WesternGulf

Simple, it's zoning.

To be honest, I thought this thread was about the EDGE, but you are right about the lack of retail in the area atleast for the residents that have been in and are moving into the Fourth Ward. From the map, it still seems like retail is the last thing this developer would be worried about. The streets are just to narrow in the area, and retail usually lies on commercial streets such as Gray and West Dallas, while everything in between is residential. Plus the streets are just too narrow for that type of traffic unless it will be geared exclusively towards walkers. Yeah right. Also, regarding the Camden, I must say I now see where musicman is coming from. Not too many people who live in the sea of Urban Lofts and new townhomes popping up in the Fourth Ward are going to walk in the area. It's sad, but we have to stop being so p.c. It is not once in a blue moon that you have an encounter with someone you really do not want to deal with in that area. The best hope for residents in the fourth ward regarding walkable retail is West Dallas. Off topic, but here is a pretty cool pic of the area. Kind of dark.

The AA website says the downtown location should be open this winter. They have the locations mixed up though saying that the Westheimer location is in downtown and the Main location is in Montrose. http://www.americanapparel.net/storelocati...?metroareaid=93

Are we talking about the same development here? Isn't this Camden project really the location for the Edge at 300 St Joseph? I do not believe they're apartments either.

These are no where near the area you are speaking of. I believe it is literally across the street from the Post. That said, retail is really not needed at this development. Ther are restaurant options, convenient stores, coffee shops, and cleaners all along that stretch on Gray located at the Post that even the average Houstonian could walk to from this development. The Post Midtown expansion may even be mixed use.

Exactly. I always thought it made more sense than our Uptown. Why do we call Midtown Midtown?

This may be a little extreme but I notice it everytime I see the commercial. I forgot what company it was for but has anyone seen a commercial with Park IV and V buildings on Montrose shown from the outside at night and there are like three or four people on a couch watching TV for something? It was far from a local commercial if you all were wondering.

All of Main through Midtown needs help. The only property on that street that could spark something as far as the area it is located in is the Isabella.

Lying diagonally, Manhattan could probably fit in the 610 loop. The 610 loop has around half of a million people, give or take a few, in a little under 100 square miles. That makes the loop five times larger than Manhattan, but Manhattan has a little more than three times the population. About 70,000 people per square mile.

I kind of saw that too. She always returned back to "normal" when she was around him. He seemed a little embarassed and anti social when she was around.

I actually would have left the lake out but I will give this pic about 30 years to age and some vines and greenery to mature before I judge it. Looks ok.

Any predictions for this community? Seems pretty underrated for the scale of the project. I was checking out the website and it looks like the community will be based on three squares: The Beachtown Square, The East Village Square, and The West Villae Square. Each will be mixed use. Here ae some new renderings I found on the website The first homes are for sale on har.com

hmmm. Sounds like Main Street was one big Main and Walker back then. Maybe that's on my conscious while I am looking at these pictures. That intersection is one huge eyesore safe for the Commerce Towers that sits at the southwest corner. Has anyone taken the time just to people watch while drinking bubble tea at Tropioca? That area needs help. Maybe it will look better when the garage is built at the northwest corner and that Beatty-West Building shows some progress as far as preservation.

My problem is that Metro has made changes to how the system will be built and it seems like the AO residents come up with new scare tactics. I seriously would like to, but this is why I am not taking the reaction too seriously. The problems of saving the trees, not taking up lanes for more traffic congestion, and having full access to businesses have been solved. I wonder what will be the next excuse if there was a way to show Afton Oak residents that property values will not drop or the train increasing the possibility of hitting people walking their dogs should be a non issue if there was something called responsibility. Yeah yeah yeah, the Afton Oaks residents can say that they are not anti rail but anti Richmond if they want, but it is clear that the success of mass transit in this city is not a priority for them if they think that success will come with just having rail placed anywhere.

I agree. This area look better 12 years ago. Interesting photos Alpha.

Although I have experienced this in more places than Houston. Even Canada.

Ever hear of Elkins High? Across the highway from Lake Olympia in Missouri City.

Maybe I missed it somewhere, but what is the need to go through the trouble of closing Bell anyway? Stopping there probably sets you back a minute at the most.

This is my only hope for many of these townhomes currently being built, sort of like the homes in Manhattan Beach California or Whitley Heights in LA, but once that starts to happen we might tear them down again. Thank god I'm still kind of young that I will probably live to see it.

I agree that you can find ranch style houses in other neighborhoods around that price range. I didn't even know Bellaire had a large collection of ranch houses. Definitely look around Rice University, but they might go over 320 in that area. Plus the other ranch houses may stay their with you. Bellaire is losing its charm quick.

A centralized city is one thing, but when you hear statements like this from cities that are known for their edge cities and decentralization, but think they can comment because their city is smaller than Houston in land area, it gets annoying. When in Miami, it is a given to go way outside those 36 square miles for some people's basic "needs". Sometimes even in dense centralized San Francisco's 50 square miles.

Does large city limits necessarily mean bad sprawl? I get a laugh when I hear people talk about how this city is too spread out based on the sole fact that the city is around 600 square miles. I would hear things like, "Houston is too large of a city for me to live in. It's 600 square miles for crying out loud." So what? Like someone cannot be confined to say 100 square miles of Houston if they wanted to just like someone can live their life confined to Atlanta's entire 130 square miles. Just because of piece of land 25 miles away from the CBD has Houston branded to it, should not mean anything.

I really love those too. Especially in front of an old brick bungalow with a red terracotta roof. There are a few in my signature that I like. Some of the photos are private, but I sometimes purposely go around the city photographing these trees in front of cool structures or homes or tree lined streets. The esplanades or medians in Western Third Ward have plenty of them also. IMO, without them in this pic, it would be a boring picture.

Haha. You dealing with country folk if you hear soda water.

The Backyard