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23 hours ago, AREJAY said:

Great sensationalism! Are you a journalist? 

The city wasn't underwater. There were some streets and some parks, within the bayou floodway, that flooded. Both are designed to flood. 

FYI: Violent rain is defined by a precipitation rate that is > 50 mm (2.0 in) per hour. Some areas got close to 8" within a 3-4 hour period.  Several places got around 4" in an hour. 

You really think the rate of flooding in this city is acceptable? (and I'm not talking about the dog park built 50' from the bayou to be specific).

Rain is not new to me nor is torrential rain. Flooding like Houston does, and the fact streets are "designed to flood" is unusual.

Other places I have lived experience more annual rain than Houston and experience the same heavy rain and they don't flood at nearly the rate of Houston. It's not common place to have highways shutdown and underpasses impassable. 

I'm not hear to debate, you have your opinion and I have mine. There are things I very much like about Houston, city planning is not one of them. 

Houston amazes me, half day of rain and the city is under water. 

On 6/13/2018 at 0:07 AM, Triton said:

Here's to hoping it doesn't flood this weekend:

 

Johnny Steele Dog Park reopens by Marc longoria, on Flickr

 

Johnny Steele Dog Park reopens by Marc longoria, on Flickr

Going to assume this flooded again or will in the next few days.  Has anyone seen it?

6 hours ago, jmitch94 said:

If it gets built there is a 100% chance of gentrification. 

Exactly. People are aware that gentrification is a market outcome and not a planned activity in most cases, right?  As an area becomes more desirable, the limited inventory increases in price and lower income residents either take the inflated offers or fall victim to being priced out of the area. 

I heard phase 2 is already in the planning phases. Any idea on the footprint of that or the type of development?  

Been waiting to hear about new Archstone residents getting a notice. 

How many stories is the crane set at now? Gauging perspective since I can see the crane from my dining room. 

Hopefully they get it right this second time. That original design was was pretty bad. The constant mud bog in the large dog area was brutal.

I hope they do a better management job regarding graas as well. Should have a section of the large dog area fenced off at all times for grass growth/recovery with it moving around every few weeks. The place was a giant mud pit. 

Great info, glad to hear this is still moving along. This is 100% the type of development that should be happening on Washington. If all developers followed suit Wash Ave could be totally transformed. 

Happy to hear about variance on setbacks. Should be the standard for urban development. Washington Ave could be so much more amazing if it were actually walkable. 

If this did ever happen, coupled with the Buffalo Heights development, it could really transform the Waugh/Allen/Memorial corridor.  Doubtful this comes to fruition, so I'm happy HEB and Buffalo Heights is happening. 

The building that served as Berger ironworks office, newly leased by Dialyspa, is up for sale already. No listing for the undeveloped warehouse parcel yet. 

http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1411-N-Bonner-St-Houston-TX/11534212/

I recall them making a reference to it being "like city centre, but better".  Haven't seen any type of master plan yet. If that comes to fruition it would transform Washington Ave. 

This is from 2015, wonder how realistic this project is? I haven't heard or seen much about it recently. Would fit in with what it seems they are doing at buffalo heights. 

Really interested to see the plan for the remainder of the Archstone lot. 

That's too bad. Was hoping this would come to fruition. I guess we will likely see more townhouses go up. I wasn't crazy about repurposing those buildings, but was looking forward to some retail/food establishments there.

The restaurants over by Chipotle do really well. Would love to see a street fronted development go in here with parking in the back. Would be a good look with the apartments right across the way.  Maybe even look urban, as much as Houston hates that.

My wife just told me about this today via next door. Reading the plan, as mentioned above, plus the 120 parking spaces he mentions on ND I have no idea how that will all fit...

I do like the idea of right turn lane that they mentioned on next door lol. Drives me crazy waiting behind someone to go straight. 

On 2/6/2018 at 5:23 AM, Ross said:

Reclaim? That's been UP ROW since before the City expanded that direction. It's also a very busy rail route for freight. UP won't be giving it up anytime soon.

Considering it is well within city limits I would venture to guess they were given exclusive ROW. As someone who lives ON that ROW, there is definitely capacity for transit rail, on a 30 or 15 minute cadence. 

If the city could reclaim usage of the Union Pacific rail line ~parallel to Washington, you could easily run passenger rail service along that route and throw in 2-3 stops along the way to encourage local transit. (@shepherd, yale, houston st, etc) Connect it to NW mall site (Is literally across the street) and you have 1 of 3 centers covered. 

This at-grade light rail intermixed with vehicle traffic is incredibly inefficient.

Not hate, purely disappointment. 

Wow, so much parking. I'm resigned to the fact Houston will never get it, and subsequently will never reach its potential. All of this prime land that is being repurposed is like hitting a bloop single, we are just barely getting on base. In the books it's a hit, but those who were there really know how unimpressive it actually was.

Realistically, these types of things (and the fairly rampant crime) are what will ultimately drive me out of Houston. I travel for work to Austin and Dallas, and now understand the superiority complex they have over Houston. 

Where does the UPRR ROW go south of Washington ave? 

Not exactly exciting, but not terrible either. Could definitely have been worse....

http://swamplot.com/the-great-heights-buffalo-bayou-bike-trail-hookup-is-almost-ready/2017-11-15/

Almost there...

On 11/6/2017 at 11:50 AM, Evil Developer said:

They must have dropped edge as leasing agent.  I know the developer and he is definitely moving forward on this project.

Any insight on what they are doing with the office building from the ironworks?  Full scale reno been going on for months. 

I suppose I have more of a vested interest based on my proximity. In general, I have mixed feelings on repurposing buildings versus rebuild. If they offer little architectural value, I'd rather see a rebuild. 

I live down the street and received the variance request, suppose that means things are moving forward.  Just a setback notice, might call the contact listed to see about the tenant wishlist. Fingers still crossed against an Ice house.