capnmcbarnacle

23 stories has an emotional impact that a midrise spread over a wider area does not. one is appropriate for its immediate surrounding area (situated on a major east west artery), the other is not and in anywhere other than Houston, would get no further than the back of a developer's envelope.

I'm with you about appropriateness. Things like scale and style matter. And that's what Ashby is really about. But everyone falls back on traffic because this is Houston and nobody wants to admit aesthetics count. I would just like to see more people admit that the it's more about the Tower than the Traffic. It's about sitting on your back porch and seeing 20 stories where the sky used to be. A broader discussion (not necessarily on this board, we've done that) of the city's power regarding scale and style would be interesting to say the least.

I live in the area as well, and I'm actually pretty excited about these apartments - congestion aside, it's a heck of a lot better than the barren wasteland it was for a while there, and maybe the influx of people will help local businesses...and you thought La Tapatia was crowded late-night before? If nearby Wilshire Village is eventually (ever?) torn down to make room for apartments/condos, though, I can definitely see traffic becoming an even bigger issue

All that aside, it seems that the area is in a pretty slow reversal of rental back to ownership through tear-downs

I live of off Dunlavy and I really don't have a problem with them. In the grand scheme of things, it's not that many more people. But it kind of amuses me that 226 units in that neighborhood at the South end of Dunlavy freaked out the world, but 236 units on Dunlavy at the north end (almost by a hair) of the same neighborhood didn't merit mention. And nothing was said when rice built 140 graduate apartments.The fact is that lots of people will be taking Dunlavy from or toward Bissonet from Fairmont, and later to and from Regent Square. I think the traffic impact of Ashby would be relatively minimal and it's a matter of having 25 stories there.

Dunlavy is destined to become a more heavily travelled road regardless of Ashby because it is the only road between Shepherd and Montrose that runs from Bissonet to Allen Parkway. Add Regent Square to the North, and these places to the South, and it will only get busier.

The Fairmont ingress/egress will be interesting though. Metro tends to frown on left turns across its tracks (and isn't a station going to be there?), so turning left on Richmond, across 4 lanes and a rail line will be dicey. I think they'll put people out on Dunlavy or be right turn only on Richmond.

But at the end of the day, I've lived here for years and I'm not leaving. I agree with the earlier poster that this kind of density is to be expected.

Tower of Traffic!

From what I read, the Ashby highrise would have 226 units. This monster has 236. Since this is being constructed on the south end of the block, bordering Ervan Chew Park, I suspect the ingress/egress will be on little 2-lane Dunlavy near Castle Court. Where are bumper stickers for this baby?

This thing will dump people along a residential road south to Bissonet or north toward Allen Parkway. Will there be an appreciable difference in traffic? I don't know. But I do think this proves Ashby is nothing about the number of people and all about the height/scale.

FWIW, I drove by this morning and they had trackhoes moving dirt and about a dozen truck hauling it away. And there is a trailer onsite.

Looks like this one may be raring to go.

When did the Montrose get zoning? And, why do people buy there if they are uncomfortable with it?

There isn't any zoning, I was just commenting on what they are labeled. To me, east of Shepherd is Montrose, and has been as long as I was here. But a lot of these new spec homes are listed as being in "neartown," "museum district", "upper kirby," or, in the case of the house built next to me, "River Oaks Area."

I think a lot of realtors, and customers, don't want to say they live in Montrose -- hence the ridiculous euphemisms. I'll never forget the shock and awe of my "river oaks area" neighbor when the Harris County Transgendered float lined up in front of his house before the Pride Parade. Pricesess

More and more of the people that buy homes in that area just east of Shephered and just north of the River Oaks shopping center are not comfortable with their million dollar homes being in to Montrose. Of course, the River Oaks crowd doesn't want to be associated with them either. Maybe a good transitional name for the area east of Shephered, west of Dunlavy, south of the bayou and north of 59 would be "Montroaks." As long as it is not alreay covered by part of the "Upper Kirby District."

Let me join in the chorus of those who really want this to happen and, as someone who lives in Montrose, I hope they get a hotel. Since the demise of the Allen Park Inn it has become painfully obvious that there is nothing to serve the neighborhood. I realize that ZaZa and downtown aren't painfully far away, but my mom doesn't want to stay at ZaZa, staying downtown is kind of depressing, and I hate driving her to the Omni. So there. I think there is a niche. And I miss Prime Rib at the API at 1:30 a.m.

As far a the delay to the 3rd quarter, could one of the reasons be that they will also tear down the second section and complete all of this at once? I beleive this plan was for 2 phases, and the buildings east of Dunlavy are still standing. Is there some beneift to waiting until the remainder comes down and working on both phases at once? Just rank speculation on my part..

I have seen a sign for this for awhile but they appear to breaking ground. This project at the corner of Dunlavy and Fairview looks interesting. This lot has been vacant for years and was used to store construction equipment for Perry Homes during the Townhome Boom of 1996-98. Or as Obi Wan Kenobi would have called it, The Dark Times.

Anyway, Kaldis has done some good work around here (Hugo's, Paulies) and I'm happy to see this happening. I'm all for mixing up the uses and being a little unconventional. I think those of us who live around here can sense that big changes are happening (on the commecial development front, especially) and the next couple years will determine what the neighborhood will be for the next decades. The new project on Westheimer between Dunlavy and Woodhead, the Origin Place (former Martha Turner bldg.), and whatever goes where Antique Emporium used to be will set the stage. I think there is a real chance for sensible, interesting development that fits in with what Montrose is. An awesome strech of walkable retail, residentail, offices, bars and restaurants is feasible. It is there now and it is possilbe for new development and redevelopment to build off of it and augment it without sucking the life out of the place. Of course, that may just be the sunshine-pumping Montrose stoner talking.

Anyway, take a peek...

http://www.kaldis.com/theterraces.html

Cool! I posted on another thread asking about this - thanks for the info. I agree with Jax, that strip has a lot of potential. With the new apartments going in, I wonder how long the storage place and the 99 cent store will hold out. Hopefully they will keep the zero setback to be consistent with the properties just to the east (e.g. Paulie's). Is the variance request for zero setback or will that be grandfathered in?

I'm really curious about this one too. I think they can grandfather the setback if they use part of the old building. They really have the chance to do something cool and set a precedent along with the new building between Woodhead and Dunlavy.

I think the oak farms storage will be there for the long haul, as a lot of locals need extra place to put their stuff. And the guy that started the 99 cent stores had a great idea -- he puts them in upscale neighborhoods. The logic is that rich people will shop there but won't go to a bad neighborhod to shop. Poor folks will travel to a rich neighborhood to shop. He gets em all.

Keep your fingers crossed on this one.

I'm tired of hearing Houstonians, especially those on this board, crying about wanting an urban feel, but opposing the townhome " cookie-cutter" trend that is going on! For example, if you look in the suburbs or back to the late 70's, 2 out of every 5 homes on each street have identical floorplans and layouts. In some instances they have the same color/siding/bricking!

Having grown up in one of those suburbs from the 1970s, I ended up living in Montrose to try to get away from it. Thanks for hitting the nail on the head for me.

Look, I don't have a problem with new construction. It's inevitable. I do have a problem when builders build sky high to to the lot lines on either side of me and behind me and take away sunlight and replace views that once looked down the block with an 8 foot fence. I do have a problem with builders creating traffic and parking messes because there are curb cuts where street parking used to be. I do have a problem with people who move into those places and then complain and want to change the neighborhood they came to (and I'm not saying the initial poster is one of those). And I'll go out on a limb and say that Montrose seemed urban before the influx of townhomes.

There are some good designs out there, but a lot of the original backlash to these -- going back at least a decade -- was the way they messed up the neighbors' quality of life. But hey, that's what you get without deed restrictions or zoning. The next round of bitching will be from the people who bought Perry townhomes 10 years ago and now have 40 foot monsters blocking their views and sunshine. Take a drive between Westheimer and Gray to see some of those babies.

can this be a tall building going their?

Thanks. I missed the other thread somewhere. Boy, oh boy, a parking garage is going to look awesome next to the old houses over there!

Thanks for the link!

The surface parking lot on the SW corner of Bagby and Allen Parkway has all kind of commotion. It is on the same side of the street as the 1847 Kellum-Noble House. There are a number of trailers out there, and they have drilled some big holes (30 feet) and were placing rebar columns into some of them today. I have no idea what is going in there, but it looks like a sizable project is happening.

Anyone??

Instead what we have now is a half completed block of townhouses mouldering away for who knows how long, until they are finally torn down. It reminds me of the townhouses that were built on Montrose at Bomar back in the 90s that sat half done and crumbling for what seemed like years.

I have to hand it to the Hyde Park Civic Club for the way they've been able to stop other incursions of townhomes into the neighborhood, although not always before demolition. If it weren't for their efforts several lots on my street would now be townhouses, i.e. big stucco garage apartments with fancy countertops.

But as a long time resident of Hyde Park who remembers the Pik-n-Pak well, I expect that the neighborhood is doomed, even if a few clusters of bungalows somehow survive. The city's long term plans for this neighborhood are for a much higher population density, and even though some amount of attention might be paid to "neighborhood protection" in the end Montrose is going to be completely redeveloped. Much of what brought me to this neighborhood is already long gone, having been driven out by the gentrification which is now in turn under seige by mass housing developers.

I lived on Peden and saw those Bomar townhomes sit there forever. If the people who bought them knew how long they sat there...

And FWIW, I was at Rudz on Tuesday for lunch and there were people in those townhomes on the NE corner putting in insulation. So they are doing something with it whether they are supposed to or not.

The video of the KHOU report is now up.

http://www.khou.com/sharedcontent/video/ma...doug_070803.wmv

The buildings on the NW corner of Dallas and Dunlavy have started coming down. Looks like they have about one and a half of them gone so far.

FWIW...

Was by there this morning and most of the old buildings were opened up with a bunch of guys in hard hats moving in and out. The old Dollar Store or whatever it was lookied like it had become a staging ground for the demolition and there were some Cherry Demolition trailers parked inside the old West Building. I saw one guy carrying out some debris so it looks like the destruction is imminent. Anyone know how and when they plan to bring those buildings down?

I can't picture the Chase bank near Whole Foods off the top of my head. What larger development is it integrated with?

Wachovia used to occupy the ground floor of an office building on Kirby near Richmond, and then they built their own dedicated building a few blocks North on Kirby near Westheimer. I have no idea why they did this, but they must be able to somehow justify the cost. I'm not sure if it was all for increased visibility or if there was some other reason. The Wachovia in Midtown is exactly the same.

Maybe, this being Houston and all, this method will help:

That Chase Bank sits on the spot where The Ale House used to be.

I'm a Chase customer and it's the closest one to my house, but I can't get myself to go there. A pox on that whole center.

I just don't usually find restaraunts closed on Sunday nights in Houston. I live in the Memorial Villages area, they all seem to be open out there. Of course they are all filled with the after church crowd.

We did drive through the Bagby/West Gray area and there seemed to be a lot of activity there. To me that is the "walkable retail" area of Houston.

One of the cool things about Montrose is that there are any number of distinct parts to it, all within a mile or two of each other. Dunlavy/Westheimer has a different vibe from Montrose/Westheimer which feels different from Pacific/Fairview. Over the years I've lived in different places in the neighborhood and they all have their own thing going on. I like the fact there is still some sketchiness going on -- but the neighborhood feels a lot more tame than it did 15 years ago. Of course, I was 15 years younger then too.

I haven't been to LaStrada for Sunday brunch since it burned down, but there was a blip in time (mid to late 90's?) where that was about the most fun thing in the world. Before they started seating people in the parking the lot, before they had a seating at 11 and another at 2, before it filled up with tables of secretaries with goofy party favors for someone's birthday...I remember going and people from the neighborhood were just hanging out having a lively brunch and then, around 1:30 or so, everyone was so collectively drunk (or high) that spontaneous dancing (on the floor or tables) just began to happen. I saw things going on in that place that I still have a hard time believing. As time wore on, it became more about the scene and became kind of contrived, IMHO, but I always loved that feeling of having a long brunch and then suddenly realizing that all hell was beggining to break looose around you. And I beleive LaStrada still closed up around 3 back then, so word would get out where everyone was going afterward. I once had a friend here from New York and we ended up in some club on Sunday afternoon and it was a complete Bacchanalian. He was duly impressed. And when I went back to that same club on a Sunday a few weeks later, it was empty. Like Brigadoon. The party had moved somewhere else. Good times indeed.

Hearing some of you talk about the old street festival reminded me just how fun this neighborhood was, and maybe still is. But there was a real sense of camaraderie among people that lived here and things that once had the feel of a really cool neighborhood block party or a lunch with your neighbors became overrun with people from the outside. That's kind of inevitable when you are doing something that people want to be part of.

I hope the hood doesn't get too homogonized, but it just might. Economics will play the central role in who lives here and what it will be like. The fourplex I used to live in with a bunch of other artist/students/potheads recently was razed in favor of a $1.2 milllion spec home. I hate to make assumptions, but I doubt those new residents are going to find joy in walking among reptile-toting weirdos along Westheimer and sharing warm cans of Busch. Oh well. I do take some encouragement that people of my vintage who moved in young tend to be staying where they are to live their lives and raise families. That's alwasy a good thing to keep some continuity and remain in the fabric of the neighborhood. Look, Montrose is a special place in this city and I hope it will continue to be someplace that is real, and not just a bad imitation of its former self. I guess that's why the thought of hookers turning tricks in a hearse behind Numbers makes me smile and feel like Montrose is still doing fine.

They still haven't done anything since the last time I posted here about it (July 24). It still looks exactly like the photos that capnmcbarnacle posted.

I read in the other thread that the top floor might be residential. It would be totally cool to have that tower thing as part of your apartment!

I was over there today and visited with the owner. He said they were finishing up the steelwork today (there were several welders there) and that he anticipated having the exterior done in 3 months. The guy was excited that he was able to get the variance for building to the street and said he wanted the building to fit in with a walkable neighborhood. He told me that the style of the building would be Italian and said that the appearance and landscaping would look great (I'm not big on what developers have termed Mediterranean, but we'll see how it goes). The way I see it, the area is a mix of styles so as long as they do it well I think it will be fine. At least we are not getting a generic strip mall. Count your blessings.

The first floor will be retail, as there is not enough parking to accomodate a restaurant (keep counting your blessings and pray that retail doesn't mean nail salon, cingular wireless, mattress firm and Cindie's). I got the sense that he intends to have one retail tenant in that space. The second floor will be offices. And yes, the third floor will be a residence with a "rooftop deck." If that tower and spiral staircase are the deck, that might be quite a cool place to live.

So, there you have it. We'll see how the style and tenants shake out, but I for one am extremely excited to see mixed use retail/office/residential being put up. Hopefully this will set a trend for the parcels down Westheimer, such as the antiques emporium and the Martha Turner building. It's a little early for kudos, but I'm thankful this guy is willing to go against the Houston orthodoxy and put this development here.

I think this development has the right idea. From what I have heard, this guy had a hell of time getting his variance and people have been telling him that he is doomed to failure -- that Houstonians don't want to park in back of a place. But Montrose isn't like the rest of Houston. If redevelopment of some of these lots follows this pattern, we could have a great walkable part of town.

You need to host your photos on an internet photo site, such as photobucket.com, and then copy the URL of the photo. Then, when you come here to post, click on the button that says "Insert image". A new window will pop up. Paste the URL of the photo in the space. When you post the thread, your photos will magically appear.

Thanks. I'll give it a shot.

Have a good laugh at my expense, but someone tell me how I can post photos. I have some good shots from the Bayou I wanted to post and am stumped. Thanks.

I've done the bayou in a canoe a few times putting in Woodway and 610 and getting out at Allen's Landing. Past Allen's Landing, it's crap. The trip through R.O. and Memorial Park is great. A few big gators in there. If they can ferry canoes up to the Old Archery Range by Memorial Park and let people ride down it would be great. Takes about 4 hours or a 12 pack.

They can do away with RMS, but those of us who live around there need the AZ Mart and the cleaners and lock repair guy. And rough townhomes are better than the Perrys.

didn't take the taggers long to make their mark on it....

the used car lot building looks like a sturdy little structure - old fashioned style of wall construction. must have been there quite a while.

i heard somewhere that the old Martha Turner property a little futher west on Westheimer is up for redevelopment, thank goodness. I wonder how long the storage place and the 99 cent store will last at this rate....

Saw that. So much for my theory...lol. Hope they do something cool there. Lots of potential.

I'll keep an eye peeled for you. Until then, check out the Greensheet when it comes out. When I was renting that's how I found houses and duplexes. There are still a lot of local people in the neighborhood that throw their listing in there.

http://www.thegreensheet.com/houston/real-...nt/c355/p1/e16/

Good luck and I'll let you know what I see around my neighborhood. They come up every now and then.