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Houston19514

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  1. Houston19514
    Very interesting and useful discussion. But I'm trying to make sense of your schedule numbers. Some of them appear to be incorrect. Metro P&R: The 7:58 Kingsland P&R bus is scheduled to arrive at Smith & Prairie at 8:28. Exactly 30 minutes; not 34 minutes. Assuming your 26.6 miles is accurate, that gives us 53.2 MPH, not, the 46.9 MPH you quoted. TRE: I can't determine which stations you are proposing to travel between in your TRE example because there is no 7:41 westbound departure in the TRE schedule. It seems reasonable to compare full route to full route. So I looked at going from Dallas Union Station to the Ft. Worth Intermodal Transportation Center. The distance between the Dallas and Ft. Worth stations (straight shot along I-30, not following the train tracks, because that the straight shot distance is what the passenger is interested in travelling; the fact that the train takes a slightly roundabout route and covers more miles is irrelevant to the passenger) is 31.5 miles. The 7:45 train from Union Station takes 1:02 to get to Fort Worth T&P Station. 30.5 MPH. Union Station to the Hurst/Bell Station is closer to the mileage you quoted (I will use your 27.2 miles) and it would be 7 stations total, as you discussed. But the travel time at 7:45 AM is 41 minutes, not 38. 39.8 MPH, not 42.9. Real Numbers from Real Life. ;-)
  2. Houston19514
    No. The plan is to have one-seat rides available from the University Line to Uptown.
  3. Houston19514
    Why don't you just tell us what happened to Bogota BRT?
  4. Houston19514
    Yes, I did see that link. Where did you learn that they have changed the landscaping plan?
  5. Houston19514
    Source?
  6. Houston19514
    duplicate post. Sorry
  7. Houston19514
    Yes, they do. Huge numbers live downtown. BUT, pretending that Chicago and Houston have similar development patterns because they were established the same year is disingenuous. The fact is, Chicago had its boom years very early in its history and became a major city in the pre-war (i.e., pre-auto-dominated) period. Totally different history and development pattern.
  8. Houston19514
    M2M "actually" moved a long time ago across the street to the shopping center with Berryhill. I believe they were fairly recently locked out of their space by the landlord... Are you saying the same people who owned M2M now own Fashion Studio?
  9. Houston19514
    Chron article seems to confirm that the hotel will be a JW Marriott.
  10. Houston19514

    IAH Vs. DFW

    Houston19514 replied to wxman's topic in Planes

    For purposes of comparison, IAH currently hosts 13 airlines (with a 14th scheduled to start service next year), serving approximately 71 international destinations.
  11. Houston19514
    I've been watching that building too. Was hoping it might be incorporated into the hotel.
  12. Houston19514
    How is it even possible for the complex to put all the units up for sale? Was there something in their condo docs that specifically allowed that? That is not normally allowed is it?
  13. Houston19514
    Union Station is about 5 floors Union Station is about 5 stories.
  14. Houston19514
    That would be good. Marriott has apparently been getting more and more into the downtown market in recent years. Courtyard and Residence Inn followed by adding Hotel Icon to their Autograph Collection. Don't be surprised if the new convention center hotel ends up with a Marriott badge (e.g. Marriott Marquis) But we still need Kimpton downtown (and one Uptown as well)
  15. Houston19514
    As you know, the "but one" person to whom you are referring has not once suggested that Marvy Finger has not done right by downtown or that he probably has a much better idea of what will be successful than I do. But facts can get in the way when you want to activate your strawman factory to make personal attacks, can't they? I look forward to seeing Marvy's vision. My only point all along is that the city should NOT be abandoning downtown grid streets without requiring/assuring that the resulting development fits in with the city's vision for downtown (i.e. at least substantial street level retain). That's all. Again, as I have said before, if the city does not abadon the street, then it's up to Marvy's vision, pure and simple.
  16. Houston19514
    That's exactly what I was thinking when I sort of accidentally suggested rooftop retail. I just recently read about a new development next door to a major league stadium, I think St. Louis, that will have a rooftop venue to which they will actually sell game tickets. But that apparently couldn't work here, because, you know, a restaurant three blocks away failed. And three blocks away in another direction, another restaurant failed . ;-)
  17. Houston19514
    Interesing factoid: The One Park Place development planned by Trammel Crow included 17,000 squre feet of ground floor retail. The location is pretty clearly a better location for retail now than it was 10 or so years ago (because of the addition of BBVA Compass, the addition of the new apartments across 59, the coming additional light rail stations, the fact that the GRB is now approximately 1 block closer; the fairly likely addition of a new convention center hotel 2 blocks away. . .)
  18. Houston19514
    Wow. Way to misquote, dude. "They should require ground floor retail space, preferably on all sides of the project, but most definitely along the Prairie pedestrian path and along Crawford and Texas."
  19. Houston19514
    Again, the closer you come to the actual site we are talking about, the more successful the venues seem to have been. See, B.U.S., Home Plate Bar & Grille, Vic & Anthony's. Sites like LaBranch and Preston, Commerce and Crawford are symptomatic of the problems with downtown. A grouping of restaurants/bars/retail has a LOT better chance of success than an individual restaurant surrounded by parking lots, with no connectivity to anything. Generally, I am all in favor of letting developers decide for themselves. HOWEVER, in this case, the developer is asking the City for a huge favor. The City should not be abandoning streets in the downtown grid without making sure they are geting the best possible development of that space, in keeping with the city's vision for downtown. i.e., require some ground level retail in exchange. If the city says no to abandoning Prairie, then the city has no bargaining power and it has to be left to the vision of Marvy Finger (who I am happy to say, appears to have a lot more vision than a lot of participants on this board.)
  20. Houston19514
    Yeah, did you notice the word "preferably"? LOL If you continue reading through the thread you'll see I was totally focused on Texas, Crawford and Prairie.
  21. Houston19514
    I'm not sure where the idea came from that I would require retail on all four sides. The most important are (1) Crawford and (2) Texas. Hopefully also Prairie. Make provisions for future retail on Preston. I know we haven't seen the plans yet. Hopefully, Finger is already contemplating retail on all four sides and the roof (j/k although, it could be a fun idea, being across from the ballpark. . . ). This whole conversation started with my suggesting that if Finger wants the city to abandon Prairie, it gives the City the opportunity to make sure this development contributes as much as possible to the desired urban fabric of downtown Houston (i.e., keep a pedestrian path along Prairie and have as much ground level retail as possible). Personally, I would not even count this as a big win for downtown if it does not include retail at least on Crawford. I would count it as overall perhpaps a slight plus for downtown, but a huge lost opportunity. The reasons people on this board are throwing up to show that retail can't be successful on this site would apply just as well to the idea of putting apartments on this site. And yet, here comes Marvy Finger, building apartments on this site that is "close to nothing".
  22. Houston19514
    Oh, you do love your strawmen, don't you?
  23. Houston19514
    Dude, by your own account, everything has NOT failed. And the closer you get to the actual site we are discussing, the higher the success rate has been. B.U.S., Home Plate Bar & Grille, Vic & Anthony's... all successful (at least to the extent they are still open). Crawford and Commerce? Then let's throw in Texas at Austin, where I believe Irma's Southwest Grille is still open. The neighborhood really has a pretty good track record going, considering we are talking about an industry with a VERY low survival rate. Agreed all 4 sides of the buildings is probably not practical. (They also have to have room for parking garage entrance ramps, loading docks, etc.) I envision retail on 3 side of the south building (Texas, Crawford and Prairie) and two sides of the north building (Crawford and Prairie). Hopefully also building it so that a third side of the north building could also be converted to retail at a later date.
  24. Houston19514
    Plus at least 5 days of college football, plus many days of other events at BBVA Compass Stadium, plus many days of events at the GRB, plus people who stay at Inn @ the Ballpark, plus people who come to the Stadium for tours on non-game days, plus the crowds staying at the fairly likely new convention center hotel. . . Why is everyone ignoring the fact that the little bit of retail that has opened in the area has stayed open (i.e., apparently been at least somewhat successful), with the single exception of that Bell restaurant? Also, wasn't Post Midtown one of the earlier complexes built in the Midtown rehab (i.e., I don't think there were anywhere near 25,000 residents surrounding it when it was built with retail on the ground floor).
  25. Houston19514
    How does it compare to putting retail into Post Midtown?
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