Does this new 4-story apartment complex that Dallas apartment developer Duke, Inc. is planning along the west side of Hwy. 6 just south of I-10 look a little urban to you, what with its sprinkling of metal siding, balcony action, and all those decoy pedestrians hanging around in front? Take away the high-speed car traffic racing by and the actual configurations of things and its setting might seem so too. Immediately north and slightly west of the site, fronting the Katy Fwy., are the Energy Crossing I and just-built Energy Crossing II office buildings. Cross Hwy. 6 on foot — not an actual suggestion; we’re just imagining here — and you can wander through the quaint little restaurant village along Grisby Rd., anchored by the original Lupe Tortilla. Heck, even Sam’s Club and the Waffle House are just a leisurely stroll north, across I-10!
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A more realistic pedestrian option for residents — if they can get to it — will be the George Bush Park Hike and Bike Trail, which skirts past the southwest corner of the property, fronting Barker Reservoir. And north of that, the developers are keeping a 1-acre greenspace along the complex’s west side.
The rendering above of the 293-unit Energy Core Apartments showed up on the website of its architect, Meeks + Partners. A variance allowing a reduced setback along a new access road along the western edge of the almost-5-acre site was approved by the city last week.
Rendering: Meeks + Partners. Site plans: Brown+Gay Engineers/Duke
I recently lived near this place, in a subdivision blocks away, protected by a barrier. You can hear tires going over breaks in concrete on SH6, the crack-pop of the range near the George Bush Park, and the incessant I-10 racetrack. Noise-cancellation headphones will be de rigeur!
Anyone moving here would have to care zero about WalkScore-type amenities. It is too bad Highway 6 would present a pedestrian-hostile barrier to those Grisby restaurants. At least the residents would be on the same side of the highway as MyFoodPark HTX, half a mile south. (Also — (1) The ZIP code for this spot is probably either 77079 or 77084. (2) Sam’s Club relocated to the corner of Richmond and Eldridge last fall.)
Don’t knock it! This is an up and coming area. The property values near Bear Creek are up considerably.
Except for the fact that the Sam’s is now closed and relocated to Eldridge/Westheimer.
Not to mention, easy pedestrian access to a variety of personal care establishments where you’re guaranteed a “happy ending.”
Seriously though, this part of Hwy. 6 (the west frontage) has been crapola for a long time, so it’s nice for it to be getting some upgrades more in tune with the rest of the Energy Corridor. But the impediments to pedestrian access pointed out in the post are very real. A bridge across the drainage channel to reach the trail would be most welcome. A safe pedestrian crossing underneath the overpass on Grisby even more so. Still, not the ideal location I would have chosen for a project designed as urban and pedestrian-friendly.
I hope they are planning soundproofing the hell out of the apartments. It’s very noisy when you are that close to Hwy 6.
Who freakin cares…its outside the loop
elseed, the middle loop is slowly getting its own little pockets of cooldom and has a lot of potential to be amazing in the 21st century. So much space, so many buildings to knock down. Envision the possibilities.
Another weird location for this type of housing. Wayyyy too noisy and just a really ugly area. George Bush Park is a flood retention pond masquerading as a “park”–it’s hardly Memorial. Lots of corporate HQ’s in this area, but I’d rather live on Eldridge south of I-10 if I had to live in this area –Highway 6 is so damn ugly.
The nice thing about building in that area is its very easy to assemble HUGE amounts of land (and it’s cheap) to pretty much build whatever you want.
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I think you’re going to see a HUGE slowdown inside the loop — at least in prime areas — as the land is not only expensive (people paying $100/ft to knock stuff down), but it’s just not possible to assemble the size of lots that you need to put together something big.
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That said, this seems PRETTY far out. Though to be fair I’m one of those ILS (inner-loop snobs) that puts about 2k miles on my car a year so this location is just an x on a map I’ve only seen online.
Watson’s Pub is directly East, on the other side of HWY 6 of this site. If there were a pedestrian walkway connecting the development to the east side of 6 that spot would be golden. Also, the bike/running paths in the area can get you as far east as the City Centre, west as far as Fry rd.