HoustonIsHome

I shopped there regularly when I lived in Riverside Terrace, and I used to still stop there on the way to work to pick up a few things prior to cover work from home. 

The homeless never affected my shopping. However, I would see how people who are uncomfortable with them would avoid the area because of the sheer number of them. 

Especially after the fence was put up, you wouldn't see many actually on the fiesta property, but there would be a sea of them around it. They never asked me for money or bothered my shopping experience so I didn't care like I said, but walking through them would definitely be unnerving to a lot of people.

It's just the optics because as @dbigtex56 said that area on main near the Randalls is just as bad. But that area is more built up and landscaped so they are not as conspicuous to someone going to Randalls.

Randalls and especially whole foods are not everyday shopper stores though. Saying that it's ok fiesta is closing because whole foods is right down the street is like saying it's ok the Wendys is closing, you can always go to the Mortons steakhouse across the street.

People who are suggesting that everyday regular Fiesta shoppers  go to whole foods have either never shopped at whole foods or doesn't appreciate the struggle many fiesta shoppers go through to make ends meet. 

On the bright side, combining the news that the ION may open full with the closing of fiesta hopefully might mean this plot might get developed sooner than planned

On 6/27/2020 at 1:08 PM, EllenOlenska said:

I'm just gonna echo @CREguy13 and say something like this in midtown is really going to change the look of midtown. Houston is so spread out, a really tall building doesn't make much sense here. In some sense this sort of thing is necessary before we can begin to get very tall buildings. 

And I for one still remember when, except for two peculiar buildings, all the buildings in midtown were two to four stories tall. 

Although I agree with what you are saying, I would like to point out that this is Houston and plopping down tall buildings in random areas are what we do.

The Williams tower, AIG building and others.

But like I said, I do agree with you. This will help transform the area which will hopefully result in taller and taller buildings. 

My dream for midtown has always been a sea of 12 storey buildings with a string of 30 to 50 storey buildings along main from downtown to Herman Park. 

There's so much empty or decay around this project. Hopefully more deals can get going in this area

I think I'm more excited about the potential for this area that the collective project may bring than this particular building itself. Yes the Sears building may have stood crumbling for the next 30 years so I'm glad that it is being made use of but personally I think the Reno is underwelming. It is quite different but to me not all that great.

For me Texas Tower, the Preston and a handful of other projects around town are my favorite.

With over a dozen blocks flanking a transit center WITH a rail way stop this project should be grand. Hopefully it doesn't go the way off Regency Square, Hardy Yards, Downtown Post Office site, Houston Pavilions or the granddaddy of them all- Houston Center.

Crossing my fingers that we get a few residential towers built from this project. 

I know they are still being built but I hadn't heard the term garden style apartments in a while. I guess I have been wowed by all the new condo towers and midrise apartment buildings that garden style sounds so much like a blast from the past

That looks slick

What building is that? 🤔

Looking at these angles, a 10 floor + building would create another mini skyline. But the infill is good.

Skyhouse improved the street presence around Bell Station so I'm sure this project will improve the DTTC rail stop too. Especially with the work across the street in front of Amegy.

Would be nice if the Amegy Garage lot gets improved. And of course everyone's favorite eyesore on the other side just keeping on keeping on

On 10/21/2019 at 3:19 PM, CaptainJilliams said:

 

Agreed. My dream would be to have a new aquarium/amusement park complex built near Minute Maid/Discovery Green.

 

If the highway cap park ever happens in downtown, that would also be an excellent area to have it.

Been saying the same thing. This area of downtown is screaming for new life and  always thought a new aquarium or other major attraction would be nice in that area. Theirs in a ton of shops and bright flasy nightlife and those hotels in the area will be constantly busy

@j_cuevas713 I agree with you but I think the center of the Houston population is closer to this than downtown. 

It's for that reason I think we need more projects like this near downtown. Especially live, work and play projects.

The west is an employment gold mine and adding more is just fueling the spread of the city further and further. We need to balance the polarization and a job focus on the loop would aid in that. 

Traffic is horrible will over the city but the infrastructure for public and personal transportation is least horrible in the core. 

The west is already due for another highway, instead of more of these things wouldn't be wiser to spend that money improving the highways, public transportation, bike Lanes in the core? A bigger and bigger land area just means bigger and bigger budgets to maintain it all. 

I don't think the city should be encouraging this. What's next?  City Center La Grange?

I have never had in n out in Texas but the ones I have had in California is not very impressed with. And the overhype doesn't help.

I don't think Whataburger is anything to shout about either but I do think it is a step above in n out. I think if you grow up with these there might be some nostalgia around them but neither are things I would que up for any extended period of time for. The best Burger I have had was at a place called City Diner near a Laquinta in Metaire off the Causeway. Absolutely delicious.

Idk. These types of developments don't excite me much. Doesn't add much to the city like an awesome tower filling in a gap in our skyline or increasing the street pedestrian realm of an up and coming area or adding critical mass to one of our urban pockets. 

4 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

 

No.  The Amazon crew never said anything of the sort. It's doubtful the Amazon crew ever said anything about the NRG area, since it was not even proposed to them as a possible site.

Correction, it was not offered up to Amazon, but it was in consideration by the Mayor's Office and it was the Mayor's Chief of Staff that called it a wasteland:

Newly released emails show that City Hall staffers largely panned Slotboom’s article when it came out. “This article misses the mark by a lot,” wrote the mayor’s chief of staff, Andy Icken. “They haven’t even touched on the urban site we are considering [the old Sears] and the fantasy of the Astrodome is beyond absurd. The area around NRG is essentially a wasteland and about as far away from the urban environment Amazon has fostered in Seattle.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/houston-lost-amazons-hq2/amp/ 

That area is up and coming, it's on the trail like and close to the highway and has lots of room to grow so it is even more shocking that the Mayor's COS would refer to that area like that. 

I'm with him in that I like the Sears/Ion location more, but the NRG area is not a wasteland.... anymore.

I'm kinda hoping that there areas east ( Almeda area) gets revitalized. Not with towers, but an artsy, quirky neighborhood kinda like Montrose 20 years ago. Repurpose those old structures into stores and restaurants.
 

@BeerNut I'm taking about as originally planned. Lightrail instead of BRT

@phillip_white didn't the Amazon crew called the NRG area a wasteland and too far from urban centers? 

I would think the Ion would be the spot if there is anything to the rumors. I wouldn't call the NRG area far from urban centers but the ion has downtown to the north, Eado to the North East, TSU/UH to the East, TMC/Rice to the South, and UK, Montrose, River Oaks, to the West and Washington Ave area to the North West. 

If true it would be nice if they pressured the city into building the blue line as PT was another weak link in Houston's bid. 

Nice interiors but I am not liking the color of the exteriors. It fits in so well with the salvation army but that says something that it blends in well with a decades old building. Would be nice if it had taken elements of the Peacock or even the little building that was on this site before.

But infill is infill and at least it blends in with somethings. And I hope this project draws bars and restaurants to that area. I remember this area being dark and dead most nights. That was years ago. Hopefully this helps

They should build out patios. That scaffolding makes the building look more interesting

1 hour ago, Avossos said:

 

 

that is a great analogy. working downtown is great.

It has its problems. Getting parking, exiting parking at the end of the day rush hour, some streets are stinky, getting accosted by the homeless... But the amenities in an organically grown business district for me far out-weight  any perks of suburban office parks. 
 

@Texasota by wholesome I mean being safe and isolated in one's own little car, not having to interact with homeless (or pigeons), cleaner (sterile) less hustle and bustle, safely surrounded by huge lots  tucked in to an office parks. In other words, wholesome in the minds of people who appreciate limited city interaction

On 2/7/2020 at 1:52 PM, jgriff said:

I would like to see the companies that I work for/with take up some of the space in the 30-40 year old buildings instead of moving to the suburbs. I've been involved in 2 moves to the suburbs because of the high cost of office space in the core. Shouldn't some of the space being opened up by the flight to quality make the older buildings more affordable or is there some economic reason that this doesn't work. 

 

Bottom line, why do I have to work in Sugarland or halfway to Katy when there is empty space downtown? Maybe we need to stop upgrading to attract new tenants and invest that money in lowering lease rates to attract more businesses to the core. 

I would too.

I miss the charm of downtown. 

The plethora of dining options.

The ease of transit.

The parks.

The souless suburban blandness is really depressing. It's like a daily dose of plain oatmeal- wholesome but so unexciting.

Don't think it's bad.

Just as long as you don't get too close and don't stare too long it looks fine

I was among the why didn't they just tear the darn thing down and start from scratch crowd until I went past this building Friday and saw how opening the southern exposure let's in so much natural light.

It looks like a completely different building on that side but I understand now why it is so much of a frankenbuilding. Makes sense since the area across the street is open Park area for the foreseeable future to have that side opened up.

I'm itching to see construction start on other lots. 

I agree with responses, but I should have mentioned that I live very close to that area so the climatic conditions are the same.

@Luminare I like the Sandy leaf fig too. I was tempted to get some of the variegated ones but I might wait until I prepare a spot in the back yard to give it room to do its thing.

@Twinsanity02 yes it is fascinating. Houston straddles between zones 8b through 9b towards the coast. Since most tropicals survive in zone 9 and higher while temperate plants thrive in zone 9 or lower we are able to grow a large variety of plants. 

@samagon I didn't mean to imply that Houston knows less than other cities ( for example I mentioned that Austin is going away from lawned front yards out of necessity. What I mean to say is that for a city that changes every time you blink your eye, in terms of gardening trends we resist change fiercely.

A single family home set in the middle of the lot with vast lawnscape and scant foundation planting is something that has been since about the 1950s. The fact that this style has been the standard says something. It is a really picture perfect style. But for me it is a very boring style. Apart from the negative effects of so much of the landsurface covered in concrete and lawn, I also am not a fan of foundation plantings that often go with the lawns. Plants such as ligustrums are overly used as a foundation plant but it shouldn't be at all. These are trees with an eventual height of 15 plus feet and although they make cute hedges for a few years, eventually it becomes very difficult to Keep it looking pleasant when planted 2 feet from your house.  Ligustrums make beautiful ever green trees.

Also @samagon although the greens are worse in terms of root depth the rest of the course is still very bad. For beginners the variety of grass used for lawns don't have deep roots to begin with. Then you don't have to cut the grass as low as the greens to have reduced root growth.

We usually buy lawn grass in sheets with about an inch of roots. Those roots don't grow much further in the soil even if we don't clip the grass that short. 

The prairie grasses native to our area have deeper roots and held our soils better and aided in flood mitigation by absorbing water. St Augustine, Bermuda grass etc are not native and have very shallow roots. Kentucky blue Grass and various fescues have much deeper roots. 

Compacted soil act like the seas of concrete that plague or city. The water just runs off and doesn't help with the flooding. When I bought the house my yard was consistently soupy when it rained and that would last for days. Since I got rid of the grass and planted deeper rooted pants the yard no longer floods and the water gets absorbed days quicker. 

I am very happy that the poster mentioned the more naturalistic approach the botanical gardens are taking by letting things sit undisturbed for a while and reusing most of what grew on the land instead of hauling it off.

Apart from nourishing the soil, using felled trees as edging creates habitats for organisms that also contribute to good soil health and I really like the natural look. Instead of termites, now when I lift a log I see tons of worms, bugs, mushrooms. 

I am very excited about this project and being 5 minutes from my house I might be a frequent visitor. I love Herman Park, but was hoping the gardens wouldn't be Hermann 2.0 and so far it doesn't sound like it is being planned that way. Crossing my fingers that it will become a medium for showcasing something different for our city. 

On 2/6/2020 at 10:48 AM, X.R. said:

 

So that whole video that was posted in the thread is opening this year? Thats pretty impressive if so. Was there any reason why it took so long for stuff to grow? I guess if memory served me right, the ground there was kinda hard.

 

Modern landscaping is tough on soil health.

Ground that is continuously mowed gets compact because mowed grass leads to shallow roots which do little to open up the soil.

That's not even taking to account the stress from walking back and forth on the soil by mowing and golfers.

Other negative habits we do to keeping things picture perfect is blowing grass clippings and raking up leaves. The plants and grass are actively soaking up nutrients from the soil and what do we do? We actively remove nutrients by blowing away the organic matter.

Soils then get depleted of nutrients so what do we do? We buy fertilizers to compensate. As with all things, excessive human intervention corrects one imbalance while Knocking off a range of others. Inorganic fertilizers salt the ground and along with pesticides and herbicides, harm beneficial organisms necessary for good soil health. So I can see why few things grow the first few years.

I hate putting down my city but Houston lags in modern trends in landscape design. I hate mowing and find it silly to pay someone 45 bucks every week or two to mow a lawn that I never use so I jumped on the reduced lawn bandwagon. 

I encircled the yard with native trees and bushes and used the inner portion to grow fruits and veggies. The first few years the plants struggled but now they do their own thing with little intervention from me. Established natives require little watering, the plants feed me and I have a relaxing spot that I use instead of a boring lawn that I never went on. I use the chop and drop method when I prune so that I limit wastage on nutrients. I had a bug problem the first two years but now the few that are left are too insignificant to do that much damage.

I am just glad that there is no HOA in my area, but because of the outer ring of evergreens you wouldn't really be able to tell how much of a forest the yard is.

I would say Austin is the city in Texas that has caught on to the reduced lawn/native plant bandwagon the most. Not because of trends but it off necessity.  It is a less wet city than Houston and quite costly to keep lawns alive over there with recent boughts of drought. 

I understand fully what you mean by the quiet from the storm having recently visited New Orleans. Those courtyard restaurants and stores are a welcomed reprive from the jubilant atmosphere on Royal and Bourbon streets. 

For such a dirty, smelly and wild neighborhood, the intimacy In the design is magical