mike1

Would love to live inside to loop but can't yet afford it. I still don't think that in densely-populated areas, there's anything wrong with preventing people from doing things on their property that creates a nuisance or grossly affects property values for others in the immediate area. Also, due diligence is not the same thing as prescience, and at least zoning gives the home buyer some idea of what type of development to expect in a given area over time. In a way, I guess you could say that zoning empowers the buyer's choice because it enables potential buyers to determine exactly what will be the nature of development in a given area over time before deciding to buy there. I also think there are certain properties worth preserving as part of our cultural and historical heritage even if the market response would be to demolish them. Sorry, I guess I just don't buy into the whole libertarian thing. People who do go in for that sort of thing ought to live out in the mountains somewhere where the effects of their actions won't impact anyone else. In such cases, by all means people should be free to do what they like!

On the one hand, I wouldn't want to go through zoning boards to have to pick my paint color, but on the other hand it would be nice to have assurances that a Walmart SuperCenter isn't about to locate next to my house or that I'm not going to have some tacky billboard built across the street from me. Also, it would be nice to have reasonable assurances that 100 year-old landmarks won't be destroyed with little or no public warning. I don't think most other cities lack for choices in living arrangements and a modicum of control wouldn

Yeah..I kind of like Gaveston!!

Hey dbigtx, I'm from Rochester too!! I actually grew up in Fairport. What part of town are you from? In line with what you are saying, Rochester now has (or at least used to have) some of the strongest preservation ordinances in the country. It came about in the '50's and '60s when the city destroyed an entire section of downtown that connected to Corn Hill in order to build the Inner Loop/490 interchange, the Civic Center, and the War Memorial. I wish Houston would take some of the same lessons from its own teardowns. One thing I miss about that area is the tight-knit sense of community that developed in city neighborhoods such as around Park Ave., and around the surrounding historic towns and village centers. Houston, on the other hand, can sometimes seem like one massive suburb with little character or distinction between the various communities. I mean Katy pretty much looks like Kingwood, which looks like Pearland etc... Houston needs to work harder at developing a sense of place and community, and cookie-cutter town homes and fakey "town center" developments just don't cut it.

How about The Houston Smog! No logo, just haze gray... ...thought of another one... how about The RoadRagers! It's got kind of an aggressive edge to it!

The only people upset are the "professional minorities" --those who make a living out of playing the racial/ethnic divide--and other sour-puss lefty types. Who cares what people like that think anyway? This will pass soon enough, especially if they end up being a winning team! Besides, in today's political climate, who could possibly come up with a name that woudn't be offensive to somebody?

Positive news for this project. According to the Houston Business Journal, the developer has secured financing and will begin consructing the first of the two proposed towers within the next three months. Here's the link to the story: http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/sto.../23/daily6.html ...also, I just noticed that the Chronicle picked up on this as well: Project near the park Last week, a development group got the go-ahead to start building a 28-story apartment tower on Almeda Road across from Hermann Park. Raleigh, N.C.-based Phillips Development & Realty and Wood Partners of Atlanta said they received $101 million in funding to start the first building of Mosaic, a twin tower high-rise rental and condominium project. The plans for the buildings call for 788 units and shops on the ground level. "Mosaic will be the first high-rise residence built in this area in two decades," said the general contractor on the project, Peter Doyle, chairman and chief executive of J.E. Dunn of Texas. Rents will average around $2 per square foot or roughly $1,100 for a small one-bedroom apartment. Located at 5925 Almeda Road near the Museum District and the Medical Center, the project should be completed by the end of next year, according to the developers. The second building, however, will take more time to get off the ground. That's because it's a condominium tower. Lenders often require developers to pre-sell half of the units before writing a check for construction. But so far, only five sales reservations have been made for the condos, and the group marketing the project is no longer involved. The developer said it pulled back on marketing the building because it's trying to get financing without pre-sales. When the project was announced last summer, the developer said the units would be less than 1,000 square feet on average. He said they would be on the smaller side to keep prices down and attract younger buyers that work in the area. He said units would start in the $180,000s. "This profile buyer generally doesn't have $25,000 to $50,000 to put down and sit on for two years," said Brad Minsley, a partner with Phillips Development & Realty. Minsley said lenders financed an Atlanta condo building for Wood Partners on a speculative basis, and he's hoping the Houston project can be financed the same way. But it will take convincing. "Houston has sort of an unproven past with condominiums, but people are very bullish on the medical center and its growth," he said.

....and lets not forget that no new development along any Houston freeway would be complete without adding the always-popular giant inflatable King Kong blow up on top:

Not cool!!! Too bad they couldn't incorporate it into whatever big box, strip center, car lot, or monster billboard development that ends up going in over there. It'll probably be tacky enough anyway, so why not add in a roller coaster?!!

That area doesn't look too promising based on what's already along the freeway around there. Aside from the stadium itself, it's mostly junk. By the way, does anyone know what they're going to do with the Texas Cyclone? That thing was practically a landmark!

I lived out in San Diego for a few years and was always impressed with Horton Plaza. Of course, almost all of the malls in Southern California are outside, sometimes constructed in a park-like setting. I'm glad to see that at least from the plans, the new Pavillions will look a lot like Horton. Too bad they couldn't take out the skylights and walls to make The Park Shops into more of an outdoor plaza as well. It would certainly be more integrated into surrounding area. Weather might be an issue, though. Check out this picture on this link: http://www.photohome.com/photos/california...on-plaza-1.html

Agreed. From the outside, the building feel like a fortress instead of a retail center. It feels as if they want to keep people out instead of inviting them in to shop! Not very inviting.

Agreed...and it would also nice for those of us who would like to have a place downtown to take our children. While a Zen meditation space might be a good idea, try keeping a 2-yr old entertained and out of trouble on an empty plot of grass and trees. Besides, most of us in the 'burbs already have empty green serene spaces in our own back yards--no reason to go downtown for that! I agree with MidtownCoog that this park seems a little busy on paper, but if it draws families, children, and others who will actually spend money downtown, it will lead to development. In that case, I'm all for it, flaws and all!

I can agree with this point. Not every challenge is the same, and different developments require different plans depending on the desired outcome. A tunnel is a great solution for certain types of development but may be inappropriate in other instances. Its hard to speak about this in general terms. In the meanwhile, I agree to let everyone else on this site have their own daily routines as long as they agree to let me have mine.

I think we agreed to leave the "tunnel good...tunnel bad" debate for another time and place. We're never going to convince each other and its not really on point with the topic at hand. I admit to going outside when the weather is nice, and I assume you'll admit that the tunnels are convenient at least for some people some of the time...

Hope so! My comment was more in jest, as the previous post conjured up a funny image in my mind... Sorry, no more bad humor!

Good point about the dog run/picnic area. Nothing like getting a good Fido leg-humping while trying to eat your burger! Not to mention all of those little doggie mines that will be all over the place! Kinda reminds me of Cousin Eddie's dog under the table in Christmas Vacation!

Poor Tillman.... ....in his defense I will say that I know people who will drive over an hour and a half to get to Kemah but won't spend less than half the time and distance going downtown. He must be doing something right over there in Kemah...that place is packed almost 24-7! Can we say the same about downtown?

Does look like they're trying to do a little too much given the size of the area...and, yes, the putting green is a little over the top. Hopefully, they'll scale back a little before they actually start moving dirt. Other than that, it looks like it would be a nice place to take children, at least.

I do, in fact, admit to doing both. I'll normally walk on street level at lunch and at quittin' time, but I'll use the tunnels for appointments and when I'm in a rush. Kind of like using the expressway versus taking the scenic route. I was in the courthouse tunnel system one time, as part of a jury pool: "Catacombs" is an apt description! Unfortunately, I just recently moved from downtown out to the Westchase area. Trying to navigate Westheimer at lunchtime makes even the tunnels feel like a leisurely weekend stroll around the block!

Good for you, but I bet if the tunnel system did connect to the courthouse (which is something that desperately need to happen) most people who work there would use it. I guess that explains the lack of newer commercial development in that area too. You all can debate my subjective level of comfort and relative laziness in getting around downtown, but you still can't challenge my point that most people prefer to use the tunnels when given an option to do so and that tunnels can be used to help spur downtown development. Absolutely, I agree with you on that one: downtown can be made to accommodate a variety of different needs and uses. One person's vision for downtown need not preclude someone else's ...and yes the topic has drifted severely! I think it started when someone made the connection between underground garages and the underground tunnel system, but I'm not really sure at this point. I guess I stepped in a world of sh** by piping up on this topic!!

They did build tunnel systems

Sure

But don't you see? That's exactly the problem...everyone is so terribly concerned with preserving some urban vision that they have for downtown that they neglect the things that actual people might want to have down there. I've worked downtown for over 5 years and can personally attest that despite all of the grumblings on this site about how much the tunnel system sucks, it's certainly better than walking street-level in the middle of the 110 degree August heat or in the middle of one of Houston's monsoons. Additionally, the tunnels certainly seem more economically viable than almost anything that's on street level. Downtown would be unbearable about 70% of the year if it weren't for the ability to get from one place to another without having to go out into the heat and the elements. Instead of fighting what is an obvious preference for almost everyone who lives, works, or owns a shop or restaurant downtown, why shouldn't the city develop plans to incorporate its benefits? Why continue to kick against the goads? Be honest, those of you who actually work and live downtown: for all of the complaining that goes on about the tunnel system, how many times do you find yourself actually using it? (I'll bet it's more than you would care to admit on this site!) It might feel good to complain about people being too lazy to walk outside, but where does it get you when you ignore what most people obviously want? It goes back to the point that no matter what you decide to build down there, it better meet people's wants and needs, or else it WILL fail...

To each his own, but parks raise land values and with increased land values also comes the type of development that you would like to see. I've heard the same sentiments that we already have a park from others, which I find really funny because a common complaint in other areas of this site is exactly that Houston doesn't have enough "green space" (read that to mean "parks")! I think a good mix of parks, transportation improvements, sports, and entertainment venues like we are seeing on the eastern edge of downtown will ultimately draw developers who are willing to invest in mixed use development. Conversely, acres of parking lot space and intimidating no man's land will lead precisely to what we've gotten for the last 20 years--nothing! Let's think about this rationally--if you were a developer, would you rather place your multimillion dollar high rise, mixed-use, investment in the middle of an endless asphalt moonscape, or would you rather bet on an up-and-coming area with amenities such as parks and entertainment venues? If you were an apartment buyer or a store owner, in which type of area would you rather locate your business or residence? The park is important because it leads to investment and development.