The Great Hizzy!

It appears that maybe they are trying to steal a bit from the Sugarland Town Center, although on a smaller scale. Hence the hotel...

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/sto...ml?surround=lfn

Over a year later and here's an update on the project:

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/sto...ml?surround=lfn

February 19, 2007 is the planned re-opening. I hope it meets with great success, although I hate the ZaZa name. And I sure as heck hope that the lights for the Mecom Fountain are operational once again by then.

Back in early October, when illegal immigration was an even hotter issue than it is currently, Fox News reported that there were an estimated 400,000 illegal immigrants in Houston. I have no idea if they meant the city proper or the metropolitan area, nor do I know where they obtained such an estimate. However, they were firm with the contention, as they not only said it verbally but had it captioned in the little bar that they have at the bottom of the screen as a discussion point.

I agree. The stairs stick out and are incredibly tacky.

Regardless, too rich for my blood.

Not a bad idea, Vic Man.

Main Street needs a Class A seafood restaurant.

The Douchebag makes sense! What's more (and in an effort to expand upon Dal's point), if creating density is a priority, it would seem that you would take the opportunity to create that density where the largest employment centers are already established, since a supposed advantage of density is an ability to locate closer to one's job. The rub or the uniqueness to this concept as it relates to Houston is the fact that Houston has four major employment centers where densification or urbanization would seem to be most effective: Downtown, Uptown, TMC and Greenway Plaza.

DT seems to be a step ahead of the others but I sense a slowly developing trend (and albeit one that is more private in development than public) in the other three major employment centers.

I've seen those same billboards. I'm interested to see how parking is set up for the project. That seems to be a make or break type of deal even for the most urban-minded infill projects.

Wow, that just goes to show you how stuff can affect you. There was so much talk about the tower being unlikely to take off that I stopped bothering to look at the site for any signs of progress. Good lookin' out Groove House.

Good lord, you all are really bored aren't you.

Anyone who thinks that one metro has noticeably "less" sprawl than the other is probably a severe homer or just not very observant.

I concur with both Red and Music Man.

Hush!

At the end of the day, 'Coog is right about one thing: we shall see. It's really hard to gauge what impact the park itself will have on the eastern half of DT. Many more factors are needed independent of the park. The park may be a draw, but only after the city and other parties do their part to promote the park. But not only that; the list of prospective developers have to come through and take the risk, to develop those projects that would tie in to the park and give that area some organic life.

Expecting someone from Sharpstown to come in to DT on a regular basis to hang out the Green is unrealistic. Yes, the DT working population may take to it to some degree--but again, not completely if the amenities and adjoining attractions aren't develop.

So we'll see. It seems like a nice start and the Park Tower would seem to only expand upon this nice start. After that... who knows.

The problem with Vision, as I see it, is that they more went after the big event crowds (a particular act in town, a festival, a big sporting event, etc) rather than building up a recurring client base. It had become a pretty strong Hip-Hop/R&B club in terms of music and culture but it never was able to maintain the devoted customer base that an M Bar or Suede seems to have. That's critical for any nightclub.

I really wonder how some people on this forum handle disappointment in their private lives. Seriously. Talk about dangling from a thin piece of thread.

"Waaahhhh!"

Sounds like good news for downtown. The Sakowitz building having two tenants now (assuming that he lease signing for AA concepts goes through) will make it far more attractive to other retailers. If only we can get HP off the ground and moving soon.

The HBJ refers to this as a downtown location but its actually located in Midtown according to the address given.

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/sto...ml?surround=lfn

I just drove past that intersection during my lunch break and didn't really notice. I'm assuming that it's probably in the retail center on the left side of San Jac, facing north, although I could be wrong.

When in doubt, panic!

The HAIF creed: When in doubt, fear the worst.

LOL!

Dal,

Some people are thin-skinned while others posses skin of concrete. However, if you've offended anyone in the past and have apologized, then that's all you can do. Not that I have any inkling of any personal squabbles you might be having but just making a general statement.

The problem with the internet, and specifically with message boards, is that it is often difficult to gauge when someone's being playful or to determine what type of sense of humor a particular person may have. You do the best you can.

That said, you're a douche.

I don't know if replying to my own reply is against the rules,

Hey, sometimes those are the best replies you could hope to get.

Thanks for sharing, Sun King. Good work.

The area south of 610, west of 288 and Almeda Rd, and east of Hiram Clarke has a checkered history. For openers, it was the scene of a fairly large oil field in the 1920s. That oil field was on both sides of what is now Almeda Road and Hwy 288, and extended east most of the way to Mykawa Rd.

Remember the lawsuits filed in the early 90s by the people in the Kennedy Heights neighborhood? Kennedy Heights is east of Cullen and south of Selinsky. People there claimed living on top of former oil field sludge pits was making them sick and causing birth defects. They never produced a shred of evidence to back up their claims of deformed babies with brain damage, and it was all so bogus that even the most famous ambulance chaser in the country -- Houston's own John O'Quinn -- dumped them when it became clear the lawsuits were going nowhere. Unfortunately, memories of Kennedy Heights and houses built over sludge pits still resonate all over that end of town.

Evidence of the oil field is still visible west of Almeda Rd, and to the east to a lesser extent. There was also a very large landfill on Holmes Rd. I think it's closed now, but in any event, nobody is building anything on it, and most of the area we're talking about looks like a wasteland because that's what it is.

As for why no one has developed this area, I've read all the postings on this thread and I have to disagree with those who say it's because the area is mostly black. There are just too many areas around Houston where people of all races live side by side and get along just fine. The area east of 288 has developed, and, sadly, it has become a ghetto that's in a serious state of decline. I will agree that race is probably a factor in the way this area has been allowed to decay, but I don't think race figures in the lack of new development in the undeveloped area. Look at the success of the loft apartments on the edge of Freedmen's Town in the 4th ward near downtown.

West of Almeda, I can't help but observe that development picks up as you get farther away from the "wasted" looking area. Almeda Plaza to the south, and the area west of there around Madison High School, and north to Allum Rd. Looking at the map, that former oil field and landfill looks like a large undeveloped island in the middle of a sea of development.

I think it's because, so far, no developer has had the guts to take a chance on it. I also think that at some point, a brave developer with a lot of cash will step up and spend whatever it takes to clean it up, and when he or she succeeds, others will follow. It will happen fairly soon, and I predict the area will be completely developed within 20 years. I also think people with money to invest long term could do a lot worse than buy land in that area today, because it's going to be worth a lot more 10 and 15 years from now.

I actually agree with much of this. Granted, I don't have the history here in Houston that many of you have but everything I've read and heard concerning "the Black Hole" suggests that there are just as many (if not more) environmental concerns as there are social concerns as to why this area never saw any type of significant development up until the last couple of years. Frankly, even when you consider Pearland and Manvel, there wasn't much development south of the Beltway either until about 2000. Shadow Creek Ranch has spawned lots of residential development in the Pearland area along 288 but it was pretty barren too relative to other Houston area suburbs.

I wonder how much it would cost for a developer to go through the requisite environmental abatement associated with a new housing development? There are probably quite a few "hot spots" of toxic activity in many of those former oil fields.

And I agree that west of 288 and, more to the point, west of FM 518 (Almeda Road), the areas aren't spectacular but pretty average. Certainly not the worst of areas of the city but not blue ribbon communities either. Unfortunately, however, east of 288 has Sunnyside, which has never been a wealthy or bustling area, and South Acres, which has seen better days. Still, there are plenty of new development in town that's taken place near once struggling areas. Even Acres Homes itself, particularly on the western fringe, is seeing new home development, some retail infusion and even an upgrade in public works projects such as street and sewage repair, parks and so forth.

I just think that largely, the "Black Hole" has its costly environmental concerns and then the area itself isn't asthetically pleasing--perhaps the most treeless and barren landscape in the city limits, IMO.

Just a thought (spawned by this morning's rain), if HP is going to be an open-air type of deal with a central walkway and so forth, I wonder if they'll include in its design an overhang that will sort of shelter people from the elements while they're out. It certainly would make the project more appealing year round. This is Houston of course; when it rains, it's usually a pretty good shower.

Again, just a thought.