Urbannizer Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 What the hell. This should be illegal. https://www.crexi.com/lease/properties/351440/texas-kimberley-professional-building-ii 1 4 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstontexasjack Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 That’s fugly. You normally play the role of rendering Santa this time of year @Urbannizer. I guess you’re going with Krampus this year to change things up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 If people want this to stop then they need to affect change in city government, and change parking regulations. That is why this exists. You change that regulation and the market will change with it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aachor Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 (edited) Comparing the render to Google maps, this new building looks like it's going to be built in place of a two-level sub-grade parking garage which is attached to an existing three-floor professional building. The existing building, which has a larger footprint than this one, is still shown in the render (on the right), so I assume it's staying. Both buildings are listed at the same address. I think this means that at least a portion of the parking in the render will likely be dedicated to the existing three-floor building. Edited December 8, 2021 by aachor 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 1 hour ago, Luminare said: If people want this to stop then they need to affect change in city government, and change parking regulations. That is why this exists. You change that regulation and the market will change with it. The issue with this building is that it really needs the parking. I'm not sure how a medical office building would get by with less parking, given the number of people that have to wait for their appointment, and the number of employees. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortune Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 In my opinion this is a good use of that space. More parking was actually needed and instead of just building a mundane parking garage they decided to incorporate some additional office space. I don't think the design is horrible, it could have been a great deal worse. Also, this is on a backroad out in the suburbs. . . 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinkaidAlum Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 It's better than the typical 1970s office buildings in that area that are surrounded by a sea of surface parking. That said, those poor houses that back up to this. Sure, I know... buyer beware. But you'd think we'd grown enough to have a design review board. It wouldn't cost much to screen in the garage and protect from light pollution at night. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatguysly Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 It is structures like this or surface lots. This is better. Hopefully, the garage is hidden a little better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChannelTwoNews Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 I'm curious if this even has legs anymore - sort of like the nearby Town Centre Two. I added it to Emporis a little over a year ago when I found it on Loopnet, where it's on at least the 2nd profile for the project. Project's stats haven't changed since then though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 On 12/8/2021 at 10:24 AM, Luminare said: If people want this to stop then they need to affect change in city government, and change parking regulations. That is why this exists. You change that regulation and the market will change with it. I don't think changing parking regulations will solve this. We need design standards for parking garages, STAT. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 23 hours ago, Houston19514 said: I don't think changing parking regulations will solve this. We need design standards for parking garages, STAT. Unless you aren't familiar with current parking space regulations in Houston then you might not, and if you settle for this just being what it is without any context to external forces which creates building forms in the first place, then yes your conclusion that this is merely an aesthetic problem would be correct, but it isn't. Below are the parking regulations for the city of Houston by use classification: https://www.houstontx.gov/planning/DevelopRegs/docs_pdfs/parking_req.pdf The amount of spaces required in each category across the board are some of the highest totals for parking you will find anywhere, and as development is concentrated on smaller and smaller lots then you will start to get more and more ridiculous results. This is like look at the "skinny"scrapers in NYC, and just say "Oh I guess thats the latest fad. I didn't know that this was in such high demand." It isn't though. The space those buildings are being built on are in high demand, but the skinnyscraper itself is direct result of some of the more ludicrous zoning regulations and requirements in the nation. Each city has their extremes in regards to development. For Houston, its parking requirements. Ask any developer, contractor, or architect, and the majority will tell you they wish they didn't have to build so much parking, but parking is one of the few things that the city of Houston mandates are included in every development, and these requirements have a drastic consequences on building forms in this city, so if you want to fix this building aesthetically with design standards for parking garages, then start with the number of spaces required in the first place. This building has 337 parking spaces. 2/3rds of this building is for parking while the other is for actual rentable space. Now really think where the problem is, and yes if there is political will to do something then it can be done. I'm not against parking by the way, I'm against the heavy hand of government mandating something they have no clue or understand what is required for each site in each particular circumstance. You change these requirements and you will see a lot of drastic changes to building form in this city. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 (edited) 18 hours ago, Luminare said: Unless you aren't familiar with current parking space regulations in Houston then you might not, and if you settle for this just being what it is without any context to external forces which creates building forms in the first place, then yes your conclusion that this is merely an aesthetic problem would be correct, but it isn't. Below are the parking regulations for the city of Houston by use classification: https://www.houstontx.gov/planning/DevelopRegs/docs_pdfs/parking_req.pdf The amount of spaces required in each category across the board are some of the highest totals for parking you will find anywhere, and as development is concentrated on smaller and smaller lots then you will start to get more and more ridiculous results. This is like look at the "skinny"scrapers in NYC, and just say "Oh I guess thats the latest fad. I didn't know that this was in such high demand." It isn't though. The space those buildings are being built on are in high demand, but the skinnyscraper itself is direct result of some of the more ludicrous zoning regulations and requirements in the nation. Each city has their extremes in regards to development. For Houston, its parking requirements. Ask any developer, contractor, or architect, and the majority will tell you they wish they didn't have to build so much parking, but parking is one of the few things that the city of Houston mandates are included in every development, and these requirements have a drastic consequences on building forms in this city, so if you want to fix this building aesthetically with design standards for parking garages, then start with the number of spaces required in the first place. This building has 337 parking spaces. 2/3rds of this building is for parking while the other is for actual rentable space. Now really think where the problem is, and yes if there is political will to do something then it can be done. I'm not against parking by the way, I'm against the heavy hand of government mandating something they have no clue or understand what is required for each site in each particular circumstance. You change these requirements and you will see a lot of drastic changes to building form in this city. I'm familiar with Houston's parking requirements. With respect, one only needs to look at some of the parking garages built downtown in recent years to see that removing parking requirements will not solve the problem of ugly parking garages being built. There are NO parking requirements in downtown Houston and yet... More to the point, with regard to this particular development . . . the developer is advertising this project as having 5.61 parking spaces per thousand square feet. That is far above what the city requires for office space, even medical clinic space. That rather strongly suggests that this parking is market-driven, not regulation-driven, and removing parking requirements would have zero effect. I favor the city's continuing to consider and expand market-based parking zones, but it is foolhardy to think that eliminating parking requirements will ipso facto mean we see no more buildings such as this proposed or built. (And FWIW, Houston's parking requirements are not on the extreme end of the scale, especially when compared to similar cities). Edited January 12, 2022 by Houston19514 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.