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I like it except for the palm trees. Hello, its right by Rice Univeristy. I hate it when they build and landscape like they are in a total vaccume.

yeah, it's a little bit of a strange juxtaposition...

but hey, maybe Rice should opt for palms...the italian cypress and shrubs haven't been doing too well lately around there... :rolleyes:

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Just looking at this project again, I could totally see a significant portion of Kirby one day looking like this from River Oaks down to the Rice Villiage. I could also see Westheimer at Post Oak having a similar type of development.

Anyway, my favorite thing about this proposal is the details in it. I love the structure around the roof. I love that the top of the far left corner of the building looks as if it could be illuminated at night. I love the lamp posts. I love the awnings. Very exciting stuff.

I only hope it can come to pass.

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I hate parallel parking.

I LOVE the palm tree idea.

And I love this project for Rice Village. Does anyone know when it's due to be complete?

I hate parallel parking.

I LOVE the palm tree idea.

And I love this project for Rice Village. Does anyone know when it's due to be complete?

Final stages of design development currently. ZC should be released to start CD's by the end of this calendar year. Given that, look for dirt to start moving sometime early next spring. The scope and magnitude of this project is really going to blow people away. What Houston has lacked is a group willing to spend the funds necessary to develop what is truly a mixed use. Not just a retail center with residential added as an afterthought. But truly an integrated design.

This project truly will reshape our perception about urban living. Very exciting. Kudos to those involved.

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Okay, this is my best guess of location:

In the overhead angle, the roof in the left foreground looks very similar to the roof of the the Children's Assessment Center - John M. O'Quinn Campus, on the northwest corner of Bolsover and Kelvin.

Then in the overhead, the "pink street" between the two developments would be Bolsolver east of Kelvin as it runs between Walgreens and the UPS Store, Nit Noi etc, meaning that the 6-10 story office building that the UPS Store is in as well as the strip mall that has Nit Noi & Good Neighbor Cleaners would make way for the building w/ the pool, etc, as well as El Paso Imports and Kin's Cafe on the north side of that block. Walgreens and the surrounding parking lots (east and west) would be the footprint for the strip of buildings on the right side of the overhead.

I'm interested to see if the south side of the development (south of Bolsolver, east of Kelvin) will back up to the pre-existing stores on Rice (Texadelphia, etc.) or if this will take up two full blocks and replace the retail on Rice Blvd.

These points are all moot if I don't have the right location.

Here are some links to see what I'm talking about:

Google Map of the area - The O-Quinn Campus is the large, gabled roof running along Kelvin between Bolsover and Dunstan...my guess for the location of the development is the full block of Kelvin, Dunstan, Morningside and Bolsover with some development south of Bolsolver between Kelvin and Morningside.

Rice Village Map - This could help too

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  • 5 months later...
i know one developer was taking a run on this site but was unable to secure a partner. this was only two months ago and i havent heard of anything since.

if someone did in fact take down the land, they moved FAST :o

this one's coming back. my mole tells me to be on the lookout for this one....

they have stayed under the radar and quietly been designing a killer project here

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  • 2 months later...

So I was in the Village a few weeks ago and saw a sign about closing the 2400 block of Bolsover. I went back to take a picture for all of us, but it had been taken down...

But today at breakfast at Buffalo Grille I'm reading the West U rag and see this

Further hunting uncovered the Southampton Civic Club's page.

There they have a site plan and some renderings.

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So I was in the Village a few weeks ago and saw a sign about closing the 2400 block of Bolsover. I went back to take a picture for all of us, but it had been taken down...

But today at breakfast at Buffalo Grille I'm reading the West U rag and see this

Further hunting uncovered the Southampton Civic Club's page.

There they have a site plan and some renderings.

If they took it down, do you think they might have changed there minds about building this?

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If they took it down, do you think they might have changed there minds about building this?

http://www.westuexaminer.com/articles/2006...news/news03.txt

Looks like the City of Houston is getting alot of complaints from people about this development shutting down a block of Bolsover. Everyone needs to do their part and call the City and let them know what you think. This building looks awesome, and we need to make sure that we don't let some NIMBYs who just HAVE to drive on Bolsover stop it.

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The design of it is okay overall, except with the exception of the little cul-de-sac where I assume people are supposed to be dropped off in. Those have a tendency to get backed up quickly and even from the drawings, it appears that the turn is too tight for anything larger than a mid-size.

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The design of it is okay overall, except with the exception of the little cul-de-sac where I assume people are supposed to be dropped off in. Those have a tendency to get backed up quickly and even from the drawings, it appears that the turn is too tight for anything larger than a mid-size.

The "cul-de-sacs" serve as entry points into the concealed parking garage... and more importantly... there is a large pedestrian area between these two drives to serve the restaurants and foot traffic in the development. This is why (and where) the city is considering closing that block of Bolsover. There is not much through traffic on Bolsover anyway, so I say close it. How nice would it be to have a pedestrian plaza in the midst of the Rice Village? (as opposed to dodging cars every 10 feet!).

I don't mind the design at all. It ties in with some of the architecture at nearby Rice University - which is also "faux Italian" or "faux Mediterranean" if we are honest about it... and I, for one, treasure that campus.

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Well, I understand, but the thing is traffic flow. You have some schmuck who doesn't know how to make a tight turn while Jr. is arguing with his mom about how much money he can spend and it'll be instant gridlock.

if they widened the area by a couple of feet, I'm sure it would be more adequate.

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  • 4 weeks later...

RICE VILLAGE

A new vibe

Change may doom mom and pop shops

By DAVID KAPLAN

Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

The cozy Village got a big jolt in the 1990s when Weingarten Realty developed Village Arcade on University Boulevard. Stretching two blocks, the Arcade brought in national tenants including the Gap and Banana Republic.

The immense brick center

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I believe in preserving the architecture and small-town feel of the place, perhaps even enhancing the 1930s-40s look some, but as much as I hate to see the mom+pops go, I accept the inevitablity of economics eventually driving most of them away.

I remember 5 and dimes being everywhere as a kid, but they were almost like today's dollar stores. Having one in Rice Village made sense when West U was still reasonably middle class but those days are long gone.

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"What's amazing to me is that so many people in America don't care if their neighborhood loses its uniqueness," he said. Variety Fair's Irby, meanwhile, is weighing her options. After being in the same spot 58 years, she doesn't want to move, and she can't make too many changes in her store, which carries many visual reminders of her comical, sweet-natured late father and store founder Ben Klinger.

"It's whole purpose is to remind people of how stores used to be,'' said Irby.

"After all, we are a 5-and-10."

______________________

stinks - explanation? see rants in the river oaks theater thread

:angry:

Edited by sevfiv
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