lockmat Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Not sure if this potentially has any legs. Just thought I'd throw it out there. Can anyone tell where this might be based on the block shapes and the freeway exit? Transit-Oriented Mixed-Use Development Office, Residential and Retail space http://www.kirksey.com/project/midtown_mixed_use Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 my guess is right here: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=houston,+tx&safe=strict&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Houston,+Harris,+Texas&gl=us&ll=29.735315,-95.379637&spn=0.002618,0.006866&t=k&z=18Just south of those apartments bounded by Fannin, Cleburne and San Jacinto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisPHous Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Looks great! Anything in midtown is great, but this appears to be excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanith27 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Yeah, definitely. Just north of the midtown Sears bldg. All the roads line up perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttuchris Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Isn't that the spot where they just started a low income apartment project? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Kirksey's renderings are usually more polished looking, not right out of Sketchup.. Look at the other thread recently started with the Kirksey project over the Metro station to see what I mean. So my initial reaction would be that, at the least, this was a serious project that never got any serious traction.After determining the location however, I won't even give it that much credit. The above mentioned location appears to be correct. The double street on the right appears to be Caroline.The street running E-W between the new Triangle shaped block and the old rectangular donut shaped building appears to be Cleburne.That would mean this 7 block development would run all the way to Wheeler (see the E-W tracks) and tear down the Sears auto Center (traingular lot), plus the main Sears, and Fiesta.Additionally, they want to re-route Fannin and San Jacinto, the two main ways to get from the museum district through midtown, into one street while decreasing lanes... That tells me that this was probably some fantasy project or a proposal that got nowhere.It's on their website for 2 reasons a ) market the fact that they can do pretty good study renderings ( which lots of clients want, not all want to spend the extra money and time required for a more photo-realistic rendering) and b ) to market the fact that they know how to do Transit Oriented Mixed Use Development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister X Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 If it looks too good to be true, it isn't true. I still say Houston Pavilions and West Ave will never be built! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trae Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Isn't there suppose to be a mixed-use development at the Wheeler Station? This could be it... And who knows, with the economy looking like its on the rebound and with Metro hopefully starting construction on the University/Blue line soon, maybe it'll happen. I'm pretty sure some kind of TOD will go into the Wheeler Station area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian0123 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I emailed their site and got a response saying it was a study done about four years ago, but the 2008 downturn killed the project. Stupid 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Are you serious? UGH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted March 14, 2017 Author Share Posted March 14, 2017 It looks like Kirksey recently revamped their website and the project description of these renderings uses the phrase, "will have." Hopefully this is still on? I don't remember seeing this before either: http://www.kirksey.com/portfolio/projects/midtown-mixed-use-master-plan Maybe the "will have" language is just a typo or misstatement? Those parcels have been owned by Sears since '88. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 I remember this! I wouldn't leave Midtown lol This would really solidify the neighborhood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerNut Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 Still has the university line... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 It also shifts the path of the red line, reroutes Fannin and San Jacinto, gets rid of Sears and Fiesta, and it looks like cuts off San Jacinto going under 59 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbs315 Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 Haha. It also has a Borders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 Damnit the University Line would have been great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 University line can still happen we just have to keep pressuring metro and our elected representatives to make it happen. What happened to the big agreement between Culberson and Metro? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 1 hour ago, cspwal said: University line can still happen we just have to keep pressuring metro and our elected representatives to make it happen. What happened to the big agreement between Culberson and Metro? I wonder if the cost of an Elon Musk tunnel/subway would be comparable to at-grade light-rail line? That, I think, would make the business owners much happier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennyc05 Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 I think the only way the University line should happen if it's in subway form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terra002 Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 If it were to be a subway lane, they should shift it to westheimer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 Westheimer would for sure be a better corridor for transit - the only reason that the university line is on Richmond is because it has a much wider right of way. That and Wheeler is already set up to be a transfer station, while there is no station at Elgin. I would honestly prefer to have both - that way you can get the heart of Montrose and River Oaks as well as Greenway plaza. The E/W connection to UH & TSU is not a bad thing either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobruss Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 While subway is a nice thought the cost would be even more prohibitive and the amount of work that goes into building underground transit would cause the same amount of construction headaches on the surface. This is not virgin ground that a screw can go underground and just dig a tunnel. You have a million water, sewer, drainage, power, gas, cable, and other service lines that run underground. You have to deal with the underground water table. It would require massive amounts of pumps to keep water out. Another thought, underground stations on Richmond would flood during every major rain. I worked on the Richmond rail plan and really believe that this route is the most efficient and least disruptive due to the amount of right of way available, the residential density and the connectivity to major employment and educational centers on this route. One last thought. After Trump's new budget came out last night, it made clear that they are cutting major funds to the transportation budget, so the funds that we're not even eligible for, thanks to another genius Culbertson, will be even harder to receive. This is the route that Christof Spieler also thought was the most effective and plausible and I think he has a better handle on the situation than any of the naysayers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phillip_white Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 5 hours ago, bobruss said: While subway is a nice thought the cost would be even more prohibitive and the amount of work that goes into building underground transit would cause the same amount of construction headaches on the surface. This is not virgin ground that a screw can go underground and just dig a tunnel. You have a million water, sewer, drainage, power, gas, cable, and other service lines that run underground. You have to deal with the underground water table. It would require massive amounts of pumps to keep water out. Another thought, underground stations on Richmond would flood during every major rain. I worked on the Richmond rail plan and really believe that this route is the most efficient and least disruptive due to the amount of right of way available, the residential density and the connectivity to major employment and educational centers on this route. One last thought. After Trump's new budget came out last night, it made clear that they are cutting major funds to the transportation budget, so the funds that we're not even eligible for, thanks to another genius Culbertson, will be even harder to receive. This is the route that Christof Spieler also thought was the most effective and plausible and I think he has a better handle on the situation than any of the naysayers. I think you just solved the problem. We'll build the underground tunnels, wait for them to flood, and pass out high-fives as we introduce the world's first subterranean submarine mass transit system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 One presumes a subway tunnel would go in below all of the existing sewers, gas lines and other infrastructure. Further, there is no reason to assume that building a subway would cause the same amount of construction headaches on the surface as building light rail at street level. In fact, quite the opposite. Modern subways typically are not built by digging an open trench. They are done by tunneling. The world has many subway tunnels that have been built below the water table, and in fact below water. Why do Houstonians continue to think this would be something new, unique or difficult? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 7 hours ago, cspwal said: Westheimer would for sure be a better corridor for transit - the only reason that the university line is on Richmond is because it has a much wider right of way. That and Wheeler is already set up to be a transfer station, while there is no station at Elgin. I would honestly prefer to have both - that way you can get the heart of Montrose and River Oaks as well as Greenway plaza. The E/W connection to UH & TSU is not a bad thing either I think a subway might be able to be routed to capture Greenway Plaza, most of the Westheimer corridor and intersect with the red line at Wheeler Station and continue on to UH/TSU (perhaps on the surface.) One of my fantasies for Houston is that during these years we've heard little about the University Line, they (Metro, city officials, etc.) have been secretly putting together a plan to put at least part of that line in a subway. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 If we were doing a true subway I would think it would be routed to go to downtown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted March 16, 2017 Author Share Posted March 16, 2017 Again, an Elon Musk built tunnel might make the costs competitive to an at-grade line. Might. Would be worth exploring if/when he gets it running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobruss Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 You're absolutely right. They do drill completely underground, but I believe its usually in a different type of geology, but I'm sure I could be corrected. I don't know where else it could go except under all of the existing lines that crisscross the city not to forget gas, and oil transmission lines, if its really going to be an underground subway. The cost to move all of these lines and including engineering, and construction would far out weigh above ground expansion. But like I said I just don't think rail is feasible in Houst with the amount of flooding we get. I don't know where you live but Richmond goes under water every time we get a good rain and it doesn't even have to be a gully washer. So how would you design the underground stations to keep those flood waters out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 Lots of cities get rain and have subway stations; I'm sure there's a way to do this, even if it is as simple as having a cistern under each station for the water to drain into (I'm talking Cistern @ Buffalo Bayou Park size) The tunnels downtown don't flood when it rains, I'm just saying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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