Triton

10 hours ago, jadebenn said:

You know with all the inflation and delays this could end up being a pyrrhic victory for TxDOT and the highway supporters. From a very cynical point of view, if you can't kill it, pushing back construction into an era of high federal rates and inflation is a great way to ensure the budgeted funds are absolutely inadequate to proceed with the original plan. A descope by fait accompli, as it were.

As long as I've been alive, it's been a bipartisan endeavor to throw billions of dollars at a project even if there are overruns. 

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I guess TxDOT can be stubborn and try to power through without reducing the project scope at all, but every dollar they'll spend here is a dollar they won't be able to spend elsewhere in the state, and considering the scope of the overruns we're looking at in the construction industry in general... I genuinely don't think a doubling of cost is out of the question.

You're making it sound like the budget is capped. Just because this project overruns, doesn't necessarily mean this affects things elsewhere. There's certainly ways for TXDOT to get more money.

13 hours ago, astrohip said:

Take this with a grain of salt. I read an article (sorry, been a couple months and I don't have a link) about front-loading crime stories on NextDoor (and other sites), as part of a Red political oppo campaign.

Details: Republican political consultants felt one of the best ways to defeat Hidalgo was make crime front & center in voter's minds. So they flooded local web sites with crime stories. For example, on City-Data, a popular site for locals, they kept starting threads with subjects like "Crime in Houston is out of control", or "Are people leaving Woodlands due to crime?", etc. Then they would keep posting replies to keep it at the top.

On NextDoor, they started posting every time anything happened. "Someone stole my bikes out of my garage", "A friend had their car stolen last night", yada yada. Half the ND feed was minor crime events. I quit reading ND as it became 99% useless.

Does crime happen? Sure. And making people aware of it can help. But this was a deliberate campaign to over-saturate voters thru web sites. I need to go find that link...

Certainly possible especially during the campaign season but a lot of the crime I've seen has been going on ever since the Hardy Yards apartment units first opened. Vehicles broken into is a major problem. And I think the data alone did point to a bump in crime post-Covid. (homicides, burglaries, etc.... and I don't mean at this place, I mean city and even nationwide).

I guess to play devil's advocate, crime can really hit any multi-family complex especially hard but I guess it just hits me personally every time I see some alert about this place. It just plays into what this could have been... the initial renderings I saw and then the end product. True, crime could have still hit even a really nice spot and it's good we are getting some affordable housing around here. And then when I hear residents complain about the Fulton connection to San Jacinto bringing in more traffic into the area, I'm like... sure, possibly.... but it brings a better connection to our area. 

Anyway, sorry, just ranting over nothing. lol Hope everyone has a fun New Years. 😅

Out of all the big projects in Houston, this hands down turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments. Would have been the biggest mixed-use development close to home but instead all you hear about is the major crime going on Nextdoor at this place.

I missed the conversation before I posted.

Discussing this project is fine but all the personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated and will result in a temporary suspension from the site.

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President Joe Biden signed the Water Resources Development Act of 2022 into law Dec. 23, authorizing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin construction for the Coastal Texas Program, pending the appropriation of funds.

The total authorized funds for the program is estimated to be about $34 billion, and 65% of these funds were requested from the federal government while the remaining 35% will be funded locally by the five-county Gulf Coast Protection District.

https://communityimpact.com/houston/bay-area/development/2022/12/27/us-government-authorizes-construction-for-coastal-barrier-project/

And the county has dropped the lawsuit. And since the federal government relies on local input, they'll be soon to follow. 

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During a special meeting on Dec. 22, Harris County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to approve a memorandum of understanding between the county and the Texas Department of Transportation concerning the NHHIP, as well as dismiss the previous lawsuit filed over the project. This comes after Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Dec. 19 press conference with local and state officials to announce the city’s MOU for the project.

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2022/12/22/harris-county-signs-mou-nhhip.html?ana=RSS&s=article_search

5 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

"The compromise comes after TXDOT agreed to a series of demands from community leaders, including assurances that public housing in the path of the project would be replaced elsewhere. The agreement also includes promises of flood mitigation projects, connected neighborhoods, green space and enhanced public transit."

Not sure how this is a fail but ok

None of us disagree. As @Houston19514 pointed out, it's just all the same material packaged in a different form... Well, actually, some of it is the same exact wording we've been hearing for years too.

Here's the truth no one is admitting. A very active group came forth.. They went to the news, they went everywhere. The politicians had no choice but to either take action or potentially face primary challenges. They chose action, even though they knew from the beginning that they would do lip service, claim some sort of victory and push forward the same exact plan all along. But the cost of what they did was push back a project that should have started a while ago, now at a very expensive cost. If anyone really thinks this project is still going to cost $9 or $10 billion, they are kidding themselves. 

So now that I've had sometime to go over what was released... People against this project have to realize that it appears nothing has changed whatsoever to what TXDOT has previously agreed to far before this "compromise" was declared? Some of this text is word for word what I saw at the TXDOT workshops in Midtown and in Northside years ago. I can't seem to find any new schematics but this appears to be a joke and if this was going to go forward like this, then there should have never been this delay. It's all theatrics. 

Called it! Only took a few weeks after the midterms. It was too politically risky to do anything beforehand. 

This has to be one of the most exciting projects I've seen in a while on this forum. Sure, we can get nice developments here and there, but projects like these really bring different parts of Houston together.

Ever since I moved into the greater Heights area in 2012, I learned to bike around all over the city to get to where I needed to go. One of the biggest challenges was always going north from the Heights down to the Montrose area and vice versa. Sure, there's the bayou connection near the Waugh bridge and several others but it wasn't exactly a straight shot. I always wanted to just go on Montrose but the sidewalks in this section are atrocious. Totally broken up, too small so you always have to go into the grass for dog walkers, overgrown grass... the list just goes on and on, it was never a pleasant experience.

I truly feel like this improvement is going to tie together these two areas and make it easier to cross from one side of the bayou to the other.

On 1/13/2016 at 3:12 PM, Urbannizer said:

Proposed development @ Shepherd/Center/Nett St

 

SubdivisionPlatPDF_ShepnettSqure.pdf

 

Street view: https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7718005,-95.4095076,3a,75y,127.64h,81.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sOJKOmY_HX-7_tY7SH0s7sg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

Wow this was from 2016. I can't even recognize this area anymore.... almost every single block here has changed. Miss the ole Urban Bicycle gallery there before they went into lux bikes with the new owner.

Very interesting...

Good to hear it is staying. JP Morgan has most execs and VPs from NYC and London stay at this location, and we've heard nothing but good things about it whenever someone stays there.

The warehouse just north of it on the other side of the train tracks looks like it's primed to be a beer garden.

Surprised W Gray isn't getting a road diet here too. This section needs to be redone and made to look more like that rendering above.

On 12/5/2022 at 5:48 PM, Ross said:

The work at Michaux and White Oak already has Nextdoor up in arms. "What do you mean I can't turn left on White Oak from Michaux! Don't you know that is going to destroy all life on Earth, realign the planets, and send the four horsemen of the apocalypse into action? If I can't turn left there, my life is over."

Man the fiery is all over the place about that barrier... It's a little nutty. Lol

It's not that difficult to turn left on Norhill Blvd instead and in fact it's probably even safer because of that blind spot turn on White Oak when driving west. 

Yes was just about to post its open! It was closed this morning

2 hours ago, Amlaham said:

Jeez, 85 parking spots?? We sure this isn't going to be a car dealership .. I just don't understand, I really thought putting a business at the street level would be better exposure to the business than hiding it behind a sea of parking.  I'm over these type of developments, they're ruining the character of the heights, take that to Fulshear. 

You haven't driven over here on a Friday or Saturday night, have you? You should... it's actually sort of exciting to see the scene over there now. Houston's own Rainey Street District. Anyway, parking is insane and lines up and down the roads of 20th st. In fact, I won't be surprised if we see more parking lots over here. With no good transit options (I guess there's a bus but I doubt this crowd takes the bus), expect to see a lot more cars in the area.

It's been a while since I've seen a new Shell being built. Btw, from the road, this place looks massive! Looks like it has a decent sized car wash in the back after all... like comparable to the Mr Carwash Express on Washington.

On 11/21/2022 at 1:41 PM, mattyt36 said:

Classic cutting off one's nose to spite one's face as I am sure no one has a full appreciation of the real (i.e., feasible) alternatives.  Not to mention where were all of these people, what, 10 years ago, when the planning process started?  At the very least they should have the burden of presenting an actual, preferred alternative to advance start a meaningful dialogue.

However, Turner is by all appearances for it, the GHP is for it, I am confident Turner will be able to "herd the cats" when it comes to a City Council vote, if any.

Hidalgo is the wild card.  It remains amazing to me that Mealer didn't make this a centerpiece campaign issue instead of going on and on about crime--it would've diluted some of the crazy for the moderate voting block.

100% this.

I was there in the meetings in the very beginning (because I live close to I-45) and no one was raising any idea about mass transit until too far into the project when they are trying to finalize the design. When TXDOT first proposed doing this project, the city should have been working with them hand in hand. 

Would be curious how that section south of the Westpark Tollway got there. Did the city and the toll road authority work together to keep that land available? It's clearly meant for mass transit with even the highway pillars being set so that light rail or BRT can travel between them. 

That sort of engagement should have been here on this project but it never was. I didn't see BRT diagrams until the final months of decision making for the I-45 project.

The most my neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods were trying to do were working on connections that TXDOT was removing, such as the North St Bridge (which is gone unfortunately in the design) and ramps on the northside of N Main which I still don't understand. There was also the talk of sound barriers. That was literally it.