Popular Post Angostura Posted May 18, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted May 18, 2021 The walkability of a neighborhood is pretty tightly correlated with the average parcel size within it. Any parcel as large as a city block is as likely as not to be complete crap. Compare this streetscape: ...with this one: If this area was to have any hope of being an interesting, walkable, horizontal-mixed-use neighborhood, the plot of land that eventually became the Target would have had to be replatted, continuing the street grid from the other side of Sawyer, into parcels with, say 25 to 50 feet of frontage each, exempted from setbacks and parking minimums. 20 years later, you would have had a neighborhood within a 10-minute bike ride of downtown, filled with half-million-dollar townhouses, small mid-rise apartment buildings, and street-level retail, and you could grow it west and south as other warehouses came on the market. This is basically how the Heights came about (except greenfield instead of brownfield.) But in a world where it's pretty easy to finance a huge multi-acre development there's not much reason to develop in this way anymore. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted May 19, 2021 Share Posted May 19, 2021 20 hours ago, Angostura said: The walkability of a neighborhood is pretty tightly correlated with the average parcel size within it. ....continuing the street grid from the other side of Sawyer, into parcels with, say 25 to 50 feet of frontage each, exempted from setbacks and parking minimums. 20 years later, you would have had a neighborhood within a 10-minute bike ride of downtown, filled with half-million-dollar townhouses, small mid-rise apartment buildings, and street-level retail, and you could grow it west and south as other warehouses came on the market. This is basically how the Heights came about (except greenfield instead of brownfield.) But in a world where it's pretty easy to finance a huge multi-acre development there's not much reason to develop in this way anymore. so to increase walkability, in addition to minimum lot width, you'd also have a maximum lot width? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasota Posted May 19, 2021 Share Posted May 19, 2021 Minimum lot width needs to go away or at least be reduced. I believe the minimum lot width for non-residential lots in Houston is 50', which is absolutely absurd and totally at odds with this kind of traditional commercial development. You can get around it with variances, having retail on corner lots, or a single lot with multiple tenants of course. But it's the kind of development restriction that strikes me as pretty arbitrary and totally at odds with what the City should be prioritizing. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted May 19, 2021 Share Posted May 19, 2021 most deed restrictions will have 50' minimum width as well, including a 5000sf minimum lot size. mainly because up until 1999 this was a city ordinance. in 1999, they allowed the deed restrictions to be adjusted to have lot sizes less than 5000sf for residential. reviewing the deed restriction for my neighborhood (which was updated in 2017 to keep people from running air BNB) the 50' width, and 5000sf minimum still exist. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted May 19, 2021 Share Posted May 19, 2021 So the city hasn't even considered changing the minimum width? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big E Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 13 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said: So the city hasn't even considered changing the minimum width? Probably no more than its considered doing away with minimum setback requirements and parking minimums, or curtailing deed restrictions. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angostura Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 On 5/19/2021 at 10:52 AM, samagon said: so to increase walkability, in addition to minimum lot width, you'd also have a maximum lot width? I don't know if there needs to be a maximum width, but if you plat at 25-ft or 33-ft frontage and sell lots individually, a lot of development is going to happen on one or two-lot parcel. On 5/19/2021 at 11:16 AM, Texasota said: Minimum lot width needs to go away or at least be reduced. I believe the minimum lot width for non-residential lots in Houston is 50', which is absolutely absurd and totally at odds with this kind of traditional commercial development. You can get around it with variances, having retail on corner lots, or a single lot with multiple tenants of course. But it's the kind of development restriction that strikes me as pretty arbitrary and totally at odds with what the City should be prioritizing. Yes, at least for uses other than single-family residential, minimum width is 50 (or 60) feet. Recall that a typical downtown or EaDo block is only 250 feet between rights of way. So you can never really have more than 5 different façades on a given block face. Add in the 5000 minimum size for non SFR reserves, and the most different façades on the block face around the corner is three. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted June 26, 2021 Share Posted June 26, 2021 Civil work so far. East side looks to be the underground detention pond. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted August 8, 2021 Share Posted August 8, 2021 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 Drilling piles. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted September 11, 2021 Share Posted September 11, 2021 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted September 18, 2021 Share Posted September 18, 2021 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted September 25, 2021 Share Posted September 25, 2021 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highrise Tower Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRed Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 Whaaaatt? I thought this was going to be a mixed use space and new theater?! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 (edited) This is the Home Depot going up at the Lower Heights project. Edited October 2, 2021 by hindesky 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRed Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 Had no clue a HD was going there. Am I nuts - this seems odd for the area, no? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 2 minutes ago, BigRed said: Had no clue a HD was going there. Am I nuts - this seems odd for the area, no? I think most were disappointed when we found out but I'm sure the Home Depot will be well received. Movie theaters and office buildings aren't in much demand nowadays. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted October 3, 2021 Share Posted October 3, 2021 On 10/1/2021 at 9:50 PM, hindesky said: I think most were disappointed when we found out but I'm sure the Home Depot will be well received. Movie theaters and office buildings aren't in much demand nowadays. Yup, with Covid and a good amount of people working from home, it's no wonder that home renovation is such a big thing right now.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted October 16, 2021 Share Posted October 16, 2021 Home Depot and two other buildings going up on this. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 Can anyone confirm if Google ever moved in? I figured there would be some sort of signage or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErickEdgar Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 8 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said: Can anyone confirm if Google ever moved in? I figured there would be some sort of signage or something. I think that was supposed to be in the commercial space above HEB (Buffalo Heights). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 9 minutes ago, ErickEdgar said: I think that was supposed to be in the commercial space above HEB (Buffalo Heights). oops I posted in the wrong forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post hindesky Posted December 17, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted December 17, 2021 (edited) I took my 3 pics then saw a guy getting ready to fly his drone over the site. Asked him if they are made available to the public and he said no. They are strictly for the developer's use. He also said one of the two buildings toward the front will house a veterinarians office. Didn't know what else would be in the other ones. I asked if he was aware of HAIF and he said yes. Waved at the guy's laying the concrete for what I believe will be the streets around the Home Depot. Edited December 21, 2021 by hindesky 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avossos Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 http://gulfcoastcg.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/LowerHeightsDistricts-Marketing-Package-04.26.21.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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