Texasota

I'm well aware of where old Chinatown was; having something other than a sea of parking lots so close *could* have helped it stay more sustainable. 

Every central city in the country suffered massive losses at that time, but retaining some existing buildings, even small scale ones, could have provided the basis for rebuilding with *small* infusions of money. 

None of this is guaranteed; the loss is purely potential that might never have been tapped. But we never got to find out. 

Although again, we have a decent precedent right here in Texas: Deep Ellum. Not saying the neighborhoods are identical, but Deep Ellum is/was composed almost entirely of small two and (mostly) one story buildings and was not in good shape in the 80's. It had a massive resurgence as early as the 90's!

Would the east side of downtown looked like Deep Ellum in 1996 if it hadn't been razed to the ground? Probably not! But it might have been its own unique thing, rather than absolutely nothing.

That's nowhere near this location. If I'm living in one of these apartment buildings next to a gas station I at least want to be able to get a decent breakfast from it.

No, I was not alive. But a lot of great things have been done with random crappy buildings. *Any* remaining businesses and housing would have been better than emptiness. 

Maybe old Chinatown would still be around in some form. Maybe something like Deep Ellum would have developed. Maybe just one of those little buildings would today house the best BBQ restaurant in the city. Who knows? Any potential for the unexpected and unpredictable disappeared along with those "random crappy buildings".

The three links you gave are great examples of small, flexible properties that can be repurposed for a variety of uses relatively quickly and cheaply. That's incredibly valuable and something we are really losing with all these full-block developments.

Uggh. This place had better at least serve decent tacos.

I'm not a libertarian, so I don't 100% speak your language Ross. I can sometime translate, but it's an imperfect process.

My only real point is that reducing that whole side of town to parking lots was a net loss for decades.

9 hours ago, Ross said:

The buildings that were torn down were mostly 1 or 2 story random businesses or homes. There wasn't much of note in that part of town.

Ooooh I like this argument. By extension predominantly single family neighborhoods have little value.

I'm criticizing the teardowns more than the lack of new construction.

And it only took, what, 60 years? Decades of lost potential.

2 hours ago, kennyc05 said:

This might be a dumb question. But is downtown Houston the only major city that has pull in parking you usually see that in smaller cities?

No. Philly for one, but I'd say it's not that unusual regardless of city size.

Now they just need to put a residential tower on top of the bus bays.

I can live with that site plan, and the architecture shown in the concept images is above average. Hopefully they keep to that.

I feel strongly that Riverside/Riverside Terrace should be preserved as much as possible, but this is a vacant lot on the edge of the neighborhood.

In general, I'm much more sympathetic to wanting to save something that could be demolished than to worrying about the impact of new construction on existing "character".

I used to live a few blocks from here, and, in general, would have loved to see more development. More people. More stuff. 

Hopefully these houses turn out above average, but, even if they don't, homes are better than vacant lots.

Always has. There's some storage up there for pieces not currently on display and offices.

That's a photo of the existing complex.

I really like the service alley and the separated garages so everything facing Waugh serves people rather than cars. The building itself is reasonably handsome though a bit too officey looking. If it werent for the balconies it would just be an above average office building. But it's not bad.

I'll forgive a lot of sins for GFR

That would be the "awful strip mall" I was referring to.

I have to assume tear-down is the plan, but until we see a site plan who knows. And until we see shovels in the ground for that matter. Hopefully this won't be another Regent Square.

Phase I, yes. But look at the Phase II and III map.

Ho. Ly. Crap. 

Don't tease me with the redevelopment of that awful strip mall. It's my white whale.

I hate it so much I maybe like it?

I lived in Minneapolis. It is absolutely an oasis but let's not overstate things. 

That Kroger is fine, but this is still a good spot. Something more specialized or maybe a Trader Joe's would do well.

Disgusting. They of all people should do better.

I genuinely wish they had built new, though I'm sure keeping that one attic window grandfathered them in as a "renovation".

This is just ugly.