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X Houston: Residential High-Rise At 5501 La Branch St.


Urbannizer

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11 minutes ago, Timoric said:

Houston is so big that if we to do a bunch of average stuff for now and later a few signature buildings can punctuate, that works for me, the city literally has so much more developable space than any other city I can think of this size. It isn't like things are really hemmed in by historic this, water way that etc

 

 

People see all the amazing architecture in New York (and I'm in no way saying Houston is on par with New York) and forget about the thousands of regular boring or downright ugly buildings in the city. 

 

 

I feel a little bad for saying this but is the building across La Branch still there, the two story apartment building in street view with window unit A/C's, peeling paint, shopping carts and jalopies parked under it. The people who live in high rise luxury buildings are not people I'd imagine wanting to live next door to a complex like that. 

Edited by jmitch94
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2 minutes ago, jmitch94 said:

 

 

People see all the amazing architecture in New York (and I'm in no way saying Houston is on par with New York) and forget about the thousands of regular boring or downright ugly buildings in the city. 

 

 

I feel a little bad for saying this but is the building across La Branch still there, the two story apartment building in street view with window unit A/C's, peeling paint, shopping carts and jalopies parked under it. 

 

It was recently remodeled. Given how small the lot was, I imagine this is as good as we could hope for. 

6C4F86DD-ADB6-4A76-84FF-6A3685FB6486.jpeg

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On 7/1/2019 at 10:20 PM, H-Town Man said:

I had always envisioned a row of high rises developing along Main and Fannin and the rest of the neighborhood remaining low-rise and leafy, but I guess the high rises will be scattered across the neighborhood, due to no zoning.

In practice, I think you’d have high rises along that corridor, paralleling Binz to the south, Almeda to the east, and with the Innovation District to the north. 

 

This one is actually quite close to Binz. The Allen Harrison project is much shorter and will provide a nice taper leading up to this one.

 

Property ownership within those bounds tends to be fractured, making it harder to accumulate lots for larger projects.

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25 minutes ago, Timoric said:

How much of what was built in the late 70s early 80s has been or is being torn down? I would guess at least a third of it is gone (older apartment complexes in better areas)

 

Second, the center of the city population has steadily moved West in Houston - well past the West Loop - be interesting to know if/when that stops or starts going East toward DT because of the great new infill inside the Loop. Back inside the loop by 2030?

 

 

A lot of what was built in the 70s and 80s was built where and how it was built due to the sewer moratorium in force at the time. From 1974, the by-right limit on density for restricted areas (essentially all of the inner loop) was 15,000 sf/acre commercial, 7 DU/acre residential. Anything larger needed administrative review and assembly of sewer rights. As a result, a lot of development got pushed west, and a lot of what was built inside the loop was built at a much lower density than would otherwise make sense.

 

As those properties are getting to an age where they must be either re-habbed or demo'd, we are just now starting to unwind a lot of that mal-investment. This article from 1982 makes for an interesting read on the subject.

 

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3 hours ago, hindesky said:

The lot just southeast is a junkyard, wonder why they couldn't buy it too.

 

It’s owned by the Boone bicycle family. They’re holding out hope they can turn this into a bicycle museum. I think they have a go fund me account for this. 

 

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I spoke too soon. I emailed the homies from the neighborhood association and...maybe they aren't as supportive as I assumed they would be. I don't really understand why, because the Southmore is pretty massive and I don't see anything bad stemming from it. In fact, they might be the only reason Java Lava Brew has such consistent business since people just stumble out of their place and fall into that coffee shop/bar/food place. 

 

Weird. But @thatguysly called it. 

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4 hours ago, X.R. said:

I spoke too soon. I emailed the homies from the neighborhood association and...maybe they aren't as supportive as I assumed they would be. I don't really understand why, because the Southmore is pretty massive and I don't see anything bad stemming from it. In fact, they might be the only reason Java Lava Brew has such consistent business since people just stumble out of their place and fall into that coffee shop/bar/food place. 

 

Weird. But @thatguysly called it. 

 

What'd you ask and how'd they respond?

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Now on the HAIF Development Map under the layer "Proposed". For any updates on the status of this project. Please DM me.

Things to keep an eye on include (but not limited to):

-updated renders (will be adding pics to all projects later)
-project name changes

-changes in use or additions of uses

-changes in number of stories

-changes to Developer or additional Developers

-changes to Architect or additional Architects/Designers

-announcements or changes to construction dates / finish dates

 

If any of the above is missing in the project info already then please assist clarifying any missing info to me.

 

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32 minutes ago, 79ta said:

 

What'd you ask and how'd they respond?

 

I just sent a "hey I support the development, haven't been to the last few meetings, whats up" email and got a come to the next one because concerns have been raised type response. Nothing terrible, but not the arms wide open that I thought it would be. I don't understand what the concerns could be other than maybe traffic? But its basically right off of Binz soooo... Maybe noise from the building? Granted, I wasn't there for the bigger builds in the neighborhood, but the museums (the Holocaust one) with their constructions haven't disturbed me. I dunno.

 

 

 

 

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16 hours ago, X.R. said:

I spoke too soon. I emailed the homies from the neighborhood association and...maybe they aren't as supportive as I assumed they would be. I don't really understand why, because the Southmore is pretty massive and I don't see anything bad stemming from it. In fact, they might be the only reason Java Lava Brew has such consistent business since people just stumble out of their place and fall into that coffee shop/bar/food place. 

 

 

 

The most predictable majority in American local politics is incumbent residents opposing any new development with a density higher than their current home.

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2 hours ago, Angostura said:

 

 

The most predictable majority in American local politics is incumbent residents opposing any new development with a density higher than their current home.

 

Yep. Up in Kingwood when the plans for the ridiculously overwrought development on the lake came out, everyone was instantly convinced of any and every calamity that they could imagine ruining their lives because of the impact of towers, offices and some shopping.  There were even some high school kids looking to burnish their college applications trying to "organize" the noble opposition. 

 

It's a cultural thing, what will we accept happening around us and what rights will eventually be legally recognized if they are not delayed and harassed out of feasibility.  There are many places in this world where laws are vague and what will be permitted is anyone's guess. This dynamic is on a spectrum, but unless you are that incumbent in a comfortable position or become wildly rich elsewhere and like the scenery,  you don't go anywhere near the least predictable jurisdictions and they stagnate or bifurcate into extremes of luxury and poverty as a result. 

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Looking forward to this one ramping up soon and progress being made, instead of all the talk year after year and nothing changing.  Wonder if it's this nimby-ism that rears its ugly head from time to time in our city of no zoning laws (per se) ?

 

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22 hours ago, HNathoo said:

 

They are asking for a very minor variance to reduce the building setback lines 5’ above the second floor for the garage and balconies. The neighborhood can only really chime in due to the request of the variance. The thought within the neighborhood is that if the variance is denied, the developer won’t be able to build the desired project and will drop the deal. They’ll do whatever they can at the hope the developer just goes away.

 

 

I think the reason the setback requirements haven't been revised/eliminated is so that the Planning Department can use the variance process to extract improvements to the pedestrian realm. A very high percentage of setback variances get approved, almost always accompanied by wider sidewalks, landscape buffers, etc. not otherwise required.

 

 

23 hours ago, Nate99 said:

 

Yep. Up in Kingwood when the plans for the ridiculously overwrought development on the lake came out, everyone was instantly convinced of any and every calamity that they could imagine ruining their lives because of the impact of towers, offices and some shopping.  There were even some high school kids looking to burnish their college applications trying to "organize" the noble opposition. 

 

It's a cultural thing, what will we accept happening around us and what rights will eventually be legally recognized if they are not delayed and harassed out of feasibility.  There are many places in this world where laws are vague and what will be permitted is anyone's guess. This dynamic is on a spectrum, but unless you are that incumbent in a comfortable position or become wildly rich elsewhere and like the scenery,  you don't go anywhere near the least predictable jurisdictions and they stagnate or bifurcate into extremes of luxury and poverty as a result. 

 

There are two kinds of people: those who think it's a question of WHETHER homes will be built, and those with understand it's a question of WHERE. In places where building activity is well-controlled, density prevention results in sprawl. In places where building isn't well-controlled, it results in favelas and shantytowns.

 

(BTW, aside from a lack of adequate wastewater infrastructure, favelas are an urbanists wet dream: low-rise, high-density, mixed use development; zero setbacks, narrow streets, and entirely pedestrian oriented.)

 

 

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Deferred two weeks for additional information.

 

- Coordinating with the developer regarding the city-owned trees on site

- Gaining more info from CenterPoint regarding the power lines along Calumet

- Gaining more info regarding the drop off area along Calumet

 

A number of residents are against the project, some things that were mentioned:

 

- not in the transit corridor

- building is too tall for the immediate area

- site is too small for the building

- drop-off driveway along Calumet

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1 hour ago, Urbannizer said:

Deferred two weeks for additional information.

 

- Coordinating with the developer regarding the city-owned trees on site

- Gaining more info from CenterPoint regarding the power lines along Calumet

- Gaining more info regarding the drop off area along Calumet

 

A number of residents are against the project, some things that were mentioned:

 

- not in the transit corridor

- building is too tall for the immediate area

- site is too small for the building

- drop-off driveway along Calumet

 

The last three complaints don't seem like real issues, I'm glad its not earth shattering stuff that could really derail the project. But what does "not in the transit corridor" mean? Meaning, not near the rail? Its actually less than a 5 min walk from the museum district station going northbound so...

 

My only thing is that the energy and internet infrastructure are both weirdly shitty for such a nice area (going toward the "gaining more info from CenterPoint" item). If the weather is pretty bad, you have a decent chance that you'll lose electricity for a while. And internet speeds in the area from all providers are fairly atrocious. I've had both centerpoint and at&t people remark about it. Maybe all this increased density means improved infrastructure, that would be nice. 

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2 minutes ago, X.R. said:

 

The last three complaints don't seem like real issues, I'm glad its not earth shattering stuff that could really derail the project. But what does "not in the transit corridor" mean? Meaning, not near the rail? Its actually less than a 5 min walk from the museum district station going northbound so...

 

My only thing is that the energy and internet infrastructure are both weirdly shitty for such a nice area (going toward the "gaining more info from CenterPoint" item). If the weather is pretty bad, you have a decent chance that you'll lose electricity for a while. And internet speeds in the area from all providers are fairly atrocious. I've had both centerpoint and at&t people remark about it. Maybe all this increased density means improved infrastructure, that would be nice. 

 

The transit corridor technically stops at the opposite corner of la branch and calumet - about 50’ away. 

 

 

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Not familiar with the phrase "transit corridor". Does a  it mean rail or bus, or just rail? Or does it just mean a busy street? Would FM 1960 be a transit corridor even though parts have no mass transit but tens of thousands of cars?  How is the width defined and by whom? Questions, questions. 

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5 hours ago, Twinsanity02 said:

Not familiar with the phrase "transit corridor". Does a  it mean rail or bus, or just rail? Or does it just mean a busy street? Would FM 1960 be a transit corridor even though parts have no mass transit but tens of thousands of cars?  How is the width defined and by whom? Questions, questions. 

 

As of now, I believe it’s just rail - see below link. 

 

https://www.houstontx.gov/planning/_urban/TransitCorridorStreet_Main_020110.pdf

 

 

The new new ordinance being worked on by the walkable places committee also includes bus, but that hasn’t been approved yet. 

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