Ion District In Midtown

[hindesky]

[samagon]

On 2/13/2023 at 1:30 PM, X.R. said:

They gotta do better with the crosswalk from the Ion to the parking lot. I have seen a lot of frustrated drivers either blow the blinking red light if the person isn't moving fast enough or they aggressively edge into the crosswalk. People can be such assholes.

It seems like their solution so far is to put cones in the crosswalk area and that has helped. I'm hoping there is a more permanent solution coming because that crosswalk is tough.

this would be a great space to follow a Dutch design, basically, build a road hump that is as wide and long as the crossing area, paint it a special color. basically at that point it sends a message that the car is entering a walking space, rather than the pedestrian is crossing a street.

there's an example in Houston already:

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7187582,-95.3379159,3a,75y,272.24h,81.41t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sFVDikz7D6SzS_sv7CGpNIA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DFVDikz7D6SzS_sv7CGpNIA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D231.04692%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

here's a video with a good explanation:

 

Edited February 14 by samagon

[hindesky]

There is a fairly new one at UH between the new Law School building and the Calhoun lofts, you have to slow way down or your car will bottom out if you're going too fast.

[Triton]

51 minutes ago, hindesky said:

There is a fairly new one at UH between the new Law School building and the Calhoun lofts, you have to slow way down or your car will bottom out if you're going too fast.

Nice.

I was also thinking if the crosswalk had speed sensors, it could raise a ramp to go 45 degrees so that the vehicle flies over the pedestrians to prevent any injuries to the innocent. 

[august948]

11 minutes ago, Triton said:

Nice.

I was also thinking if the crosswalk had speed sensors, it could raise a ramp to go 45 degrees so that the vehicle flies over the pedestrians to prevent any injuries to the innocent. 

Cue the Dukes of Hazzard theme song...

[houstontexasjack]

1 hour ago, samagon said:

this would be a great space to follow a Dutch design, basically, build a road hump that is as wide and long as the crossing area, paint it a special color. basically at that point it sends a message that the car is entering a walking space…………

here's a video with a good explanation:

 

I am sharing this video/concept with neighbors in Museum Park an idea of what might be done to slow traffic near the Museums along Binz. Thank you for sharing @samagon.

[Ross]

16 hours ago, samagon said:

this would be a great space to follow a Dutch design, basically, build a road hump that is as wide and long as the crossing area, paint it a special color. basically at that point it sends a message that the car is entering a walking space, rather than the pedestrian is crossing a street.

there's an example in Houston already:

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7187582,-95.3379159,3a,75y,272.24h,81.41t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sFVDikz7D6SzS_sv7CGpNIA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DFVDikz7D6SzS_sv7CGpNIA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D231.04692%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

here's a video with a good explanation:

 

Can we get a couple of those on 11th? I want to see some more heads explode😂

[editor]

On 2/13/2023 at 1:30 PM, X.R. said:

They gotta do better with the crosswalk from the Ion to the parking lot. I have seen a lot of frustrated drivers either blow the blinking red light if the person isn't moving fast enough or they aggressively edge into the crosswalk. People can be such assholes.

It seems like their solution so far is to put cones in the crosswalk area and that has helped. I'm hoping there is a more permanent solution coming because that crosswalk is tough.

I saw this last night.  The crosswalk needs help.

I'm not sure what the problem is, but I think a small part of it is that the lights aren't very visible.  Maybe they're too small.  Maybe they're positioned so that you can't see them from the curb lanes because of the trees.  But the only reason I noticed them was because the traffic was stopped.

There also seems to be a lot of confusion about who should go and when.  People in cars were stopping and waiting for people to cross, then going because the office workers on the sidewalk were just standing there. 

The rest of us were stopped farther back, and could see when the lights were on and when they were not.  But most of the drivers didn't stop at the stop line (the one that crosses the lanes perpendicularly), but instead at the zebra lines.  This is something I see a lot of in suburban tourists downtown.  They don't know where they're supposed to stop at a red light with a crosswalk, and then they end up not being able to see the light and have to crane their necks.

The immediate solution is to put an off-duty cop in the middle of the crosswalk to give some hand signals to the drivers.

The short-term solution is to upgrade the pedestrian crossing from flashing lights to a red/green light, like on Fannin at the Hermann Park Red Line station.

The long-term solution is to put buildings where those surface parking lots are, so that all of these young, healthy people will walk the extra 50 feet to the crosswalk at the corner.  But my guess is that if buildings do go up on those lots, they will have parking at the bottom, and will be equipped with a pedestrian bridge, which is not great for the neighborhood.

[editor]

17 hours ago, samagon said:

this would be a great space to follow a Dutch design, basically, build a road hump that is as wide and long as the crossing area, paint it a special color. basically at that point it sends a message that the car is entering a walking space, rather than the pedestrian is crossing a street.

there's an example in Houston already:

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7187582,-95.3379159,3a,75y,272.24h,81.41t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sFVDikz7D6SzS_sv7CGpNIA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DFVDikz7D6SzS_sv7CGpNIA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D231.04692%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

here's a video with a good explanation:

 

Interesting that these are being called "Dutch" design.  I've seen these for half a century in other cities.  They were called "Crossing tables."  All the benefits of a speed bump, but less jarring, and handy for pedestrians.

What we used to call a "Dutch crossing" was the one where the center refuge isn't straight through.  Pedestrians have to turn left or right a bit, which helps make pedestrians more aware of the traffic coming at them because they had to turn their heads/bodies in the direction of approaching traffic.  Here's an illustration of something similar from New Zealand, but the ones I'm familiar with have 90° turns for the pedestrians:

It's similar to rubber pedestrian islands, where the middle is a different width, forcing people to look up from their phones.

The idea is like the Dutch reach, which makes drivers turn their heads to notice oncoming bicycles.  This is actually the law in some places.

[Amlaham]

I believe someone once posted a video on here about how large streets/ far buildings set backs increase the likelihood of speedy drivers and decreases the comfort for pedestrians. This area has both, its 5 lanes wide and pretty much surrounded by empty lots/ parking lots. For instance, I don't see this as a problem along Bagby. I think the least they could do is dedicate one lane to street parking along Fannin (I know its already like that in certain parts but its not like that on this portion)? There's always going to be a need for parking, but I really don't see a reason for a 5 lane street in midtown, especially since its never THAT backed up. 

[j_cuevas713]

1 hour ago, Amlaham said:

I believe someone once posted a video on here about how large streets/ far buildings set backs increase the likelihood of speedy drivers and decreases the comfort for pedestrians. This area has both, its 5 lanes wide and pretty much surrounded by empty lots/ parking lots. For instance, I don't see this as a problem along Bagby. I think the least they could do is dedicate one lane to street parking along Fannin (I know its already like that in certain parts but its not like that on this portion)? There's always going to be a need for parking, but I really don't see a reason for a 5 lane street in midtown, especially since its never THAT backed up. 

I agree. I'd say Smith, Louisiana, Travis and Fannin all need to be reduced to 2 lanes.

[Amlaham]

6 minutes ago, j_cuevas713 said:

I agree. I'd say Smith, Louisiana, Travis and Fannin all need to be reduced to 2 lanes.

Don't let the suburb commuters see this, they'll want to give us their opinion on the neighborhood/ the city they don't even live in. 

Edited February 15 by Amlaham

[j_cuevas713]

5 minutes ago, Amlaham said:

Don't let the suburb commuters see this, they'll want to give us their opinion on the neighborhood/ the city they don't even live in. 

Facts haha

Edited February 15 by j_cuevas713

[BeerNut]

5 hours ago, editor said:

But my guess is that if buildings do go up on those lots, they will have parking at the bottom, and will be equipped with a pedestrian bridge, which is not great for the neighborhood.

I thought the parking garage is planned to handle all parking for the area once complete.

[Houston19514]

8 hours ago, editor said:

But my guess is that if buildings do go up on those lots, they will have parking at the bottom, and will be equipped with a pedestrian bridge, which is not great for the neighborhood.

 

2 hours ago, BeerNut said:

I thought the parking garage is planned to handle all parking for the area once complete.

You are correct, BeerNut.  There is pretty much zero chance that Editor's "guess" will turn out to be accurate.

[samagon]

4 hours ago, Amlaham said:

Don't let the suburb commuters see this, they'll want to give us their opinion on the neighborhood/ the city they don't even live in. 

these streets are already (during peak traffic hours) 3 lanes, there's the right lane which is dedicated to busses (and right hand turns) at all times, then the next most right hand lane is for carpools between certain hours. ask if anyone adheres to those posted rules though.

[hindesky]

I guarantee if they build everything they have long term plans for, there will be more parking garages.

[Houston19514]

38 minutes ago, hindesky said:

I guarantee if they build everything they have long term plans for, there will be more parking garages.

FWIW, the garage will have approx 1,585 spaces:

"The garage is designed to be a district-wide, centralized parking facility for what will eventually be a complex encompassing more than 15 city blocks.

“ION Garage is going to force people to be pedestrians in this area,” said Mary Lou Henry of Vernon G. Henry & Associates. “As opposed to having parking at each building, people will be parking at this garage and walking to their particular destinations, so we are going to add a lot to the pedestrian activity in this area.”

 

 

Also, further regarding the above-discussed crosswalk and posters' predictions regarding its future.  The master plan has the crosswalk connecting the pedestrian promenade on two sides of Fannin.  No buildings (whether parking garages or otherwise) will be built at this spot on either side of the street.

Edited February 15 by Houston19514

[004n063]

12 hours ago, editor said:

Interesting that these are being called "Dutch" design.  I've seen these for half a century in other cities.  They were called "Crossing tables."  All the benefits of a speed bump, but less jarring, and handy for pedestrians.

What we used to call a "Dutch crossing" was the one where the center refuge isn't straight through.  Pedestrians have to turn left or right a bit, which helps make pedestrians more aware of the traffic coming at them because they had to turn their heads/bodies in the direction of approaching traffic.  Here's an illustration of something similar from New Zealand, but the ones I'm familiar with have 90° turns for the pedestrians:

It's similar to rubber pedestrian islands, where the middle is a different width, forcing people to look up from their phones.

The idea is like the Dutch reach, which makes drivers turn their heads to notice oncoming bicycles.  This is actually the law in some places.

I think the person you're responding to is conflating two concepts. What is being described here is, as you noted, just a standard crossing table, which isn't particularly Dutch.

What is more Dutch is the subject of the video they linked: continuous sidewalks. These are when the sidewalks are fully continuous (instead of dipping down to street level). Similar, but not exactly the same as a crossing table that's perpendicular to the sidewalk.

[Amlaham]

18 hours ago, samagon said:

these streets are already (during peak traffic hours) 3 lanes, there's the right lane which is dedicated to busses (and right hand turns) at all times, then the next most right hand lane is for carpools between certain hours. ask if anyone adheres to those posted rules though.

Yeah I hear you, but my thing is whether those lanes are for carpools or turning right, they're still in use by cars. The wide road makes it more comfortable for them to speed and even miss a flickering light. 

[Houston19514]

On 2/9/2023 at 10:42 AM, CREguy13 said:

Coming down as of this morning

It’s still standing.

[Houston19514]

1 hour ago, Houston19514 said:

It’s still standing.

Referring to the building at 4203 Fannin.  As of today, the building is still there.  Looks to me like they might be keeping the shell of the building.

[hindesky]

North side.

 

Fannin St. is getting planter boxes.

 

I'm guessing they are keeping the building for now and only demolished portions of the building.

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

Looks like 3 of the sides of the parking garage will have planter boxes and not the north side which will probably never get any sun. South side has an awning too. Noticed the mock up with different colors of brick on it. I wonder if they changed their minds on the colors.

 

Framing for glass I assume, none of the workers have a clue if retail will be on the south side, they rarely know anything.

 

Assuming the frame of the old building is staying for now at least.

 

Mock up across the street with the multicolored brick.

[004n063]

13 minutes ago, hindesky said:

Mock up across the street with the multicolored brick.

That's new, right? Any idea where that multicolored brick will go? Assuming not where the decorative "climbing wall" brick is now...

[Luminare]

On 3/14/2023 at 2:24 PM, hindesky said:

Looks like 3 of the sides of the parking garage will have planter boxes and not the north side which will probably never get any sun. South side has an awning too. Noticed the mock up with different colors of brick on it. I wonder if they changed their minds on the colors

Mock up across the street with the multicolored brick.

Mockup walls aren't just for contractors, they are for architects as well. My guess would be they did part of this mockup as both a proof of concept and a study for the plants, and colors in tandem with daylight and shadow.

[004n063]

More glass on the ground floor

[houstontexasjack]

On 2/15/2023 at 4:24 PM, Houston19514 said:

FWIW, the garage will have approx 1,585 spaces:

"The garage is designed to be a district-wide, centralized parking facility for what will eventually be a complex encompassing more than 15 city blocks.

“ION Garage is going to force people to be pedestrians in this area,” said Mary Lou Henry of Vernon G. Henry & Associates. “As opposed to having parking at each building, people will be parking at this garage and walking to their particular destinations, so we are going to add a lot to the pedestrian activity in this area.”

 

 

Also, further regarding the above-discussed crosswalk and posters' predictions regarding its future.  The master plan has the crosswalk connecting the pedestrian promenade on two sides of Fannin.  No buildings (whether parking garages or otherwise) will be built at this spot on either side of the street.

R.I.P. Mary Lou. She was a legend.

 

[Caribomoa]

Ion building tenants as of March 2023:
 

Microsoft

chevron Technology Ventures

OpenStax Publishing

Transwestern

ARA Partners

Rice University

Carbon Clean

Cognite

Houston Methodist

Supposively, Schlumberger planned on opening a lab there but haven’t seen them as a listed tennant

[mkultra25]

20 hours ago, houstontexasjack said:

R.I.P. Mary Lou. She was a legend.

Obituary:

Mary "Mary Lou" Louise Henry

And a link to 2017 Chron interview, from the VHA website:

Urban density in Houston? Not really  

[Ross]

3 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

Obituary:

Mary "Mary Lou" Louise Henry

And a link to 2017 Chron interview, from the VHA website:

Urban density in Houston? Not really  

Love her quote on Cottage Grove. It was definitely crappy.

[Dewey]

13 hours ago, Ross said:

Love her quote on Cottage Grove. It was definitely crappy.

That entire interview is great. Very insightful and should be required reading for Houstonians.

Wish we could get more elaboration on her quote: "People talk about needing more density to support transit use. Well, we've fixed it so a whole bunch of the city can never be in the next 40 years dense enough to support transit."

[Houston19514]

17 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

Obituary:

Mary "Mary Lou" Louise Henry

And a link to 2017 Chron interview, from the VHA website:

Urban density in Houston? Not really  

Very interesting interview.  But the headline quote is kinda misleading.  She was asked if she thought we would ever be as dense as "say, Chicago", to which she responded: "I think we'll have spots that are pretty dense.  But as an overall city, I don't think so."

[hindesky]

I was wrong about them installing planter boxes on the north side. They are installing them. The lot that was slated to be a food truck park is off and will be somewhere else, I think the guy I talked to said it will now be in the parking lot across the street from the Ion. He said there were a couple food trucks in the other lot but nobody used them.

Retail is on the south side of the parking garage and most of the windows have been installed. He also said they should be finished in about 6 weeks. The empty building they gutted will be a restaurant.

 

[kennyc05]

I drove past the garage a couple of days ago and those windows look great everything is starting to come together!

[Caribomoa]

Q5 moving Houston office to Ion buulding.

https://www.consulting.us/news/amp/8969/q5-moves-houston-office-to-the-ion-district

Overall, tenant roster is looking decent. Microsoft still has their larger office in CityCentre; but they’re the largest tenant at the Ion building.

Considering HPE is the largest technology company with its top office in Houston, it would be cool if they could become an anchor. But they have a close relationship with UH, so this may not be possible since ION is a Rice University project (not sure there).

[004n063]

Plants peaking out

[004n063]

Okay, I need to follow up with a quick rant. After I took the photo above, I rolled over to the plaza in front of the main Ion building. It's a beautiful day, and it was just after 10AM. Had there been a café or something open, I would have happily patronized. As it was, nothing was open, but no worries - it's a lovely day and a lovely place to sit down for a bit (I had a place to be at 11). 

Within minutes of my sitting down, a security guard came up to me and told me to vacate the premises. You're not allowed to sit there unless you're a tenant, apparently.

I can understand this if the site is under construction, but it isn't. If they're hoping for this to become a lively, pedestrian-oriented area, this policy has got to go. As it is, it's functionally just another downtown-office-tower "plaza" with a different building shape, and it'll remain as dead as all of those if they maintain anti-public policies like this. 

[Ross]

56 minutes ago, 004n063 said:

Okay, I need to follow up with a quick rant. After I took the photo above, I rolled over to the plaza in front of the main Ion building. It's a beautiful day, and it was just after 10AM. Had there been a café or something open, I would have happily patronized. As it was, nothing was open, but no worries - it's a lovely day and a lovely place to sit down for a bit (I had a place to be at 11). 

Within minutes of my sitting down, a security guard came up to me and told me to vacate the premises. You're not allowed to sit there unless you're a tenant, apparently.

I can understand this if the site is under construction, but it isn't. If they're hoping for this to become a lively, pedestrian-oriented area, this policy has got to go. As it is, it's functionally just another downtown-office-tower "plaza" with a different building shape, and it'll remain as dead as all of those if they maintain anti-public policies like this. 

If they let you sit there, then they have to let the homeless sit there, which paying tenants won't like.

[004n063]

47 minutes ago, Ross said:

If they let you sit there, then they have to let the homeless sit there, which paying tenants won't like.

When paying tenants are there, the policy is not in effect (I know, because I've sat in that plaza dozens of times during business hours). 

Moreover, I don't really buy the logic there. You can respond to antisocial behavior without enforcing an antisocial environment.

[Twinsanity02]

22 hours ago, Ross said:

If they let you sit there, then they have to let the homeless sit there, which paying tenants won't like.

They are "gun shy" about people loitering in that location due to the drug addicts and drinkers which would then begin to congregate there. Most people do not like the smell of urine, vomit, and other bodily ejecta especially if they are paying for the area.  It was not too long ago in which that was happening. 

[hindesky]

[004n063]

4 hours ago, Twinsanity02 said:

They are "gun shy" about people loitering in that location due to the drug addicts and drinkers which would then begin to congregate there. Most people do not like the smell of urine, vomit, and other bodily ejecta especially if they are paying for the area.  It was not too long ago in which that was happening. 

I really do get it. But if the goal is a lively public-facing space, you're going to have to allow people to actually be there.

[X.R.]

The landscaping for this garage is better than most luxury apartments. I'll try and grab a picture, but its quite robust, you have a tree every 8-10 feet or so with various foliage/plants that they were putting in.

Once you have all that green planted and the green on the garage going, transformative may not be a strong enough word for how much that area was changed by the development.

[hindesky]

They added decorative fencing around the trees.

[CREguy13]

I'm in the Common Desk here and we received an email last week about switching all tenant parking over to the garage in May.  There's been more movement and chatter lately on the District... I'd put money on plans for Phase II being released in the coming months with a near-term timeline for construction to start.

This area can't truly take off until the next phase gets underway.  Berkadia's Q4 2022 report shows the visitor lot across from the plaza  as proposed MF. My guess is that would be the first out of the ground, it alone would really help catalyze the area.

[HNathoo]

3 hours ago, CREguy13 said:

I'm in the Common Desk here and we received an email last week about switching all tenant parking over to the garage in May.  There's been more movement and chatter lately on the District... I'd put money on plans for Phase II being released in the coming months with a near-term timeline for construction to start.

This area can't truly take off until the next phase gets underway.  Berkadia's Q4 2022 report shows the visitor lot across from the plaza  as proposed MF. My guess is that would be the first out of the ground, it alone would really help catalyze the area.

That would be great news for the area. Infill MF construction has been near impossible to pencil, but I imagine Rice can do whatever they want given their grand plan.

[ChannelTwoNews]

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2023/04/24/the-ion-leasing-update.html

"The Ion District, Houston’s innovation hub at 4201 Main St. in Midtown, is quickly approaching 100% leased status. Ten new tenants have recently signed on to lease space in the Ion, accounting for a combined 35,000 square feet in the 266,000-square-foot building.

With the new leases, the Ion is now 86% leased.

Additionally, construction crews are currently working on building a new lab at the Ion. Rice University’s Nexus Lab will be designed for prototyping and scaling-up technologies, according to a news release."

 

[clutchcity94]

3 hours ago, ChannelTwoNews said:

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2023/04/24/the-ion-leasing-update.html

"The Ion District, Houston’s innovation hub at 4201 Main St. in Midtown, is quickly approaching 100% leased status. Ten new tenants have recently signed on to lease space in the Ion, accounting for a combined 35,000 square feet in the 266,000-square-foot building.

With the new leases, the Ion is now 86% leased.

Additionally, construction crews are currently working on building a new lab at the Ion. Rice University’s Nexus Lab will be designed for prototyping and scaling-up technologies, according to a news release."

 

Do we know who the new tenants are?