pwright1

This is Christmas time in Seattle. Not normal Seattle.

Trae the first pic was taken this past Saturday the others were taken several weeks ago.

Lockmat what are you talking about?

Redscare I was not the one who made the claim that Houstion is the laughing stock. I'm just telling you whats been said and what I read.

It is downtown Seattle and its more than just upscale. Local retailers, discounters like Ross and Bed/Bath & Beyond, markets and just about everything else. I would disagree with you on the tunnels. Please don't expand that. If New Orleans can live without tunnels Houston can too. And they have or had by far the most vibrant dt in the south. Not saying getting rid of whats there but certainly not expanding.

The simple truth Houston is if you don't create some sort of active, livable downtown you will continue to be the laughing stock of the United States. Someone mentioned their big house, big truck and huge yard. That is fine. All big metropolitan areas have this. But for god's sake have an option for Houston citizens. Not all Houstonians love cars, freeways and strip malls. If that is all you have to offer visitors, business travelers and your own citizens then you are lower than low. To hell with tunnels and malls and everything enclosed. The weather/heat is no excuse. Is it hot now? I had a great opportunity to move to Houston but the more I thought about it the less excited I got. So I decided to stay in Seattle. At least I can walk the streets, bike around and visit our thriving downtown which I truely love. Houston you have so much potential. Maybe one day dt Houston will look sort of like dt Seattle.

...and build some housing downtown. It is probably the most important element to a vibrant dt.

My thoughts on the reasons behind Downtown and Midtowns problems.

1. Houston has plenty of room to grow so there is no need for high-density living. High density living is not usually by choice but neccesity.

2. People in Houston do not have the same attitude as people from other large cities like NYC, etc... Living in an apartment in Houston has a stigma attached to it. Parents and friends keep asking "When are you going to buy a house?" People of all social classes live in apartments in NYC.

3. Most people when given the choice of having a large 4 bedroom house with a big yard and an hour long commute vs. a townhouse with a short commute will choose the first. That's not my personal preference but I find that I am in the minority on that one.

4. You can live and work in Houston for years and never even go downtown and a lot of people like it that way. For many people the only time they go downtown is to pay a ticket or get a friend out of jail. It can be a very confusing place to someone who only goes there once a year, with one way streets and trains crossing all over the place.

5. Homeless. Who wants to buy a house where your wife has to pass by a vagrant on the street when she walks the dog? You have to get rid of them to get the average family with small children to feel comfortable.

In another thread about a new office building in the Energy Corridor someone commented about how much nicer it would be if this building was put downtown. It just struck me as kind of naive. Why would they want to build downtown? There's just no good reason I can think of for an engineering related business to build there. Most people in the energy business live in Sugarland, Katy and The Woodlands. For many of them the energy corridor is a shorter commute and most of the people who work in the business really don't want anything to do with downtown anyway.

I guess I'm in the minority too. Give me a nice townhome inside the loop over anything in the Woodlands, Katy or Sugarland. I just don't see any reason to live way out there. So bland, uninteresting and chain infested. Sugarland seems ok but I still couldn't live there either. Inner city living imo has the best stores, restaurants, culture, museums, nightlife, mature trees and everything else.

Check this out from:

Houston Downtown Management District

Downtown

On my last visit to Houston I was actually amazed at the number of dance clubs downtown. A lot imo. My question: Do all those dance clubs really make for a great downtown? I noticed during the day a lot of those same clubs were closed. I guess they only open at night. Some of the best downtowns I've been to lately across the america, Vancouver, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Chicago don't have so many of those clubs. They have more bars, jazz clubs or nice restaurants. We ended up at Bossa which to us was just the kind of place we were looking for. We also enjoyed Sambuca for the late night jazz.

That's a perfect spot for a Walgreens. I like Walgreens over CVS. They seem to have more of a variety than CVS.

A few questions regarding Seattle (just curious)

1) how many shopping malls are in a 50mile radus of Seattle's downtown area?

2) How many residients live in the downtown Seattle area?

3) What are these store hours (if you know) and are they open on the weekends?

I am just curious really. Most other cities seem to have a lively downtown area, except Houston and LA. Houston and LA, both being two of the largest cities in the country... should have a downtown night life.

They are "sprawled" cities (not to mention lack of a "good" commuting system, other than freeways), this is the only thing I can think of that would cause no one to come downtown on a regular basis and no store's risking to setup shop downtown. People can just goto these same store's in the malls where they live.

1. Lots just like any major metropolitan area.

2. I'm not sure but I think it's over 15,000

3. Nordstrom - Mon-Sat 9:30am-9:00pm Sunday till 7:00. Macy's till 8pm. Pacific Place & Westlake till 9pm.

Most stores along the sidewalks till 8 or 9pm. Barnes & Noble till 11pm everynight. Most of the highend stores like Louis Vitton, Barney's, St. John, Jerri Rice, Tiffany's & Cartier are open till 7pm.

Is there really a need for a Bloomingdales? I doubt that the local market really would have the demand. It seems that the traditional large anchor department store is somewhat of a dying breed, which explains the exit of Foleys and Lord & Taylor from the Galleria and the closing of the Town & Country Niemans.

Since they already closed the old movie theaters, and because Edwards is so close, I doubt the Galleria will consider building more theaters. It doesn't seem like a great fit with a retail environment.

Bloomingdales would be perfect. I went to the grand opening of the new Bloomingdales in San Francisco Centre. It was absolute madness. Thousands converged into the store. It's the largest outside of New York. It is truely a beautiful store.

I can't really see anyone but the absolute richest of the rich in Houston supporting this super high-end retail.

Perhaps Houston's overall style is more accommodating of the somewhat less elegant, urban-type boutiques. You know, something like this -->

http://www.stylemaven.com/store_sanfrancis...rocerystore.htm

If you ever venture in any of these stores like LV or Gucci I see very young to very old. Kids like wearing the latest or what's in, trendy styles. I work in Nordstrom and I see kids purchasing $300 and $400 jeans all the time. As well as $1000 hadbags and they are not the richest of the rich.

Downtown residents are not the primary supporters of downtown retail. Here in Seattle, downtown shoppers come from all over the city and suburbs. You say people need a reason to stay downtown. From what I could see, there are plenty of restaurants & nighclubs, the theater district, the aquarium, baseball and basketball arenas, Macy's and the Aquarium. Believe it or not the dt Foleys (now Macy's) is one of the most profitable Foley's in the chain. And what about all of the midtown residents? What about conventions? Are they big in Houston? The downtown population is only getting larger. I believe major downtown retail in Houston would do fantastic. Not a shoe repair shop or Walgreens but Bloomingdales, Barney's, Williams Sonoma, Victoria Secret, Gap, Barnes & Noble and many others. And please don't say you already have these stores. So do we here in dt Seattle. But about 5 miles away at University Village we have a lot of the same stores as downtown. Both shopping districts do extremely well.

University Village

Downtown Seattle

Is there a 24hr Barnes and Noble anywhere? Ours in dt Seattle stays open till 11:00pm every night.

That is good news! But an Outback would be cooler!

Perfect location for Morton's. It will do just fine. Outback was a total disappointment imo. I've been to Morton's in Chicago, Los Angeles, D.C, Boston, Dallas and New York. Excellent food. Please, no Outback.

Respectfully, I hope Houston Pavilions does so much more than to carve out a little slice of California-based retail in Downtown. We're already sufficiently stocked-up with all of those California-based brands you mention.

Please!! For a city of over 2 million people in over 500 square miles you need more than 1 or two major shopping areas. No wonder people drive everywhere. The stores that were mentioned like Williams/Sonoma, Potter Barn and others would be absolutely great for DOWNTOWN. People love to shop. Maybe shopping districts around the world are all the same. Tokyo, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Vancouver, Sydney and so on. They are all different from Houston because downtown Houston for shoppping sucks. San Francisco's Union Square, Chicago's Magnificent Mile are two of my favorite. The reality is people love Louis Vitton, Ralph Lauren, Restoration Hardware, Eileen Fisher, Bergdorf Goodman, Burberry and others. And so what if some of the stores mentioned are in the Galleria. Hell even Seattle has two Coach stores with 3 blocks of each other. The reality is if you want people to come downtown, big name retail is the key. Not Payless, Dress Barn or Spencer Gifts either. Not all chains but lots.

Who would go all the way downtown to shop? Me for one. Some people make it seem like downtown is 30 miles away. Besides so what if the Galleria has everything. In a city of over 2million people why should Houston have 1 stop shopping. Downtown Houston deserves to have it all. Big name retail, high end, low end, local. Think big people. Many cities have more than one major shopping district.

Tourist trap.

This will be far from a tourist trap than probably any big city in america. We all know Houston is not a tourist city. As I said before, this is the start of something great.

What a perfect location for a HOB. This is the start of something great for dt Houston.

A mall dt would be great imo. Nothing big with 200 stores, but something to attract big name retail and blend in with street level stores. No big city in america has street level stores exclusively. Look at Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, and even New York. That's why I love Pacific Place. Only about 40 stores, but is a great impact to the dt Seattle retail core. There's San Francisco Centre, Pacific Place, Water Tower Place. Just design it right where you can enter some of the stores from the street. The huge mall in dt Philadelphia is way to big imo.

Why even waste time spending millions of dollars renovating something that's only caters to weekday lunchtime crowds and is deserted the rest of the time. It makes absolutely no sense. Houston, WAKE UP.

It would be a great place if it were renovated the right way. It's all wrong. Why can't there be some street level retail or why can't you enter some of the malls stores and restaurants from the street?

Underground parking there would be great. Union Square in the heart of San Francisco's retail district has underground parking. It would be a great benefit.

Is Foley's still open dt? Did they change it to Macy's yet? I read somewhere it's one of the top grossing Foley's stores in Texas. Never understood why this store, with its perfect location has been left to rot. Renovating it and making it a grand downtown Houston department store would be the start of a downtown retail renaissance imo.

Blech, I would not like a times square type of thing in Uptown.  keep uptown rich, not plastered in tacky, over-colorful overcommercializtion.

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Rich? Please!! Yeah just keep it 80's tacky, tired and bland.

This is excellent news. Downtown Houston needs a nice park and what a perfect location. Any renderings?

"Houston is in its own world" I think that's a pretty good statement. City officials fly to different cities all the time to get ideas and to see how other cities turned their downtowns around. Houstonsemipro, chill out.