East River: Mixed-Use Development By Midway

[cityliving]

[hindesky]

The Planning Commission approved the plat where the PHA building, skybridge to the parking garage will be located. I still think the PHA building will be located next to Buffalo Bayou and the parking garage will be to the north of the building even though the rendering seems to show it being the opposite.

[Naviguessor]

You’re right Hi. The rendering is Looking West, not East as it says. 
midway announced months ago the a garage structure would be built on the plot where PoH will have their dedicated structure. 
There is an additional rendering of the PoH building, on the fence which surrounds the building site. Couldn’t get a picture, when I was driving by, or I’d be posting it. 

[IntheKnowHouston]

On 11/23/2023 at 3:24 AM, IntheKnowHouston said:

It appears Kyuramen may be opening an outpost in East River. Earlier this month, an entity was filed for Kyuramen East River LLC. An address was also included: 2920 Riverby Rd, Suite 100. 

Based on the address, Kyuramen will be located next to Lick Honest Ice Creams in East River 1 (Building C.)

Kyuramen is a Japanese restaurant specializing in ramen. It expanded to the Houston market earlier this year. The first Houston area location is in Diho Square (9126 Bellaire Blvd). Another is slated for Shenandoah.


https://www.kyuramen.com

East River announces Kyuramen is coming to the Fifth Ward mixed-use development. An estimated opening date isn't included in CultureMap's reporting.

The press release confirms the ramen restaurant will indeed be located at 2920 Riverby Rd, Suite 100, as speculated last month.


From today's article:

East River announced two new restaurants... have joined its roster. Kyuramen will open an approximately 4,400-square-foot location next to Lick Honest Ice Creams. 

https://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/east-river-kyuramen-la-calle-tacos-1/

Edited December 13, 2023 by IntheKnowHouston

[IntheKnowHouston]

On 11/23/2023 at 4:56 PM, IntheKnowHouston said:

La Calle may be leasing or in lease negotiations to expand its footprint to East River. It's also possible it could be an entirely new dining concept from the La Calle team.  A recent entity filing connected to La Calle seems to indicate a restaurant in the East River development may be a possibility.

If true, the East River outpost will be La Calle's fourth location. The locally-owned Mexican eatery opened its first location downtown. Additional locations are in Midtown (currently closed for renovations) and Garden Oaks.
 

https://lacalletacos.com

According to East River's latest press release, the La Calle team is leasing a unit at the Fifth Ward development. CultureMap reports a new dining concept from La Calle's Ramon Soriano is planned for East River.

Named La Cantina or La Cantina by La Calle Tacos, CultureMap notes the following about the restaurant:


... La Cantina by La Calle Tacos will be a restaurant and bar in a style similar to La Calle's three other locations in downtown, Garden Oaks, and Midtown. The East River location will occupy just over 3,300-square-feet along the development’s central plaza.

https://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/east-river-kyuramen-la-calle-tacos-1/

[IntheKnowHouston]

Along with news of Kyuramen and La Cantina by La Calle Tacos coming to East River, developers also announced an additional tenant today.

CultureMap reports Champions Mortgage is leasing an office space at East River. The company "finances residential mortgages." The article doesn't provide an address or estimated opening.


https://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/monkeys-tail-bar-conroe-open/

[hindesky]

 

The PHA building will be in the grassy area and their parking garage in the dirt area just to the north with a skybridge connecting them.

[IntheKnowHouston]

On 12/13/2023 at 12:34 PM, IntheKnowHouston said:

According to East River's latest press release, the La Calle team is leasing a unit at the Fifth Ward development. CultureMap reports a new dining concept from La Calle's Ramon Soriano is planned for East River.

Named La Cantina or La Cantina by La Calle Tacos, CultureMap notes the following about the restaurant:


... La Cantina by La Calle Tacos will be a restaurant and bar in a style similar to La Calle's three other locations in downtown, Garden Oaks, and Midtown. The East River location will occupy just over 3,300-square-feet along the development’s central plaza.

https://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/east-river-kyuramen-la-calle-tacos-1/

Realty News Reports has further details about La Cantina by La Calle Tacos' forthcoming East River location:
 

Located in a 3,357-SF space with frontage along both the central plaza and bayou park, the vibrant local taqueria serves a variety of fresh tacos, tortas and tostadas. Opening summer 2024, La Cantina’s new East River restaurant will join its existing locations in downtown, Oak Forest and Midtown.

https://realtynewsreport.com/east-river-lands-new-restaurants/

[IntheKnowHouston]

  

On 12/13/2023 at 12:44 PM, IntheKnowHouston said:

CultureMap reports Champions Mortgage is leasing an office space at East River. The company "finances residential mortgages." The article doesn't provide an address or estimated opening.


https://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/monkeys-tail-bar-conroe-open/

Realty News Report's article includes the location for one of the latest tenants announced for East River:


Champions Mortgage has leased 3,414 SF of office space in East River 2 (Building C.) 

https://realtynewsreport.com/east-river-lands-new-restaurants/
 

[monarch]

^^^ my goodness, what a gorgeous overall design.  this is starting to resemble a very posh park directly in front of the bayou.  it seems to be more sumptuous and detailed than the early renderings.  well done @hindesky for these cool illustrations...

[IntheKnowHouston]

There is an update from Realty News Reports regarding the incubator retail spaces at East River:


East River has some remaining 1,500-SF incubator retail spaces are available for rent on the ground floor facing the central plaza greenspace. The  move-in-ready storefronts are intended to lower the barrier to entry for local small businesses seeking to locate at the mixed-use development. East River offers  these spaces to Fifth Ward-owned businesses at a discounted lease rate.

https://realtynewsreport.com/east-river-lands-new-restaurants/

[hindesky]

[__nevii]

If future development were to follow the mold of "East River", then maybe ... just maybe ... 

Edited December 18, 2023 by __nevii

[__nevii]

That said, we do need to watch these eastern developments closely — quite some "surprises" possible.

[abe]

Some shots of the landscaping and the view. 

[IntheKnowHouston]

Nice photos, @abe. Thank you for sharing.

[samagon]

9 hours ago, abe said:

are these storm sewers just laying about, or part of the landscape?

[abe]

@samagon

Definitely part of the landscape

[JBTX]

10 hours ago, abe said:

 

 

Love how they matched this up with the Silos across the water.

[shasta]

On 12/17/2023 at 8:54 PM, __nevii said:

If future development were to follow the mold of "East River", then maybe ... just maybe ... 

yet...Houston manged to "self zone" a huge Medical Center, two giant parks (Hermann and Memorial), a Museum District, a number of downtown pocket parks, two major University Campuses (Houston and Rice), an Uptown, a downtown, a Mid Town, an EaDo and an Upper Kirby District among many others.

These Houston bashers fail to understand that cities develop in layers and it is the connective tissue among the major districts that help make the city charming.

That takes time.

I can guarantee you that Houston, Texas is more developed and impressive  than London, Paris, NYC, etc at AGE 187!

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by shasta

[Big E]

26 minutes ago, shasta said:

yet...Houston manged to "self zone" a huge Medical Center, two giant parks (Hermann and Memorial), a Museum District, a number of downtown pocket parks, two major University Campuses (Houston and Rice), an Uptown, a downtown, a Mid Town, an EaDo and an Upper Kirby District among many others.

These Houston bashers fail to understand that cities develop in layers and it is the connective tissue among the major districts that help make the city charming.

That takes time.

I can guarantee you that Houston, Texas is more developed and impressive  than London, Paris, NYC, etc at AGE 187!

 

That's the one thing that I can't really stand about modern urban planners. They look at cities like London and Paris and act like that that stuff just happened over night, even more so that it was planned. Most major cities in Europe are centuries old. They didn't just become what they are immediately. It literally happened over centuries of construction, with no planning at all, completely haphazardly. What they are trying to do is plan and mold modern cites into resembling these centuries old, chaotically built cities, trying to ape what they are, when what they are is whatever people at the time were capable of building. 

Houston's design, in that sense, fits right along with those cities, considering that Houston came of age during the era of the car, while all of those cities came of age back when the horse was the fastest method of travel. A city can't be designed into becoming London or Paris. You have to grow into that. Anything you attempt to design looks cookie cutter, and fake in comparison, which is what most major "mixed use" projects feel like. No matter how well they are designed, they feel staid and corporate, because they are. They can't recapture the vibrancy of an organically built neighborhood that came into existence over the course of a century.

[j.33]

32 minutes ago, Big E said:

That's the one thing that I can't really stand about modern urban planners.

Which modern urban planner are you talking about? On behalf of urban planners, I dont think any of us think that way in the profession. Now, if you are referencing people on Twitter or Youtube who post content and commentary on cities, that is a different story. That group is vastly different than the people who actually work in the planning industry. 

[Big E]

2 hours ago, Justin Welling said:

Which modern urban planner are you talking about? On behalf of urban planners, I dont think any of us think that way in the profession. Now, if you are referencing people on Twitter or Youtube who post content and commentary on cities, that is a different story. That group is vastly different than the people who actually work in the planning industry. 

Its more a general mentality you see among the urban planning set, yes on Youtube and Twitter, but also from commentators, in blogs, in interviews and articles quoting urban planners, etc. They look at these European cities and say "why can't America be more like that? Why can these European cities be so much better and more "people scaled" while our cities were made for the car?" These cities weren't made for anything. They grew and developed organically over the course of decades or centuries into what they are are. American cities will never look like European cities because America is not even three centuries old. America just celebrated its bicentennial in 1976. It won't celebrate its Semiquincentennial till 2026. Most cities in Europe have existed since long before America did. American cities like Houston came of age when the car was becoming the primary method of transportation. European cities existed before the car was ever even thought of. Most of the policies today accused of pushing car usage (zoning for instance) were the result of urban planning coming in to vogue and attempting to artificially mold and shape cities towards a specific goal, in contravention of the traditional haphazard development that preceded it. They think they can plan their way out of America's car centric mentality and force the issue, when planning got us here in the first place. 

[j.33]

You're right, planners strive to make American cities more human scaled. But that does not mean we want them to be European.  Planners just want cities to be safer for all road users. We want people to have options moving around and to have a choice in their mode and a choice in where they live. We want cities to be livable. We want cities to be vibrant. And we want cities to be enjoyable. It is not that we want our cities to be more European, it is just we want our cities to be better than how they are today :). 

[Big E]

10 minutes ago, Justin Welling said:

You're right, planners strive to make American cities more human scaled. But that does not mean we want them to be European.  Planners just want cities to be safer for all road users. We want people to have options moving around and to have a choice in their mode and a choice in where they live. We want cities to be livable. We want cities to be vibrant. And we want cities to be enjoyable. It is not that we want our cities to be more European, it is just we want our cities to be better than how they are today :). 

And yet planners and commentators are always pointing specifically to Europe, and holding it up as some kind of gold standard, notwithstanding that actual vehicle traffic in cities like London can be downright abysmal. Nobody's really saying you can't have options. But America will never be Europe. Its an ideal we'll never reach at this point. If want to emulate anyone, I think it should be Japan, which basically had to completely rebuild after WWII. But that would mean encouraging policies that the urban planning types and politicians don't like here in America, like privately owned public transportation, and a zoning system that is highly permissive and not dedicated to extremely strict separation of specific zoning types, and "as-of-right" development permitting.

[JClark54]

@abeAre the East River-side trails open for public use yet? When passing, I often see construction nearby.

[abe]

2 hours ago, JClark54 said:

@abeAre the East River-side trails open for public use yet? When passing, I often see construction nearby.

Honesty, unsure. I've only been around the office portion and haven't walked around the full site. For the most part landscaping seems to be fully in. There were only a few plants left that were still potted. Seems like the focus has shifted to correcting things here and there and finishing up the shell buildings. 

[004n063]

3 hours ago, JClark54 said:

@abeAre the East River-side trails open for public use yet? When passing, I often see construction nearby.

I rode it a couple of weeks ago. There is still a longish and rough dirt segment west of Jensen, and the trail is not passable under the Jensen bridge.

[samagon]

15 hours ago, Justin Welling said:

You're right, planners strive to make American cities more human scaled. But that does not mean we want them to be European.  Planners just want cities to be safer for all road users. We want people to have options moving around and to have a choice in their mode and a choice in where they live. We want cities to be livable. We want cities to be vibrant. And we want cities to be enjoyable. It is not that we want our cities to be more European, it is just we want our cities to be better than how they are today :). 

Houston has ordinances in place specifically to make Houston car scaled, cities with zoning have similar rules in residential areas and commercial areas.

parking requirements, setbacks, minimum lot sizes for single family homes. 

these rules were put in place with what I can only assume were best intentions, but they end up creating exactly what we have, car scaled cities. credit where it's due, steps are being taken to try and make it less car centric, see transit oriented development.

as far as European cities always being this way, sure, there is a lot of organic that happened before cars that led them to being walkable, but it wasn't always that way. WWII did a number on many towns in Europe proper, after the war, cities were rebuilt for cars. if you go find pictures of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Maastricht, The Hague, any town you want in the Netherlands from the 60s and 70s they had very much been rebuilt for cars. wide boulevards, parking lots, even urban freeways. two things happened at the same time for the Netherlands, the oil embargo, and kids being run over on the way to school in the mornings.

the people of the Netherlands, rather than saying, oh, we need more street lights, or parents just need to drive their kids to school, or we need more efficient cars, they actually decided car centric society wasn't great. not that cars were bad, and no one should have them, just that continuing to redevelop towns for cars, instead of people, it was dumb. it has taken the better part of 50 years to fix what was done in the 2 decades following WWII.

if you travel to the Netherlands today, you would be forgiven for thinking it has always been a bike friendly, pedestrian friendly place it is now, they have done a great job with legislations and city planning to make it exactly what it is.

[samagon]

one of my favorite stories specific to the Netherlands going car centric, then reverting:

another story of the Netherlands going car centric, then reverting is more famous, the Damrak in Amsterdam (the main street heading from the central station to the Dam (a very active central square), I don't think there's any videos of this transformation because it was more organic over time slowly removing car lanes to add more pedestrian and bicycle areas, but there's plenty of pictures of it in 1980, and then you can also find plenty of pictures from then to now of how it has transformed.

it went from 6 lanes of traffic with a parking lane, now its a 1 lane, 1 way street, 2 tram lines, sidewalks and bike lanes.

and I'm fully aware that these places started life before cars so after they reshaped them to be car centric, it's easier to revert back to what they had before, but the point is not that we can easily make the change, the point is, ordinances and rules are what force the shape to be what it is, ignoring that we've had 100 years forcing the shape to mold to cars and just saying it grew around cars, that's not accurate, or fair.

Edited December 20, 2023 by samagon