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Regent Square: Mixed-Use On Allen Parkway At Dunlavy St.


Travel_n_Transport

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They had told the residents in the main buildings along Allen Parkway that they would have to be out by June, so I'm not surprised it looked empty.

The buildings along West Dallas will still be Allen House Apartments for another year or two, until they reach a later phase of the redevelopment.

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They had told the residents in the main buildings along Allen Parkway that they would have to be out by June, so I'm not surprised it looked empty.

The buildings along West Dallas will still be Allen House Apartments for another year or two, until they reach a later phase of the redevelopment.

The project is breaking ground in August and they are very much on schedule. The project really focuses on sustainability, especially in regard to a pedestrian friendly environment. It's going to be a really cool project actually. It's the largest of 9 mixed-use projects currently under way or already approved in Houston. The renderings you've seen don't really do it justice. It is going to have a pretty traditional look as the developers are from Boston.

Below is the project detail info.

Regent Square, a walk-able mixed-use urban village, is being completed on a 24-acre site on Houston

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  • 4 weeks later...

Is this still on schedule for groundbreaking in August?

I don't know what the traffic is like on W Dallas, but the city/Metro should really look at putting a LRT or BRT line down Dallas. That is probably the most urban area in Houston with all of the townhomes and restaurants around. Then if they could figure out how to connect it to the Uptown line, I think the amount of riders would be substantial considering tourists would probably use it to go from downtown to the Galleria.

Of course that is all very wishful thinking.

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Is this still on schedule for groundbreaking in August?

I don't know what the traffic is like on W Dallas, but the city/Metro should really look at putting a LRT or BRT line down Dallas. That is probably the most urban area in Houston with all of the townhomes and restaurants around. Then if they could figure out how to connect it to the Uptown line, I think the amount of riders would be substantial considering tourists would probably use it to go from downtown to the Galleria.

Of course that is all very wishful thinking.

It's looking more like September. I have a meeting this afternoon to talk about the groundbreaking.

I think your idea is interesting. What if the rail connected to Memorial. Like from downtown/midtown up through Dallas and connected to Memorial then to Uptown? Interesting thought. What a nightmare though construction wise.

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It's looking more like September. I have a meeting this afternoon to talk about the groundbreaking.

I think your idea is interesting. What if the rail connected to Memorial. Like from downtown/midtown up through Dallas and connected to Memorial then to Uptown? Interesting thought. What a nightmare though construction wise.

My proposal would be putting a line down Dallas (maybe even start at Hilton downtown) west to Dunlavy. North on Dunlavy with it rising above Allen Parkway. Across the bayou to Memorial. Along Memorial to Memorial Park and then just shoot it straight through Memorial Park to connect to the Uptown Line. I don't know how they plan to do the Uptown Line, but I'm sure the actual connection around the West Loop would be a construction nightmare. Unless they made it a sub-connection (which is what Uptown needs anyways), but that is extremely wishful thinking.

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My proposal would be putting a line down Dallas (maybe even start at Hilton downtown) west to Dunlavy. North on Dunlavy with it rising above Allen Parkway. Across the bayou to Memorial. Along Memorial to Memorial Park and then just shoot it straight through Memorial Park to connect to the Uptown Line. I don't know how they plan to do the Uptown Line, but I'm sure the actual connection around the West Loop would be a construction nightmare. Unless they made it a sub-connection (which is what Uptown needs anyways), but that is extremely wishful thinking.

Metro has two east-west lines proposed in the current phase and the next phase which gets them through 2025.

One is the Universities line running on Richmond and Westpark connecting the RedLine to the Uptownline and Hilcroft TC.

The other is the InnerKaty line... which runs Washington and then Hempstead connecting DT to the NW Transit Center...though how the 290 commuter line will affect this remains to be seen.

See this link ..its non-metro and not 100% current.. but does give the general gist of Metro's planned rail phases.

So.. decent proposal.. but you'll have to hold on to it until 2025ish

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Metro has two east-west lines proposed in the current phase and the next phase which gets them through 2025.

One is the Universities line running on Richmond and Westpark connecting the RedLine to the Uptownline and Hilcroft TC.

The other is the InnerKaty line... which runs Washington and then Hempstead connecting DT to the NW Transit Center...though how the 290 commuter line will affect this remains to be seen.

See this link ..its non-metro and not 100% current.. but does give the general gist of Metro's planned rail phases.

So.. decent proposal.. but you'll have to hold on to it until 2025ish

I've never seen the InnerKaty line. Thanks for the link.

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I think in the beginning a trolley or some sort of people mover service should be in service that would go to and from there to downtown every 15-30 minutes, particularly in the morning. This would serve several purposes (or as a friend might say, "Porpoises", but I digress) one would be perhaps make the development more appealing to those working downtown (perhaps the developer should share some of the cost), bring in more business to the retail there from the people that are staying at the various hotels downtown after business hours, and build up future ridership for a potential line down that route.

As more people move in, perhaps a BRT line should be put in or have a LRT line if it ties in with one of the east side lines, since LRT would be too expensive for such a small ridership, however if the BRT line was convertible, perhaps this would be used as a potential Shepherd or (even better) have it continue down to kirby (should be a big hit for the RO people, I'm sure) where it would eventually connect to the Richmond Line.

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I think they should put a Signature Bus line down there, not BRT. There isn't much of a difference between the two though. I like that website Highway 6. Are those lines listed at the bottom really going to be LRT?

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I think they should put a Signature Bus line down there, not BRT. There isn't much of a difference between the two though. I like that website Highway 6. Are those lines listed at the bottom really going to be LRT?

It is Christof's representation of Metro's stated goals as expressed in their Metro Solution when it was initially released. So, think of it as Metro's dream vision.... but the extents of each line, exact location, LRT vs BRT, etc. is up to the financial realities. I think given enough time, since Metro is putting the tracks down on all the BRTs planned for the current phase, and given ridership increases... i think Metro plans to eventually convert all BRT to LRT.. otherwise its a big waste of infrastructure...

Enough rail discussion in this thread though, we got plenty other threads for that.... i only responded initially to show that rail down Dallas to Allen House is a far-fetched dream at this time.

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Surprised I'm the first to post this revelation (at least I think I am), but the Allen House is slated to be re-developed. Notices were on the doors of 3535 and 3505 Dallas and 3601 Allen Pkwy. June 1 closing.

Mixed used development planned...kind of explains all of the recent structure torn down in the area.

Surely the Chronicle will be on this news.

As for me, well its been home for a bunch of years...

Regent Square will do wonders for The Royalton or will it?

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  • 2 weeks later...
The area is now fenced off, and it looks like demolition should begin soon. I also noticed some signs regarding a public hearing, but I drove by too fast to notice a date.

The hearing was the 19th. Basically they want to get an allowance around setback and visibility triangles and want an exception to the maximum fire hose drag (will be sprinkled-entirely). Also, I think they wanted to re-plat the whole property in one piece from thirty.

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The hearing was the 19th. Basically they want to get an allowance around setback and visibility triangles and want an exception to the maximum fire hose drag (will be sprinkled-entirely). Also, I think they wanted to re-plat the whole property in one piece from thirty.

This is truly going to be massive. I wonder if the design differs much from renderings we have on here. I'm also curious to know as to how the phases are going to be constructed out.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Demoliton of the Allen House is soon approaching in a couple of weeks but one pretty cool thing about it is that the developers have teamed up with Historic Houston to preserve some of the finishes like doors, fountains, hardware, etc from the old Allen House apartments to be recycled and used for other projects (Habitat, etc). Channel 11 (Doug Miller) did a story on it 2 weeks ago this Friday as his last on-air piece since he got a promotion and is now "behind the scenes."

On another note, about 50+ architects from all 5 of the national firms who are collaboratively working on the project and the developer got together in Houston a couple of weeks ago for a "design charrette" to make final design decisions on the new Regent Square mixed-use project such as brick, windows, etc. From what I saw it looks really good and is going to be a very unique "PEDESTRIAN FOCUSED" development.

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  • 1 month later...
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I noticed on my way to the airport today that the buildings fronting Allen Parkway are nearly 100% demolished now too. Surprised there isn't more chatter about this project. This is my absolute favorite of all the new projects because the scale and location are top notch.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Driving along West Dallas this morning, it looked like the bulldozers were in action on the blocks on both sides of the street. Shouldn't be too much longer until both blocks are cleared out. I'll try to get some photos soon.

I don't think this has been posted, but check out this site which shows some of the outlines and leasing plans.

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Demoliton of the Allen House is soon approaching in a couple of weeks but one pretty cool thing about it is that the developers have teamed up with Historic Houston to preserve some of the finishes like doors, fountains, hardware, etc from the old Allen House apartments to be recycled and used for other projects (Habitat, etc). Channel 11 (Doug Miller) did a story on it 2 weeks ago this Friday as his last on-air piece since he got a promotion and is now "behind the scenes."

On another note, about 50+ architects from all 5 of the national firms who are collaboratively working on the project and the developer got together in Houston a couple of weeks ago for a "design charrette" to make final design decisions on the new Regent Square mixed-use project such as brick, windows, etc. From what I saw it looks really good and is going to be a very unique "PEDESTRIAN FOCUSED" development.

What a great idea to use some of the old finishes and fountains from Allen House. I am really impressed with the developers' vision. I thought the plans what were posted at the beginning of this thread were a pipe-dream, but I believe now! B)

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  • 5 weeks later...

only 2 small sections left to take down; the rest of it is just dirt at this point. I've got a perfect view of the entire site out my office window. If I remember will take a couple of pics before it's completely gone. I worked in the same location 12 years ago and just recently returned. The velocity of change is amazing. Of course then the north side of the bayou was still grain elevators and abandoned industrial. Cool stuff.

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