Sparrow

I envision a retail power center going in here with maybe an apartment building or two and about a dozen pad sites. Perhaps an office building or two if we get really lucky.  Maybe they could keep the mall structure for the big box retail stores for cheaper than tearing down and rebuilding?

I'd like to hope for something more "urban", but I'm not going to set my expectations too high for this one just yet.

With all of the advancements made by the car companies with regards to driverless car technology, has TxDOT begun considering such technological advances when analyzing future needs? Many hypothesize widespread adoption within a decade. This project may at best be coming online when the major shift will be occurring.   

Following distances will likely shrink when humans no longer drive vehicles--will additional lanes really be needed on new highways or are we spending our funds unnecessarily? 

5 hours ago, cspwal said:

I read somewhere that Southwest was a major part of the opposition to the original Texas Triangle line in the 90s.  That at least makes sense - but why would Buc-ee's object to this?  There's only one between here and Dallas, and 2 between here and College station.  Do those 3 stores generate such a lion share of revenue that they would block a train line?  I'd imagine they would still get a lot of business at those three stores even if the HSR is super successful - family trips, truckers, and moving in/out of college would all still be trafficking 290 and 45, and a bunch of people would still drive themselves instead of take the train.

 

Of course, maybe Texas Central should approach Buc-ee's and to make a deal - the midpoint station can be branded as a Buc-ee's and only incidentally be a train station.

By the time this train finally gets running we'll have self-driving cars thanks to Elon Musk's Tesla, trains that travel 700+ mph thanks to Elon Musk's hyperloop, congestion alleviation thanks to Elon Musk's The Boring Company, and frankly Houstonians could travel to Mars on one of Elon Musk's Space X rockets rather than go to Dallas anyhow--Mr. Musk is who Buc-ee's should really be scared of.

4 hours ago, placoors said:

http://www.chron.com/sports/superbowl/article/Houston-to-stay-aggressive-in-bidding-for-future-10919039.php

 

Houston is ready to bid on more big events:

I foresee the downtown highway reconstruction project as a HUGE necessity if Houston really does intend on landing another Super Bowl--not because of the roadway reconstruction, but rather because the possible privately funded park on the back side of the GRB over the highway lanes that could be twice the size of Discovery Green and stretch 10 city blocks (think of the new development possibilities--maybe start a program, much like we did to spur downtown residential development this time around, specifically for the blocks surrounding the park).

Perhaps we would also get the north canal diversion project north of downtown which may bring more waterfront oriented development by the time the next Super Bowl Houston rolls around. Maybe the Dallas--Houston high-speed rail becomes a reality (as well as airport Metrorail connections). By that time maybe the Astrodome would be ready for occupancy again too.

A huge new city park, a new waterfront district, a new high-speed rail line, and a reborn Astrodome would surely put the icing on the cake to draw a new Super Bowl to town--a bigger scoreboard, more seats, more suites, and new restaurants or whatever they dream up of doing with NRG Stadium would just be the sprinkles.  

How about creating a marina district? I don't own a yacht, but if I did, it sure would be great to have it parked out back while still living in the heart of the city. 

Can we get a adjustment to the name of this thread? "I-59" is inaccurate. Just saying.

Demoing this block is something too get excited about if you ask me. Prepares the land for something Going Up! next cycle. They could decide just to leave the existing building vacant. I actually prefer an empty parking lot for this block for now. We'll get a better project next time around than we would if they began something now.   

http://www.kbtx.com/content/news/Loop-could-connect-Bryan-and-College-Station-in-future-370029311.html

Proposed loop road around Bryan-College Station.

http://www.khou.com/story/news/local/texas/2016/03/11/dallas-houston-high-speed-rail-loses-brazos-valley-support/81676242/

Losing support in the Brazos Valley. The longer this takes to get started, the more time the rural opposition has to stir up problems.

It's kind of peculiar how the local politicians have made such a big show against this project that aims to gain a 100 foot wide easement while we hear nothing negative from them about the planned 400 foot wide 249 Aggie Expressway or the similarly wide proposed Forts-to-Ports Interstate 14 or even the proposed loop around BCS. Do these same rural folks and local politicians oppose Union Pacific, BNSF, the power line companies, and the Keystone pipeline?  

Grand Parkway Market Place will be anchored by a 126k sq ft Target store.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2016/03/01/exclusive-target-to-anchor-a-grand-parkway-retail.html

Spring Crossings renamed "Grand Parkway Market Place II".

Okay then, if not a park or a garden, how about getting handful of cows to munch on that green grass and seeing a lower tax bill on their "agricultural land"? Are there regulations in Downtown against livestock?

It could be a tourist attraction for the out-of-towners who miss the Rodeo.

You know, if this is going to sit for a while, I wonder if the downtown district couldnt convince chevron to use it as a short term park. As soon as the new residential buildings start coming on line, it would be cheap and easy to throw up some temporary volleyball nets, fencing for a dog park etc. I suppose its usefulness would depend somewhat on what (if anything) actually gets purchased for use as a permanent south downtown park

I wonder if Chevron can convince the City to "lease" the grass lawn for a symbolic $1/year to allow the city to use the land as a temporary park. One would think Chevron would reap the benefits of either reduced property tax exposure or perhaps an in-kind donation allowing use of the land would provide a tax break.

Perhaps someone more versed in corporate tax law would be able to lay out any tax advantages of a temporary Chevron Green Park. The benefit to the city--more succinctly the people of the city--is rather straightforward.

 

Untitled by Chris Rojas, on Flickr

 

I'm having a really hard time understanding why they would put balconies two feet up from street level. There's a certain security factor that is hard to get over with an inner city street level patio. Why not just increase the interior square footage of the first floor units?

Any update on this one? Still looking like a 2017 opening?

Thanks, Sparrow; you're absolutely right - pretty smooth. Did it yesterday. I had seen that ramp to the right before but thought it was a route to a surface street; not very well marked right now.

I missed it the first time myself (and still at least once more after). There does seem to be a signage issue or two that need attention to make things more user friendly. That being said, the thoughtful design of the stoplight bypass under both the Holzwarth bridge and the Springwoods Village Parkway bridge [future] should be commended--we need more of that type of foresight.

Two KIMCO retail developments stand to generate 800k square feet of retail space along Kuykendahl and the recently opened Grand Parkway in Spring.

The Grand Parkway Marketplace will be north of Spring Stuebner with frontage along the Grand Parkway and Kuykendahl. Spring Crossings will be south of Spring Stuebner with frontage along Kuykendahl. Both tracts will also have Northcrest Drive access.

http://marketing.kimcorealty.com/File/MarketingBrochure/webapps/generate_marketing_brochure.asp?ref=15256&do=|3|

http://marketing.kimcorealty.com/File/MarketingBrochure/webapps/generate_marketing_brochure.asp?ref=15796&do=|3|

Seems possible that the anchor tenant of Grand Parkway Marketplace may be already decided given the specific square footage of 126,174 sq ft. HEB perhaps??? I believe they were the ones who filed the plat for the parcel south of Spring Stuebner not too long ago. Anyone have more info?

I concur with this limitation. I tried going from I-45 NB to 99 WB and there is no apparent connector which is extremely short-sighted! You have to go to Spring Crossing and U-turn but then you have to pass two intersections before reaching an entrance ramp!

 

I'm sure there is a healthy cohort of drivers who would take this route to go from I-45NB mainlanes or HOV or Hardy to get to Tomball all the way to 249 or halfway such as all the communities surrounding Hooks Airport. This would greatly relieve much of the WB traffic that currently clogs the existing arterials (Louetta, Spring-Cypress and FM 2920 worst of all!)

 

Lets hope (near) future plans call for a direct connector ramp!

Try this: take the exit for Spring Stuebner-West. Stay on the feeder road until Grand Parkway. Turn left onto Grand Parkway frontage road. Stay to the right on the frontage road to get straight onto the Grand Parkway westbound--the left lanes go to stoplights for Holzwarth and Springwoods Village Parkway.

It's really not that hard at all. One light, and thus far for me it has only taken a single cycle to get thru that one light at the 45/Grand Parkway feeder road intersection. 

Never mind the actual landowners who are impacted - they can't wait for the annual paychecks for the use of their land that go far beyond whatever productive use they'd get out of it. It's their neighbors who always have the strong opinions on the subject.

It's that neighbor thing that has Brady all in a twist if I remember correctly. The folks up in The Woodlands wanted the line to go straight up 45 so they could benefit. Since the line is going west of Montgomery County they disapprove of the thing entirely. The thing is, the new Grimes County station area will become the new "it" bedroom community. 

As long as it's called Houston A&M. The acronym would be gold.

 

A pork related mascot is a must!

Someone please give Mr. Young a tour of the KBR site.

Look, I'm in the camp that doesn't want to slow UH's forward momentum, but let's not look a gift horse in the mouth here folks--​TWO ​new universities?? Bring on UT Houston and A&M Houston.  

Does anyone know where I can find the toll amounts for traveling on say Segment D to the end of F2? Surely something that is set to open within a week would have posted toll amounts somewhere online, but I haven't found any yet.

http://communityimpact.com/houston/cy-fair/news/2015/10/14/three-grand-parkway-segments-near-completion-cyf/

You couldn't be more right--information on toll rates seem rather hard to come by. This four month old article has an image--that's about the best I found.

Six levels of retail?  There's absolutely no way that makes sense in this location.  Where do they see the demand for that much retail inside the Astrodome?  These guys are smoking their own dope, as the expression goes.

I disagree. Creating a mall, with a several acre indoor recreational park, including underground parking, inside a historical landmark, built in a densifying, high tourist area next to a mass transit line seems like a fantastic idea to me. 

Perhaps this will be the impetus to de-parking lot the NRG complex and create parking garages and hotels. No one wants to stay in a hotel surrounded by a sea of parking lots, but provide a CityWalk type of shopping experience and suddenly you have a tourist magnet on your hands.

Per ABC13, F-1 and F-2 will open February 8th and tolls will begin a week later on February 15th.

Only one week of no tolls?!?! I remember when Austin opened up their toll roads a few years back they gave folks a few months of free usage before starting up the toll collection.

Truthfully, I'm actually glad this thing is a toll road--if you don't toll it, it becomes just as congested as all the other roads. Charge me for my convenience, but I want to go 70 mph. If you want free, you go 30 mph.

That being said, why don't they do congestion pricing on the toll roads? If it's one o'clock in the morning don't charge me the same fee as if it was the middle of the evening rush. The toll collection in the HOT lanes is on congestion pricing--let's do the same on all of the toll roads.

I wonder if instead of "the weather" the HTR direct connectors construction is the real delay in opening section G. I don't believe there will be frontage roads at this location, so no flyovers means no access between toll roads. 

FWIW, the FAQ facts section on the Texas Central website now is updated slightly to provide some insight to the question of the Houston station location:

"In Houston, the station is planned for the area along the 610 Loop between 290 and I-10."

Sure, it may just be the choice of wording, but things seem to be leaning more towards a NW TC adjacent location just as the Alignment Map suggests.