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METRORail Construction Drove Business Out Of Downtown

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Anyone else gets this logic? .... But this is exactly the irrational reasoning Anti-Rail folks have been saying for this past decade. I have lived in this area before and after rail and visited many a establishments before and after. Light rail has no real correlation to them. There are way too many other factors that contributed to the pre-rail fall, post-rail rise & fall, and now rise of downtown establishments.

Same thing applies to all the other rail lines including the Richmond line.

No offense, but I was not and am not anti-rail. Looking back I may have been if I knew the impact was going to be so lasting. There was a lot of fall out due to rail construction especially along Main Street. Light rail certainly had an negative impact during construction per the tenants and landlords that were impacted by it downtown. I get tired of hearing all of these factors with regard to downtown which seem to be created by groups whos interests really kind of seem self-serving and the restrictions imposed instead of striving to make downtown a friendly environment for all business that have an interest in opening within the area. Leasing space has always been for the most part a first come first serve type of situation and restrictions hinder its growth. I look at the 300 block of Main which seems to be the best performing block in downtown in terms of the amount of restaurants and bars located all on the same block, but yet you don't hear anything about it ? I read that this area has 9000 employeess located within the court buildings. Compare the daytime employment demographics of blocks downtown to new projects located next to the convention center and determine what section has better demographics, more restaurants/bars/cafes clustered together,and higher liquor sales. How can this be intentionally ignored. It seems that there has been an effort to extinguish this area (Market Square) of downtown as being the section of town known for bars,restaurants,entertainment, and games. It has been re-named the "historic district", instead of giving it a name that relates to the area, like the entertainment district. Also, Market Square is the name of this area. Why do we need to try to carbon copy areas be naming an area of downtown "Main Street Square" also ? Main Street is a street. Why do we have statues erected for "Market Square" located on Main Street within the "Main Street Square " area instead of on display in Market Square ? How confusing ? Perhaps that is the intent. It's almost as silly as having to fly to France and having to go to the Louvre to see statues from Greece. It seems that it is done to intentionally confuse those who aren't familiar with downtown's origin. I hear people say that the residential base needs to increase for retail to make it downtown. Really ? I have always felt that Midtown has a lot of downtowns workforce as it is downtown's neighborhood. Light rail pushed a lot of business to Midtown and Midtown grew as I see it substantially due to lightrail construction downtown. I think more people don't live downtown because in short it is expensive. If you speak with apt. property managers in Midtown I believe that they will tell you that most of their apts. are occupied by 2-3 people living in tight quarters, because it makes it affordable. If we could acknowledge that this residential base in Midtown is a major contributing factor and that not only are there 140,000 people that work downtown daily but a great amount that live in downtown/Midtown and have people make an effort to get that information out then downtown might not have such a perceived problem and need for groups. Downtown by design was made to accomodate commercial demand anyway, and commercial opportunities shouldn't be pushed away for the lack of being able to explain this relationship to Midtown(downtowns neighborhood) to potential retailers considering the area, in addition to pushing it towards coh funded projects to boost convention business. I like Midtown, but it is not a CBD...I believe that as someone else already stated in this forum(sorry,can't remember who) that downtown is the only part of town with so many cranes due to new construction if not the only area in Houston undergoing construction of buildings. How can it be doing so poorly when we have so much optimism about office space that new buildings are being constructed with the economy in the state it is. Why do we have to divide downtown up into so many different sections anyway ? Why not have 1 downtown and promote the area as a whole instead of as an incubator strictly for convention business tourists ? Again, I am going to have to say that I think light rail was a problem during construction, and that it being completed is going to have to be a positive but have also realized that so much more could be done by those who are supposed to promote the area to support the entire area, but then there might need be so much of a perceived need for these types anymore because I really think the area stands a good chance of doing better without all the limiting restrictions and money spent to confuse people over making downtown an area for all of Houston to enjoy.

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samagon

samagon

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I believe that as someone else already stated in this forum(sorry,can't remember who) that downtown is the only part of town with so many cranes due to new construction if not the only area in Houston undergoing construction of buildings.

I wanted to comment on so much more, but walls of text are hard to navigate. this was the main comment I wanted to address.

head to the med center area, plenty of cranes over there too.

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I wanted to comment on so much more, but walls of text are hard to navigate. this was the main comment I wanted to address.

head to the med center area, plenty of cranes over there too.

I'm sorry but I wasn't including hospitals expanding...

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Has anyone checked out club ISIS which I believe opened in the old Mercury Room location? It's at Main@Prairie close to Byrds store.

That was a large and really cool space...

ps- do they serve food ?

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samagon

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as freddie mercury would say..another one bites the dust. el rey is history

El Rey is history because their prices were stupid.

~$2 for a taco? Their food was not that spectacular.

I'd rather get in my car and drive out to Greenway and eat 100% Taquito.

I'm disappointed a choice for DT is gone, but I'm not disappointed this place didn't survive. I hope they are replaced by a more down to earth alternative.

Also, as Kyle mentions, their hours were far from reliable.

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I wonder if the other three locations are still okay? I tried to go to El Rey downtown several times and they were never open their stated hours. Sometimes they were even closed on Friday night.

That's interesting because I had a taco at el rey this am and when I pass by there daily it is always open ? I can't figure out if you guys/gals are getting it confused perhaps with another place that I heard about opening and closing downtown perhaps in that new pav project? I found this link:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/houston-pavilions-houston

post-2466-12668567522598_thumb.jpg

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That's interesting because I had a taco at el rey this am and when I pass by there daily it is always open ? I can't figure out if you guys/gals are getting it confused perhaps with another place that I heard about opening and closing downtown perhaps in that new pav project? I found this link:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/houston-pavilions-houston

I didn't get any pings on club Isis opening in the old Mercury room location at Main/Prairie and if they served food or not. I seem to remember Mercury room serving food. Also learned about Club 112, which opened at 112 Milam in the previous Toc location which moved right across the street from 112 Milam. Has anyone stopped by Club 112 ? Any feedback...

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sevfiv

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Yeah, I was at the downtown El Rey last Friday (? memory lapse) around 7pm and it was closed.

Regardless of the price (which I didn't think was so bad), where is a reliable place to get good and quick Cuban food for relatively cheap (and preferably central or SE)?

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kylejack

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Yeah, I was at the downtown El Rey last Friday (? memory lapse) around 7pm and it was closed.

Regardless of the price (which I didn't think was so bad), where is a reliable place to get good and quick Cuban food for relatively cheap (and preferably central or SE)?

The El Rey on Washington has better hours. There's also a place on Fairview that's orange called Latina Cubana Cafe that I haven't tried.

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I'm more of a going to shows guy than a club guy (and I really don't like cover charges), so I don't really know, but Isis seems to get business. Never been inside.

Thanks for the feedback regarding club Isis. Glad to see this place open again. I saw a picture of Isis and it looks pretty sharp. With regard to Club 112, I read that it has two separate levels with music for the younger crowd on 1 level and 40's music like Sinatra and Tony Benet in the basement, but am not sure about cover charges...

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LegacyTree

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There's also a place on Fairview that's orange called Latina Cubana Cafe that I haven't tried.

The baked chicken is excellent there.

There is also a small Puerto Rican restaurant down the street that's pretty good (if still there), east of Montrose on the northside of Fairview.

The downtown El Rey is a good lunch spot, which probably explains to stinginess of evening hours.

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mkultra25

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Tex-Chick is definitely Puerto Rican - "Comida Puertorriqueña" used to be prominently painted on the front window, not sure if it's still there as I haven't been by there in a long time.

The Latina Cafe is (or was - another place I haven't been in too long) reliably good. It has got to be one of the oldest continually-operating Cuban restaurants in Houston - it was originally Cardet's Cafe, named after the Cuban family who owned it, up until the mid-80s or so, at which point it was purchased by Koreans and renamed (the Cardets now own and operate the Texas distributorship for Goya Foods). I have a fond memory of sitting at a table in Cardet's in 1981 with my closest friend, who is Cuban, and filling out our respective applications to Rice while chain-smoking and sucking down multiple demitasses of _muy fuerte_ Cafe Bustelo. ;)

Sev: not very Central/SE, but as far as good & cheap Cuban, I've heard very good things about Manolo's Cuban Cafe. It's located near Hillcroft and 59 (6015 Hillcroft #3700). Haven't been there yet but am dying to try it. Cafe Piquet on Bissonnet is quite good, but it's gone upscale considerably since its origins as a few tables in a Cuban grocery store (Piquet Market).

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Tex-Chick is definitely Puerto Rican - "Comida Puertorriqueña" used to be prominently painted on the front window, not sure if it's still there as I haven't been by there in a long time.

The Latina Cafe is (or was - another place I haven't been in too long) reliably good. It has got to be one of the oldest continually-operating Cuban restaurants in Houston - it was originally Cardet's Cafe, named after the Cuban family who owned it, up until the mid-80s or so, at which point it was purchased by Koreans and renamed (the Cardets now own and operate the Texas distributorship for Goya Foods). I have a fond memory of sitting at a table in Cardet's in 1981 with my closest friend, who is Cuban, and filling out our respective applications to Rice while chain-smoking and sucking down multiple demitasses of _muy fuerte_ Cafe Bustelo. ;)

Sev: not very Central/SE, but as far as good & cheap Cuban, I've heard very good things about Manolo's Cuban Cafe. It's located near Hillcroft and 59 (6015 Hillcroft #3700). Haven't been there yet but am dying to try it. Cafe Piquet on Bissonnet is quite good, but it's gone upscale considerably since its origins as a few tables in a Cuban grocery store (Piquet Market).

I loved that L.Cafe place growing up...They have awesome soup on Fridays !
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