This was the scene yesterday on the southeast corner of Richmond Ave and Cummins St. near Greenway Plaza, where the Redstone Companies and Hansen Partners are planning to build a new 11-story office building and 5-level parking garage with — if a Planning Dept. staff report describing the project is correct — an attached 5-story retail center. The development received planning commission approval last week for a reduced setback along the 2 streets that meets with planned but not-yet-approved standards for transit corridors; if Metro’s stalled University Line ever gets built, it’ll make its get-off-of-Richmond turn at this same corner. Accordingly, in documents submitted to the city, the developers appear to be holding out the undescribed retail portion for some later date: [Only] “the office building and related parking garage to be built on this site are nearing the time that a building permit will be required,” the variance application reads.
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Crews have made quick work of buildings on the site, which included a couple of single-story office structures. They received demolition permits last Friday. A site plan submitted as part of the variance application says the garage, which will include a basement level, will hold 545 cars, and that the project will measure 187,970 sq. ft. in total:
The plan, created by Philip Ewald Architecture, shows garage entrances along Portsmouth St. Rail tracks are shown just beyond the curb on the development’s northwest corner.
Photos: Allyn West; Site Plan: Philip Ewald Architecture
This will be a nice improvement. Traffic has gotten really bad at this intersection, might need a red light there since the Costco and new apartments traffic is so heavy
5 Story parking garage with one story of retail….
I still think Metro should force the rail all the way down Richmond to Rice Blvd. It’s less expensive to build, more direct and simply more intelligent
I agree. It is absurd for the rail to turn there. It needs to go to Rice or at least Post Oak blvd. then people could switch to the new bus and go anywhere on Post Oak they like. There needs to be a reason to leave your car home, and right now there isn’t. And conventioneers could get from the Galleria to GRB without a car/taxi.
^ Y’all are forgetting about the train tracks that cross Richmond already. The whole point to turn off of Richmond is to go a wee bit south to Westpark, take that over the tracks, and then connect with the Uptown Line that will go down Post Oak Blvd.
Since we’re talking about LRT… my 0.02$ would be to forget the Richmond plan & make an express line from Wheeler Station, down the empty right-of-way paralleling 59, straight out with no stops ’till Greenway Plaza or so. That would provide a super-quick connection to the Galleria via the Uptown line, and further to Hillcroft. To take care of the local needs, elevated rail on (above) Westheimer- the 81 & 82 are way more packed than the 25, and it would provide a good connection through Midtown / Montrose / River Oaks / Galleria.
Just a pipe-dream, though. Houston doesn’t have the motivation for Rapid Transit projects like that the way, say, Denver or Atlanta does. Maybe a few decades from now…
Anyways. Godspeed to Redstone and Hansen on their office tower, may it one day be serviced by LRT (oops, there I go again, talking about RT)
Wow, a whole 11 stories! lol