1111 Studewood Place

[samagon]

Once built I agree.

But the construction process can be horribly inconvenient, For the past couple months either a lane of Studemont has been blocked with dump trucks lined up or now 11th 1/2 is backed up with cement trucks making the street impassable at least between 630-730 in the morning. Then there are the wondering front end loaders and trucks that turn on the wrong street then race through till they figure out where they are going. If I lived on 11th 1/2 or 12th I'd go nuts.

If they could manage to keep their mess on their property then have at it, but the intrusion on other people's life is real (sunsets and birds notwithstanding)

That really is frustrating. Luckily though they'll eventually run out of dirt to move, and concrete to pour.

[mcook2002]

we have a night heron up by us. see the dude a few times a week . (20th and N. Main area)

[SilverJK]

Once built I agree.

But the construction process can be horribly inconvenient, For the past couple months either a lane of Studemont has been blocked with dump trucks lined up or now 11th 1/2 is backed up with cement trucks making the street impassable at least between 630-730 in the morning. Then there are the wondering front end loaders and trucks that turn on the wrong street then race through till they figure out where they are going. If I lived on 11th 1/2 or 12th I'd go nuts.

If they could manage to keep their mess on their property then have at it, but the intrusion on other people's life is real (sunsets and birds notwithstanding)

not nearly as inconvenent as the construction on 11th street... but alas, that is how things happen. I drive by the 11.5 construction daily, and i've never had issues, they also are out of there by 6pm daily (from what I've seen). The COH had construction crews working heavy machinery @ 4-5AM a few times when rebuilding North Main. I actually kind of enjoy building construction, as a fan of architecture it is interesting to me to see things come to shape.

We are in the center of the 4th biggest city in the country, you WILL be inconvenienced by construction/repair of some sort on a regular basis. Imagine those who live close to the I-10 feeders!

[s3mh]

The houses across the street have large trees in their front yards, even without this building there will be no planting.

The house to the west won't be affected as you imagine. Again, having a garden in my backyard and a house (my house) situated closer to my garden, in a similar position as this building (granted not 6 stories, but the proximity gives my garden shade for about the same period of time as this building will) the homeowner would not be adversely affected by shade.

Other than that, since we're going off of guesses anyway, I'm going to guess you're wrong.

This really is moot, and I'd encourage you to keep tabs on the properties once this is built and give us a full crop report, since the building isn't going to stop now.

First, it's yellow crowned night herons.

Second, I've lived in Houston (Alief for 32 years [back when most of the neighborhoods were ranches with cows] and East End for the past 3) my whole life and never seen this, maybe they only socialize in The Heights.

I think your doomsday scenario won't play out, there's very few places in Houston where densification on that level has played out, and those aren't primarily residential (Galleria Area and Med. Center Area). The majority of Houston doesn't embrace condo living, and unless drastic things happen, it never will, at least not before we are long dead and buried.

Hell, even around River Oaks, which is way more affluent than The Heights, there's very few residential high rises, at least not on the level you foretell.

And finally, if high rise residential areas were to start popping up over there, I'd bet they'd fill out the areas south of I10 first, you know, the Washington Corridor, there's a lot more single owner contiguous land on that side, when you consider you have to account for parking, as well as size for a 10 or so story building, you're talking a large footprint, and I don't think there is much land that can sustain that in The Heights, before you have to start buying out individual homeowners.

Just out of curiosity S3MH, where would you think these 8, 10 and 12 story buildings would be located? I'm genuinely curious now!

Funny how you do not even live in the Heights but are very fond of telling us what is best for our neighborhood. Yellow crowned herons are all over the Heights. Residents fought to save a set of large live oaks in the Heights that were home to several nesting pairs. I hear them squak to each other almost every night in the summer. I have also seen black bellied whistling ducks, barn owls, tons of barn swallows, night hawks, inca, white winged, and mourning dove, red tail and sharp shinned hawks, ruby throated humming birds, and, during migration, black and white and hooded warblers, white eyed and blue headed vireos and scarlet tanagers. The more trees are pulled and the more the Heights is built up, the less we will see this wildlife in our neighborhood.

And if you lived in Houston for as long as you claim, you will know that Greenway plaza was built where a neighborhood once stood. I don't think the Heights will ever succumb to that kind of wholesals destruction, but there is plenty of land ripe for building up. Heights blvd has at least a half dozen cruddy apartment complexes that could be torn down and built up. While it may be too late now, the Esperanza School bungalows could have been bought up, torn down and replaced with something similar to the 1111 Studewood building. It is sitting on a lot that is not much more than 4-5 residential lots. You can have that and more plenty of places in the Heights:

Ashland/Waverly and 13th: warehouse/machine shop and a few neglected houses

Ashland/Tulane and 7/8th: big warehouse. Could probably develop the entire block into the Height's version of the Ashby highrise

South of Height bike trail, between Shepherd and Rutland: Sky is the limit. Tons of land. Knock down the industrial stuff and build 20, 30, 40 stories.

Apartments on 9th and Courtlandt: About the size of the 111 Studewood lot

Fiesta on Studewood: Last I heard, they will be gone when their lease is up

e 12 1/2 and Studewood: mentioned above, land available

Nicholson/Rutland and 24th/25th: Haven't heard whether there are plans for this one, but if not, tons of land. Could easily build 10, 12+ stories. Multiple mid-rise buildings are possible.

Tulane and 12th: Lone Star Poultry. Would be easy if you could buy out a house or two. If the realtors get their way, that may very well be possible.

Yale St. from 4th St. to 7th: Plenty of room once the industrial stuff moves out.

Wildcard: Churches. Plenty of church land interspersed in the Heights. I doubt any of them would sell before the industrial/commercial/apartment sites get razed, but who knows.

Once one goes up, the argument to stop the one next door is very difficult to make. Once something huge goes up, it becomes much easier to buy up individual lots of homeowners who no longer live in the little town in the middle of a big city. Eventually, the Heights will end up looking more and more like the Greenway/Westheimer area, with little pockets of residential housing squeezed in between all kinds of commercial development.

[J008]

not nearly as inconvenent as the construction on 11th street... but alas, that is how things happen. I drive by the 11.5 construction daily, and i've never had issues, they also are out of there by 6pm daily (from what I've seen). The COH had construction crews working heavy machinery @ 4-5AM a few times when rebuilding North Main. I actually kind of enjoy building construction, as a fan of architecture it is interesting to me to see things come to shape.

We are in the center of the 4th biggest city in the country, you WILL be inconvenienced by construction/repair of some sort on a regular basis. Imagine those who live close to the I-10 feeders!

It is not much consolation that I will inevitably be inconvenienced by something so why not a jackhammer outside your bedroom at 7am (or cement truck).

At least the building is progress, the I-10, and 11th street construction is another story. I am convinced that studemont at I-10 is actually worse than before (unless you wanted to get to Chili's and Target from there, which I don't). If I-10 at Studemont looked like 59 at Montrose, that would be an improvement.

[RedScare]

Funny how you do not even live in the Heights but are very fond of telling us what is best for our neighborhood. Yellow crowned herons are all over the Heights. Residents fought to save a set of large live oaks in the Heights that were home to several nesting pairs. I hear them squak to each other almost every night in the summer. I have also seen black bellied whistling ducks, barn owls, tons of barn swallows, night hawks, inca, white winged, and mourning dove, red tail and sharp shinned hawks, ruby throated humming birds, and, during migration, black and white and hooded warblers, white eyed and blue headed vireos and scarlet tanagers. The more trees are pulled and the more the Heights is built up, the less we will see this wildlife in our neighborhood.

And if you lived in Houston for as long as you claim, you will know that Greenway plaza was built where a neighborhood once stood. I don't think the Heights will ever succumb to that kind of wholesals destruction, but there is plenty of land ripe for building up. Heights blvd has at least a half dozen cruddy apartment complexes that could be torn down and built up. While it may be too late now, the Esperanza School bungalows could have been bought up, torn down and replaced with something similar to the 1111 Studewood building. It is sitting on a lot that is not much more than 4-5 residential lots. You can have that and more plenty of places in the Heights:

Ashland/Waverly and 13th: warehouse/machine shop and a few neglected houses

Ashland/Tulane and 7/8th: big warehouse. Could probably develop the entire block into the Height's version of the Ashby highrise

South of Height bike trail, between Shepherd and Rutland: Sky is the limit. Tons of land. Knock down the industrial stuff and build 20, 30, 40 stories.

Apartments on 9th and Courtlandt: About the size of the 111 Studewood lot

Fiesta on Studewood: Last I heard, they will be gone when their lease is up

e 12 1/2 and Studewood: mentioned above, land available

Nicholson/Rutland and 24th/25th: Haven't heard whether there are plans for this one, but if not, tons of land. Could easily build 10, 12+ stories. Multiple mid-rise buildings are possible.

Tulane and 12th: Lone Star Poultry. Would be easy if you could buy out a house or two. If the realtors get their way, that may very well be possible.

Yale St. from 4th St. to 7th: Plenty of room once the industrial stuff moves out.

Wildcard: Churches. Plenty of church land interspersed in the Heights. I doubt any of them would sell before the industrial/commercial/apartment sites get razed, but who knows.

Once one goes up, the argument to stop the one next door is very difficult to make. Once something huge goes up, it becomes much easier to buy up individual lots of homeowners who no longer live in the little town in the middle of a big city. Eventually, the Heights will end up looking more and more like the Greenway/Westheimer area, with little pockets of residential housing squeezed in between all kinds of commercial development.

I am excited by the possibilities you list. Hopefully, some of your suggestions come to fruition. The neighborhood will be better for it.

[samagon]

Funny how you do not even live in the Heights but are very fond of telling us what is best for our neighborhood.

funny how you mistake my comments as 'telling you what is best for your neighborhood'. I'm merely pointing out your incorrect statements. I like the heights as a neighborhood and do frequent some of the establishments of the area.

Yellow crowned herons are all over the Heights. Residents fought to save a set of large live oaks in the Heights that were home to several nesting pairs. I hear them squak to each other almost every night in the summer. I have also seen black bellied whistling ducks, barn owls, tons of barn swallows, night hawks, inca, white winged, and mourning dove, red tail and sharp shinned hawks, ruby throated humming birds, and, during migration, black and white and hooded warblers, white eyed and blue headed vireos and scarlet tanagers. The more trees are pulled and the more the Heights is built up, the less we will see this wildlife in our neighborhood.

I don't doubt there are species that are indigenous to specific areas of Houston, it wouldn't surprise me that the heights plays host to a variety of species, there's a decent amount of untouched area very near there.

However, it is disingenuous to say what you said that I responded to regarding birds.

And if you lived in Houston for as long as you claim, you will know that Greenway plaza was built where a neighborhood once stood. I don't think the Heights will ever succumb to that kind of wholesals destruction, but there is plenty of land ripe for building up.

I think this is something I can safely say I agree with you regarding.

There's lots of areas that the landscape is vastly changed from as it was originally, even if you don't count development of Houston from a big swamp, then rice patties. The Heights is an excellent example of an area that has changed drastically even in the last 20 years. That's the thing though, just because you like it now, or I may have liked it 10 years ago, or I really liked Garden in the Heights (which is now a bunch of condos), that doesn't mean that things don't change, and that they are within your control to change. You can complain about it and make all sorts of outlandish remarks, which you have a penchant of doing, but that won't change the reality. I'm passionate about some areas of Houston, and I don't have to live in one specific area to voice my opinion on it, or I'm sure Editor would have censured me in this forum long ago. As it is, I bet he finds our exchanges funny. When I go back and read them, I know I do, mainly because we are exhausting so much energy on crap we can't change, especially just sitting at our computers arguing about it.

Heights blvd has at least a half dozen cruddy apartment complexes that could be torn down and built up. While it may be too late now, the Esperanza School bungalows could have been bought up, torn down and replaced with something similar to the 1111 Studewood building. It is sitting on a lot that is not much more than 4-5 residential lots. You can have that and more plenty of places in the Heights:

Ashland/Waverly and 13th: warehouse/machine shop and a few neglected houses

Ashland/Tulane and 7/8th: big warehouse. Could probably develop the entire block into the Height's version of the Ashby highrise

South of Height bike trail, between Shepherd and Rutland: Sky is the limit. Tons of land. Knock down the industrial stuff and build 20, 30, 40 stories.

Apartments on 9th and Courtlandt: About the size of the 111 Studewood lot

Fiesta on Studewood: Last I heard, they will be gone when their lease is up

e 12 1/2 and Studewood: mentioned above, land available

Nicholson/Rutland and 24th/25th: Haven't heard whether there are plans for this one, but if not, tons of land. Could easily build 10, 12+ stories. Multiple mid-rise buildings are possible.

Tulane and 12th: Lone Star Poultry. Would be easy if you could buy out a house or two. If the realtors get their way, that may very well be possible.

Yale St. from 4th St. to 7th: Plenty of room once the industrial stuff moves out.

Wildcard: Churches. Plenty of church land interspersed in the Heights. I doubt any of them would sell before the industrial/commercial/apartment sites get razed, but who knows.

Once one goes up, the argument to stop the one next door is very difficult to make. Once something huge goes up, it becomes much easier to buy up individual lots of homeowners who no longer live in the little town in the middle of a big city. Eventually, the Heights will end up looking more and more like the Greenway/Westheimer area, with little pockets of residential housing squeezed in between all kinds of commercial development.

I disagree, not with the locations you've pointed out, I'm sure economical development that can benefit everyone in this city will come, but whether or not it will actually happen on all of that land you suggest, I doubt. Same as with the Ashby highrise, if the voice of the community does sing together, and their arguments do make sense, then they will be stopped. There's very limited access to the Heights, and I think there are fewer places than you list that would make 12 story towers available due to traffic restrictions. This is why I stated that south of I-10 is going to grow prior to north, as far as density goes. It's a lot easier to access the freeway.

I don't think we'll see the amount that you doom and gloom about in our lifetimes though.

[heights_yankee]

It is not much consolation that I will inevitably be inconvenienced by something so why not a jackhammer outside your bedroom at 7am (or cement truck).

At least the building is progress, the I-10, and 11th street construction is another story. I am convinced that studemont at I-10 is actually worse than before (unless you wanted to get to Chili's and Target from there, which I don't). If I-10 at Studemont looked like 59 at Montrose, that would be an improvement.

Actually, neighbors in that area had to call and complain because they were operating heavy machinery as late as 9 pm.

I agree about Studewood @ 10. It's definitely worse. Some mornings the traffic is backed up all the way to White Oak, which I never saw prior to the new lane configuration.

[barracuda]

I agree about Studewood @ 10. It's definitely worse. Some mornings the traffic is backed up all the way to White Oak, which I never saw prior to the new lane configuration.

I think losing the dedicated right turn lane onto the I10 W feeder was a mistake. I don't know how else they could have configured it, but the sudden lane change seems to confuse a lot of folks who suddenly find themselves in the left turn lane.

Edited June 15, 2011 by barracuda

[MOpens]

I agree about Studewood @ 10. It's definitely worse. Some mornings the traffic is backed up all the way to White Oak, which I never saw prior to the new lane configuration.

It is also impacting access to the westbound feeder out of the Heights. Before, there was a turning lane on Studewood southbound that allowed traffic to access the feeder. Now, without that turning lane, all traffic turning on to the feeder goes when the light (a long light) changes. That bunched-up traffic makes access to the feeder kind of like Frogger. I don't mind, because I don't really get bothered by having to wait 20, 30, even 60 seconds to go. But for the impatient among us, trouble is brewing.

Back to the topic of this thread - I am very excited about the project on 11 1/2, and the prospect of more similar (read: reasonable) projects.

[tanith27]

As an aside, retail lease rates for this building are around $28/sqft. About on par with Rice Village area. Seems rather pricey for an unproven area that I would argue gets significantly less traffic (foot and vehicle) than the Village...

[SilverJK]

I bet those rates come down a little when closer to compeletion, if the space isn't filled (which at that rate seems likely). I suspect the same for the Lofts. They would have to do something really special to get someone to pay over 400k for a loft here (unless they are just massive in size). It is only natural for them to be greedy at this point though.

[houstonray]

I heard on another forum that the owner of the new building is negotiating to buy out Someburger and just make additional parking. Anyone else heard this? I wonder what the rules would be to put Someburger in my front yard? LOL! Just kidding, but I'd hate to lose this place. I suppose it was inevitable when the new construction started.

[callisthenes]

I heard on another forum that the owner of the new building is negotiating to buy out Someburger and just make additional parking. Anyone else heard this? I wonder what the rules would be to put Someburger in my front yard? LOL! Just kidding, but I'd hate to lose this place. I suppose it was inevitable when the new construction started.

I'm not buying that rumor. The corner lot has more value than just a parking lot. If they wanted more parking, I think they would negotiate a contract with the real estate office with the large parking lot next door to Someburger.

[tanith27]

Actually it makes some sense. Given that the city is requiring 8 parking spots per 1000 sqft, that doesn't leave much room for anyone wanting to build anything. Its an awkward space, absolutely perfect for a burger shack, but not a lot of room for much else.

[Texasota]

The city requires 8 spaces per 1000 square feet? That's absolutely insane. Is it a flat requirment or does it differ depending on type of business?

[RedScare]

The city requires 8 spaces per 1000 square feet? That's absolutely insane. Is it a flat requirment or does it differ depending on type of business?

That is for restaurants. It varies for others, most being much less than restaurants.

http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientID=10123&stateID=43&statename=Texas

See Chapter 26, Article VIII.

Edited June 22, 2011 by RedScare

[Texasota]

Thank you; I'm strangely tempted to memorize that site. Overall parking requirements do seem somewhat...excessive across the board.

[s3mh]

I can hear the developers running down to the City to plat their land before this ordinance is passed:

http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/DevelopRegs/hidensity/index.html

I think this is a great idea that will finally get developers of multi story buildings out of residential neighborhoods and into areas that could really benefit from density.

[SilverJK]

I can hear the developers running down to the City to plat their land before this ordinance is passed:

http://www.houstontx...sity/index.html

I think this is a great idea that will finally get developers of multi story buildings out of residential neighborhoods and into areas that could really benefit from density.

of course you think this is a good idea, you get to tell other people what to do purely from your own thoughts. I think it is a terrible idea. I'm fine with having something like this possible... but requirement should be the neighbhorhood apply for it with a majority of homeowners approval.

[RedScare]

I can hear the developers running down to the City to plat their land before this ordinance is passed:

http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/DevelopRegs/hidensity/index.html

I think this is a great idea that will finally get developers of multi story buildings out of residential neighborhoods and into areas that could really benefit from density.

Why did you post that draft ordinance in this thread? It would not apply to this building, even if the ordinance was already in place.

[s3mh]

Why did you post that draft ordinance in this thread? It would not apply to this building, even if the ordinance was already in place.

Sure it would.

[RedScare]

Sure it would.

Nope. The proposed ordinance does not apply to buildings less than 75 feet tall. You should read it a little closer.

[SilverJK]

Nope. The proposed ordinance does not apply to buildings less than 75 feet tall. You should read it a little closer.

Red, this building is more than 75ft tall..... emotionally. lol after all it blocks all of north norhilll of their evening sun.

[tanith27]

Isn't an average "floor" approx 12 to 15ft in height including all the space between floors? Six stories plus rooftop amenities seems like it will exceed 75ft.....

[RedScare]

There's probably a rule about casting shadows over old homes in that historic ordinance somewhere. They covered everything else.

Isn't an average "floor" approx 12 to 15ft in height including all the space between floors? Six stories plus rooftop amenities seems like it will exceed 75ft.....

Sure, if you say so.

[MOpens]

Isn't an average "floor" approx 12 to 15ft in height including all the space between floors? Six stories plus rooftop amenities seems like it will exceed 75ft.....

Unless they have folks camping out on the rooftop (!), those rooftop amenities would not count. The draft ordinance states: "For purposes of this division, the height of a structure shall be measured from grade to the finished floor of the tallest habitable floor or the tallest parking floor of a parking garage."

[MOpens]

Unless they have folks camping out on the rooftop (!), those rooftop amenities would not count. The draft ordinance states: "For purposes of this division, the height of a structure shall be measured from grade to the finished floor of the tallest habitable floor or the tallest parking floor of a parking garage."

Fyi - See section 10-317 of the City of Houston ordinances. "Habitable" means a room or other interior space lawfully occupied for living, sleeping, eating or cooking. Bathrooms, toilet rooms, closets, halls, storage rooms, and utility rooms are not habitable spaces.

What if you built a 100-foot building - 2 levels of retail, 4 levels of condos (all averaging 12 feet, giving you 72 feet), and then tacked on 2 levels of storage units, each at 14 feet? Loophole...

[ricco67]

Fyi - See section 10-317 of the City of Houston ordinances. "Habitable" means a room or other interior space lawfully occupied for living, sleeping, eating or cooking. Bathrooms, toilet rooms, closets, halls, storage rooms, and utility rooms are not habitable spaces.

What if you built a 100-foot building - 2 levels of retail, 4 levels of condos (all averaging 12 feet, giving you 72 feet), and then tacked on 2 levels of storage units, each at 14 feet? Loophole...

Hmm...

a condo/retail with self storage on top?

Man, I wonder what business plan would work for THAT!

[MOpens]

Man, I wonder what business plan would work for THAT!

Yeah, not sure I would want to live there. But the more I think about, the fine folks at City Hall might need to go back to the drawing board on this one. The reference I gave earlier was to the city charter, not the city ordinances. The ordinances do not include a definition of habitable, presumably because the city is bound by the definition in the charter. With that said, and given the charter's definition of habitable, this draft ordinance does not appear to have the teeth to do anything to stop someone from building a "large" office tower. A 15-story office tower (5 levels for parking, assuming average height keeps those under 75 feet + 10 levels for offices) would not run afoul of this draft ordinance. I guess an easy fix would be to use some other measure instead of "habitable," but maybe I am missing something...

With all of that said, and notwithstanding any appearance that my posts could be interpreted as wanting the City to move forward on this, I should be clear - I do not support this at all.

Apologies for diverting us from the topic of this thread.

Edited July 11, 2011 by MOpens