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livincinco

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Everything posted by livincinco

  1. livincinco
    I'm really curious to see how it plays out as renewables start to become more cost-effective. Houston is extremely well positioned to grab a large portion of that industry mainly because we have such a high concentration of engineering talent related to the energy industry. (Not to mention that I think the oil companies are going to start acquiring a lot of renewable companies as soon as that starts to happen). The city is clearly aiming that direction as well. That would be a huge step towards improving the cities' image.
  2. livincinco
    I somewhat agree with your comments, but I do think that Houston's image has improved significantly in the last 5-10 years and expect that it will continue to do so. I also think that you're underestimating the diversification of the economy that has happened since the 80's. The Ship Channel and Texas Medical Center are both major economic players and are rapidly growing in national importance. Houston is also rapidly growing its manufacturing sector (although a lot of that is tied to oil). There are certain elements of the perception gap between SF and Houston that just can't be addressed. SF has natural beauty that Houston will never have. SF has an anchor industry (technology) that is way more appealing than energy is. SF is an international tourism hub in way that Houston will probably never be. Just keep in mind, that we kick SF's a** when it comes to GDP.
  3. livincinco
    Charlotte's downtown population really isn't that large. Most of the growth in urban population is occurring in Southend which is essentially Charlotte's equivalent to Midtown, not Downtown (called Uptown in Charlotte).
  4. livincinco
    Having lived in both Houston and the Bay Area, I have to say that the lack of willingness to promote itself is one of the things that I have found refreshing about Houston. In general, my take on the Bay Area was that people were generally very conscious of their image and the perception of others. By comparison, I have found Houston to be much more conscious of actions and results.
  5. livincinco
    I think that we're starting to divert from the topic, but would be happy to discuss on an appropriate thread.
  6. livincinco
    I don't think that whether light rail spurred development was really the question. The question is whether it spurs proportionate development to the cost and that is very much an open question. The downtown residential incentives cost about $15 million to date and I would suggest that they have generated more development than light rail has for considerably less money.
  7. livincinco
    Not sure why no one has brought up the Midtown Redevelopment Authority. Hard to not give them at least some degree of credit for the development that has occurred.
  8. livincinco
    What does this conversation have to do with a supertall for the Galleria area?
  9. livincinco
    Fair enough and agree with your comments. However, it still has everything to do with market conditions and nothing to do with government regulation.
  10. livincinco
    That assumes that there is demand for a more efficient use of the land that is being used for parking. Downtown has had a large amount of surface parking for years because the demand wasn't there. Government regulation had nothing to do with it.
  11. livincinco
    That seems high. Houston is expected to grow fast but the projections that I've seen have been closer to 2.5 million additional in the next 15 years. Your numbers add up to about 3.7 in 11 years. It is interesting that projection calls for 200k of the increased 3.7 million inside the loop. That would increase population inside the loop by about 40% and would still account for only about 6% of the new residents.
  12. livincinco
    According to the official MLB stats, the roof was open at MMP for only 14 of 81 games last year so the whole question of being able to see the game seems to be rhetorical. I agree though, that you probably won't be able to see enough from the top of the building anyway. Pretty hard to argue that this isn't a nice net win for the area...
  13. livincinco
    I'd save mine for wishing that Ryan and Biggio were the starting battery instead of throwing out the first pitch.
  14. livincinco
    It's funny how the media always seems to be surprised when companies evolve to take advantage of changing trends. Smart companies find ways to meet market demand and while Walmart is called many things, people rarely question their business sense. Walmart has to be looking at CVS/Walgreens and trying to figure out how to get more of their business. This seems like a perfect way to do that.
  15. livincinco
    Nothing adds density like a prison. This might become a new urban living model.
  16. livincinco
    My point is that it's still a matter of judgement from the individual developer. Each developer makes a decision regarding the profitability of "increasing the pedestrian experience" and whether it's worth making additional investment to do so. Additionally, making an investment towards increasing foot traffic is one thing, actually realizing increased foot traffic from that investment is another.
  17. livincinco
    I think it's more of a question of one developer thinking that ground floor retail is going to be profitable in a particular location and another thinking that it won't. I don't think any developer is interested in "improving the pedestrian experience" unless it's ultimately profitable for them.
  18. livincinco
    That's interesting because I never experienced that during my time renting, but I do think that it's safe to say that the average homeowner spends more on home improvement than the average renter does. Most big box retailers are trying to figure out how to develop an appropriate model for urban environments though.
  19. livincinco
    A jail is used for temporary detention. A prison is used for people serving long term sentences. There's certainly an advantage to having the jail so close to the courthouse, but I would think that, as others have noted, the value of the land is going to get high enough at some point, that it's going to make sense to move it.
  20. livincinco
    Both Lowe's and Home Depot have experimented with urban formats, but they've generally tried to locate in areas that are more similar to Midtown than Downtown. Any area that has a high percentage of renters is tough for those chains because renters are so much less likely to do "home improvement" than owners are.
  21. livincinco
    In complete agreement, it would make no sense for the city to provide incentives for retail development until the residential base is in place. To your point, once that residential base is sufficient, low level retail will develop and that's a really good time to look at how to develop retail.
  22. livincinco
    Actually a lot of traditional "big box" retailers have been looking at different formats that are better suited to urban environments for the last couple of years, but the results have been pretty mixed. Very difficult to get the same level of profitability from those locations that they do from their suburban locations. That being said, I agree with you that mundane stores are the most likely result. I'd expect to see a lot of the same kind of stores that are found in suburban strip malls - dry cleaner, nail place, coffee shop, etc. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/business/retailers-expand-into-cities-by-opening-smaller-stores.html?_r=0 http://plannersweb.com/2014/02/walmart-stores-go-small-urban/
  23. livincinco
    Fair point, but it was also a major transit hub so it got a ridiculously high level of foot traffic. It's also relevant that it was directly under a major tourist attraction.
  24. livincinco
    Sure - there's always a number of factors in something like this. Downtown workers, convention traffic, tourist and entertainment traffic are all factors so it's clearly a simplification to just say 10,000 residents is the magic number. The point is more around having a base of continuous traffic during non-business hours that a retailer can expect. Workers provide minimal uplift during evenings and weekends. Convention and entertainment is event driven and can be heavily cyclical. Residential is more even and even more importantly provides that off hour volume that retailers (and restaurants) need.
  25. livincinco
    Official announcement on Torchy's Tacos opening in La Centerra http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2014/02/retail-wrap-torchys-tacos-in-cinco-ranch-yogaone-studios-in-the-heights-tommy-hilfiger-in-katy-mills/?cmpid=businesshcat
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