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Live Nation.

That shouldn't be a problem in Montrose.

Water and sewer disconnect and a Cherry track hoe on site.

Cherry might need a bigger "hoe" to bring this one down.

Looks like this place has either been sold or is being remodeled....there appears to be an outdoor seating area going in and the building is being painted

Looks like demo units are being built out.

Nice, one of the worst companies on the planet.

Demolition permits by Cherry.

Man, some of those are nice. The future that Demolition Man saw for us is coming to be.

Oh thank god, please do something. Start selling alcohol or get outta that spot.

Not sure what this means but it's being called "Fairview Collective" https://plattracker.houstontx.gov/edrc/DocDefaultReports.aspx?myAppId=67308&MyURL=xxx.houstontx.gov/2021/Applications/&myNumb=/2021-0850/SubdivisionPlatPDF_FAIRVIEW COLLECTIVE PLAT.pdf

That one did the water/sewer disconnect in the back. I'm sure the big hoes are coming on the way.

I spoke to some neighbors yesterday who attended the first meeting. They reported the first round of comments were uniformly negative. Supposedly the plan is to sell the homes below $90,000, then artificially cap the property value increases on these homes at 1.5% per annum (less than the Fed's target inflation rate), which I expect would have the effect of depressing neighborhood property value growth, too. I'm not an economist, but it seems to me that having an artificial cap below the annual inflation rate is NOT going to help lower income homeowners build capital?

Demolition permit by Cherry.

https://houston.eater.com/2021/6/8/22524607/eighty-two-pinball-gaming-bar-open-east-downtown-houston A new bar offering local beer, craft cocktails, and rotating selection of vintage arcade games is now open in Houston’s Greater East End. Eighty Two opened quietly at 1201 Saint Emanuel Street, Suite 110, last month. The bar, which spans two floors and includes an indoor skylit atrium, joins a handful of other gaming bars nearby, including longstanding hangout Eighteen Twenty Lounge, just north of Minute Maid Park; comic book-themed spot Neil’s Bahr on Walker; and the recently-opened Bishop Cidercade on Canal Street. What sets Eighty Two apart is that the games are rotated out on a regular basis, making for a new experience with every visit. About 45 vintage arcade games, and 15 pinball machines, are available for play at any given time, chosen from a selection of about 150 consoles. As a bar, Eighty Two offer 10 taps worth of craft beer and a menu of signature cocktails including the Princess Peach, with vodka and peach puree, and the Wizard Mode, with rye, cold brew coffee and vanilla black tea. There’s no food on the menu, but Eighty Two shares a building with Vinny’s Pizza and is a few doors down from Rodeo Goat, for some pre- or -post-gaming eats. Happy hour at the bar lasts until 10 p.m. every night. Founders Scott Davids and Noah Sutcliffe, who have been friends since childhood, first opened Eighty Two in Los Angeles in 2014. They chose Houston for their second location because of the city’s bustling hospitality scene, according to a press release. Davids and Sutcliffe are passionate about preserving arcade and pinball culture, and the play prices at Eighty Two reflect that, with arcades going for a quarter a game and pinball going for 50 cents a play. There is no charge for entry. All the games are serviced and restored on site. Eighty Two also plans to host arcade and pinball tournaments, which will be streamed live on Twitch. Eight Two is open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The dirt has reached the top of the easterly tunnels.

Hopefully they don't let them set up the pricing model for parking in the garage. $1 parking + $.21 facility fee + $.39 environmental tax + .....

Another development that could potentially take advantage of the opt-in Transit Oriented Development standards. Edit: my star is a little off. It should be shifted to the left part of the block, but still would apply if they go onto Richmond frontage. If they opt-in, they would get a 50% reduction in the parking minimum requirement and they would have to follow some streetscape design guidelines. See the back half of this PDF if you want a refresher https://houstontx.gov/planning/docs_pdfs/User's Guide for WP and TOD report_2020-10-01.pdf

Capping the property tax valuation will absolutely help low income homeowners build equity by reducing their annual tax bill. This is the same idea behind homestead exemptions, over 65, disabled, etc. The properties are still appraised at market value, but the increase on taxable valuation is limited. Also, there is usually a 10 year waiting period before they can be sold at full market value without having to return some portion of the profit to the city. There was a similar program in 3rd Ward a few years ago and those houses are probably worth $100k more by now. Because the tax valuation is limited, the homeowner isn't forced out of their home due to their income not increasing as fast as gentrification. That being said, I definitely don't think Hardy Yards is the right places for this type of development scheme. They should be targeting the area northeast of St Arnold's or 5th Ward where there are more vacant lots than houses.

They were demolished this morning when I was going to Starbucks across the street.

Just posted on The Leader: "Houston City Council approved the submission of a grant application to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in October of last year. In May, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approved the $898,000 urban outdoor matching grant for the planned park, Sunset Heights Park. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department grant will be matched with public funds and donations to repurpose the METRO Transit Station." https://www.theleadernews.com/community/planned-sunset-heights-park-receives-grant/article_839a126a-c936-11eb-b90c-53e9690afee7.html?fbclid=IwAR0KWB9mfHep9XIyuE0P-aAIJT94xDwysFCVRJtjNbzvoL9-OHxjgK9Mp3o

This one has received a height increase due to the apartments switching over to condos. Now 883’ ft vs 848’.

Yep...I'm one of those people. It's actually quicker sometimes to take the Westheimer exit and get onto 59 northbound from the feeder road after Westheimer & W. Alabama than it is to stay on the freeway, especially that right lane. About a year ago, I had a web conference with five people from TxDOT...although only two of them actually spoke the whole time. I asked them why they don't work on one ramp at a time before tearing up other parts of the freeways and intersection. One of the reps told me that they didn't want their people working on top of the each other for safety reasons. Let me repeat that...one of TxDOT's reps told me that they didn't want their people working on top of each other in response to my "why not work on one ramp at a time" question. When I kindly reminded him that my question takes that into account by default, he told me they have other projects going on simultaneously across the entire state. So I asked why they work on multiple major highway projects at a time just in one city (Houston in this case) as opposed to allocating more of their resources on one project at a time in that city and getting it done in a fraction of the time before starting the next one, and then he "informed" me that we were out of time. All I could think of was what Bill Burr once said...it's like they want to frustrate you enough so you say a curse word or something, so they can have an excuse to hang up on you. Like you mentioned, this kind of practice not the exception with TxDOT...it's the norm. It's not a fluke, it's by design. These people aren't stupid. They know exactly what they're doing. After over two decades driving in this town and years worth of experience dealing with TxDOT, it couldn't be clearer to me that this is a racket...and I'm willing to bet there's a ton of hands in that pot. When things that seem easy don't make sense, there's almost always corruption involved. Look at who benefits from poor roads, traffic jams and accidents and tell me with a straight face that I'm insane to think there's a better chance than not that they're getting kickbacks in some way from the automobile, oil & gas, insurance, etc. industries...in the oil & gas capital of the world no less. There's a lot of money to be made from traffic jams and accidents, and when you look at shit like this under the lens of "maybe that's the goal in the first place," TxDOT's actions make a lot more sense.

Foundation beams are trenched and plumbing is being set.

Looks like they are getting ready to pour the slab for the restaurant patio.

or Tums...

Hue Salon.

Even if you have higher density from these projects and others nearby (the new development on the Bayou, across I-10 off of McKee for instance), the AMI isn't nearly high enough for HEB to consider for a store. If anything, they will be looking at something in East River Phase 2 or across the Bayou in Second Ward (at the old Olshan compound, for instance), and even that is a question mark. It's baffling, but HEB has zero stores east of 45 inside the loop, yet three within an approximately two mile radius near Montrose. I know everyone here in Texas seems to love HEB, but their unwillingness to put a store anywhere except nicer neighborhoods is a bit messed up. The new store on 288 might seem like a step in the right direction, but even that was a relocation of an existing store away from a more economically depressed area towards a more affluent area (Museum District and Med Center).

Article in the Houston Chronicle about the detention vault. Apartment's hidden amenity? A massive vault to hold stormwater runoff R.A. Schuetz, Staff writer April 30, 2021Updated: April 30, 2021 8:01 p.m. A new apartment complex is going up near the Texas Medical Center. But to see its most unique feature, you have to go down, underground, where a gigantic concrete vault has been built so water has a place to go when it rains. Two hundred and sixty-one feet long and 135 feet wide, it spans nearly the area of a football field and stretches 20 feet deep — large enough to hold 700,000 cubic feet of water, which could fill eight Olympic-sized swimming pools. That’s because the vault is not only offsetting the water that will run off of or be displaced by the apartments. It’s also detaining water for the surrounding 37 acres, which hold another apartment complex and an extended-stay hotel. Before the Barvin Group, an apartment investor and property manager, purchased the property, the site resembled a man-made pond where stormwater would drain from the surrounding area. But property in the area is becoming increasingly valuable, especially for apartment developers looking to serve the 106,000 employees and 30,000 students who work and learn at the Texas Medical Center. So Barvin decided to make the site work — perhaps the first time in the Houston area an existing detention pond has been turned into apartments. “There’s a huge need for housing in this area,” said Derrek LeRouax, vice president of development at Barvin. He stood near the construction site, a block south of the Woman’s Hospital of Texas off of Knight Road, where the 281-unit apartment, Blackwell Med Center, was going up. LeRouax believes that as cities become more dense more developers will begin to look at land that is challenging to build on. “We’re looking for walkable areas and dense locations that are urban and allow for a lifestyle that people want,” he said. “And as we search out those locations, that means that land has become scarce and the easy things have been done.” So what goes into turning a regional basin into an apartment building? The biggest complication is that the site has to be able to drain the surrounding property’s runoff even while the vault is being built, explained Celeste Berger, senior project manager for the development’s engineering firm, Pape-Dawson. In order do that, they positioned the vault next to the existing pond, so that the pre-existing stormwater storage could function while the new storage was being built. Then, when the vault was ready, they rerouted the drains that previously emptied into the pond to empty into the vault. The pond, no longer connected to the surrounding area’s rainwater, dried out and was able to be filled in. Now, when rain washes off the apartments or the nearby properties, it will flow into parking lot drains or gutters and connect to a 6-foot-wide pipe, which whisks it to the vault. There, a 1½-foot pipe leaving the vault allows the water to enter the city’s stormwater drainage system at a manageable pace. As the owner of the building, Barvin Group will be responsible for the vault’s ongoing maintenance. Because of the additional engineering and construction costs of building a 20-foot vault before converting the property into apartments, Barvin Group was able to purchase the property more cheaply than it would have if the site had come without a detention pond. LeRouax said they couldn’t be sure the discounted price was right until leasing begins in April 2022 (he projects rents will begin close to $1,150 a month). But it was enough for them to purchase the site. And the Barvin Group has been confident enough in its ability to implement water management designs to take on another complicated site. That one’s in the 100-year floodplain. rebecca.schuetz@chron.com

(Blows raspberry)

but how's Tapatia??

Its super trash. When traffic is really back, its going to be WAY worse than before. You already have people driving on the shoulder now to get to 59N as opposed to waiting in that line with all the 59S traffic. Its absolutely wild. I see that this junk and I don't know how anyone looks at any TxDot proposal in Houston and go "yeah, this is smart." Plus, it takes forever. This is a tiny intersection and it already has pretty decent amount of work done, and its closing down til 2022. Houston freeways are eternally under construction and rarely, maybe 1 out of 10 times, does it get any better. If I lived in Afton, parts of bellaire, and other areas around 610 by 59, I would be pissed. Because they are about to get flooded with traffic avoiding this nonsense.

Got confirmation from a source at TxDOT that the permanent 610 southbound exit ramp to 59 northbound will remain one lane similar to the current configuration, and that lane will be shared with some of the traffic exiting 59 southbound. If you go to TxDOT's "projects and studies" page on their website, the first paragraph reads: "Before a project is built, a study must be done to determine if it will fill a transportation need, will not negatively impact the surrounding area and fits the department's overall plan. During the study phase, potential projects are analyzed to determine if they are cost effective, while also efficiently improving mobility." I'd love to see this "study" that suggests going from two lanes exiting off 610 southbound like we had before this project to one lane will "efficiently improve mobility" and "not negatively impact the surrounding area"...and who approved this design? This is unacceptable.

https://www.tacobell.com/blog/restaurantredesign

I'm betting that is what it will be, perfect neighborhood for the first one in Houston.

Gimmie one of those Taco Bells that also serves alcohol please.

If HCAD is current, a company called Kormex Foods owns this lot. They also own 59 other Taco Bells, KFCs and Pizza Huts in and around Houston.

From "Joe Morin on Nextdoor". Hey, but you can see the Driscoll now. Rumors are it might get rebuilt into their new concept store.

Hopefully it's better than 609 Main.

Via Arch Aerial

I think it does have its own lighting system, yes. Its why its see through glass and not something else. In other news, my trip to Houston ended and I caught some more pics on the way out: Despite how imposing the building is from the northern approach, its prominence is rather miniscule from the southern TX-288/I-69 approach. It seems JP Morgan is just enough to hide it in most angles:

This property (SE corner of La Branch and McGowen) has had signage about upcoming renovations to include restaurant/retail/etc for a few years without any signs of progress. Now there is finally a fence around it and there were workers on site when I walked by yesterday. https://davisholdingslp.com/1500-mcgowen/

Hopefully, the finished product will change my opinion on this, but to say I don't like the current configuration of the 610 southbound to 59 would be a massive understatement. As it is now, there is one lane to exit 59 northbound. I really hope we will end up with two lanes exiting there (one exit only) and another two lanes exiting for 59 southbound (one exit only). Otherwise, this is going to be a fiasco. Also, I just don't get how they get away with having 6 years to work on a project as intrusive on our daily lives as this. This is the busiest intersection in the Southwestern United States, and one of the busiest intersections in North America. The entire 23 mile stretch of the Katy Freeway (the world's widest freeway) took 6 years to build, including ramps at 610, Beltway 8 and the Grand Pkwy...plus adding toll lanes and stations. Yet, not only is this taking 6 years to build, they pretty much tore up every part of the intersection one day one. Why not work on one ramp at a time...tear up that area, put like 200 guys out there...get it done in a week or two and then move on to tear up/redo the next one? Same goes for how we "manage" our road projects in general. Right now, parts of the West Loop, SW Fwy, South Loop, South Fwy, Gulf Fwy and parts of the Beltway are all simultaneously under construction. Why not put all of those resources on one project at a time...finish that project in a fraction of that time...and then move on to the next project before tearing anything up, much less all of these areas at the same time and for years at a time?

We have some pretty detailed renderings including architectural plans, an FAA request, and signage up at the site. Short of a catastrophe, it looks like this is happening.

This one is pretty handsome if you ask me. A refined, integrated composition, not three separate modules that look like they were all designed independently and stuck together.

12-stories, September start date. Someone mind posting tinge article? https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2019/03/24/montrose-apartments-could-add-new-12-story-tower.html?iana=hpmvp_hstn_news_headline