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jhjones74

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Everything posted by jhjones74

  1. jhjones74
    I don't think anyone actually knows the answer to this besides the property owner Interesting you'd use these cities (NYC, San Fran, EU cities) as examples - all of them are objectively more aesthetic cities that people actually want to visit and stay in. There's a reason leisure trips to NYC, London or Barcelona are common and trips to Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta are not. And before you say all of these cities are more expensive - we can have both. We have the space in Texas to have ample cheap, suburban living and have a metropolitan vibe in our central business district I don't disagree that having rotting, abandoned buildings in any city is worse than having even a surface lot. My point ultimately is just that it still seems entirely too easy, with no consequences, to end up turning our central business district into 75% surface parking lot, as it was in the 70s. We're still at 25% now (Axios Article) Disagree with this. As an example, CPC corporation, the Taiwanese oil conglomerate, owns many lots around the Toyota center. These lots are an amazing way for any big money/institutional investor to store cash, with an average 8% essentially risk free return, while covering property taxes with parking fees. The current tax/parking fee schemes allow for good money to be made off parking, ultimately pushing offers above available bids for developers actually wanting to develop In general your viewpoint is much more sympathetic to the individual property owners, which at some level I can understand since these are the people taking the commercial risk to own the land. "These decisions come down to cost" is exactly what I'm talking about though. Change the cost structure to reward property owners for developing land in a way that doesn't exclusively benefit their bottom line, to create a built environment that people actually want to be in
  2. jhjones74
    They had the money to knock it down but that’s it 😂
  3. jhjones74
    Do we even know whether that hotel is actually going to be built? I know there's another thread on the topic, but just because they got the permits doesn't mean they secured construction financing. I'm no expert on construction/property development but interest rates are a lot higher now than when they would have filed those permits. I'm reacting to hindesky's intel that the lot will just become surface parking. I'd love if the rendering actually ended up happening. Surely not the best design, but better than leaving it as a parking lot.
  4. jhjones74
    I don’t disagree that the building itself was not worth saving. My only point is that walking up Texas Ave, the experience as a pedestrian will now be worse off than it was before. At least personally, there’s nothing less appealing than walking alongside a flat, completely vacant surface lot. Not to mention the heat island you create from all that unshaded pavement.
  5. jhjones74
    I wouldn’t say this is a win - even if the building was less than appealing, swapping it with a surface lot negatively impacts the urban aesthetic of downtown and detracts from the area’s walkability. It’s depressing being a pedestrian in an area catering itself to cars
  6. jhjones74
    God I hope this isn't true. The city should really disincentivize creating surface parking lots like this, one way could be by taxing them at a higher rate than land with buildings. Because the free market really breaks down here - the owners of the land likely will make enough money on parking (particularly with the Astros season starting up) to justify destroying the building that was there, and not developing anything else. It's interesting that Gulfstream Legal Group, the tenants that were previously in the demolished building, now list their headquarters at 720 N Post Oak Rd. I was hoping that was just a temporary space while they were constructing a new headquarters, but it seems likely now that could be their new home.
  7. jhjones74
    Below two links put the population at 10,000 with a goal to get to 20,000. And yeah thinking about all the other restaurants in other parts of downtown, imagine a town of 10,000 having two chick-fil-a’s… https://www.downtownhouston.org/resource/residential/
  8. jhjones74
    While I’d love more of the restaurants to be open later, I doubt there’s enough traffic yet for Potbelly or Chick-fil-A as an example to stay open later past the lunch rush. Around 10,000 people live downtown, plus let’s say on average another 5,000 visiting downtown each night (might be generous). Would any of those restaurants, let alone all of them, be able to thrive in a city of only 15,000 people? Because likely nobody from outside of downtown will come to grab something to eat there unless they’re visiting for some other reason, especially if it’s just chain restaurants that exist elsewhere. Will be interesting to see if Puttshack brings in more people, I have yet to see anybody using Immersive Gamebox, though I haven’t been on a weekend night
  9. jhjones74
    This is a great point I think most people don’t realize. I’ve sat next to a number of people from Europe and Australia visiting Houston for business or just to explore. One guy from London just came to Texas to explore around, started in Houston. After chatting a bit we went to a few more bars downtown, but I ultimately ended up taking him to the heights. He was shocked by how far we drove, and basically the suburbia we got to in order to find the most popular bar spot. Bottom line is that any visitor is organically going to stay downtown not only because that’s where the hotels are, but that’s where the action should be. I hope Houston 5 years from now is more like what most visitors imagine it to be
  10. jhjones74
    During lunch when it’s nice out there will be people working downtown who use the space. On weekends it makes complete sense to have the roads shut down as people bar hop, some get used more than others. But at night during the week, I hardly see them being used at all. I reckon at least partially because it’d be impossible to have any kind of experience there without including 2 or 3 homeless people in your plans
  11. jhjones74
    I noticed that portions of the lot at 1319 Texas had recently been repaved. Seems weird to repave a lot that's going to be demolished soon. Wonder if things have gotten delayed significantly
  12. jhjones74
    This is interesting - looks like 1300 Texas isn't owned by the group building the hotel, unless it changed hands recently. The address listed on property records is a home in tanglewood. Seems like the building is vacant, with gulfstream legal having moved offices. Could the builders of the Holiday Inn have worked out a deal with the property owners to demolish and use the site during construction? Hopefully this doesn't end up turning into another surface lot that the hotel will be replacing.
  13. jhjones74
    Yeah this was a major bummer, love to see Harris county spending taxpayer money to replace a surface lot.. with another surface lot. In all seriousness though, the pictures you sent got me interested in that building Harris County occupies, the Anderson Clayton Building. I couldn't find any real info on here, but I'm curious of what the details of this building are. It's clear it was the headquarters of Anderson Clayton and Co., who were at one time the largest cotton traders in the world. Though the building has two entirely different facades when looking from Caroline St or Austin St. Does anybody know if this is how it was originally built? Or is there some separate reason the building is this way?
  14. jhjones74
    So it begins.. this is the lot at 502 Austin St, adjacent to 1319 Texas Ave, but I have to believe this work is related
  15. jhjones74
    I get excited about the prospects downtown from threads like these, then I see comments like below that unfortunately represent a very large part of the growing Houston population. From today’s chronicle article on I45 expansion: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/articleComments/i45-rebuild-conroe-beltway-8-17716104.php
  16. jhjones74
    Agreed, living downtown it’s not exactly easy getting over here, like 10 min drive even though on a map you’d think less than 5 min. And transit isn’t really an option. Selfishly I’d rather see a bigger grocery store come to downtown before other areas, and I would argue Houston should be focused on creating density within downtown and other existing neighborhoods first. I’m worried Midway will just turn this development into another citycentre, furthering the patchwork of sprawl that is Houston
  17. jhjones74
    Does this mean that it won't be a JW Marriott anymore or will the new owners keep that brand?
  18. jhjones74
    Bummer they're leaving downtown, that was the one spot I'd go out of the way to get lunch at Bravery for. Hopefully the new spot is good, would be good to have a Banh Mi place downtown now the S&T closed
  19. jhjones74
    Saw this posted at the property when walking by today. Alpha Hotel Management/Neway Hospitality are the guys behind the adaptive reuse of the Stowers Furniture building into the Aloft downtown back in 2016, only 5 blocks from this lot. They sold the Aloft to MCR earlier this year. Excited to see this get off the ground in 2023. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Downtown-Aloft-hotel-trades-hands-16830373.php#photo-21987651
  20. jhjones74
    Very much agree with this, though unfortunately it looks like this place is only open until 6 PM Mon - Thurs. Tried to grab some beignets after seeing the review around 7:00 and they were closed - this more or less rules out dinner for me during the weekdays.
  21. jhjones74
    Is this an addition to the food hall or have they taken over a stall from another concept? It seemed like all the stalls were full last time I was there, curious whether there’s already been turnover
  22. jhjones74
    They’re calling it Little New Orleans, under the Binz building. You can see beignets listed on the window - I was too disappointed to find out S&T had closed to give it a try.
  23. jhjones74
    They’ve made good progress on the golf course since the last time I was there, though still looks less than pristine with the Target Hunger event happening this Friday: https://www.betterunite.com/TargetHunger-sunsetsocial
  24. jhjones74
    I’ve had it twice now past 3 AM when it’s the only option downtown. While I’m happy there at least is an option now that late, I have to say it might be the worst pizza I’ve ever had. Couldn’t finish more than a slice either time
  25. jhjones74
    There are now two other spots downtown to get beignets, one on Main St where S&T used to be (bummed they closed) and in the new Lyric Market that just opened today there’s a po’ boy shop that also sells beignets
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