X.R.

Southmore bridge has the middle portion of the bridge linked from one side to the other side (car portion). They are working on installing the outer lanes of the bridge right now (walkway). They've also torn up half the feeder on both sides, taking away one of the two lanes, to install the support and started to bring in plants that they are trying to...plant. For now, it seems like they aren't forgetting that 288 has always had trees/plants along the highway.

This has to mean that they are close to done, right? Like, how long does it really take to do all this stuff. The splash pad looking thing looks done. But still not eta, smh

I pray for a BB Lemon (love that version of BB) but also an El Tiempo. An El Tiempo in that part of town would the competition.

So it seems the Nawfside got the floating bus stop first, courtesy of Metro’s twitter. this is gonna be craaazy.

That floating bus stop is nuts for Houston. Having grown up here, I would never have imagined something so urban being put in here. I've been thinking about this: if you look at what Bike Houston and the Houston Bike Plan and stuff theyhave done, and the Polk-type improvements, its almost like they treated (and this is a good thing) North Houston and East Downtown/3rd Ward like test sites for infrastructure improvement. Both places are desperate for infrastructure improvements, no matter what it is, because there's almost nothing there. So you can start with basically a blank slate, and do it first there because you generally have people grateful for the city doing things to improve their lives. I love it because of things like a floating bus stop, something you probably couldn't get by the Washington/Heights neighborhood organization, is free to be built and then everyone can observe how well (hopefully) it works and then they can implement these things in other areas with now verifiable proof that it works and works well.

@wilcal Wow speak of the devil, we ask about it and they build it. This is so dope, never thought I'd be excited for that stuff but I definitely am. 66 ramps, wow. That is nuts. I don't know if its the market changing or what, but you definitely see quite a few people pushing strollers on la branch between the park and almost to 59, so Im sure people will love this. And so will cyclists, haha. Rode Polk yesterday to get an idea of whats to come, I did not realize/forgot the armadillos only went one street deep on the East downtown side. I can see that running the lane, at least to the Columbia tap, is going to take some work. And you are right, they are missing actual places to sit at the bus stops down there, feel bad for the people just sitting in the grass waiting for the bus. Typically when I ride Polk, the driver's are pretty friendly, but obviously the protection is waaaaay preferred. You might even be able to ride your bike at night in downtown Houston, what a thought. And James clarified in that thread, which I didn't know, that a cyclist can use the sidewalk "outside of the business district" which is cool. Ramps for everyone!

Its so sad that basically the excellent transit is the Red line and two small train lines, haha. I love it, but yeah. The rail can't get to Hobby soon enough. Eliminating parking minimums within the Beltway seems like an incredible stretch. Try just within 610 first, and then watch people whine about not having space to park their king cab ford 250. But its really the thought that counts here (shoot for the stars type thing), which is why we need to continue to vote in people who are not "the old dude/gal from Memorial/Kingwood/Humble/Uptown."

I walked and rode that area the last few weeks since the fence came down, the sidewalk is very nice, I like the brick. Sidewalk isn't bad, its a little wider than it looks in the pic, but that grassy area is very wide its true. Kind of a pain if you're trying to get to the train really quickly. I feel like this expansive amount of flowers and stuff makes the idea of main being closed to cars...more appealing? Now you have the park (green), these massive flowerways connecting the southern part to the northern part, and then the northern part (the green trees and splash pad thing). Its going to be alot of green (assuming those flowers don't die), and thus now you'll have a beautiful roadway for cars 😂 or maybe the best bike lane in Houston, Texas. @H-Town Man brings up a good point. If you walk that block, it is sorta weird that this isn't like the part of midtown by Bagby where theres food place/bar every few steps. Kinda sucks. Riding the redline on the weekends, you get a lot of younger people riding for one or two stops then getting off, which kind of highlights how...slow that area can be by Camden. Which definitely should not be the case. That restaurant can't come soon enough.

This looks great. It seems like every time I drive past there for the last few weeks, something new has popped up, seems like they are going up fast. While we all wish for that movie theatre, so does basically everyone in a 5-6 mile radius, which means that thing will be packed all day, every day. If its a newer-boutique style place, or a Star Cinema/Studio Movie Grill I can see this being Target 2.0, where you're there and you're like "this is the busiest place I've been to all day." If the right big-box retail goes in, its going to be shenanigans on the weekends. I can't wait.

Like @ekdrm2d1 posted, they have the pillars up for the Southermore bridge, and they have been working on putting together the bridge since last week. They have been working at night though, like post 9pm, so I wasn't able to get a picture of them in action since I've always been on the feeder. They are about a third of the way through connecting the pillars with the bridge, seems like they are really getting after it. This would be a massive addition for both sides of that neighborhood. Currently, you have to walk across the skinny median on Binz if you want to cross in either direction. Also, there are a few newer stores on Southmore (like Cupcake Kitchen) that will probably appreciate the increased traffic.

Whats weird is the neighborhood is OK with the boone property going away and becoming a mid-rise apartment complex (the Allen Harrison Complex). But the more I talk to people, its because the houses weren't well kept (but who give a F). Like, if you build two mid-rise apartments, as opposed to one high-rise, whats the difference other than that you don't get the retail that you would if you let the high rise be built. Crazy. To be fair, some of my neighbors have been in the District since 2003-4 (and they are much older than I), and they don't bother with the MPNA. When I told them I joined their collective reactions was "Why would you do that to yourself." So its not everyone, lol. I texted a friend whose firm competed for that land (the price was just too much for them eventually), and he said if X doesn't take it, they know they will. His assumption is this goes forward, its just the balconies won't look as nice (aka the stuff that juts out above the first like 6 floors).

Wait, Boykin's office was against the variance? Smh. But it makes sense, if his constituents didn't want it. Shenanigans.

I think the quoted is definitely true of older people, 40+ (and especially those 40+ who are higher on the socio-economic scale). That dude is my age, and just by him riding a bike to the bar, you know hes on Reddit screaming about the need for rail. I don't think its narrow-minded, hes just stating a fact, that people our age (who didnt grow up in Houston) are weirdly cognizant of driving drunk, so we uber everywhere. Why build parking for people driving to the Christian's tailgate/any place in that area that sells booze just so they can get above .08 and drive? I dont see that as NIMBY-ism. I say weirdly because I grew up Houston. Left the city for school and stuff, but came back eventually. Lived in most areas from Gulfgate to Pearland. Drunk driving is pretty rampant the further south you go (Pearland PD knows this, so if you ever had a drink in the land of pears, watch out). But you have people driving 15-16 miles from midtown to go home in clear lake/pearland/southbelt regularly at like 1-2am after drinking. A few of my friends and I moved closer to the core once we making our own money, met people from other cities who moved here and they were like "you actually get in your car after you've had a beeer or two? What?" and now most of my friends in Pearland pack into ubers and share the ticket. But you're definitely right, people are going to be left out. I definitely have friends who bought homes in La Porte because they wanted a 300k, 4 bedroom house on a 11k lot. And they wanted their cake and to eat it too, so they were driving drunk to go to the white party in the Heights, driving drunk to go Astros/Rockets/Texans (oh god) games, driving drunk to Midtown. But some people shamed them, and now they just don't go out to the city anymore. And thats OK. They made their choice where they wanted to live, you don't get to put other people's lives at risk to go to the hip new cocktail/asian fusion place and then drive 18 miles at 70mph at 10pm back to your house. Sorry for the length! I'm all for parking garages tho, as opposed to paved lots. Houston needs to just replace all that old, mid 90's single story lot junk with some parking garages.

@wilcal Thanks for the information! Sorta disappointed they haven't really started construction on Austin since I thought it was part of the bunch that needed to be done by this summer to fully utilize the 10 million that had been set aside. And is the improvement on Polk the one they have been talking about since 2017-2018? The one extending into East Downtown? Because I can't find it on the BikePlan website. That would be pretty massive. IF you could get HCC to downtown, and downtown to East downtown done, I think your weekend bikers would double. I actually had a couple on the street last Friday stop me and ask where the nearest Bcycle station was (I was on my bike on lamar). Its changing.

sorry @Triton, I didn't realize. The biggest entity that I knew of, that could afford some kind of lobying/media ,was Saint Arnolds. Once Mac starts sending out text messages about preventing this from happening to everyone who has ever bought furniture from him...its gonna be fun to watch. And @Nate99 any amount is too much. He's like the billionaire wives they were talking about, but instead of a lawn he has a massive parking lot.

Saw this and thought of the thread, not completely downtown related, but does overlap:

Those mock ups look boring and bland...which may help the residents feel safer about the development. Great job developer!

A great laugh out loud moment. When read their first email, I did wonder why X Houston chose hotel ZaZa. I was like "damn, they are going all out, hope theres a free drink or something." But now we know why.😅 People probably had canceled their mid-afternoon tennis match to make this. 😂

The Chronicle is reporting that it opens on the 28th of July. When this opens and the bar is well lit and available, it would be kind of a game-changer that area. At this point a person could stay there, go to finn hall for food, walk to the bars further down on main, take the train to the museums and park, and call it a weekend and be like "Houston's pretty cool." All without a car.

Saw this on the twitter the other day and forgot to post it. Seems like the work will start soon (probably?). If a bike can get some protection at least from some part of Midtown into downtown, directly to the protected lane on Lamar, that would be earthshatteringly cool. From HHC to the park, the traffic is not bad, and you can definitely manage with a sharrow. But HCC to downtown, especially once you cross into downtown, is a bit more risky and a protected lane would make it easier for: HCC/Rice students, all the new residents moving into midtown, people in Museum district, people wanting to go from Hermann Park to downtown, etc. Minimal effort for maximum effectiveness.

The Property Market Group, developer behind X Houston, will be holding a meeting at Hotel ZaZa, Imaginiation Board Room on July 23rd, from 6 to 7pm. I wonder if they got wind of all the whining and decided to have this townhall meeting. I'll probably go just to ask if we can get some retail, or something like a yoga studio, or anything really, on the first floor. If they say no, I'm gonna tell them that I hate the development and that I might protest outside the development 😁. In the words of my friend in commercial real estate "Its time to find out how many cat ladies live in the neighborhood and how many people will be watching your day to day construction just to complain."

From Saturday. I like the lights, it’s eye catching in a classy, old school way. Its crazy how much this development and Camden has made walking around that part of midtown waaaay better/feel safer. Also, it seemed like they already had stuff in the lot in front of the building, where it’s fenced off. Tools and stuff from the current building or are they starting right away after everything is online with the apartments? Either way, very cool

wow...that looks great. I guess they are opening for the new school year!

An unsuspected challenger has appeared. Mac is definitely an opportunist, and he’s got the political/money muscle. It’s about to get interesting!

Having spent a ton of time in montrose, it almost seems like they already don't have the same parking minimums as the rest of the city. Many nights, every parking spot is full for that expanse of montrose-westheimer down at least 5-6 streets to the west (except for that shake shake, thank god). I guess they do having minimums cause that HEB got a pretty decent parking lot, but generally it doesn't feel like any other part of the inner city (with its mix of people walking, biking, and limited parking spots). Is it already different or am I crazy.