wilcal

Ahh, so this is the real reason that the start of service was delayed until 2020. Really would have loved to have service started before the bond election, but it is what it is.

THAT IS AMAZING. What a design. This gives me goosebumps. Midtown is going crazy.

That has already been passed as a separate ordinance. It took affect in July.

Was reading through the Downtown District's board meeting report from August, and it mentioned that the city is still planning on passing a walkable place ordinance this fall. This came up because Downtown District/Midtown Redevelopment Authority did a "Major Thoroughfare & Freeway Plan" in 2014, and MRA didn't like the plan because it would have put restrictions on setbacks (min 25') on "thoroughfare and major collector streets". Downtown is exempted from those setbacks via city ordinance already. They are now revisiting this because they were looking at designating new MTFP amendments, but they're going to wait because Midtown would get frozen out on setback restrictions. If you want to read the full comments, it's on page 85 here: http://www.downtowndistrict.org/static/media/uploads/Board Books/8-8-19_hdmd_board_book.pdf

Update from the Downtown District's Sept board meeting: Not much new. Opening date still the same.

Bagby Street Improvement update from the Downtown District Sept board meeting:

Blurb in the downtown district's Sept board book:

Seen on /r/Houston: https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/texas-central-targets-financial-close-by-next-year/54617.article So that sounds good, but that also means no construction until at least the end of next year? Wasn't the final regulatory hurdle (short of the lawsuit) expected to clear in March? It was interesting to listen to the new Planet Money podcast about how there is a tremendous amount of money looking for investments out there. They explained that Germany (the nation) is currently taking in negative interest bonds because it's safer to loan them the money versus keep it locked up in a bank. Maybe it will be relatively easy to get a $20 billion investment.

Well now y'all are getting me excited. Although no one tell Vinny's I may start cheating on them. They're new revised pepperoni is sooo goood

There's a guy in the Reddit thread that claims to be the rail system director for the project, so I asked him some questions. There's no proof of course, so take it with a grain of salt. I asked how JR Central is involved. He said: I asked who else is in the Japanese consortium and if JRC were funding. He replied: So, there might be some answers. That's more info on funding than I've ever seen reported.

From my understanding, the loans are from the Japanese government and are in a similar style as the Export-Import Bank of the United States, which is primarily used to buy Boeing Airplanes. The Japanese government would like to continue to export this technology, and they use these organizational loans to make it happen: http://www.join-future.co.jp/english/our-mission/purpose.html

The $300 mil from Japan was structured as a loan, but again, that's for planning and not construction. Whether it's a good investment is a whole different can of worms! I'm assuming that you are asking how I know that JR Central isn't the actual owner? Or providing funding? I don't know that. I was replying to Cougarpad who claimed that Texas Central had plenty of financial backing for construction and I was pointing out that there is no public proof unless I'm missing something tremendous. Cougarpad is also implying that one of the Japanese companies involved are the ones building this line and again, that isn't public info and would be news to the general public that a Japanese company is a part owner.

I think this is 1000000% fair, and of course you would never be expected to have all funds in place at the beginning of a 5ish year build. And you're right, they do have the right to a veil of secrecy. I guess we'll find out for sure in March when the environmental study is done and they can start construction. They've made a pretty big deal about the previous loans they received, and I would assume that they would want to trumpet any other significant investment. Imho, if their strategy is to wait, that would be a bold play. It's my understanding that the information is not public, but I do not know for certain.

Texas Central Partners, LLC.

If they do beer/wine only with a BC license, then they can just let people take it to go and eat/drink wherever they want and have the complex put some tables up out there. That would be great. But also, no patio on that site plan?

Probably not. Landlord applied for patio space for Brass Tap and they A) didn't finish the permitting process for it and B ) didn't pay the fee (I think Brass Taps is like $1,400/year) to use the city ROW. I pointed this out to the city and they weren't penalized for what it's worth. They also made the sidewalk not ADA accessible because of the trees that were planted alongside. They were able to get city permission because they had custom grates installed for the tree planters, but they are trash and are just metal grates set on top of gravel, so they don't stay level. I also don't think that the required width is provided even after the grates are added, but it's within an inch or two so they likely let them slide instead of tearing down the patio or tearing out a tree. I don't see a way logistically for them to put in a patio in front of the other space unless they put it in the trees, which is what they should have done for Brass Tap as well

That's basically exactly what this is. Yes, they've hired a bunch of experts to help them, but this is a startup company. When you say "partner Japanese company" are you referencing JR Central, the company that operates the Shinkansen trains (in Japan, exclusively) or Hitachi/Kinki Sharyo who manufacture the trains? Yes, they are licensing the tech from a Japanese company, but that company isn't funding the construction of this project. The bulk of the funding so far for Texas Central is from the nation of Japan via the Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corp. for Transport & Urban Development and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation who have provided a $300 million loan (about 2% of what they need). Texas Central has on their own website that they will be using private investors, but they have not announced anything more than the $300 million loan from the nation of Japan and and some initial funding of less than $100 million. Dallas Morning News reported that the $300 million loan from Japan (and again, I'm talking about the country) is the amount necessary to take them to the point where they can start construction. The nation of Japan could provide more funding, but no one has stated that publicly. I really wish that I'm wrong, but I have not seen a single piece of information anywhere that suggests that they have more than $500 million in funding from any source, and certainly not enough funding to complete the project, so if you can provide any information in regards to that I would actually be really overjoyed. Edit: I'll put this edit to say that yes, some Japanese corporation or the Japanese government, or who knows could have already agreed to fund this project behind closed doors. Nothing, to my knowledge, is public about any potential multi-billion dollar funding.

You don't have any concerns about them not having the cash? They need like $17 billion, right?

First midtown mid-rise project announced since parking minimums were eliminated? Feel like it'll skew higher end though.

Workers on site this morning Looks like they are keeping some metal fencing inside, so maybe this corner is just a staging area for a different site? I think the trailer was empty. The fencing is not in the Google Street View image from above. I should have stopped and chatted with them.

Doesn't look like any recent activity is taking place, just didn't remember seeing this.

Facade testing is up: I just moved around the corner, so can make frequent updates on this one. Had no idea it was gonna be so big.

Expanding market-based parking to everything in side 610 is in the CoH climate change impact 2040 plan, so that sounds about like what they are gonna do. And yeah, I'm sure people are desperate to clutch their almost unregulated free parking so they can fill their garage with a bunch of stuff.

FFffffuuuuu. That sucks. They must have gotten info on when the signals will actually be here. Sucks that we are looking at 9 months of construction for a few miles of painted bike lanes. Edit: says Gray is spring 2020 completion with signal work as well.

Lol, "what are they going to do for us". How about, the city owns the streets so you should feel lucky you are getting sustainable infrastructure. I don't think the parking plan is really that bad, and again, the museum district is weird because of the lack of commercial/restaurant spaces. How much of the basis of this is due to people parking and then riding the train to downtown or the med center for work?