Nate99

Seattle too at some point, right?

Bald eagles? New one for me. The flooding post Harvey is alarming, but the knee jerk assumption that further development can only exacerbate the issue is precisely what informs my impression. If in fact it does, then yeah, there are a few more things to sort out, but in an emotional debate, I don't trust facts to carry the day. There are more than a few in Kingwood that will go to their graves insisting that the release from Lake Conroe caused the flooding in 1994 and during Harvey, and all the pure mathematics in the world won't convince them otherwise.

The Kings Creek idea wasn't in Kingwood proper, nor was it on the lake, though very close to the West Fork of the SJR. That would make it less attractive in that it couldn't have the "marina" component, but it would also take far less to make it accessible and have fewer pearl clutchers trying to shoot it down. King's Creek and Kingwood Parc never progressed beyond renderings. The much less grandiose Valley Ranch is inching along up in Porter, albeit with tenants (Sam's) already bailing out.

Definitely agree, not sure there are enough collective brain cells engaged to get this right, but a well engineered large scale development like this could actually help Kingwood's neglected storm water runoff system, if you can call it that, with the portion of the work needed in the immediate area done on the developer's dime. Constructing something there doesn't automatically make things worse, but I get the impression that narrative that is forming (hope I'm wrong). What little local chatter I am exposed to seems to be focused scary soundbite level thinking. The effort to address the flooding problem to date seems to have been spent on passing a bond deal, announcing a wish list of proposed projects and spending federally appropriated emergency funds ASAP purportedly to attempt to restore the Lake Houston area to the condition that immediately preceded the worst disaster the region has seen in a century. Doing nothing is always an option with the lack of local political consequences. You have interlocking jurisdictions here that can just point at each other when the money disappears if they bother to address it at all since neither they nor their similarly connected successors ever intend to squeeze one vote out of Kingwood. Plus, with vocal local support against development you have all the more incentive to do nothing as memories fade. The NIMBY's will try to scare each other on the internet with ever more dire warnings of calamity should things progress. The rest of Houston can contend with the very real problems of growth while Kingwood deals with the likewise very real problem of stagnation in the middle of an otherwise growing region. Best case for the NIMBY's is that Kingwood becomes a Champions Forest with better highway access.

Some of the building on the floodplain looks to be offset by digging out detention/waterway where none exists currently. I don't pretend to know what is displaced or would be necessary/legal, but clearly everything of value here would need to be built way up from current grade. I guess it's floodplain either way, but what is/was wetland probably changed in the area with the Lake Houston dam's construction in the 50's. Interestingly, there is a massive sandbar that built up through Harvey that inhibits drainage severely. One read of this implies that they would have to re-engineer the whole waterway around here, which could sound really good to the CoE. Still very skeptical, but it's an interesting idea to kick around.

I think that is in the renderings, but they are not yet working on it.

It's tough to see, but there is a steel structure sticking out along the Louisiana side where the new entrance is being constructed, it must be some kind of awning. If it integrates at all with the building, it should be fairly understated.

It's currently something of a dead end (literal, as-in no through traffic) area, not surprised at all about the knee jerk reaction against it for those nearby, but this thing would change so much in the area, it's not going to end up like anything anyone can predict if it got built. Kingwood is built out under its original theme, this would be a big step-out that I think would be worth it.

Saltgrass isn't the best, but when you're boss is looking at your expense report he'll probably let that slide where Pappas Bros would get you sent to Alaska next February. This strikes me as a more mild example of the "Olive Garden in Times Square" phenomenon.

I can't find the link any more, so maybe it's just smoke, but there seems to be persistent interest in this idea. I remembered seeing something recently about a public comment period/conference, but can't find anything online. A recent bump of the posts on kingwood.com and a random comment on the old Swamplot post corroborate that other people are hearing about it again as well. Still astonished it's not completely dead, but would love to see it.

Here you go. The crates behind the fence on the Capitol side have windows in them.

The garage looks reasonably full of cars now too.

At some point I developed the assumption that annexation/incorporation was basically at the mercy of state level politics with little recourse to the annexed citizenry. The folks in Kingwood that remember it are still bitter, Clear Lake somewhat less, maybe. I can't cite a source, so I may be off base here. I'm kind of surprised they haven't gone after Cypress already, but if you look at other unincorporated parts, most notably the Aldine and Sheldon areas that they conveniently skipped over to get to Kingwood, it's clearly a money grab. Ditto Channelview, Highlands, etc.

They definitely connect at the tunnel/basement level, though who knows what is down there in the Battelstein space. Does the JW have any meeting or amenity space on the second or third floor? JW could at a minimum expand the lobby at the street level and have a second set of elevators that take you up in the other "tower".

There are cheaper options out there to be sure, but not as many as there used to be. There are $11 grilled chicken salads for takeout in the tunnels.