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X.R.

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Everything posted by X.R.

  1. X.R.
    Treated as a transit corridor? That sounds unusual, no? I don't imagine there will be anyone there to fight the variance request 😂. They blow out holes in the Ion building and now needing the variance for the lot, do we know the timeline for this entire thing? I thought it was like 2021 or something. I would imagine building a garage wouldn't take very long, and the retail, depending on what it is, would benefit those apartments that are next door to that lot.
  2. X.R.
    Yeah, mid 2000s to early 2010s had downtown filled with TSU students and the random people seeking a good time that wasn't oriented with Washington or Midtown. Now its much more stable, with an established sense of who they are, unlike (I would argue) Midtown/Washington. Main/Market Square park has even attracted Tipping Point to re-open their sneakerhead/limited retail shop up over there. Its becoming, against all odds (if you remember going to Franks at 2am for pizza in 2011 and the absolute desolation all around their parking lot...whew), an established area where 21+ can go to have a chill night, a crazy night, and anything in between. Which is to me a hallmark of a good nightlife district.
  3. X.R.
    I believe he or she is referring to the perceived sporadic and stagnant development that goes on between the 610 loop and Beltway 8. Or in this case, the area between 610 and Sugarland.
  4. X.R.
    Is it just me or is this flying? Also, its a great sign for this development that in Q3 2019 you have tenants already lining up for a Q2 2020 move when the projected office space hasn't really gotten off the first floor yet, so to speak. Its going to be added pressure to deliver on time. This could also speak to a market that is ready for a development of this sort, since nothing like this is really out there in that area.
  5. X.R.
    It seems that whole section, with the windows to the right in that photo, are coming out. They are currently using a jackhammer attached to a short crane to knock out that portion of the building. I think that all of this will be those massive windows we saw in the rendering? If so, they weren't playing around with that render. You can also see people working on the wiring on the second floor through huge holes in the building, lol. It looks funny.
  6. X.R.
    So I guess those tarps are protecting the insides as they knock out the brick. Crazy.
  7. X.R.
    That ENR article that was linked to said groundbreaking starting in 2020 and ending in 2022. That would be...shocking. But I can see why they would want it done fast. Seems to be a trend we're seeing in the City, which is bigger pockets leading to construction projects with seemingly expedited construction, like Caydon, this, ION, and Hines' projects.
  8. X.R.
    I just noticed this thread was began in...2012. Wtf. Any solid idea of when this would be completed? Seems to be end of 2019. I had to dig through this thread to find this chronicle article where they explained their reasoning https://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/Houston-developer-starts-long-awaited-Midtown-13038743.php: The Houston-based apartment development and management company broke ground on one of two blocks it acquired in October 2013 just south of the Pierce Elevated at Austin. It initially planned to start the development in October 2016. “We put it on hold because of the soft economy of Houston then, and also there was a lot of supply of apartments,” said Frederic Gautier-Winther, head of Winther Investment. “A year and 9 months later, we feel like the economy of Houston is stronger than what we thought and also there’s been a good absorption of apartments.” That confession at the end makes them sound...dumb. "Our analysts were pretty wrong, and you know, like, we thought we might have to make this a parking lot...but we fired those guys and the new analysts were like yo Camden and Pearl have been building and building so...wtf were y'all doing?" But on the topic of its prettiness: "Rents will start around $1,300, Gautier-Winther said. Units will average 830 square feet with mostly one-bedroom plans. There will be a few three-bedroom units and efficiencies, in addition to two-bedroom plans designed for professionals." For 1300 a month, I think its a pretty great looking building. The brick kind of matches some of the older townhouses in the area. Yeah the look is dated, but the top cap thing makes it look like it belongs to an older dorm you'd see at Rice or SMU (which can be both good or bad, depending if you like that stuff).
  9. X.R.
    If anyone cares, if you click the link, this full build out has been postponed from Spring 2020 to Summer 2020. Seems like they are taking a realist approach to these dates and buildouts, and the updated timelines are refreshing transparencies.
  10. X.R.
    I don't know if anyone rolls through this area often, but the homeless in the area have been completely changed since a year ago, starting with the breaking up of the camp. That left many of those individuals loitering in the area up until maybe a month and half ago, when I really noticed that some of the homeless that I had gotten to know (yes I'm that guy, I'm sorry) no longer aggressively asked for money from cars when I was at the lights. Some of them seemed to have moved on because I don't see them in the mornings or nights anymore. I think something has already changed either in the way the police have been handling them (they are out there kind of frequently) or because of pressure from Rice/the neighborhood associations. My neighborhood associated did mention that they have been working with area shelters/police officers to help the population shift from that spot under 59 by Fiesta. I second that notion about the drug dealers though, I always feel bad when I see the older G's out there with the backpacks counting money with the zombie'd out people sitting next to him. Or im completely wrong and its just too hot so they aint wanting to come outside.
  11. X.R.
    Seriously, thanks @Skyboxdweller for sharing. Its always cool to hear people's perspectives. I guess I never realized its really the amenities that sell the property.
  12. X.R.
    Yeah, I mean they talked about it at the meetings and they were pretty positive, I think they were just really "What is the City going to do for us if we allow this to happen?" And now the City is fixing sidewalks and stuff, and its just a sharrow. Cake and eat it., too If that makes you sad, then the fact that they are in advance stages of putting together a parking ordinance for the entire Museum District is going to make you even sadder. 3 passes for each residential, and like 1-2 passes for mutli-family (which the City put in and supposedly the association is super pissed about, dunno if its gonna fly with them in its current state). I went yesterday to the city meeting about it and told em its dumb and my fellow MPNA people looked at me like I was nuts. Its crazy, I feel like this is just to get back at the Turkey Leg Hut people. That tension is really uncomfortable, for pretty obvious reasons. http://houstontx.gov/parking/museum-park.html
  13. X.R.
    Holy crap, are they already on floors 6/7? The speed they are working at is pretty unusual, no?
  14. X.R.
    I watched that video and it mentioned "mixed-use" so I think its apartments + ground floor retail. Went back in the thread and their most recent piece of design mentioned something like 5k+ sq. ft or so of retail. Also, project end date was 5/2020, right? Midtown next summer is going to be crazy. This finally open, caydon in full swing, Pearl leased up, and the whole foods is open.
  15. X.R.
    Don't know if this was posted, but the timeline has been updated on the website for the bike lane on Austin. I can attest to them making good progress on La branch already, a number of updated sidewalk improvements have already taken place. The city seems to be making little improvements on multiple bike plans at once (which is great): http://houstonbikeplan.org/implementation/infrastructure/austin-corridor/ The La Branch Street segment of the corridor is currently under construction. Anticipated completion date of this section is November 2019. Austin Street two-way cycletrack is estimated to go into construction by October, will full build-out by Spring 2020.
  16. X.R.
    Looks pretty modern, to be honest, which fits with connecting Tanglewood to the Uptown area. I kinda love the wrap around drive way, with the extensive landscaping. Kinda gives it an older money feel. Just an observation: Everytime I read the interviews for condo developments in Houston, this included, its always "empty nesters" or "lock and leave" or "downsizing" (in the context of older people). I guess thats the market for 300k+ Condos in Houston, but damn, how many older people are going to move back into the city. Who knew Houston has this seemingly large cache of 45+ year olds making great money just chilling 15+ miles out of the downtown. I wish I could ask these developers "well what should the 30 year olds be buying." I'm sure they'd say they are just renting. The people of Tanglewood should be happy all this earning power is moving in, think of all the new development it will draw in. 😙
  17. X.R.
    The building's parking lot is now full of worker's trucks, I'm assuming they are going to town on the inside of the building while the heat has been causing hallucinations in people who dare to go outside at 1 pm. A lane of wheeler has been closed the last few days early in the morning as they move stuff into the building. Makes you kind of wonder how much work they actually have to do on the outside.
  18. X.R.
    That would honestly be amazing. If I could trade the 20 mins (no traffic) to get to Uptown from Med/Museum District and then the 10 mins to find parking (but still worrying about not drinking) for 35-40 mins of transit I would vote for that in a heart beat. For weekends, I could see the Galleria just being absurdly full if that happened. The nice thing is that those who live on Blalock and further down towards Memorial Mall now have the reverse; what used to be a 30-40 min drive for them to the museums or Hermann Park with sometimes painful parking situations all of a sudden has a relatively simple transit option. Also, if you link everything from the Wheeler station to Uptown, now all those downtown Hotels have a way to get to Uptown too. This almost makes too much sense for Houston.
  19. X.R.

    The Boulevard Project

    X.R. replied to zaphod's topic in Transit

    So I drive by this and the construction almost every day, and I think the area, with the trees and the bus stops and the lights and everything looks great. Better than what I think many, if not most, could have hoped for. But I spent a bit last night looking at the route. So, is this supposed to transport Katy people from the top of I-10/610 down into the Galleria area, or is this really for people who visit the Galleria and want to do some shopping here and there and might want to pop into Moxie's after going to Best Buy/the people in the apartments further down on Post Oak? Apologies for the above question sounding dumb. I'm trying to imagine average rider.
  20. X.R.
    Wow at all those purple BRT lines. They better hope Uptown BRT isn't a dumpster fire of non-use (although, it has done ALOT of how pretty Post Oak is now).
  21. X.R.
    I've...never seen anything so beautiful in my life. Those park benches are going to be hot though, lol.
  22. X.R.
    I took a paper copy of the presentation, I’ll see what I can upload tomorrow. He said it’s primarily masonry, all brick and granite. The inspirations are “Mediterranean revival” and “Hollywood Regency.” And it’s being called Boone Manor (at least on the slides it was) which I think is cool AF. He referenced Hotel Zaza as an influence for their team at the meet and greet afterwards. For real, it was a 45 min presentation, and he maybe spent 20 mins of it on the actual building and the rest answering questions or letting them know what infrastructure they’ll be putting in, which includes: 1. sidewalks, curbs, gutters, and new parallel parking on all sides (I asked the presenter the width of the the sidewalks and he said they’ll be pushing for near 8 feet.). If you know that area, people parallel park in small ditches currently, so, big upgrade. 2. Replacing the generic street lights they are taking down with the lights you see by the jogging path in Hermann park. If they do that, he said Centerpoint might force them to do it for more than just their block, on both Crawford and La Branch. Thus, from Binz to Oakdale on those streets. 3. Upgrading at least one esplanade in the area, more if the museum people will come up with a design and the developer can just contribute and help develop other esplanades. Scored huge points with the head of Museum Association. 4. Burying power lines and utilities around the property. Scored huge points with crowd. 5. He spent 10 mins talking about trees and how they have some nice tree coming in, if they can’t save the current ones. Again, big point scoring. 6. After the presentation, quite a few people mentioned they would pay for access to the pool and fitness center since there isn’t one in the area. Presenter said it’s actually an idea that is being kicked around. I think all of those things are just so no one shows up for their variance meeting, lol.
  23. X.R.
    I was just talking to a friend about how behind Houston is when it comes to the merging of work and play spaces in their office buildings. He was complaining about his employer (a large oil company) moving their campus (hes younger) and was blaming it on the company moving to where people lived. I don't know if that is the case. My thought is that these large oil and gas and startups are competing for the same workers that are looking at startups in Austin/Boston/SF where companies have already embraced the beer fridges, the lounges with ping pong tables, the huddle rooms, the on-site gyms, the yoga during lunch-times, and on-site food halls. A friend of mine does headhunting for 25-35 year old engineers/researches and they are looking for generally the same ^ stuff. They pay the premium to live downtown (close to work) and their potential office is a couple blocks away and you don't have the foresight to have a secure bike area and showers/changing room? Hard pass. I don't think the companies that left Downtown Houston will ever come back, but its good that these office spaces have recognized that they were 20 years behind the times. I just hope they don't skimp out on anything because they cant afford to anymore.
  24. X.R.
    I've talked to a developer associated with that residential thats coming up next to the park. I think part of the deal is that the developer will help mold that space. It seems whoever is in charge with that park wanted the area to develop before doing whatever it is they decide to do with that park. But also it sounds a bit lazy.
  25. X.R.
    Growing up, the only reason to go to Rice Village was that place on the second floor that brewed their own beer, gingerman for the cup special, the irish pub, or that other bar where hopdoddies is (Baker St.?). Don't forget that weird club that was in that tiny space next to the irish pub . They've successfully repositioned the village to have less 21-24 year olds just piss drunk at all hours of the day after 5pm or so, and more of a hang out-chill vibe. There were actual families there at 8pm on Thursday just moseying around. I'm sure the neighborhood didn't love having the crazy crowds on st. paddy's weekend. I honestly don't know how the old school retail places are still open. That soccer shop is the perfect example: appallingly mediocre soccer selection and only open until 7pm (lol wut), but hey! for some reason they also sell lacrosse gear? But hey! Antiques! Closed at 5pm! I know that area is rich and all but damn, I guess they've done all their shopping before anyone has a chance to get home.
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