- 500 Crawford Apartment Community Across from Minute Maid About 40% Leased So Far [Realty News Report]
- Checking in with Downtown Living Initiative-Spurred Residential Development [HBJ]
- First Phase of Valley Ranch Town Center To Start Opening Next Month [HBJ]
- 5-Acre Plot Between Highland Village and River Oaks District Will Become a Park Until Economy Can Support Mixed-Use Development [HBJ]
- Mod Pizza Has Opened 5 Houston Locations, 7 More on the Way [HBJ]
- Houston One of the Best Places in America To Start a Business [CNBC via HBJ]
- Why the Quest for ‘High Opportunity’ Housing May Destabilize Communities and Schools [The Urban Edge; previously on Swamplot]
- Have We Reached a Tipping Point on Flood Mitigation? [Off the Kuff; previously on Swamplot]
- Harris County Flash Flood Watch Extended to Tonight [Houston Public Media]
Photo of Spindletop: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
regarding that temporary park replacing kiran’s – why wouldnt the landowner just keep the structures and continue collecting rent if they arent ready to build anything on it. seems like theyre walking away from a lot of money by demolishing that center without having anything better to replace it with. i wondered the same thing about those office buildings that got demoed at kirby and 59. theres no way anybody’s going to build anything new there to replace it anytime soon, so why not keep the existing buildings and collect rent in the meantime?
Anyone else have suspicions that this 5-Acre temporary park is just a way to avoid paying some taxes on this property until they are ready to develop it? Isn’t this the same thing that is being done with that parcel on W Dallas and Montrose that has the impossible to access soccer fields and volleyball nets?
Almost 3000 new Downtown residential units being born during an oil slump and it’s so far so good apparently. If the economy/stock market tanks soon it will get interesting.
I’m wondering if the new 500 Crawford pleasure deck on the 7th floor will have a view of the field when the Minute Maid Park roof is open? It sounds as if the building will be visible behind left field from inside the stadium.
JJ got it. I would also add the cattle pastures that have to have water trucked in at I10 and I believe Katy Fort Bend.
If oil companies and other large corporations didn’t abuse the agricultural tax cut, maybe some of these rural areas in Texas may not have school funding issues? Houston is considered a “rich” district so we lose taxes to other areas in the state – Galveston and other surrounding Houston area school districts do, too. (this is in reference to the “pasture” that JJ referenced that has the water trucked in)
There are no benefits to claiming an agriculture or open space exemption for a short term. And, if the land converts to a non-exempt use, there is a recapture of as many as 5 years of the tax reduction, plus interest. It’s actually pretty difficult to get an ag use exemption in a city. I assume the property where water is trucked in is doing that to maintain the historical exemption
REGARDING THE STONELAKE LUXURY DEVELOPMENT INTERMISSON PARK ACROSS THE RAILROAD TRACKS FROM HIGHLAND VILLAGE. Whatever the motivation for the creation of the temporary green space, it’s a good thing that the demolition crews spared the trees, and that the park is coming. It will add value to the future residents of The Ivy and The James, and improve quality of life in the neighborhood. Probably there will be a dog park component and residents will appreciate walking their dog to do what dog do without first having to hop in their car, come down the garage, and head into Westheimer or San Felipe traffic in search of canine-suitable outdoor space. Perhaps there could even be a little lake framed by real stones with an associated naming and brand-promotion opportunity (think “Stonelake”) to complement all the ivy currently planted on banners and boards.
@JJ if i recall the WDallas lot was claiming religious non-profit to skirt the taxes. Once pressured about it they put up a volleyball court that has never been used.
@matx Actually you would be surprised how many rural schools in oil producing areas area actually are on the ‘Give’ Robin Hood list rather than the ‘Take’. It was shameful what robin hood did to some of these schools. In these areas there was NO correlation between school income and household income. In was one of the few cases where low income had access to ‘wealthy’ schools. Robin Hood law robbed that.
RULE OF REX AND ROBIN HOOD
@Rex: Now who do you say we should feel for, the poor kids that hit the bonanza and don’t get to keep it all for themselves, or the poor kids-period? Or the kids that are born with a silver spoon or at least a golden bonanza already drooling from their mouths? Poor little things. By George. Where should we now channel our outrage?
Who really needs protection from Robin Hood and who needs equity or at least minimum funding standards, in public schools located in property-poor districts? — From Robin Hood, if no one else farsighted enough will provide it in the absence of a philosopher-king … Or are we just making an argument in favor of avarice-maximization on the backs of petrochemical-plant-propinquent poor kids for moral suasion?
Now, if the argument is that the emission-rich school- districts that are also flush with dollars should have and keep more to spend more than average because their kids can’t breath, that would be a different argument; –one whose merits should be examined separately. Perhaps put together a blue-ribbon commission on at-risk refinery-adjacent minors, some blue-haze bevy of experts.
Parks are not good for the IRR. 🙀