Cochran's Crossing Developments

[dfinke]

I was returning home from school in Austin over Thanksgiving by way of 2978 and Woodlands Parkway and I was appalled at everything that had been built there since I left. Perhaps it's just that I've been gone from The Woods long enough to lose my rose-colored glasses and in reality it was always bad and I just never noticed, but the retail development at that intersection is terrible! I know that it isn't the first time that freestanding retail has been built in The Woods - 242, or should I say 1960-With-Trees, is terrible too - but at least 242 isn't as residential as Terramont. What happened to "Village Centers" like Panther Creek or Cochran's Crossing where the shopping is consolidated and actually hidden behind trees? I remember when the Wal-Mart was being built and the Development Company told us that it was "specially designed for The Woodlands." Turns out the only thing special about is is perhaps the colors. Every Wal-Mart I've driven by in Austin either already looks like that one or is being renovated to look like it. The worst offender in Terramont, though, has got to be that public storage bulding. Ugliest building in all of The Woodlands, anyone?

In my architecture class our professor used The Woodlands as an example of designing with nature and topography, etc. but I thought that it was funny that he was careful to stipulate that he meant The Woodlands circa the 1970's. He didn't include "all the trash they're building now." It really made me sad returning home, though, because what had started out as such a novel plan has turned into someplace that's hardly any better than every other master planned development in Houston. A brilliant idea sacrificed to TWDC's profits.

[KatieDidIt]

I was returning home from school in Austin over Thanksgiving by way of 2978 and Woodlands Parkway and I was appalled at everything that had been built there since I left. Perhaps it's just that I've been gone from The Woods long enough to lose my rose-colored glasses and in reality it was always bad and I just never noticed, but the retail development at that intersection is terrible! I know that it isn't the first time that freestanding retail has been built in The Woods - 242, or should I say 1960-With-Trees, is terrible too - but at least 242 isn't as residential as Terramont. What happened to "Village Centers" like Panther Creek or Cochran's Crossing where the shopping is consolidated and actually hidden behind trees? I remember when the Wal-Mart was being built and the Development Company told us that it was "specially designed for The Woodlands." Turns out the only thing special about is is perhaps the colors. Every Wal-Mart I've driven by in Austin either already looks like that one or is being renovated to look like it. The worst offender in Terramont, though, has got to be that public storage bulding. Ugliest building in all of The Woodlands, anyone?

In my architecture class our professor used The Woodlands as an example of designing with nature and topography, etc. but I thought that it was funny that he was careful to stipulate that he meant The Woodlands circa the 1970's. He didn't include "all the trash they're building now." It really made me sad returning home, though, because what had started out as such a novel plan has turned into someplace that's hardly any better than every other master planned development in Houston. A brilliant idea sacrificed to TWDC's profits.

yeah they are really stinking up the western fringes. Glad we moved, all it meant was decreased property value. I was also very shocked at the mini-storage. The custom home sales office failed to tell us about the coming Walmart, etc etc.

[woody_hawkeye]

yeah they are really stinking up the western fringes. Glad we moved, all it meant was decreased property value. I was also very shocked at the mini-storage. The custom home sales office failed to tell us about the coming Walmart, etc etc.

Thne basic problem is that the stuff on 2978 is mostly not part of The Wodolands and the development company had no input on its design or anything. Most of the properties were not sold to the development company. There remain many properties that will eventually be sold but only because the taxes will be exhorbitant. I looked up the property initally posted in this thread and saw where it had doubled in value over about 4 years, mostly because it is located in a prime property area. I do not know if the properties on 2978 will explode like that or not, but intuitively one would have to say that they probably will. If that is a given, then I see the future as tear it down and rebuild it, but the rebuilding might not be part of the master community plan. Other developers can buy it also and build to their standards unless of course the Township annexes it, which is not out of the question.