N Judah

That looks really, really nice.

I saw on another thread that blocks in midtown are going for $58 per square foot. Does anyone want to take a guess about how much these units might rent for? (I'm assuming that the higher the cost of purchasing the original land, the more expensive the apartments.)

Well... that's a remote possibility at some point in the future. As part of some ridiculous compromise between METRO, TxDOT, and the HCTRA, the overpasses for the HOT lanes on the new Katy Freeway are being built to be able to withstand the weight of passenger rail cars should a line be built at some point in the future. This is adding expense to the overall project, and needlessly so. Why? What are the odds that the HCTRA will ever give up the cash cow those lanes are destined to become to METRO for a rail line? NONE! The only way a rail line could be built in the corridor now would be to elevate it over the freeway or frontage roads or to expand the freeway ROW. Both will be extremely expensive to do, and will face great opposition from land owners along the freeway corridor.

My understanding - and this may be completely wrong - was that HCTRA wouldn't be the ones operating the toll lanes down the center of I 10. Rather, as they were not toll lanes but actually HOV lanes that just happened to charge a toll, they would be owned and operated by Metro. But I'm sure you know much more about this than I do -- I guess I'll just have to double check my sources on this one.

In any case, rail in the Katy Freeway corridor is decades away. If such a line is ever built (which I would hope it eventually is), I'm sure a stop at Gessner for Memorial City will be part of the deal regardless of whether this development is built or not. There's already a major mall and hospital there, Gessner is a major north-south street through that part of town that METRO has already identified as a route for its new "Signature Express" service that is part of the METRO Solutions plan, and the area is already served by at least five bus routes. A rail stop would obviously be placed there if the line is ever built because the area is a major destination for many purposes.

Good points. I definitely see what you're saying.

Anyway, at any rate, this new development is really win win. If rail doesn't come through there for a while, they still have attractive mixed use stuff for everyone to enjoy. But if/when rail comes through, at least they've got a head start. Then they can say that rail is justified by serving existing development, rather than basing the whole thing on the idea that it will spur develoment at some point in the future.

Funny how no one ever mentions freeways as the cause of sprawl. Without freeways, no one would want to live so far away.

Anyone who's lived here for a decent amount of time has probably noticed that the freeways come first, and then the houses. The freeways aren't built to meet demand, but rather create it (ironically the very technique that the anti-rail reactionaries disingenuously accuse rail proponents of using). If Houston were truly an organic city, we wouldn't be so spread out, but we wouldn't be crowded like the pre-car cities.

This would be a "unique grocery" to put in there:

Trader Joe's

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If only for the Two Buck Chuck

BUT..where will they get the Right of Way land from?  They already spent several billion dollars buying out homes and businesses for the I-10 expansion, and a commuter rail tract would require an additional R.O.W. of at least 25' or more, so they might have to buy out waaay too many tracts for a transit system that will barely handle 1/10th of the traffic that I-10 can carry.  I don't think rail is much of an option for this area.

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My understanding was that the contraflow toll lanes that are soon to be in the middle of I-10 would eventually be turned into rail.

And increase the I-10 R.O.W. to 700'?  Yeah, right.

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What do you mean? all I'm saying is that if a rail line ends up along i-10 in the future, it would make sense to have a stop at memorial city, esp. if this development goes up. maybe one out at that Katy Town Center too, which breaks ground later this month, btw.

My guess is that they're priming themselves to be a stop on the commuter/heavy rail that will be coming down the pike at some point in the future.

Here is an interesting article on 'flipping' in Las Vegas.

i'm done ranting. all you fierce "houston's the most..." zealots can flame me now.

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If you think midtown is "ghetto" sir, you must have a pretty charmed life . . . </flame>

I think Houston's growing pains aren't the result of 'ethnic diversity' (what a dumb thing to say...which councilmember was this?) so much as Houston's willingness to accommodate all kinds of diversity, including income and job diversity.

Contrast this to San Francisco, which has a fully represented cross-section...of people who can afford to live in a place where the average house costs over half a million dollars. Most of the 'diversity' in SF is sleeping on the street or has already left, having been pushed out by anti-growth zealotry (the city having achieved the remarkable feat of actually *losing* diversity in the 1990s). A lot of recent immigrants live as far as the boomtown suburbs two hours to the east, which look more like Houston than anything else, and even have Houston-style infrastructure problems.

You're talking about the Westpark Tollway, right?

The 'Museum Walk' sounds like an interesting idea, too. I can imagine something like that taking the Museum District and packaging it in a really tourist-friendly way. Maybe it will be the Big Draw everyone here is waiting for.

How would the absence of zoning define who would be able to live in downtown? I thought zoning only dictate whether a particular lot should be used for commercial or residential purpose. Does it also dictate, for example, whether an affordable residential project can be built next to a high-end complex? I would assume that aspect is governed primarily by market forces. If the land in downtown is expensive, which it is, that would ensure that only those who can afford to live there would do so. Since families typically prefer to live in single family homes with backyards and such, this factor would ensure that mostly singles, young childless couples or retired couples would choose to live in downtown.  I may be wrong but then I dont know that much about zoning laws.

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Zoning also involves height restrictions, which create an artificial scarcity of resources. For example, if Houston were suddenly zoned to only allow 5 story buildings to be built in downtown, then it is my impression that a building at a prime location which would otherwise have many units at a lower cost would, under zoning, have fewer units at a higher cost. I don't think zoning could dictate whether affordable projects can go next to high-end ones as that is a market thing, but I do think that zoning does alter the market conditions that affect whether or not anyone would find it profitable to bother to build anything affordable. This is all my opinion of course, since I don't know a whole lot about zoning laws either.

Has any thought been given to WHO will make up the 10,000 living downtown? Will this become an enclave for nouveau riche childless professionals or will other portions of the Houston social strata find affordable housing here?

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I think the early adopters (the first 10,000) will probably be yuppie types, but the absence of zoning in Houston will let the market eventually provide opportunities for downtown living for other people as well.

Trust me, you're not the first one here to ask that question. Pretty much everyone is hoping for a sustainable downtown, not just some flash in the pan trendy one.

Now where are all of those eminent domain faux-libertarian paranoiacs when you need them?

ROFL

Why do you think we would care that you drive a Kia that gets "sweet gas mileage?"  Why do you think we care that the richest guy you know drives a 1982 Honda Accord, and doesn't snow ski and for God's sake why do you think we care WHY he doesn't snow ski (I'm guessing you meant to say downhill ski... as far as I know cross country skiing requires snow as well, unless doing it in the snow somehow ruins the environment too).  Sounds to me like SOMEone might be guilty of measuring their self-worth by their possessions, their activities, and by what other people think of him/her.

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You obviously aren't capable of following the discussion. I'm sorry.

..and your richest friends drive Kias, live in the 5th Ward, travel by Greyhound, and play golf at Hermann Park because to do anything else would indicate an obsession with name brand consumerism,

I dunno...the richest people I know don't really care that much about popular name brand clothing (like polo or sean john).

Usually it's just the nouveau riche / upper middle class who get super obsessed with name brand consumerism.

Ok, so petty theft is apparently not uncommon for townhome dwellers. But what's it like for people living in apartments? Is security tight enough that if I, say, move to a midtown apt I don't have to worry about people sneaking in and taking my stuff?

I can't really see anyone but the absolute richest of the rich in Houston supporting this super high-end retail.

Perhaps Houston's overall style is more accommodating of the somewhat less elegant, urban-type boutiques. You know, something like this -->

http://www.stylemaven.com/store_sanfrancis...rocerystore.htm

I've been to LA and I really didn't think the girls there were that attractive or cosmopolitan. Sure, there are some good looking people there, but on average it's nothing to write home about.

And I really wouldn't feel like Houston is missing anything by not having its own Real World or awards show. Out of all of the cities whose names have been thrown around on this site, Los Angeles is the last one Houston should aspire to become like.

Looks like pineda mentioned more than just one thing...

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