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All the retailers have their place, so I don't have any problem with the development personally, but the name does sound like an admission of compromise

 

"When your standards are low, you're aiming for Lower Heights."

 

 

Edited by Nate99
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nordstrum rack is good. One less reason for me to need the galleria area. And the area needs a movie theater. It is a movie theater desert, if you will. The one on 59 near Greenway, or the one at i10 and Silber are your options.

 

I don't get the disappointment though. Considering it's nestled comfortably between a walmart and target, I'm not sure how high one could set their expectations.

 

They will only dash my expectations if they don't create access to the bike path. Ride your bike to the movies, so you won't feel so guilty about drinking the super tanker of coke and snacking on the milk duds.

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8 hours ago, HOUCAJUN said:

It's better than what was there before. So glad the warehouses are gone. Now that was pathetic.

I respectfully disagree. With warehouses there is a. Hope for a good development to come along and b. Does not create a "lower" end destination.  There is a nearby current development that this type of center would be more appropriate next to.

 

I wasn't expecting a ROD part II, just higher expectations than Sam's club, Ross-esque stores, and movie theater...

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1 hour ago, Visitor said:

I respectfully disagree. With warehouses there is a. Hope for a good development to come along and b. Does not create a "lower" end destination.  There is a nearby current development that this type of center would be more appropriate next to.

 

I wasn't expecting a ROD part II, just higher expectations than Sam's club, Ross-esque stores, and movie theater...

It was always an eyesore traveling this part of I10. Sure it's not the best development for the area but an industrial park this close to downtown was worse. So if you had to choose either or, which one would you choose? 

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2 hours ago, Triton said:

Yes!!!! We are getting a Cinemark! Very awesome... this was my biggest hope for the project.

Thought of you when I saw that. Recall us discussing theaters earlier in the thread. :)

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3 hours ago, HOUCAJUN said:

It was always an eyesore traveling this part of I10. Sure it's not the best development for the area but an industrial park this close to downtown was worse. So if you had to choose either or, which one would you choose? 

The location is obscure enough I rarely noticed it. So I'd easily choose the warehouse, again, leaving some thread of hope for the future. Such a prime piece of land that I feel like we swung and missed on.

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How long was the warehouse there? 70 years? There could have been "hope" in that spot for 70 more. I prefer to live with this retail/entertainment development while I'm "hoping" for something better.

 

 

Edited by Reporter
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43 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

We shouldn't get too carried away about those tenant listings. Note that it says "proposed retailers".  These are probably just representative of the types of retail they plan/hope to attract.

 

Don't crush my dreams, man.

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18 hours ago, Visitor said:

The location is obscure enough I rarely noticed it. So I'd easily choose the warehouse, again, leaving some thread of hope for the future. Such a prime piece of land that I feel like we swung and missed on.

 

Since it's so obscure, it shouldn't really matter whether it's an industrial site, or big box retail. There was a higher and better use of the land than industrial today, that means that there may be a higher and better use of the land than generic retail tomorrow.

 

18 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

We shouldn't get too carried away about those tenant listings. Note that it says "proposed retailers".  These are probably just representative of the types of retail they plan/hope to attract.

 

Then I'll be hopeful that nordstrum rack and movie theater are part of the list, and that a kohl's is in the list rather than ross.

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So is the parking garage the only parking? I'm only asking because I hope all of that is pedestrian space to walk. AND how could they make this area more accessible to actual Heights residents??? You have to cross 10 to get there if you live in the Heights. The way they have it set up is walkable but not inviting. It would also be nice to have large signage showing when you enter a district. 

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My understanding is that the central building is all parking, and the retail is on two levels. 

 

I'm not sure I'd call this walkable, but aside from the apartments next to Target, there's not really anyplace from which to walk to this development. The Heights bike trail cuts across the NE corner of the site, though, and it looks like they're trying to connect it to the Kroger next door.

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So the parking garage is in the middle with the stores on each side facing the garage? Something seems weird, like from the outside of this development all you'll see is the garage and the back of the stores wrapped around the garage. Maybe I'm picturing it wrong?

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Wasted opportunity.  More and more people are making use of the bike path.  There is a nice new ramp connecting the near north side to the bike path by the community center off Quitman.  There are a bunch of new high rises going up on the north side of downtown that have easy access to the bike path.  

 

What I really do not get is why this pre-packaged big box development is still getting built with all the big changes in retail.  I know for developers this combination of stores has been a proven money maker.  But that assumes that the retail world is static.  With Amazon, ebay and big shifts in retail spending habits, this kind of development seems to be dangerously backwards looking.

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30 minutes ago, CrockpotandGravel said:

I agree @s3mh. This should have been vertical retail, providing room for more development next to it like greenspace, offices, and maybe residences. Building this as a traditional horizontal retail with a wasteful parking lot, is not a good use of space in this area.

 

Step by Step guys. This is more vertical than the rest of the area. At least there is a garage and not all surface parking.

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44 minutes ago, CrockpotandGravel said:


Maybe you're right but haven't developers learned anything? You can't continue to build out for retail and homes, you have to build up as the population becomes denser.

 

This developer is big in the suburbs. The site didn't have a whole lot adding the pressure to go 'up'. Target / Kroger are essentially basic suburban layouts. I believe this development here is 2-4 floors, which is more that 1! Once this is built, we could see it change in time. Some of the surface parking could become apartments (they love being near groceries). 

 

My biggest hope here is that they play up that connection to the trail. If people could ride their bike to the movies, that would be a huge win.

 

I am personally going to get a bike this year. There is no reason I cant bike almost everywhere at this point.

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15 hours ago, Ctaf said:

So the parking garage is in the middle with the stores on each side facing the garage? Something seems weird, like from the outside of this development all you'll see is the garage and the back of the stores wrapped around the garage. Maybe I'm picturing it wrong?

 

There looks to be some engagement with the Kroger to the West, but the north side, which faces the freeway feeder, the south side, which faces the railroad, and the east side, which faces the back of the Target, will be essentially blank walls.

 

However, if they were to use the spaces on the ground floor of the parking structure as restaurant spaces, fronting a pedestrian mall, with the retail across the way, it could potentially be not terrible.

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8 hours ago, Avossos said:

 

Step by Step guys. This is more vertical than the rest of the area. At least there is a garage and not all surface parking.

 

Right.  But where is the next step going to be?  Looking at all the great development along Washington Ave in the 1st/6th wards, the arts district on Summer St., and the redevelopment of the Ravinia rice plant and you have to wonder where else in that area is there space to do something big?  It would just be nice to get a development that was looking twenty years into the future instead of something that was more relevant twenty years in the past.

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15 hours ago, s3mh said:

 

Right.  But where is the next step going to be?  Looking at all the great development along Washington Ave in the 1st/6th wards, the arts district on Summer St., and the redevelopment of the Ravinia rice plant and you have to wonder where else in that area is there space to do something big? 

 

Part of the problem is that IS big. The existing and announced projects along lower Washington and around Sawyer St are better because there's an existing street grid to engage with, and they're smaller. This development would probably be better as 20 1-acre projects instead of one 20-acre project.

 

That said, that development along Washington is still an archipelago of street-facing buildings in a sea of surface parking.

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