X.R.

I uploaded the presentation. The only thing that may interact with the street is the cafe they have on crawford along with the leasing office. @KinkaidAlum I think I said this before, but they are trying to see if they can open the cafe to the public, given the parking requirements. Also, I don't know how much interaction with the street the neighborhood would have loved, given the type of questions they received during the presentation. Here is the presentation, the link is only good for 30 days: https://easyupload.io/twcrs9

Most of the MPNA peeps have the presentation, it was emailed out. The developer has been working with the surrounding neighbors through a few of the people on the MPNA and the public discussion was pretty robust. The lighting thing was an issue for some of the MPNA people who don’t even live near the development, asking repeated questions about light bleeding and such and how they like their sleepy streets (tbh, much of the area needs better lighting but apparently people like it dark). So as currently discussed, they’re dumping money into new lights like the ones in the park For la branch and Crawford, burying some of the electrical lines, sewage system, paving over those crappy muddy mini-ditches and replacing them with anyone allowed street parking (as opposed to residents only), dedicating money to the esplanades around the development for MPNA to do what they want with them, and another community beautifying thing they haven’t hammered out yet with MPNA. Edit: I'll figure out a way to upload the presentation later.

I cut through there coming back from work sometimes, and as much as I would love this, I think they contract with the sheriff or constable offices because they have these officers just sitting at the most inopportune (for people like myself) places just watching traffic for speed and other violations. *Shakes fist at sky*

Its the opposite my G. The further out you are the fewer Grocery stores in a 4 mile radius, and those will have lines out the door. Pearland, Sugarland, Tomball, and Spring all have HEB's that are bananas, per my friends. People seem to forget whole foods exists. Also if you want Hand Sanitizer, go to Walgreens/CVS.

It has been expressed, by the Uptown management group, to a client of mine in the galleria area that the BRT is supposed to alleviate that "Oh crap" feeling almost completely during the normal course of the year, and quite a bit during Christmas. My initial thought tho is that all these entities, Uptown Park, Galleria, the Whole Foods Development, the Dicks strip, etc, are possessive enough about their parking that I don't know how happy they will be that people will park at their place, initially go into their store, do some shopping, put stuff in the car, and then get on the bus to go to another development. If the BRT can somehow elevate the general experience of going to the galleria, primarily by helping congestion or parking, it would be a big boon. And those businesses, including the Galleria, that sat through the construction deserve it.

Amazon doesn't even market Whole Foods the way HEB markets itself. HEB is like "come to the store, pick-up points are available for online orders" blah blah. They market it themselves like they are a grocery story with convenience options. Amazon is like "two hour delivery to your door is available." Amazon markets Whole Foods like a warehouse to store food to deliver to your door, which also contains an Amazon Locker for you to pick up your packages. Two completely different approaches. I can't believe Whole Foods would complain about lack of traffic, its not even their business model lulz. The rest of the businesses I'll stay out of, from my clients I know even small changes can have impacts. The neighborhood patrons tho, sounds like the neighborhood patrons in my adjacent community the last time the city came to talk about bike lines. You'll always have some older contingent upset about change. Its like someone told me in the austin bike lane thread, residents buy it for what it is, developers buy in for what it may become. They are just whining about change just to whine @wilcal.

What is going on in front of the Amegy building? I assumed parking but I had never noticed that construction til last week.

I did not know it was that spot. Woooow. If Sweetgreen can make it there, DT has turned a corner. People may laugh at that statement, but that used to just be people sleeping next to those windows at like 8pm. Walking by that when going to a Rox game or going bowling that retail portion made that area feel so desolate. Now that I think about it, if DT really wants to change downtown, doing whatever it takes to facilitate businesses taking those leases for the empty GFR near areas where they want people would go a loooong way to making DT feel more friendly and vibrant.

Lol, that looks terrible. And how is "generous parking" a selling point unless they expect multi-car families to be moving in. Now if that is the case, and the apartments turn out to be affordable/non-luxury, I'm all for it. But a "condominium-quality finishes" doesn't scream affordable for a family of three.

Auto shop is about 3/4's demolished, will post a picture when I can. Had a crew out there really going at that demo earlier this morning. Seems like the next phase is under way, which is nutty since the first phase is maybe a little more than half done (I'm guessing at that part). 2020/2021 gonna be a hell of a year for midtown.

Yeah, this, and there is plenty of room for another two targets in addition to this one, especially if they are the Urban variety. The one in lower heights is incredibly busy. My first thought about this one was "is there enough parking." This place is going to be hammmmmmmmered. And that lot is split between all those different businesses. Even when that Randalls was sucking wind, the parking lot was at least half full on friday-sunday. Make that a target? Jeffblummygod.gif

They are flying, the crane going up.

So what are people hoping happens with this? Torn down and something new (just not a surface parking lot), or restoring the building and using it for something else (I assume this would be faster than a tear down)? I guess I assume, based on the listing itself, that if anything happens to it then it will be an reuse or restore. Its strange that with all the development in DT, including development in that area, that no one has taken a chance on the building. They should make it like the city museum in St. Louis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Museum . Make the top floor a bar and restaurant with all glass walls because of the view would be great, call wolfgang puck and tell him the space is his.

I think I went back and forth with various peeps, including @Houston19514 and I think iah, about lightrail and my automatic disposition towards it, and I gotta say, they helped me rethink it and seeing the maps with the various funds associated with each line really shows that for somewhere like Houston, with so much ground to cover, BRT might be the better option. Cheers to people helping other people see the other side of things. The BRT lines for uptown, inner katy, and IAH look...great! Almost exactly what Houston needs. So Richmond will have dedicated, enforced lanes like Uptown or nah? They have to, right? Otherwise its moreso MetroBoost?

I drive through Midtown a lot, both on the weekends and during weekdays either during rush hour or after, and I gotta say that the City needs to figure out a way to make what I call "middle midtown" a bit more inviting. East midtown (closer to 288) is alot of townhomes and has smaller businesses like Gypsy Poet, the boxing gym, and is slowly having businesses open up over there. Theres some people outside sometimes (😂), maybe going to grover or baldwin park. So thats OK. West Midtown (bagby to main) obviously has the apartments and the food and bars and a whole foods/Randalls and a whole bunch of other stuff. But it almost feels like two completely separate areas despite being like 3 streets away from each other, and i think in part its because of Fanin/San Jacinto being two mini-highways. Since nothing is being done about that, there needs to be something that ties the two together and maybe this could help. This helps start to break down some of the older stuff that designated Midtown as as an area for people to drive through instead of being a place where people actually live and prosper. And as long as they maintain an entrance and exit on 527, I think its the best of both worlds. I'd vote for any of the 3 proposals, tbh. I kinda like leaving the old Bridge in place because its very Houston - my life in Houston has always revolved around freeways and its only right that a communal green-space is in the shadow of a freeway exit ramp.

Oooo will check it out. I sort of stay away from the gravel areas of the park, aka the main trail, because I feel like such a dick sometimes on my bike because of how many people are walking. Anyone else feel like that? I know that might be strange. The bayous are home for my bike, but man when Hermann park is busy I just dunno about getting on the gravel trail.

I spend alot of time on 59 by those entrances and exits and the amount of traffic actually exiting into downtown in the mornings and afternoons during rush hour are tiiiny compared to the people trying to stay on 59 (frustratingly so, because people will just sit in the spur exit lanes and then cut back into 59). Actually, when I moved to the area to be closer to work I didn't really understand why those exits and entrances existed (I never had taken them as a young adult) because they seemed so empty and kind of out of place when compared to 288/59. But they are convenient. Despite the convenience, I don't really know why there are multiple exits cause they all just drop you into Midtown. I split time between the galleria and downtown for work, Bagby is crazy busy on the other side of 45 during rush hour, midtown bagby is nothing compared to that. You could probably lop of a whole lane on Fanin and San Jacinto and Caroline and no one would notice. Fanin especially. All three are just people gunning through midtown to get to DT or the highways/MD/Med Center (raises hand). To me, the writing probably was on the wall for the bagby exit/entrance when Whole Foods got there. It meant real development money is going to come into that area, and the way its currently constructed is basically unacceptable. Something had to change. You have three traffic lights on top of each other, so if you're texting your special someone while driving you might see a green but really you have a red (they almost got me). Then you realize that there is an entire neighborhood of actually very, very expensive houses to your right when taking the Bagby entrance ramp that are completely walled off. Whole foods probably looking at that like, nahhh bro, what we gotta do to give these people easier access to our store. I will bet everyone alot of money if another big tenant moves onto bagby in that new development by old st. danes, the city will have another "ah ha!" moment when it comes to walkability in that area.

Yeah you could take Bayou to Columbia tap but that always made me feel like I was going out of my way to go back up. Plus, at the very least, you have to access Brays either at the light on Almeda or cross somewhere else in the park to get into the bayou which then has me surrounded by usually fast traffic. I like this because to me it feels like less of a hassle, cars are a little slower. So basically, if I want the extra exercise its Bayou to Columbia, otherwise its the new way. Gray is super-duper nice. Goes from Bagby down to the Columbia Tapp, but the portion of nearest to the columbia tap for like three streets is a sharrow. Then it gets protected. With Bagby in downtown getting the facelift its getting, I'm wondering if bike volume on Bagby in Midtown will go up. That area, with all the apartments, need something other than the sidewalk (since people actually walk in that area) that is away from the cars to allow for bikes.

Seems some people at Rice thought it would have been better where some of the startups already are/where other businesses are near Galleria and/or San Filipe.

Looks like Hutchins is getting done really quick: Not the biggest fan of Hutchin's development, but its 100% better than the old bike lanes like the ones in East downtown/Wesleyan. And this shows that Cleburne is going to be done sooner than later: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/February-News-and-Updates.html?soid=1118751441959&aid=v8XUCwq_TFI So from Hermann park you can take either Caroline or La Branch (both have generally slow traffic, easy to be on the road with cars), take a right on Cleburne, take Hutchins to Gray and then access East Downtown via the Columbia Tap. On mostly high-comfort bike lanes. Thats amazing considering where Houston was 10 years ago.

The head of Rice's endowment said the church isn't going anywhere and they have been giving input during the development process, if I remember correctly. It was either during a presentation or the looped in pod. He seemed pretty pleased with, and complimented, having the church there, saying they were one of the few things that hadn't abandoned that area. @HoustonIsHome the nice thing about TMC3 is that it extends the urban landscape further toward NRG, so maybe in the future NRG won't be considered too far from much?

Anyone been here lately? It. Is. Relentlessly. Busy. All. The. Time. Go there late on a Tuesday night? Lines at the cash register. Go there late Saturday afternoon (7pm)? Good luck finding parking. And just when you think this place couldn't be more busy, the bus is backing up to drop people off. It's almost like its exactly what people thought would happen, given its location and how starved 3rd ward is for a grocery store. Hopefully this helps justify to HEB and any other grocery story (Aldi, Krogers, etc) to open up most stores in the area. HEB could open down the road toward UH and that thing would be packed too. Edit: I forgot, yeah you're getting a massive cross section of people: med center, third ward residents, UH students, a ton of older people, Riverside terrace peeps, its lit.

Wait what? Their putting a bike path next to the redline? Is this...real life? Huge news if true. Main in downtown and Midtown is basically a sharrow, but man people can still be assholes despite being stuck on a one lane road going 30mph. edit: @wilcal what is this sorcery?

Not really, I use that garage once a week-ish, and to me its just antiquated in design. Getting in and out sucks. It also doesn't make sense for its location, you get some foot traffic walking to the park over there. When are the repairs supposed to be done? I know they are kind of zooming, but I feel like this has been going on a while, and the lobby in the houston center is a little...rough with all of the construction stuff.

Yeah, I actually have two different friends in the same exact position as your friend (and one set of parents and their friends are the ones who were buying land to sell to the train peeps). One about 40 mins south of Dallas and the other is about an hour north of downtown Houston. Only one tried to convince his parents that doing weekly checks on the farm could work, lol. There is going to be a townhall: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/transportation/article/Brady-to-host-Navasota-town-hall-with-opponents-15054362.php