springcityparts

So much fun to think about connecting the city like this. When I was working on this, I did find that circular routes can be a little bit of a no-no, since most people are going from A-B, but nice to hear that METRO may consider something like this. I think that there is something very romantic about a single-seat ride around these very historic parts of the Heights. I wish there was a way to even hit Downtown, Memorial Park, and even Montrose, but then it would start to get super long. @Justin Welling just for fun I added your suggestions for hitting Washington and Sawyer Yards. I had originally indeed thought about the Washington portion as well!

In addition to the amenity that this would bring to Heights residents that will use it to increase their quality of life, do you think that for people without a car, this route will also help bridge connectivity gaps already in place? I added the current METRO bus offerings, and I do like that the design largely connects areas that are *not* connected by any single seat rides.

I would like this to serve every Heights resident. I would want a (true two-way) loop that serves destinations that constitute the majority of movement for residents in the Heights  This would provide a single-seat ride for people to ditch their cars, stimulate businesses, and create an experimental microcosm of multimodal transportation that could be used for planning around the city. It would at least make the Heights a more accessible tourist destination for Houston residents and out-of-towners as well.

A key element of this route would be the nostalgia buses, since they pay hommage to the history of the Heights. I would also venture to say that many more people would be willing to ride a "bus" that looks like a streetcar purely because it *looks* more reliable. This would help create a culture shift towards a multimodal way of walking. Imagine families across the heights going for a long evening walk, getting dinner or doing some light shopping and being able to ride the streetcar back home.

The route could probably use some work, and I would love any specific suggestions... As far as frequency, it would need to be no less frequent than 10 minutes to make it reliable, and the round trip should be around 30 minutes. I am going to get in my car one of these days soon and stop at every one of these proposed stops to get a sense of how long it would take to traverse this loop.

I made a post on LinkedIn about a week ago:

"Imagine a circular bus route using nostalgic streetcar design connecting 50k Heights residents (~0.5 mi walk). In a single seat to most destinations in the Heights and to the red line toward Downtown"

I tagged Kimberly Williams (Chief Innovation Officer at METRO) just for kicks, and she wants to schedule a call about it. I know this does not mean much in terms of materializing anything, but it is cool to see the leadership being engaged with the community. Just out of curiosity, what does everyone here think about this idea?

I went ahead and sketched it up on Figma as well, so take a look! 

5 minutes ago, Andrew Ewert said:

This is maybe the dumbest question ever asked by anyone, but... could it? Not that we ever would, but if the city decided that having the bayou look nice was important, is there any way you could do it? Put a giant Brita filter in the Galleria?

I’ve thought about this as well. I feel like all it would take it to dump a bunch of granite or some other type of rocks to help with filtering and reflection 

Added the sign at Mala and testing out Lightning of the ring

64,737 square feet for a luxury full-service
dog-friendy experience in central Houston:
• Co-working offices
• Dog daycare + boarding
• Veterinary clinic + pet spa
• Off-leash park + agility course
• Training Academy
• Pavlov's Bar & Cafe
• Rooftop event space

Attended info session today at a warehouse where they are building out most of the materials for the building. Reported that once permits are approved by the city and liquor license gets approved, construction of Phase 1 (including two low rise buildings) could be completed within 90 days. Expected completion June 2022. 
 

Phase 2 which includes high rise ~8 stories building will take 18-24 months to complete

future phases to include additional coworking space and a multifamily buildout

 https://dogworx.com

On 5/24/2021 at 6:32 AM, IntheKnowHouston said:

 

Highline Park is opening this summer at MKT, 600 N Shepherd.

According to someone associated with Highline Park, the group's other two food & beverage concepts for M-K-T, Picnic Supply Co. and Casa Nomad, will probably open in the fall.

 

The website for Highline Park launched last month.

https://highlineparkhtx.com

 

There are also two Facebook pages

https://facebook.com/Highline-Park-112543220615806

https://facebook.com/highlinepark.htx

 

Do you know anything about what the concept will be for Picnic Supply Co.?

Style of the structure reminds me of the Houston Farmers Market, anybody have more information on this project?

On 5/24/2021 at 12:02 PM, geaux said:

I went to the La La Land Cafe in Dallas last weekend, it will absolutely print money once it opens in M-K-T

I walked by Building 1 today and saw one of the corner spaces on the northwest corner of the building under work. It has what looks like a little to-go window. When searching for the La La Land Cafe on Google Maps, it seems to drop the pin right on this expected corner unit. Hoping to see this open soon as there is still no proper coffee shop in this development 

Mala Sichuan opening up soon! This one will be facing the trail as well. You can already see the big wooden rounds in the entrance of the restaurant. Today the wood was covered with plastic and you could already see the interior shaping up nicely

This honestly does look great, but it does remind me of this funny meme https://ifunny.co/picture/this-is-midwest-culture-visit-our-historic-downtown-the-downtown-aIUWBJ7T8

Completion 8/31/2024. I’ll be 33

Another thing that may be off topic is that there aren’t a lot of small food marts/convenience stores. It would be awesome to have more scattered around the neighborhoods for essentials that don’t warrant a trip to the grocery store. For example, the area around the MKT Development could desperately use one of these, especially with the Standard apartment complex and the rising Fairfield on Shepherd. Any ideas on how I could rally up some of the neighborhoods to request a local market to pop up around the area?

Any updates on this 621 Waverly?

This is exciting! Any details on timeline?

This reminds me of POST

On 11/21/2019 at 9:50 AM, s3mh said:

https://tritenre.com/projects/swift

 

That is a different property.  MKT's "Phase 2" is the old Freedman Distributor building.  The only info on it is that it will be multifamily.  Triten Real Estate is just calling it "Swift" for now.  

 

I found the deed for the property on the county clerk's records.  The owner of Presto sold the property to FF Realty IV, LLC.  This looks to be an entity controlled by Fairfield Residential, which makes sense given the name "Fairfield Shepherd" on the variance sign.  They do not have any info on the project on their website yet.   

Also, any updates on this “Swift” project?

Piggibacking on the question regarding a bridge connecting 6th across Waverly and Rutland, what about a pedestrian bridge connecting Patterson on the south side of the bayou onto 6th street. It. Certainly  MKT would benefit from all the residential in the south side of White Oak, currently it’s about 1.5 mi walk to go across the hike and bike trail (unless you pedestrian your way across Shepherd, yikes)?

On 9/16/2021 at 2:15 PM, j_cuevas713 said:

Not sure if you've seen the improvements along Studewood, but that's basically what is coming to Montrose Blvd. Along the median of Studewood they added pedestrian crossings for better access to stops, wider sidewalks along the majority of the street and the bus shelters look really nice. 

https://www.ridemetro.org/Pages/METRO-BOOST-Network.aspx

Is this pretty certain that this project is stretching south into Montrose Blvd? On the link you sent it only shows as far south as White Oak

Is this where the new Life Time gym is going up?

shout out to @hindeskyfor watching this site (and many others)🥰 like a hawk