twisterhunt

Once Golden Bagel closes shop this, this stretch of White Oak will have quite a number of vacant store fronts. Hopefully there's a new spot that can anchor this corners soon.

Anyone have news on the stalled construction near Coltivare (old Blue Line)? Haven't seen any progress there in quite a while. I know there was a lot of neighborhood pushback about a potential bar opening in one of the spots, but last I saw on that was back in January or so. They've also boarded up the tiny Mexican restaurant nearby where the trail crosses White Oak. 

Sharing an article below - looks to be the most promising news I've seen on the long-awaited connector between White Oak and MKT! Planned construction to start in September on the 850ft connector. Estimated completion isn't until Winter 2022 - so we still have quite a bit of time to wait. 

Beloved Heights-area trail will soon link to White Oak Bayou Greenway - CultureMap Houston

Agreed @scarface....coming in from the north side the same holds true for Brava, it looks like an extension of Market Square. Fortunately, both buildings make a huge difference on the skyline viewed from the west side! Much more balance to the north of Chase Tower....

It looks like this is the group involved in designing the project: 

http://www.tnassociatesinc.com/

I too am holding out for something more than Oscar's or the Fuel Depot just north across I-10, but based on some of the renderings for other projects on this page I'm keeping my expectations in check 🥴

On 7/3/2021 at 1:30 PM, j_cuevas713 said:

I had no idea Cafeza even closed. Is the property up for sale or lease again? I would absolutely hate to lose that little building as well. 

It's still open until July 31st, Thursdays and Fridays from 8am-4pm. 

https://www.theleadernews.com/food_drink/food-briefs-cafeza-to-close-july-31/article_639b309e-d434-11eb-9a84-af8b1b37ae3b.html

I haven't come across any listings - the bones are there hopefully someone can reuse for a similar purpose maybe...

Disappointing to see another historic demo (per HCAD this structure goes back to 1926), though IMO this building has been in fairly rough shape for years. 

New permits suggest a 4K sq foot c-store + kitchen. Hoping that with Caveza closing across the street this can bring some new life into the area - and it's something more than the c-store (Oscar's) that is already just a block north of here...

New signs showing 50% sold now.

For a couple days the other week there was some machinery (?) on-site, but it doesn't look like anything was done to the property. 

Nothing too exciting to share - though this sign for a civil engineering firm popped up in the green space next to the old Luckys...perhaps that's a positive sign. Not sure what percentage of units sold they need to reach to move forward? Saw a sign that 30% were sold months ago and seems like a few more have gone pending since then.

From White Oak Bayou; Texas Tower sticking out ever so slightly...

Demo didn't take too long....

Not sure if I'm counting right, but it looks like they might be building out the last occupied floor right now? 

4 hours ago, hindesky said:

There's some chatter on the other thread about this: 

The trail is closed for at least a cpuple weeks while they do an investigation. As for the connector, maybe if enough of us contact the Parks Board it can be prioritized before 2030 🤭

1 hour ago, august948 said:

Weren't they planning a connector from the trail north of the bridge to Stude Park?

Yes, though it's been in "planning" for years it seems 🙄 Part of the issue was getting Army Corps of Engineers approval on the minor bridge crossing that would be required. As of early this year, I heard rumors that progress was being made on moving forward with a connection but I imagine that's changed now...

This is the open triangle lot across from Hughies on North Main bordered by Harris Ct & Conoly St....so it seems to be a couple parcels of land. Fence is up with some site work...permit suggests there might be a 'school' going here, though I haven't been able to locate much more beyond that. 

Very slow going (to the point I was worried construction had stopped) but managed to catch a couple guys working on site this afternoon

On 7/31/2020 at 7:11 AM, Texasota said:

I'd love to see the angled parking on W 19th converted to pedestrian space as well. There would still be plenty of space for parallel parking on both sides of the street, and you could even keep/convert into angled parking in places where the space isn't needed, like directly in front of the Heights Tower. 

Agreed. In general, that stretch of 19th really could use a face-lift (better parking, sidewalks, landscaping) to make it a much more attractive area and something of a destination. Unfortunately,  I haven't come across any plans for that to actually happen 😕

Some of this might be old news , but I noticed a demo crew working on an adjacent house today which got me looking into this property. This article from October 2018 (at the end) references a "2727 Flats" apartment midrise to be constructed on a small parcel of land on Houston Avenue just across from Woodland Park...with the owner being "2731 Houston Ventures LLC"

https://www.virtualbx.com/construction-preview/houston-metro-to-upgrade-northwest-transit-center/

The only permits I can locate are wastewater-related from September. An existing variance request sign for January 2019 is still posted, best I can tell is that they received the variance to reduce the building line from 25ft to 10ft on January 31st.

Sharing in case anyone out there has more info on it, or perhaps this one may still be in the works? This empty lot is a bit of an eyesore, having some more density in the area sounds like a plus to me.

This will be a great add to the area, and hopefully the TXDOT staging area goes with it. If only we could get the Army Corps of Engineers to approve the MKT connection between Stude Park and the Heights Trail - that project has been dragging on for years and would go a long ways to connecting two of the major hike and bike trails!

Went by the site the other day and looks like some preliminary work has started. The lot is closed off and mostly demoed at this point.