WAZ

I think the biggest physical challenge, though, is elevators. Depending on how steeply the buildings bend, you're going to lose precious space to sky lobbies and utilities.

This is true. But it represents an opportunity for someone in the elevator design industry. They could design an elevator that runs in a twisted, sloped shaft. It'd avoid the problem of having multiple straight shafts and lots of sky lobbies to transfer. (Though they'll still need multiple shafts going up the three legs).

True. The upper floors would have unusually large floorplates, and that could be a limitation on demand from some corporate tenants. Also, the higher ratio of common area to rentable area could act against the competitiveness of the new building as an investment compared to alternative forms of verticality.

Is the floor plate size issue really that different than in a traditional setback skyscraper? In those buildings, the lower floors are bigger than the higher floors. Here it's the opposite. Would that really have a huge negative impact on demand?

I've often wondered why cities such as those (along with others such as Chicago) get the most striking architecture. I suppose this is one case where Houston's reputation as a 'low-cost city' really does hurt us, eh? But, isn't rent only reflective of the cost of land and construction - and, so, is that ratio of rent-to-cost (or whatever) much lower here than in some other cities?

Houston gets as much or more striking architecture than they do. My impression, however, is that we don't usually get striking skyscrapers. Granted, there are a few: Penzoil Place for one. But most of our really striking buildings seem to be small office buildings and houses.

There might be economic reasons for it, but I think a lot of it is psychological. Houston has always been a laissez-faire, 'do your own thing' City. Companies in Houston don't want to be beholden to landlords. So they buy land and build small buildings for themselves. Of the five architecture firms that I've worked for since coming to Houston in 1998, three are in buildings they designed for themselves. None of the firms I worked for in New York City had them.

From the City of Houston Press Release:

<<The City of Houston Legal Department has claimed another major victory in its fight against slumlords, securing a favorable jury verdict in a case involving a California resident with ties to multiple rundown buildings in Houston.....>>

<<In this case, the City was sued by Saturn Capital Corporation, one of several entities owned and controlled by Alfred Antonini, a known convicted felon and owner of several rundown properties in Houston. The suit sought to recover costs associated with the demolition of an unsafe apartment complex at 8525 Pinter Road, which Antonini had refused to demolish. Because the property was in such bad shape, the City stepped in and paid for the demolition and then placed a lien against the property. The lien was finally paid, under protest, and then a suit was filed against the city to get the money back, with interest, an amount totaling $120,000. They lost.>>

Amen.

We also recognize that a development fronted by 2 4 lane roads with a freeway next to it is a perfect location for a retail center.

Where's the second 4 lane road? I'm only seeing one - Yale: and that's pretty narrow for a 4 lane road. No shoulders; no room for islands or center turn-lanes. It has buildings up to lot-lines on the sides, too. I don't know how they'd be able to widen the ROW without getting even more people angry.

Also, while I-10 runs past the site, there is no exit from I-10 to Yale. The nearest exit drops you onto Studemont, and you'd have to drive around the block to get to the site. Granted, TXDOT is apparently planning a new exit that would directly serve Yale - and I hope that's all the construction along the stretch of I-10.

Again, I'm not anti WalMart per-se (in fact, I'd like them to put a WalMart near me - to replace the old Sharpstown Macy's and anchor the PlazAmericas Mall). But now you've got me looking further at the Heights WalMart site, and I think the opposition has some valid points.

Every land use regulation in the country would zone this parcel for retail development.

Which is precisely why I don't support zoning in Houston. Zoning ordinances don't necessarily take into account the intricacies of specific neighborhood concerns. They don't prevent land-use battles either. The New York City zoning ordinance is 3,000 pages long, and includes detailed zoning maps of almost every block in the City. But there's still a war going on over the Brooklyn Atlantic Yards.

The only constant is that sm3h does not like Walmart. This is fine, except that dislike of a retailer does not prevent its coming to the neighborhood.

So wait a minute. Now the WalMart IS coming to the neighborhood.

Earlier you said it wasn't.

As soon as someone puts a supercenter in a neighborhood I'll be all over it. So far, though, that hasn't happened. They've only proposed a supercenter on Yale, on the site of a former steel mill. But, if they ever put one in a neighborhood, let me know.

This is an important distinction to make. In Houston, you can't build a SuperCenter on a site where deed restrictions prohibit it. But legally you CAN build it on a site next door, that doesn't have deed restrictions. The frustrating thing is - a development doesn't have to be officially in a neighborhood, to have a negative impact on that neighborhood.

Don't get me wrong - I am not saying that WalMart necessarily has a negative impact on neighborhoods. I am simply pointing out a major weakness in land-use regulation in Houston.

It's *possible* to walk in the Galleria area, but that's about all that can be said. Sidewalks are anorexic, streets are wide and busy, all a pedestrian has to look at are the bottom floors of multistorey carparks or stripmalls. Once you get into the actual mall it's a different story (I like walking round the shops myself), but to call the actual streets surrounding it walkable is a very literal use of the word and should not imply that any pleasure is to be derived from the experience.

I was actually talking about The Galleria Mall itself. It's big enough that it could function as its own neighborhood within Uptown. If it did, it'd be one of the most walkable neighborhoods in Houston.

I agree that the problem with Uptown that it has pockets of walkability, but they aren't connected. The key should be to connect these pockets. I think a series of well-placed skybridges and elevated walkways would work wonders. Maybe even an elevated, linear park like New York's High Line.

It's not a new model for Houston. The Texas Medical Center makes heavy use of skybridge links between buildings. But the ones in Uptown should be easier to get to, bigger, and more public than the TMC version.

Uptown: I'd really like to see this area become more pedestrian-friendly with centralized garages, pedestrian road overpasses, wider walkways and lesser setbacks from the sidewalks. And, more highrise development mixed in.

I would actually say The Galleria is one of the most walkable places in Houston. I never thought of it that way until I started working in one of the Galleria Towers. But there's a lot there. Hotels. Offices. Retail (of course, it's a mall). Parking. Dining. Entertainment. Sports (an ice-rink). And the way you get from one to the other is on foot.

To look at it another way. I actually walk a lot further from my car to my desk, in the Galleria, than I did when I worked in Midtown -- and it's the high point of my day. That's a good thing.

I'd like to see them add apartment and condo towers to The Galleria; along with the necessities like a good pharmacy and grocery store. They also need outdoor green space. An Uptown version of Discovery Green. I like your idea of pedestrian road overpasses. I've had a similar idea of skybridges connecting the Mall to neighboring buildings and shopping centers.

Most of all, I'd like to have a transit center attached to The Galleria. Something like the downtown transit center at Travis and Pierce; but you go up an escalator, and you're in the Mall.

Actually at this point it might not really be a "Mall" per se. It'd be its own, functioning neighborhood within the City.

I fully expect to be flamed by the usual suspects for saying it - but Pat Lykos is 100% right in what she is doing.

We need a concerted effort to get criminals and thugs out of low-income complexes, and into jail; and then we need an equally concerted effort to turn those low income complexes into safe, decent housing for the poor.

The Braeburn Super Neighborhood will host a meeting in December as part of an effort to get a similar safety zone along the 7400 block of Bissonnet. More information will follow (if the HAIF regulars behave themselves).

I don't understand your logic, here.

A zoning ordinance pre-empts neighborhoods as much as it takes rights away from property owners. A handful of planners writes the ordinance; the City approves; and everyone else has to live by it. Neighborhoods don't get to decide what's right for them, any more than individuals are allowed freedom over their own property.

I talk about it more here.

In light of the likelihood that historic district status will be pursued by a handful of uppity snobs soon, I think that now would be a good time to erect NicheLair I or NicheLair II. The first concept is a zero lot line metallic warehouse with cubic dimensions on the order of 60' x 60' x 60', consuming the center of a double lot. The interior would be structured using steel mezzanines with an atrium in the center, reminiscent of a Borg cube. The second concept is an oversized phallic-shaped residence built using slip-form concrete construction methods for the shaft and monolithic domes to form an approximation of the glans and testes; alternatively, the residential phallus could be built from re-purposed industrial equipment, mostly tanks and spherical pressure vessels.

But I don't have the money, so I'm out of luck.

The phallus is a bit sophomoric. But the cube sounds very interesting. It's the kind of thing you can only do in Houston. Good luck raising the money.

I'm still waiting to hear what the people from the surrounding community think should be put on the "Heights Walmart" site, if not a Walmart.

Oh, I get it now. You believe that businesses wishing to open in an area should first have to get the approval of the residents of that area. Perhaps each neighborhood could elect members to serve on a Development Review And Citizen Oversight for New Initiatives in A Neighborhood (DRACONIAN) board. New businesses would submit an application which would be reviewed and voted on by the DRACONIAN board to decide if that business would be allowed to open in (or even near) a neighborhood.

Hell, why don't we just let the HAHC control new businesses as well as residential stuff?

Remember, if it weren't for crybaby NIMBY's, we'd have a nice Starbucks at 19th and Heights instead of an abandoned bank building.

I've never proposed applications or formal approvals. I have called for common sense, and a willingness to reach out to neighborhoods on the developers' part. And neighborhoods have a huge responsibility in it, too. Instead of diddling themselves until something bad comes along, and then screaming at the top of their lungs - they need to come up with realistic ideas of what they actually want; and communicate those ideas in a consistent way.

So I ask again, to the people who live around the "Heights WalMart" site: what do you actually want that abandoned factory to become, if not a WalMart?

Agreed, nobody ever built anything undesirable like a WalMart in the suburbs.

What's undesirable to one neighborhood, might be perfectly desirable to another neighborhood.

What kind of stand did you have in mind for our neighborhoods? A nightstand? A stand of bamboo? A deer stand? Stand-up comedy? A one-night stand? I think that those are all great things; some more than others, but to each his own.

Whatever kind of stand you'd like to add to the fabric of our neighborhoods, I'll support it. Perhaps you'd be so kind as to kindly reciprocate in your acceptance of other people's preferences and lifestyles.

It's really not up to me to decide what's right for your neighborhood. Nor is it up to you to decide what's right for my neighborhood. It's certainly not up to a corporation from Bentonville, Arkansas to decide what's right for The Heights - or whatever the neighborhood technically is where they're trying to put the WalMart.

In other cities, developers do zoning studies before they buy land for development. In Houston, they should meet with the neighbors. Our lack of zoning should NOT be viewed as a green light for developers to do whatever they want. Instead, it should give Houstonians unprecedented control over their own neighborhoods' destinies.

So let me turn the question around: what kind of stand would YOU put in YOUR neighborhood? And to the people around the "Heights Walmart" - how would you rather see that site redeveloped?

Can someone please explain to me what is so terrible about caring about what goes on in my neighborhood?

I hate how the anti-Walmart or anti-developers on this thread are being attacked and forced to defend themselves about traffic, construction, etc etc etc.. Shouldn't the burden of proof be on the developer to prove how their proposed impact will be mitigated? Traffic studies, drainage studies, input from the nearby residents and businesses, etc. This information should be INDEPENDANT from any 380 agreements, tax incentives, etc.

Furthermore, many of the pro-Walmart or pro-developer comments recently reek of hypocracy (not calling you out specifically samagon, just continuing a thought here). They're calling people out on NIMBY. Ok, so say I wanted to build a 30 story highrise literally next door to you. I'm guessing you probably wouldn't like that. Ok, so how about 2 houses away? Still no? How about 10 houses? What is the exact distance at which I'm allowed to call you a snob since it's no longer in your backyard? If we can establish that, then I'll draw a circle around the proposed Walmart site, and everyone outside of that area can leave the discussion. Does that work for you? I have a funny feeling many of the more vocal folks on this board would be outside of that radius.

You have a very good point. I've said it time and time again.

We can either flee undesirable development, and sprawl out to ever-further suburbs. Or we can stop and make a stand for our neighborhoods.

I'm going to guess that you're interested in 77074 and 77036, which encompass most of Sharpstown. There are six Tax Credit apartment complexes in that area, with 1,531 units. Greater Katy, encompassing the area of zip codes 77449, 77450, 77493, and 77494, a geographic area about twenty times as large also has six Tax Credit apartment complexes, coming in at a total of only 785 apartment units.

You’re looking at it the way the TDHCA looks at it. Their view is that 77449, 77450, 77493, and 77494 have fewer subsidized housing units than 77074 and 77036; so they need to build more out in 77449, 77450, 77493, and 77494. It’s a bureaucratic approach that ignores the reality on the ground.

The reality is that 77074, 77036, and other zip codes in Houston have way more than six substandard apartment complexes. There are four substandard apartment complexes on the same block as the Premier on Woodfair! These slums aren’t going to demolish or renovate themselves. Either someone needs to demolish them (which doesn’t seem to happen much) or someone needs to renovate them.

My suggestion is they do the latter. More specifically, I want them to stop giving tax credits for new housing on open land in the Houston metro area; and increase the tax credits available for the renovation and replacement of substandard housing in the area. It’s a Win-Win-Win-Win. The TDHCA gets more units of low-income housing on their books. Neighbors in suburbs like Katy are spared from subsidized housing that they don’t want. Neighbors in Houston get repairs to the surrounding slum apartments. And most importantly, law abiding, poor people get better places to live.

The only losers are developers, since you guys won’t get tax credits for new housing on open land. (And criminals, of course, since it'll get harder for them to find no-questions-asked slums to live in).

You may counter that this could go against HUD’s rules. My response is that if this is the case, then it just shows that HUD has a one-size-fits-all approach to low-income housing – and it really doesn’t acknowledge the unique problems facing Houston and its suburbs.

What you advocate already is happening, …. what you want doesn't work (or you would've noticed it by now).

I have showed you locations where it HAS worked. In fact,the Premier on Woodfair is one where it has worked remarkably well. Another success story is the Reserve at Bankside – though the TDHCA had nothing to do with that one. In general, complexes that have been renovated and maintained, are better places to live, and have less crime than those that have been neglected.

The reason we’re not seeing a huge improvement in whole neighborhoods, is that they aren’t doing it nearly enough. This is why I originally thought the TDHCA wasn’t doing it at all. 6 complexes and 1,531 units of renovated apartments is barely a drop in the bucket for 77036 and 77074. (Not to mention the fact that they’re all in 77036).

Since I met your challenge, I expect for you to live up to your part of your own bargain.

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In and around my Super Neighborhood we have:

- Le Promenade Condominiums at 7400 Bissonnet*

- Houston Westlake (formerly known as the Kingsgate Village)**

- The St. James Place on Fondren Road.

- The Ridgestone Apartments on Fondren Road.

- The Rockport on Nairn off South Gessner

- The Woodscape Apartments on South Gessner

- Braes Hollow on South Braeswood

- Stoneriver Apartments at the intersection of South Braeswood and Bissonnet.

* Le Promenade Condominiums are primarily owned by a man named Guo 'Peter' Li from Bellaire, and are rented out as apartments. They are by far the worst in our area. General consensus is that they should be demolished.

** The Houston Westlake (formerly the Kingsgate Village) was actually getting long overdue repairs. But the owners ran out of money, and work has been stalled for the last six months. The Houston Buildings and Standards Commission has given them until February to get working again. I don't know how they'll do it without money, though.

---

Again, this is just for one Super Neighborhood - a small portion of Southwest Houston. We have a population of a little over 22,000 people - and I could easily find eight apartment complexes that are in desperate need of repair and reinvestment. None of these properties show up on the TDHCA list. In fact, I couldn't find anything on there in this zip code!

I apologize that I didn't expand the list city-wide. Oh if only I were back in grad school and had the time. :-) If you go by the ratios of population to bad apartment complexes, I'd expect the City of Houston to have almost 700 complexes that are similarly in need of attention, and not on the TDHCA list.

But the TDHCA still encourages developers to go out to Katy, to build new low-income housing on virgin fields next to angry neighbors.

fixing bad apartments won't fix bad people. Displace bad people from inside the Beltway and they'll move to places like Spring and Katy.

Not if they displace those bad people to jail instead of just sweeping them from neighborhood to neighborhood. 'Weed and seed' programs actually do this. They combine efforts on revitalization with parallel efforts on crime prevention and law enforcement. Sorry I wasn't more explicit about it 18 months ago, but I have always envisioned 'weed and seed' as being integral to fixing these bad complexes.

The incentive that is in place is intended to be only just large enough to make the project marginally feasible. Without the incentive, the vast majority of the money would've been invested in housing for the affluent within our society that can afford it at full cost.

Of course developers shy away from low-income housing. They also shy away from renovations. And they especially shy away from the renovation of low income housing.

There are a lot of reasons for it: Unknown existing conditions lead to risk. Demolition costs drive up the project cost.... But this is exactly why incentives are especially important for the renovation of low-income housing.

Moreover most Tax Credit projects in our region are already in central Houston, as you advocate that they be. THE ONLY REASON IT SEEMS LIKE TAX CREDIT HOUSING FREQUENTLY GETS BUILT IN AFFLUENT AREAS IS BECAUSE THAT'S THE ONLY TIME YOU HEAR ABOUT IT!!!

I challenge you to show me specific apartment complexes where the TDHCA is using tax credits to incentivize the renovation of low-income multifamily housing in Houston. Give me names, or at least a website with names. I've searched high and low, and if the TDHCA is doing it, they're keeping one hell of a secret.

By contrast, I could give you a long list of apartment complexes in Houston that are in desperate need of repair, and could use a healthy dose of incentives to get the ball rolling.

building dense working-class housing in marginal working-class neighborhoods does absolutely nothing to [lessen crime]. In fact, by lumping those with the least economic opportunity together, your proposal (the present reality!) contributes to the problem and fosters the continuance of social decay.

We're not talking about "building [more] dense working class housing in marginal working class neighborhoods." That's a recipe for disaster. We're talking about the repair and replacement of blighted properties. It sounds like a subtle differentiation to make, but from a neighborhood standpoint, it's huge.

Ultimately, my argument remains the same: they need to FIX BAD APARTMENTS IN HOUSTON before they go way out to Katy to build new subsidized housing on open land. What they're doing now is the urban equivalent of buying a new car, and leaving the old one to rot on the front lawn.

I guess I was right My link

Another one bites the dust! Don't mess with Katy!

I live nowhere near Katy, but I'm glad to hear you fought it off. Every dollar they spend to build new projects on open land, is a dollar that can't be used to fix substandard housing. They really need to bring that money back to neighborhoods in Houston; to turn crime ridden slums into safe, decent housing for working people.

I also want to thank you for the list of contacts in your October 25 post. I've sent an invitation to the TDHCA, to come to a neighborhood meeting and talk about what can be done to turn around blighted complexes. I hope they accept.

Yes, another ploy to keep rich people down. 6th ward, Midtown, Med Center, Downtown, Westchase, parts of Memorial, Museum district, Montrose etc. etc. etc. are poor areas? The Heights was a poor area until recently. When you have an area that is essentially flat, where high ground is in the 40-50 elevations, there are no safe areas where floods are concerned. If you were confident in your point that this is only about "income redistribution" why do you need to pull facts out of your behind to prove your point.

Also, if I thought everything and every topic was about class warfare I might suggest that no area around Houston is flood resistent. Some are engineered that way because, dare I say, they are wealthy areas. How about all those rich people hogging all of those flood control projects.

Once again, I should remind people that Proposition 1 is not just about flood control. It's about roads, too. Just remember this when you're in the voting booth.

I suppose it's Renew Houston's fault that people missing the part about roads. Their PR campaign has concentrated way too much on flooding. And the ad they put on TV doesn't help.

If ever anyone wished to see an example of semantics in action, this thread is it. My property taxes are assessed on the value of my house. The drainage "fee" is assessed on the amount of land my house covers. Just because the way the tax is levied seems equitable does not make it not a tax.

None of this changes that there is no plan for the use of these fees/taxes. I recommend a 'NO' vote, so that the proponents can engage the City on an actual plan for the use of this money. Just as HISD had to tell us what they planned to build with the $800 million in bonds we voted for, the City should tell us what projects they plan to undertake with our $8 Billion.

So, what if the Renew Houston people made a detailed plan, got their proposal passed, but then due to attenuating circumstances had to change parts of the plan? Would you then cry "bait and switch" and circulate petitions - like you are in the Historic Districts and Historic District Repeal Petitions threads?

I say, vote YES on Proposition 1 - and let's get to work FIXING our ROADS and DRAINAGE INFRASTRUCTURE!

I voted for the Red Light Cameras. They help keep us safe.

They could make us even safer, though. According to Controller Ronald Green, the Cameras earn $16 million a year for the City of Houston (in addition to the money that's supposed to go to the State for hospitals). That $16 million could be earmarked mobile cameras to help fight crime.

They're using mobile crime cameras down in the Braes Oaks Management district - and they're getting results. It'd turn a win-win into a win-win-win.

According to the City of Houston Permit E-Report, they've pulled a permit for the Backwards House in Sharpstown.

Let the fun begin!

Oh, and I found the website for the Backwards House (real name: "Prototype 180")

http://prototype180.com/

Very interesting viewpoints on all this, but if I followed the thread properly, does that mean that if a parking lot or other development builds using "permeable" concrete, that the owner of the land would get a pass or some other break?

If so, I'm down for that.

It'd be nice if it were that way. But I don't think so.

If I were writing Prop 1, developers could get exemptions if they limit stormwater runoff from their sites. It'd be simple to enforce: just have them CC the City with LEED documentation for the stormwater credits. If they got the credits, they get the exemption. No LEED credits; no exemption.

I actually brought this up at a Super Neighborhood Alliance meeting once. Unfortunately, Mayor Parker has said NO EXEMPTIONS to Proposition 1.

First, where do the $8 billion - $12 billion figures come from? My recollection is that the program is intended to raise $125 million per year for 20 years = $2.5 billion. Maybe I missed it somewhere.

We asked exactly the same question when Bob Jones came to a Super Neighborhood meeting. His answer was that the City is set to grow, and cover more land with impervious cover, and thereby the fees will grow as time goes on.

From WAZ's blog: http://civcarchitect...position-1.html

(which btw I abhor when people run off to their blogs b/c they feel they cannot succinctly debate their points; it's cowardice and I will be monitoring :looking at you txpropertyrights: )

It's nice to see my blog quoted here - even if I have chosen not to cross post here any more.

I've edited out the snide remark about WalMart. 380 agreements actually do relate to infrastructure repairs, so it's not fair to say that a 380 agreement is money that was taken away from infrastructure repairs. Thank you RedScare.

And the quip about coffee was just meant to illustrate a point - Niche/ Kylejack.

Why in sharpstown? Ain't that a bad part of town?

This is why I've stopped cross-posting from my blog to HAIF. HAIFers are better educated than the posters on most other forums. But they still think Sharpstown is a ghetto that doesn't deserve anything good.

In fact, Mary Ellen Carroll had very specific reasons for choosing Sharpstown: she noticed that "Sharpstown is an ethnically diverse prototype for what [Houston] will become." As SevFiv pointed out, "There's a Sharpstown in every major metro area," she said. "What's happening in Sharpstown is happening everywhere."

This is why I live near Sharpstown. There's an energy around here that I'd imagine is what it was like in New York 100 years ago. All these different people moving in; moving out; assimilating; inventing..... It's only a "bad part of town," if your the kind of person who's scared of it.

I think Carroll's idea for flipping the house is cool as hell, too. The Heights has the Beer Can House. Now Sharpstown is going to have the Backwards House.

St. Agnes Academy has bought the old Gillman Dealership property in Sharpstown. The attached letter went out to parents and alumni:

*************************************

Dear St. Agnes Academy parents, friends and alumnae:

I am excited to announce St. Agnes Academy purchased 18.709 acres of vacant property at the corner of Fondren Road and Bellaire Boulevard today. Acquiring this property, which is just minutes from our existing St. Agnes facilities, marks a major milestone in carrying out our strategic plan. This endeavor supports our mission to provide a state-of-the-art learning facility for our students.

Most of you are aware the St. Agnes Board of Directors periodically adjusts the Academy’s strategic plan. Two years ago, we sought input from all of our constituencies and created a blueprint that will guide campus development for the next five years. One of the resulting goals was to have excellent facilities for our school’s programs and activities. After reviewing our existing facilities, we realized the limitations of our present, land-locked campus. Additional parking, athletic fields and events space, and an upgrade to our auditorium (built in 1963), are major issues that surfaced in the review. Our assessment found that, in order to expand, St. Agnes would need to either relocate some of our athletic programs or build a parking garage on our current campus to free up room for field space. Our Board of Directors considered both options very carefully before moving forward with researching and purchasing land.

Acquiring this property is an exciting step toward making our vision for the future become reality. It is the beginning of a process that will require much effort, many prayers, and your continued financial support. We are blessed to have such a generous community partner with us in advancing our mission, and we look forward to your participation in the future.

We will keep you posted on our progress in the months ahead. Thank you for your continued support of our efforts at St. Agnes as we provide the very best in Catholic, college-preparatory education for Houston-area young women.

God bless you,

Sr. Jane Meyer, O.P., Head of School

********************************

There's also an article in Swamplot about it.

Needless to say, everyone in the surrounding neighborhoods is ecstatic about this development.