Downtown Houston 2025 Master Plan

[flatline]

The renderings of the park are great. I'll try to post them soon.

We're going to hold you to that! Can't wait to see them. . .

[barracuda]

If they work on 45, they should build it below-ground level like they're doing to 59. The pierce elevated is an eyesore.

[ssullivan]

If they work on 45, they should build it below-ground level like they're doing to 59. The pierce elevated is an eyesore.

Even better, give us a "big dig" like Boston got with I-95 putting it in a tunnel completely out of sight.

But realistically, that's not going to happen. I think the Pierce Elevated it here to stay, unfortunately.

[ricco67]

actually, I think one day it'll go away, depending on construction techniques. I wouldn't rule it out, but not in OUR lifetimes.

Ricco

[Astro]

If they work on 45, they should build it below-ground level like they're doing to 59. The pierce elevated is an eyesore.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's funny, I think the Pierce Elevated looks fine the way it is, one of the better looking freeways we have... especially since it had it's makeover a few years ago... it has a kind of sleek modern look now.

Building it underground would be ridiculously expensive and a huge waste of money. Especially tunneling it underneath Buffalo Bayou?!

[Subdude]

Sorry, but in my book there's no way an elevated freeway is nice looking. They wall off neighborhoods and create dead zones underneath. On top of that, the Pierce goes right through what should be parkland on the bayou, and is dangerous to boot with several left-side exits and entrances. Tunneling it under Buffalo Bayou is hardly an engineering feat beyond the scope of technology. Sure, ugly is always cheaper, but that doesn't mean beautification is a waste of money.

[Houston19514]

largeTexas, where did you see renderings of the park? It seems a little surprising that there would be renderings when the article said that design work will being in 2005. But of course we all know how much faith we should put in a newspaper...

[elecpharm]

The park design is scheduled to begin in 2005. Construction will being in 2006. City officials are hoping the park will be a downtown amenity to attract convention-goers and visitors as well as a magnet for high-quality, mixed-use urban development with residential, retail and uses to complement the convention center and sports facilities.

Fort Worth-based Crescent is the largest property owner in downtown Houston with 11.2 million sf of office space. The REIT is in the middle of selling off non-core assets, and to that end, placed 11 acres of downtown land in Houston up for sale earlier this year. Crescent acquired the land about six years ago in conjunction with Houston office acquisitions. In August, the REIT sold 2.5 acres of developable green space in the 3.3-million-sf Houston Center to an un-named European buyer.

By Jennifer D. Duell

[NYC Texan2]

This whole project is just really overblown. The comparisons to Central Park are absolutely ridiculous. If this city treats it like the other parks, it's hopeless. My local park at White Oak Bayou and Studemont is a mix of bad planning, no budget and just total neglect. You would think the city would want to make up for a lack of natural beauty with some nice parkland, but instead it's like pulling teeth. There's no way "Millennium Park" is anywhere in the city's vocabulary. We will be very lucky if it doesn't turn out like Market Square, which is so ugly and useless that it can't make downtown housing grow up around (or anyone even walk in it . . . ever) despite its excellent location.

[jmancuso]

what's wrong with market square? i agree, that DT park is way overblown.

[firstngoal]

This whole project is just really overblown.

[NYC Texan2]

I hear you on the negativity, so apologies . . . but the $80 million isn't money they are going to spend to develop the park, just acquire it. If I had more time, I would definitely be more involved, but here is what they need to have for a great urban park (and given that it is right in front of the convention center and its hotel, I think we can all agree that they absolutely must make a positive impression on visitors that will overlook it . . . . And the park should invite people out to eat lunch there from inside the building). Ergo, here's a list of what a great urban park should have from a guy that just moved from walking distance to Central Park:

1. Old-fashioned wooden benches curving (yes, curving) along pathways (they should have people sponsor them like they do in Central Park--that's an idea they really should use)

2. A playground with a water fountain / sprinkler feature for hot summer days

3. A small pond or other water feature

4. A hill or two for variety

5. A broad formal lawn in one section

6. Lots of azeleas (play to our strengths)

Here is why Market Square is useless as a residential magnet:

1. No playground

2. No benches that don't face the street

3. Paths that just cut through the block -- they are made to go from A to B, not to wander

4. That horrible, horrible whatever in the center. It is not attractive, and there is no one who would really care if their condo overlooked it or not.

5. Lack of any water feature to hold interest that doesn't face the street (or other feature other than the horrible #4)--there's nothing that nivites you into the park to discover anything

I think the Park would lend a very attractive, master planned look to the area, which is all good. I just think that the City Parks Department is in a financial straightjacket and unable to do anything really first-rate.

[bachanon]

thank you , thank you, firstngoal. in a city where private development reigns (which i support) it's wonderful that this park is in the works. it's easy to list ideas for a perfect park; however, it's not easy to get the city to create a downtown park. the idea for park bench sponsorship is ideal. let's not wallow in imperfections. i'm happy it's being done.

my biggest concern is the development around the park. please, please please, developers.......first story cafes and/or stores opening out towards the park!!!

[largeTEXAS]

The rendering I was talking about is just a preliminary drawing of the type of park they expect to build. I'll have to scan it at work next week, so it'll take a few days at least. Central Houston gave out booklets at the meeting last week. In it were renderings of the park and other projects around downtown. Call Central Houston and ask them to send you the booklet of the entitled Houston Downtown Development Framework.

[SpaceCity]

This is exciting.

[dbigtex56]

the redeveloped park at Waugh and Memorial (name escapes me)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think it's called Spots (sp?) Park.

[Houston19514]

The articles I've seen are not entirely clear on the point, but my impression was that the $80 million was the total projected cost for acquisition and development of the park. Do you have other information?

I hear you on the negativity, so apologies . . . but the $80 million isn't money they are going to spend to develop the park, just acquire it. 

[largeTEXAS]

Here's the document from Central Houston:

http://www.houstondowntown.com/Home/Breaki...Downtownin2025/

[MontroseNeighborhoodCafe]

INDUSTRY WRAPUPS

From the October 29, 2004 print edition

Business & Government Beat

Downtown district ponders plan to entice merchants with money

Jenna Colley

Houston Business Journal

Tax abatements aimed at large corporations are no longer the only game in town for some city planners. Financial incentives aimed at smaller retailers have become the latest buzz in the Central Business District.

Luring merchants to locate downtown is key to developing urban viability, claims the Houston Downtown Management District.

The organization is dickering with other downtown advocacy groups over a plan that would offer financial incentives to retailers who agree to peddle their wares downtown.

Although the management district has yet to officially approve the measure, it will be considered at next month's meeting.

If passed, the grant program will be factored into the organization's budget and available for prospective retailers by Jan. 1, 2005.

President Bob Eury says the district's incentives won't be directed toward bars, restaurants or clubs. Instead, the largesse will go to retailers who deal in "soft goods" such as apparel, books and art.

The group hasn't talked to particular retailers yet, opting instead to kick off the program before shopping around the incentive.

Both Washington, D.C., and Dallas have offered similar programs to lure merchants into the urban core area. Those arrangements will provide the framework for the Houston program.

"Obviously there is not an endless reservoir of money," says Eury. "We are going to have to target the types of retailers we want to go after."

Those retailers include street level vendors open on the weekends as well as during the week, he says.

This wouldn't be the first time the management district has doled out cash incentives to retailers.

In the mid-1990s the group offered similar grants ranging from $25,000 to $100,000. But when the money ran out, the program fizzled.

Grants can't be the main driver behind a project. Eury says the group is looking for retailers that already have financing in place.

While refusing to put a specific price tag on the planned grants, Eury says the cash wouldn't be given out lightly.

"It's a grant program on a case-by-case basis," he says. "We will have very specific guidelines and criteria. We are not just handing out money."

[Subdude]

I'm really curious to see how this program works out. Is good that they are excluding bars and clubs, since they may run the risk of impeding residential development. Also I like that it is targeted at street level vendors.

[ssullivan]

I'm really curious to see how this program works out.  Is good that they are excluding bars and clubs, since they may run the risk of impeding residential development.  Also I like that it is targeted at street level vendors.

Same here. And the fact that it's targeted to retailers who will be open on nights and weekends.

[suzerain]

Same here. And the fact that it's targeted to retailers who will be open on nights and weekends.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think the problem here is you cannot leave it to independent DT groups. Like the article said the program runs out of money and the program fizzles. What really needs to happen is the city needs to be the one to get behind the effort. We bend over backwards in granting abatements to companies moving to town why can't we do this for the DT district. We grant the tax incentives because we compete with other cities around the country to attract companies and their workers. We need to realize the core of our city competes with the outlying suburbs as well. We need to lure the retailers into the cities and stop the flight out in the suburbs.

Suzerain

[LTAWACS]

this is agood thing

[Subdude]

I think the problem here is you cannot leave it to independent DT groups.  Like the article said the program runs out of money and the program fizzles.  What really needs to happen is the city needs to be the one to get behind the effort.  We bend over backwards in granting abatements to companies moving to town why can't we do this for the DT district.  We grant the tax incentives because we compete with other cities around the country to attract companies and their workers.  We need to realize the core of our city competes with the outlying suburbs as well.  We need to lure the retailers into  the cities and stop the flight out in the suburbs.

Suzerain

Houston has always been eager to spend on infrastructure development, but not for what might be perceived as

[suzerain]

Houston has always been eager to spend on infrastructure development, but not for what might be perceived as

[Sunstar]

Check it out:

Video

[713 To 214]

Yeah, I saw that the other day. I think it needs some work though.

[bachanon]

Envisioning a Livable City

by Stephen Sharp

The idea of living in downtown Houston is no longer a joke.

In fact, the potential for residential development in the Central Business District has completely altered predictions for downtown over the next 20 years.

The study by Powers Brown Architecture took three groupings of downtown land and investigated several models for configuration of high-density housing. The High-Rise, Mixed-Use Development (1) is centered around Main Street. The High-Rise, High-Density Development (2) is just west of the George R. Brown Convention Center. The Low-Rise, High-Density Development (3) is clustered on the south side of the Toyota Center.

High-Rise, Mixed-Use

High-Rise, High-Density

This much is clear: the era of newer, taller office towers is over. The new vision for downtown foresees high-density pockets of high-rise and mid-rise housing developments occupied by 20,000 residents by 2025.

The 2000 U.S. Census brought the future into focus. For the first time, as demonstrated by the latest federal statistics, the population inside Loop 610 grew at a higher percentage rate than the population outside the loop during the 1990s. Though surprising to many, those figures verified a trend that Houston's development community already was following. Release of the 2000 Census prompted the Houston Downtown Management District (better known as the Downtown District) to commission a survey in 2003 to update statistics from 1993 and 1998 on how Houstonians perceived the downtown area. The 2003 survey indicated that 16,400 housing units could be sold or leased in downtown and the area just to the south called Midtown. While that represented the potential for a significant upswing from the current population of 2,500 residents, the survey's findings also sent a clear message to stakeholders that the inner city was unprepared for what appeared to be Houston's next chapter.

Despite the many recent improvements and additions to downtown - including the initial 7.5-mile line of a sleek light rail transit system, a $62 million streetscape project, a 40,000-seat baseball stadium, a 1,200-room convention center hotel, and a two-venue performing arts center - much more work remained before Houston's inner city could be truly livable. (Many of those projects, completed in the last two years, grew out of ideas that emerged a decade ago from the "Designing for Change" program that teamed AIA Houston with the Downtown District.) Houston's expected evolution would require infrastructure upgrades to handle high-density residential development, as well as quality-of-life enhancements such as parks, schools, retail, and services. And with the downtown's extremely limited stock of historic buildings already converted for residential use, the need for new residential buildings was obvious.

To begin envisioning how residential development could fit into the existing urban matrix, the development community (under the auspices of Central Houston, a nonprofit coalition of businesses interested in maintaining a thriving downtown) put together six task forces and a steering committee to plot a course for the future. Guy Hagstette, AIA, an executive with Central Houston, coordinated the effort, which included the Urban Form and Urban Design Task Force. One of the members of that task force is Jeffrey Brown, AIA, a principal with Powers Brown Architecture. Brown's firm eventually was hired by Central Houston and three associated groups to undertake a series of studies to determine possible configurations for high-density, multi-structure residential developments in three areas within the CBD. Parameters varied widely for each of the three developments, but all shared some of the same requirements, such as access to public spaces, adequate parking, and proximity to mass transit. Of course, development costs would have to be minimized to ensure that those Houstonians who wanted to live downtown could afford the rent or the mortgage. As Hagstette said recently, "The challenge is getting the right product at the right price."

The study by Powers Brown is divided into three residential developments, with each responding to unique sets of criteria.

High-Rise, High-Density

The study of the nine-block area west of the George R. Brown Convention Center explores different land uses, including how to incorporate an existing, privately owned greenspace located directly in front of the convention center. Brown's firm developed several potential configurations, with each preserving views west toward the center of downtown. This aspect of the project is anticipated to create 3,000 to 5,000 residential units (about 1,100 sf, with two bedrooms) in several high-rise buildings, perhaps some as tall as 40 stories. This segment of downtown is expected to be linked to other parts of downtown , as well as to the rest of the city, by a future light rail line.

Low-Rise, High-Density

Located south of the convention center and the Toyota Center basketball arena, the architects have amassed eight blocks on either side of Pease Street. The biggest challenge to residential developers is the relatively remote site, which is not included in any future plans for light rail. The low-rise structures would be limited a height of 75 feet, allowing for buildings as tall as eight floors. The number of potential residential units is 2,500 (also about 1,100 sf).

High-Rise, Multi-Use

The 12-blocks on either side of Main Street at the southern end of downtown is different in that it mixes residential with offices and other types of spaces. The proposed scheme includes three or four high-rise buildings along with other mid-rise structures. The total number of residential units is 3,500. The light rail link already is in place and the neighborhood is served by two existing Metro Light Rail stations.

Rather than calling his firm's project a master plan, Brown prefers the term "a framework of development scenarios" to describe the study of aggregating blocks of private and public land into three distinct areas with specific uses. "For us the real issue became the ability of each pattern to stimulate or accommodate the variability of real market conditions," says Brown, underscoring that the study had less to do with aesthetics than efficient land us and incentives for development. The main consideration, he says, is the long-term economic viability of the future developments and the residual effects on downtown as an interconnected community.

The overarching objective of the work of the six task forces, according to Hagstette, is to plan far enough ahead for Houston - with the fourth largest population in the U.S. - to remain competitive in the international marketplace. "For Houston as a whole it has to have an urban lifestyle to compete globally," Hagstette says. The new paradigm for all U.S. cities is urban residential, he says, and Houston has set its 2050 goal at 20,000 urban residents, which city leaders consider the necessary number to sustain retail and other downtown amenities. The work so far has produced critical results - light rail, a thriving theater district, two sports arenas, the convention center hotel - that allows Houston to take the next step forward. "The vision is more exciting than what we've already done, " Hagstette says. "Now we're creating a city."

Focus on Quality of Life

Creating a livable city involves more than developing residential blocks. The future inhabitants of downtown Houston will desire a quality of life much the same as their neighbors enjoy beyond Loop 610. Recent improvements and plans for more improvements in the near future to enhance to the downtown experience.

Richardson Place A $62 million streetscape project in a 90-block area stretching across the north end of downtown was completed last year that altered sidewalks to make them more pedestrian friendly, as well as adding many new on-street parking spaces. The Cotswold Project, designed by Rey de la Reza Architects, also added numerous landscaping and public art features to the street scheme that extends from Buffalo Bayou to Minute Maid Park. With water as one of the project's themes, artists created 12 fountains--eight along Preston Avenue and four on Congress Street. Sidewalks were widened to make room for the fountains, with the largest measuring 14 feet tall. Another major improvement project is intended to make Buffalo Bayou into an urban amenity. In 2002, the nonprofit Buffalo Bayou Partnership produced a master plan for 10 miles of the neglected urban waterway that is hoped to help achieve that goal.

The master plan envisions a mixed-use neighborhood at downtown's East End. Richardson Place (above) is planned to provide opportunities for varying densities of low-impact residential development flanking a wide, tree-lined pedestrian mall.

Gable Street Landing Gable Street Landing is planned as a major new entertainment district center and northern terminus to the Crawford Street "Super Boulevard." The project provides an inviting link between Buffalo Bayou's waterfront and the district around the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Another downtown project is the North Canal, which will be designed to accommodate caf

[Talbot]

That sounds very nice, but some of the things they are planning like the different sections of the city for certain development, won't that need some sort of strong ordinance that doesn't allow for a developer to plan a taller building in the low rise area?

[bachanon]

Actually, these proposals are simply studies to conceptualize a greater urban fabric downtown. The architects used certain parts of downtown that are undeveloped as their canvas. It is unlikely that these specific proposals would come to fruition as planned.