IronTiger

Oh, it's thread. Please don't search back for all the idiotic things I've said. So...what's up?

Not too bad, in my opinion.

Was your apartment building (I assume it's an apartment building) listed on Swamplot's Daily Demolition Reports? Also, this may sound like heresy, but have you considered moving out of Montrose? I mean, is it more of the fact that you don't want to face longer commute times (always an issue), or is it more of a neighborhood thing (favorite bars, restaurants, shops, etc.?)

I would like to say that if the tunnels weren't there to begin with, I think it would be preferential to have light rail run underground beneath downtown as opposed on the surface streets. Imagine a Main Street with bike lanes and landscaped medians...

Galleria III has been suffering for years. It was never properly connected, and it was awfully empty even in 2008 back when Sharper Image and FOX Sports Grill were still around. Still, I'm a little sad to see it go. Frankly, I'm surprised that Macy's at Sage was able to survive for this long.

I think that since the tunnel system is there (and it's so close) it should be part of it. Parts of the tunnel system don't have anything except connecting passages: the South Louisiana tunnel is the worst since A/C doesn't work, and there's little connections to street level. Skywalks I'm less enthusiastic about since they create visual clutter.

Most of the Discovery Green lot was already greenspace, and demolishing SOME parking lots is preferable to demolishing MOST parking lots. Now, you will notice for most of the parking lots, it is painfully obvious that there are building foundations there. Perhaps a repaving and restriping would serve the area well. Back on subject. Another thing that would probably help in terms of traffic flow is what I would call the Bellfort Tollway. Rather than route all west Houston-bound traffic through the Southwest Freeway, build a parallel road to Bellfort from the southwest tip of 610 to the 59/Beltway 8 stack. The Fort Bend Tollway would also extend north.

I really disagree with the notion that the tunnels robbed the streets of life or such nonsense, as you can argue that such the street level's activity disappeared when sprawl happened and all. Like freeway removal advocates, the worst examples (like Cincinnati) involve poor implementation and maintenance. Are there any apartment buildings linked to the tunnel systems?

It wouldn't be just residents in downtown: it would be Midtown residents and workers, and downtown workers, hence the "tunnel connection" mentioned. The only "gotcha" is the Sawyer Road Target near The Heights. If it's anything close to a success, then it will serve as a catalyst for new residents and businesses.

It's unrealistic to think that Downtown should try to attract upscale tenants (or even supplant Uptown--I think Houston could support two upscale districts). Nordstrom? No, that's not realistic. Target? That's more like it. Would tourists and suburbanites make the trip downtown Houston to go to a Target, even a multi-level one? Probably not, but those living in downtown would. Suddenly downtown becomes a lot more attractive place to live. Retail will build "up": the base "core" components are there: the tunnels and the street levels have convenience stores, a few drug stores, fast food, and a few other items. What if the old Holiday/Days/Heaven on Earth Inn was renovated to include a tenant like Target in the lower levels and be linked in with the tunnel system, and have residential above that? Suddenly, an eyesore becomes a strong downtown anchor, and life continues to spread from there.

I was trying to think of residents living in downtown, and the only thing I could come up with is a few towers (Post Rice Lofts, other apartments) that are mostly upscale. Even Detroit has a building or two with high-end apartments (no idea on the occupancy though), but their downtown is...not very good. In comparing downtown Detroit and Houston (yes, I know the two cities are nothing alike, but let me finish, please), there is a certain set of people that go to sporting events, get drunk, and go home, but that's not exactly the tourism I'm talking about. If a family wanted to go see the Museum District on a weekend (or even a weekday), what incentive is there to hop on the light rail and go toward downtown? (Not much.) There is talk in the "revitalizing downtown" talk about creating a (better) retail district, which will bring in people. Could adding retail both bring in the locals and residents? If GREENSTREET works out, that could be a huge anchor in that aspect. While I have some things I don't like about downtown as it is now (reopen Main Street!) I think it is moving in a right direction.

After seeing sevfiv's work at arch-ive.org, I'm wondering where there's old city directories that describe more accurately what buildings used to be here (the "mystery buildings" listed).

So I went to downtown Houston yesterday. Saw the tunnels (liked 'em, though they were a bit confusing...and S. Louisiana Tunnels need A/C) and the JPMorgan Chase skylobby. Despite being a weekday, street level just didn't seem as lively as I thought it would be. Part of the problem was where I was there was so many shut down buildings: I think a demolished building to my southwest, one was up for rent (empty!), and one was under renovation (when I get my coffee and collect my materials, I think I could tell you where I was exactly). Even the tunnels, while pretty busy with people (mostly getting lunch, of which food court style options were in abundance—though to me they were more spread out than I would've wanted—and I never saw a Whataburger, which I know one exists down there) wouldn't bring a whole lot to downtown's surface unless a bunch of food options were added to street level, which just isn't really possible right now. It's also not really a touristy area: the Museum District had tourists, but the downtown didn't. I think before people want to LIVE in downtown, there has to be tourist options first. The Museum District gets a lot of tourists, but it also is a very fancy area to live (also: Maryland Manor Apartments are gone, and the "Tower of Traffic" signs are back in force, just like 5 years ago!) I think to really get people living in downtown Houston, they have to make it more attractive to tourists, which will bring life, and ultimately permanent residents back to the area.

I actually thought about putting passenger rail in there, but realized that might have complications when getting back to downtown area, and that university along the stretch just wouldn't be right with a railroad blasting through. It's not a simple bus lane, it's more of a BRT, with even railroad crossing-like signals at road crossings. 288 could have instead dedicated HOV/toll lanes. Oh, and I did make a mistake, the railroad's on the other side of Almeda Road. The revised plan would reconnect whatever's on the west side of Reed Road to Holmes, with Kirby taking over the existing Reed Road. Reed Road and Kirby would take part of those abandoned-looking parking lots between Almeda and 288. Kirby will ultimately extend to Anagnost and finally connecting to Beltway 8.

Getting rid of parking lots for the sake of creating pedestrian "green space", especially if the parking lots are still very much in use, is not practical or cost effective.

OK, this is gonna seem a bit nuts, but I'm gonna go with it: upgrade one sidewalk of Almeda Road into a wide "two lane" bicycle path, integrating the Brays Bayou trail with Hermann Park with Midtown and Downtown. This is to close Columbia Tap Rail Trail, as that tends to go through rough neighborhoods, and some bicyclists have even been assaulted. The closed Columbia Tap Rail Trail will then be made into a bus-only route connecting 288 to Interstate 45. A transit center will be built at Leeland and Velasco. Also, extend Spur 5 down to 610, except modify the route slightly to spare the Fiesta and Mykawa Road, instead taking out the vacant Auchan. Finish up the connections of Buffalo Speedway between Orem and Willowbend. Connect Kirby between Holmes and Airport Boulevard. Rename the west part of Reed Road and close off the railroad crossing there.

It's also about getting there the cheapest & most efficiently.

A lot of people point to the existing heavy rail lines in Houston and their connection with the suburbs, which is true, but there will need to be significant upgrades for commuter rail traffic, and the fact that you can't have too many stops. Now, if you got The Woodlands "on board" with heavy commuter rail with maybe a stop near the airport, well, that just might work. A further plan could be that the commuter rail only goes so far as a proposed transit center near Greenspoint, similar to an idea that the Northwest Transit Center could have the light rail end there and have commuter rail go northwest. Problem is people really don't like transfers. Let's say you live in Spring and work downtown. Would you rather drive a car a short distance to the rail station, wait, go down to the transit center at Greenspoint via heavy rail, wait, ride the light rail to make it's way down Main Street (et. al.) to downtown, and then walk to work from there... OR Drive your car a long distance on toll roads (even long ones) and then just park in the parking garage? Even if you thought it was hip to do the former option, most people would do the latter. Besides, with more and more office buildings opening in the suburbs, driving to downtown may not even be necessary anymore.

Read on Swamplot that the McDonald's on Westheimer is renovating, ditching the old mansard roof for the "eyebrow" design (or something along those lines). I'm a bit saddened at this, as the mansard roofs are rapidly becoming an endangered species, and the fact that the Montrose McDonald's seemed twice as big as its suburban counterparts (the store size resembling a fattened square instead of a rectangle on Google Earth). Anyway. Got any pictures pre-renovation, or stories about why it was different? (I heard it was different. Do explain.)

I was able to find again the Chron archives, though I really can't find anything that closed prior to 1994 (I'm assembling a list). There was the Rosenberg mentioned, as well as one in the Greenspoint area, and a few others. The Federal Road one (now a Sellers Bros.) must have closed really early on, as I cannot find anything about it. As for the NASA area one, there was one that's now an Arlan's.

The Pierce Elevated isn't located too far off the ground, right? What if we built small one level retail and restaurant buildings underneath the freeway? The idea sounds a little far fetched, but we're only dreaming right? Alternatively, we could double deck the highway.

I think it is better to have shops & restaurants above ground, with transit (rail) underground, as opposed to the other way around, but the real challenge is two fold. 1) Use what you've got. 2) What are you planning to do? Bring people back to live in downtown? Create a competitor to the Galleria? Become a Manhattan knock-off? Decide those things first.

Not surprised Roots Bistro is closed, considering the "Beer Should be Like Violence: Domestic" fiasco last spring.

edited

Um, if all the money to support automobile infrastructure was diverted to transit systems, then there's no way you'd be able to get anything close even close to 25% inaccessible places (and the infrastructure for everything else would be crumbling), and you've just wasted a ton of money. In fact, the term "automobile culture" is some made-up term to explain the current world's woes. On topic, I really don't think that the Red line should be extended to the airport. I think would be cooler if there was some sort of high-speed system that encircled Beltway 8, that had stops at the airport and the other suburbs. It would be completely grade separated and be faster than the highway, if someone was to go from one of the peripheral suburbs to another.