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The Travis: Multifamily High-Rise At 3300 Main St.


Urbannizer

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I completely agree with Bobruss. Very well stated. Nevertheless one can have an impressive skyline and a walkable city e.g New York, Chicago, Boston. Houston has over-emphasized skyline and greatly under-emphasized charm and walkability. I remember returning one time from Montreal with its charming old city and parks along the St. Lawrence and my wife and I  groaning about Houston. I am expecting (perhaps foolishly) that all the new apartments and condos will attract charming urban amenities seen in many cities. I hope I hope I hope.

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I'm not worried about Midtown. They seem to be coming around and there is a lot of available older building stock that is being redeveloped as retail and it seems that many of the developers are of the mindset to create more of it. I just wish Camden was more understanding about the situation they are creating by not putting in more GFR. Like Ive said a million times and I will continue to harp so that maybe it will someday catch on. Once you build these huge developments with nothing on the ground floor to attract pedestrians, residents, or visitors you will stifle the growth of that neighborhood.

Neighborhoods are places that people should be able to get around conveniently on foot and not have to depend on the car so much. That does not create an environment that people really want to live in. Who wants to walk for blocks and blocks looking at cars parked in garages. Id rather be able to go out my door and go to a book store or a pharmacy around the corner or below my apartment. Now you still have to get in your car and drive.

You can do that in Sharpstown.

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1 hour ago, thatguysly said:

They need to start putting grocery stores on the the bottom floor or two. Driving to one is a pain in Midtown and Eastside has no options other than the crummy Kroger.

 

From 3300 Main: 

 

Proposed Whole Foods  .3 miles

Fiesta                              .6 miles

Randalls                          .8 miles

Kroger                             .9 miles

H-E-B                            1.6miles

 

Currently Fiesta would be an easy train/bike ride.   If Metro and COH can get the Wheeler/Peggy park area in check it would do wonders for this area.

Edited by BeerNut
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  • 1 month later...
7 minutes ago, invisibletrees said:

 

He never said construction began. Also neither demolision or demolition means construction. in any town.

Spelling, oops.

 

as to the rest, I know what he said.  Frankly, I don't get excited about a building being torn down and a vacant lot created.  I do get excited about construction though.  The point is, as you seem to agree, the one does not infer the other.  

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Just to be clear, tearing down a building just for the sake of creating a vacant lot in order to lower taxable valuation is not exciting.  Tearing down a building when we have renderings, plats, and other information that gives medium to high probability that something better will take its place is definitely exciting.  Especially in such an up-and-coming part of Midtown.

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43 minutes ago, phillip_white said:

Just to be clear, tearing down a building just for the sake of creating a vacant lot in order to lower taxable valuation is not exciting.  Tearing down a building when we have renderings, plats, and other information that gives medium to high probability that something better will take its place is definitely exciting.  Especially in such an up-and-coming part of Midtown.

I agree.

 

unfortunately, as Camden did over a years ago in downtown next to the Toyota Center, lovely renderings are published, PR announcements are made, existing buildings on the site are flattened, and then...... Nothing but a parking lot materializes.  We shall see.

 

 

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http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2016/08/24/developer-these-are-the-possible-tenants-for-new.html

 

Quote

What kind of retail tenants do you see for this project?

Along Main Street, we would like to have a restaurant or possibly a coffee shop. It's a little early to tell exactly what’ll go there. The space along Travis could easily be office space, or it could also be more traditional retail.

What most attracted PMRG to this property? Was it the property's proximity to the rail line?

There are many different attributes that led us to developing in Midtown, (such as) retail, bars and restaurants, transit, easy access to mass transit, proximity to grocery stores such as the new Whole Foods, proximity to the new park.

 

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This was a very ugly concrete building and this is the best thing that could have happened to it. It wasn't old and I believe its was one of those aggregate and concrete tilt up buildings. The city of Houston used it for their permits building for a while. Glad to see it go and exited that this project is still moving forward!

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1 hour ago, cspwal said:

What was this building originally?  The arches suggest something more interesting than your typical office block

 

Considering how Main St. used to be a big commercial strip before the freeways were built, this might have been a '60's era bank building, back when banks used to be all about large lobbies and lots of tellers (think hold-up scene in Point Break). Haven't been inside so can't speak to the lobby. Or the city might have built it originally and this was their attempt at some so-so architecture to ennoble the public service, but I doubt the city would have paid for Main Street frontage for a public building.

 

If it was a bank, I bet Subdude will have a postcard.

 

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OR it could have been a post office. The 1962 view at historicaerials.com shows trucks pulled up to some loading docks on the north side towards the rear, where the parking garage was later built, which says post office to me. It has a very solid, post office-y type of construction (usually hell to demolish), but again I don't know why a government building would have such expensive frontage, unless they were just going for civic pride. This would have been fairly progressive architecture for c. 1960 when it was built... and interesting that the architecture is Islamic in inspiration.

 

Edited by H-Town Man
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3 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

Or it could have been a bank.  On Arch-ive.org it is called the Southwestern Savings Association Building

 

http://arch-ive.org/archive/3300-main/

And, seemingly, in  1960 this Savings and Loan had offices at 3401.  By 1967, it looks like they built and likely occupied 3300 main.

 

http://www.allcourtdata.com/law/case/southwestern-sav-l-assn-of-houston-v-falkner/cw0JalfE

 

 

Edited by UtterlyUrban
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