brian0123

Sorry Niche, but that comment pisses me off. First, have aging apartments destroyed Montrose/The Heights/Washington Ave/etc... or do you give those places another decade as well? I seem to remember in past threads (esp Washington Ave more urban than Midtown) that you were quite fond of Washington Avenue. However, by using your logic above, Washington Avenue (in another decade or so) should return to the craphole it once was. Also, remember that a lot of the development you see in Midtown today occurred when Midtown was an ultra ghetto, not necessarily "hip" place to live. The reason it occurred was because of the location, convenience, and access this chunk of land has to Downtown, the Med Center, Museums, Montrose, etc. My wife and I bought our townhouse in Midtown for this very reason... not because we are lemmings or the man told us to.

I think the more important thing is the Chronicle article this originally came from. It sounds like the Mix at Midtown will be filling in soon, and we will be getting a new Mexican restaurant in the old building at Dennis and Louisiana. I love the beginning sentences of the article... The recession seems to have forgotten about Midtown. A drive around the neighborhood reveals forgotten buildings undergoing restoration and new apartments being framed.

Thanks for resurrecting this old thread. I've always wondered about that empty block of town homes. I can't stand looking at them (they sure do ugly up the street in their current state). So do you think these things sit vacant for another ten years... or do you think a developer will eventually try to repair and sell them? I just looked around online and found this about the developer... http://waterhillhomessuck.com/page11/page11.html Looks like they are now bankrupt (the url of the company no longer works either)

Last night HCC had a community forum about improvements that are going to be made in the near future. It was very informative, and there are some really cool things in the works. Here are some of the highlights: 1. Star Plaza: HCC is going to turn that parking lot in front (and tear down the building at Hollman and San Jacinto) into a park type setting called Star Plaza. You can see renderings here: http://www.theldnet.com/details.php?project=HCC%20Central They are also going to be adding various types of gardens, trees, etc. around the campus. Demo should begin around Winter so they don't disturb classes. 2. The building on the corner of Hollman and San Jacinto (on the other side of Hollman) will be renovated into a Barnes and Noble and coffee shop soon! The Barnes and Noble will be open during student hours at first (public can still come), but the coffee shop will be open later for anyone in the community to come get coffee. The really exciting thing that they said is that the ultimate goal (although they aren't promising it, but it is "in planning" and is still a couple years off) is to build an 8-10 story building on this lot and put a Super Barnes and Noble and Starbucks on the ground floor. 3. Austin Street (that cuts between the campus and is cut off right now) is going to be opened up for bikes and walking through. They are going to make it similar to the wide dirt road @ Discovery Green where all the trees overhang it (between the restaurant and sports field). 4. Midtown is going to do street improvements on Caroline from Hollman to Elgin that will look like Elgin's (and now McGowen's) renovations. In a couple years, Midtown is going to continue renovations on Caroline all the way to Pierce elevated. Midtown is also going start the same types of street improvements on Alabama from Main to Chenevert. The HCC staff talked about how HCC is the largest land holder in Midtown, and that they plan on making the campus one of the larger college landmarks in Houston and want the Midtown campus to be their flagship. Needless to say, I left very impressed and excited knowing that HCC really cares about Midtown and wants to start developing the area more.

Yeah, at 8pm they started tearing up the concrete. Goodbye surface parking lot!

I wish they wouldn't create "Master Planned Communities" centered around some stupid phony theme. To me, this looks like you'd be living at Epcot Center. Pretty soon Houston will have it's own "Master Planned" Japan, China, Morocco, France, and Norway neighborhoods. I wonder if the "European" feel of Europa means they'll have fake statues like "The Thinker" lining each street.

Taken this evening. They are starting to put the brick up...

I think another problem is that by distributing food and clothing in the same specific areas, it only further keeps people in an environment that almost nurtures their homelessness and hurts them. For example, under Pierce there is an almost daily routine of churches showing up and distributing donations. The message this sends to the homeless is that they need to live nearby in order to receive those services. So what happens? They live in nearby abandoned buildings/empty lots/etc. amidst a plethora of other homeless that can drink themselves to sleep...and when hungry, walk over to Pierce and get more food from the vans. Sadly, this is the norm for many of the people I routinely see in the area. Also, by concentrating the homeless in specific areas, it creates a dense area of people that (when after you leave) are in an environment where they are raped, robbed, and taken advantage of by criminals. However, they have to put up with it because if they want food and clothing, they need to be where it's distributed. I believe one BIG thing that is not being done enough is to provide mental health screenings or medication to the ones that need it. It pains me to see people talking to themselves and shouting to imaginary attackers to get away... when they should be receiving health care that could really improve their lives.

What older building is being remodeled? Is it in fact a Crosspoint property? If so, that's exciting news.

Amen to that. I went to college @ SFA (awesome college) in rural Nacogdoches. Once I moved back to Houston, I bought a place in Midtown and have loved every second of it. Downtown/Midtown/Montrose/Museum District are some of my favorite places in this state (and I've even lived in Austin).

She has an awesome restaurant (T'Afia) in Midtown.

I live nearby and haven't seen those characters, although I did chase down and get a guy arrested the other day for attempting to steal my neighbor's plants! However, if you do see anything/anyone suspicious, CALL OUR CONSTABLES IMMEDIATELY @ 713-643-6602 (for emergencies, call 911). As Midtown residents, we pay them to check out the exact things you mentioned above. Remember, they can only check out the things you report to them... not to an online forum. Please, store that number above in your cell (and give it out to your neighbors). For the times I've called them, they normally arrive in about 4 minutes after calling. If you see anyone suspicious, call them and they will send an officer over to talk to the person. Even if the person hasn't broken a law, they at least know that there is a strong police presence in the neighborhood and they will move along. Oh, and I have a live camera feed from my house that I can check from work. Don't worry, no shady characters are walking by right now... just a cat looking at a fence... although that cat looks like he's up to no good!

I guess so. The only thing I could find online was this... http://www.kabukirestaurants.com/home.asp

Yes they did! I just walked by and saw two notices posted on the glass for code enforcement. The purpose is for "Restaurant build out" and the tenant is Kabuki!

Drove by today and they have actually torn off all of the glass on the side of the building for that corner. The wooden framework is to keep people from walking into the building. Any ideas as to what is going on?

My hunch is that Camden is saving $$$ for the superblock across the street and that this development is just a stepping stone.

Not sure if something is going on... but just drove by during lunch and there were two workers inside the bottom corner space (along Elgin) looking at the walls. First time I've seen anyone inside in a long time.

Just curious, but after walking around the Pavilions the other day, I was wondering if it would be possible for them to open HP to the streets a little more (like along Polk where the windows are) at least on the first floor. It would mean that some first floor locations would have two entrances... but it might help draw some more foot traffic into the place. Does anyone think that this might be a viable solution for HP later down the road?

HP just happened to come online at the wrong time. If we were in a positive economic environment, impatience would have been a genius move.

I was showing a coworker my hood today using Streetview and noticed something interesting on an old picture of the superblock. Link First, what year do you think this was taken? Reef down the block doesn't exist yet (the bldg hadn't been renovated). Second, on the sign on the superblock, there appears to be a rendering of some big building "Coming Soon". Was this just a rendering for something across the street, or were there plans for the superblock awhile back that failed to materialize?

I do believe that these places provide a great service and should be around... but yes, I wonder how the volunteers would feel having these establishments in their neighborhoods (bet they wouldn't be too happy!). I also feel that these places should be more spread out around the city and into the burbs so that everyone deals with the homeless on a daily basis. However, my problem isn't with Search, etc... but with the $9 dollar a night slumlord places that pile a bunch of homeless into a room, and lets them drink themselves into oblivion every day.

Where is this? Webster @ what?

I went ahead and called this place today to find out what is going on. The lady told me that they are just renovating, and will not be a public facility. They will continue to be a delivery place only.

Is the Intermodial Terminal the place that people keep thinking Greyhound could eventually move to?

I'm not sure about this. Despite a crumby economy... Houston is not like the rest of the country. If/when home prices do fall, price declines won't be anything like that in other parts of the country. Also, as soon as oil markets even think the economy might recover... oil will be going back up very quickly.