Sparrow

There's one three miles east on Cypress Creek Parkway/FM 1960. ...and another 5 miles north ...and another 5 miles south ...and another 5 miles west. Makes good financial sense. They won't lose that much in overall sales, and now they can sell a valuable piece of real estate.

... especially in this market?

Buy low, sell high. While the oil crash is not beneficial on the macro scale, and is quite unfortunate for others, those looking to buy will gain the advantages of increased foreclosures and downward price pressure due to reduced demand. Mortgage rates are still quite low for the time being--the near term will be a great time to buy a house.

Q: So what becomes of this in say, 15-20 years or so, when we all take a self-driving Uber everywhere, and no one has a need to own a personal vehicle any longer? Can a garage such as this be converted to anything, or will it inevitably have a date with the wrecking ball? Are we in the midst of the peak of parking garage glory days?

I just attended Texas Central's public meeting in Cypress.

 

The map on display showed the alignment ending at the Northwest Transit Center at I-10 and North Post Oak. I spoke to a guy who appeared to be the lead guy for the alignment from the engineering perspective. So I asked him, "Is the station going to be at the transfer station?" He said nothing is final, but the Federal Railroad Administration's preference is to bring it to the Northwest Transit Station, and FRA is the ultimate authority on the alignment.

 

So then I asked him, "Is Texas Central's objective to bring it to the Northwest Transit Center, and would that be consistent with Texas Central's goal for real estate development around the station?" He was less decisive on this question, and he says some interests are promoting a site with more space like the Northwest Mall site. But at the end, he said yes, Texas Central does want to bring it to the Northwest Transit Center.

 

Many folks on this forum (including me) assumed that the Northwest Mall site or property close to the mall would be selected, but that assumption may be wrong. It looks to me like there is a strong chance the station will be further south at the transit center. While that would promote transit connectivity, it would seem to greatly reduce the attractiveness of redeveloping the Northwest Mall site. In my view, I would rather see a big real estate development around a station at the Northwest Mall site, with plenty of space for parking and good highway connections. A Northwest Mall station could be connected into the transit center, maybe with a dedicated bus lane.

http://www.texascentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/OpenHouseExhibit_22x34_StripMap_Harris_5_reduced.pdf

Map of proposed alignment ending at NW TC.

Perhaps instead of this high-flying express lane plan they first ought to consider continuous frontage roads at the two major highway interchanges. That is in the plans for I-45/610 with that rebuild and such was added within the past few years at 290 and the Beltway if I'm not mistaken, why not try that here as well?  

It's mostly 30+ year old tilt-wall construction around there; i.e. already paid for. Land owners would jump at the opportunity to upgrade their facilities away from the traffic on TCR's dime.

 

We'll know things are getting serious when we start hearing about an Upper Post Oak District TIRZ.

"Upper Post Oak District"--is that a name that is actually used in any circles, or did you just create that? If so, bravo my friend, bravo. It is very powerful and sophisticated, connecting to the Uptown brand, while at the same time differentiating and elevating itself. 

Oh, I think you might be misunderstanding me.  I actually support both, but I understand why the landowners fight the HSR and not the road. Put simply, they directly benefit from using the road, and they don't from the HSR as long as there are no intermediate stops.  The HSR is pure cutting-their-land-in-half inconvenience for them (although the counties will get increased property taxes).  I think the HSR would be smart to negotiate the intermediate counties helping fund some intermediate stops for a few daily non-express/local-stop trains that would run each day. It would require short bypass tracks at the stops so the express Houston-Dallas trains could blow past them, but it might substantially ease the opposition.

I also support both projects--progress marches forward and onward.

However, I would think rural landowners would favor a rail line that will cut thru their land more so than a highway which may one day force them to move from their homestead due to development pressure. A rail line without a station does nothing to provide monetary causation for the landowner to sell his/her land. It all depends upon the motivation of the rural folk I suppose. If he's looking to make a pretty penny by selling his land, the highway is without question the way to go because it will provide access, which will lead to development pressure. On the other hand, if they hope to continue passing down the homestead generation after generation, the rail is the poison of choice because while it may startle the cows a bit, it would not be on any developer's radar without a station to provide access.

I think of it in Old West terms as allowing the city folk stranger who just wandered into town to be able to grab some grub and a drink at the saloon, but he best be on his way outta town before he takes a glance at pretty little Ellie Mae and even thinks about trying to hang up his hat. You can pass on thru, but don't even think about doing any more than that. If country folks want to preserve their way of life they should remain steadfast in opposition to any local station access.

That being said, not a chance I-14 has much stalwart opposition, it's nickname is "Forts to Ports" for crying out loud. I'm not sure the last time we've connected so well to Eisenhower's original aim of the Interstate Highway System--to provide for military readiness and mobility. My gut says this one will not only come to be without much opposition, but it will be come to be with much more haste than we are used to.   

Yeah, the screwy way how it jogs slowly southeast until College Station, when it jogs up 21 to go south again, won't work. For starters, I imagine that it will go through FM 436 (from Killeen) since it I-35 takes part of the route, then build a bypass around Little River-Academy to Rogers, then following US-190 (roughly) to Cameron, then basically cutting southeast to Bryan, where it might take part of Highway 6 (sorry Hearne), then it would either make another "bypass" toward Highway 30 East, or cut east through Singleton (potential HSR connection?) to Huntsville, where (it appears) from Jasper that it would continue through TX-63/LA-8 to Fort Polk.

Routing of I-14 near Temple would no doubt follow the existing 190 thru the city as they just recently upgraded this section to interstate standards. Dual signing I-35 for the five or so miles from Temple to Belton is the cost effective, pragmatic thing to do. The 40 or so miles of US 190 from the new Copperas Cove bypass eastward to Heidenheimer could be called I-14 immediately.

I'd eat my hat if this thing doesn't route from College Station to Huntsville by way of the new HSR station. Somewhere in that acreage around Shiro, Roans Prairie, and Singleton where a few hundred folks may live now, is going to be made a vast new city in very short order with a new interstate and a high speed rail station. I would be very, very surprised if we don't see the new rail station directly adjacent to I-14.

http://www.chron.com/news/transportation/article/Interstate-14-on-its-way-across-Texas-6684403.php

Central Texas is getting a new interstate. US 190 will be signed as I-14 in already up to standard sections as early as next year.

SubdivisionPlatPDF_Wilson Headquarters GP - 52616 - 151207.pdf

San Jacinto extension still part of COH future plans. 

Frankly, I'd like to see them go one step further and just tunnel 610 from 10 to 59/69, build an express tunnel for both directions, build a local access tunnel for both directions, and put a local access parkway at grade. Double the total number of lanes.

I'd imagine the folks with the MP Conservancy would put their positive power behind such a plan.

Post Oak Parkway anyone??

As I look at this I can't help but think how very poorly the building placement in the middle of the lot results in wasted space--look at all of that driveway encircling the entire building. Just eyeballing it without actually doing up a schematic, better building placement should result in additional parking spaces by reducing the wasted driveway acreage. I'm sure it's just the visual perception I'm getting, no doubt they did their due diligence, but it just seems like a poor choice. Building setbacks no doubt play a part, but that's what they're seeking a variance for anyhow I believe.

Based on their previous work, they said a tunnel wasn't feasible. They would have to build a bridge with a steep grade.

Perhaps the tunnel would be feasible now? The public meeting was back in 2010; not sure when studies were conducted. Conditions have changed, instead of multiple tracks to cross, there's just one now. The only reason I could think to build a bridge rather than a tunnel just as was done at Main so many decades ago, would be because of the prohibited cost of any ground pollution, much the same situation as with the Green line. Engineering cost constraints likely aren't the issue here with just one track above. A tunnel would also have more favorable height characteristics for TxDOT's 45 reconstruction plans.

One would think that the Hardy Yards folks would dedicate the ROW to the city--especially if they could keep much of their future planned park above such a tunnel. With a bridge structure no such park would have an opportunity to exist in that space.

Even south of the track you might expect the Wilson property folks (I believe the alignment would cross property within their plat) to dedicate their part of the needed ROW without cost by simply exchanging the needed land for a closure of Chapman (north of Conti). Realigning Lyons with Naylor may even be beneficial to both the property owners and the city at the same time--depending upon TxDOT's I-45 plans of course. A San Jac extension by itself should increase the Wilson property's value--seems like a good reason to dedicate the needed ROW, especially if the Chapman closure was thrown in.

Maybe the delay has something to do with the North Houston Highway Improvement Project. Perhaps they have to redesign the extension to accommodate future access to the new feeder roads from N. San Jacinto while also making sure the highway will be built high enough to clear the N. San Jacinto overpass over Hardy Yards.

I'd like to think that they'd consider a tunnel rather than a bridge structure for a San Jacinto extension, just like the Hernandez Tunnel for Main. Not sure what the cost comparision would be. The Hardy Yards developer could likely even keep much of the park they have on the site plan in the ROW south of Leona.

There's nothing wrong with competition--so long as schools are given an equal footing. Competition breeds ingenuity and excellence. The UT system has a Houston medical school, then the UH system should be granted the same by the state legislature. Additional state funding to a UT-Houston should be matched with additional matching funding to the UH system.

I realize it wasn't addressed in the last mile report, but certainly the TxDOT intended rebuild of I-45 might have something to do with not going all the way to Downtown just yet. How could TxDOT possibly allow use of their right-of-way over/under/thru I-45/I-10 before a massive $6B+ rebuild?  

Bigfoot we do not need future growth spots, we need to improve the ones we have.

A bus route from the station to downtown is cool but downtown is incomplete as it is. What we going to do, take the train to 290, then take a 45 minute bus to downtown, then take an hour bus to the SW, then take a 15 minute bus to the galleria then take a 45 minute bus to get a drink downtown?

We are already too spread out.

We have zillions of developed areas but not one complete well rounded one.

You are looking at it as a Houston resident. Look at it as a traveller coming by train (carless) what good to them is a station in the boonies that spurred the growth of some shops, condos, and a couple of offices in the area?

We should concentrate on creating at least one well rounded cluster instead of creating more and more s#/tty ones.

610/10/290 is hardly "the boonies".

Even if you're taking a train into NYC, who stays only within a quarter mile radius of Grand Central or Penn Station? Bus from NW TC to Downtown does not take nearly as long as you exaggerate.

Best case scenario for Hardy Yards  is for a commuter line station in the near term and perhaps one day a HSR extension if the cost/benefits of such an extension become favorable.

More on topic, the deferral of the Wilson property plat on the planning agenda validates a San Jacinto extension from Downtown remains in the plans.

I agree Anthony. I like a set up like in New Orleans. A transit hub where you catch a train, Greyhound, megabus, city buses and trolleys and it's right on the edge of the core. Last week I took in a few last minute attractions in the quarter, bought a few gifts, then took a 15 minute walk to the station.

If I was a visitor and I hopped off a train on 290 I would never come back to Houston again. After being on a train for 3 or 4 hours, when I get to Houston I don't want to get on a series of buses to get to where I am going. I want to fall off the train into a bar, a shot taxi ride to my hotel.

Screw the Woodlands, i would run it with 45, then along Hardy with a stop at Hardy and Greens. Then continue down hardy to Downtown.

Have you been following the HSR thread at all?

90 minutes, not "3 or 4 hours."

What does The Woodlands have to do with anything? They wanted the rail but TCP's analysis ruled out that corridor a long time ago for cost, constructability, and maximum operational speed reasons.

Hell why not stop the rail in College Station. Having the main train station 20 miles away from downtown is ridiculously inconvenient to pretty much everybody who doesn't live along the 290 corridor. Furthermore, the idea is to not only connect business between the two cities but cultures as well. Stopping that far northwest of the city makes it a hassle to get to midtown, downtown or NRG Park. Their heart is in the right place but I don't know where in the h e l l  their brain is.

Twenty MINUTES (in heavy traffic), not twenty MILES. Likely more in the range of 10 minutes via HOV lane on P&R buses. And 10 minutes to Uptown. And only 20 minutes to the Energy Corridor as well. This station is optimally located to serve all of Houston--not only the CBD.

Downtown and 290/610/10 as well as Cypress would have been best case scenario, but perhaps the 290 commuter line by METRO or others so many are eager for will be made a priority since this line doesn't provide that service.  

I wonder why they do seem to be terminating at Northwest Mall instead of going downtown.

 

Could it be just access problems, which is one reason I argued NW Mall instead of downtown in the past?

 

Could it be them unable to procure the land in downtown needed at a reasonable cost?

 

Or could it be the resistance in the Washington Avenue corridor, which (I imagine) would have more political sway than some disgruntled rural landowners?

IT, check out TCP's website for links to the Step 2 analysis as well as the Last Mile analysis. All of their rationale and analysis is in the reports as well as the remaining 6 specific alignments between here and Dallas. In a nut shell, no DT station at this point due to environmental concerns (parks and historic places) and cost/benefit ratios.

As an aside, anyone know what the "Houston and Texas Central Railway archeological site" is?

No doubt there will be a taxi stand.  And rental cars.

 

Plus, isn't the Northwest Transit Center about a half mile down the road?  I would think there would be a shuttle.

 

Best case scenario is being located closer to the NW TC in one form or another. The closer the connection the more straight forward it is to board a nice plush P&R bus to either Downtown, Uptown, or the EC. Simply add more buses to the already existing network. One the plush bus network becomes overloaded, then consider other projects.  

The connection from the station to the NW TC is vitally important--there's no doubt TCP knows this and will provide this connection via People Mover or some other technological means.

This area's industrial warehouse days are numbered. N. Post Oak will be vastly changed a decade from now.

Did flooding have a drag on the timeline for this?

The buffer is the combination of feeder lanes plus the commercial development along the feeder, usually a big parking lot combined with a big box store or strip center (or office towers).  The residential ends up at least a couple hundred feet from the freeway, which gets outside the worst of the pollution plume.

So now sprawl is environmentally friendly???

Without feeder roads such development would be much more likely to occur in neighborhood centers and downtown areas in more dense, walkable, shorter drive districts thus reducing the "pollution plume" in the first place. Don't get me wrong, feeder roads do make way finding more straightforward, and they're a Houston way of life, but let's not be afraid to consider another alternative.

The answer is rarely 100/0 of one choice over another. Sometimes feeder roads are a better design, sometimes exits directly to perpendicular thoroughfares would be more appropriate. I'd say it's all about the last word in the title of this thread--compromise.   

Elevation and site plan are on the current planning commission agenda pdf if anyone is able to grab those and post. Nothing impressive. Fairly depressing actually. But hey, it's progress I suppose.

Holiday Inn Express to go in at North Main and I-45--on next planning commission agenda. Not likely to be anything spectacular, but with the small footprint of less than an acre and a half, should be of some interest. SWC Norma and North Main. Grota Street officially abandoned by COH last month.

85 rooms. 6 floors.