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CC has the advantage of being an an already affluent area next to nice roads and is on two major highways.

this site is in the hood with crappy roads, limited access, to freeways, no bus service to speak of, and may or may not still have an active rail line or two next to it.

 

They way want to wait for outside infrastructure improvements first.

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1 hour ago, monarch said:

Keep-Calm-Its-the-Silly-Season.png

^^^ what on earth is with this EAST RIVER moniker?  "river?" a mile away from downtown houston is simply ridiculous!  what not just go with BAYOU EAST?

silly season indeed......

 

Admittedly i dont understand the "east river" moniker either. A ) it's not a "river". b ) it sounds too much like an NYC rip off.

 

2 hours ago, EllenOlenska said:

...He's more robot than human now....

But more on the subject of KBR. Well, tangentially related to KBR. I was under the layman's impression the realignment would 1) double up the roads along where 69 is, thus further obstructing the KBR site, and was 2) not a done deal? Anyone?

 

True. Last I heard the realignment was still up in the air, though it seemed like txdot was leaning heavily towards the realignment. I'm not sure "obstruction" would be much of an issue though?

On a somewhat related side note, I had mentioned in the past that I hoped whoever developed this property would implement some sort of bayou transportation connecting the site with Allens Landing/downtown. They could be a midpoint stop between Allens Landing and the proposed Maritime museum at the turning basin.

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3 hours ago, monarch said:

Keep-Calm-Its-the-Silly-Season.png

^^^ what on earth is with this EAST RIVER moniker?  "river?" a mile away from downtown houston is simply ridiculous!  what not just go with BAYOU EAST?

silly season indeed......

I agree. It is unimaginative to be always imitating NYC places ( midtown,uptown,avenida de las Americas etc which are at least tolerable) but now to extend this illusion to renaming a bayou after one of their rivers. This is too much. Even in an ad. Are we going to rename the Astros "Houston Yankees Jr" ?

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11 minutes ago, Twinsanity02 said:

I agree. It is unimaginative to be always imitating NYC places ( midtown,uptown,avenida de las Americas etc which are at least tolerable) but now to extend this illusion to renaming a bayou after one of their rivers. This is too much. Even in an ad. Are we going to rename the Astros "Houston Yankees Jr" ?

 

Oh for the love of god, get hold of yourself.  Nobody is renaming the bayou.

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6 hours ago, Triton said:

Thank God they didn't explain to us what "east" meant. I think they're concerned people are going to ask "Why use River instead of Bayou?" Think East River just sounds more marketable than East Bayou.

 

They may think that there are people who are not aware that bayous are rivers.  And judging by the reaction of some on this board, they are apparently correct.

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I hope to God you are correct. With this renaming of everything in the last 20 years to sound like New York Junior I wouldn't be so sure. Just look at how many places have been given illusionary New York names. In addition to the previous list East side is now called "Eado" or something similar. It all lacks originality.

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17 minutes ago, Twinsanity02 said:

I hope to God you are correct. With this renaming of everything in the last 20 years to sound like New York Junior I wouldn't be so sure. Just look at how many places have been given illusionary New York names. In addition to the previous list East side is now called "Eado" or something similar. It all lacks originality.

 

Is there another city (or at least urban discussion board) with so such low self-esteem that they pee their pants at the possibility that something might be seen to be derivative of something in New York City?  Cities all over America have downtowns, uptowns, midtowns, SoMas, NoDos, EaDos, LoDos, etc., etc., etc.  There is even an East River some place outside of New York (an actual river, unlike the non-river East River in NYC) and any number of other things named East River, in places other than NYC.

 

And FWIW, the entire East Side is not EaDo.

Edited by Houston19514
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41 minutes ago, Twinsanity02 said:

I hope to God you are correct. With this renaming of everything in the last 20 years to sound like New York Junior I wouldn't be so sure. Just look at how many places have been given illusionary New York names. In addition to the previous list East side is now called "Eado" or something similar. It all lacks originality.

 

The name clearly to some degree refers to the East River in New York City; Brinsden acknowledged the New York inspiration in the article, and even gave out Brooklyn's Dumbo (which is on the East River) as an example. That said, there is nothing wrong with deriving names from NYC, just like there was nothing wrong with NYC deriving many of its place names from London.

 

Edited by H-Town Man
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57 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

 

They may think that there are people who are not aware that bayous are rivers.  And judging by the reaction of some on this board, they are apparently correct.

 

I'm pretty sure people on this board are aware that a bayou is a "slow moving river", but that doesn't change the fact that the body of water that this property is on is called Buffalo Bayou, not Buffalo River. Either way I'm happy about the planned development.

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I wonder if there were people in NYC that had discussions about areas being named after places in London, or the Netherlands back in the way back machine?

 

Harlem? Really? Can't we be more original than that??

 

Anyway, I may be in serious denial, but I think the freeway realignment is really far from funded, no matter what the people at txdot approve. there's a chron article that stated 4 billion just for the downtown section?

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/transportation/article/Houston-s-7-billion-highway-project-would-widen-8323573.php

Edited by samagon
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16 minutes ago, Mr.Clean19 said:

Have an opportunity to speak with Midway in the next few weeks about this development. What would HAIF'rs give as input on a project with this much open land and with the opportunity to make this a landmark site?

 

-A central plaza styled like those in Europe and Latin America. A fountain?

-Need light rail extension to it maybe stemming from the green line, buses too. 

-Integrate the bayou. Restaurants and cafes right on it, but try to limit chains.

-A big public market like Pikes Place in Seattle. 

-Use native trees and plants. No palm trees!

-Mix modern/contemporary architecture with the warehouse brick look of the east end. No stucco or beige!

-Use arches, we don't have enough of those. And incorporate them into ground floor retail and restaurants.

-A clock tower that you can climb up to for the hell of it. 

-I'm not sure if the development goes across the bayou as well, but if it does, a signature bridge. Something with charm. 

-And lastly, make it a development where all sorts of people can go have fun, play local music, and interact. No matter how awesome it is, we don't need another river oaks district. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Mr.Clean19 said:

Have an opportunity to speak with Midway in the next few weeks about this development. What would HAIF'rs give as input on a project with this much open land and with the opportunity to make this a landmark site?

Show them renderings of Regent Square and then ask them if they envision a similarly urban design for their development. 

 

Emphasize to them that where they decide to put parking is key. Parking that comes between the sidewalk and storefront typically endorses a suburban design, with large pedestrian unfriendly setbacks. If they put parking behind stores, that's ok. If they make parking garages, that's ok. If they go underground parking, that's ok. If they put parking on street sides, that's ok too. 

 

But they should try to avoid putting parking lots between their developments. Show them the street level interface planned for Regent Square, or even City Center. 

 

Because they have nearly a mile of bayou fronting their land, a river walk type of thing with stores, restaurants, and bars along the bayou would be amazing. 

Edited by Sellanious Caesar
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2 hours ago, Mr.Clean19 said:

Have an opportunity to speak with Midway in the next few weeks about this development. What would HAIF'rs give as input on a project with this much open land and with the opportunity to make this a landmark site?

 

Keep it simple. Back Bay in Boston is beautifully simple. One commercial street. One boulevard/esplanade street. Park along the river. Uniform grid, no pointless curves or dead ends. All the best places are laid out simple. Simple gets better with age.

 

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2 hours ago, Mr.Clean19 said:

Have an opportunity to speak with Midway in the next few weeks about this development. What would HAIF'rs give as input on a project with this much open land and with the opportunity to make this a landmark site?

 

Dont really care what goes on it, I just would like it to feel integrated with the streets and feel as public as possible. Avoid anything that feels like it's an enclosed development. Put as many streets on it as possible. Don't build ugly garages. 

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3 hours ago, Mr.Clean19 said:

Have an opportunity to speak with Midway in the next few weeks about this development. What would HAIF'rs give as input on a project with this much open land and with the opportunity to make this a landmark site?

Top golf on a roof 

 

 

 

 

 

 

jk but seriously stay away from the bland beige color pallet and well planned connection/integration to the bayou.  

 

This might be a long shot but if they really want to create something special like they claim this would be a good chance to create a landmark or something that really stands out that has never been seen before.  I'm not speaking of the actual development itself just some sort of novelty structure like the space needle in Seattle :)

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3 hours ago, pablog said:

 

-A central plaza styled like those in Europe and Latin America. A fountain?

-Need light rail extension to it maybe stemming from the green line, buses too. 

-Integrate the bayou. Restaurants and cafes right on it, but try to limit chains.

-A big public market like Pikes Place in Seattle. 

-Use native trees and plants. No palm trees!

-Mix modern/contemporary architecture with the warehouse brick look of the east end. No stucco or beige!

-Use arches, we don't have enough of those. And incorporate them into ground floor retail and restaurants.

-A clock tower that you can climb up to for the hell of it. 

-I'm not sure if the development goes across the bayou as well, but if it does, a signature bridge. Something with charm. 

-And lastly, make it a development where all sorts of people can go have fun, play local music, and interact. No matter how awesome it is, we don't need another river oaks district. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I agree NO PALM TREES !  So tired of seeing those in the central, northern and western parts of the city where they are NOT NATIVE.  It isn't Galveston and will never be.

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2 hours ago, Timoric said:

 

They do look nice and I used to like them too until I had to care for them. I have two huge year-round blooming Magnolias (not sure what you call them) and actually really dislike them because they make tons of raking, pruning, picking up broken sticks, and bagging with the pine cone things they drop and the heavy dirty leaves multiple times a year. Of course my wife thinks they are great looking out the window smiling at me holding a wine glass while I am raking all the time.

 

That's one of the beauties of a high density, master planned environment... you get People to do such things. B)

 

Seriously, though, magnolias work best when they've got enough room to do their natural thing of having limbs all the way to the ground.  That takes care of a lot of the stick and cone picking, raking, and pretty much all of the pruning.

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Fool me once...

 

If Alessandra is any indication, the KBR site is going to be CityCentre on the bayou.  Not the worst thing in the world, but hardly something that's going to break new ground or be a major tourist attraction like Pike Place.  We can all fantasize about more, but I think it would be foolish to expect anything beyond Midway's track record. 

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I think Texas bald Cypress trees along the bayou edge would be very nice. They are native and they love water. They turn a beautiful rust color in the fall.

I would prefer no stucco. I think if your going to build a lasting project that sets a high bar it should be brick and concrete and steel. 

Provide for a lookout area perhaps the plaza built above the parking garage for downtown vistas. Urban design only no suburban schlock!

Leave room for continuation of trails along the bayou. I think a trolley down Clinton to downtown Harrisburg light rail station at Convention center would be great.

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Also, I'm suprised no one on here commented on this company KBRN's purchases at the same time:

 

ACCOUNT INFORMATION
Account Number Owner Name Property Address Zip Impr Sq Ft Market Value Appraised Value
0371220000006 KBRN LP 2315 NAVIGATION BLVD 77003 0 $4,068,500 $4,068,500
0371230000001 KBRN LP 2338 NAVIGATION BLVD 77003 0 $123,440 $123,440
0371230000005 KBRN LP 2311 CANAL ST 77003 49,700 $3,655,120 $3,655,120
0371230000023 KBRN LP 2332 NAVIGATION BLVD 77003 0 $236,620 $236,620
0351540000001 KBRN LP 3300 CLINTON DR 77020 0 $375,000 $375,000
0351550000001 KBRN LP 3200 CLINTON DR 77020 0 $325,000 $325,000
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