Muralpainter

So...you say you need a secure Data Center? Links of "before" and "after".

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/Building/2124/The-Westlin-Bunker.php

http://www.westlandbunker.com/

The car companies have to supply a common police platform for all 50 states. While RWD is desirable here in the sunbelt, for rainy & snowy climates RWD is horrible. Fords AWD platform has a definite advantage over RWD or FWD.

First section of concrete is in.

My beer-soaked memory recalls the building has never been occupied as retail. It might have been used briefly for office space.

The building was built much later than the neighboring box stores.

Forms and rebar are in, will be pouring concrete soon.

Is the theme park dead? I don’t think so.

However I wouldn’t start making plans to attend just yet. Notice this thread started in November of 2006.

From Your Houston News. More signs of motion, but not necessarily progress.

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/east_montgomery/news/developers-for-earthquest-friendswood-progress-with-plans/article_56f5c762-8e38-51ee-b5a5-f5757b03b900.html

"The design and artistic license for the park is now in control of Contour Entertainment who recently drafted a letter of intent with the East Montgomery County Improvement District in order to forge ahead with their plans for development."

It appears you can eliminate the Tomball location for the theme park. Following is an article in the Community Impact newspaper for a new business park.

http://impactnews.com/articles/business-park-to-capitalize-on-exxonmobil-campus-relocation/photos.html#2843

The parks original planned location was listed as 11598 Holderrieth Road. The planned business park is shown in the same location.

From the Community Impact Newspaper:

http://impactnews.com/articles/community-leaders-work-to-shape-magnolia-parkway-area/

“In March, area residents and members of local homeowners associations successfully lobbied against a multi-family apartment development planned for the Magnolia Parkway area. “Members of the local community spoke out against it and were able to provide information to other residents, and the local community did a good job of speaking up,” said Jason Rinn, chair of the Magnolia Parkway Chamber board. After hearing from the community, the developer of the project—the Mark Dana Corporation—decided against moving forward.

“Everyone thought it was a great program and a good thing, but they didn’t want it there,” said David Koogler, CEO of the Mark Dana Corporation. “Our projects are well-managed and well-controlled. When people don’t really understand what we do, it’s hard to get that message across.””

1. The article did not mention a specific apartment development, however I suspect it was Wedgewood Village.

2. I wonder how much influence to stop the development was from the Magnolia Parkway Chamber of Commerce, vs protests from the area homeowners.

Drainage construction is now underway.

From the Montgomery County Police Reporter:

On May 3, 2012 at approximately 9:20PM The Woodlands Fire Department responded to the report of a grass and woods fire on the Green Belt drainage ditch at the new Research Forest Cut through (Branch Crossing @ Research Forest Dr. area). When Firefighters arrived they discovered the excavator heavily involved in fire. Investigators from The Montgomery County Fire Marshal’s Office have determined that the fire was deliberately set. Also next to the excavator was a commercial tree shredder/grinder for making mulch out of the tree debris. The actor or actors also vandalized this machine by discharging the dry chemical fire extinguisher inside the operator’s compartment and opening the fuel drain valves draining approximately 50 gallons of diesel fuel on the ground. Two days prior to the fire, five juvenile males were seen at the worksite and interfered with the contractors by blocking their access to the tree debris. The juveniles refused to climb down from the tree debris piles citing their protest to cutting down trees to extend Research Forest Drive.

http://montgomerycountypolicereporter.com/?p=44988

Appears to be a setback on the Research Forest road construction. Equipment fire Friday evening, located between Wynnoak Circle and Greenfield Forest.

We may need to move this thread to The “Woodlands and Northern Pines”

http://www.grandtexas.net/visit_info.html#faq

"As part of the development process, Grand Texas has determined three different desired sites. Two are in Montgomery County, while the other is in Fort Bend County."

Grand Texas remade the video removing the location from the audio.

http://youtu.be/c5odOxY6wAI

Video posted on YouTube with new renderings of the park. Audio reports it just "North" of the woodlands?

http://youtu.be/MpCgi1Fi7Lo

Here are the plans for the extension

Clearing has started. This is seperate from the existing walking path located to the south of the clearing.

There has been recent activity with drilling core samples.

Rumor has it that the activity is instead to install a 48” water line that will connect to the new water plant on Longmire.

Right, the anti-government intervention angle. Don't get me wrong, I wish that all these housing subsidy programs would come to an unceremonious end, too.

Nothing to do with social engineering or NIMBY. Just undercutting the housing market.

In all seriousness though, the tax credit units are priced such that only Class B- or C apartments would face additional competition.

You are correct there are no Class B/C apartments in the area. However is does compete with lower-end single family properties like older houses and newer trailers.

Here is my admittedly selfish part...I was (but not anymore) planning to purchase an area home as a rental unit. Since I’m no Warren Buffet I have to start small/cheap, and my target property rent would likely compete with the rents charged by the apartment complex. Having 180 new units in this rural area at sub-market prices will pretty much eliminate my target customer.

If the units were renting at market prices I would be just fine.

I’m not going to comment on the subsidized housing bringing in undesirable families.

What I have a problem with is government intervention into the local housing market. These apartments will undercut the lease prices on local rental units and drive down the market. Then the rent value goes down, the resale value to investors respectively goes down. This has the effect of lowering the market value of all homes in the surrounding area.

I understand the government selected the location for subsidized housing with the consideration many of the tenants will not own a car. They will evaluate the walking distance to shopping and employment. This location does have some stores in the area, but is nowhere near major employers. Does not seem like a good fit.

Additional information received on a newsletter:

PROPOSED LOW INCOME MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING PROJECT: Project proposed for the north side of FM 1488 west of the La Quinta hotel and across from the Westwood subdivision. The proposed project is a Federal housing project administered through the TX Dept. of Housing & Community Affairs (www.tdhca@state.tx.us). The project contact person in Austin is Nicole Fisher at 512-475-2201 or email: nicole.fisher@tdhca.state.tx.us .

Income levels for applicants to such Federally mandated projects range from $18,000 to $46,000 depending on the number of persons in the household. Neighborhoods and areas targeted for such projects are generally identified by demographic data derived from US Census blocks.

Just up the road is my favorite theater - Silverado 19 IMAX. Awesome place, would be difficult to compete.

From the state website http://www.tdhca.state.tx.us/

Wedgewood Village, Northwest corner of FM1488 and Wedgewood Drive. 180 units.

I have heard of the EB-5 green card program and am fascinated that they have dedicated a development to attracting foreign investors. This will make an interesting topic but at the risk of the thread being hijacked for political debate.

Curious if the business will have an international flavor, or the foreign investors will just purchase franchises of typical US businesses.

The latest Community Impact paper still claims construction starts in March. I have yet to see any clearing.

http://impactnews.com/articles/improvement-district-project-begins/photos.html