Houston19514
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Everything posted by Houston19514
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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.
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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).
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How does it compare to putting retail into Post Midtown?
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nm
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Personally, I think it takes zero bravery. Just a minimal amount of vision.
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That was a pretty weak article that merely repeated your conclusions, without any backup information or even clarity as to what they mean by profit. I know I could spend time researching. You made the claim, I presumed you would have done the research and have some sources. It appears the article is talking about operating profits. And they are presuming that because companies compete for the rights to operate some lines in Europe, therefore, those lines are profitable. The problem is, from that description, we know nothing about the bidding. What is the government providing in those contracts? Sure, the operator is apparently making a profit, but how much is the line being subsidized? Do you have anything at all that shows that any of these HSRs are covering their capital costs, as you also claimed? If it were true that high speed rail lines all over the world are operating profitably and even covering their capital costs, we wouldn't have to be waiting on huge government infrastructure projects to get HSR in this country. It would already be under construction by the profit-seeking private sector. From what I can find, it appears that there are exactly two HSR lines in the world that claim to have had profits sufficient to cover capital costs. http://www.economist...-speed_trains_0
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Retailers of the sort we are talking about here generally don't build structures for themselves. They lease from developers. For whatever reason (probabaly largely property costs), no developer has built any space for retailers to try there. Landry's built Vic & Anthony's. The two bars and the hotel filled the only habitable buildings that pre-existed MinuteMaid. The two bars, hotel, and Vic & Anthony's have all apparently been at least somewhat successful, so I would imagine there would be leasing interest from other retailers (and I'm talking here about bars and restaurants). Look at what was close to Post Midtown Square before it was built. Nothing. And yet, retail has been very successful there. I cannot imagine why a similar setup could not be even more successful in this location. The absence of retail in a particular block is not proof (or really even evidence) that retail cannot be successful there. Convention goers don't currently go that way for retail (except the retail that is there, Vic & Anthony's) because there is no other retail there. Of course the "synergy" is currently to the west. That's where the only retail is. If there is retail three or 4 blocks from the north end of the convention center, some of the "synergy" will shift to the north. This will be even more true if/when the new convention center hotel is built (which could be completed shortly after the apartments are built.)
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We're trying to make a pedestrian friendly downtown here. Prairie (along with Preston) leads directly from the ballpark to the MetroRail Preston station. Requiring a one-block detour (which adds 2 blocks to your walk) is not the way to build a pedestrian friendly downtown (and is not the way to help retail businesses, if they are included, to succeed.)
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Not close to anything? Are you being sarcastic? Directly across the street from a stadium that has 80+ game days per year 6 blocks from Dynamo Stadium, that will host many event days every year. 4 blocks from one of the largest convention centers in the country across the street from a hotel underneath 324 apartments close to several light rail stops 3 blocks from a likely new convention center hotel They haven't even hired an architect yet. Their plans are hardly set in stone. And it does not in any way necessarily require downscaling the development. They could do bridges acorss Prairie, including possibly buildling apartments briding across the street. They could also add a floor or two to make up any lost scale. Of course there is always the (not unreasonable) hope that the Chronicle just got the story wrong and they are merely seeking the right to put a bridge across Prairie, not to close it altogether.
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Vehicle traffic I am not nearly as concerned about. Closing it off to pedestrians, however, would be a very bad move. No, these are not huge block. In fact, downtown Houston's blocks are fairly small. Imagine a setup like Post Midtown Square sitting across from MinuteMaid Park! (and the retail space that is filled in those blocks would more than fill up what I am proposing for this development).
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Can you provide links or sources for either or both of those claims?
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If you were able, or cared enough, to have ever composed an email to the mayor or a city councilor, you would know that is not true.
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Let's get to work, guys. Here's the Mayor's and city councilors' email addresses: mayor@houstontx.gov districta@houstontx.gov districtb@houstontx.gov districtc@houstontx.gov districtd@houstontx.gov districte@houstontx.gov districtf@houstontx.gov districtg@houstontx.gov districth@houstontx.gov districti@houstontx.gov districtj@houstontx.gov districtk@houstontx.gov atlarge1@houstontx.gov atlarge2@houstontx.gov atlarge3@houstontx.gov atlarge4@houstontx.gov atlarge5@houstontx.gov
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What do you mean "Not necessarily". Did you read the article? It says they have asked the city to abandon Prairie Street. (When I first read that the apartments would cover two blocks, I presumed they would be connected by bridges, but then kept reading and saw they are asking to take over Prairie.) And yes, cutting Prairie off a block further is a biggie. No more breaks in the pedestrian grid should be allowed, especially at this location.
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From the article: "Finger said he has been working with several architects and plans to choose one this week." So, no, there probably are not any renderings quite yet.
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Posted earlier today in the Ben Milam thread: Good news/bad news: Good: more residential in downtown. More Activity in the MinuteMaid Park neighborhood. Bad: they are demolishing the old hotel and asking the city to abandon Prairie Street between Crawford and La Branch. IF the city is prepared to abandon Prairie (and it sounds like they are), they should require at least 2 things in exchange (in addition to money for the property). (1) the city should require that the pedestrian route be maintained along the Prairie path. We should not allow another superblock to cut off pedestrian access to MinuteMaid. (2) 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.
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Good news/bad news: Good: more residential in downtown. More Activity in the MinuteMaid Park neighborhood. Bad: they are demolishing the old hotel and asking the city to abandon Prairie Street between Crawford and La Branch. IF the city is prepared to abandon Prairie (and it sounds like they are), they should require at least 2 things in exchange (in addition to money for the property). (1) the city should require that the pedestrian route be maintained along the Prairie path. We should not allow another superblock to cut off pedestrian access to MinuteMaid. (2). 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.
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I don't think anything has been cut back, YET. The project has always been planned to be done in three phases, with phases 2 & 3 to be done not currently on a firm schedule. Phases 2 & 3 will only be done when traffic warrants.
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Nope. It's not unusual to announce data centers in Texas. We see them all the time here too.
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University Of Saint Thomas/Menil Campus Performing Arts Center
Houston19514 replied to Simbha's topic in Montrose
Wow! Very cool building. I hope it happens. -
I don't think financing is an issue for these guys. They use their own money and are perfectly happy building completely spec.
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Dude, just bringing it in compliance with the Major Thoroughfare and Freeway Plan does NOT mean they plan to make it a major thoroughfare. In fact, Bagby is listed on the MTFP as a Collector street.
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The story on the news was taken directly from Innerlooped. It was just Innerlooped. The vague responses were a little frustrating and ridiculous. But, it is HIGHLY unlikely that this uproar caused the city to abandon its alleged plan to halt work and redesign the project to add a third lane THAT quickly. Cities just don't make moves that quickly and, further, they have contractors on the job who need notices to halt work and re-start work, etc. If indeed work was to have halted within days of the Innerlooped report, the contractors would have been on notice. Seems like that should be something a reporter could track down pretty easily, no?
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I don't recall any specific items. To be honest, I haven't recently frequented your site, because in the past I found it to be unreliable. Perhaps I am remembering incorrectly, but there must have been some reason I didn't frequently return to your site. I just browsed through it now and it looks quite good. I'll probably start visting more frequently. Having said all of that, no matter how you spin it, your report on Bagby was pretty unreliable. Work was obviously not about to be halted and there does not appear to have been any plan to redesign it to install a third lane. I am not buying the suggestion that the petition and fairly mild uproar caused by your posting caused them to cancel a planned work stoppage and redesign THAT quickly. A look at the city's Major Thoroughfares and Freeways Plan is quite informative. Bagby (and Brazos) are designated as Collector streets. Bagby was previously designed as C-4-80, meaning a collector street with the ability to provide 4 lanes of traffic, in an 80 foot right-of-way. At the request of the engineering firm that designed the new Bagby project, I believe it was re-designated last year as C-3-80. Accoring to Midtown's engineers, the street project being done by Midtown is specifically designed "such that if future volumes warrant a third lane the parallel parking along the east side could be removed to create a third travel lane". With that information, one suspects the city may be requiring some minor changes to preserve the ability to convert the east lane of parking into a third travel lane if and when the traffic volumes warrant. As has been noted in these threads and elsewhere, with the availability of multiple alternative (and faster-moving) routes from downtown to the Spur/Southwest Freeway, one imagines it will be a very long time before that third lane is warranted, if ever. Vigilance is called for, as always, but not pitchforks. ;-)
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In my experience, Innerlooped is not a very reliable source. People should get a little more information before grabbing for their pitchforks.
