Boone Manor: Multifamily At 5350 Crawford St.

[X.R.]

50 minutes ago, Urbannizer said:

 

So all brick or glass? Did anyone take fotos?

 

I took a paper copy of the presentation, I’ll see what I can upload tomorrow. He said it’s primarily masonry, all brick and granite. The inspirations are “Mediterranean revival” and “Hollywood Regency.” And it’s being called Boone Manor (at least on the slides it was) which I think is cool AF. He referenced Hotel Zaza as an influence for their team at the meet and greet afterwards.

 

For real, it was a 45 min presentation, and he maybe spent 20 mins of it on the actual building and the rest answering questions or letting them know what infrastructure they’ll be putting in, which includes: 

 

1. sidewalks, curbs, gutters, and new parallel parking on all sides (I asked the presenter the width of the the sidewalks and he said they’ll be pushing for near 8 feet.). If you know that area, people parallel park in small ditches currently, so, big upgrade. 

2. Replacing the generic street lights they are taking down with the lights you see by the jogging path in Hermann park. If they do that, he said Centerpoint might force them to do it for more than just their block, on both Crawford and La Branch. Thus, from Binz to Oakdale on those streets.

3. Upgrading at least one esplanade in the area, more if the museum people will come up with a design and the developer can just contribute and help develop other esplanades. Scored huge points with the head of Museum Association.

4. Burying power lines and utilities around the property. Scored huge points with crowd.

5. He spent 10 mins talking about trees and how they have some nice tree coming in, if they can’t save the current ones. Again, big point scoring.

6. After the presentation, quite a few people mentioned they would pay for access to the pool and fitness center since there isn’t one in the area. Presenter said it’s actually an idea that is being kicked around.

 

I think all of those things are just so no one shows up for their variance meeting, lol. 

Edited August 8, 2019 by X.R.

[hindesky]

A fence surrounds the entire block.

[Urbannizer]

 

[HNathoo]

1 hour ago, CrockpotandGravel said:

Plan review permits filed last week with the city of Houston for Boone Manor. This is the apartment from Allen Harrison Company. It's going up at 5350 Crawford, Houston.

 

This is exciting- I think this area will density rather quickly. 

[wilcal]

On 6/26/2019 at 6:12 PM, X.R. said:

They are hyped about the bike lane on Austin.

 

Interesting as city went against any type of separated bike lane on the section south of HCC to the park. They said that they received concerns about street parking and some of the museums *cough*childrensmuseum*cough* didn't want them routing it immediately next to their bus drop off area. 

 

If the residents had demanded dedicated on-street bikeway it would have likely gotten done. 

 

For reference: Midtown SNC was against the use of dedicated in-street bikeway, but they are getting it in their area. 

[X.R.]

13 minutes ago, wilcal said:

 

Interesting as city went against any type of separated bike lane on the section south of HCC to the park. They said that they received concerns about street parking and some of the museums *cough*childrensmuseum*cough* didn't want them routing it immediately next to their bus drop off area. 

 

If the residents had demanded dedicated on-street bikeway it would have likely gotten done. 

 

For reference: Midtown SNC was against the use of dedicated in-street bikeway, but they are getting it in their area. 

 

Yeah, I mean they talked about it at the meetings and they were pretty positive, I think they were just really "What is the City going to do for us if we allow this to happen?" And now the City is fixing sidewalks and stuff, and its just a sharrow. Cake and eat it., too

 

If that makes you sad, then the fact that they are in advance stages of putting together a parking ordinance for the entire Museum District is going to make you even sadder. 3 passes for each residential, and like 1-2 passes for mutli-family (which the City put in and supposedly the association is super pissed about, dunno if its gonna fly with them in its current state). I went yesterday to the city meeting about it and told em its dumb and my fellow MPNA people looked at me like I was nuts. Its crazy, I feel like this is just to get back at the Turkey Leg Hut people. That tension is really uncomfortable, for pretty obvious reasons. http://houstontx.gov/parking/museum-park.html

[wilcal]

14 minutes ago, X.R. said:

 

Yeah, I mean they talked about it at the meetings and they were pretty positive, I think they were just really "What is the City going to do for us if we allow this to happen?" And now the City is fixing sidewalks and stuff, and its just a sharrow. Cake and eat it., too

 

If that makes you sad, then the fact that they are in advance stages of putting together a parking ordinance for the entire Museum District is going to make you even sadder. 3 passes for each residential, and like 1-2 passes for mutli-family (which the City put in and supposedly the association is super pissed about, dunno if its gonna fly with them in its current state). I went yesterday to the city meeting about it and told em its dumb and my fellow MPNA people looked at me like I was nuts. Its crazy, I feel like this is just to get back at the Turkey Leg Hut people. That tension is really uncomfortable, for pretty obvious reasons. http://houstontx.gov/parking/museum-park.html

 

Lol, "what are they going to do for us". How about, the city owns the streets so you should feel lucky you are getting sustainable infrastructure. 

 

I don't think the parking plan is really that bad, and again, the museum district is weird because of the lack of commercial/restaurant spaces. 

 

How much of the basis of this is due to people parking and then riding the train to downtown or the med center for work? 

[Texasota]

Yeah the parking plan makes sense generally, although I don't understand why each house needs 3 permits, especially since nearly every residence in the neighborhood has off-street parking. I would argue for one per residence, with another available if you don't have off street parking on your lot.

[Luminare]

10 hours ago, X.R. said:

 

Yeah, I mean they talked about it at the meetings and they were pretty positive, I think they were just really "What is the City going to do for us if we allow this to happen?" And now the City is fixing sidewalks and stuff, and its just a sharrow. Cake and eat it., too

 

If that makes you sad, then the fact that they are in advance stages of putting together a parking ordinance for the entire Museum District is going to make you even sadder. 3 passes for each residential, and like 1-2 passes for mutli-family (which the City put in and supposedly the association is super pissed about, dunno if its gonna fly with them in its current state). I went yesterday to the city meeting about it and told em its dumb and my fellow MPNA people looked at me like I was nuts. Its crazy, I feel like this is just to get back at the Turkey Leg Hut people. That tension is really uncomfortable, for pretty obvious reasons. http://houstontx.gov/parking/museum-park.html

 

This sounds so high school to me haha. This grudge match has to stop. As for the parking stuff...I give it 5-10 years. If the people want that, then so be it. Theres plenty of other areas that will embrace this type of development and will get all the money and the rewards that come with such development. If these people want to live a past that is fading by the day, and live in a bubble of their design then let them. Again, I don't think it will last long. The external forces around them are going to push this area of town to densify quickly and rise tall. Its just to central of an area for it not to be, and in fact its destined to be that way. As Midtown marches further along, 59 gets buried, and more res towers get built to the west the last area will be this one. The areas around them will have everything that they will eventually want, yet they will get nothing for their stubbornness. At that point money will talk, and again all the opportunities that come with. Its merely a matter of "when" and not "if". Its a shame too because these people have no idea the true potential this area holds and opportunities and promise that it has.

 

 

10 hours ago, wilcal said:

 

Lol, "what are they going to do for us". How about, the city owns the streets so you should feel lucky you are getting sustainable infrastructure. 

 

I don't think the parking plan is really that bad, and again, the museum district is weird because of the lack of commercial/restaurant spaces. 

 

How much of the basis of this is due to people parking and then riding the train to downtown or the med center for work? 

 

I agree. I've thought a lot over many months and I've come to the conclusion that that city really should be more authoritative when it comes to infrastructure as a whole. Not everything needs to be democratic in every single function because lets be real it can make things really slow and the loudest voices will sometimes derail things that can be an overall public good. I also agree that they should be thankful that the city even holds community outreach meetings at all. Its like that old saying "don't bite the hand that feeds you". At this point the community outreach stage has become so drawn out and has turned into a breeding ground for the worst kind of actors. If people really want to know how good they had it then the best course of action for awhile would be to suspend that stage of the process and see how they would like it when they aren't a part of it. Its not like they absolutely have to do that. They can rewrite the process at anytime they wish that would make public comment irrelevant. ROW is city property and they should do with it as the city sees fit. Public comments is done as a service in good faith, but when the relationship between the Government and general public turns abusive then its probably best that it be suspended. Would it be right or even smart to do...normally I would be against it, but seeing how abusive and the hostile people are at these meetings I just don't see how the city and the public who are to busy to go to these meetings gets anything out of it. Anyway, probably an unpopular opinion, but this was after a lot of thought and personal investigation, and merely telling it as I see it, but also stating what some might be thinking, but probably won't say.

[BeerNut]

The conversation about bike lanes taking parking is a touchy subject on Nextdoor.  Three parking permits is absurd, I could possibly get on-board with one for now. Hopefully these permits have a cost associated with them as the city is giving them permanent parking that public tax dollars maintain.  

 

I would support a plan to incrementally increase parking exempt areas from the current area and transit corridors that increases at 5-10 year intervals.  

 

Edited August 30, 2019 by BeerNut

[wilcal]

On 8/27/2019 at 4:48 PM, BeerNut said:

The conversation about bike lanes taking parking is a touchy subject on Nextdoor.  Three parking permits is absurd, I could possibly get on-board with one for now. Hopefully these permits have a cost associated with them as the city is giving them permanent parking that public tax dollars maintain.  

 

I would support a plan to incrementally increase parking exempt areas from the current area and transit corridors that increases at 5-10 year intervals.  

 

 

Expanding market-based parking to everything in side 610 is in the CoH climate change impact 2040 plan, so that sounds about like what they are gonna do. 

 

And yeah, I'm sure people are desperate to clutch their almost unregulated free parking so they can fill their garage with a bunch of stuff. 

[HNathoo]

4 hours ago, wilcal said:

 

Expanding market-based parking to everything in side 610 is in the CoH climate change impact 2040 plan, so that sounds about like what they are gonna do. 

 

And yeah, I'm sure people are desperate to clutch their almost unregulated free parking so they can fill their garage with a bunch of stuff. 

 

There will probably be much less resistance within the MPNA by then. The organization seems to be mostly made up of retirees.

[Urbannizer]

159 ft' in height

11/04/2019 - 03/25/2022 construction timeline

 

https://oeaaa.faa.gov/oeaaa/external/searchAction.jsp?action=displayOECase&oeCaseID=417001220&row=13

[Urbannizer]

More details here: https://www.museumparkna.org/resources/Documents/2019.08.07 General Meeting Minutes .pdf

[X.R.]

On 9/11/2019 at 11:52 PM, Urbannizer said:

159 ft' in height

11/04/2019 - 03/25/2022 construction timeline

 

https://oeaaa.faa.gov/oeaaa/external/searchAction.jsp?action=displayOECase&oeCaseID=417001220&row=13

 

I know they told the museum district people 20 months or so, but still yeesh, thats a painfully long construction timeline. 

 

They had people out there this morning with yellow tripods and cameras doing work. Dunno what it was, but there were two crews out there. I guess this is beginning to move. 

[Luminare]

39 minutes ago, X.R. said:

 

I know they told the museum district people 20 months or so, but still yeesh, thats a painfully long construction timeline. 

 

They had people out there this morning with yellow tripods and cameras doing work. Dunno what it was, but there were two crews out there. I guess this is beginning to move. 

 

From your description that sounds like survey crews.

[Urbannizer]

On 9/25/2019 at 5:39 AM, CrockpotandGravel said:

Allen Harrison registered a domain this week for Boone Manor. This is located in Houston at 5350 Crawford.

Maybe once the site is up, there will be a rendering and more details.


http://boonemanorhouston.com

 

It's more likely we'll see one on the website once the building is nearly complete. Allen Harrison likes to hold back renderings (see South Main building thread).

[X.R.]

This morning they came through and wrapped the fence in a green sheath, so you can't really see whats going anymore. And there is a huge pile of junk on the property now, in the corner.

 

Seems like something is afoot. 

[hindesky]

As X.R. said the chain link fencing is wrapped with green construction fencing but the fence facing Crawford is down with a small pile of rock placed in the middle for what I assume will be the construction driveway.

[HNathoo]

Plumbing Demo Permits pulled yesterday:

 

 

[hindesky]

[houstontexasjack]

A house on this site caught fire—apparently squatters may have set a fire to try to keep warm:

 

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/House-burns-in-Houston-s-Museum-District-14834573.php

[hindesky]

This is the building that squatters caught on fire, southeast corner of the project on Crawford. Only side that the fence is down, although a fence alone won't keep out vagrants.

[hindesky]

A fence went back up on the Crawford side of the project. Never understood why they took it down.

[hindesky]

Demolition has begun, almost all the buildings are gone except the one that caught on fire.

[X.R.]

Yes, as of this morning, the one that caught fire was still up, but they are currently clearing all the debris from the other homes and putting them in massive trash bins.

 

The guys on site mentioned they are looking to start site prep work before Christmas (I don't know what that means) but that seems pretty fast considering where they are and that they are quite a few older trees on this lot that I hope they figure out a way to preserve (I never thought I would type that last part).

[hindesky]

All buildings are gone and I assume the trees that don't meet their criteria will be coming down next.

[hindesky]

One lone tree in the middle of the lot and 2 on the north side outside the fence line made the cut. Not sure if the water main break is related to this site but it appears the townhome on the northwest corner from there seems to be sinking due to the break.

[hindesky]

[houstontexasjack]

They brought portapotties to the site. Usually a good omen for a construction start: