lowndes

Has anybody heard about any developments on this project.  Ever since they put the signs up it has been pretty quiet.

Can you share any names?

When did Revival become not family friendly? I eat there multiple times a week and the place always has plenty of families, especially on the weekend. My son (who is 3) and I have breakfast there every Saturday morning and if our daughter who is 1 seems to be in the mood to eat out my wife and her come as well.

Any update on what might happen here?

Neighboring land owners hired an architect who designs suburban strip malls and Buccees to tell the planning commission how to develop an urban inner city project.  His big point was that the developer could do structured parking.  But he generally seemed to think that the development was too dense and would impede the right of way with door swings, etc.  Translation:  Strip malls should rule the city.

 

One person claimed that the binder company on Heights Blvd had their property on the market, but the developer would not buy.  I have not seen it on the market.  But if it is and can be bought, the developer should buy it and use it for parking. 

 

Whatever happens, the property will get developed and there will be plenty of folks in the burbs who will come and block everyone's driveway along Heights Blvd. and will still park in the right of way along 7th, forcing the poor children of Houston to have to walk an entire city block to go to the park.   

 

Some argued that granting the variance would set a precedent so that developers would line up to get parking variances.  The opposite precedent has been set.  Any creative repurposing/infill project that relies on an urban redevelopment model cannot get done in Houston.  Infill sites will either go residential (townhomes) or go with parking in front strip centers.

Agree 100%.  Also, from what I have heard this "architect" and laughable "urban land planner" were all hired by commercial business' in the area who have a commercial interest in protecting the parking around there because they themselves don't have enough parking.  And it is pretty funny (or really not) that a local business owner stands up and talks about a petition he got signed but himself doesn't provide enough parking for his customers.  Sad really.

I'm sure the developer will figure something out to still come up with an awesome development that benefits the community because listening to him speak you can tell he actually has a vested interest in the Heights and actually cares unlike most developers I've met.  Hopefully, it will be so great that no amount of parking will be sufficient and the area gets flooded with street parking (and I live in the area).  I chose to live in an urban area because I like to walk out of my house and see people milling about, etc.  

Houston is in such an exciting time of growth right now, especially inside the loop.  Hopefully, this can help raise community awareness across the city as to how silly these parking minimums are and we can start working to get rid of them.  I know I was not all that aware of their effects on good quality urban development before this.

The people who live on that block should welcome a wonderful new development and the luxury of being able to live in a single family house and be able to walk out their front door and down the street to great restaurants and shops. If they are so disgusted by having people use the public parking in front of their homes, they should at least wait until the development is finished before moving to Katy because their property values will get a significant bump if the development goes through as planned. Right now, the burdens of power transformers, I-10 noise and industrial buildings weigh heavily on residential real estate around the area of the development. Put in a world class development and you will see the benefits quickly outweigh the burdens.

If you did not want to have parking issues around your house, you should have never moved near the two busiest roads in the Heights. I made sure I was a few blocks from the commercial corridors in the Heights because I wanted a quiet street more than I wanted to be near restaurants and shops. Of course, you don't have to move to Katy. You can just move to one of the hundreds of blocks in the Heights that are not affected by commercial/retail development. Just because you made a bad decision on what part of the Heights to buy a home does not mean you get to suppress development that is beneficial to the rest of us.

I won't even go into how silly it is to claim that there are thousands of people who use a few dozen parking spaces.

I agree, I am a bit surprised by some of the backlash against the project (although my guess is the supporters would vastly outnumber the opposers but the opposition is always the loudest). The reason I moved to the Heights was because I wanted to live in a dense, urban walkable neighborhood and the Heights offered what we were looking for. I am moving to this area of the Heights and certainly hope the project goes forward as planned.

That sounds great, excited to see what it becomes.  Are there any renderings or anything online?