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I'm sure in February, or March of last year the original plan of a mini city center was still solid, but 6 months into the pandemic, whatever movie theater was planned probably backed out, half the restaurants expressing interest said no thanks, and home depot, one of the only brick and mortar businesses that is looking to expand during the pandemic comes in to provide an option to a business venture that was probably going to be doing some financial restructuring to try and succeed. the timing for this development was really bad, and as a result we see the landscape of this area not getting any 'better', which is the disappointing part. while it sucks for this specific site, it's not like it's out of place, along that side of i10 you already had 4 huge parking lots and 3 big box stores (WalMart, Kroger, Target), what's 1 more huge parking lot and big box store in the middle of the whole thing? especially, when the only option for home improvement stores in the loop are actually on the loop itself.

Oh, it's very walkable, if you live in Sawyer Heights lofts, or nearby apartments. The real trouble is the traffic and streets. It's congested AF. I certainly add to the car lines on Spring St. The area has densified from just warehouses and single family homes. It'll take time to grow. Unfortunately, we're not Dubai or Miami where we can just sprout condo buildings non-stop.

Now is a good time to point out that what could have been a great amenity and focus point for Midtown, a park encompassing the entire Superblock, was doomed by Camden owning a portion of the block and refusing to sell, and doomed further when they built their project in the middle of the block instead of taking the offered land swap, cutting the envisioned park into two pieces. Of course they didn't *have* to do either of these things, but they could have benefitted all of Midtown (including their own holdings there) with a little more vision.

The Midway rep I spoke with at the Puppies for Breakfast thing last weekend confirmed that the golf course would be going forward along with the icehouse/restaurant portion, although they have not officially announced it. (I sincerely hope that my mention of this will not result in her being drawn and quartered for divulging non-public information prematurely)

he's been reviewing things on the internet.

correcto, they tried to make subcontractors hold numbers and in this market everyone is freaking out. Copper at record highs, lumber is bonkers and steel is through the roof. It is a HORRIBLE time to try and buy anything. We are going to see a lot of projects go on a 3-6mo procurement hold.

the north canal bypass project will really help to prevent water backup around this area.

It is a delay at this point and not a cancelation like the Caydon stuff. I really think it has to do with construction prices. This should rebound with either changes or wait for prices to drop back to normal.

I was there very early and they were just setting up.

Equipment has started moving dirt and tearing up the old slab that was near the front of the property. They also took out a section of the sidewalk on the front (Commerce facing) part of the lot, parallel to the warehouse building next door, presumably to add in a drive. The most logical orientation would be situating the building on the front corner of the lot near the intersection of Commerce and Velasco, with a parking lot at the back with a primary entrance off of Sherman. Would really love to see a site plan for this so I know if I need to chain myself to a tree to protest a lackadaisical, anti-pedestrian layout down an important pedestrian and cycling corridor.

ABC did a segment on East River this morning. East River posted it on their IG page, not a whole lot of info, just that summer is groundbreaking. No mention about the golf course / icehouse though.

Check out the Catalyst downtown. Slightly more expensive to get in than Skyhouse but I think the location is MUCH better and so are the potential neighbors. It's a walkable location to all the best things but also 2-3 blocks away from being right in it noise wise. Solid amenities and amazing views if you look west or south.

The whole area is a suburban style shopping center. I don’t get why anyone is surprised. Sure, they could’ve thrown up another apartment mid-rise but that wouldn’t make the area any more “walkable”.

Compete against other cities? We have more people moving here than dang near any other city in the country. That site looks very walkable. You park in the middle, you can hit up a grocery store, a home improvement store, a Target, and then nab some booze on the way back to your vehicle.

Wow that sucks

Personally, I’m thrilled about the idea of Home Depot coming here. It will be so much more convenient than the ones along 610. That being said... it BETTER be a better design than a large suburban parking lot wasteland...

There's another thread about this somewhere. Its the same building owner. Going to be a mixed use with probably a bar at the bottom and offices or residential at the top.

I'm honestly shocked that in an area with so many empty lots this was the most feasible for them... they wiped out like half the area.

Sigh. At least the little trail they built will be well lit by the headlights of semi-trucks unloading Up & Up and plywood. So, there’s usually never a Home Depot without a Lowe’s right around the corner. Just sayin’...

The worst part for me is the trail access this will have (albeit to a still unrepaired bridge). The Home Depot lot would've been perfect for restaurants, bars, and small retail with a nice gateway from the trail. It could've been another cluster on that rail-trail that would've linked up with MKT, Heights Mercantile, and White Oak Blvd.

Katyville strikes again. Honestly, I think they were just too slow to the punch to make this into a nice urban mixed used development. Too many projects around town (MKT, post office, Sawyer Yards and the Allen Pkwy developments) have sucked the wind out of the kind of leasing that this would have needed.

Midtown was doing much better towards the end of Parkers admin with bums at an all time low ( then it was seen as one of the up and coming places to be for people like me, not now) . It's 100% the greyhound issue. They are all over that corridor thanks to redline and metro never enforcing ticketing. It had a flash of popularity at that point that carried into right before Covid just as the bums began to peak again... And then the population of homeless exploded and because midtown has all the churches, transport and infrastructure for them that's where they stay. No one wants to live on that end of midtown. Theres literally perhaps a dozen or so homeless people doing all manner of crazy stuff on every block up and down main and a lot of Fannin too. Polite people won't say it, but when you have similar options popping up in every other direction with significantly less bum density and already happening places, why bet on midtown? I think the long arch of midtown is a good bet, but that Grey hound is an albatross. Covid magnified that problem, one it took Parker years and years to fix. Activity there will pick up again. Slowly.

What? Midtown is the place to be if you're a single 20-something. Midtown also has a ton of convenient things. Places like EaDo/East End doesn't - such as dentists, doctors offices, dermatology, Whole Foods, Randall's, multiple yoga studios, diverse and wide selection of restaurants & bars, gyms out the wazoo, close parks, Barbers, hair salons, banks, pharmacies, you know, the things people usually need in a neighborhood.

I'll just chalk this one up as another inner loop missed oppty. There are so many I think im numb to it. Access to this center really impacts how often I go/will go. I'll be curious if the Home Depot ends up a sh%thole like the one on 610 or nice like the one on Katy Fwy.

If and when it gets built.

Alliance is selling these and the 15th St. Flats at 1414 N. Shepherd. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Upscale-Heights-apartment-portfolio-hits-the-16165610.php

Tbh, that area does need a Home Depot cuz while it is 5 mile drive, its 5 miles on typically busy highway so its a bit of a pain in the butt. Plus, like some noted a metric ton of development is going on in the Heights (both small and big) so there is a clear need. All that said, dang its a lot of parking. I'm wondering if HD caught wind of this development and just threw a big bag of cash at them. Its kind of funny, the most appealing images in that PDF are the neighborhood buildings shown at the end 😂

I'm not holding my breath for this shit. Disappointing isn't even the word to describe this. We're going to get the typical massive parking lot and big box center. I thought "Lower Heights" was supposed to become this cool walkable area. Where does this even fit on the original site plan?

Only 3-4 floors to go by my crosseyed counting.

The concrete posts around the perimeter of the hole here are the "soldier piers" correct?

I can see a lot of logic in Home Depot wanting to build here - its near other big stores (Target, Kroger) - There's no Lowe's or Home Depot nearby - its sufficiently far from Gulfgate and Meyerland - It's a large tract of land, one of the few that could fit their very large stores + parking lots

They have finished the striping on Runnels and opened up most the lanes. They were also testing the signal lights...must be close to opening...

Based on the construction I've seen, this Home Depot would be built closer to the highway. There's still a considerly amount of land between this Home Depot and the apartments. Either way, sounds like a huge downgrade to me.

You are correct. This teasipper is definitely triggered. haha

I think it feels further away from other stuff downtown because there's not much in the immediately surrounding blocks, but I think it's actually pretty well located. It's very easy to get to on bike, with both Buffalo Bayou trail access and the new Bagby lanes across the street. The only thing I'd like to see in the short term is some clearly marked bike crossings across Franklin (but that's just paint) and a bike share station. It's 7 minute walk from Market Square Park. Yes, that walk has some issues, but it's not *that* bad, and there are lots of simple ways to improve it (if the Downtown Management District is listening) It's 9 minutes to the red line. It has plenty of parking, which is a waste of space long term, but in the short term makes it more appealing to a lot of people who worry about parking. Then, once it's established enough that people are willing to go even if it's inconvenient, they can start filling in the parking lots with apartments, more retail, a hotel, etc.

Honestly (and unfortunately?), most people would be driving here. So I'm sure as long as there's some kind of parking structure/ lot I think it'll be a big draw. Personally, I look forward to when they improve the Buffalo Bayou east trail to reach here to we can bike there!

This development just feels good.

I just looked on my laptop. How funny, on my phone I've thought it was brick this entire time. Thanks for the heads up.

A residential tower? There?? Lol, if all the people who regularly experienced san jac and wheeler a decade ago could see this now. I also literally laughed out loud at seeing Party City, Forever 21, and Dicks as the placeholders in that design. I think it was the party city that set me off. 🤣

The Brays Project is a great example of recognizing a problem and implementing a studied approach to flood management. The addition of many new retention ponds, the construction of new bridges, and the re-shaping of the contours and widths of the bayou hopefully will allow for more capacity, and will mitigate most of the flooding issues. The bonus to everyone is the creation of new and improved hike and bike paths which have become some of the most important connectors in our alternative transportation system. It has also brought about the creation of many new parks and recreational areas. I think this is a win win win. Especially for the home owners along Brays bayou who have suffered through so many devastating floods. Kudos to everyone involved in this massive undertaking and hopefully it truly makes a difference. I just wish they could do something about the bottleneck at 288 where the bridges, concrete supports, and earthworks still create a serious threat to the med center.

All kidding aside. This is a great plan for the future of the medical center. My wife works in the U.T. School of Nursing by Lake Flato and they are one block from the bayou at Bertner so I know that area well. I unfortunately had to spend some time with a close relative last month in the top of the new wing of M.D.Anderson, and from the roof observation deck you can really see the scope of the medical center to the south. It pretty much overwhelms the area past Old Spainish trail and almost to 610 in some area. This is from Main over to Almeda to the east. It will easily overtake the whole section of land within the 610 boundary to the south in the next 20 years, one way or the other. There are large tracts of vacant land that I would imagine the TMC is holding for future expansion.

The under ground parking is probably part of their flood plan to help prevent the campus from flooding.

They are supposed to start the channel modifications (widening) of that stretch of the bayou under Project Brays next year, I believe. During the Memorial Day flooding the areas further west were impacted more as there was no flooding within the TMC (though water got very high in the bayou). So hopefully the additional widening helps with the flooding risk I hate to say it because I live somewhat nearby and like this project, but I have to wonder how successful the retail component is going to be. It's not near the rail, and will be across the bayou from the vast majority of TMC workers. I don't work in the TMC but I would assume it's not easy to just hop in your car and go shopping somewhere over lunch. Regardess, hopefully this will help kick-start something over at 7200 Main as well

Wait so is the Double Helix about to get pushed through? I thought that was a pipe dream tbh. Not mad that I'm wrong though. Doesn't UH have some next-level nanotechnology research? That'd be another valuable pillar for the new TMC if they want to establish themselves as the premier bio-tech hub they strive to be.

5700 underground spaces? That sounds like an enormous amount, but I guess I don't have much basis for comparison. How many spaces are in the underground parking garage in the theatre district area?

The helix is indeed a nice touch. Would love a tower with a bit of a helix twist near this campus. Also think there are some neat inspirations to be drawn from the chemical structure of certain amino acids in the design of the buildings. The biotech leader--San Diego--has us outmatched on weather. However, we have a large engineering population in the petrochemical industry and a business friendly climate.