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CityCentre: Mixed-Use Development At 800 Town And Country Blvd.


Parrothead

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This place is really nice. I drove by it Saturday on a way to a party. I don't know why people think it won't be a success.

I fully agree with you that it will be a success; I just don't care for the aesthetics of it. ;)

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More pictures, taken this weekend:

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The front of the development along the Beltway 8 feeder road.

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Buildings along Queensbury, across from the newly finished parking garage and bank. My husband noted that it appeared to be "1970s leisure center brick," which isn't a good thing.

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Looking into the development from Queensbury. It's going up VERY fast now.

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Inside the indoor pool area at Lifetime Fitness, on the "Luby's" side of the development.

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The outdoor pool and spa at Lifetime Fitness. The gym itself pretty much finished except for a few interior bits. The view from the lovely outdoor pool should be stunning: the side of a parking garage and Luby's (including parking lot!). Here's to hoping they put in a lot of landscaping.

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More construction next to the brownstones, which I love so much! <_<

I have tons more photos over at Flickr, if interested.

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I think you missed the point....We arent talking about demographics...of course the area is great.

I was referring simply to access. You have 2 huge freeways surrounding it and currently the only 2 feeders into the development are the little post office curved road (t&c ln) and the one leading to escalante's (t&c blvd).

So my main point was the bw8 feeder going N to 10. IF construction doesnt change before cc opens, this is not a viable access point. Just sucks they could not acquire all the land to 10. Once the roads are finished (yes i believe they will be one day, but not before this centER is ready), it would be ultimate to have I10 and BW8 feeders pull DIRECTLY in , as well as the aforementioned back roads.

The Katy Freeway construction is ahead of schedule and is supposed to be substantially completed by fall 2008, including the intersection of I-10 at the Beltway. Much of City Centre probably will not open until mid-2009 at the earliest. The addition of another lane to the northbound side of the Beltway leading up to the Kimberly/Memorial exit should help as well.

Nonetheless, once all the road and City Centre construction is done, it will probably be similar to driving in the Galleria area: congested at lunchtime, on weekends and during the holiday shopping season, relatively easier to navigate the rest of the time.

Does anybody know what the plans are for the large plots of land on the northwest and southwest quandrants of the intersection of I-10 at the Beltway? The Katy Freeway plans suggest this land will remain vacant, but it seems like rather valuable real estate.

Drove by this weekend and noticed that there is a temporary building in the parking lot of the post office. Looks like work is going to begin soon.

They're in the process of refurbishing the inside of the post office, which previously looked something like a prison. In any event, the part of the post office across the street from the back of the brownstones is a loading dock, so there's not much they can do to the outside to make it look better.

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The overall Katy Freeway/West Loop project will plant 75,000 trees.

If you want to know what the detention facilities by the Beltway/Katy interchange will look like, just drive the West Loop/Katy one.

Under all the ramps are the detention facilities. It isn't as large because the increase in impervious area was as much.

You probably won't even notice the facilities by the Beltway because of the plantings. It will essentially become a forest.

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The overall Katy Freeway/West Loop project will plant 75,000 trees.

If you want to know what the detention facilities by the Beltway/Katy interchange will look like, just drive the West Loop/Katy one.

Under all the ramps are the detention facilities. It isn't as large because the increase in impervious area was as much.

You probably won't even notice the facilities by the Beltway because of the plantings. It will essentially become a forest.

Is this where you are sent when you've been bad? I think you mean retention, as in a retention pond which "retains" excess flood water until finally and slowly running off.

:P LOL

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Is this where you are sent when you've been bad? I think you mean retention, as in a retention pond which "retains" excess flood water until finally and slowly running off.

tongue.gif LOL

No, they are technically detention basins. Not retention. Retention basins are a different design than these. I design both of these regularly for private and public projects including highways.

Quick definitions:

Detention basins limit storm water runoff to the pre-developed or existing conditions.

Retention basins limit storm water runoff to zero until the point of discharge recovers to the existing condition. Essentially the storm water would be released after the flood or when the receiving goes back to normal flows.

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No prob.

I have to give that explanation (and usually break it down to even simpler terms) all the time at public meetings and at civic club gatherings.

You can sound a little fancier and use: Storm Water Mitigation Basins. It'll cover both types and even underground detention/retention concepts.

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The relationship has to do a lot with the outfall.

Retention ponds generally have to use some sort of pump mechanism to draw its water down. The pump station located near this interchange is to pump water from the low lying intersection into the detention facilities. The outfall is a simple pipe outfall sized for the allowable outflow rate.

You can look for the mass planting of trees to begin with the interchange is substantially complete. If these basins are anything like the ones at the I-610/Katy interchange, you'll end up seeing loads of birds nesting and using the facility.

How about that, a massive freeway expansion being good for area wildlife!

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They often do. Many suburban developers are turning the detention basins into functional recreational spots. It's cheap parkland.

If it is large enough, they'll put soccer fields and baseball fields in them. At minimum trails around them are usually created. Many are build with lakes at the bottom.

The detention basins along I-10 will most likely be fenced in at some level thanks to lawyers. Just like detention basin that are build on school sites.

For the innerloopers. Just drive E TC Jester heading north from 11th street or south from 18th street and you'll see a baseball field in a detention basin.

If you ever jog along Buffalo Bayou (shepherd to downtown, or Terry Hershey park past the beltway) much of those areas are not in any natural configuration. Much of those areas have been re-sloped to create storage for storm water and they are now dual use.

Brays Bayou is getting the same treatment. Just check out Art Story Park. Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) has been implementing much of this with cooperation with the city and county.

Sims Bayou has a massive park just finished with this concept also.

What's weird is that much of this land doesn't always get classified at parks even though they are. This is why park land numbers are always skewed like we don't have much.

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For the innerloopers. Just drive E TC Jester heading north from 11th street or south from 18th street and you'll see a baseball field in a detention basin.

I'm not an Inner-looper but I've seen the baseball field on several occasions. Would this be the same case for TC Jester Park outside the loop and just south of W. 43rd?

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They often do. Many suburban developers are turning the detention basins into functional recreational spots. It's cheap parkland.

If it is large enough, they'll put soccer fields and baseball fields in them. At minimum trails around them are usually created. Many are build with lakes at the bottom.

Well, I learned something new today too...... No wonder every time we have big rains where I live (Shadow Creek Ranch in Pearland), most of the Baseball and Soccer fields become Swimming/Waterpolo facilities for a couple of days.

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The Great Hizzy,

The baseball field along TC jester just outside the loop on TC Jester park isn't an example of this. It's built at natural ground. If the field was sunken several feet below natural ground, then it would be a good example. Actually, that would be a great idea to suggest to community groups and to the Parks Board.

HCFCD might as well be on board.

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Soccer fields would be a better idea for things like that. Baseball fields are to hard to maintain with the dirt and stuff I'm thinking. Have them above ground instead of sunken below.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Tenants have moved into a completed building of CC. Most are facing the Beltway Feeder.

You mean the recently completed building with AT&T in it? I don't think that's part of City Centre. It's a redevelopment of part of the existing Town & Country strip malls. City Centre is only to the north of Queensbury.

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