Mr.Clean19

Gondolas.... one can dream

Par 3 Golf Course / Ice House and others concepts would be good. @CREguy13, I would think they are adding a Renewable Energy company for sure due to the Opportunity Zone inclusion in the recent Grand Energy Storage Challenge by the DOE. Lots of ways they can flex their muscles here. Hopefully the city and state can support them in their plans to grow. 

Is HAIF in the business of cancelling folks based on social media now?

On 8/24/2020 at 4:01 PM, JBTX said:

 

Per Buffalo Bayou Partnership FB page, it is a drive-in theatre:
 

 

Theatre website: https://www.moonstruckdrivein.com/

Good on them for doing this... Also they brought The New Potato bar from next door over to make specialty drinks for people. Smart move by East River to keep local businesses alive.

Great addition to the area. And their brochure shows a lot more.

In 2014 the community tried to push through 240+ affordable homes to help build up the MDI site and surrounding infrastructure. We thought of this as a WIN-WIN-WIN (Developer, Residents, Goverment). The affordable homes would be scattered and would blend in with the newer townhomes being built. There would be a sense of shared community through social income. As Market Rate residents move in and get to know their neighbors they would talk to them and share economic ladders.

The govement would re-do some badly needed sewage and drainage near the MDI site (Bringhurst, etc) and frank would use some of this money for roads/power/etc. This was voted on at a Superneighborhood Council Level and approved. This was voted in by the City. But..... it was denied by Harold Dutton. Because Frank didnt pay money to his last campaign. Politics and who is getting paid on the back end of these deals matters more than people actually being helped. 

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2014/02/houstons-fifth-ward-redevelopment-efforts-continue.html?page=all

Correct. I think it is 160 acres. Probably about 80-100 full time jobs. Still with the amount of land they have available here, adding 250 acres adds ~10% to their land... and its on the side of the property that will be built first. This would be a fantastic place for Elon to move his HQ along with manufacturing. There is ample space and growing real estate/schools/technical resources..

I believe IKEA will be right next to that. I wonder if it is in the tax free zone next to rail?

Agree that Clayton Homes residents are our neighbors.... However, when you can track crime back to your neighbors home consistently, you may not be so eager to see them get a new home closer to you.

23 hours ago, I'm Not a Robot said:

 

 

I love your optimism but as your neighbor in the area I fear that the city had decided to just dump everything that the Heights or other more affluent areas has fought off into a very small area. This HHA property purchase was done as far as I can tell without a proper public hearing and I'm going to guess the city doesn't care much about it. This seems to be the norm in this direct vicinity. Hopefully once more powerful developers make their way to actually having to lease out structures built, they can get into the ear of the city because the citizens clearly cannot. I imagine that there will be some public push back on the building of this but it will eventually get done. 

 

I get the desire to ensure that the area doesn't push out people who have lived there for generations. This is empty land being built up tax free while our tax rate rivals the nicest areas in Houston. This kind of land could have been used for parks or something to beautify the area  especially as we see an implementation of the Buffalo Bayou Master Plan (there is a micro park at the silos being built in a tiny tract near this plot) and actually given back to an area that has been the most vulnerable to the affects of industry.  

 

I genuinely appreciate your optimism but the only people who should be happy about this happening are the developers who are profiting due to contracts with the city to build tax free land and count it as a write off and the cry babies in the other neighborhoods who would protest for years if this came to their street. 

 

 

Unfortunately there was not a reasonable voice in the Buffalo Bayou East Sector Planning session and the constant feedback they got from 5th Ward residents north of I-10 was "We need affordable housing". So this is what you get when people with too much time on their hands get involved in local politics and people working 40-60 hours a week dont have the time to attend these 3pm meetings on a tuesday.

New virtual tours added to website... I dont know how to link!!! Seperated out by Retail and Office tours.

https://eastriverhtx.com/

Frank's MDI site development has already started. He will is working from West to East it looks like. There are townhomes going up called Bayou Fifth which is the name for the whole development. Expect this to take the next 5-8 years to totally build out if the market gets better. 

It's the perfect spot for an HEB. Hopefully this doesnt turn into another midtown Fiesta. The homeless population is horrible here 2-3 days a week.

I miss swamplot... This picture would be front and center on their website showing this old brick building being dwarfed by this large multi-use complex. Crazy picture

Maybe connecting a water or sewer line. They are also using the site for sherrifs office parking for the downtown jail. 

So originally the whole MDI lot was supposed to be called Bayou 5th and but it is interesting that they are just doing 1 block of 30 something townhomes with this name. 

May want to merge with Bayou 5th.

This is going to be a 550 home development

It's the MDI site.

Great overview. The potential for this development is staggering. The owners are sticking with the plan and avoiding compromising the plan for cheap / quick gains. They are expecting another 600+ homes built between Balmoral and the Groves per year in the area. Along with Apartment, you could expect a population increase of ~25k over the next 5 years just adjacent to this property. You have a lot of good things going for this area, but like you said, the perception is that this is in the middle of nowhere. 

Homeless congregate where ever the services are and create skid row where drugs and other services are openly provided. Houston's NE area around Midway's East River has become a dumping ground for those that have cancelled the Affordable Housing project off of 610 West. Conspiracy me thinks it is more about maintaining voting districts than anything. 

Midway was arguing the removal of the Jensen Entrance ramp to the North West of the project. TXDOT kept coming back and saying it was not geometrically feasible. TXDOT really screwed over the east side on this project by limiting entrances and exits to the freeways and downtown. Midways investment tot he east end will hopefully spur things like a Canal Underpass and better freeway entrances and exits. 

https://www.chron.com/business/bizfeed/article/Midway-CEO-begins-term-as-Central-Houston-board-14993408.php

This is good news for East River. Midway was disappointed with TXDOT's willingness to incorporate new entrances and exits to their plan to help the East Side of downtown. Hopefully this provides additional leverage to this. 

"One of Central Houston's biggest projects is improving transportation options relating to TxDOT’s North Houston Highway Improvement Project, which would change the freeway boundaries associated with downtown and open up opportunities for more park space."

Sorry for spamming... Things are happening quickly.... @Urbannizer you may want to move this. The release from the Save East End folks fighting the affordable Housing mentioned earlier in this post just released this update from last nights HHA board meeting:

We have been advised that the president and CEO of the Houston Housing Authority, Tory Gunsolley, was fired yesterday.  Stay tuned as more information and details come out. 

This is most likely due to the CoH accepting $70MM from TXDOT for the I-45 re-route project and building tax-free apartments next on 25+acres next to east river. This was to replace Clayton Homes. 

http://www.saveeastend.com/

2 hours ago, Montrose1100 said:

Cool video and all, but I didn't see any plans for a Total Wine or HEB Market. NEXT! /s

 

I've said it before but I sincerely hope for the City to repair Jensen and to build an underpass on Waco/Hirsch at the tracks.

We proposed this to USGC Rail District and Union Pacific. Union Pacific told us that they dont have money in their budget to help communities.... Since 2010, their stock has gone from $35 per share to $183/share