Jump to content

Medical Office Building At 4460 Bissonnet St.


Recommended Posts

Are being developed

Nothing to write home about, but thread worthy perhaps. the eye center looks kinda cool.

http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/tebor79/NewBitmapImage-4.png

The Eastern Lot:

http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/tebor79/IMG_0401.jpg

The Western:

http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/tebor79/IMG_0402.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...
  • 4 years later...
  • 3 months later...

I really like the building and the plaza, but the 4 story garage that is separate from and has a slightly larger footprint than the 3 story building is so Houston. Love this city, but my God we must have the highest ratio of parking spaces to building use on the planet.

 

Of course, I say that and I think this is technically Bellaire...so there is that. I guess it's true that you are who you surround yourself with.

Edited by por favor gracias
  • Like 3
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, por favor gracias said:

I really like the building and the plaza, but the 4 story garage that is separate from and has a slightly larger footprint than the 3 story building is so Houston. Love this city, but my God we must have the highest ratio of parking spaces to building use on the planet.

 

Of course, I say that and I think this is technically Bellaire...so there is that. I guess it's true that you are who you surround yourself with.

 

 

I heard Houston has something like 30-40 parking spaces for every car in the city. One of if not the highest ratios in the nation.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A whole lot of griping about garages, surface lots, anything to do with parking. I know someone who relocated to Chicago to go to law school. She has a car, but doesn't dare use it. Why? Because if she gives up that parking space, near her apartment, it's gone permanently. The infrequent time she uses her car is only when she can arrange to have a friend pull into the spot when she pulls out.  Pick your poison. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, there's a wide range between the two extremes. Houston will never be like that because there aren't any neighborhoods where almost everyone has to park on the street. The City could ban all off-street residential parking today and it would take decades for any neighborhood to get anywhere near that situation, if it *ever* happened. 

 

People aren't going to agree on what constitutes the right balance, but I think it's generally safe to say that way too much of Houston is dedicated to parking rather than an actual active use.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it's generally safe to say that way too much of Houston is dedicated to parking rather than an actual active use."

 

Neither government, well at least cost-conscious government, nor business is going to the expense of providing parking that will not be used by its residents or customers. They decide the best use of assets belonging to them, not posters on this site. If anyone believes a parking lot, parking garage, etc, is an inefficient use of that land then buy that property and make a ton of money refitting that land to its proper calling. 

 

You make a fair point about the two extremes. I think that is true. My opinion, however, is simple. Don't like something, do something about it. Complaining about how other people choose to deploy their assets/property accomplishes nothing. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure what the point of this site is supposed to be then. Property rights don't preclude other peoples' right to criticize a property owner's decisions. And since the city government sets parking minimums, making it known when you disagree with the decisions elected officials make is entirely appropriate.

 

Anyway, the idea that either government or business operates as a perfectly rational actor is a strange one, since decisions in both ultimately are made by human beings. We are notoriously only occasionally rational, and we have a hard time with long-term planning in particular. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, jmitch94 said:

 

 

I heard Houston has something like 30-40 parking spaces for every car in the city. One of if not the highest ratios in the nation.  

I guess it "makes sense" that a car-centric city would have a high ratio, and I'm sure we have legit analytics for it, but one the surface, that sounds excessive.

 

Just as a heads up in response to arbpro, I'm obviously not griping about "anything to do with parking." Of course parking is a necessary function whether you're in NYC or Freeport, TX. My concern is this kind of excessive or inefficiently designed parking to the point where it's detrimental to responsible planning, especially since it happens a lot in the city I love the most. I understand that 1) there are height restrictions here and 2) developers generally care more about money than the communities they build in...but we all have opinions and shouldn't have to buy a piece of property in order to criticize decisions developers make or regulations that limit them. We live here, we pay taxes here too, and many of us care about how our city is built, plus the environmental/traffic/flooding issues that will ensue. I assume that's why everyone is on this forum to some extent. There actually are a ton of parking lots/garages that aren't used close to their capacity in Houston, and yes, I wish the city/developers would do better in those (and many other) cases. I don't think it's true that complaining accomplishes nothing. The more this kind of stuff is brought to light, the more our "leaders" and developers are likely to listen, as long as it's meant constructively and you're not just being a total jerk or something.

 

I wonder what the cost difference would be in cases like this (w/o the obvious height restrictions, of course) if they only used half the land and built the building on top of the garage, and then what the difference of property taxes would be after 10, 20 or 50 years.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bellaire's code calls for 3 spaces per 1000 sf for commercial uses.  Houston's code is more detailed, and requires 3.5 spaces per 1000 sf for medical clinics.  

 

Still, the aesthetics on that garage aren't anywhere near what the office component has... they could have done better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 "Property rights don't preclude other peoples' right to criticize a property owner's decisions"

 

You misconstrue. I'm not saying you can't complain. Complain all you want. But complaining about parking garages is pretty much identical to complaining about the weather. It's not going to change anything!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure why you'd assume that someone who complains on a forum like this *isn't also* trying to do something about it. 

Besides, this is partly a cultural issue, and the way you start to change culture is to talk about why you think something needs to change. It doesn't have to have any impact on this specific project to still matter.

 

Anyway, I don't have a real problem with this design. The garage is big, but it's exactly where I would prefer it to be, access is off of secondary roads, and the site plan seems generally perfectly reasonable. I'd like to see more like this - maybe with some sort of active use integrated into the garage as well though. Or even just a nicer looking garage. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/4/2019 at 11:41 AM, Texasota said:

Well, there's a wide range between the two extremes. Houston will never be like that because there aren't any neighborhoods where almost everyone has to park on the street. The City could ban all off-street residential parking today and it would take decades for any neighborhood to get anywhere near that situation, if it *ever* happened. 

 

People aren't going to agree on what constitutes the right balance, but I think it's generally safe to say that way too much of Houston is dedicated to parking rather than an actual active use.

That's because there is no current "active use" that makes economic sense for many of the parking lots. You might prefer that the owner build some super attractive building, but if there's no tenants willing to pay the rent necessary to make a profit, then the owner goes bankrupt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...