Big Tex Storage At 4503 Montrose Blvd.

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[clutchcity94]

On 9/25/2022 at 11:32 AM, hindesky said:

Would be cool to see a mural on the grey side facing Woodrow Street.

[j_cuevas713]

Not the ugliest thing in the world and acts as a good sound barrier 

[Houston19514]

50 minutes ago, j_cuevas713 said:

Not the ugliest thing in the world and acts as a good sound barrier 

Hmmm... maybe we should line the freeways with self-storage facilities (only half-joking) 

[004n063]

On 11/3/2022 at 2:29 PM, Houston19514 said:

Hmmm... maybe we should line the freeways with self-storage facilities (only half-joking) 

Put the garages there, too.

[hindesky]

[cityliving]

Backside of the Big Tex Storage on Montrose, it's really not an attractive building to photograph.

[clutchcity94]

They should add some pizzazz to this building to spice it up a little, especially since it’s on a residential block. It’s looking very drab.

[j_cuevas713]

7 hours ago, clutchcity94 said:

They should add some pizzazz to this building to spice it up a little, especially since it’s on a residential block. It’s looking very drab.

I could see a future mural of some kind

Edited November 19, 2022 by j_cuevas713

[clutchcity94]

I wonder how much the billboard company pays for that lot next to the house…such an eyesore.

[MidCenturyMoldy]

Pardon my ignorance on this, I haven’t been following this thread. Is this really being built… a self-storage on Montrose next to the bridge? Honestly, this is the kind of thing that happens so often in Houston and makes me feel more a more like giving up on my hometown. 😩
 

NEVER MIND! I didn’t make it to the last page.  I see it’s already there! 

Edited November 19, 2022 by MidCenturyMoldy

[MidCenturyMoldy]

On 9/10/2022 at 3:28 PM, hindesky said:

 

 

 

HOLY CR@P! 

Sometimes I think Houston developers should be officially designated “domestic terrorists.”

Edited November 19, 2022 by MidCenturyMoldy

[004n063]

Eh, I'm just glad there's something there after what felt like years of empty lottage. I may be wrong, but self-storage seems fairly evolvable.

 

But yeah, definitely not a looker.

[j_cuevas713]

On 11/19/2022 at 2:38 PM, MidCenturyMoldy said:

HOLY CR@P! 

Sometimes I think Houston developers should be officially designated “domestic terrorists.”

It's really not that bad and plus you want this located along the freeway because it acts as a natural noise buffer. This is def not the only place you see this though. There's really nothing special about how Houston builds other than it combines all forms of residential as one group and commercial as another with no sub groups like in traditional zoning. Houston let's the market and the developer determine what get's built and it's actually created neighborhoods that make more sense and are more organic than over regulated neighborhoods in other cities. 

[clutchcity94]

2 minutes ago, j_cuevas713 said:

It's really not that bad and plus you want this located along the freeway because it acts as a natural noise buffer. This is def not the only place you see this though. There's really nothing special about how Houston builds other than it combines all forms of residential as one group and commercial as another with no sub groups like in traditional zoning. Houston let's the market and the developer determine what get's built and it's actually created neighborhoods that make more sense and are more organic than over regulated neighborhoods in other cities. 

I do think it’ll look better when they actually finish construction, fix the sidewalks, hopefully plant some trees, etc.

[MidCenturyMoldy]

1 hour ago, clutchcity94 said:

I do think it’ll look better when they actually finish construction, fix the sidewalks, hopefully plant some trees, etc.

💄on a 🐖

[MidCenturyMoldy]

2 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

There's really nothing special about how Houston builds other than it combines all forms of residential as one group and commercial as another with no sub groups like in traditional zoning. Houston let's the market and the developer determine what get's built and it's actually created neighborhoods that make more sense and are more organic than over regulated neighborhoods in other cities. 

😄 Yeah, I've heard that schpiel before. Listen, much as I'm loathe to admit it, I'm an old-timer Houstonian. The old-timer part is what I don't like admitting. My earliest memory of my hometown is when we moved back in 1962.

Rome is organic. Houston is a mess. But, like the drunken mess of an uncle who looks and sounds like Bill the Cat,

it's our mess and we love it. Most of the time. Some of the time. Sort of. 

OK, we know where to find the good stuff and love the food. And it's getting better. Except for that cr@ppy corrugated metal storage box.

[toxtethogrady]

On 11/18/2022 at 7:28 PM, cityliving said:

Backside of the Big Tex Storage on Montrose, it's really not an attractive building to photograph.

I think the vertical banding tends to get lost at a distance. At least it's not blank masonry.

[MidCenturyMoldy]

1 hour ago, toxtethogrady said:

I think the vertical banding tends to get lost at a distance. At least it's not blank masonry.

“Vertical banding” is such a nice way to describe corrugated metal. 

[clutchcity94]

1 hour ago, MidCenturyMoldy said:

“Vertical banding” is such a nice way to describe corrugated metal. 

Are there any examples of nice looking storage facilities in Houston?

[hindesky]

1 hour ago, clutchcity94 said:

Are there any examples of nice looking storage facilities in Houston?

This is the one I think looks best.

[MidCenturyMoldy]

2 hours ago, clutchcity94 said:

Are there any examples of nice looking storage facilities in Houston?

I doubt it. Which is a good reason not to put any of them directly on Montrose Blvd.

Edited November 23, 2022 by MidCenturyMoldy

[004n063]

20 hours ago, MidCenturyMoldy said:

I doubt it. Which is a good reason not to put any of them directly on Montrose Blvd.

Unpopular opinion: this is nowhere near the worst thing about Montrose Boulevard.

 

Not saying I like the building, and of course Montrose overall is a good example of light, moderately walkable urbanism. But Montrose Boulevard itself is a stroady, car-centric mess, and there are a lot of issues with it that should probably take priority over aesthetic preciousness.

[clutchcity94]

35 minutes ago, 004n063 said:

Unpopular opinion: this is nowhere near the worst thing about Montrose Boulevard.

 

Not saying I like the building, and of course Montrose overall is a good example of light, moderately walkable urbanism. But Montrose Boulevard itself is a stroady, car-centric mess, and there are a lot of issues with it that should probably take priority over aesthetic preciousness.

Give me Montrose Blvd over Kirby Drive any day of the week.

[004n063]

3 hours ago, clutchcity94 said:

Give me Montrose Blvd over Kirby Drive any day of the week.

Oh for sure. Post Oak, too. Basically a highway with urban window dressing.

[Ross]

16 hours ago, clutchcity94 said:

Give me Montrose Blvd over Kirby Drive any day of the week.

 

12 hours ago, 004n063 said:

Oh for sure. Post Oak, too. Basically a highway with urban window dressing.

So, you guys are essentially arguing that Montrose and Kirby should be rebuilt to be one lane each way with a turn lane in the middle? If so, how do people get from the Medical Center to, say, the Heights? Every city has main streets that are 2 or 3 lanes each direction and move lots of traffic from one part of town to another.

[004n063]

6 hours ago, Ross said:

23 hours ago, clutchcity94 said:

Give me Montrose Blvd over Kirby Drive any day of the week.

 

19 hours ago, 004n063 said:

Oh for sure. Post Oak, too. Basically a highway with urban window dressing.

So, you guys are essentially arguing that Montrose and Kirby should be rebuilt to be one lane each way with a turn lane in the middle?

Not necessarily. In my ideal world, both would be redesigned to be more like Main St., with a rail line down the center, and no left turns.

That said, it would be simpler to just improve the pedestrian realm on side streets and remove any regulations that prevent or inhibit pedestrian-oriented businesses from opening there. 

The central issue with Montrose and Kirby and Post Oak (and Washington, and Shepherd, and virtually every other urban arterial in North America) is that they try to perform the antithetical functions of streets (places that serve as platforms for building wealth in the community) amd roads (high-speed connections between places).

And as is universally the case, they perform neither function very well. Tax revenue is low on a per-acre basis (relative to what can be achieved in places with less space dedicated to driving and parking), but overall velocities are also low because of congestion and traffic lights. Moreover, these street-road hybrids (again, you are correct that they're ubiquitous in North American cities) are expensive to maintain and exceedingly dangerous for pedestrians, drivers, and especially cyclists.

If it's not obvious from everything I've written, I strongly recommend the book Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, by Chuck Marohn.