CVS Pharmacy On Main St. At Elgin St.

[Jeebus]

Here is one of the ones in Midtown Atlanta:

This is actually nice. Too bad we'll never see one - except maybe downtown, perhaps.

[Mr. Chenevert]

Interestingly, three of the four corners of the building (including both corners facing Main St) have angled corners... I see that as meaning they will have doors.

[Jax]

That sounds promising...

[musicman]

CVS will work with you if you apply the pressure. We did it in the Heights so all I can assume about Midtown is they don't care that much.

pressure is one thing but asking for apartments above becomes ridiculous. if CVS is fairly successful, it can only help for future retail in the area.

[RedScare]

You don't ask drugstores to put an apartment building on top of their stores. You DO ask drugstores to put their stores in the first floor of your apartment building. If Midtown would have asked me to do that, I would have laughed at them, too. It sounds to me like the Midtown people don't know what they're doing, more than CVS doesn't care.

Are these the same people that tried to rename Midtown?

[WesternGulf]

You don't ask drugstores to put an apartment building on top of their stores. You DO ask drugstores to put their stores in the first floor of your apartment building. If Midtown would have asked me to do that, I would have laughed at them, too. It sounds to me like the Midtown people don't know what they're doing

Ditto.

An example from the 1001 Ross mixed use development in Dallas:

[musicman]

An example from the 1001 Ross mixed use development in Dallas:

which is similar to the one downtown across from main street square.

[TheNiche]

Know that I read the rest of the article I see why, because of city ordnances. What I can't understand is the mayor seems like a really nice guy, why don't people complain to him and the city council about changing this and making Houston more of an Urban city inside the loop. Why would the the major and the council reject that? ITS WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Streamlining the urban permitting process is being worked on--it is in fact one of the very few major projects that City Planning has responsibility for at all anymore.

Even still, those who care which direction a CVS Pharmacy faces are very much in the minority, and compared to other problems that this city faces, their complaints are enormously petty. Mayor White doesn't give this a great deal of attention because he's got more important things on his plate.

Edited June 4, 2007 by TheNiche

[TheNiche]

You don't ask drugstores to put an apartment building on top of their stores. You DO ask drugstores to put their stores in the first floor of your apartment building. If Midtown would have asked me to do that, I would have laughed at them, too. It sounds to me like the Midtown people don't know what they're doing, more than CVS doesn't care.

Concur. Most neighborhood activists only know what they want but have very little grasp of how to come about it except by bullying others in one form or another.

[musicman]

Even still, those who care which direction a CVS Pharmacy faces are very much in the minority, and compared to other problems that this city faces, their complaints are enormously petty.

concur! since new retail of this size is basically dead, this is better than what has been happening.

[Jax]

When I was on the Metro yesterday, I noticed that the angled corner that you can see in my photo is indeed an entrance facing the light rail, and there is another on the opposite corner of the building. So it's not going to be as bad as people though - at least it's not going to be an empty wall along the rail. It doesn't appear that there will be a drive through facing the light rail after all. It still would have been nicer to have a CVS in the ground floor of some sort of apartment building rather than take up a whole block, but I think I can deal with this. It will actually be pretty convenient for me and its better than another empty lot.

On another note, I noticed a "coming soon" sign a few blocks south along the light rail in the block after taco-a-gogo where the storefronts are all empty. Does anybody know what that could be?

[Pumapayam]

It is in between being too far from the road, like suburban version, so almost being close enough to the sidewalk.

It was a better compramise, but it still sucks it could not be at street level.

[HtownWxBoy]

When I was on the Metro yesterday, I noticed that the angled corner that you can see in my photo is indeed an entrance facing the light rail, and there is another on the opposite corner of the building. So it's not going to be as bad as people though - at least it's not going to be an empty wall along the rail. It doesn't appear that there will be a drive through facing the light rail after all. It still would have been nicer to have a CVS in the ground floor of some sort of apartment building rather than take up a whole block, but I think I can deal with this. It will actually be pretty convenient for me and its better than another empty lot.

I drove by yesterday and was very happy to see that, also.

[Jax]

Check out this article on the CVS construction and urban development in general.

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/sto...44000%5E1481025

[Jax]

I noticed that the angled corners which we thought would be entrances, are actually not. One of them is just a window (maybe with a display of some sort in it?). The other is a drive through. So I guess there will be no entrance near Main!

While it kinda sucks for midtown, it doesn't surprise me too much. Until the rest of the neighborhood develops (I am talking about the abandoned buildings and empty lots along Main), it's unlikely that anybody is going to try anything risky in this hood. I would have rather seen an urban styled store but if it's cheaper and more profitable for them to do it this way, and zoning laws are non existent, who's going to stop them? Everybody here loves the free market, and this is a good example of how the free market works.

At least we don't have an empty brick wall facing the rail. At least there is a window on one of the corners...

[WesternGulf]

Interesting report. It would be nice to have a city ordinance that called for better land use when building in a (pick a number) block radius of any rail line in the city. With this being Houston, developers will probably avoid those blocks while the boom would happen on the edges of that radius.

[jtmbin]

I noticed that the angled corners which we thought would be entrances, are actually not. One of them is just a window (maybe with a display of some sort in it?). The other is a drive through. So I guess there will be no entrance near Main!

While it kinda sucks for midtown, it doesn't surprise me too much. Until the rest of the neighborhood develops (I am talking about the abandoned buildings and empty lots along Main), it's unlikely that anybody is going to try anything risky in this hood. I would have rather seen an urban styled store but if it's cheaper and more profitable for them to do it this way, and zoning laws are non existent, who's going to stop them? Everybody here loves the free market, and this is a good example of how the free market works.

At least we don't have an empty brick wall facing the rail. At least there is a window on one of the corners...

"at least", that about sums up most development in Houston these days, and since this city's administration demands nothing more and its citizens expect nothing more, we get what we deserve - the least.

[RedScare]

"at least", that about sums up most development in Houston these days, and since this city's administration demands nothing more and its citizens expect nothing more, we get what we deserve - the least.

I'm curious. If there is only one lane of traffic on Main Street in front of this CVS, and a light rail line with no crosswalk in the middle of the block, what purpose would putting an entrance on Main Street serve? There are rail stations to the north and south, meaning that pedestrians must approach the CVS from the sides. Wouldn't a more pedestrian friendly design dictate that the entrances be on the streets on either side, where the pedestrians are, as opposed to Main Street, where they are not?

[Jax]

I agree. At one time we thought the entrances were going to be on the angled corners facing the side streets, but instead one is a drive through and one is a window display. The entrance is on Fannin only I think.

We just didn't want a blank empty wall with some dumpsters facing the rail. I guess instead we have a window display and a drive through, and hopefully a little bit of landscaping.

[spikey2]

I visited this store for the first time today, it is very nice inside and out. While checking out I asked the clerk if the store would be 24 hours one day. The answer was "There's too much action in this area for 24 hours" The clerk say just take a drive down Main to McGowan and come back up Fannin and you will see why. What a shocker! Lots of homeless people and several "working boys" exposing themselves openly to cars on both Main and Fannin why hasn't HPD cleaned this area up. It is wide open!

[lockmat]

I visited this store for the first time today, it is very nice inside and out. While checking out I asked the clerk if the store would be 24 hours one day. The answer was "There's too much action in this area for 24 hours" The clerk say just take a drive down Main to McGowan and come back up Fannin and you will see why. What a shocker! Lots of homeless people and several "working boys" exposing themselves openly to cars on both Main and Fannin why hasn't HPD cleaned this area up. It is wide open!

too much action was referring to the bums?

[musicman]

too much action was referring to the bums?

police action is what he's talking about...the male hustlers have been on mcgowen for quite a while. residents have reported this repeated but guess biz is good cause you see cars circling the block.

[KinkaidAlum]

police action is what he's talking about...the male hustlers have been on mcgowen for quite a while. residents have reported this repeated but guess biz is good cause you see cars circling the block.

Uh, what are you doing scoping out that area long enough to know which cars are circling?

I'd wager to guess that the store isn't open 24 hours because it was built largely for commuters.

[musicman]

Uh, what are you doing scoping out that area long enough to know which cars are circling?

i was given the "tour" by neighbor residents. it surprised me.

[MidtownCoog]

<delete>

Edited October 2, 2007 by MidtownCoog

[MidtownCoog]

It should not surprise you. I think I mentioned this about 4,000 posts ago.

Tuam @ San Jac and @ Main - AA down-low central. Just look for the guys wearing basketball gear, but the balls they hold as you drive by are NOT basketballs.

Where is Wayne Dopechino when you need him?

I bet they could sell a TON of lube!

Edited October 2, 2007 by MidtownCoog

[musicman]

It should not surprise you.

that's why i said surprised. i'm talkin mcgowen though. at least that's where they gave me the tour.

[incurablygeek]

I work for one of the tenants in the HCC building across the street. As far as I can tell, the CVS was built for the residents living east and north along Elgin. A sandwich shop in there would be very welcome as the only thing in the HCC building is cafe Neo, staffed by HCC culinary arts students. Cali is just across the street to the west but something like a Subway would do a bang-up business, at least for the lunchtime crowd.

There is a Subway at Holman but walking there can be scary at times.

[midtownuser]

I work for one of the tenants in the HCC building across the street. As far as I can tell, the CVS was built for the residents living east and north along Elgin. A sandwich shop in there would be very welcome as the only thing in the HCC building is cafe Neo, staffed by HCC culinary arts students. Cali is just across the street to the west but something like a Subway would do a bang-up business, at least for the lunchtime crowd.

There is a Subway at Holman but walking there can be scary at times.

how is the food at Neo Cafe? do you know the menu? hours of operation? thanks

[incurablygeek]

how is the food at Neo Cafe? do you know the menu? hours of operation? thanks

The food is fine, if a bit pricey for an in-building commissary. Their lunchtime hours are 11 to 1 (specials of the day from the kitchen) though the grill is open, I think from 10-2. Burgers, grilled chicken and a selection of prepared sandwiches on baguettes (ham, turkey, tuna, roast beef and the like). Selection is iffy most days -- they're not really a commercial operation.