2111 Austin: Multifamily At 2111 Austin St.

[Triton]

Soooo... this one died?

[HoustonBoy]

It seems like it. Everything including the web page is down. Dammit I liked this one! I love low rise density made out of brick instead of stucco.

[DrLan34]

Looks like a new multifamily development has taken over the site.  This is the same two blocks that was proposed for the Milhaus development.

Edited November 19, 2013 by DrLan34

[brian0123]

That's great news. I'm glad to see something coming back here. I'll believe it when I see construction start this time (instead of being fooled by Milhaus).

[DrLan34]

Looks like a new multifamily development has taken over the site.  This is the same two blocks that was proposed for the Milhaus development.

 

These are the same two blocks that were proposed for the Milhaus development*... hahah

[Urbannizer]

More apartments for Midtown, but these are proposed at a location near the Pierce Elevated.

 

 

[ChrisPHous]

These are the same blocks where Milhaus(?) was planned correct?

 

Pretty risky location IMO.  Personally I wouldn't want to walk from that apt to bagby area or vice versa at night.

[Naviguessor]

Area is a bit sketchy now. All all of midtown used to be. But this will be a big help and with a couple years the area will be much improved.

Great news. Assume 4 to 6 floors?

[brian0123]

I believe it when I see them break ground. Milhaus went to the planning commission as well and got everything approved... then sold.

[Moore713]

I could see ground floor retail working in this area.. You have a area that is vastly under served ? How many people work in ST. joesph? That have limited dinning options outside of having to get in their car and go to papas ? If they line  the bottom with places to eat they coudl conner the south Houston market (well give people on that side more than papas anyway

[Howard Huge]

These are the same blocks where Milhaus(?) was planned correct?

Pretty risky location IMO. Personally I wouldn't want to walk from that apt to bagby area or vice versa at night.

Theres nothing to be afraid of walking in that area at night. The few times ive encountered people walking in that part of midtown they were just your random homeless/crackhead, and they are more scared of you than you are of them.

[Howard Huge]

Also, that area is held down strongly by HPD task force, undercovers and plainclothes.

[Triton]

Theres nothing to be afraid of walking in that area at night. The few times ive encountered people walking in that part of midtown they were just your random homeless/crackhead, and they are more scared of you than you are of them.

Exactly. You know people keep talking about bad areas to walk around, particularly the Greyhound bus area.

I guess the people that post have never been to Austin. There are homeless people EVERYWHERE there in downtown near Sixth Street... crackheads galore. But there are so many people walking around from bar to bar or going out to eat or what have you, that you don't even notice them sometimes!

 

This is it... when you make a walking environment and turn it into a bustling area with people walking everywhere, it doesn't matter if there are sketchy looking people. It just doesn't. So this talk of it being sketchy doesn't matter when you transform the environment itself.  

Edited November 27, 2013 by Triton

[Slick Vik]

Theres nothing to be afraid of walking in that area at night. The few times ive encountered people walking in that part of midtown they were just your random homeless/crackhead, and they are more scared of you than you are of them.

 

Yea.

Exactly. You know people keep talking about bad areas to walk around, particularly the Greyhound bus area.

I guess the people that post that have never been to Austin. There are homeless people EVERYWHERE there in downtown near Sixth Street... crackheads galore. But there are so many people walking around from bar to bar or going out to eat or what have you, that you don't even notice them sometimes!

 

This is it... when you make a walking environment and turn it into a bustling area with people walking everywhere, it doesn't matter if there are sketchy looking people. It just doesn't. So this talk of it being sketchy doesn't matter when you transform the environment itself.  

 

Exactly. I don't think the greyhound area is even bad you will face some annoyances but it's not like it's Baghdad. Let's be honest some people are just afraid of the race more than anything.

[HoustonIsHome]

I have been to over 50 countries, I've been to hundreds of cities, Houston is the only place where residents act like homeless are some novel, alien creatures.

I got drunk and lost in Seattle but some homeless people have me awesome directions to my hotel. I would have been wandering around in the rain if it wasn't for the neighborhood hobos.

In Cork, Ireland one of the people buying rounds of beers to welcome us to the city was a homeless girl. Didn't know she was homeless till after. She was just a person who didn't have an indoor home.

I think many people like to feel themselves victims and ashamed to say no. Many of these homeless people are really friendly. Yeah some do commit crimes, but most are harmless.

People keep saying midtown won't improve because of the homeless, but hey I was asked for money right down the street from Buckingham Palace (well closer to Kensington).

Homeless are everywhere people. Its not a Houston thing. They stay where they get fed.

[jt16]

I have been to over 50 countries, I've been to hundreds of cities, Houston is the only place where residents act like homeless are some novel, alien creatures.

I got drunk and lost in Seattle but some homeless people have me awesome directions to my hotel. I would have been wandering around in the rain if it wasn't for the neighborhood hobos.

In Cork, Ireland one of the people buying rounds of beers to welcome us to the city was a homeless girl. Didn't know she was homeless till after. She was just a person who didn't have an indoor home.

I think many people like to feel themselves victims and ashamed to say no. Many of these homeless people are really friendly. Yeah some do commit crimes, but most are harmless.

People keep saying midtown won't improve because of the homeless, but hey I was asked for money right down the street from Buckingham Palace (well closer to Kensington).

Homeless are everywhere people. Its not a Houston thing. They stay where they get fed.

The greyhound station is a dropoff point on your way back from prison. There are undesirable people in the area, not just homeless.

[HoustonIsHome]

That too it's the same in most big cities

[LTAWACS]

Homeless are everywhere people. Its not a Houston thing. They stay where they get fed.

So please tell that stupid church in Katy to stop driving aaaallll the way to the big city to feed homeless in midtown or downtown.

[GoodToBeMe]

I am going to bet that it is going to be a little too noisy for the owners to sit outside and enjoy a bottle or three of tequila during the week (rush hour, pollution, traffic, violence, etc) considering it is right next to the highway.

[Purdueenginerd]

I am going to bet that it is going to be a little too noisy for the owners to sit outside and enjoy a bottle or three of tequila during the week (rush hour, pollution, traffic, violence, etc) considering it is right next to the highway.

 

Violence? Hardly. I think statistically that area is in line with midtown and downtown.

Rush hour- I drive through that area for my commute all the time- It's hardly inconvenient. Traffic on the street level isnt bad at all during rush hour. On 45... that area is a bit irritating. But residents will hop on I-45 well south and north of that location. I would guess a significant percentage of the residents would work in downtown/medical district as well... making traffic on 45--irrelevant. 

Particulate Pollution: PM2.5 and PM10 do tend to be higher in areas directly adjacent to interstate highways... and in the city in general. 

Sound Pollution: Sound resistant windows and doors do a lot to remedy that.

 

Also, Who drinks 3 bottles of tequila in one sitting? 

[Howard Huge]

Also, Who drinks 3 bottles of tequila in one sitting?

A troll.

Anyhow, you are correct, I think the majority of the people who move in here will be St Joseph medical center employees or work downtown, just like most other midtowners.

[webster]

I am going to bet that it is going to be a little too noisy for the owners to sit outside and enjoy a bottle or three of tequila during the week (rush hour, pollution, traffic, violence, etc) considering it is right next to the highway.

 

You obviously do not know the area. In the many years that I have lived here, I have never been caught in a traffic jam driving through Gray, Webster, or La Branch in Midtown. We have a balcony where we spend time sipping coffee; reading and enjoying our view of the downtown skyline. There is ambient city noise, but it never gets too noisy, and we have not witnessed any violence. Did you know that there is a Dept. of Homeland Security facility in the corner of Austin and Hadley - one block from the proposed apartment site? We see patrol cars covering the area all the time. A neighbor made the mistake of parking a U-Haul truck across the street from DHS and within minutes, patrol cars were around to check the truck out. Also, there is a benefit to being between DHS and St. Joseph Hospital. After Hurricane Ike, the area was without power for only 30 minutes. I understand that Montrose and the Heights were without electricity for something like 2 weeks. Take note: no electricity means no air conditioning... in the sweltering heat of Houston. 

 

[webster]

These are the same blocks where Milhaus(?) was planned correct?

 

Pretty risky location IMO.  Personally I wouldn't want to walk from that apt to bagby area or vice versa at night.

 

We live in this area, and during the summer we walk the dog at night (around 9:00pm) after it has cooled down. We haven't had any problems. I have not walked to the greyhound area, but when I drive through there, I also see residents walking their dogs at night too. I think someone from the suburbs would not be comfortable doing that, but when you live in the city, you learn to live with everything that's in it.

[Nucleareaction]

We live in this area, and during the summer we walk the dog at night (around 9:00pm) after it has cooled down. We haven't had any problems. I have not walked to the greyhound area, but when I drive through there, I also see residents walking their dogs at night too. I think someone from the suburbs would not be comfortable doing that, but when you live in the city, you learn to live with everything that's in it.

 

And the nice thing about density is, the more people moving in, the safer it gets in terms of people on the streets after dusk.

[htownproud]

I don't know about violent crime, but I think the general crime rate is much higher around the Greyhound station than downtown (number of incidents, not necessarily number of incidents/resident, since there are so few residents downtown).  Downtown for the most part is vacant after 11:00 pm.  There is no one around to commit crime or become a victim.  During the day, there are too many people--all of whom are business people--for many crimes to occur.  

 

And there is a reason there is such a strong police presence around the bus station -- that is where all the crime happens.  There are undercover cops galore in the immediate vicinity running drug and prostitution stings (interestingly, a lot of male prostitution).  The city is (or was) trying to shut down the gas station across the street as a public nuisance due to all the crime occurring there.  Admittedly all the crimes I've identified are non-violent, but my assumption is that there must be some violent crime associated with these because there normally is.  And this is not unusual -- the same issues exist in Chicago and other cities that are trying to redevelop the areas immediately around the bus station.

 

All of that said, the more people that move to the area, the safer it will become (as Nuclearreaction noted), so I'm all for this new development.    

 

 

[bobruss]

What happened to the plan to move the bus terminal? I remember reading somewhere that there was a plan in the works to relocate it.

We lived for seven years in the old Wagon Yard project, at the same time they built Minute Maid.

from 1997 until 2004 when we were all evicted by the fire marshall.

Just around the corner was the Star of Hope and several other food drops. Some had even built a small tent city under the Elysian viaduct.

We had street people in the area all the time and never was bothered or even approached.

When people who live in the burbs start talking about the violence in the midtown and downtown areas,

I have to laugh.

Just watch the news any night and you'll see that  most of the serious crime; murder, rapes, assaults, drive by shootings

and break ins occur in the burbs.

Remember that those people left the central city (white flight) to get away from the "Crime", and moved out to the burbs.

Let them keep thinking that way. It makes it a lot easier to enjoy all of the wonderful things they have to drive back in to take advantage of. Washington Ave. wasn't much better not that many years ago.

It will happen and it will happen fast since Midtown has reached the tipping point.

And next will be the third ward.

 

 

 

[brian0123]

Yes, the Greyhound station is the last remaining bad place in Midtown and I have not heard anything about it moving now (especially since the Intermodal terminal is not happening).

 

I lived in Midtown for 5 years, walked/jogged around at night, but never felt safe around the station. My wife's grandmother who can't drive far will take the bus in to visit us occasionally and I go to pick/drop her off at this location still. It's weird going back to the old neighborhood and seeing how much Midtown has changed just in the past two years, but the station still remains the same (as it did back in 2005 when we first moved to Midtown).

 

All that said, it's only bad within a block of the station (it's like they feel more powerful when they congregate together). The location of this proposed development would make me feel safeliving there (even though it's only three blocks away). The dealers/thugs that hang out around it do nothing to you and are cowards when they are not standing together with eachother lumped around the station itself.

[jgriff]

I've seen people selling drugs near the gas station across from the BMW service center right in view of cops less than a block away. This was around noon.

[LTAWACS]

They should be exterminated. Either way, there should probably be a higher police presence there.

[infinite_jim]

I've seen people selling drugs near the gas station across from the BMW service center right in view of cops less than a block away. This was around noon.

This is your war on drugs...

Any questions?