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River Oaks District: Mixed-Use Development At 4444 Westheimer Rd.


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So now there's a backhoe in the parking lot, along with hundreds of 80s model refrigerators. Some of the shaded parking has been torn down, but other shaded parking has been left up (ostensibly) to shield the fridges from rain. I predict nothing really interesting will happen until August.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Some updates.

 

The firemen and such are using some of the abandoned buildings for training. I finally just asked them one day as they were leaving for the day. They had punched holes in some of the walls and were using the ladder to bust holes into the roof and doing other things which would seem like the perfect training to do on buildings that were going to be demolished. All of this was going on in the 1968 era buildings (of which 3 are being demolished, and 6 will remain as Westcreek at River Oaks).

 

All of the 1971 era buildings are literally *rubble*. They are gone. It looks very eerie and weird. At least 25 dump trucks of rubble are being carted off every day. They will probably have all of the 1971 rubble gone very soon. I assume they will then proceed to demolish the 1968 buildings.

 

It is really weird to live in a building, knowing that just 2 buildings away, they are demolishing a duplicate of the same building, but not mine, at least not yet. Actually, there have been workmen here all week, replacing bits of rotten wood and repainting stuff. Does that mean they plan to keep these buildings up for a time - or does it mean that they're trying to make them look nice, so they can raise the rent in an attempt to extract as much money as possible before knocking them down in order to build more "couture" purse shops and overpriced retarded movie theaters?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hope that the pedestrian walking experience can be enhanced between this river oaks district project and the galleria.

 

Amen to that!  I find it strange that Houston hasn't already addressed this situation, since we already have so many visitors (domestic and international) staying at hotels in this area and who have  to do death-defying treks to get from points on one side of 610 to the other.  

 

My walk there a few days ago was typical:   had to navigate around submerged sections of the sidewalk while cars and busses zoomed 2 feet to my left at 50 MPH.  Avoided the 5-foot-high splashes from busses and trucks whizzing by, but didn't avoid the muddy mist floating in the air.  Worried a bit about someone throwing something, if not actually hitting me with their vehicle.

 

Trying to cross N-S across Westheimer, it actually seems safer to cross in mid-block rather than at intersections.  Honestly, do even 1% of drivers there notice (or agree to honor) "walk" signs for pedestrians?  I see a lot of walkers making  mad dashes between the Galleria and the Weingarten Realty property across the street, despite having to clamber a bit over the landscaped median.

 

I do appreciate the Uptown District's sidewalk improvements outside of 610.   But ... while very nice, they are essentially cosmetic and I wish they would make it significantly safer to be a pedestrian in the area.  I think back to the incident in which 2 visiting "Animal Planet" directors were walking on a sidewalk there and were sent flying by a hit-and-run driver.  

 

In closing, I hope that development of the River Oaks District will spur similar cosmetic improvement inside of 610.  I also wish that more thought would be put into how to design things to keep humans from being run over.  

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I think you are in the majority. Since there are no towers anymore, interest has waned.

 

 

At least to me, it would have been otherwise acceptable if they had planned to build at least the same number of apartments that they demolished. The project as it is now, is actually a reduction in residential density for the acreage. The old plans, with the 20 story towers, seemed a lot more interesting just at face value, and probably had a lot more apartments too. That would have been great. I'd be all for that.

 

The whole thing as it is now though, just seems "moo". More handbag shops, an overpriced movie theater. Fewer apartments. Nothing taller than what, 5 or 6 stories? It's just not a *substantial* project anymore - it just seems like they're going through the motions, because OMB bought that property for the sole purpose of tearing down those buildings - so they must be torn down, and something different must be built there.

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LOL.. looks like some people are worried about the same thing im hoping.. a River Oaks skyline connecting downtown to Greenway. they even plotted a rendering with nearby plots of land that "could" be redeveloped into towers, making traffic a nightmare. 

http://swamplot.com/if-hines-builds-that-17-story-tower-on-san-felipe-everyones-gonna-wanna-build-one/2013-08-16/

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LOL.. looks like some people are worried about the same thing im hoping.. a River Oaks skyline connecting downtown to Greenway. they even plotted a rendering with nearby plots of land that "could" be redeveloped into towers, making traffic a nightmare.

http://swamplot.com/if-hines-builds-that-17-story-tower-on-san-felipe-everyones-gonna-wanna-build-one/2013-08-16/

Yeah, I saw that earlier today.

Lol @ the HAIF posters on there, shout out to TheNiche and InfiniteJim

And I agree with Niche, BRING IT ON!

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Welcome to Market Street River Oaks District. All kidding aside, it's a step in the right direction from a strip mall. The office building in the first picture looks interesting, the cinema does too. Looks a LOT better than the previous ones that were released when the economy tanked and all the towers were scrapped.

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ditto to the theater comments! i only go to Sundance these days as that is the best theater with the most respectful movie goers! i dont mind high prices keeping out the riff raff...i want to enjoy my movie haha! and to the person asking about towers being built and worried no high rises will be built due to lack of land...if the Astoria has proved anything is that you only need 5 square feet of land to build a highrise in the galleria area!!! ;)

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