Downtown Houston 2036 Master Plan

[lockmat]

To me this seems like a no brainer. Too bad they decided to nix taking away 10 ft of private land.

I hope it isn't as grainy for y'all as it was on my iPhone

Associated doc http://downtownhouston.org/site_media/uploads/attachments/2013-03-08/Southern_Downtown_CBD_Market_Assessment-Feb_2013.pdf

Check it out!

http://youtu.be/eXtjawUAmz8

[Houston19514]

Very cool plan.   Thanks for posting.

 

I hope they can make it happen.  (Yea, the 10' of addditional land for the linear parks would have been nice, but this is still a great plan that would be a huge improvement.)  I'm all for reducing the number of lanes of traffic on those east-west streets.  Those streets are ridiculously over-sized.

[Houston19514]

Duplicate post.  Sorry.

[lockmat]

Also, per that report I also linked to, it says don't expect these properties, owned by one owner, to be developed, as they have a history of holding for investment purposes. http://goo.gl/agUGR

 

[Purdueenginerd]

Bike lanes!!

[Daniepwils]

While I do like the idea...All I see in this video is a glorified wider sidewalk. Not a real park.

And those tables, benches and chairs will be mainly used at night by homeless people.

[livincinco]

Also, per that report I also linked to, it says don't expect these properties, owned by one owner, to be developed, as they have a history of holding for investment purposes. http://goo.gl/agUGR

I sure hope that there are discussions with that owner prior to implementing this. Doesn't make sense if it doesn't lead to development. There's plenty of other areas that could benefit from a similar plan.

[mfastx]

Yeah I'm with Daniepwils. 

 

While this is a cool development, I don't think this will do much to add to the area. 

 

I'd rather just see a bunch of apartment complexes sprouting up on those parking lots.  I don't think people are going to scramble to build new buildings just because of a nicer sidewalk.

 

[samagon]

once you get down to page 36 it's astonishing how much office space was added between 80-84. 

[HoustonBoy]

All trees on the sidewalk do is make it look less urban.

[Texasota]

Ooooh, no. I love green urban areas with decent tree cover. Especially considering the absolute necessity of shade in this city. "Urban" doesn't have to mean Manhattan. 

[HoustonBoy]

That's true. This is still a nice development. Hopefully it happens!

[jdbaker]

This proposal is really neat.  However, the City does not own the needed right of way.  Unless the land is donated, the acquisition costs (through eminent domain), would likely reach eight figures.  In short, it's a great concept, but unlikely to happen. 

[samagon]

I thought the idea was to knock out a lane of traffic to make this? I admit I mostly looked at the pictures and charts, (didn't read, lol jpg) but if you go over to Dallas street just east of Caroline you'll see where they did something similar to create a huge sidewalk (I think it's still being worked on, I haven't ridden, or drive by in about 6 months) area. 

 

I'll hop the bicycle and ride around over there soon and take some photos, if I get unlazy.

 

For a completely off the wall type thing, I'd not be against the city making an ordinance that targets undeveloped land in the CBD that encourages them to plant trees and green up the spaces they have a bit.

[Houston19514]

This proposal is really neat. However, the City does not own the needed right of way. Unless the land is donated, the acquisition costs (through eminent domain), would likely reach eight figures. In short, it's a great concept, but unlikely to happen.

Incorrect. The city owns all of the right of way necessary for the revised version, as is specifically discussed in the linked article.

[scarface]

Ooooh, no. I love green urban areas with decent tree cover. Especially considering the absolute necessity of shade in this city. "Urban" doesn't have to mean Manhattan. 

 

Yeah but as i said in another post, this city seems to be over-doing the park/tree thing. I want to see more urban storefronts and walkable areas. Why does it seem that all these others cities such as Atlanta, Dallas, and Denver can create nice urban mixed use developments with storefronts and retail why Houston just chooses the cheap and boring route? I do not want this city to be just filled with parks everywhere. This city seems to be already developing a mindset to me that it's okay just throwing up a boring park on every block instead of adding more mixed use and other things to the city flavor.

 

My rant has nothing to do with this project, in fact, I think its a great project. I guess your post just brought out how I feel the many minds of this city and the park thing seems to be the direction this city is going. I want to see more Post Midtown Squares, Hanover Rice Villages, Mix @ Midtowns.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think Parks are great, but I don't want that to be the city's only solution to development. You can go to a park anywhere in the boring suburbs. Why must the "city" be filled with them?

[livincinco]

Yeah but as i said in another post, this city seems to be over-doing the park/tree thing. I want to see more urban storefronts and walkable areas. Why does it seem that all these others cities such as Atlanta, Dallas, and Denver can create nice urban mixed use developments with storefronts and retail why Houston just chooses the cheap and boring route? I do not want this city to be just filled with parks everywhere. This city seems to be already developing a mindset to me that it's okay just throwing up a boring park on every block instead of adding more mixed use and other things to the city flavor.

 

My rant has nothing to do with this project, in fact, I think its a great project. I guess your post just brought out how I feel the many minds of this city and the park thing seems to be the direction this city is going. I want to see more Post Midtown Squares, Hanover Rice Villages, Mix @ Midtowns.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think Parks are great, but I don't want that to be the city's only solution to development. You can go to a park anywhere in the boring suburbs. Why must the "city" be filled with them?

I think that the idea in this case is to use the linear parks to encourage development of the kind that you're looking for. Calling these "parks" without the 10' easement is really a stretch anyway. It's much closer to a complete streets project.

[j_cuevas713]

City parks are waaaaaay better than parks in the suburbs. I mean there is a clear distinction between an nice urban park to fill the gap between developments and a park created just because there is a need to bring use to the land. The suburbs have parks because there is so much land that some of that has to be dedicated to quality of life, otherwise you have nothing but layer after layer of boring homes. I agree with livincinco that  this is a project geared more towards complete streets.

[livincinco]

City parks are multi use public entertainment spots.  Suburban parks are places to take small children when they start to drive you crazy.

[august948]

City parks are multi use public entertainment spots.  Suburban parks are places to take small children when they start to drive you crazy.

Suburban parks also provide larger and longer spaces to do other things that city parks can't do. You can bike from the Beltway all the way to Fry road via Terry Hershey and George Bush parks and never encounter a car or have to cross a road. Plus there's room for soccer, football, baseball and even dedicated spots for flying model airplanes and model rockets. Having both types (city and suburban) in abundance is what makes Houston a pretty good place to live.

[lockmat]

This video is a presentation of the southern downtown assessment study of which kirksey piggy backed on.

They are really focusing on the southern part of downtown which I'm pleasantly surprised about.

One of their key objectives is to get affordable housing in the southeast quadrant because it is the cheapest part of downtown, and therefore the most logical place for developers to build. Their thinking is that it will also kick off a more lively street scene which will hopefully encourage and spill over to the north and northwest areas of downtown.

They also think a key element is a more passive/cultural park as opposed to a destination park like DG, which i think is great. DG, Memorial and Hermann park are awesome, but these type of parks is what I really like.

Like Kirksey, they also have an idea to make a linear park, but I was unclear where and how long it would be.

From their tone and language, it seemed like they were confident this is something that will happen.

https://vimeo.com/62430227

[LarryDierker]

@8:30 he says several other ones (residential developments) are being announced or are soon to be announced in the next couple of months.

 

 

[bobruss]

This is a link to the new future of downtown project for the 2036 bicentennial.

Central Houston and Downtown districts report on plans for downtown Houston's future.

http://downtowndistrict.org/static/media/uploads/attachments/plan_downtown_report_final_spreads_sm.pdf

[H-Town Man]

Pretty cool link. It appears that virtually everything hinges on how the I-45 reconstruction/rerouting will be handled, if the right opportunities are seized at the right time, with available funds and good design. The Justice Center complex is another big factor, as is the Post Office, although that seems to be in good hands.

 

One small idea that could have a big impact is the redesign of McKinney Street with a row of trees, encouraging GFR. Also intrigued by the thought of redeveloping Sam Houston and Tranquility Parks. Tranquility is an obvious redo, it was virtually empty during the Astros parade, with 100,000 people crammed across the street, but Sam Houston is deep Houston tradition. Where would all those houses go?

 

[Timoric]

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[j_cuevas713]

WOW!

[Nate99]

Really cool vision.  It gives you a good feel for what downtown would be like if it were all "done" like around DG/GRB.

 

I guess it would take everything going right to have it all happen, but having the visual is a nice tool to use to encourage the investment.

[samagon]

1 hour ago, H-Town Man said:

Pretty cool link. It appears that virtually everything hinges on how the I-45 reconstruction/rerouting will be handled, if the right opportunities are seized at the right time, with available funds and good design. The Justice Center complex is another big factor, as is the Post Office, although that seems to be in good hands.

 

One small idea that could have a big impact is the redesign of McKinney Street with a row of trees, encouraging GFR. Also intrigued by the thought of redeveloping Sam Houston and Tranquility Parks. Tranquility is an obvious redo, it was virtually empty during the Astros parade, with 100,000 people crammed across the street, but Sam Houston is deep Houston tradition. Where would all those houses go?

 

 

I'm probably the only person that likes Tranquility park more or less as is. I would like to see it updated to include some food options. I bet it could support 3 different things like what Niko Niko's has on Market Square Park. 

 

As far as the parade, there may not have been many there, but during the presentation as I was walking back to my office I went through Tranquility park, there were lots of people sitting on the various hill sides. I think that's what I like most about the current configuration, its topography.

 

1 hour ago, Timoric said:

I think tearing down the redo of the old convention center near the Theater district could be a good thing too, make it a better public space and tie into the water and Post Office site better. That whole area could be huge, visible, popular and change the way downtown connects much better - saw that mentioned before and it made tons of sense since Discover Green is the gold standard of what draws Houstonians. Why couldn't this be even better?

 

While I like the convenience of the Sundance, errr, AMC theater, that space could definitely be redesigned to be more open, and make the whole theater district feel bigger.

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

they see residential buildings on top of the Allen Center Garage, but no 5 Allen Center...

[Houston19514]

23 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

Pretty cool link. It appears that virtually everything hinges on how the I-45 reconstruction/rerouting will be handled, if the right opportunities are seized at the right time, with available funds and good design. The Justice Center complex is another big factor, as is the Post Office, although that seems to be in good hands.

 

One small idea that could have a big impact is the redesign of McKinney Street with a row of trees, encouraging GFR. Also intrigued by the thought of redeveloping Sam Houston and Tranquility Parks. Tranquility is an obvious redo, it was virtually empty during the Astros parade, with 100,000 people crammed across the street, but Sam Houston is deep Houston tradition. Where would all those houses go?

 

 

I seriously doubt anyone has in mind moving all of the historical structures in Sam Houston Park.