Sparrow

http://houston.culturemap.com/news/innovation/07-22-15-high-speed-train-from-houston-to-dallas-in-90-minutes-gets-new-boss-and-chunk-of-cash-1/

 

New CEO - bad thing? Or just normal happenings in a business? 

I think people are confusing TCR with TCP. Texas Central Partners didn't have a CEO until now if my understanding is correct. Texas Central Railway is to promote the establishment of a railway. TCR's CEO is still intact. Texas Central Partners is the company that will build and operate the railway. Two separate companies that happen to have a lot of the same folks on the board.

So yes, a new CEO, but not replacing an old CEO.

Hopefully they keep this after the trial period ends. Nothing feels quite as satisfying as flying by stop and go traffic at 70 mph. I'll gladly pay one dollar to save a few minutes.

Thing is, I wonder how much this reduces the HTR inbound traffic. Paying $1 for the 45 Express Lane is much cheaper than the HTR--and it takes you all the way to Downtown.

According to the Springwoods Village website a third corporate campus "will be announced in early 2015." Any word yet?

Elsewhere on the site it also mentions a fourth hotel to be build at the NW corner of the Grand Parkway and Holzwarth just south of the Belvedere Apartments.

See the dot below the Southwestern Energy HQ.

http://springwoodsvillage.com/homes-and-map/map/

Is the Woodlands planning a light rail line Sparrow?

Not likely any time soon.

The recent HGAC The Woodlands Township Transit Plan study is big on bus service to build up "a culture of transit" first. However, they do pinpoint a streetcar between Town Center and ExxonMobil for reconsideration as the transit market in the area develops. They're keeping the horse in front of the cart. It's rational and prudent. They also say that for LRT "given the distance from the METRO light rail system, it is unlikely that the cost/benefit would justify a connection to METRO's system." At the same time, this study was done by HGAC, not the developers behind The Woodlands and Springwood Village who would look not solely at existing land use and likely ridership, but the potential for land development and their potential ROI.

http://www.thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/5750

In my opinion y'all are missing the smart money here trying to connect the existing Red Line with a Springwoods Village line.

These folks in large part wouldn't commute from Downtown Houston--the point would be to connect The Woodlands Town Center with Springwoods Village's CityPlace. Millions of square feet of existing office and retail on the north end, the same thing to be built on the south end. Mutual success would come from the symbiotic relationship. The vast number of highrise condos they could build is only limited by future demand for the lifestyle. A seven or so mile long line with ROW that is dedicated by the development companies would reduce the cost of creating a new line tremendously. If one day such a line connects with the existing Red Line, so be it--but in the near term I doubt such would be the aim.

yeah they hit 66mph, which is part of why I've been suggesting for years that some of the future commuter routes be "LRT-Commuter hybrid" routes, utilizing the same LRT vehicles so they can switch over/run directly onto our local LRT tracks without any stops/transfers.. functioning basically how they now have this 90A commuter line planned (the trains are supposed to merge onto the Red line up to Wheeler).

It would also be great if METRO could create siding bypasses around several stations to create the means by which to create a local and an express route for the Red Line that would only stop at every third or so station. You wouldn't need an entire new track, just a few hundred yards of new track around some stations--or create new off-line stations at certain locations to achieve the same. Burnett TC is already built for such a possibility. Sure would be great to travel from Northline TC to Reliant in half or a third of the time.

What exactly do they mean by "will be easily accessed by direct on/off ramps in both directions on I-10"? Is this developer going to finance a new roadway project?  Or is this merely an over-exaggerated statement that the development is on the feeder road of I-10? 

http://www.springwoodsvillage.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/The-Market-at-Springwoods-Village-Phase-I-II-May2015.pdf

See page #2--"Unannounced Energy Company Headquarters, 225k sq feet, 1,125 employees"

Also, did we know about the 385 room Marriott, the 250K Northside Offices building, and two additional "corporate campuses"?

Flyer dated May 2015--very recent info.

Can we also put 1711 Caroline in the title? Was a little difficult searching for this thread.

 

Construction valuation: $5,161,815.00

Construction $5.2M. $3.3M incentive from the city (220 x $15k). Not a very difficult economic decision one would think. It's a wonder the program funding was still available as long as it was.

Another Woodlands Waterway condo project coming down the road. East Shore plan revisions are on the planning commission agenda for Thursday.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2015/06/plans-point-to-new-condominium-project-in-the.html

I liked that idea - it seemed a good way to bring transit in with minimal disruption to auto traffic.  First thing I noticed - Center street isn't 5 lanes wide like main was, so it would either have to be closed to traffic or trains would run with mixed traffic.  Maybe no through traffic?

 

I had the line be an extension of the southeast line, following the highway patterns of criss-crossing through downtown.  (The east end line could go down memorial or Allen parkway at some point).

This.

Purple line extension as the local on Center with limited auto access. Cut auto access entirely if an alternative is available.

Green line extension down Memorial as the Uptown-Downtown Express. No stops from Uptown BRT to Downtown. 

http://www.ridemetro.org/News/RAILFEST.aspx

RAILFEST to take place May 23rd at BBVA Compass Stadium to kick off the new light rail lines. Free tickets available at HEB.

It's nice to have a well defined district. The edges that are created may actually be beneficial to the neighborhoods adjacent to Downtown/Midtown in the sense that each is clearly delineated. You wouldn't put a 40 story office building up in the Third Ward or Northside, but removing the Pierce makes Midtown just as attractive an option as Downtown for that same building. The edges that are created are Houston's form of de facto zoning.

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/gray-matters/article/What-would-it-take-to-make-Pierce-Elevated-a-6229895.php?t=d4d1ddeb2b&cmpid=twitter-premium

The image of the Standard Hotel straddling the High Line (#10) intrigues me. Perhaps this idea does have potential. I'm changing my vote.

Let's have our cake and eat it too. Make the Pierce SkyPark while also selling off aerial rights to build above and/or below the SkyPark.

No demo cost to TxDOT. TxDOT makes money from selling development rights. TxDOT wins with positive PR. The city wins with another world class signature park. The city wins with more valuable property on the tax rolls. Park patrons benefit with shade from buildings built over the park (will be very nice come mid-summer). With the park being integrated thru, over, and under buildings, the divide between Downtown and Midtown will be erased the same as if the Pierce were demolished. Individual building developers would likely add improvements to their section of park to make their building even more attractive.

As long as the corridor is maintained, there's always the chance a freeway could go back in. Sell off the land and build a dozen high rises in its place.

A park on the Pierce would likely leave the park over the highway by the GRB without funding. I'll take TxDOT's 10 block long proposed park over 59/69/288/45 all day long. Does anyone really think Houston has enough philanthropy to fund the GRB deck park, additional extension of Buffalo Bayou park toward the East End, the indoor Astrodome park, and a Pierce elevated park. I think not.

Probably won't have much support here or politically for this suggestion, but the most ideal way to increase ridership would be if all rides were free*. The psychological impact of "free" is powerful. 

Before jumping all over the idea consider both transit rider and personal car driver. Rider benefits because his per ride cost is zero. Show up and go. Service is faster because no one needs to collect payment or swipe cards. METRO cuts cost by eliminating costs associated with bookkeeping and ticket generation. Personal car drivers benefit because more people will be inclined to ride transit if it is free thus reducing the number of cars on the road. Fewer cars means less accidents, shorter trip duration, faster travel speeds, less potholes, and more parking spaces available at your destination.

*The trick is how to finance such a proposal. Would the state bump up the max sales tax rate? Additional car rental tax? Hotel tax? Property tax? Toll road funding? Advertising? FY 2014 was budgeted at $70M in farebox revenue--it's not a huge sum, but it's not insignificant enough to not be replaced by some means.

If your going to Manhattan, ride the subway. It's not the 1980s any more. You won't get mugged every other day as some here want you to believe. It's not super clean like the DC metro is, but within Manhattan it is absolutely the quickest and cheapest way to get around. NYC operates at a different wavelength than Houston does. My God do those people know how to power walk. It's not like living in the Houston metro region where we complain if there's not a parking space right at the door to where we're going. Walking a few blocks in NYC is "close". A couple of blocks (or parking too far from the door) in Houston is considered a workout.

But that's what's great about what we're doing here in Houston. A more urban walkable lifestyle that can provide the close couple of blocks walk to get things to make dinner is coming to Downtown/Midtown. At the same time if you enjoy buying two weeks of groceries at time and piling it all into your Expedition you can do that too. Not everyone wants this way or that way, Houston has something for everyone.

Culberson is stopping anything on Richmond west of Shepherd.

why not have the trains turn south and cross over 69 at Yoakum? i always though that was the logical cross over. its right after Montrose, which is where METROs ROW starts, so you get the most out of the ROW they own (without actually crossing over at Montrose which would be impossible), and Yoakum is a super wide blvd street with grassy median that dead ends right there anyways. just run the trains down the median of the street like most of our rail does anyways and you wouldn't have to lose any traffic lanes. obviously a new bridge would have to be built here too, but thats going to happen anywhere this potentially crosses over. just make it match the Montrose arch bridges, and maybe have the LEDs change colors or something every time the train rolls across?

What about doing up to the limits of what would be permissible by Culberson? Run the line on Richmond all the way up until Shepherd and then veer south along Farnham to Greenbriar to connect with the METRO ROW. Crossing 59/69 under the freeway overpass would be significantly cheaper than a new bridge over the highway at any point.

Is METRO's gripe with using the ROW for the University Line that they have other future plans for it? Is the ROW intended to be used for heavy commuter rail trains? If so build stations with bypasses where ROW allows. The light rail can be used for the same commuter rail purpose with this linear ROW by running a local and an express route.

Couple of thoughts here. Millions upon millions of dollars spent to fix up Buffalo Bayou and y'all would rather go prancing around on the freeway. If you want an elevated view of downtown buildings just go walking thru the tunnel system--there's numerous elevated walkways there--but they're covered and air conditioned. If y'all wanted to make a park out of this elevated freeway section in Houston you're thinking about it all wrong. It's the underside that's the big complaint anyhow, right? Build the park there, under the Pierce. Check out the proposed Lowline for NYC instead of the Highline. A covered park for Downtown would be interesting (it's what so many propose for the Dome, right?). ..and above the covered park on the Pierce bring in the new high speed rail and put the station right at Main Street adjacent to the Downtown Transit Center. It would be as central to the Downtown/Midtown district as you could possibly achieve under the best scenario. Demolish the remaining section, or perhaps leave it in play for a possible HSR extension to Galveston. Everyone wins.

Maybe it's been mentioned somewhere along the way here, but why not just build the western half of this line on the Westpark ROW instead of Richmond so this can get going? Add some covered moving walkways from the line circulating thru Greenway Plaza (that'd be relatively low cost and awesome anyway). Construction for the line would be quicker. Once operational the line could move at higher speeds. And hey, maybe Culberson would finally line up federal funding for this project if METRO would bite the bullet and let him win.  

Can't seem to find a legible graphic, but this should be somewhat helpful:

http://www.northgatecrossingmud1.com/improvement-plans/index.html

http://www.northgatecrossingmud1.com/improvement-plans/Pending%20Development.pdf

Energy Crossing North is also in the area at the SE corner of HTR and Northgate Crossing but not included above (directly across HTR from "B").

http://www.thehrealestate.com/mobile/pages/images/ENERGY-Crossing-North.pdf

Midtown just went up a class. Supersized Downtown-Midtown will have a new center--the views coming up 45 South will be simply amazing. What an brilliant piece of urban planning this plan is. It expands the Downtown area by annexing Midtown by removing the perceived differentiation the Pierce has caused. It provides the framework for major parks along the Bayou and over the freeways.

Put the house inside the Dome since we can't decide what to do with either one.

http://www.constructionbusinessowner.com/news/mccarthy-breaks-ground-houston-metro-harrisburg-overpass

 

The $27 million project will involve construction of a 2,400-linear-foot grade separation at the Houston Belt and Terminal (HBT) and Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) railroad tracks located west of Hughes Road. It will include a bridge structure with aesthetic architectural features, two 16-foot wide vehicular traffic lanes, a 26-foot LRT guideway located in the center of the bridge structure, and two 5-foot wide emergency walkways on each side of the bridge. The project will also include aesthetic street lighting on top and underneath the structure, new storm drainage and 16-foot wide frontage roads and sidewalks with at-grade crossings over the HBT/UPRR railroad tracks. The overpass is set to be complete in only 12 months.

"Emergency walkways"--people in other parts of the world call them sidewalks.  

Land was bought nearly a decade ago and has been quite a profitable real estate investment. Value has doubled since 2011. Don't think for a second that all HEB does is sell groceries. They're very big into the real estate game. I wouldn't think they'd sell this property. May develop it other than a store location, but selling would open up the opportunity for a competitor. Buildings are half a century old, about time for something to happen here.