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Rice Village Shopping Center At 2400 University Blvd.


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I don't think anything should be done to what is arguably the most urban area in Houston and now that residential has been added its almost complete. The only thing that is missing and sorely needed is a small grocery store along the lines of a Trader Joes or something like it. It would definitely be used by Southampton and wet U. I don't want to see a Kroger or HEB flagship though. That would be overkill. Then you would have the perfect place to live. Everything is at your footsteps. I walk from my office over to Jasons,  Potbelly, or Local, several times a week although it's starting to get a little more humid and I work on Sunset, so not as much but if I chose to live in Hanover I could walk to anything I needed.

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I don't think anything should be done to what is arguably the most urban area in Houston and now that residential has been added its almost complete. The only thing that is missing and sorely needed is a small grocery store along the lines of a Trader Joes or something like it. It would definitely be used by Southampton and wet U. I don't want to see a Kroger or HEB flagship though. That would be overkill. Then you would have the perfect place to live. Everything is at your footsteps. I walk from my office over to Jasons,  Potbelly, or Local, several times a week although it's starting to get a little more humid and I work on Sunset, so not as much but if I chose to live in Hanover I could walk to anything I needed.

 

Completely disagree, except for the grocery store part (which, I agree, is very much needed!). The Village Arcade is suburban in scale and footprint. It needs to be better oriented towards pedestrians with parking better situated towards the center. It needs better public space(s), green space, and parking. It needs added density -- possibly residential, hospitality, etc. And, it's just plain ugly! Hanover did a great job. Village Arcade could be even better!

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Okay, I agree with the green space and since the arcade is already there and it doesn't really work that well I'll give you that, but I think the little mom and pop stores and the way Main street or Rice feels should remain the way it has always been. I think that  part of the special qualities that have made the village so popular is its quaintness. They really do need to figure out a way to create a nice size park now that residential has come in. Probably somewhere between Rice and Sunset are the only logical areas left to be affective for all of the residential. The village association is not the Upper Kirby District however and I don't think they are driven as is UKD.

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Well, this is Houston after all. So the only opinion that counts is that of the property owners' who need to make a return on their investment. In order to do that, they need to upscale, and bring in national chains who can afford higher rents. Some of us will miss the charm and stop going there, but a larger number of people will like the convenience and patronize the Restoration Haresres, Sprinkles and Apple stores.

 

*Subdude runs screaming from the room*  

 

I would point out that the Restoration Hardwares of the world aren't really "upscale".  They are really much more middlebrow with high prices.  "Bourgeois" would be the mot juste.  Pottery Barn and the ilk.  

 

I would still prefer retailers like the Model Train Shop, Garden & Gate, Lisle Violins, World Toys, Antone's, British Isles or Alfred's Deli.  

 

 

 

I don't think anything should be done to what is arguably the most urban area in Houston and now that residential has been added its almost complete. The only thing that is missing and sorely needed is a small grocery store along the lines of a Trader Joes or something like it. It would definitely be used by Southampton and wet U. I don't want to see a Kroger or HEB flagship though. 

 

For many years there were two smaller format grocery stores in the Village:  Weingarten and Rice, so presumably a grocery could make it.  Trader Joe's is unlikely because they have their existing store close by on Shepherd.  Perhaps Sprouts might be a fit?

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Well, this is Houston after all. So the only opinion that counts is that of the property owners' who need to make a return on their investment. In order to do that, they need to upscale, and bring in national chains who can afford higher rents. Some of us will miss the charm and stop going there, but a larger number of people will like the convenience and patronize the Restoration Haresres, Sprinkles and Apple stores.

 

I think this "larger number of people" already has Highland Village, etc. I also disagree about the numbers... I think most people around a college campus want something more than an outdoor Katy Mills.

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Knowing my college, the immediate "retail" area is almost exclusively bars. There's a military surplus store, a CVS, a few sketchy convenience stores, and a tiny vintage clothing store that's accessed through a steep spiral staircase. I wish it was more like Rice Village in at least a few aspects (ethnic restaurants, please)

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Rice's grocery store: did it close before, after, or during the time the remaining Rice stores were converted to Rice Epicurean? I *think* I read it was 2001, which was while one of my cousins went to Rice, so I'll have to ask her (no, not the two I've mentioned before, "E" has moved to New England and married, "J" has since left Rice and lives in Pearland with his wife and dog, "L" still goes to Rice as a grad student)

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Additional Rice owned property in the Village (approximately 7 acres) is available for future mixed-use development. (2500 Dunstan, just west of Hanover's current development)
 
 

 

 

2500 Dunstan is only ~2 acres.  Does that mean that the land at University and Greenbriar is available for future mixed use as well?

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  • 3 months later...

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/blog/breaking-ground/2014/09/renovation-on-tap-for-rice-village-as-new-manager.html

 

Rice Management Co. recently purchased 193,000-square-feet of retail space in Rice Village for an undisclosed price with plans to renovate the property and attract new tenants.

 

Trademark Property Co. has been hired to oversee the property’s management, leasing and repositioning of the three buildings, which are known as Village Arcade and includes 50 stores and restaurants. It is working on a five-year plan that will include improvements to the landscape, pedestrian walkways, site amenities and building facades.

The property currently has a vacancy rate of about 10 percent, but future plans could also add more space to the plan.

“We will also investigate opportunities to add density and integrate other nonretail uses and possibly some common gathering areas and open space to the plan,” saidTommy Miller, managing director at Trademark.

Miami-based Duany Plater Zyberk is designing the master plan for the project.RTKL, which has offices around the world, and Boulder-Colorado-based Stantec are assisting with the design. A general contractor has not been selected.

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  • 2 months later...

Thanks for sharing. Im surprised to hear people say that if only it was only more like Highland Village, then it would be cheaper and more pedestrian friendly. Perhaps we should also petition the city to make University a seven lane road to make the area more pedestrian friendly as well.

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Thanks goodness...I hate those columns.  Will be interesting to see what they come up with to individualize the storefronts

 

The only reference to Highland Village was to the storefronts there, which are undeniably more visually appealing than the Village Arcade.  Breaking up that blandness for what sounds like a minimal investment sounds great to me

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They would do better to just divide this building up in pieces and rebuild the entire thing in phases or maybe getting different architects to design each subsequent section. That could be interesting. The biggest change that needs to happen is to make the area more pedestrian friendly.

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I suppose you can always improve on something, but what area of town is more pedestrian friendly?  There are two-way roads on a grid of shops and restaurants with relatively small surface parking lots.  People are always walking around, including across roads.  Because of this, people drive slowly and carefully.  Getting rid of the parking lots altogether would improve walkability, but that's not realistic.  

 

All of that said, I do think a stop sign on University in front of Urban Outfitters would help things.  

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No point in crying over spilled milk, but I don't see anything wrong with the Village aesthetic.  What should be addressed is the difficulty of navigating University near Kirby...while trying to turn into the Village, avoid drivers backing out of spaces by Mi Luna, avoid hitting pedestrians as they cross the street, and not getting run over by the cars behind you.

 

Does Rice have a campus shuttle that carries kids from the dorms to the Village area?  If not, then isn't that an easy solution to some of the problems in the article? 

Edited by Gator Purify
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The worst think about rice village is walkability. No sidewalks to speak of, and all the darn cars crowding around everywhere. They need to get rid or reduce parking infron of the shops, and make huge walkable (maybe bricked) sidewaks, like downtown.

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The worst think about rice village is walkability. No sidewalks to speak of, and all the darn cars crowding around everywhere. They need to get rid or reduce parking infron of the shops, and make huge walkable (maybe bricked) sidewaks, like downtown.

No, that'd be awful. Maybe if the roads were one way to improve traffic flow, though...

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It would be nice if they just eliminated all the streets but Rice blvd and University. Rice does have a shuttle to their graduate apartments (one block south of University and Morningside) although the Village is easy to walk to from the campus. I don't think the Village has ever been a big University hot-spot though. 

 

No point in crying over spilled milk, but I don't see anything wrong with the Village aesthetic.  What should be addressed is the difficulty of navigating University near Kirby...while trying to turn into the Village, avoid drivers backing out of spaces by Mi Luna, avoid hitting pedestrians as they cross the street, and not getting run over by the cars behind you.

 

Does Rice have a campus shuttle that carries kids from the dorms to the Village area?  If not, then isn't that an easy solution to some of the problems in the article? 

 

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The worst think about rice village is walkability. No sidewalks to speak of, and all the darn cars crowding around everywhere. They need to get rid or reduce parking infron of the shops, and make huge walkable (maybe bricked) sidewaks, like downtown.

 

I agree! Too many cars in front of the buildings and it makes it hard to see the shops and it also makes it hard to see Rice Village as anything other than another suburban shopping center. The complete streets initiative I believe would make Rice Village much more desirable. People like easy parking, but that does not necessarily mean right in front of the building. If given a choice, I would choose to shop and eat in an area where I am able to people watch, (see people walking their dogs, window shopping, eating at sidewalk cafes...) versus a bland shopping center with the same exact shops and restaurants.

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I agree! Too many cars in front of the buildings and it makes it hard to see the shops and it also makes it hard to see Rice Village as anything other than another suburban shopping center. The complete streets initiative I believe would make Rice Village much more desirable. People like easy parking, but that does not necessarily mean right in front of the building. If given a choice, I would choose to shop and eat in an area where I am able to people watch, (see people walking their dogs, window shopping, eating at sidewalk cafes...) versus a bland shopping center with the same exact shops and restaurants.

 

Problem with the parking at Rice Village is that a lot of the parking spaces were designed when the area was much less high-rent than it is now. The roads, frankly, are unattractive themselves.

 

What I think should be done is that the road should be rebuilt. The rebuilt road will have diagonal parking spots, wider sidewalks, and a median to reduce turns in and out (that's probably the biggest cause of trouble right there). It will solve most problems:

 

- Reducing left-turn related accidents

- Wider sidewalks

- More attractive area

- Parking is still there for shoppers and businesses

- Roads still exist so you don't have problems with traffic flow or delivery problems

 

I'm thinking something akin to the way Main Street is set up in downtown Bryan, if you know what I mean.

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As we can see from some photos posted further up, Rice Village started 70 or more years ago.  Our metro area (that now has roughly 6,000,000 people) had fewer than 400,000 in 1940 - not a whole lot bigger than Bryan / College Station now.  

 

Cars weren't as fast then, nor was the pace of life.  So one could pull off straight in parking on a street.

 

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As we can see from some photos posted further up, Rice Village started 70 or more years ago.  Our metro area (that now has roughly 6,000,000 people) had fewer than 400,000 in 1940 - not a whole lot bigger than Bryan / College Station now.  

 

Cars weren't as fast then, nor was the pace of life.  So one could pull off straight in parking on a street.

 

Never thought about it like that but you are right. Looking back at old movies from that time, you can see the difference in pace of life then and now.

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As we can see from some photos posted further up, Rice Village started 70 or more years ago.  Our metro area (that now has roughly 6,000,000 people) had fewer than 400,000 in 1940 - not a whole lot bigger than Bryan / College Station now.  

 

Cars weren't as fast then, nor was the pace of life.  So one could pull off straight in parking on a street.

Not sure what you're trying to say, boss, but I think you're not getting what I'm saying. I'm saying go from something haphazard like this scene from Times Blvd., where a left hand turn does little to stop cars from going in every which way from pulling out of parking lots:

post-4782-0-70581100-1417897058_thumb.pn

 

...to something more like this (Main Street, rotated for better comparison):

post-4782-0-89896000-1417897039_thumb.pn

 

 
Notice the landscaped median, still parking, wider sidewalks...there's still a place for drivable roads and parking in front of stores, but it could use some help, you know what I mean?
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