Nate99

6 minutes ago, Mr.Clean19 said:

At least at this point it would be hard for the developer to make it worst. Waiting for things to be fixed and then starting could be a disaster. If they are serious and Kingwood really wants the flood protection, they should push for the county and TIRZ to incorporate flood protection for a wide area into the funding and design. 

There are a few things in flight (gates on LH dam, more dredging, etc.), but even those seem like a tough political slog to get executed, and not for lack of willingness to fund I don't think, though there is an element of, "why don't we see if we can get federal money for this", to be sure. 

If something on the scale of Harvey were to happen again, the loss of taxable value in the area would be horrendous. 

15 minutes ago, Mr.Clean19 said:

I'll be the one swimming against the flow on this one. This would have been fun to have in the area. 

You're not alone, I think it would have been great, but there seem to be very few Kingwood residents that think likewise.  Heck, I might have moved into it. 

The project as rendered seemed beyond ambitious, and even if there were unanimous support in the area for it, I wouldn't bet on it going forward, but the NIMBY-ism machine got spooled up on this really quickly. Somehow everyone was convinced that the development on the lake would necessarily make flooding worse. Something this big could be designed as a win-win in that regard, but no one trusts anyone enough to even manage the obvious stuff that needs to get fixed. 

Perhaps the developer is either waiting for memories to fade (the inability to go six months without water in homes isn't helping) or wants to take another cut at it once a more fulsome drainage mitigation plan is in flight. My hopes are low that any such plan will get beyond nominal gestures. 

My initial HEB comment was more in jest than anything. It's plausible for sure, but as everyone says, there's tons more to do before something like that would get settled. HEB is a bit of a presumed evidence of a "permanent thriving neighborhood", or at least wishfully so.  

Hope it all works out. 

Ditto, never heard of them, but if they only made 10, there were probably a thousand such companies that made bodies and interiors for existing chassis back in that era and earlier.  If they weren't in Southern California in the Hotrod scene or near the OEM's in Detroit, 50's media probably never caught wind of their existence.  

5 minutes ago, bobruss said:

Perhaps somewhere between Midways East River project and Minute Maid.

There is an old site on Buffalo Bayou east of the old Elysian Viaduct that looks to be an old substation or something related to the power grid.

I don't know how far away a power station can be located to serve the east side of downtown, but with the Toyota center, GBCC, Minute Maid and all of the big hotels on that side of town I'm sure they have huge needs for power. 

I think that's the Frost Town substation that H-Town was referring to.  It looks almost Victorian with riveted steel structures. 

Maybe if there were to be a larger scale re-design of the area's needs, a repositioning of that substation could be incorporated. A gigantic new development might necessitate such a move.

This is great. If the Marquette (?) tower opposite the Marquis and this get completed with more residential, and Brookfield's HC vision works out, that end of DT will be a really nice amenity rich neighborhood. 

Where are they putting the HEB? 😉

Still burning 

15 hours ago, mollusk said:

The Mia Bella building has really difficult sewer issues.  That's why they moved.

I thought I remembered reading that, but wasn't sure. Even when Mia Bella was there, it was mostly vacant upstairs, or at least looked like it was.  Not sure what the best use of that would be, or if it's going to take bribing a developer into a restoration redevelopment, presuming its not a lost cause tear down.  

35 minutes ago, Luminare said:

I'll tell you what though, that block of Main, Prairie, Fannin, and Preston is a prime spot to place larger retail tenant or grocer with apartments on top. No clue why nobody has jumped on that.

7 minutes ago, cspwal said:

Probably an issue with parking + historical district + whoever owns the land wants to sell it for more than it's worth since they probably make a killing on surface parking

This block and the old Mia Bella building are there for redevelopment, not sure what could push something over the top for either. If the State National/Moxy thing ever gets going, that would be yet more momentum for the area. With continued development, would tax valuations necessarily creep up for the undeveloped property and make a parking lot uneconomic?

The block next to the Houston Ballet building and the Chase drive-thru are two others that could turn into something else in the area.  They are relatively low, but maybe worth building something elevated.  One more big residential development might lead to a critical mass for all the other stuff mentioned. 

10 minutes ago, bobruss said:

Went down today to check on the progress of the Texas Tower, first hand, and it is impressive in person. The way the building sits on the block makes it look overwhelming when approaching from the east or west. It is massive. I also like the detail of the notches in the Travis and Milam sides of the building. It will make adefining crease in the facade of the building, while breaking up the east and west sides, that will really have an impact when the building is glazed and topped out. This is going to be a very impressive structure and will definitely change the overall dynamics of the surrounding blocks. 

Definitely agree. It's going to extend the "canyon" feeling at street level on Travis and Milam given how much it fills up the block and how tall the podium will be.  It's big. 

4 hours ago, Luminare said:

 

Ohhh or like an Arkham Asylum in Batman. That would be fun. We could even add jagged rocks to the cost and watch towers at the corners. Really would sell the idea.

It could have searchlights panning across the walls at night and a big draw bridge!

The Fed facility on Texas Ave/St is an odd place for a prison now that the area around it is no longer a heinous disgrace as it was when it was built. 

I like the "little Alcatraz" concept with the North Canal flood control plan, though I don't know if there would be room (or more importantly any political/administrative will) to move the Federal facility over there by the County folks, but it would be psychologically tidy to put all of the necessary but unfortunate places on a literal island apart from the increasingly desirable downtown. 

There's also the privately (I think) operated prison down by MMP, across Preston from the back end of the 500 Crawford apartments.  It may have been vacated already. Not sure who owned the facility or land, but there's another block that could be unprisoned. 

Didn't realize this building was no longer used to house inmates.  Wonder what they'll do with the block. 

4 hours ago, 102IAHexpress said:

 

This is flat out false and wrong. 

Astros fans looking for parking are considered trespassers and regularly bounced from trying to park on the lot whether they want to pay to park or not. The pastor will not even allow parishioners to park on the lot, attend mass, and then attend MMP afterwards. The surface lot and future garage (if it is ever built) will be 100% free of charge for Annunciation/IWA parishioners, faculty, administration, staff and visitors. 

It may be a bad guess, but it's just that, so wasn't a factual assertion at all.

The current lot is small, and access right off Texas has to be a mess at peak game time, but many private garages make extra effort to get gameday parkers in, I don't think IWA/Annunciation's current situation would preclude having a plan for a garage that made them extra revenue without conflicting with the needs of the church/school. 

The perhaps apocryphal story in my family was that a cousin a few generations back had a choice as to where to build his home once he had some means and had considered what is now Southampton and River Oaks, but ultimately concluded that he would prefer living off Wayside.  Sometimes you get priced out of your lovely neighborhood, sometimes other people get priced in. You never know how that market is going to bounce. 

I'm guessing they've done the math on what they can charge for parking during Astros home games, and it came out positive. 

7 hours ago, Triton said:

Place closed down. The construction from the Texas Tower placed barriers in front of the parking at this spot. Apparently, they'll be moving to Lancaster Hotel over the next few weeks.

I talked to the guy when I stopped in once, super friendly, hopefully the Lancaster deal works out for him. With construction on both sides of Prairie a block up and it not being really on a well travelled path, I'm not surprised it didn't make it. It had been vacant for years, and you could be forgiven if you didn't notice that it was occupied. It took months for the guy's sign to get approved because of some historic designation too. 

Once the two Hines towers are done, it could be a good spot, but I wouldn't expect anything in the meantime. 

I can't help but wonder if all of this might have been avoidable if we didn't care so much about football, but then, who wants to contemplate such an existence for too long. 

The political fiefdoms over higher education in this state are ridiculous, but with that much money flying around, who would expect anything else? 

If it wasn't a worker, then it was someone being crazy or stupid, no less of a tragedy, but if gravity didn't get them something else would have in short order.