IronTiger Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 The difference between Spring Branch and Downtown are many. Spring Branch has long been a state of decline, has been traditionally been more suburban, and hamstrung by being a heavily industrial area (at least Spring Branch East). Spring Branch needs to advertise, but Downtown does not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 The difference between Spring Branch and Downtown are many. Spring Branch has long been a state of decline, has been traditionally been more suburban, and hamstrung by being a heavily industrial area (at least Spring Branch East). Spring Branch needs to advertise, but Downtown does not.Can you please elaborate on why Spring Branch being suburban makes a difference and also why Spring Branch needs to advertise and downtown does not? I didn't quite understand the argument.If I get your drift you're saying SB has more to overcome (but still don't get why it being suburban is a reason to advertise)?Downtown has an excellent reputation for office but beyond awful (general public perception) for residential. In that sense, downtown needs a paradigm shift in thinking in terms of living.Also, I live in SB on the poorer side, north of Wirt. South of Wirt there are great neighborhoods and they're building multi million dollar homes. I'm not sure it's so much east west but I haven't explored touch to the west. East seems okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasota Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 Also a fair point. I'm a big fan of the residential incentives. They've been effective and I think that the cost will end up paying off long term, I'm not strongly opposed to an ad campaign, it's just that I always assume scarce dollars in these kind of discussions. In my opinion, the residential incentives should continue to get a lot of money and additional money should be devoted towards continued development of parks, which have had great ROI in the downtown area, and in enhancing "livability" by improving sidewalks, etc. I just see marketing expense as money that could have been devoted to those kind of things that, in my opinion, provide a better ROI. Your point about model homes is valid, but also recognize that's industry cost, not city cost. I would expect that all the residential development is going to create advertising which publicizes "downtown living" and a lot of news coverage as well. I'd much rather see the city contribute by continuing to increase the number of events downtown and generating publicity from those things. That potentially achieves the same goal and enhances the "livability" of downtown as well. This was absolutely beautifully stated. I think it's easy to forget that an advertising campaign would in fact be quite expensive, and funneling that money into something (like residential incentives or regular events) that itself provides advertising benefits does seem by far the best use of both money and time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 This was absolutely beautifully stated. I think it's easy to forget that an advertising campaign would in fact be quite expensive, and funneling that money into something (like residential incentives or regular events) that itself provides advertising benefits does seem by far the best use of both money and time.I see y'all's point and it's a very good one, but isn't that like McDonalds not running ads because they're focusing on building a better business and that money could be better served improving operations and food quality? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 Can you please elaborate on why Spring Branch being suburban makes a difference and also why Spring Branch needs to advertise and downtown does not? I didn't quite understand the argument. If I get your drift you're saying SB has more to overcome (but still don't get why it being suburban is a reason to advertise)? Downtown has an excellent reputation for office but beyond awful (general public perception) for residential. In that sense, downtown needs a paradigm shift in thinking in terms of living. Also, I live in SB on the poorer side, north of Wirt. South of Wirt there are great neighborhoods and they're building multi million dollar homes. I'm not sure it's so much east west but I haven't explored touch to the west. East seems okay. Spring Branch and Downtown are different, that's what I'm trying to say, and they have advantages and disadvantages. Spring Branch has some okay areas and less okay areas, and some of those areas give it a bad reputation. Downtown's urbanism gives appeal to some, Spring Branch's less urban areas is trying to appeal to those who want to live a fairly suburban lifestyle (Protip: some of the yards of suburbia aren't very large at all) while having a dramatically reduced commute time. Depending on where you live, you could easily access a variety of supermarkets and other stores including IKEA, Walmart, the Bunker Hill HEB, the Villages Kroger, Home Depot, Lowe's, Costco, the 290 Randalls, and more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasota Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 I see y'all's point and it's a very good one, but isn't that like McDonalds not running ads because they're focusing on building a better business and that money could be better served improving operations and food quality? No, because Mcdonalds is an established business. Downtown, essentially, is not. It needs to build itself to certain self-sustaining point first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Why not make the developers fund it then? The city is giving them a lot of money as incentives, I think that it would make a lot of sense for the city to then be able to dictate as part of that agreement that a certain amount of their advertising budget is spent in promoting a downtown lifestyle. Not sure if anything like that was written into the deals, but could be a win/win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasota Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Wouldn't that be by default though, particularly for residential projects? Anything I've seen for Downtown or Midtown emphasizes an "urban lifestyle" of some sort at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Wouldn't that be by default though, particularly for residential projects? Anything I've seen for Downtown or Midtown emphasizes an "urban lifestyle" of some sort at least. Yep. Nearly every inner loop apartment complex that's relatively recent. Before it burned down in a spectacular fire a week or so ago, Axis Apartments (their website is down for obvious reasons), I believe it was pushing the whole "upscale urban living" angle, which isn't unique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdotwill84 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Maybe not geared toward Downtown, but a marketing campaign nonetheless. http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2014/04/07/ghp-unveils-new-image-campaign.html (repost from swamplot) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
downtownian Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 After this wave of residential buildings are completed, Downtown Houston may be the most dense Houston neighborhood. According to the formal boundaries of Downtown, its area is 1.6 square miles but the area is only 0.7 square miles if you exclude the Warehouse District north of the Bayou and the Louisiana St office corridor which may never be 24/7 activated given its corporate lobbies. Before this wave of residential, Downtown had total population density of 1,532 people/square mile and “Core” population density of 3,481 people / square mile. If everything planned gets built, Downtown will have total population density of 5,038 people / square mile and “Core” population density of 11,444 people / square mile (Assuming one person per unit. If you want to assume greater than 1 person per unit, just multiply your assumption by density). Compare this to 77006’s (Midtown / Montrose) density of 8,720 people / square mile per 2010 census. I’ve split the residential projects into six sub-neighborhoods detailed in the attached map: 1) South Downtown; 2) Ballpark; 3) Market Square; 4) Discovery Green; 5) Main Street; 6) Warehouse. Before the Downtown Living Initiative, there were just 2,437 units in total Downtown. If all these projects are completed, South Downtown alone will have 2,833 units and the Ballpark area will have 2,087. South Downtown is also the least certain of all the sub-neighborhoods – it has a number of planned projects that are not yet under development. I’m excited to see how these sub-neighborhoods interact with each other and how they will support each other’s development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Huge Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Awesome post buddy!You put alot of work into this, I'm sure the board will really appreciate all this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Based on 2011 data, Uptown in it's entirety has a population density of 5,464 per square mile. I wonder how updated information along with several residential towers coming online soon, would compare. Anyways really cool info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonIsHome Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 I dunno. The gufton ghetto still has some seriously dense zip codes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 I dunno. The gufton ghetto still has some seriously dense zip codesIt's not ghetto the people are very friendly i go there 5 times a week to train for boxing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LS27 Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Gulfton is besides the point. I am interested in seeing not only how Downtown alone develops, but if we can start seeing higher density in the neighborhoods immediately around downtown and seeing some more mid and high rises, along with more urban type development. Still plenty of underutilized blocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Don't feed the trolls, guys. Responding just eggs them on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 not to get off the topic of the gulfton ghetto, but downtown is comprised of a lot more land than just what's bounded by the freeways, according to SN standards anyway... it includes all of the EaDo area, and also extends a bit beyond I-10 to the north. not that it makes a big difference informally, which what you picture is exactly all of what is considered downtown in conversation, but I assume the census data is referencing the literal boundaries of neighborhoods, IE super neighborhoods. anyway, here's a super zoomed out map of the super neighborhoods.http://www.houstontx.gov/superneighborhoods/snmapsbyzip.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Don't feed the trolls, guys. Responding just eggs them on.Thanks for cleaning up the thread, it even still flows correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 It's not ghetto the people are very friendly i go there 5 times a week to train for boxing.Slik, I do believe ghetto us a relative term. I personally believe it is ghetto but others may have a different opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonIsHome Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Don't feed the trolls, guys. Responding just eggs them on.I hope you were not implying that my post was trolling cause it is very much on topic to mention an area that is much denser than the projected density figure for downtown when the topic of the thread is downtown being the most dense neighborhood. Downtown offers a standard of living that the gulfton ghetto will never match, but I doubt I will live to see downtown matching gulftons density levels.EDIT: don't want to derail the thread or anything but I lived in the SW for about 10 years and that is what gulfton was referred to. I Am NOT Calling Gulfton ghetto. That is the informal name of the neighborhood. Google Gulfton ghetto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 My deleted Rocky IV post was a real gem. RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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