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kzseattle

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  1. kzseattle
    They can't find land in Houston?
  2. kzseattle
    I have been paying close attention to strip centers in other cities and such centers are indeed quite common. However, unlike Houston, their parking lots are much smaller and there is a row of trees/vegetation between every couple of rows of parking space. That helps a lot in making such shopping center seems more human-scale and inviting. Unfortunately, in Houston, most strip centers face gigantic, tree-less parking lots. This center also seems to have allocated a lot of space for parking.
  3. kzseattle
    My friends were visiting me from Dallas. At the start of the tour, it was clear they werent expecting much from Houston and thought of it as an inferior town. I believe their opinion took a 180 degree turn by the end of the tour. I have driven through 6th street in Austin as well and found its night life to be pretty similar to what I found on the Main street and so I wonder why 6th street has so much more fame.
  4. kzseattle
    I was talking about people from out of town. Almost everyone I know has heard of Austin 6th street, for example, but believe that Houston's night life is dead. I for myself had never been to Main street at night until this weekend but I knew that it is quite active on the weekend although I found it to be even more active than I expected. And you are right, I am still relatively new in Houston.
  5. kzseattle
    A couple of my friends are visiting me from out of town and so I had to drive them around this Saturday night. We went to Main street and I was shocked to see the amount of activity going on over there past midnight. The streets were jammed with cars and the Main street was overflowing with people. I had of course heard of bars/clubs on Main street but had no idea that it would be so packed and bustling. The Main street has indeed been transformed into Houston's version of Austin's 6th street. Of course, while everyone has heard about Austin's 6th street, Houston's Main street is still a surprise.
  6. kzseattle
    No, no rendering, not much details unfortunately. I wonder what they plan on doing but it could simply be continous sidewalk, human-scale lighting, street furniture, pedestrain bridges etc. I wonder if they could expand the sidewalks. Of course, they cant do much about surface parking lots/setbacks of existing structures on those roads.
  7. kzseattle
    I dont know. I just picked up a free copy at Marriot hotel in Sugarland Town Square! Its mostly about urban real estate. You would find many advertisements on lofts/townhomes/condos etc. One interesting piece is a study about several neighborhoods to determine their urbanity and it has ranked them accordingly. While the author has a PhD in urban planning, he talks about pretty much the same things we always talk about here. I would post the ranking sometime.
  8. kzseattle
    I was reading O2 magazine and, according to it, there is a plan to create pedestrain friendly zone/promenade from Sage to 610 and from 610 to Westlayan on Westheimer, and from Richmond to Woodway drive on Weslayan. Does anyone know anything about this?
  9. kzseattle
    Yeah, I figured that. I was only pointing out the misunderstanding indirectly, in the context of his common complaints that pretty much everything is too far for him.
  10. kzseattle
    So now even Greeway Plaza is too far for you?
  11. kzseattle
    It is probably cheaper for them to build surface parking rather than buidling multi-story parking structure or providing underground parking. Since there are no restrictions/ordinances in places to force the developers pursue those options, they would do whats cheapest for them. And therein lies the reason behind ugly features of our city such as strip centers with bland/tasteless facades, huge surface parking lots and that thin, yellow building in Uptown.
  12. kzseattle
    Galleria already has a walkway that connects Nordstorm wing. A walkway could work if it is covered (so weather is not a factor) and it is prominent.
  13. kzseattle
    Since apartments are commercial properties, I would imagine that zoning could control their development. Since zoning dictates land use, it could dictate how much land in an area could be use for apartment complexes. However, that's just my guess. That is why I asked if other large but zoned cities experienced the same phenomenon, that is, glut of low-income apartment complexes causing the decline of an entire neighborhood.
  14. kzseattle
    Apparently, high concentration of low-income units has brought down many areas including Gulfton, Sharpstown, Alief, Greenspoint etc. Is this phenomenon unique to Houston or can be found in other cities? I wonder if zoning would have prevented it by restricting the number of apartment complexes that could be built within a certain geographical region.
  15. kzseattle
    From what I have heard on this forum, the second building would be build next to the first one, not behind it. Talk about putting salt on a wound.
  16. kzseattle
    As I just mentioned it one post earlier, it is supposed to be an expansion of Uptown Park.
  17. kzseattle
    It is an expansion of Uptown Park, I believe.
  18. kzseattle
    It would be right next to the first one (so the two would be side by side).
  19. kzseattle
    Thanks for the link. From the rendering, it looks like we are looking at yet another mini-downtown!
  20. kzseattle
    We dont know the details but it will be mixed-use development consisting of residential units, offices and retail components. This is just my guess. It would probably be similar to what's planned for Memorial City. If you dont know about that project, a massive $700 millions dollars mixed-use development is planned around Memorial City mall that would consist of office and residential buildings, hotel, open-air retail and entertainment venues such as a cinema. The entire development would cover about 200 some acres. Since T&C is in competition with Memorial City, lets see what they come up with. By the way, if you havn't been to Houston for a while, there is already a Town and Country Village shopping center nearby.
  21. kzseattle
    I assume you are talking about Mercer Tower (or is Mark II ? ). It is too ugly for anyone NOT to notice it. And, yes, it has been bashed several times on this forum.
  22. kzseattle
    Yeah, thats right. The one in Galleria area is going to replace the existing center that is called Pavilions. I dont know what the new development would be called. The one in downtown is being developed by the same company that did Denver Pavilions and that is why they are calling it Houston Pavilions.
  23. kzseattle
    Well, the project thats going up in Memorial City also had a website for a while that just said "Coming soon....". So just because the website doesnt have enough information doesnt mean much. They probably havent finalized the details yet and they probably do not want to give details that may change.
  24. kzseattle
    Well, actually, it is # 2 mall in terms of size/retail space. Indeed, it is the 17th largest malls in the nation.
  25. kzseattle
    I agree. This developer is simply expanding what is already there. Besides, what would we have there if the developers didnt build this? Strip malls? Usual big-box retailers? Parking lots? Vacant land? No, thank you. I would rather see some cool mixed-use developments like these. Now we would all like to see some exciting projects in midtown or downtown. However, while thats not happening, we can at least enjoy what's happening elsewhere. Besides, one thing is sure. This particular developer wasn't going to downtown anyway.
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