wilcal

On 12/15/2023 at 3:55 PM, JClark54 said:

Aragoso has US-based locations in Florida and Texas, per its web site: https://aragosotexas.com/home/

The Texas region does not currently list Houston. 

 

Those are certainly some alcoholic products. Not sure if I've heard of a single one of them. 

Finally some movement! We were at the new Street to Kitchen the other day and I was looking at this wondering when something would happen. 

The plat has been recorded for over a year now!

I've very interested to see how this area changes with the railroad crossing elimination for Sampson/York. I think the plan is to close Sampson at the railroad tracks and convert both to two-way traffic. They are both so unnecessarily wide right now.

On 8/16/2023 at 11:08 AM, wilcal said:

I wish I had seen this thread earlier. If they modify at least 50% of the facade facing a Walkable Places street then they have to meet the requirements of WP which would be 50% fenestration and at least one entrance.

I've sent an email so we'll see.

Quick update. I think this project is going to be taking awhile.... 

I'm not an expert on this, but they submitted the wrong type of permits on part of what they are going to do and their approved plans do include glass along the street, not an impervious/opaque decorative tile. Also keeping an entrance along San Jacinto. 

I feel confident that the end result will at least match what was there before and/or they will need to meet Livable Places standards. 

More brickwork down 

Sign is up! Opening not looking imminent if it is going in that part of the building.

On 11/26/2023 at 10:02 AM, HNathoo said:

Spoke to GC - said early December 

On 11/26/2023 at 7:19 PM, IntheKnowHouston said:

I sent a message to Nickel City's Instagram earlier this month to verify their participating in Sippin' Santa. Basically, their response was along the lines of, "any updates will be posted to our social." So, I appreciate the update, @HNathoo.

Anybody know anything new? I'm desperate to try one of these coneys!

Gate was open, and looked like some work may be happening where the old building was that was demo'd along Polk.

Glad that they are finally getting around to getting some permits. 

Big tongue in cheek with the name and the highway expansion that will be taking place a few dozen feet from it. 

17 hours ago, jhjones74 said:

Not sure if this was mentioned anywhere, but the Common Bond in understory is closed from what I can see. It's listed as permanently closed on google, though I can't find any announcement on this. 

That was a place I always wished would stay open on the weekends. From what I could see, the bakery was always pretty busy during the week days. Curious if the brasserie concept has something to do with them closing - I never saw or heard of anybody really going there. Without knowing all the details, this seems to unfortunately suggest that despite the incremental population that's moved in downtown, even in probably the busiest food hall the support isn't there to make a concept like this work. Though to be fair they never seemed to make an attempt to cater to anything other than the lunch/business crowd

Well that is sad. I probably went every 2-3 months and thought it provided some good value compared to some of the other restaurants downtown. 

I think the places in the tunnels are getting crushed, too. I think it was Downtown District that put out a survey and average weekday occupancy is like 60-65%. Has to be a fraction of that on Mondays and Fridays. 

16 hours ago, asubrt said:

1x weekly service to Santa Fe, NM beginning March 9. 

10 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

You made my evening with the SAF news!

Flight time is up. It is on Saturdays. Priced initially for $477 RT (ABQ about $320)

IAH-SAF 1155-1334

SAF-IAH 1409-1725

Operated by ERJ-145

Will be interesting to see if people give it a shot. 

1 hour ago, asubrt said:

Wow! Didn't see these mentioned, but United is also adding 2x daily service to the new Tulum airport beginning March 23, and 1x weekly service to Santa Fe, NM beginning March 9. It's still a few cry from the way they'll add 7 long haul routes out of SFO at a time (for example), but this is an absolute bounty of new routes for IAH considering the way United has shafted us over the past several years.

I had heard of the new Tulum route (I thought it started March 31) but I am SHOCKED it has taken this long to get a Santa Fe route. 

I know ABQ isn't that far away, but when I went last year I would have loved to ditch a car in Santa Fe as much of the things I wanted to do could have been accomplished with an Uber or bike. 

36 minutes ago, Justin Welling said:

I would also say that the issues around the Greyhound station in Midtown was not just because of Greyhound. It was also because of the Pierce Elevated, the gas station that continues to change hands every few months/years, and St Josephs Hospital. I am sure some activity will increase around Magnolia TC, but I don't see what is happening in Midtown follow to East End. Of course time will tell, but I do hope that Greyhound is a good neighbor and responds to the community concerns by hiring more security. 

Agreed. I can't imagine anywhere near the problems because Greyhound is a (small) part of the equation. 

35 minutes ago, mattyt36 said:

Just in time for you to join the fight!

Rumors of Venezuela Invasion Plans Put Oil-Rich Guyana on Edge | OilPrice.com

But definite good news.

Yikes. I just noticed the border lines between the two countries is dotted on Google Maps. 

There's a chance that the Dynamo will play a game in Suriname next February, so maybe that'll satisfy my hunger for checking out a lesser-known northern coast of SA country. 

UA adding 4x weekly IAH-GEO flights.

I would def go if the price ever got cheap!

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/united-expands-in-houston-with-2-6b-terminal-project-state-of-the-art-baggage-system-new-club-and-thousands-of-new-jobs-302002015.html

26 minutes ago, IntheKnowHouston said:

Thanks for the update. 

I'm a little confused, though. Will 402 Hutcheson St remain a residential property in the short-term? And 406 Hutcheson will handle overflow parking?  My confusion stems from 406 Hutcheson St's recent demolition leaving an empty lot. The apartment building at 402 Hutcheson is still standing.

I understand Platform Group has no long-term plans for 402 Hutcheson and 406 Hutcheson at the moment. However, I don't see why in the short term, they'd demolish the building at 402 Hutcheson for 3509 Hutcheson's overflow parking. 406 Hutcheson was recently demolished. It would seem overflow parking would be located there in the short-term.

I think she switched the numbers. 

Also, I've always wondered if CoH will let you pave a parking lot on top of a residential lot. I guess we'll find out. 

Niko Niko's in Market Square Park is closing 

On 11/22/2023 at 8:18 AM, wilcal said:

I emailed Platform to ask if they had any details at all that they could share, so we'll see if they reply. 

I heard back this morning!

Here is the reply I received:

Quote

Thanks for reaching out. Right now, 406 Hutcheson will remain a residential rental property and the area at 402 Hutcheson will likely be temporary overflow parking for the new building at 3509 Harrisburg. Long term plans are still in the works... 

1 hour ago, loon said:

The start of the final day of obnoxious horn honking by the busses... its like a dream. Been here for 12 years.. never thought i would see the day.

I'll be sure to give you a few honks when I drive by if it'll help in any way.

That is really sad. Grocery is a hard biz. Micro grocery is almost impossible. 

Turns out the Bald Kitty is pink 🤔

FWIW, I would imagine that they are going to have to replat. 

Both streets are TOD primary, so hopefully we'll get something good. 

I emailed Platform to ask if they had any details at all that they could share, so we'll see if they reply. 

18 hours ago, Triton said:

I also hope that this improves traffic in the area. If we only need red lights for light rail or the occasional pedestrian needing to cross, that should hopefully improve the travel times as well.

For east/west travel? Good luck. Everything is mostly timed for north/south priority.

I think that this is a really good plan.

The fire access solution is interesting. It is kind of annoying that Metro wouldn't just allow fire trucks to drive on top of the light rail lines as needed, but maybe they would be broken in some way. 

I also don't think it is a surprise that they are stopping at Rusk. For a "fun" project in grad school I did a mini feasibility of closing the entire length of Main all of the way through Midtown, and I assumed that the JW Marriott losing their valet access would be a big sticking point. 

There's also a parking lot between Franklin and Congress, and it appears that they are keeping a fire lane (car access?) across that part of the block. It is my understanding that the city would be forced to purchase that land if you cut off car access because it would be a taking because of the current car-focused use.  

Overall this is a great plan, and I hope they keep marching it south and Midtown starts to close it in that corridor.

Holy shit.

This is great! The newish Dynamo owner is a real estate guy. I wonder if he is getting in on this at all.

Excited for this to open! Looking at the menus of the other locations, I'm torn to see if they can make it as a destination restaurant because their price points are about where Ninfa's is. Maybe a little higher. 

Happy hour menu looks pretty good.