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StreetLevel's Project on former TI's land to Mimic CityCentre

 

However, the first portion of the project will be complete in summer 2017, and will be dubbed "Airport Row," as it'll be easily accessed from Highway 59 and Airport Boulevard. The row will include fast-casual restaurants and some fast food options. Schiller said that the completed project will be comparable to CityCentre — developed by Houston-based Midway Cos. — off Interstate 10 and Beltway 8.

 

"We could compare a lot of things we love about CityCentre – its scale, the intimacy, the green public space, the outdoor patio, the mix of uses," Schiller said. "(But) we’re going to improve upon that and do (some things) differently, like access, parking, on-street parking, as well as structured parking."

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"We're going to take the great things about City Centre and improve them...with parking

 

Yeah that's what everyone talks about at the Double C....the parking. 

 

I've never had an issue with parking at either Town center or City Centre.

 

Yes I can't park in front of the J Crew, but there's always parking in the parking garage.

 

I'm starting to get skeptical now that I'm hearing 'parking' as a selling pt.

 

You know what has EVEN more / better parking?!..... the Walmart that'll be across the street..... the iconic Stafford Walmart.

 

Whatever the parking situation is at the former TI headquarters, you better lock your car and leave nothing in view. There will be theft. Oh yes. There will be theft.

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That's kinda what I was getting at...who lauds parking as an advantage but Houston?

Well in reality City Centre's parking is packed Friday & Saturday nights. Valet or Ubers are your best bet for dinner. Unless you stay at the Hotel... I've circled the garage on all floors one night and learned my mistake. I mean, who lives within walking distance of City Centre? How many folks? There's no public transportation and it's brushing shoulders with the beltway.

Parking is attractive ;)

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I have only been to City Center a couple of times. My comment to those who I was meeting there was: "parking is near impossible". They smiled and said.... "Ya, it's like that a lot."

The comment above about "not many people have access to it without a car" seems correct to me. So, instead of driving to a mall and shopping/eating inside, people are driving to this "mall" and shopping/eating outside. The experience is vastly different but the method to get there is the same. And, parking can be a problem at times.

Edited by UtterlyUrban
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If there's an event going on during the weekend at City Center (and there often is) then parking at the Center can be tough but there's plenty of parking at the shopping center across the street if you don't mind walking. Less walking then you would do in downtown Houston and free. 

 

The fact that the City Center IS so crowded shows how we suburbanites are hungry for the establishments available inside the loop without having to drive in on over crowded freeways and then forced to valet park. Finally we are getting some decent restaurants and bars and more to come. Just hoping for less chains and more independents. 

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  • 1 month later...

http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/fortbend/news/article/Mixed-use-complex-planned-at-former-TI-site-in-6877933.php?cmpid=twitter-desktop#photo-9574004

Construction has begun on a redevelopment project that Stafford Mayor Leonard Scarcella sees as crucial to turning the city into an urban center.

"Stafford is so strategically located and that property is so strategically located that it will be a hub which will have a significant amount of activity flowing in and out of it on a continuing basis," Scarcella said.

Construction at the eastern side of a 192-acre tract bordering Murphy Road off U.S. 59 signals the start of the city's first mixed-use development

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It looks like the interior of the main factory building is being gutted with numerous broken/removed exterior windows. It appears demolition is imminent.

 

Some of the mature trees on the property have been chopped down, some are protected with fencing (presumably to be preserved), and some are intact without fencing.

 

The warehouses on the eastern edge of the property are complete and appear to be occupied.

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Edited by MaxConcrete
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  • 4 months later...

As of about 2 weeks ago, main structural demolition of the TI building had not started. (Interior demolition/cleanup could be in progress.) Anything to open on the property by July 2018 would have to be on land that is currently clear and available, which includes a lot of property along the freeway and along Kirkwood.

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Site work is underway along West Airport. The perimeter street is mostly removed along West Airport, but is still intact on the rest of the property. There is no site work in progress anywhere else on the property. The contractor is Burton Construction.

 

Demolition of the main building structure has not started. (Interior demolition may be ongoing.)

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Edited by MaxConcrete
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  • 4 months later...

I actually moved to Stafford earlier this year and drive by here on my way to/from work. Frames are going up on 2 separate structures close to airport. They have been up for a few weeks. If I am driving by there this weekend, I will try and grab a couple of pictures. 

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There are three streets now open on the corner of the property near the Southwest Freeway and West Airport. The street names are Lumen, Current and Pulse, scientific-sounding names which surely pay tribute to the former semiconductor factory. As dml423 mentioned, there are frames for small buildings, I counted three separate buildings (one very small in the first photo).

 

There's still no new progress on the demolition of the main Texas Instruments building, which seems to be on hold for a long time. That leads me to wonder if there is an issue with environmental contamination, since old semiconductor plants were notorious for using nasty chemicals called ethylene glycol ethers (EGEs) as part of the photoresist process, and Silicon Valley is full of superfund sites where factories existed.

(Those chemicals were also bad news for workers, see https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-06-15/american-chipmakers-had-a-toxic-problem-so-they-outsourced-it )

 

Anyways, I'm just speculating about the EGEs, and I have no idea why the demolition seems to be on hold. It could be a financing issue. If anyone knows the reason, it would be interesting to find out.

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Edited by MaxConcrete
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  • 3 weeks later...
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My assumption that the old Texas Instruments building would be demolished was wrong. (But I think I expected demolition based on the original project depiction, which IIRC appeared to show a parking garage on the main building site.)

 

So it appears the T.I. building will be renovated to become office space.

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2018/09/24/houstons-first-in-n-out-burger-coming-to-mixed-use.html

 

Quote

To create The Grid, StreetLevel will repurpose more than 750,000 square feet of iconic mid-century modern buildings from the original TI campus, per the release.

 

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I'm wondering if this will have any impact or influence on the plans for the redevelopment of the Imperial Sugar site. There was no activity at the Imperial Sugar site when I drove by a couple months ago. (I don't know if activity has started since then.)

 

I'm thinking the competition from the Grid may make it more difficult for the Imperial Sugar project to proceed.

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On 9/27/2018 at 1:09 PM, MaxConcrete said:

I'm wondering if this will have any impact or influence on the plans for the redevelopment of the Imperial Sugar site. There was no activity at the Imperial Sugar site when I drove by a couple months ago. (I don't know if activity has started since then.)

 

I'm thinking the competition from the Grid may make it more difficult for the Imperial Sugar project to proceed.

 

Haven’t been there in awhile but looking at satellite footage I’m surprised development isn’t further along with the “Imperial Market” project. Feels like that project was announced a long time ago. Reading past articles just now, it sounds as if the project is already having start issues, regardless of the competition. The “Imperial Market” was originally to be delivered by “late 2017”. Other deadlines have come and gone and it’s now late 2018, it appears construction has still yet to begin. 

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