west as Gessner,” according to a county study. The result: “A little more than half of the 854 structures in the 100-year floodplain along White Oak and an adjacent tributary, Turkey Gully, would be removed from the floodplain.

 

 

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Another canal is being proposed by TxDot along with the 45 re-route, according to the Chronicle article.

 

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The Texas Department of Transportation has included the channel in drawings connected to its planned Interstate 45 reconstruction, along with another new channel and detention basin less than a half-mile to the east, where the Houston Housing Authority’s Clayton Homes project sits.

 

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The article says they'd have to reroute the train, but the info page on the Harris County Flood Control District website says there isn't a final alignment.

https://www.hcfcd.org/projects-studies/buffalo-bayou/north-canal-bypass-channel/

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The Flood Control District is in the process of investigating the concept for flood damage reduction benefits, feasibility and cost. In coordination with Harris County and other governmental entities, the Flood Control District has acquired several pieces of property that preserve the opportunity for a future North Canal project and may also support other worthwhile county projects.

Design and construction phases are not yet fully funded. A final alignment (path) for the channelhas not been selected.  Discussion of the North Canal Bypass Channel concept has taken place over many years, and has inspired various visions for the eventual project design. The concept is included, for example, in the Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s 2002 report “Buffalo Bayou and Beyond.” It is also included in the vision plans of other groups supporting bayou restoration, downtown revitalization and economic development. If implementation is feasible, there will be opportunities for the Flood Control District to work with interested community members on design of the project.

 

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I'm curious about some of the old buildings just east of Allen's landing downtown. Now please forgive me if Im wrong, but don't some of them come right to the banks of the bayou and don't they impede the flow of water through the bayou when the waters rises to a flood level. It seems that maybe a couple of those building would need to be removed if they create a bottleneck. I know I hate the thought of tearing any old building down but if they do cause water to back up and rise higher and add to the flooding issues shouldn't it be addressed.

Can anyone provide photos of the buildings on the bayou side that shows what I seem to remember or maybe my mind is playing tricks with me.The ones that form the southern bank of the bayou probably at Fannin and maybe San Jacinto.

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38 minutes ago, bobruss said:

I'm curious about some of the old buildings just east of Allen's landing downtown. Now please forgive me if Im wrong, but don't some of them come right to the banks of the bayou and don't they impede the flow of water through the bayou when the waters rises to a flood level. It seems that maybe a couple of those building would need to be removed if they create a bottleneck. I know I hate the thought of tearing any old building down but if they do cause water to back up and rise higher and add to the flooding issues shouldn't it be addressed.

Can anyone provide photos of the buildings on the bayou side that shows what I seem to remember or maybe my mind is playing tricks with me.The ones that form the southern bank of the bayou probably at Fannin and maybe San Jacinto.

 

I'm pretty sure the building at 1119 Commerce is slated for demolition.

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Thanks Houston19514. I just looked on map quest and there are two buildings that seem to create the bottleneck I was suggesting. I don't know which of the two is 1119. One is situated between Fannin and San Jacinto, which I believe was purchased by the AIA for their new headquarters and the other one is just north of the Courthouse on Franklin.

Both of those need to go. The AIA should have realized that this building exacerbated flooding west of it by impeding the flow of water. I'm not a hydrologist but I did read something somewhere about how much a building that sits in a flood plain slows the flow and raises the water behind the object so I say adios to those two unless they can approve the alternate White Oak bypass. 

There are some great renderings in the Buffalo Bayou 25 year plan of the island that they proposed maybe five years ago. It shows the development of housing offices and recreational projects along the new canal. I think it would run roughly through the Metro bus barn close to Mother Dog studios off San Jacinto. 

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6 minutes ago, bobruss said:

Thanks Houston19514. I just looked on map quest and there are two buildings that seem to create the bottleneck I was suggesting. I don't know which of the two is 1119. One is situated between Fannin and San Jacinto, which I believe was purchased by the AIA for their new headquarters and the other one is just north of the Courthouse on Franklin.

Both of those need to go. The AIA should have realized that this building exacerbated flooding west of it by impeding the flow of water. I'm not a hydrologist but I did read something somewhere about how much a building that sits in a flood plain slows the flow and raises the water behind the object so I say adios to those two unless they can approve the alternate White Oak bypass. 

There are some great renderings in the Buffalo Bayou 25 year plan of the island that they proposed maybe five years ago. It shows the development of housing offices and recreational projects along the new canal. I think it would run roughly through the Metro bus barn close to Mother Dog studios off San Jacinto. 

 

The AIA is on the other (south) side of Commerce Street. (900 Commerce Street). They are not one of the buildings you are referencing.

 

The building between Fannin and San Jacinto is 1119 Commerce and is slated for demolition.

 

The building just north of the courthouse (the criminal courthouse) is actually two buildings.  1201 Commerce Street is the current Harris County Inmate Processing Center.  They will be moving to the new facility north of the bayou very soon.  I have not been able to find definitive plans for the building. 

The other is the Wilson Building (Harris County Annex 21) at 49 San Jacinto.

 

 

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19 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

 

The AIA is on the other (south) side of Commerce Street. (900 Commerce Street). They are not one of the buildings you are referencing.

 

The building between Fannin and San Jacinto is 1119 Commerce and is slated for demolition.

 

The building just north of the courthouse (the criminal courthouse) is actually two buildings.  1201 Commerce Street is the current Harris County Inmate Processing Center.  They will be moving to the new facility north of the bayou very soon.  I have not been able to find definitive plans for the building. 

The other is the Wilson Building (Harris County Annex 21) at 49 San Jacinto.

 

 

I'm glad to hear that the AIA is not going in one of those buildings. The one thats farthest west houses some bail bondsmen offices doesn't it. When we lived on Franklin and Crawford back in the late 90's early 2000's I'd walk past those buildings regularly and was always intrigued by them. I always thought a serious bar in the building directly behind the courthouse building would be a great location for all of those attorneys watering hole. I was going to call it the Docket.I also always wondered what the status of that building was with its basement literally in the water. Have you ever been in the building. I think there was some kind of a sandwich shop in there at one time. Like a Subway.

I hate to see any of these building torn down but when they  exacerbate  flooding maybe they should go.

I really hope this bayou bypass which would create the island happens. The only frustrating thing is most of the counties criminal detention properties are located on what would become the island. So we could be talking about a Rykers Island kind of situation, but If carried out like the bayou preservation plans renderings show residential and recreational settings maybe they can get the county to move those facilities again for a much more beneficial and beautiful addition to our downtown.

I realize they need to be close to the courts but Im sure they can find some alternative space for their incarceration.

It would be a shame to have the opportunity to actually create an island with a canal would have so much potential.

 

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Earlier in this thread there was some discussion of the two buildings along the bayou, 

1201 Commerce Street and 49 San Jacinto.  A newsletter just received from the BBP reveals that they plan to extend the bayou trails through the two buildings.  Very interesting solution!

 

b1d3a17e-ca8b-4632-972f-eb8ef70dc33c.jpg

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