wharton transplant

I'd like to hear more about "RivaPlace". I'm assuming it's the same project.

I think Boulevard will have a tremendous impact on Uptown. The efforts are to make it more pedestrian, which it is far from being at this time. The businesses and developments need to be brought to the streets, to the edge of Post Oak Blvd, and not separated from them by huge parking lots. This new development will help to do that.

Once that is done, our attention will be turned to the previously-mentioned strip center that contains the Container Store. Though it has been re-done recently, I'm hoping it too will be razed and replaced by something that brings the businesses to the street.

And if you think people can't physically walk down Post Oak, I think they can. I tried shopping at the Galleria the Friday before Christmas this year and parked in the lot for the Container Store strip center (What is that development's name?), only at the very far end of the center. Believe me, from the looks of all the people walking along Post Oak, I wasn't the only one.

A Pedestrian Post Oak....years, years, years away, but a definate possiblity. ESPECIALLY when the light rail line is built.

Okay, no one say anything bad about this. I NEED this to happen. A tear wells up in my eye every time I have to look at this building and that old Central Bank Building.

The MetroNexus warehouse has been completely torn down. All of that is ready for redevelopment. An interesting note: The entrance to the HOV lane for Hwy 290 used to be an on-ramp accessed via I-10 just inside the Loop (travelling westbound). Since the reconstruction of the I-10/Loop 610 interchange, that on-ramp has been removed, and drivers have to use the Northwest Transit Center to get on the 290 Hove lane. To get to the transit center, most people exit I-10 at Washington/Hempstead/Old Katy Road, and use Old Katy Road to get to the Transit Center. While inside the Loop, this road runs just south of the redeveloping area talked about in this thread. Lots of people have been introduced to this area over the past months that they would have otherwise had never known existed.

Another example of the many, many, MANY areas that seem to be primed for redevelopment.

By the way...is "regentrification" a dirty word?

Jalapeno's just had their auction to sell off all their restaurant furniture and equipment. That whole superblock will be razed to make way for development. Is this a new trend? Basically, this is what they're doing on Post Oak @ San Felipe (where Eatzi's and Cafe Annie are). [Except, on Post Oak, the strip had viable businesses.]

The dreams of the Upper Kirby District may finally be coming true!

I believe Camden has broken ground on its development here. It should help to connect the 4th Ward to Midtown. I heard that retail is going to be integrated, running down a street that will geographically run between and thus connect Midtown/West Gray @ Bagby areas.

Now, if Camden would just break ground on the huge Superblock Development off Main Street, that would help unite East and West Midtown, help "legitimize" the light rail to its constant critics (one of which I am not), and catalyze more development. Help us Camden! Help the city that you call home !

As I recall, the space was originally intended to be developed like Bayou Place Phase I. However, I thought I read something in the Business Journal that it was going to be used primarily as office space. I don't have the article.

Personally, I was hoping something along the lines of an ESPN Zone or something was going to move in. I guess not.

Two questions:

1. Wasn't the idea of relocating the bus stations to the vicinity of the Airports (Hobby?) thrown around by the powers-that-be?

2. Can't the pathways used for BRT be converted into Light Rail usage?

Though comparisons to other cities, especially Dallas, often frustrates some of us, I ask you to consider Dallas Union Station. It's right near Reunion Tower (the Big Ball in the skyline). Has the features the new station would have: links to light rail, commuter rail, Amtrak, and bus lines. The point made earlier regarding the proposed Hardy Yards is good. Hopefully these two projects work synergize each others development.

Agreed. However, we should invite one of their reps to begin participating in this thread. Maybe when they realize all of the interest and anxiety that exists, they'll be moved to make an announcement! Yeah! That's it!....

The 10 year lease agreement is a good positive sign.

There's a good buzz, good buzz....

It is very easy to be alone on the streets in Downtown, because, in the "Skyline District" where most of the highrises are, everyone is underground in the tunnels!

As I'm no historian, I may be mistaken. But Allen's Landing does represent the site at which the Allen brothers docked their boat, got down on the ground, and said, "Hey! Let's cut down these trees and start building a city!"

It is literally the heart of the city. It's starting point. And every Houstonian should learn to recognize it as such. I hope that the city and state are able to make this site very attractive and educational.

Plus, I'd love to be able to jog from Eleanor Tinsley down to there and back. Anyone know if they are going to make-over the trails along the Bayou in Eleanor Tinsley Park (Allen Parkway/Memorial Drive area)? I'd also like a pedestrian bridge to cross over Memorial and enter the park (along where the railroad bridge used to be before Memorial Heights began being developed). I fear for my life every time I try to walk across Memorial Drive and the Bayou on the Studemont Bridge. Yikes!

I think the city ordinances that have gone into effect in only the past 4-5 years are starting to have a positive impact on landscaping. With these anti-blight measures forcing developers to invest in trees, shrubs, and other landscaping assets for commercial properties (such as around parking lots), it seems that retention ponds would also be affected. Therefore, "pretty" holes in the ground would be required to be built (and maintained?).

I don't know what the ordinances are, exactly. But it took years for the city to get them enacted and enforced, apparently.

The land was sold and Central Parking no longer owns the lots. If this project doesn't get built, then something else will. Any development in a horizontal direction--anything other than a parking lot--should be considered progress.