Nucleareaction

Are we to understand all of those blocks used to have New Orleans style buildings on them, ala Market Square? Or were they warehouses?

Something like that. Running by the empty lot on Allen Parkway the other week, i noticed they have flags all over. Looks like a layout of the streets and buildings.

This is moving forward (at least a small phase.) I will follow up soon to discuss.

The Alamo Drafthouse?

Saw a work crew upgrading the telecoms connections to this block yesterday, hopefully it is a good sign of things to come!

i really like this project - modern/contemporary design that fits the vibe of the neighborhood and will have great presence from 59. it should also work as a nice sound barrier from the freeway noise haha. and no need for GFR since you have antidote and the laundromat next door. i also like it bc castle court is one of my favorites streets in the montrose area but this development will only have a minimal presence directly on the blvd. hopefully the developer can make it happen.

Black Hole, not Antidote

Will there be ground floor retail? I mean, I'm not one to demand it in every project, but the old 3400 Montrose had retail.

Nope.

Leasing begins

For some time, the Philadelphia/New Jersey area has been attracting biotechs. Some of Houston's more promising startups have pulled up stakes and moved there.

I'd imagine it is because companies like Bayer, Pfizer, and Novartis already have huge offices in New Jersey. We will get them eventually, perhaps this governor can focus on that market as we already have enough Californians 

It just seems that they are everywhere....I did a search on Mattress Firm's website for stores within 10 miles of 77006 (that was the smallest distance they would show) and there were 24 stores within 10 miles of 77006.  

It just sucks because of the low frequency of use for any level of the public. Even the richest don't buy a new mattress every year and so they take up spots without enhancing everyday use. I minded them less before they took over all signage of the at Montrose and Dallas.

These, mostly. It should be an amazing retail location, but has now been taken by ANOTHER mattress shop. Granted, they were the only ones willing to take on the space and kudos to them for it. But now it means something better can't come along and we're stuck with it until the whole thing is gone in 4-5 years.

Sad stuff from yesterday's run, Mattress Firm location coming to this corner. Has there ever been an audit into how exactly they make money? How many mattresses can one city need?!?

Streams change course over time.  That's just what they do.

 

Most of the rainwater runoff goes into the bayous eventually.  That runoff includes fertilizer from lawns plus all sorts of other organic materials like leaves and bird dookie and what have you.  All that stuff feeds algae and other suspended microbes that get together with some suspended dirt (and tire dust and whatever other nasty stuff washes off the roads) to cause turbidity.  Sure, the bayous were kinda clear 100 years ago upstream of the sewers.  But their clay bottoms have since been destroyed by the Corps of Engineers channelization projects that are now slowing getting undone, and we have about five or six million extra people in the watersheds.

 

tl;dr:  No, the water's not going to be even somewhat clear without some sort of miracle.

To add to this, name one major city on earth that has clear water running through it. Venice, of all places, smells AWFUL for the majority of the year. Same with Bangkok, London, Vienna, Cairo, etc.

FWIW, they mowed the grass this past weekend. 

The last time I drove by no construction or demo had begun as far as I could tell, but it seemed The Place residents were having some type of garage sale.

Maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago.

Live right around the corner from this, as of last week no activity to speak of.

I ride past this twice a week, gonna have to keep an eye on that Popeye's to see if its closing...

This is probably the one project where my expectations are extremely low. The fact that the there hasn't been some big announcement about the entire site nor do we know what it will look like or who is designing it makes me speculate that it's simply going to be divided up and pieced out to whoever can get it. It's a golden opportunity wasted. I wouldn't be surprised it is a few small apartment buildings and they call it a day, or a couple wraps with some parking garages attached. I almost certain from the lack of transparency and lack of endorsement that this won't be some comprehensive master planned district or multi-use community. sigh...

After such a long period of dormancy for this site, any work is encouraging. I prefer to take the stance that they simply aren't counting chickens before the eggs hatch.

My office is right across the Bayou from this, I haven't seen anything going all month. Will check again tomorrow...

i will preface this by saying i know nothing about the hotel industry, but my educated guess is that you need to know your hotel will be on average x% full at an average rate of $y/night.  the problem houston faces is that the hotels will be very full monday through thursday night (hence why we are "booming"), but almost empty over the weekend.  it is tough to make your numbers with three empty nights a week.  

 

austin is more of a tourist town and with the legislature, it makes sense that luxury brands could make their numbers there.  dallas is harder to explain.  is it more of a tourist destination?  

Perhaps when those hotels moved into Dallas, it was more of an executive and white-collar city whereas Houston was a working-class city?

If you want to directly compare Houston to Chicago, I would venture to guess it goes something like this:

Incorporated in 1837, Chicago got its start as a cattle and rail town. Midwest goods were funneled into Chicago and then sent East by rail and water. Their proximity to the East Coast, combined with ease of access to all that frontier land, made it a logical place for entrepreneurs and immigrants to go. Because it developed as a city before the era of cars, the density of Chicago is far greater than what Houston has.

Houston on the other hand, was founded in 1836 as a bayou port, but had the far larger Galveston just down the bay. It was a swamp here back then, Galveston was right on the Gulf, and if you wanted to ship goods you'd rather send them via Dallas to Chicago, or via Galveston to New Orleans and beyond. The climate was also a massive challenge, and combined with the ease of traveling deeper into the state, not many people decided to stick around. This meant that while Houston grew as a city, it was not nearly as explosive as Chicago, nor as dense. Finally, when Houston did emerge as a large city, the era of the car had begun and who wants to live cheek-and-jowl if they don't have to?

Lastly, zoning. As we all know, you can pretty well build whatever you want, wherever you want in Houston. It's a major reason why we have upwards of 5 business districts. Chicago doesn't suffer from this lack of concentration, and thus has a vibrant downtown that people care to put nice buildings into.

As of this morning, nothing going on at the site yet. Last time it was comical how fast they were on site to get the utilities hooked up before being shut down again.

Sounds like same size as the old Mill Creek plans. Any idea on unit sq footage? More importantly, any idea on street level retail facing Dowling & BBVACS?

One of the few times where its made almost a necessity. Been going to Dynamo games for 3 years now as a season ticket holder, not once did i even bother to go to this side of the stadium. PLEASE put some retail here!

ExxonMobil is not moving HQ to Houston, The Woodlands, or anywhere else. Why does this rumor persist?

I believe so. That's why I asked.

Doesn't seem this was answered...

The City owns the land, used to be the old Permit office.

Having gotten used to the parking lot and Fiesta here before, this thing is a BEAST for the area. Bodes well for future street front stores and walking traffic     

Is there GFR on this?

Nope, private amenities for the residents. Then again, there is a huge Randall's with retail all over just down the street.

No way the building is closing on June 1, I know several people at 800 Bell that aren't moving to the new campus until early 2015...

I noticed a Variance request sign across the street at the former Social security building across from the Pearl Midtown on Smith street, Is Pearl going to build another apartment at this site? There was another "Pearl on Helena Variance request" sign also on Helena street in midtown at a former hospital building that is empty.

I just saw the other day that the SS office has moved out. Amazing times in Midtown!