KinkaidAlum
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Hey Heights- The topic is being discussed on this board...Just open the Montrose area section. Howdy from Beantown -
The West Gray Shopping Center is something I am proud of. I take out of town guests there all the time as it is one of the few places that is unique to Houston. An indie movie house, Tony Mandola's Gulf Coast Kitchen, Events, the Laff Stop, and a few other "oldtimer" places are etched in my memory. The palm trees and downtown backdrop are stunning. The architecture is beautiful and the entire scene comes across as rather stately.
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Not sure why they'd be concerned about the demographics for the Landmark River Oaks. Of all the theaters in Houston, I'd put that one as the one with the least amount of riff raff. Also, the theater makes West Gray a DESTINATION spot. For example, my mom and her best friend went to see An Inconvenient Truth last night. They ate at Tony Mandola's Gulf Coast Kitchen across the street before the show and grabbed a Starbucks after. That's fairly typical.
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Puma How old are you? There are literally hundreds of options for stadium seating, big dollar productions, and ample surface parking. There's just ONE option remaining for indie films in a classic theater with history and beautiful architecture. There's just one with a chance for folks to take a stroll down the street to get a meal or a coffee before and after the show. Tear down the River Oaks and it is GONE for ever. Dismantle the inside and you can't ever go back. When will we realize that everyime we allow something like this happen, our collective souls die just a little bit? Not to be a drama queen, but it's true. I've been going to this theater since I was a kid and I am not that old. My mother can remember attending movies here when she was in high school at Lamar in the 1940s. My first real date was here to see the Unbearable Lightness of Being in the late 1980s. This one is personal!
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Not the best, bet a helluva lot better than a car lot! I also like that there is at least the attempt to address the street by building up to the sidewalk, plaza "parking" area withstanding.
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Subdude- Thank you for the contact information for Weingarten. I am calling first thing Monday morning and am sending an email today. I just called my mom in Houston to tell her the news. She just bought a place on Del Monte because she is older and wants to be close to things she can walk to. One of the reasons she chose Del Monte was to have access to the River Oaks Landmark Theater. She is PISSED. I passed the contact info. on to her and she is gonna spread the word at the next ROAD Women meeting.
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More good news... According to Globe St., Targa Resources just signed an 11 year lease for 101,600 square feet in Wells Fargo Plaza. Targa had been subleasing some of this space from Dynegy, but this is great news for downtown in general, and Wells Fargo in particular considering many have worried about Dynegy floating lots of space back on the market when their lease there expires in 2 years.
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H-Town Man- My point wasn't that the Gulf Coast region lacks courthouses, county seats, or even grassy squares. Of course towns have these things. That said, every town you listed also has big box stores, strip malls, and highways that bypass the town center. I have been to every town you listed minus Halletsville and Round Top. None of them have active, vibrant courthouse squares outside of maybe the one weekend a year when a parade rolls through town. On the other hand, Sundance Square in Fort Worth has done a remarkable job of retaining retail, entertainment, and cultural relevance. Waxahachie and Midlothian and towns like that have also been able to market their "squares" to Hollywood as idyllic film settings. As for Market Square, blah. I love the place and the potential and think LaCarafe, Warrens, and Market Sq Grill are some of the best places in Houston. Of course, the rest of the square is surrounded by surface parking, a massive parking garage, and homeless folks camped out all day. Sounds almost like what we're planning for the Dome minus the riff raff.
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Town squares have been around for a long time. They also fell apart for 3-4 decades as the growth of regional malls, big box stores, and bypass highways KILLED most Texas downtowns. Most historic ones are still DEAD. Again, I have to ask, where is Houston's historic town square? When I think of town squares in Texas, I think of Sundance or whatever that place is called in Fort Worth. I think of some North Texas area towns like Waxahachie too. Where are they in the Gulf Coast region? Sugar Land, the Woodlands, and soon to be every other planned community unless you consider Galveston's Strand a square.
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I am worried that the town square will prove to be a fad. In 20 years, they will be as old and tired as a mall and people will start to remember how great "old timey" malls were. That said, for new growth, I certainly like the town square concept more than a strip mall, a regional mall, or a gated suburban style enclave. Anything that promotes public interaction is fine by me. Additionally, this isn't some open swath of land in Pearland or Fort Bend County. This is the ASTRODOME. What's the point of saving it if you pay no attention to the original space theme? I'd be happier if they just tore it down and built a new "Gaylord" Convention hotel on the site rather than surround the structure with a massive parking garage and make the inside resemble the Riverwalk, Fort Worth, or some other Texas towns. This is HOUSTON. Tell me where Houston's large public square is located? Can you tell me where our famous Courthouse is located, that people gather around during the 4th of July Parade? I don't get the point other than Houston happens to be located in Texas.
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I am having a hard time getting past the part in the article in which the Texans have an aesthetic objection. I almost pissed myself especially with the classic Red post that follows. I am all for saving the Dome, but I also have to say I am not diggin the small town Texas Courthouse theme. I can almost see filming Texas Justice live there and maybe even having a hanging tree for good times sake. Go with the space theme. It is the ASTROdome afterall! I could envision a 1960s space/retro them working really well there. Space Mountain and all.
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Great news. This is a beautiful building and hopefully a sign of better things to come.
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US cities I have been to that I loved their downtown areas... Seattle, Portland, San Fran (not so much the Financial District but all around it), San Diego, Denver, San Antonio, New Orleans, Chicago, NYC (Manhattan), Boston, DC, Philly, Baltimore and Portland, Maine. US cities that I have been to that had decent downtowns... Los Angeles, Vegas (gotta love the old time gambling scene), Minneapolis, Fort Worth, Austin, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Miami, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Rochester, and Providence. US cities that I have been to that appeared DEAD downtown... Milwaukee, Phoenix, Tucson, Dallas, Cleveland, Tampa, Buffalo, Raleigh, and Hartford. I find Houston to be somewhere between dead and decent. It helps if there's an event going on like I-Fest or Art Car or Cinco de Mayo but on a weekend in which there is no festival and the Astros are on the road, downtown can be quite quiet.
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It's a gamble to be sure, but if I had to bet on an area of town that will absoultely take off in the next few years, it would be that section (Museum District, Hermann Park, western 3rd Ward). The housing boom is already there with new condos galore and even better, restored homes. Add the Hotel ZaZa to the mix, the new Asia House, the potential Binz Bldg and some street retail, and you have the makings of the next "it" neighborhood, only this time, the potential is there for it to stick!
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Montebello isn't a Randall Davis project. I think Mosaic has the chance to be successful as the Houston market matures. Presales would be quite hard since I imagine the average Houston buyer might not have the patience required to wait for an unseen product when so many products are move-in ready. Also, the location might appeal to parents to buy a condo for their kids that attend Rice, UH, TSU, UST, Baylor Med, UT Dental, UT Health Science, PV Nursing, TWU, etc...This is a growing market in cities like Chicago, Boston, NYC, and others as parents realize that 4-6 years of room and board costs a helluva lot more than buying a cheaper condo. At the end of their child's education stay, the can hopefully flip it for a profit. The proximity to the Med Center also might make it attractive to foreign nationals who travel to Houston mutli times a year, although Galleria area hi-rises seem to draw most of that market.
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Where are you getting the idea that BLVD Place will mess with St. Michael's backyard? St. Michael's is on Sage Road.
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Musicman- I'd be interested to know in what capacity you volunteer for Habitat for Humanity? I've worked on 30 plus Habitat home builds and have NEVER seen someone "begging" for a house and then driving away in a Range Rover or a BMW. Your claim doesn't pass the smell test. As for Mayor White, thank God he did the MORAL thing and offered help when it seemed nobody else would. These are people whether you want to think of them as such or not. Also, I find it laughable that so many get all up in arms over the debit card fraud and "free" housing for people who lost everthing they own when in reality, that's small change compared to what has been happening over the course of the last 3 years in the Iraqi "rebuild" project. Corporate welfare and kickbacks make a mockery of the typical welfare mother abuse scandals.
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CityCentre: Mixed-Use Development At 800 Town And Country Blvd.
KinkaidAlum replied to Parrothead's topic in Going Up!
Looking over MetroNational's website doesn't get me too excited. Bland comes to mind.- 960 replies
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Only 27% of adults over the age of 25 have a bachelor's degree or higher in Houston. On the opposite side of the spectrum, nearly 30% are high school drop outs. That's a problem. It's especially problematic when compared to other cities like Boston (36% degreed/21% high school drop outs), Seattle (47% degreed/11% dropout), San Fran (45% degreed/19% dropout), Washington (39% degreed/22% dropout), Denver (34% degreed/21% dropout), Minneapolis (37% degreed/15% dropout), and Atlanta (35% degreed/23% dropout). Houston is one of just 4 large cities that has more high school drop outs than college grads. The situation is expected to worsen. According to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, "if current policies continue unchanged, the Texas workforce of 2020 is going to be less educated than today's workforce. As a result, the state's per capita income will not just stagnate, it will actually drop by 5%." The median household income in Houston is already over $5,000 less than the national average. A 5% drop would equate to a loss of $1,831 per year. That's a steady chunk of change! The most recent study from the Department of Justice shows that over 68% of prisoners have a GED or less. Only 2.7% are college grads. A lack of education is the most obvious way to predict likely criminal behavior. Texas prisons are already overcrowded. Can you do the math? Going further, here are the states with the lowest levels of high school graduation rates; Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia. Notice that all of them are RED states. Considering the fact that minority and urban rates for high school drop outs are higher, this should alarm folks in the large cities in the states listed above. According to the US Census Bureau, here's the wage earning breakdown according to educational levels no high school $18,900-23,400 high school $25,900-30,400 some college $31,200-36,800 associate's $33,000-38,200 bachelor's $45,400-52,200 master's $54,500-62,300 professional $99,300-109,600 doctoral $81,400-89,400 It's for reasons like these that I continue to lobby for increased educational funding in Texas. It's why you (midtowncoog) and I agree on the importance of tier one funding for the U of Houston. In order for Houston to compete, we need to increase our numbers of local college graduates. And yeah, there is a brain drain coming out of Houston. Rice is too small and lacks too many programs to make a large impact on our city. If someone in Houston wants to go to a top notch (perception) law school or biz school, they are still likely to look towards Austin, Stanford, Ivies, Duke, Vandy, Cal schools, Chicago, Northwestern, etc...and many don't move back despite their intentions.
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FirstnGoal- Good post. I totally understand where you are coming from. That said, there is a problem in Houston and Texas. The Chronicle just had a report on it in this past week. There is a brain drain. High school graduation rates are horrible. Test scores are worse. The number of college graduates in Houston lags way behind most other cities. The state seems intent on not changing the school system or creating more high quality public universities. Combine those things with a horrible national reputation for bad schools, bad pollution, low quality of life issues, and violence, and you've got yourself a problem. I think that's why I care so much about the larger quality of life issues that are taking place in Houston right now. It's also why I get so frustrated when I see the Katy Freeway project advance so damn easily while the light rail gets turned into a glorified bus service. Or why I get so angry every time I read about another sprawling 15,000 acre master-planned community on the exurban fringes of the metro region. It's also why I sweat the smaller stuff like a suburban CVS being built not just in Midtown but also on a visible corner of Montrose Blvd, on Waugh, in West U, etc...Sure, they can be replaced at a later date. But, that in of itself is a waste. Why aren't Houstonians more worried about building quality structures that will stand the test of time? Of course, I am still encouraged by the Edge, the Pavilions, the Park Tower, the expansion of the Post Midtown property, the proposed CitiPlace nearby by Farb and the Collective if it ever gets off the ground.
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The same people who make fun of the Big Dig today are likely to have made fun of... The Houston Ship Channel The Texas Medical Center NASA IAH There are some people that will NEVER support funding for the greater public good. There are also others who think the market should control EVERYTHING. Thankfully, I am not one of those people. Trust me, while people here hated the Big Dig while it was being built, they are LOVING it now. It has made Boston 100% better and it was a pretty darn nice city to begin with. Additionally, since when did Texans become such whimps? I didn't realize the sun and humidty where so much to bare. Maybe you should hoof it on up to New England?
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I am not surprised. White women with blonde hair a public menace. We should force them into camps and make them dye their hair a respectable color. We also need to build that wall with Canada. Canada is North of Texas and it is from the North (I think some country like Scandiswedenland or something like that) that these blonde folks come from. We also need to ban blonde weddings. It should be illegal for a God-fearing American to love a blonde woman and the law shouldn't acknowledge what is so clearly unnatural. Until we enact all of these things, I for one will not feel safe.
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West guy- Please explain to me why drive-thru lanes are good. From what I see, they encourage driving which from a health standpoint isn't a good thing. From what I hear, Houstonians could use the extra steps it would take to walk from a parking spot to the teller or pharmacist. They also encourage idling which is a total waste of resources and increases our dependence upon foreign oil. This also doesn't mention that Houston has a pollution problem that vehicular traffic contributes too. They discourage actual face-to-face interaction. When I was little, we knew our pharmacist and actually looked forward to a brief visit. Now, we all act like our blank doesn't stink and our time is too darn important to waste on small things like being patient and kind and knowing the people who make up our community. The funny thing is, you don't see these types of places in central Boston. Yet, we all somehow manage to survive despite not having access to a drive thru Wendy's, a fly-by ATM machine, or a 24 hour CVS pharmacy that you don't have to step foot in. What you do see are your neighbors walking. Mothers pushing strollers to run their errands rather than ignoring their kids while they watch a DVD in the SUV. You see sidewalk cafes filled with life instead of massive parking lots. You see flower shops displaying their goods on the wide sidewalks. Dog walkers. Coffee shops with people interacting instead of barking orders into the Starbucks' drive-thru microphone. Midtown could offer this type of environment. Houstonians should have that option.
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Can you really not figure that out on your own? Do you really have trouble understanding why most folks would find suburban development right outside of downtown and on the region's first light rail line a bad thing? As for serving their customer base, give me a break. CVS is worried about one thing and one thing only; market saturation. There is no local need for this CVS considering there is one just a couple blocks away and a new Walgreens even closer. This is about capturing whatever commuter traffic they can, especially the east-west Elgin traffic. If they capture some foot traffic or the occasional office worker at HCC's Comtech Center, that's just gravy. I never said it cost more to hide parking in the rear of a facility. It would however cost more to NOT build their prototypical suburban crap box complete with drive thru lanes. They might also save time avoiding the City of Houston's permitting process by having to petition to go against the stupid set-back rules that almost mandate the type of crappy development our city sees. I am not sure how even you can think that encouraging more vehicular traffic along Main Street can be a good thing? It truly boggles my mind. It's not as if there aren't hundreds of other CVS Pharmacies that can cater to the Chevy Tahoe driving crowd that are "too busy" to get out of their damn cars and deal with a person face-to-face.
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Actually, not still in Boston. I am back in Boston. Moved to Houston last summer. Found a great place in Cherryhurst. About a month later, an opportunity arose here that was just too good to pass up. Was lucky enough to be able to sell my Cherryhurst digs after one day on the market and I moved back here full time this past fall. I missed Houston all winter. Now, not so much. It was 73 and sunny today with a nice breeze off the Bay.
