zaphod

I don't like the EaDo cap. Where is the money going to come from if the city is so fiscally spread thin? Are they going to close down or stop funding other parks or parks services? Why are so many neighborhoods in the city under-served with parks and why are various activities lacking? This would be really expensive project to build a patch of grass next to some "visionary" development locations and put on it a gym and other facilities that could be built at 1/10th the cost elsewhere in town that needs them and leave money over for 100 other things.

I like how the 59 trench is proposed. They put in extra wide sidewalks with landscaping to join the two sides together, they went with an aesthetically pleasing decorative molded concrete for the walls, and where a mini tunnel is necessary due to the oblique angles a couple streets cross at they'll put some grass on top and line it with bushes.

Why not just do that for EaDo and be done with it? They could set up the trench walls to support a roof at a later date if private funds come from developers who are interested in building adjacent.

That would be seriously wild if 2020 was the year they redeveloped this thing.

It all looks very slick, especially the residential portion. The titled roof sections are better than the typical flat top apartment donut you see built most of the time here.

Looks kind of spooky at the moment. Hopefully it does get completed.

The siding in the first picture looks like it is bulging and uneven, is that normal?

I love the linear "halls" of trees, that is going to look so cool from the ground.

Has there been any status of the proposed replacement of the tennis courts and swimming pool that's there currently? I know they proposed a natatorium at one time. That is the only pool south of the heights in the west loop area at the moment.

Just a thought here, if those Target stores opened in 1976 that would have made them some of the earliest in the chain outside of their first locations in Minnesota, right? I don't think Targets became especially prevalent nationwide until the late 1980s or early 1990s, right?

That store would have been roughly similar to the one on Fondren, right? I remember that one vaguely as my grandmother lived nearby. Somehow as a small child I think we went to that FM 1960 North Oaks Target sometimes too. But then when they opened the one in the The Woodlands in Pinecroft Center that was much closer to where we lived and we always went there.

This thing and broadstone memorial park both had their garages go up seemingly overnight but have been taking a while to build the rest of it.

I like the windows, not gonna lie.

It looks kind of like a bigger Texas City dike, IMO. Same concept, I guess. I know they do stuff like this in The Netherlands.

I love it. Not only is first and foremost essential infrastructure, but also we another beach in addition to Galveston and the dike, too.

Those "tents" appear to be more like a modern day version of a quonset hut.

I wish there was some more traction for building LRT to Missouri City. They are one of the few member cities of Metro beyond Houston that actually pays in tax revenue to the agency yet get a couple crappy local bus routes.

A lot of the criticism of such an extension would be that it runs through a low density area. Yet my impression of that part of town is that its kind of poor and having a fast transit connection to all the employment that exists in the medical center would be beneficial? Then further out there could be a P&R for people in the suburbs.

That's one seriously fancy-pants hotel.

354 residential and 410 hotel rooms, how tall is this going to be? Buildings with that many residential units seem to end up at least 30-40 stories and then with the hotel rooms...

Looks like some progress has been made on the front of the building, and the sign on Westheimer now says "Target"

(all images taken by me)

sign:

I can't imagine them allowing that to be a permanent thing. I can't imagine it would be that hard to re-do the curbs in some areas if they had to, right?

I never noticed how there was a street(Blossom) which goes straight on from that area of the park. From above it looks pretty cool.

I would hope that as the residential population of downtown goes up maybe this side could get some kind of convenient grocery. I wonder if Aldi has ever tried an urban format.

They are summoning the creature from the void with a sharpie.

The building that was on the site has been torn down and they've chopped up the parking lot too, and its now an empty field surrounded by a fence. However there are still trees on the site.

I was sad when I found out the Pita Pit on Texas closed

I remember going to walk around Hastings, then going a few doors down to eat there. That shopping center is now very different.

I like the brick, its a step up from the other 95% of strip malls that use hideous fake tan stucco.

The things I've been reading about the coronavirus and its effect on work-from-home, hotels, retail, etc, sound apocalyptic for urban development, at least in the near term.

In contrast, medical research labs and clinics inherently by their nature favor a physical presence of people and workers. And the people who work in these places tend to be well paid, and for various reasons they like to live reasonably close to where they work. And of course they go and eat and buy things nearby and visitors stay in hotels, etc.

Seems like a development like this would be a slam dunk and a really safe bet during all that's going on right now, and I would think investors would be wanting to pull their money out of other projects with less certain futures and throw it behind stuff like this instead.

Maybe they could also try curbs that stick out further, or circular concrete raised areas in intersections. Those would make driving through inconvenient and discourage through traffic as well.

7 hours ago, samagon said:

I have nothing to backup my suspicion (otherwise it wouldn't be a suspicion), but I suspect the alignment not staying on Fannin the entire way after Braeswood is probably to do with the fire station on Fannin right after Braeswood.

 

are there any examples of fire stations having an exit onto a street with a lightrail? maybe an interesting coincidence, maybe something to it?

I think this is a pretty insightful observation. I can't really think of a light rail line that has a grade crossing with a fire station adjacent to it. In any case if it was really such a huge problem then the cost of relocating the fire station to an adjacent block couldn't be so difficult.

You know maybe back in 2000 whenever they planned for the line they needed to be politically cautious and not ruffle feathers, so while it wouldn't be a genuine deal breaker they saw that as an issue?

On 6/8/2020 at 10:52 AM, Tumbleweed_Tx said:

Or, they could build a large parking garage at the end of the Red Line and eliminate the Smithlands parking lots. People parking in a garage at the end of the Red Line would have easier freeway access, too. It would be a bonus if access from the garage to the Wham Bam Tram was covered. Put it where Waterworld used to be, build a covered walkway, make the entrance on West Bellfort so people will avoid Fannin... It'll be gold.
 

Well yeah that's what I am saying.

I'd prefer the Sams Club shell to go away honestly. The garage could have other stuff mixed in, it could be the start of some kind of transit village. In my ideal world the Astro World site would be used for something cool and not something with a lot of wasteful surface parking.

2 hours ago, Brooklyn173 said:

I think this is a great idea with one (significant) concern. Many people park in the Smith Lands lot and ride the Light Rail to their jobs in the heart of the TMC. Move the station and those people - a large number - will have to be accommodated.

 

My thought - without any real engineering - is an autonomous bus that would connect your new light rail station to the parking lot and maybe even some of the other medical facilities along OST.

 

Just dreaming here.

Some thoughts:

1. It might be easier to just not demolish the older alignment. Have a single LRV that goes to Dryden and back. They could also use the Smith Lands line for rodeo, football, etc.

2. Instead of an automated bus they could use a cheap mini bus similar to Metro Lift. It could be a community connector route. They'd keep the rail alignment for it to drive on.

3. Compare the long term cost of operating a transit service and maintaining current lot versus the cost of building parking garages somewhere else then selling the land.

4. Do an analysis of where the drivers who park at Smith Land come from. If they are coming from 610, then maybe expand the Fannin South Park and Ride and give everyone who parked at Smith Lands a special parking permit. This could be done by either A) leasing the parking on the old Astroworld site from the Rodeo people for a few years or B ) they buy and tear down that vacant Sams Club to the north of the existing lot and then expand the P&R out to the highway.