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New Hope Housing Avenue J: Multifamily At 5220 Avenue J


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https://www.virtualbx.com/construction-preview/houston-new-hope-housing-puts-second-ward-affordable-housing-project-on-drawing-board/

 

NewHope-J-elevation.png

 

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 New Hope Housing is planning a multi-story, 100-unit affordable housing project on a one block tract it has under contract in east Houston’s Second Ward.

 

The project site is roughly two blocks south of the Turkey Bend of the Buffalo Bayou and bounded by Avenues J and I to the north and south, and Engel and Edgewood streets. The project address is 5220 Avenue J and the project name is New Hope Housing Ave J.

 

The proposed development will come before the Planning Commission Thursday on a request for off-street parking. By city ordinance, 137 spaces are required for a 100-unit development and New Hope wants to reduce that to 127 spaces. The rationale for reduced parking is that the qualifying low income tenants would not be able to afford more than one vehicle per unit.

 

“Based on our experience owning and operating the (New Hope Housing) Reed property–which received a parking variance in 2016 for 1:1 ratio of vehicle spaces per dwelling unit–we firmly believe that Avenue J will have more than adequate parking available for the anticipated population,” New Hope states on its application.

 

“With incomes capped at a maximum of 60% AMI, prospective families/households are expected to earn at or below approximately $35,000 annually. With the average cost of vehicle ownership in the United States at approximately $9,000 annually and rising, it is highly unlikely that residents at this income stratum will have more than one vehicle per unit.”

 

New Hope claims its tenants generally don’t have the resources to own a vehicle and in the alternative they tend to make more use of biking or public transit. The developer proposed to include 15 bicycle racks (60 bicycle spaces) to replace the 10-vehicle space deficit.

Avenue J is located less than two-tenths of a mile from major METRO bus routes along both Canal Street and Navigation. It is less than a half mile from the METRO light rail.

 

The proposed structure will have a gross area of 84,300 square feet and stand five stories in height on a city block that has a total area of 1.376 acres. Half of its apartments will be one-bedroom units and the other half will be two-bedroom units. A parking garage will occupy the ground level, sharing space at ground level with a small entryway lobby and lease office.

 

“Four stories of residential units are planned above the single floor garage, with indoor and outdoor common use areas for the residents on the elevated level one,” New Hope said.

 

Avenue J is not yet listed as a future project on the New Hope Housing website. The nonprofit’s latest “On the Drawing Board” development is NHH Dale Carnegie, which was touted as the first affordable housing community to break ground since Hurricane Harvey. The 170-unit complex at Regency Square is scheduled for completion in Fall 2020.

 

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16 hours ago, Triton said:

Here come the unnecessary protests.

 

This is a totally unfair statement when the East End is and has been taking in the brunt of this type housing. Where are these type of developments in the Heights, Midtown, Oak Forest, or Montrose?? Are their residents too pretentious, classist and elitist to take their share of some of these new low income housing facilities?  Affordable housing is a responsibility ALL sides of town should be sharing in.  I am all for low income/affordable housing but not when they are incessantly being concentrated in one small area. Sorry but that’s just not fair and at this point I can no longer blame EE or EaDo residents for protesting. 

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I mean, there's some down off of MLK and Avenue CDC is doing a bunch up in Near Northside, but that said, I *partially* agree that every neighborhood should do its fair share.

 

I say partially because proximity to transit is absolutely worth considering too. I think keeping as close as possible to the Red, Green, and Purple lines, as well as anywhere high frequency transit is planned is a logical priority. 

 

So this location makes sense to me, but so would something in or south of the Medical Center. Or close to Hermann Park. Or replacing one of Uptown's may parking lots. Or along Richmond. Or, hey, where the HSR station is planned.

 

But I'm not sure that's a reason to protest this particular project. It's an unfortunate reality that nobody complains more loudly than rich white people afraid of coming in contact with the poors. That's a constant fight, and in the meantime there is a need here that's not being filled. Doesn't mean you don't still fight though.

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15 hours ago, intencity77 said:

 

TWhere are these developments in the Heights, Midtown, Oak Forest, or Montrose?? Are their residents to pretentious and snobby to share some of the new low income housing developments??? These type of developments are a responsibility ALL sides of town should be sharing. Look, I am all for low income/affordable housing developments but not when they are being concentrated in one small area. Sorry but that’s just not fair and at this point I can no longer blame EE or EaDo residents for protesting. 

 

agreed. I don't think this location is terrible because it is right off the transit and it's not bothersome but...

 

The Heights recently protested one near white oak bayou and I believe the developer pulled back the scale at the least. 

 

Critical Mass (the monthly bike ride) had moved to the Heights from Downtown and they protested, so the city dumped them in the East End. 

 

It's pretty frustrating as a resident of the neighborhood that whatever the Heights doesn't want they just place it in the East End and decide that no one in the East End will protest quite like the Heights. 

Edited by I'm Not a Robot
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1 hour ago, Texasota said:

I say partially because proximity to transit is absolutely worth considering too. I think keeping as close as possible to the Red, Green, and Purple lines, as well as anywhere high frequency transit is planned is a logical priority. 

 

Just FYI, this development would be almost a mile from the nearest Green Line stop, Altic/Howard Hughes. That’s borderline in terms of close proximity to transit (although the 20 bus line on Canal is of course closer).

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1 hour ago, I'm Not a Robot said:

 

It's pretty frustrating as a resident of the neighborhood that whatever the Heights doesn't want they just place it in the East End and decide that no one in the East End will protest quite like the Heights. 

 

I'm in the Heights Nextdoor app. You should have seen those people outraged on the color of the street lights when they were changed. They said it looked like a Walmart parking lot shining on their cars and into their houses. Wat.

 

Sure, my earlier statement wasn't geared towards the East End. I meant, I feel like all of Houston now protests against these affordable housing developments, no matter where they are built. I think it's a valid argument that the East End has too many (because it does), and the Near Northside also turned down an affordable housing development after the Jose Flores murder and related it to the Salvation Army complex for all of their problems, which the complex certainly does cause problems for the area, especially when HPD tells local residents that they can't do anything about people defecating in people's yards (These are serious discussions in Superneighborhood meetings). 

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  • 1 month later...

We got a Site Plan for this in the upcoming Agenda. This one is asking for an off-street parking variance.

 

9slPRAV.jpg

 

Really like these little site moments that they are sprinkling around the building. Just wish they didn't fill the gaps with the cheap 3' sidewalks connecting them.

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No GFR here, which I guess is ultimately irrelevant since none of the GFR sites at the New Hope SRO Housing at Sampson and Harrisburg have been leased out since the building opened. GFR is one of those selling points New Hope has used in the past to “sell” communities on these developments, but so far seems like an empty promise.

Edited by thedistrict84
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As someone who must follow housing activity very closely, affordable housing--in particularly tax credit housing, is rarely even proposed in areas with high land values. It doesn't make economic sense. When it happens, there is usually a larger mix of market rate housing mixed in and the squeaky wheels with media connections get loud. I'm a strong believer that it should be mixed in better and the way the system works now is not the best. With that said, over the last decade, most affordable housing has been located in the hodgepodge suburbs lacking municipal government or large HOA/civic support. Neighborhoods in southwest Harris County (Fondren/Hillcroft/Orem corridors) are very opposed to new affordable housing. These neighborhoods aren't incredibly wealthy but they have a strong community voice. They usually get what they want. 

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4 hours ago, thedistrict84 said:

No GFR here, which I guess is ultimately irrelevant since none of the GFR sites at the New Hope SRO Housing at Sampson and Harrisburg have been leased out since the building opened. GFR is one of those selling points New Hope has used in the past to “sell” communities on these developments, but so far seems like an empty promise.

 

Its also one block south of Navigation and right next door to a full on industrial zone. Not exactly the poster child for GFR.

 

3 hours ago, skooljunkie said:

As someone who must follow housing activity very closely, affordable housing--in particularly tax credit housing, is rarely even proposed in areas with high land values. It doesn't make economic sense. When it happens, there is usually a larger mix of market rate housing mixed in and the squeaky wheels with media connections get loud. I'm a strong believer that it should be mixed in better and the way the system works now is not the best. With that said, over the last decade, most affordable housing has been located in the hodgepodge suburbs lacking municipal government or large HOA/civic support. Neighborhoods in southwest Harris County (Fondren/Hillcroft/Orem corridors) are very opposed to new affordable housing. These neighborhoods aren't incredibly wealthy but they have a strong community voice. They usually get what they want. 

 

I'm all for affordable housing when it makes the most economic and market sense. Most people that talk about "affordable housing", in my experience, have never actually been poor enough to even consider "affordable housing" an option, and being broke in college isn't the same as being poor poor. I got close to that (poor poor or near broke) for a short time and luckily I rebounded quickly. When you get to near 0 you aren't thinking about where you "want" to live, but where you "can" live. Where you "want" to live is not a right, but a privilege one earns after a lot of hard work, and many don't want affordable housing in more affluent areas because (though some will snark and dismiss this) most money anywhere is new money that has been hard earned, and where people live is hard earned. Again I'm fine with affordable housing as its a necessary public good that a really well off society should build for those that are "near zero" in order to prevent people from unnecessarily going to 0, but they also aren't obligated to put affordable housing where those who need it "want" to live. 

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43 minutes ago, Luminare said:

ts also one block south of Navigation and right next door to a full on industrial zone. Not exactly the poster child for GFR.

 

That is a fair point. I think we will soon see that stretch of Navigation transformed, however.

 

Most of the commercial and industrial buildings in that immediate area are unoccupied or under-occupied, and I could see many being repurposed like they are doing in EaDo and Second Ward (in fact, I believe there is a brewery that was slated to be going in right near this site). The extension of the Buffalo Bayou trails will bring about some development. There is a new sand volleyball facility planned right around the corner from here, over on Lockwood. There is also already a moderate townhome development immediately east of this site, and some of the unoccupied commercial land could be repurposed for future communities.

 

In five or ten years, I think things are going to look a lot different in this particular area of the East End.

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  • 7 months later...
  • 3 months later...
  • 2 months later...
  • The title was changed to Avenue J Apartments by New Hope Housing
  • 5 weeks later...
1 hour ago, Ajfore said:

Just drove by and the entire block is leveled. Any guesses at what will go up here?

 

New Hope Housing: https://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/Affordable-housing-project-breaks-ground-in-East-15377040.php#photo-19617943

 

Here's the thread if you would like more information:

 

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  • 5 months later...
  • 1 month later...
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • The title was changed to Avenue J Apartments By New Hope Housing

I walk by here daily, and while I am all for affordable housing, I have mixed feelings about how much this building will dwarf all of the other buildings/ houses in the neighborhood. They're not even done building the second story yet, and I already think it's pretty looming, so we'll see how five stories will look. 

Maybe I need to just get over it because that's how it'll have to be in the future to add urban density. I hope they add some nice trees at least. 

Edited by 77011transplant
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1 hour ago, 77011transplant said:

I walk by here daily, and while I am all for affordable housing, I have mixed feelings about how much this building will dwarf all of the other buildings/ houses in the neighborhood. They're not even done building the second story yet, and I already think it's pretty looming, so we'll see how five stories will look. 

Maybe I need to just get over it because that's how it'll have to be in the future to add urban density. I hope they add some nice trees at least. 

The site plan shows a bunch of trees, and just clicking around and looking at New Hope Housing's other projects, there's no reason to think they would not add trees here.

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On 6/17/2019 at 9:09 AM, Luminare said:

We got a Site Plan for this in the upcoming Agenda. This one is asking for an off-street parking variance.

 

9slPRAV.jpg

 

Really like these little site moments that they are sprinkling around the building. Just wish they didn't fill the gaps with the cheap 3' sidewalks connecting them.

Just ran across this and thought it was worth pointing out that if those sidewalks are 3 feet wide, then the parking spaces are only about 4 1/2 - 5 feet wide.  Unlikely.  More likely that the sidewalks are at least 5 feet wide (the minimum width allowed by the city, and I think it would be the applicable minimum in this location) and the parking spaces more like 7 1/2 -8 feet wide.

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