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Broadway Square: Multifamily At 8751 Broadway St.


sheeats

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Your thread title and post almost seem to suggest the City blew it, as usual, when in fact, the City's best efforts were thwarted by an angry HOA member, who has the misguided notion that she will live longer than it takes for rotten wood to collapse. I have to say, it sounds like Ms. Collum is getting what she deserves.

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The apartments aren't the only thing sullying up the trip up Broadway. Broadway is in need of some rehab, I've never had to dodge potholes going into or leaving IAH on Will Clayton or JFK, HOU is a gateway into Houston too and one of its main entryway's surface should be kept in good condition. You don't have to tear up the whole street and put down new concrete, a simple asphalt overlay over the stretch from I-45 to Airport Blvd would suffice. Broadway may not be much to look at, but I think it tarnishes first impressions even more to have a rough ride through a deteriorating area.

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Your thread title and post almost seem to suggest the City blew it, as usual, when in fact, the City's best efforts were thwarted by an angry HOA member, who has the misguided notion that she will live longer than it takes for rotten wood to collapse. I have to say, it sounds like Ms. Collum is getting what she deserves.

I personally agree with you on this, however I understand where she's coming from. She's witnessing the regentrification of Glenbrook Valley. Lots of new faces. New blood. New money. There is a sense of optimism about the changing neighborhood. She's probably assuming that these changes will have far-reaching consequences for properties along major thoroughfares nearby. And perhaps if you extrapolated the unbridled optimism of global capital markets along with the concurrently high energy prices circa 2006 to about fifteen years in the future, there'd be a shot that she'd be correct.

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Broadway may not be much to look at, but I think it tarnishes first impressions even more to have a rough ride through a deteriorating area.

I totally agree. There are plenty of other parts of town for visitors/newly relocated folks to witness rundown apartments and trashed streets. At least let folks get to and from HOU with a brushed-up image. It's a gateway. Sure, it's probably not going to get the detailed landscaping like in the Galleria area.

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Your thread title and post almost seem to suggest the City blew it, as usual, when in fact, the City's best efforts were thwarted by an angry HOA member, who has the misguided notion that she will live longer than it takes for rotten wood to collapse. I have to say, it sounds like Ms. Collum is getting what she deserves.

I have to agree with you. Ms. Collum should have supported the efforts to renovate the Woodlen Glen Apartments.

But as I see it, her fears are a symptom of the conditions in Houston's apartments. Slums have given low-cost housing a bad name - and that's why efforts to build low-cost housing in Houston faces such a backlash.

It's a shame, because the professionals who build subsidized housing know the reputation and do everything they can to avoid problems. And when they're renovating rather than building on open land - in my view they're doing the right thing. The effort at Woodlen Glen would have done all of that.

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Slums have given low-cost housing a bad name - and that's why efforts to build low-cost housing in Houston faces such a backlash.

As frequently as I pounce on affordable housing NIMBYs on this forum, I do understand where they're coming from, even when they aren't overtly ignorant of the process related to such development. They're concerned about the long term sustainability of housing prices and such things as are reflected by housing prices (i.e. schools, perceived crime, traffic, etc.). They are especially concerned that today's affordable housing will become tomorrow's slums, a valid concern, even if the affordable housing is well-managed for the life of the Tax Credit designation. Given the nature of their long-term investment, that should be on their radar, and I don't hold anything against them for being suspicious or frustrated given the circumstances...I only pounce when they demand special treatment or jump to conclusions out of ignorance.

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As frequently as I pounce on affordable housing NIMBYs on this forum, I do understand where they're coming from, even when they aren't overtly ignorant of the process related to such development. They're concerned about the long term sustainability of housing prices and such things as are reflected by housing prices (i.e. schools, perceived crime, traffic, etc.). They are especially concerned that today's affordable housing will become tomorrow's slums, a valid concern, even if the affordable housing is well-managed for the life of the Tax Credit designation. Given the nature of their long-term investment, that should be on their radar, and I don't hold anything against them for being suspicious or frustrated given the circumstances...I only pounce when they demand special treatment or jump to conclusions out of ignorance.

You're frustrated by affordable housing "NIMBYs." I'm frustrated by developers of affordable housing who miscast, fail to address, ignore, and scoff at neighborhood concerns. I'm glad you at least understand why neighbors are concerned about affordable housing. Not many people involved in affordable housing seem to.

Everything I've written about apartments is based on my observation that too many of yesterday's "luxury" apartments have become today's slums. I happen to live next door to one. You don't know what it's like to spend 13 months writing letters, making phone calls, going to meetings, and skipping work to speak in front of boards - just to beg a slum lord to repair a burned out building. But I digress.

I understand the need for affordable housing. I know it has to go somewhere. My dream as an architect is that all of those slums can, somehow, be turned into assets for our communities. By assets for our communities, I mean places where the poor can live (but NOT where criminals can live) - and where neighbors like me can feel as safe as we are on our own streets. I want to turn slums into good, safe, affordable housing

Thankfully this is already happening. Across the street from my subdivision is a complex that suffered horrible problems with crime and vagrants congregating around. Neighbors said they heard shots from there - I never did. About two years ago the property was sold. The criminals were kicked out, the property was gutted, renovated, renamed - and the difference is like night and day. Almost miraculous.

I know it's a big dream. But I want this to happen everywhere.

I apologize if this rubs you and your apartment developing friends the wrong way.

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You're frustrated by affordable housing "NIMBYs." I'm frustrated by developers of affordable housing who miscast, fail to address, ignore, and scoff at neighborhood concerns. I'm glad you at least understand why neighbors are concerned about affordable housing. Not many people involved in affordable housing seem to.

Everything I've written about apartments is based on my observation that too many of yesterday's "luxury" apartments have become today's slums. I happen to live next door to one. You don't know what it's like to spend 13 months writing letters, making phone calls, going to meetings, and skipping work to speak in front of boards - just to beg a slum lord to repair a burned out building. But I digress.

I'm frustrated by those who make broad policy recommendations based from a position of ignorance, and especially by those unwilling to listen to sound advice from those trying to consider all of the different perspectives involved.

I understand the need for affordable housing. I know it has to go somewhere. My dream as an architect is that all of those slums can, somehow, be turned into assets for our communities. By assets for our communities, I mean places where the poor can live (but NOT where criminals can live) - and where neighbors like me can feel as safe as we are on our own streets. I want to turn slums into good, safe, affordable housing

Thankfully this is already happening. Across the street from my subdivision is a complex that suffered horrible problems with crime and vagrants congregating around. Neighbors said they heard shots from there - I never did. About two years ago the property was sold. The criminals were kicked out, the property was gutted, renovated, renamed - and the difference is like night and day. Almost miraculous.

I know it's a big dream. But I want this to happen everywhere.

I apologize if this rubs you and your apartment developing friends the wrong way.

That's quite a dream, architect. Sadly, the structural engineer cannot stamp your drawings in good conscience.

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I'm frustrated by those who make broad policy recommendations based from a position of ignorance, and especially by those unwilling to listen to sound advice from those trying to consider all of the different perspectives involved.

I confess it's a mistake we both make, but if you had cites that I could independently verify, I'd be much more inclined to trust the numbers you put out.

Holding back on numbers seems to be a common thing in the apartment industry. I was at a TDHCA hearing, and asked a developer if he could give me a copy of the market study for his apartment project. He was caught off guard. He asked around to his henchmen, "do we have a market study?" They said 'yes' but couldn't provide it. Were they incompetent, or did they have something to hide? Nobody knows, but I can say that their whole argument was "you should support this project because the apartments will be nicer than the apartments next door."

That's quite a dream, architect. Sadly, the structural engineer cannot stamp your drawings in good conscience.

You obviously have no idea what architects do or how they work. Engineers don't stamp architects drawings. They'd get in huge trouble if they did. So would the architects.

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I confess it's a mistake we both make, but if you had cites that I could independently verify, I'd be much more inclined to trust the numbers you put out.

My source is O'Connor & Associates, which is the better of several sources of local apartment market data where Tax Credit projects are concerned. Unfortunately, I can't give you a link to the data or the whole list, just on account of that their website requires a login and password. Just to pick a random submarket, Pasadena has Bayou Willows, Empire Village, Gardenview, Granada Terrace, Harris Manor, and Southmore Park. I also made mention on your Gulfton thread of the complexes that had been renovated under the Tax Credit program (Enchanted Fountains, Fountain Oaks, and St. Cloud) after you tried to argue that TDHCA should give tax credits for renovation when they already did, and you apparently ignored me.

Holding back on numbers seems to be a common thing in the apartment industry. I was at a TDHCA hearing, and asked a developer if he could give me a copy of the market study for his apartment project. He was caught off guard. He asked around to his henchmen, "do we have a market study?" They said 'yes' but couldn't provide it. Were they incompetent, or did they have something to hide? Nobody knows, but I can say that their whole argument was "you should support this project because the apartments will be nicer than the apartments next door."

The reaction shouldn't be surprising. You have to understand the perspective of the developer. TDHCA requires the developer to provide a market study providing particular data that can be fed into the point-based system that determines which projects (of many submissions) ought to receive the Tax Credit. The developer pays a consultant to configure the market study in just such a way as to score high, which often involves creating absurd competitive market areas and actually has very little bearing on the financial success of the project. The developer may browse through it to make sure he got his money's worth, and perhaps one of his employees will go through it line by line to fact check the information, but at the end of the day, the study is just part of the submission process. Once it's been received by TDHCA, the developer will likely never again look at the study, keeping a copy of it in a little-used filing cabinet because it just isn't very useful. If they or their stakeholders have doubts about a project (which usually with affordable housing once TDHCA has rendered its opinion) and want something useful, they'll pay for an honest market study. Of course, the developers will never indicate any of this because nobody wants to stir the pot with TDHCA. It wouldn't be tactful.

You obviously have no idea what architects do or how they work. Engineers don't stamp architects drawings. They'd get in huge trouble if they did. So would the architects.

I know, I know, but the line just sounded so good at the time. I'm going to blame the malt beverage and make a retraction.

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  • The title was changed to Broadway Square: Multifamily At 8751 Broadway St.

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