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32 minutes ago, iah77 said:

Yeah these look like they are going to age very badly...

Sometimes I wonder how an area or building will look in 20 years. Perhaps there won't be a need for affordable apartments in the vicinity, because these will age and unlikely be revamped, and be cheaper than newer builds. Rinse & repeat (which is a good thing - not everything needs to be overpriced). By that time, 45/10 may be done, and they will be torn down for a new development. "Historic Hardy Yards". Or remain an affordable option for those living close to Downtown. 

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I am thinking just like the apartments behind it, they'll have areas with hardy plank and areas with brick. They sell it as an aesthetic to break up the monotony but really they mix it up to save on money, it ends up looking somewhere in-between good, decent and crappy depending on the viewing angle and how they choose to mix the facades.

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The first person to open a cafe'/coffee shop here would make a mint. DT is very close but awkward to get to, houston avenue's cafeza used to be this locales peoples goto and it's a bit out of the way and now closed (I don't think for lack of business). The other options are far up main street or main street downtown. I think locale group brew needs to carve a corner out of their brewery/gastro-pub and make money in the morning hours selling coffee and bagels but that's just me.

Edited by Two
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On 12/16/2021 at 3:41 PM, Two said:

The first person to open a cafe'/coffee shop here would make a mint. DT is very close but awkward to get to, houston avenue's cafeza used to be this locales peoples goto and it's a bit out of the way and now closed (I don't think for lack of business). The other options are far up main street or main street downtown. I think locale group brew needs to carve a corner out of their brewery/gastro-pub and make money in the morning hours selling coffee and bagels but that's just me.

I agree.  I'm downtown, but I'd take a train to an easily accessible coffee shop, if it was good. 

As for breakfast, you're spot on there.  Pre-pandemic, lots of chain restaurants expanded into breakfast (Wendy's, Taco Bell, etc...) because they realized that they were paying rent on property 24 hours a day, but they were only bringing in money 16 hours a day. 

Houston is one of those cities with too many restaurants that are open short hours.  Financially, if you're paying $x for a space, you should keep it open as many hours as you can to recoup the cost of $x.   Chick-fil-a gets it, and that's why its tunnel location is open until 5pm.  I've been there at 4:30, and there's still a line because everything else closed hours before.

And in terms of neighborhood commitment, I regularly walk past a bunch of other coffee places in order to patronize to Day 6 (and to a lesser extent Minuti) because it's open long hours and every day, which means it cares about the neighborhood and isn't just there to extract dollars.

 

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On 12/20/2021 at 5:24 PM, editor said:

I agree.  I'm downtown, but I'd take a train to an easily accessible coffee shop, if it was good. 

I regularly walk past a bunch of other coffee places in order to patronize to Day 6 (and to a lesser extent Minuti) because it's open long hours and every day, which means it cares about the neighborhood and isn't just there to extract dollars.

 

You should add Tipping Point and 3 Fibs to your rotation.

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While I still feel Hardy Yards missed on a fair bit of its potential, and while this is by no means relevant or memorable in any particular way, what they built is looking much better than what I was fearing. 

On 1/30/2022 at 1:06 PM, hindesky said:

The west block Prose.

GL2RsI2.jpg

 

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Considering how big this is, I'm surprised we haven't seen it here yet. Starting on page 17, from July, the planned layout and conceptual designs for the 10 acres left in Hardy Yards that the city is turning into housing.

They've thrown a bone to the mixed-use concept, with 7,500 sf retail closest to the transit center. A central greenspace, with proposed dog park (desperately needed in the area), as well as walking trails of some sort. 201 homes proposed, with three different floor plans.

housing-dept-presentation.pdf

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6 hours ago, Kinglyam said:

Considering how big this is, I'm surprised we haven't seen it here yet. Starting on page 17, from July, the planned layout and conceptual designs for the 10 acres left in Hardy Yards that the city is turning into housing.

They've thrown a bone to the mixed-use concept, with 7,500 sf retail closest to the transit center. A central greenspace, with proposed dog park (desperately needed in the area), as well as walking trails of some sort. 201 homes proposed, with three different floor plans.

housing-dept-presentation.pdf 2.1 MB · 25 downloads

Wow this is exciting stuff!

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14 hours ago, wilcal said:

Rode through Hardy Yards on my bike last weekend, and this place just has no soul. Hopefully the rest of it being filled in will help. 

When all of the redevelopment started, I hoped they would keep the railroad buildings, as they had unique looks, and were visually interesting. Failing that, the new buildings could have been designed to mimic the older structures. Instead, we got generic stuff more suited to infill development on major roads, where there's not any real opportunity to get out of the building block look and still use the available space efficiently.

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19 hours ago, Texasota said:

Now they just need to put a residential tower on top of the bus bays.

No towers, please. We've got enough out-of-place high-rises in single-family residential areas around Houston as-is. It would be nice to keep that downtown skyline at least somewhat unobstructed for the houses farther back in the neighborhood. At least, until TxDOT forces their I-10 realignment through, and the view is bisected by the raised interstate.

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7 minutes ago, Ross said:

When all of the redevelopment started, I hoped they would keep the railroad buildings, as they had unique looks, and were visually interesting. Failing that, the new buildings could have been designed to mimic the older structures. Instead, we got generic stuff more suited to infill development on major roads, where there's not any real opportunity to get out of the building block look and still use the available space efficiently.

When they announced this would be "affordable" housing, that pretty much put the kibosh on anything special. Even what we see now is conceptual, since they don't have an architect, builder, or consultant on board yet. Not even any investors.

Hell, this entire thing is more hopeful than planned at this stage. It's not much farther along than the big mixed-use development we were told the entire 40 acres of Hardy Yards would be. We may well be lucky if we get even the 7,500 SF of retail they're saying here. Or even that they don't change their minds and end up putting up condos instead of single-family homes. It's not like the residents of the area have the political pull that developers do.

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On 11/2/2022 at 8:30 AM, Texasota said:

It's next to a light rail station 2 stops from downtown and backs up to heavy rail tracks.

Skyline views for residents of detached single family homes is the *lowest* possible priority I can imagine.

A lot of those residents were enticed there by the much-vaunted promises of mixed-use development in Hardy Yards. More single-family homes are definitely a disappointment, but putting high-rise residential that blocks all views for the existing residents would make the high-rise a giant middle finger to everyone already there.

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It’s just such a missed opportunity for the city as a whole. This could have been a big draw for everyone. Shopping, dining, and a public park/space set in front of our skyline could have given the city another draw towards DT like Discovery Green. It would be great for attracting visitors and locals alike. Another spot for events, photos (quince/grads/weddings/adverts/tourism), etc. All of which would encourage biz investment in the surrounding area. Im all for affordable single family houses but I’m disappointed there wont be a shared public space. Extra disappointing that’s it’s filled with soulless apartment complexes. It’s a waste of a unique spot. 

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I saw something recently about the single family portion that said developers don't think they can finish the townhomes by the end of '24.  In order to receive federal funding this project must be finished by the end of 2024. So this might have to be converted to single story homes instead.

Saw a surveying crew working here with new surveyor stakes along Burnett St. and the crew on the little mound in the middle.


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Edited by hindesky
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Out of all the big projects in Houston, this hands down turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments. Would have been the biggest mixed-use development close to home but instead all you hear about is the major crime going on Nextdoor at this place.

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