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kzseattle

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Everything posted by kzseattle

  1. I think it would be naive to believe that sprawl can be avoided given the increase in population and the quantity of available land. Dense urban centers came into being out of necessity because those cities had no choice. The history of many of the high-density cities that we see today, such as those in NE United States and Europe, predates the advent of automobile. It was therefore only logical to construct buildings in close proximity. Over time, those cities developed culture in which residents got accustomed to street life and high-density living. Moreover, the geographical sizes of some of those cities were limited by the amount of available land and geographical barriers. Even then, some such cities continued to expand in size to accommodate increasing population. In contrast, Houston is a relatively new city that has experienced tremendous growth. There is plenty of land available, and there are no geographical barriers except in the east. Finally, it has no zoning laws to create artificial scarcity of land for specific uses. Sprawl is therefore inevitable. Some people believe that anything outside of the loop is sprawl. However, would it be reasonable to believe that all of 6 millions people who reside in Houston could live inside the loop, that is, within an area of 100 sq miles? That amounts to 60,000 people per square mile! Do you really expect them to give up single-family homes to live in apartments just so that they can live inside the loop when there is so much land available nearby unlike, say, Hong Kong where residents have no other choice?
  2. I was going to say the same thing. Pretty much every post from LTAWACS reflects pessimism. When it is outside of Houston, it is sprawl. When it is inside Houston, it is bad still. Hey man, just be happy with what you got. I would rather choose "have" over "have not". I believe this development is pretty exciting.
  3. Which is why I wonder, why the heck that developer decided to build a typical retailer center at such a prime location (W Alabama and Sage), walking distance from Galleria mall, right between high-end residential units? I dont know who are going to be the retailers, but it would be a waste of land if they are going to be your typical laundry and nail shops. It seems that they could have done a lot better than that to maximize the profit given the location. Or why do we often find things like liquor shops, pawn shops, auto shops etc on prime pieces of real estate such as inside the loop or along Memorial Drive. It just doesnt make economic sense.
  4. Thanks for the explanation. I took flipping to mean that the investors upgrade otherwise cheap looking properties to increase profit margin and hope to sell it at a higher profit sometime in the future. The fact that the duration of time they wait before selling the properties determine whether or not we can call it "flipping" is something I didnt know.
  5. Woah man, you got a bit emotional out there! Frankly, I do not know or cannot speculate the market conditions for town homes in Midtown area and am therefore not qualified to determine whether or not those investors are making sound business decisions. All I am saying is that flipping is not an unusual practice. Like I said, it is just a business in which one could lose or win. Those investors who are buying those units and flipping them are doing so on the basis of their belief that they would profit from it (or else they are mentally challenged). After all, it is an investment just as in stock market. Now, only time would prove whether their investment is reasonable or not. As is the case with stock market, when the market rises the winners appear visionaries (remember those dot-com heroes?) and when the market drops the losers appear idiots. One would hope that before making these investments, they did the required market research to back their beliefs. Or else, they are indeed stupid as you say.
  6. Riva Place and Wolfe project are the same although I dont know if Wolfe project would be similar to the rendering of Riva Place or something entirely different. I think this would happen at current location of Pavillions. I may be wrong but the development at Fashion square would be another project but if I am wrong it may be part of whatever would replace Pavillions. Now, I know there is a rumor that the strip mall across Fashion square would also be demolished for yet another project from a rival builder. I dont know what would that be.
  7. I think what may be happening is that Perry and other cheaper builders go in risky areas where high-end developers wouldn't venture, and land is still cheap, to build affordable units. As market conditions and demographics of the region improve for higher-end units, private investors move in to flip up some of those units to sell them at higher prices. There is nothing unusual about it since flipping lower end units to squeeze some money out of them is pretty common practice. You can call them greedy. For them, it is just business.
  8. I think the Lincoln Park right behind the White House is a heaven for homeless, or so I heard. The Central Park in Manhattan, surrounded by the prestigious and upscale neighborhoods of Upper East Side, Upper West Side and 5th avenue area, isn
  9. I cant believe people are paying $1 million to live in that! It looks like a college dorm building. I hope the second tower is better than the first.
  10. Seeing the trend, I would guess they are tearing down the plaza to build a... Walgreens!
  11. I drove by the location today and didnt have enough time to look closely but noticed banners on the fences with words like "Dine", "Shop", "Lounge" etc. It seems that it is some kind of an expansion of Memorial City mall. Perhaps, it is their response to what's planned for T&C mall that is going to be some mixed-used development. Memorial City and T&C seem to be in a competitive race. I dont think there is going to be another health care building since it is already there. It is probably going to add some open-air retail plus restaurants.
  12. Isn't there a plan/rumor of Ritz Carlton in Uptown where Pavillion center or Fashion Square currently is?
  13. Hey Gary, You may be making the same mistake you are advising against. That is, not exploring Houston beyond inner loop. For example, have you driven along Memorial and San Felipe/Briar Forest from West Loop to BW8? Not exactly a cultural center such as inner loop but then you mentioned Sugarland too. The area along those two roads is lush and beautiful. Beyond BW8 to Highway 6, the drive on those roads is still ok but the neighborhoods off of them are quite charming. Certainly more interesting than Sugarland due to visual variety of homes. By the way, if I remember correctly, the other day mentioned you only cared for Inner loop and the Bay (by which I assume Clear Lake area). Now you have added Sugarland in the list as well. So we can assume that the list will grow over time
  14. No, I guess not. We are just talking about whats a good time of the year to visit Dallas for a pleasant trip.
  15. Alright, what is a good time to visit Dallas? I know summer is hot, but I hear that in winter it can get pretty brown. Well, I love greenary. If I make a trip within the next couple of weeks or so, would that be a good time? I gotta go and check it out myself sometime.
  16. Once again, lack of zoning is being taken as lack of standard. I favor zoning but does lack of zoning really mean lack of standards? If I understood correctly after the discussion on this subject in another thread, the two are different. Does anyone here know exactly what do zoning laws regulate? That would help us determine exactly what we can blame lack of zoning for instead of lumping together every problem in this city and blaming it on lack of zoning. About rundown portions of Midtown, one needs to remember that it is an area in transition. The problem is not that the change isn
  17. Nope, thats a different toll way. I have also driven on Fort Bend Toll way from Sienna Plantation to BW8. It is indeed a very quick drive.
  18. I think there are open-air establishments in cities as Denver and those in the north east. Winter isnt easy in those cities but apparently they seem to be doing fine. Also, I think that SLTS and other such places usually get busier in the evenings which shouldnt be too bad (although I havnt lived in Houston long enough to experience evenings in summer).
  19. If they screw up again, they should be banned from operating in Houston!
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