Houston19514

I have some experience with condo conversions. I think whoever buys to convert to condos will most likely have a long hard sell. There were only 100 sales in downtown all year in 2005 and of those, nearly 25% were under 100k. There are currently over 125 units listed on the market downtown, this doesn't include units not listed on the mls at buildings such as St. Germain and Commerce. If you add the Houston House, you will have 400 more units which brings it to over 500 units for an area that is only absorbing about 75 units a year over 100K. That is a min. of a five year absorption, but most likely it will take them longer to sell out unless their prices are very very low.

Just my opinion though.

I believe Commerce and St. Germain are both on MLS. But assuming your sales figures for 2005 are correct, your point is still a good one. Where can we see sales figures for 2005? Do you suppose sales will pick up as the park and Houston Pavilions come together? If not, what else is holding back condo sales in downtown?

One other thing that may help an absorption time-line for a possible converter... It seems possible they would convert the 394 apartments into some smaller-number of condos.

METRO says: "METRO will study thoroughly all alignment alternatives, including Westpark, Richmond and variations combining the two and adjacent streets."

First, excessive turns slow down any vehicle, whether it be a car, bus, or light rail train. You may drive along a street at 35 mph, but you don't make a right turn at 35 mph. You don't want to have to switch between Westpark and Richmond multiple times just because some people don't want it here, and some others want it there. One or two turns might be fine, but four or five may be too many.

It seems like putting stations at those 90 degree turns (and both Weslayan-Richmond and Weslayan-Westheimer seem like ideal locations for stations), would substantially ameliorate, if not totally eliminate the slow-down caused by the turns. (Because the trains have to slow down for stations anyway.)

METRO says: "METRO will study thoroughly all alignment alternatives, including Westpark, Richmond and variations combining the two and adjacent streets."

Another thing to think about is interconnectivity and future extensions. METRO already has a Transit Center at Hillcroft and Westpark and will have another one at Westpark and S. Rice. There are also Park and Rides further down Westpark near Beltway 8 and Highway 6. If METRO is able to extend light rail beyond S. Rice at some point in the future (like after 2025), you want the current terminus of the line to be in a position to accommodate that. Outside of 610, the light rail line would probably serve more lower density areas than medium-to-high density areas. Therefore, the stations may be further apart and have more parking. METRO already has a ROW and existing transit facilities along Westpark, so it may be better than Richmond (or Westheimer) for any future extensions outside 610. Depending on how METRO designs the junction at Westpark and 610, trains may also eventually be able to go directly from Greenway Plaza to the Galleria (but bypass Afton Oaks) as well.

Taking all these things into consideration, a potential ideal route may be west on Richmond from Main to west of Greenway Plaza, then south along Weslayan or the existing railroad, then west on Westpark to S. Rice.

I think bypassing Afton Oaks makes a great deal of sense as well, and your points about interconnectivity and future extensions are very wise. However, I think you can achieve that AND have a better system in the second phase, by turning North on Weslayan, instead of South, and then go down Westheimer, through Uptown, then loop back down to the South Rice Transit Center, and then in future expansions, on out Westpark. I'll repeat some of my earlier comments in this regard: I think we'd be missing out on too many existing and future transit-oriented developments by not running through that stretch of Westheimer. Also, I think it's important to be able to get from downtown to Uptown with a maximum of one transfer. And, I think the Uptwon area is plenty big (bigger than downtown Denver, etc etc, etc) to handle service from two intersecting transit lines, both running through the core of Uptown.

The following seven streets have been closed at US 59 as a result of the George R. Brown, Minute Maid Park, or Toyota Arena:

Preston

Prairie

Walker

McKinney

Lamar

Dallas

Clay

Granted, someone very knowledgable of the downtown area can find ways to detour via:

St. Joseph Pkwy

Jefferson

Pease

Leeland

Bell

Polk

Rusk

Capitol

Texas

Franklin

Commerce

But when 7 of 18 streets are closed off entirely from the Chinatown grid, and many those that are cut off result in detours through parts of downtown that break the grid (Avienda de las Americas, McKinney, and Lamar), and when you consider that Chinatown is a very loose cluster of Chinese and Vietnamese businesses, surely you can see how an urban novice that works downtown, usually eats in the tunnels, and lives in Katy could get turned around and be easily discouraged. Even among more seasoned urbanites, these facilities have created massive psychological barriers.

What happened to Congress Ave? Oh, the horror of only having 12 streets on which to reach an area! How could a suburbanite EVER figure out how to get over there? ;-) I'm just guessing here, but if a person is so easily confused/intimidtated that they can't or won't venture over a couple of blocks to get around a blocked street, they probably aren't the type to have ever ventured into an area such as the Old Chinatown to begin with.

I agree with Red Scare, it's just too easy to blame outside factors for a business's demise. Long before the addition to GRB and the construction of MinuteMaid Park and Toyota Center, the Old Chinatown was struggling and largely unknown to downtown workers and even more so to visitors. If the businesses over there had ever bothered to get together and promote themselves (with even so much as a few signs pointing in their direction), they surely could have prospered, ASSUMING the quality was there.

Yes Houston is in dire straits of a transportation system. One that includes the metro area. But as far as building a system to handle the needs for 2026 to even 2126 than we definitely tripped out of the gate. Metro and TxDot are terrible at what they do. But they aren't the only ones to blame, the politicians, both parties, and finally Houstonians. That is right, our selves. We all "broke the dam". We want to have our cake and eat it too. We want a reliable transportation system but we dont want to pay for it. I am very suprised that the mayor hasn't requested FEMA to help pay for the rail expansion because of the influx of evacuees in the city and how it is hurting our traffic. And the number of people that live in the city but don't carpool, walk, or take the bus. Along with the ongoing debate of the ever widening freeways that probably won't last long because they will need to be expanded again. The many streets neglected. Does anyone ever wonder if METRO and for that matter TxDot in bed with both the automotive and oil industry. They all meet in a secret bunker underground and discuss how they are going to screw the taxpayers over for the next 20 years. A little electric train that takes up a lane of traffic that averages 35mph and stops every 20ft for 30 seconds that is then held up by red lights also. Along with the frequent occurance of running over people and hitting cars(clearly the faults of the the pedestrians, drivers, and yo-yos who planned the route) is not going to cut it. It only services a select group of citizens. What about the 3 million + that live outside the city limits, and drive 20-40 miles to work, burning gas, clogging freeways. And we are actually arguing about which road the little trolly will take to get to the mall??*%#* That is exactly why this transportation system will and forever fail. We are not Dallas nor Los Angeles. We are the most unique in terms or our city and or our situation. The largest major city in the country in terms of square miles(540),fourth in population, no zoning, and no clue on a transportation solution. The direction this is going the government will find WMD's in Iraq and the middle east will have alreadysubmitted to democracy.. oh and the cubs would have already won the world series before it is solved. Change starts at the bottom.

The "little electric train" is not the entire plan. Next time why not try looking at the Metro Solutions plan before boring us with a ranting paragraph with no point and seemingly no end. Metro Solutions (For your convenience, the plan includes commuter rail.) And, in case you hadn't noticed, Houston already has probably the most extensive and successful system of park and rides/express buses/HOV lanes in the world. No, they are not trains, but they are very effective and efficient mass transit.

(and FWIW, no, Houston is not Dallas or Los Angeles... neither of those cities has or had a starter rail line with anywhere near the ridership that Houston's "little electric train" has.

The restaurants have been pretty badly hurt as a result of the George R. Brown expansion and Minute Maid Park, which resulted in the closure of 5 or 6 streets. The Arena also created connectivity issues. Although there are alternate routes, customer numbers dropped off severely and several restaurants have closed down. Even Kim Son isn't doing as well as it used to.

I'm finding it just a little hard to buy the idea that restaurants are closing down in old Chinatown because people have trouble getting there from downtown. A few streets have been closed over the years, but it's not like it's difficult to get over there. (Only 2 streets were closed for the expansion of the GRB; I'm not sure how many through streets might have been closed for MinuteMaid (2 at the most), but since all of Chinatown is well south of MinuteMaid, I can't see any impact from MinuteMaid.) Kim Son may be cannibalizing itself with multiple Little Kim Sons sprinkled throughout downtown, the Medical Center and Allen Parkway, and with another Kim Son downtown (which I guess is closed now).

Really cool shot.

Niche, this building is 40 stories high, not 30.

And Subdude, I don't think that's Enron I in the background. The building in the background appears to have corners, and appears to be about the same height as Enron II. (Enron I is significantly taller than Enron II.) Which raises the question: is this really a view of west Houston? I think not. I think the shot is taken looking east and the building in the background is ExxonMobil.

METRO and STV engineers have already said that they cannot put a rail junction at street level. It would kill the Richmond / Wheeler intersection. Also, nowhere in the United States do two actual light rail systems cross perpendiculalrly at grade. The operational issues involved are enormous.

Do you have a source for this alleged statement by METRO and STV engineers?

Put it down Richmond. Westheimer would be a nightmare. Where would all that traffic be re-routed while construction is underway?

We're trying to build a system to handle Houston's transportation needs for the next 20-50-75-100 years. If it gets us to the best system for the long term, the pain endured during construction will be worth it, and it would be foolish in the extreme to decline to build the best system because we can't handle a couple years of construction.

I believe its most-recent prior incarnation was as warehouse for Herrin Moving and Storage Co, or something like that.

Actually, the long term (20-25 years) master plan calls for an entirely new underground train system, replacing both the current tunnel train and at least part of the current TerminaLink above-ground train.

I rather not see a hotel at the pavilion site so a hotel could take up another surface lot nearby. Also, is the Hilton Americas suppose to be mixed use? Did they introduce the project with ground floor retail?

No. The Hilton Americas is not "suppose to be mixed use". And it was never, to my knowledge, introduced with ground floor retail. Around the time the hotel was being developed, the city acquired the property in front of the hotel from Crescent Real Estate (the property that now is going to be the park). At that time the city said it intended to try to develop retail on that property,to complement the Hilton and the GRB. Perhaps that is what you are thinking of.

FWIW, here is the entire list of current construction projects affecting IAH's Terminal A, according to the Manager of IAH, Bob White (copied and pasted directly from his e-mail to me):

I will give a brief on current construction affecting Terminal A:

This is a non-story. Somebody at KHOU doesn't understand the Federal New Starts Process.

Here's the deal: projects in the FTA's New Starts process go through several steps before they are funded. First comes Preliminary Engineering, then Final Design, then the Full Funding Grant Agreement, when federal disbursements for construction are actually made.

Right now, METRO has two projects (north and southeast corridors) in the process. Both of them are at the Preliminary Engineering level. They're not anywhere CLOSE to being funded yet. As METRO's own press release states, "METRO did not expect the Administration to propose funding amounts for its projects because those projects are not far enough along in the federal review process."

This is an example of an overzealous TV station making much ado about nothing.

Thank you for setting the record straight.

(BTW, I think you are waaaayyy too kind in your description of the TV station as merely "overzealous.")

They also got rid of what looked like a 2nd Residential tower closest to the rail.

The original plan included a hotel. That's probably what that third tower was.

Maybe, the city could have gotten more in the way of iron-clad guarantees of development in the immediate vicinity of the ballpark. But I think patience is in order. Given the Enron collapse and general economic downturn that occurred just after the ballpark opened, we are perhaps behind where we otherwise would have been. (And add Lofts at the Ballpark to your list, plus the few shops and bar/restaurants right across Texas Ave from the ballpark)

And some of the examples of wildly successful ballparks also took a long time to develop around their ballparks. Cleveland, for example. I have no idea what it's like now, but I visited the area around their ballpark probably at least 10 years ago, when the park was still pretty new, and there was VERY LITTLE around it (except, IIRC, they were blessed with empty buildings, rather than empty surface lots.)

And I'm not sure what they are talking about in St. Louis. Are they referring to the new Busch Stadium that is currently under construction? The plans call for a Ballpark Village to be built after the stadium is done, but it seems a bit premature to call it a success. If they are talking about the Edward Jones Dome, I am not sure what development arose in its immediate neighborhood. If any, it is, I think quite recent.

Another example is Denver. The first time I visited the area around Coors Field, when the stadium was newer, there was very little in the area. That took quite a few years to really take off too. Again, I think some patience is in order for the MinuteMaid Park neighborhood.

Ventana and Calais are not Finger properties. And, Subdude, Finger has already "branched out into highrises" with the Museum Tower.

I would be surprised to see a low- or mid-rise development on this property. I would the cost of the land would require building higher to make it work.

unfortunately, this property has been mentioned in the past as available for possible development. my hope was that it would continue to be a gateway to parkspace from the park shops, four seasons, etc. it will be sad if the park shops renovation "opens up" to the park space and then the finger company sticks them with a view of the backside of some mediocre residential structure.

They (the Park Shops) will have only themselves to blame. Crescent Real Estate (the owner of the Park Shops) owned the subject block for years and just sold it a year or two ago.

I am totally in agreement - running the Universities Line down Westpark would be a missed opportunity.

However, I fear the proposal to run on Richmond to just before the Loop and then switching to Westpark misses some great opportunities as well. I think we'd end up with a much better system (and more highly utlized) if it went down Richmond to Weslayan and then went north to Westheimer, then west through the Uptown area and then south back down to the Transit Center. It would add the whole Highland Village area, the new developments at the HISD HQ property, the new developments along Westheimer between Highland Village and the Loop, the existing properties along Westheimer (eg Hotel Derek, The Grotto) and add East-West service through the Uptown area. I think it might add so much additional benefit, that it might be worth tunneling it to get under the Loop and perhaps part of the Westheimer/Uptown stretch as well (to avoid adding to the existing congestion).

The Houston Club sucks all fitness centers' business downtown...

I guess that explains the new Larry North Fitness in the Houston Center Shops and the new Houstonian Lite (I believe it is called.)

Nope, but then again it holds the long Houston tradition of misnomers. For example The Heights, River Oaks(there is no river near the river oaks).

Let's not get too carried away with the cynicism. After all, the definition of bayou includes "small river" and Buffalo Bayou runs by River Oaks. And The Heights is so named because it is at a higher elevation than most of its surroundings (at least compared to central Houston... The Heights' elevation is 23 feet higher than downtown Houston.)

Anyone have any idea when the blue lights will be turned on for good every night? I've driven down there a lot recently...I've seen the lights that have been installed, but I haven't ever seen them on...

The article linked above says that "The grand opening is planned for May 20." I'm guessing that might be when the lighting will be turned on for good every night.

I have heard that in addition to the Barney's New York in Dallas, they are planning a Barney's COOP in Houston, similar to one in South Beach. Does anyone have any info on this rumor?

Yea, that was announced on September 27. It's scheduled to open this spring.

I believe the Spires also has 40 floors (but is also shorter in height than the Huntingdon).

I glanced over last night from Allen Parkway and it looked like there was blue lighting along the bayou path around the Pierce Elevated. Has anyone seen that?

The footbridge looks close to completion. It like the idea, but the placement seems off. It goes from the back of the Hobby Center garage to the underside underneath the freeway. It seems like a more exposed location would have worked better.

Glad to hear about the blue lighting. The Buffalo Bayou Master Plan includes an extensive and interesting lighting plan (part of the Lighting and Public Art Master Plan). The blue lighting you report sounds like the first stages of the master plan being put into effect.

http://www.buffalobayou.org/lighting.html

Wow. It's amazing to me that none of the big office-supply chains (Staples, OfficeMax, Office Depot) has noticed the potential market of downtown Houston. Sometimes I wonder who is in charge of these places...