Kinglyam

Dang, you're going to make me do some actual research, aren't you? Here's a screencap from the project's interactive map showing that area. You can see it's nowhere near extending that whole width, nor does it go as close to the Residences as you're showing. The map's measuring tool says the existing freeway is about 250 ft wide, and the new one is about 450 at the widest. So not quite double, which makes sense for cramming two interstates together.

31 minutes ago, wilcal said:

 

Yeah, ouch. 

 

Also, wow @ the highway expanding all of the way to the railroad tracks. That's like 3X wider than it is currently right there. Really gives some scale. 

 

 

 While I'm sure it's widening (I don't remember the dimensions and am too lazy to look), I'm pretty sure it's not 3x wider. It's just being moved closer to the residential area because some traffic design software somewhere said eliminating the curve would reduce travel times by 0.5 seconds or something...

2 minutes ago, wilcal said:

Someone on /r/Houston posted about some construction has started at Hardy Yards this week.

 

 

I'm guessing it's the Red Line apartments that were platted earlier this year? 

 

Is that actually going to happen? I just assume that anything that goes over or through a rail isn't going to happen unless there is big money involved, and that would be a city project unless it was rolled into NHHIP. 

Yep, Red Line, the wrap apartments that Urbannizer posted back in March. 

I'm with you on the Fulton Street connection. If they did it, it would probably have to be an at-grade crossing. It's not part of the I-45 project (which I hope somehow still gets killed), and I see no sign that the City is particularly interested in it.

And it's all in the process of being developed. Going to get very busy there over the next couple of years. I saw surveyors out apparently laying out the garden-style apartment complex that's going up nearest the rail line, and I saw they've put out the bids to start the foundation work on the wrap next to the Residences. Plus someone apparently just put in a replat to turn all of those blue-ish sheet-metal warehouses I mentioned a few posts ago into yet more townhomes.

On 9/4/2019 at 2:08 PM, phillip_white said:

 

That one looks like it will butt up against Residences at Hardy Yards (separated by the access road off Leona) and run all the way to Fulton.

I don't see any GFR and there is quite a lot of ground level parking... but there's still a lot of the site left for retail and/or office, and perhaps they're waiting for the beds to fill up before starting on those components?

Yeah, that's my thought. Between this and the apartments they're doing closer to the light rail station, I assume they're relying on the still-strong rental market to get the population density that would be a draw for retail tenents. They're down to only the two blocks between Leona and Burnett, though. That's about what, 14 acres?

There's still a lot of retail opportunity in non-Hardy Yards property along Burnett. The old warehouse complex across Leona on Hardy is now for sale, I notice. Assuming CitiQuest doesn't snap it up for more townhomes like they've done half that area, that is!

On 3/11/2019 at 8:25 PM, Rtxt said:

Any idea what they will build there?

This is the empty lot next to the rail? It's ANOTHER wrap apartment. This isn't leaving a lot of room for mixed use, is it?

https://nrpconstruction.com/Home/ProjectDetail/8a561061-bd04-487f-a9dd-98e788273cda

1 hour ago, Sparrow said:

How long is the freeway construction project around Downtown supposed to take? Considering this property will be directly next to that several years long construction project, the fact that anything is being built at this time is rather amazing.

 

A suburban style apartment complex won't last very long--look at the Buffalo Heights property on Washington. Those apartments weren't very old before beginning the process of upgrading to a higher use.

At this point, it's more of a question of when it will happen. Probably not for at least another decade, maybe longer (or never). Funding hasn't even been requested, much less authorized, and it's one of the last phases planned. I'd imagine that would take a good 4 - 5 years to complete.

So we've got the gawdawful suburban-sprawl style apartment complex going up right next to downtown? Oh, joy. I suppose I should be grateful that it's not going to be something that will block my view of the downtown skyline, but what happened to mixed use? I guess at this point we can only hope that it's going to be a trigger for the REST of the open space to get developed into retail and office space.

Good question. Last we heard (earlier in the thread) that it was deferred. I don't know if that means they can come back and provide the planning commission the requested information without another hearing, or if we should expect an additional mailer. If the commission requested the elevations, I'm thinking they probably don't have that done yet. I'd expect they would have expected to hold off on any but the most bare-bones platting requirements until they got their variance. The variance request signs are gone, for whatever that may mean.

2 hours ago, Sparrow said:

Request was deferred. They want more info on the Fulton Street bridge as well as elevation drawings. 

This is the planning commission? That’s good, sounds like they aren’t rubber-stamping. However, since the other choice may be simply the keep the 25-foot setback and put parking in front, allowing this is probably the least of two evils.

That was my initial concern, but the various size structures and shapes imply to me that they're townhomes. It's fairly uncommon, but there are a few townhome-based developments I've seen with all that open-air parking. Seems way too much for the given size, though.

Considering the land value in the area, I don't see how they could justify low-rent housing that close to downtown as being "all the market will support". New construction has been selling at around $200/sf in that area (likely partly on speculation about this development, of course), and the demographic trend has been towards displaced Heights people. Putting low-value rental up as their first development would basically tank the value of the other 30 acres they have. Unless the developers themselves are in desperate straights after failing to sell the property, and this is a cynical effort to drop their property taxes, it just doesn't seem to make sense to non-developer me.

Good news: Something is happening on the main Hardy Yards.

Bad (ish) news: It's just a multi-family residential development. Still no movement on the mixed-use portion, though they still say that's what's coming. I don't recall this being part of the original plan, though. I'm worried that this looks like your standard suburban housing development.

Saw this on the fence on the Burnett and Fulton sides of the Hardy Yards reserve. Maybe this means we’ll soon have something else to talk about, like the “real” Hardy Yards development starting? Would developers request a build line variance if they’re not planning something relatively soon?

I've been on Bailey in 4th Ward since 2008, and have forgotten what it's like to be able to use my own street. At what point does a "temporary closure" become a permanent closure that would have required a variance?

Even if they ever do finish this boondoggle, anyone want to take odds on these guys repairing the completely destroyed road?

No, it's probably the last thing they're going to do. That's not a very good picture, because it blocks the view. You can see the framework going up near the driveway off Leona near Chapman. It's only about 3 stories high so far. I seem to recall seeing that it's supposed to be near 100 feet.

15 minutes ago, cspwal said:

Reading the plans more, the canopy will extend both over the new escalator and some of the upper platform - but not extend to the station platforms.  I guess because they don't want the canopy that tall or something, but you'll get wet walking to the train

You'd have to put it over the electric lines to get there, and they probably don't want to have to shut down the train service to get it put up. But at least all those kids running up and down the stairs for fitness can do it in any weather, now.

Hmm,  the link must not have liked the spaces. See if this upload works.

IB1600054 Drawing PT 1 of 5 10112016.pdf

On a non-Residences note, was anyone else aware of the upgrades they've apparently proposed to do to the Burnett TC at the other end? I just came across these construction drawings (PDF) from February 2016, where they're putting in an escalator and canopy over the existing stairs. With the Hardy Yards being bracketed with development, maybe someone will FINALLY start doing something mixed use? Pretty please?

5 minutes ago, Triton said:

 

Oh wow. So it looks like the Hardy Tollroad Extension will affect the new warehouse being built on that property. 

 

I don't think so. If you look at the current Google Earth aerial, you'll see they seem to have already accounted for that. It crosses the corner at Brooks and Maury, which is the block they're using for laydown. The laydown yard has the northwest corner of the block left alone, which lines up right with the ROW in the condemnation document. I'm pretty sure the new building is east of that. HCAD says that little corner is CRV, but the rest of it is Kurtz Development.

I just did my semi-random web search for information related to this development, and found this notice in the agenda for the Commissioner's Court, for a meeting that happened last night (October 11):

"To consider matters relating to the case of Harris County v. CR V Hardy Yards, LP, and upon completion thereof to take further action as appropriate, including possible settlement."

I can't find any reference to this case otherwise. All I can tell is it's the same company name under which the MSD was obtained, but the MSD doesn't involve Harris County. Anyone know what agreements were between those two entities that might result in a lawsuit? 

16 minutes ago, Angostura said:

It's roughly a third of the total land area, but it's the third that's closest to the rail stop, and potentially creates a barrier between the rest of the development and the rail line.

 

It also means they can't connect Leona St all the way to Chestnut St. It's the street grid that makes this a potential extension of the neighborhood instead of East Katyville, which is what it runs the risk of becoming.

 

If you look at how they built Leona, it looks like they never had any intention of connecting it all the way to Chestnut Street, nor completing the Fulton extension. Had they intended to do so, they would have probably built in a dead-end tee rather than the landscaped curb that is there now. The Fulton extension being nixed may (again) go back to the redo of I-45/I-10. If you see the proposed new layout of San Jacinto in the Draft EIS, they turn it farther east. That looks like it would be tough to match Fulton to the new alignment.

Not having a public street through the middle of the property increases the value of the property as pedestrian-oriented mixed use development, in my mind. The buyer would have the potential to build in perimeter parking off of Leona/Fulton for drivers, while focusing on mass-transit oriented pedestrians from the BTC and downtown/UHD. This portion is the prime development spot, and the one I figured would be the first phase developed.

46 minutes ago, wxman said:

This development was a joke from the beginning. It's in the hood and frankly fairly removed from anything desirable. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live on that side of town. Then again I'm a Woodlands snob lol

By your reckoning, is "the hood" anything inside 610? I'd bet dollars to donuts Near Northside has less crime than about any area of The Woodlands. If they can address the flop houses that popped up with all the mental cases there, it's probably one of the safest places to be. The neighbors are primarily long-term working-class families that have owned the houses for generations, with younger professionals who couldn't afford the Heights taking over the abandoned properties and empty lots. There's a sense of community there that is sorely lacking in any of our suburban disaster areas, or even many of our supposedly higher-quality downtown neighborhoods.

@Triton - Could be worse things to go in there, but it's still such a waste for JUST that to go in. Though if the Washington Avenue HEB plans are any indication, they could do it right. They definitely need something other than just that old Fiesta. Hopefully it's close enough to the Katyville Walmart that we don't have to worry about another one of those showing up.

2 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

 

Because you can't have a full scale multi-use development near a freeway???  Reality suggests otherwise.

 

 

Depends what they had planned, and whether they thought it was cost-effective to change it. I'm currently looking out of my office from City Center directly to the Beltway, so I know that it can work if they planned on offices there. But if they planned residences there, I'm not so sure it would work.

We don't know for certain this will mean the end of mixed use, just well-integrated mixed-use. You can still get some decent development done on 10+ acres.

10 hours ago, Montrose1100 said:

I think the clock tower killed any hopes of a full scale multi-use development. Best we can hope for are more wraps/townhomes and no big box/strip centers.

I can't imagine that was the culprit, being shoved to the back corner. I'd say moving I-10 into their backyard is a more probable culprit.

It means they're selling off part of Hardy Yards. "No Restrictions" means no limits on the use, so the Hardy Yards as a full development like City Center or the Woodlands is likely dead.

If we're really lucky, maybe they're just looking for investors to kick off phase 1, but I'm pretty sure CBRE doesn't facilitate those, it just sells.