kdog08

A water park would be righteous. 

I'm sure at least 3-4 times as many people worked at this location than will be future residents here if the townhomes go through. I may begin to believe the concerns of traffic and infrastructure if this becomes a large apartment/mixed use building. 

It's funny that the Southampton Civic Club members received notice of the meeting, but people closer to 288 in civic clubs such as the South MacGregor Civic Club haven't received a notice. I checked TxDOT's website and there's no mention of the meeting. I had to call the Houston District office to get the info. It's like TxDOT doesn't want to publicize this very much when compared to things like the 290 Project.

I'm not sure what you mean, they contacted everyone that matters!

County commissioners, Garcia, and the mayor did a superb job of killing the metro rail expansion by themselves this year

It's not permanently killed. METRO screwed itself with it's incompetence/corruption from previous administrations but the area along the University and Uptown Lines are gentrifying in spite of the lack of plan. I don't mind BRT along the proposed routes, but I just want a plan that eventually upgrades to LRT. No doubt these areas will need it eventually.

Seems we will have 5 surface lots gone if these developments all come to fruition.

Thing is that aren't any "similar projects nearby". Nobody else is really giving mixed-use a shot.

I'd say they've built out at an acceptable pace given the economic conditions of 2007-2010.

I get your point. Personally I'm less concerned about mixed use than getting a higher residential critical mass in midtown.

Per the article^

The mixed-use development's first phase, which was completed in 1999...Phase three brings Post Midtown to a grand total of 643 units and more than 48,000 square feet of ground floor retail.

Not too bad and only took ~13 years to complete all 3 phases. Not to mention similar projects nearby completing 2nd or 3rd phases.

The areas along the West Loop be blowing with apartments.

At least it got built

I'd rather have it built where the people and jobs and have to wait longer for it to get built.

So is there also something going up in the 24 hour fitness location across the street from the said McDonalds?

Part of the difference is that DART had all this room to expand on relatively straight abandoned rail lines. Houston does not have that luxury. The Katy, in particular, was located too close to a freeway that needed to expand, or was a curvy mess running through highly residential areas. The rail line that parallels 59 MIGHT be a good alternative, and in fact IS planned for partial conversion to light rail.

Unfortunately the area around abandoned rail lines aren't that conductive to mass transit in a sunbelt metro.

Despite the fact the ridership is about 1000 per mile overall one has to admit DART is light years ahead of METRO. Over 85 miles of rail is something Houston could only dream about. I've been working in Dallas the past few weeks and I have to admit I'm impressed. Once the extension to DFW is complete it will be a pretty good system overall.

It was built in the fastest way possible which may not be the best route alignments, but the amont of rail they've made in a short amount of time is astounding. Also I believe there is a streetcar system in uptown.

Quantity over quality isn't always the best way to go. In actuality, both our rail system's are in a poor place, but I prefer Houston's position for the near future. DART has the issue of building rail where the people aren't, METRO has the issue of having no money to build rail. If we could just actually build our rail and not at the expense of adding more buses and park&ride we would have a great foundation.

Pardon my ignorance, but do we know if this will take up two lots (hotel and parking garage)?

Capacity issues challenge hotels in The Woodlands

Domenick said ideally, there needs to be other hotels near the Waterway and Town Center to help with capacity issues. In fact, he said his company would like to build another hotel on the Waterway but added their are no firm plans underway..

“There are several sites close by but there is nothing that is close enough to satisfy that demand before all the new demand arrives,” he said.

Susan Vreeland-Wendt, director of marketing for The Woodlands Development Company, said the development company is aware of the growing demand.

“We are planning two hotel projects – a luxury hotel on The Woodlands Waterway and a boutique hotel at Hughes Landing on Lake Woodlands,” she said. “Both projects are planned for the near future.”

She added there are no further details for the hotels beyond that.

While Domenick said at least one hotel is planned near the ExxonMobil site and TWDC is looking to also develop two more hotels in The Woodlands, it takes at least three years to plan, design and build a full service hotel.

“(New hotels are) going to be a year of two late to the game,” Domenick said.

More good news for The Woodlands

So are they tearing down the office building on the site?

Place will have a bunch of competition with the 552 apartments that will be built across the street.

Culturemap:

Fein will construct three projects with a total of 552 units on a 10-acre tract at West Alabama and Las Palmas.

The aging Willowick Court Townhomes project is being torn down to yield the 10 acres.

This is great news. Hopefully we can go from Shepard to Bagby sometime in the near future.

Do you all think they will bury those powerlines?

They are only along the garage, but no they won't be buried.

The next big question, what will become of the old school?

A couple of mid rise apartments? Major mixed-use or maybe a park?

Considering HSPVA sits on 2 blocks I would say your standard Houston mid rise apartments.

Some updates by me from a bike ride:

IMAG0468 by dv1033, on Flickr

IMAG0469 by dv1033, on Flickr

IMAG0470 by dv1033, on Flickr

IMAG0471 by dv1033, on Flickr

IMAG0473 by dv1033, on Flickr

IMAG0474 by dv1033, on Flickr

IMAG0475 by dv1033, on Flickr

IMAG0477 by dv1033, on Flickr

IMAG0478 by dv1033, on Flickr

IMAG0479 by dv1033, on Flickr

This is really awesome news. More parking and more hotel rooms will not only help the convention center but also make us look even more attractive to sporting events such as all star games, super bowls, and soccer.

Whoa, I'm left spinning on what you feel are positives vs. negatives. Buck-naked dancing prostitutes at 2am might be funny in the Hangover 3, but for the people with kids who tire of law enforcements blasé attitude towards their jobs it's not all that exciting. I'm with you in that some of its downright funny when you're at a bar telling a "you ain't gonna believe this" story, but the fun stops when the same guy exposes himself to your kid when the family is driving by.

Everyone involved in Midtown says its going to get better, but I don't see how if they refuse to get serious about the concerns of their residents. (who are starting their own organizations due to lack of response from the MMD)

Now I'm curious about this buck naked dancing at 2AM that will drive kids from their beds. No homo.

Does the idea of 'daytime population' as it is applied to urban areas and business districts apply with validity to a university campus? Many students and professors are only there some of the day for twice a week. Many of the staff are part-time, too.

Is "many" the correct term of use...? I ask because I always thought most major campuses, that wasn't the case.