IronTiger

You're right, sometimes development happens along corridors, sometimes it doesn't. As for DART, I can't see some of those heavily industrial railroad corridors it parallels redeveloping anytime soon. I think the talk there was more in reaction to the "rail is good/freeways are the enemy" rhetoric that's been going on. Construction dates are rather amorphous (I think it ended up taking 3 years of real construction), and it may have been funding (states aren't made of money). It's possible that more money got redirected to it because it was a toll road. Frankly, I didn't bother to sift through the dozens and dozens of articles on the Katy Freeway expansion, as it was first discussed back in the early 1990s. The only thing that they really didn't do was do congestion pricing (that was definitely part of the original plan), and I would love to see that implemented for the HOT lanes.

Kinda chuckling at the "Innovative & Timeless" sign on the fence below. Really--they pretty much destroyed the facade of the building and rebuilt it in something similar to what it originally was. I wonder what restaurants or shops will be in the street level though. And was it ever connected to the tunnels?

From West Houston Archives, I found this shot: I think that the "only open for a year or two" may have stemmed from that there must have been a renovation/rebrand around 2005 that added a new facade and erased the Pantry name from it, as it isn't on that shot.

It looks so terrible there now, wish something was to be built (heard it's an industrial park). Also, a bit unrelated, but what's going up between Best Western and Texas Roadhouse in that area?

No activity? I can't remember going anywhere in Houston that didn't have a decent amount of people. Riding on the light rail, Downtown evening, Downtown working hours, Memorial Park, Uptown, Kirby, Montrose, TMC, Rice Village, and much more. If you want a claustrophobic crowded, ultra-"urban" experience, go elsewhere. In fact, every time someone says that Houston isn't "urban" enough, I cringe. It's just code for "I want Houston to resemble the Northeast" without actually saying it.

Wasn't there something planned for the block bounded by Texas/Fannin/Capitol/Main?

That sucks. I wonder if they'll ever finish it (Fish & The Knife took 3 years, apparently), or if it will just rot like that until enough people complain.

That's a dangerous proposition--foreigners move into a unique area and proceed to remake it in their own image. Oy vey!

I know this post may sound inflammatory, and let me just get this out of the way: there are plenty of deteriorating commercial buildings and unimpressive townhomes in Houston, but to me, this takes the cake. Right here, off Camden Drive, right near Hermann Park and 288. These are relatively new, built around 2004-2005, and I just can't express how awful they are. Every bland townhome, outlandish 1970s building, "modern" disaster, and run-down building has nothing on these. What are your nominations for the ugliest building?

I don't think he made them up. He just misinterpreted what was there, just like the article cited in a different thread where he mistook the "lanes for potential rail" as "they took railroad out of Katy Freeway plans". Everyone makes mistakes like that.

It's essentially a neighborhood with lots of touristy, mall-like attractions. And when they closed off part of Broadway, the progression is complete! Seriously, I can't see what you would want between Discovery Green and GREENSTREET, given that your examples are nothing alike.

I guess they either accept it for what it is, or stay there.

Here's an idea: convert the Sears into "Sears Hometown" store, which would keep the Sears name and merchandise but disconnect it from Sears Holdings' ownership. Hopefully being semi-independent would allow the new owner to renovate the building inside and out.

This thread has just made me realize that since 2003, I've been to Greater Houston no less than 10 times (plus a few that I'm leaving out). Dallas? Just 2. Also, "segregation" is a really loaded word, and the graphs try to make it seem like most cities are "backwards" in terms of race relations—though the only real "integrated" places are college campuses in terms of race. But they are definitely segregated by sex, and there's very few people above 24.

Wrong. Complete streets do not have parallel parking necessarily, they just have to accommodate pedestrians, cars, and bikes. Even a Google search of "complete streets" often lack parallel parking in most cases.

"Complete streets" don't necessarily have parallel parking. I could imagine a scenario if a bike lane was installed at the expense of a lane (and making a larger median) or thinning of the median for a bike lane...but either way, as interesting as "complete streets" are, it shouldn't hijack much needed repairs of existing roads. If that's really the case (which I hope it isn't), the sorry conditions of the road are what the voters got.

All cities are significantly segregated to a certain extent (colored dots, but it's more of a majority thing, not "No [people] in this area". Frankly, I can't think of a city anywhere that doesn't have segregation of some sort.

According to Swamplot, Doc's Bar & Grill (former Wendy's) was supposed to open in November. However, I can't find anything on it on Yelp or whatnot. Is it cancelled, delayed, or what happened?

This may come as a shock to you, but repairing the road would be cheaper than installing light rail down it. Regarding Bellaire, I understand the time it takes it rebuild it (2 years for a widening and rebuild isn't too unusual, I remember the extensive widening Texas Avenue in College Station went through a few years back) but they at least maintained a turning lane.

If cards are played right, it might become a "transit-oriented mall", like Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore. The Macy's probably won't be reopened, especially with the corner cut of the ROW cutting so class in like that. It will never be a regional shopping mall again, that's for sure.

Richmond Avenue is largely a mess. I can't remember where it was, but I remember a pothole right near the curb that you could see where people were practically jumping onto the sidewalk to avoid it. Someone more familiar with the area could probably tell me where I'm talking about.

What did this building replace?

You know I was being facetious when I said that they were aligned with Satan, right? Clearly you must have missed the memo. Just because you don't like a politician's plans doesn't make them automatically corrupt.

There was never a true plan to add rail down Katy Freeway, that was wishful thinking by opponents. The compromise was to add lanes with infrastructure that could support rail, but that's just that--rail support. Over here in the "far northwest exurbs", the "West Loop" (Harvey Mitchell Parkway) was designed with extra ROW so that the railroad could be rerouted down it. tl;dr, "lanes designed to accommodate rail that ended up just being regular lanes" is a big difference between "they had railroad in the plans until they dropped it at last minute".

Reading about how the Sears in Six Corners, Chicago, recently celebrated 75 years last year (it opened 1938). Could a similar event happen for the Midtown Sears this year? I hope so.