KinkaidAlum

These guys are from Melbourne. Them's shooting words.

Looks like a mini-Randall Davis garage mahal with little interaction with the street. At least it's lacking the Davis theme. Too bad. That area of town has the potential to become something truly special with its location, Hermann Park, cultural facilities, and access to transit but not if it gets too many projects like this.

I currently an owner/investor in multiple hard retail businesses in several markets (Boston, Houston, Denver, and Los Angeles) but please continue...

That's the Gulf.

It's the termination of the Spur not a corner of 610 and 59. Nobody is randomly driving by on the Spur.

If Whole Foods was relying on fly-by traffic to stop in while people were zooming through Midtown to get to US 59, then they didn't hire a good local consultant. Houstonians do NOT think parking garage grocery shopping is convenient. Nobody who lives in in SW Houston/Fort Bend is going to pull over, navigate a garage, deal with getting back on the freeway with Midtown one-way streets just to pick up some bananas. Lets get real here. Houstonians are a lazy-assed people. If there's no convenient parking people aren't doing it. That Whole Foods was built for local folks and foot traffic from all the rooftops nearby. That'll take time to build. I am sure Whole Foods knew they'd have to grow into the market slowly. Trying to blame poor results on a freeway entrance closure is a stretch.

LOL that lower Westheimer was sketch and risky 8 years ago. Montrose has thrived for 60 years and it has always been sketchy. I'd argue that's why it thrives. The issue facing retailers is AMAZON/Delivery and high rent. Why stop at Whole Foods and deal with a garage when you can just order stuff to your door? Retail is changing. There will be a lot of consequences. People that want ground floor retail and no surface parking tend to also be the types to order stuff off of Amazon daily. Can't have it both ways.

The Intercontinental has two restaurants on the ground floor with doors to Main St and outdoor seating. There's a railing to protect from the street and some decent planting. I thought it was well done. I was there for two weeks with my dog so we walked the area a lot. It is one of the better developments in the TMC. The main problem is it is surrounded on the West side of Main by suburban hotel types that basically just use the street and sidewalks for utilitarian purposes.

You are 100% right. Property taxes are absurd in Houston. I paid 3 times more in Houston than I do in Los Angeles despite my home being of higher appraised value here. It's a real issue. If I ever move back home, I've already decided I wouldn't own.

Landlords are in for a rude awakening. The market is/has changed and Amazon, First Dibs, etc... is killing hard retail. If they chase off restaurants as well they'll be in big trouble. Retailers are hurting in every market but rent keeps rising. What I noticed most about the Rice Village was that in the two years since I moved away, there are vacancies everywhere where there used to be none. It's the same in LA's upscale neighborhoods. Vacant buildings sitting with outrageously high rents. Something has to give.

Anyone have a clue as to what this will look like other than masonry and stone? Museum Park has long been my favorite neighborhood. Easy access to all the best things in Houston.

Ah, so this was the original source of those no seven story apartment signs. Sad to see art deco replaced but glad to see the developer compromise.

I know dozens of people that live in midtown/downtown hi- rises. Most of them only use their cars socially. They commute via walking, rail, or bike. That's why building along a simple transit corridor is so great. It's why I don't get excited about the Uptown 610 freeway hi-rises. Those places 100% require a vehicle for virtually everything. My sister at One Park Place walks to work in the Houston Center. She walks to plays at Hobby. She rides the rail to UH for football and basketball games. She tells me she can go weeks without her car and usually only uses it for larger store runs or when she leaves for her ranch.

and Midtown wasn't always a place to just go through. I think providing upgrades to make Midtown a better neighborhood for those that live there are far more important than providing upgrades for commuters just buzzing through. Hell, who knows, maybe if that becomes decent park space, someone will decide the commute from Sugar Land isn't worth it and move to Midtown taking a car off the highway.

Big news today. The medical school got initial accreditation. Fist class of students will start in July with philanthropic gifts covering full tuition.