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X.R.

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  1. X.R.
    You were right about the demo and rebuilding. I wonder if they saw the success of city centre/baybrook mall and thought that might be a demand for it especially now with Covid. I have multiple friends with kids who make the trek to city centre just to have them play in that outdoor space while they walk around.
  2. X.R.
    One of the lead engineers tweeted this: If Rodney Ellis is involved with the project, based on what him and his team and COH have been able to accomplish in 3rd Ward/Downtown/Midtown/East End/the Bayous, I would bet a lot of money that parts of this project will not only have legs, but a decent timetable for certain walking and biking components. You can now get from one side of downtown to the other, both north and south and east and west on protected lanes, which was a pipe-dream not too long ago. Adding on street bike lanes to Waugh and Hawthorne and expanded sidewalks around those areas? Seems easier by comparison, especially with community buy in.
  3. X.R.
    I was listening to the memorial park people talk on some interview and it seems like the design is more worried about sustaining the weight of the land mass since they are using soil from the park and growing trees on top of it. A comment on the post said something like "this isn't just a rooftop garden" lol. So it seems like they need incredible support, aka all that concrete looking like drain culverts, to ensure the soil stays in place and the trees can grow. The new expansion is more than I could have imagined, the land bridge is some visionary type stuff that as a person born and raise in houston I could only dream of. Looking at those photos, it looks like the Arboretum in some places. So do you just park on the south side of the park and walk over there?
  4. X.R.
    As long as Half-Price books stays in the area, I don't care what they build there. Unless its a cookie-cutter apt like the Montrose at Buffalo Bayou *shudders*.
  5. X.R.
    I very honestly would add the areas around the current rail lines to those two streets. Midtown, just by the buildings that are already there, give a glimpse of what the rail corridors could end up looking like, specifically that area by the Continental Club and a few streets north. All that land around Wheeler (that Rice/Mann don't already own) and south of it, the land south of TMC going to NRG, and the area going southeast of the soccer stadium can finally have development that makes sense and not just random smatterings of...whatever.
  6. X.R.
    Big win. Emailed the council members after meeting, I'm hoping they received enough support post meeting for them to feel comfortable with their votes. Mayor Turner being such a stalwart in defense of the ordinance probably had a huge impact.
  7. X.R.
    While they say its because people are getting sick, and I don't doubt they are and that is terrible (and raises a separate discussion if construction should have been allowed during COVID), the real reason is probably the above: that they "overestimated" demand and because of COVID/stay at home work/layoffs the economics of the project is thrown into whack. So now they might want to slow play it and potentially dial back some because the estimated tolls is lower. I think the damning thing is that "even if congestion increases slightly," because of all the work they've done on the free lanes, traffic will be smooth and they'll have a tollway that is used at a lower rate than their estimation, probably much lower. What a great article, some good insight into how traffic is affecting tollways.
  8. X.R.
    You would have thought the pandemic would have allowed them to speed up the construction, but instead its sorta just continued. The Southmore bridge is way passed the promise date, and its just sorta been sitting at the same point for a while. They have finalized entrance and exit ramps during this time, and part of the south 288 in and around pearland, so I wonder if they are rushing to get that done, and then working their way up, which seems like an OK strategy.
  9. X.R.
    Changes like this are small, but they are comforting since it shows, to me, that the City is aware of the development and trying to facilitate the transition to having people actually live in that area. I've lived in cities where this kind of stuff is an afterthought and done years after the development is done. Do we know when that stuff will be put in?
  10. X.R.
    Man, if they have set up a tree preservation zone warding off potential construction workers...you wouldn't do that unless this thing is really underway, right? I'm getting Ion-levels of "is this really happening right now?" I'm sure dredging/digging up that area to create that pond is going to take a lot of time, and meticulous planning to not have it flood. They could be racing to have everything prepped by the time hurricane season ends so they don't have to worry tooooo much about torrential rain when they hit the digging part. An underrated part of this development is that its v accessible via bike/bus infrastructure. Still can't believe this is moving forward, or that they've already started to do this much work. Thanks for the pics!
  11. X.R.
    From friends in the food/service industry who have tried to either buy or have actually leased places close to there and a little further up the road closer to 59, alot of those lots are owned by people waiting for the big payday or demanding (in my opinion) incredible rents. I could actually see it go the other way, where they look at this and think "I'll just wait for the next Caydon to buy me out." Any yeah, whats going on with the AMCAL tower!
  12. X.R.
    Anything to not look like a 90's mall from the outside and a dingy mall food court on the inside. I used to hate going to our downtown office cause the shops was so depressing since all the good places were always busy and then some days finding a seat was a pain in the ass. Inside always felt like a crappier Almeda mall 😝
  13. X.R.
    Completion date 9/15/2022 sounds a bit soon doesn't it? For a 33 story building on land that has yet really show any movement... I cannot believe this is still moving forward with that design 😀
  14. X.R.
    Is it just me or is this going fast? Like, every other photograph new foundations are sprouting up, more excavation done...they seem to be really capturing the moment.
  15. X.R.
    It sounds like the museum park people are all reading from the same general thing. Also, whats hilarious is that the people against it are generally old, so they have been having technical difficulties apparently using a conference call system, lmao. I spoke momentarily, but I'll follow up with Shabazz, I was super disappointed with her comments. So bad. Should I include some of the other council members? MPNA does some very good things for the neighborhood, but they really don't talk for all of us. They cited some things like Light and Noise and Buffering that I have no no idea what they are talking about. The neighborhood is quiet, and honestly kind of too dark at night. I deal with the noise of the Allen Harrison development but their construction manager has a number of us on an email list and has been working with us on things the immediate neighbors would like to see. Great. MPNA comes off as anti-development which is whatever, but it felt like they were are pointing to the Southmore as a buffering problem...bro the Southmore is a great development and to me anchors that part of the neighborhood along with the Asia Society Center. Property values for people people around the Southmore are far most stable than the people near 59 and the intersection of 59/Almeda (trust me, I've been looking at other neighborhood house values for multiple years). The trees and esplanade by them is the best kept one on Caroline outside of the two by the park. Also, there are maybe 15 homes near the Southmore? The Southmore even employs its own constable, which MPNA has been trying to do for the neighborhood but hasn't been able to get the cash together for. Museum District people are lucky, they've gotten some high end development that gives them density other neighborhoods don't have without the negative externalities some may believe comes with such development.
  16. X.R.
    that is an incredible statistic. I don't know if 25k units is a lot to be under construction, but 90% of them being luxury to me sounds crazy high. The townhome style units sound pretty amazing, as does have direct access to the tunnels. Thats a bit of a coup for them I would think. If I worked downtown and had the cash, I would love to be"walking home" in the tunnels. Could never have imagined that 10 years ago. This, the preston,the mid-rise going in on the west side of downtown (fairfield), and the remodeling of the Houston Center/the shops are big wins despite the medium-term effects of the economy/COVID, as the article describes it.
  17. X.R.
    Due to a drop off in customers, a manager told ABC13 they have made tough decision to permanently close its Midtown location this week. On Tuesday, management said business has been difficult with all the homeless people in the area. A manager said they tried putting up a fence around the property to discourage them from coming on site. https://abc13.com/business/iconic-houston-fiesta-location-permanently-closing-this-week/6304620/ Real quick edit: if you're losing business as a grocer during COVID, things musta been real bad. I know at the MPNA meetings people would wish that they could to that Fiesta without the homeless issue, people made it seem like it was the only thing standing between them and patronage of that Fiesta. As I said, I shop there regularly, but I can see how some people could feel uncomfortable.
  18. X.R.
    Weird comment alert: that garage is v good looking. The stone pillars to the concrete with the black contract is such a handsome look. The look works well when going by, it really does vibe with the rest of the buildings on Montrose. I'm officially an HAIF'er, I am opining about a garage.
  19. X.R.
    Two things: 1) that fiesta has had a full parking lot all day with just regular joes cars, no big trucks with equipment, so I guess the community knows and is trying to get some deals; and 2) this morning I saw some bros in suits walking around the lot. Its hot outside for a suit right now, so I'm assuming this wasn't just some randoms walking around with suits in that area, lol. Strange day.
  20. X.R.
    Damn. Their meat outside of their shredded taco meat sucks, and their bakery goods sometimes are moldy within two days of purchasing, but they have great produce and seafood. During COVID they have provided a fairly stress-free shopping experience, not a lot of people and they have great selection for ethnics foods. Good beer selection too (arguably better than that overpriced Randall's). Also, when you go there and hear people who clearly know each other for years call out to each other and inquire about their families you realize that the Fiesta means alot to the people who have been in this area for a while. That churches offers gross chicken (popeyes is miles better) but its cheap, and the line on Saturdays for the cashing checks/issuing money orders is robust. Whatever Rice does, I hope the figure out a way to open a small grocer or something with decently priced food. I know based on interviews its unclear where they stand on bringing another grocer in, but there is clearly a community need that this Fiesta met. But yeah, that Jack in the Box sucks. That needs to go.
  21. X.R.
    So these canopy's and alcoves correlate to the gardens and meditative spaces they are creating around this development? Rode by yesterday and was trying to match up the schematics to what we're seeing. Edit: Looks amazing, btw
  22. X.R.
    @hindesky is that the mockup for the garage? If so, I guess this and that garage by Hermann park where they put that vine wall facing the park will be the two "green" garages near the city core. @CREguy13 Would not be surprised if demand exceeded expectation, given the comments. People within the tech industry in Houston on this forum had initial doubts re: occupancy, with good reason, to me, given Houston's relative lack of tech startup dollars when compared to Dallas/Austin. But, anecdotally, I've had friends come to Houston to interview at the medical/medical device incubator and say that those are pretty competitive as space was limited back in early 2019. So, maybe? @Moore713 yeah, was thinking the same thing this morning as I went by since this place sticks out like a sore thumb when compared to the stores in front of and behind it. You'd need a whole ecosystem there (small gyms, to go food, CVS 😝, etc) to support and they have alot of space to work with. I used to go to the barber shop pre-covid, hope Spot sees business from this.
  23. X.R.
    I would say so, in relation to GP. Fridays and Saturdays it would get busier earlier, although during the week when I went its always been pretty lowkey even after. yeah a friend went to Bamboo thinking it was the Vietnamese place with the great peking duck (it is certainly not that place) and was like "uhhh this is v mediocre." But, I enjoy BB lemons hamburgers (tho they are temp closed) and Nippon is enjoyable.
  24. X.R.
    Well, tech and startups are faring better than other companies during this time so I guess I shouldn't too surprised that they would have a full house but...I'm still pretty surprised that they may indeed be full upon open. That would be incredible and definitely exceeds my expectations for Houston's appetite for this development. Also, from the article it seems that these commitments have been there for a little bit, thus sort of confirming our thoughts that the CEO stepped down because she had gotten them to a positive place and wanted to take on some other challenge. Hats off to Rice, the Ion is on schedule and packed!
  25. X.R.
    What sucks is that row of food places and such just across the bridge just needs to hold on another year and then they'll have new people moving in here, the Allen Harrison place deeper in the museum area, and then the tower that will be opening just down the road. I know it will be hard though. Grand Prize will be busier than ever with this development, there goes our favorite hole in the wall.
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