jgriff

Abatement crew and large excavator on site today.

Crews were putting up fencing around the site at West Dallas and Marston yesterday.

I’m in the middle of an energy business merger right now. We don’t anticipate large layoffs due to the merger. Right now the energy business is desperate for talent. I would see Chevron keeping the offices in the Woodlands just to keep their employees who live up there happy. Chevron just bought a lot of acreage and TALENT. They’re not going to want to lose that talent. The people who are most likely to be let go are management and they are not a large number. A dollar or two difference in the price of oil would have more affect on staffing levels than this merger.

Its not the same situation. All the retail is street facing and pedestrian oriented unlike Greenstreet. Also, there is retail facing Allen Parkway clearly shown on the plan.

There is a toilet at the Dunlavy building. I don't think there's anything between there and the skate park area. That's the only use I get out of the Dunlavy building.

I agree. There are quite a few water fountains though. I carry a water bottle and fill it at them. The water tastes pretty bad though. It looks like there might be some retail in “A” and “B” facing the park. “B” is probably a long ways from starting construction though. I thought the Dunlavy was going to fill this role a bit but it’s turned into Brunch and private party spot. It’s of very little use to people who actually use the park.

I went in a few of those antique shops over the years. In my opinion they were mostly full of overpriced junk. Westheimer was always about record shops, #s, tattoo parlors, bars and restaurants. The antique shops I can do without out. We’ve lost the record shops mostly but the rest is still there. Some of it may have gone a bit more upscale but that’s fine by me. It’s still Montrose.

They had a “friends and family” event yesterday. Drinks and food were being served.

I walk the sidewalks in this area quite a bit and cross at Shepherd and Allen Parkway to get to the park. It’s very dangerous. I almost got hit by a red light runner once. I’m very happy to be getting the improvements. The presenter said he plays crossing guard there with his daughters.

Notes from North Montrose Civic Association meeting. The Hanover rep who presented lives near the development so has a personal stake Improvements to Autry Park are planned, want to make it more connected to BBP Improvements to dangerous pedestrian crossing at Shepherd and Allen Parkway Pavers at intersections Closing on final land purchases this Month Demo will start within months First phase will be mid rise apartments and high rise apartments Ground floor retail everywhere Office building will start when sufficient square feet are leased Retail expected to be 50% restaurants, local chef driven Hotel will be boutique Working with GID on synergies, GID says starting on apartments later this year, he chuckled on that one! Burying power lines Bike lane will be built on w Dallas in front of their property, they hope GID will add to it Building 5.5 ft above Harvey levels They see this as the gateway to Buffalo Bayou Park, want to make access to the park very easy 6-8’ tree lined sidewalks all around $25 million in infrastructure improvements partially funded by tirz

We call it value plus and can get a bonus if we find something that will save the client or us money.

There is a meeting of the North Montrose Civic Association at the West Gray multi services center at 7:00 pm April 3rd. Hanover will be presenting information on the Buffalo Bayou project. I’ll probably attend and update this thread with any news.

70s and 80s apartment complexes are good enough to keep in certain areas. The reason they are torn down in others has less to do with materials of construction than the price of the land they are sitting on and the higher profits that can be made from newer and denser product. I'd say you are right, in some cases a 30-40 year lifespan is appropriate.

You’d be surprised how fast your fear of heights goes away. It took me about a week to get used to it. It comes back if you stop doing it for a while though.

I looked seriously into buying in a high rise at one time. I found that most of the ones I was looking at were very close to 0.75 a sf for maintenance. It didn't make any sense to me at the time. To me it was a very high price to pay in order to not have to maintain a house. That plus no yard and having to get in an elevator to take the dogs out were just too much for me. I would love the views but the cost and inconvenience were just too high. You can pretty much get a standalone house in the same area for half the payment.