A NEW BUILDER FOR THE ASHBY HIGHRISE 
Though it remains to be decided in a court of law whether the 21-story Ashby Highrise will deprive nearby Boulevard Oaks homes of sunlight and rain, there now seems to be a firm at least agreeing to build it: Prime Property’s Nancy Sarnoff reports that Pepper-Lawson Construction has signed on, replacing Linbeck, which decided to back out of the project earlier this year. The Maryland Manor Apartments, shown here standing in the way at 1717 Bissonnet, started coming down last week. [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Candace Garcia
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People who file frivilous lawsuits should be ordered to pay the legal bills of the defendant after it is thrown out. This will still a lot of this crap
Can they also get another developer and architect.
They should make it a mixed use building, containing a specialty french fry cafe on the ground level.
” containing a specialty french fry cafe on the ground level”
Yeah cuz the neighbors will LOVE the smell of the cooking and garbage as well as the sound of the food and trash trucks picking up and delivering!
Harold:
ALL HAIL THE ASHBY FRY-RISE!!!
They could name the cafe “Fries, Ashby, Fries!” The business logo, which would look great on plates and fry containers, could be the one from the “tower of traffic” sign. The fries would obviously have to be krinkle cut, like really long versions of Nathan’s fries. It would be a gigantic success driven by its novelty and, also, the support of people like me who find the Ashby protesters indulgent and selfish.
At this point I’d like to see the developers build a new building and offer it all free of charge to Star-Of-Hope, Covenant House, and Cenikor. Maybe a bunch of rooms for homeless vets too. And a halfway house.
Wonder how much asbestos is in the units of Maryland Manor Apartments? Hope it is abated properly.
Would you PLEASE build this already. It will be a wonderful building and its placment on Bisonnet is perfect. The BULLIES in the neiborhood need a spanking. Oh Boo Hoo Hoo, their big britches are so used to bullying others that they have forgoton they are only human too. Build this tower. Build it so big it blocks their EGO’s. HaHa
I had originally vowed the last Ashby High Rise thread would be my last, but I see the cult of “don’t like it, move” has arrived.
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So now If you oppose a horribly out of scale building – 26 stories in a neighborhood of 2 and 3 story homes, you’re nothing but a schoolyard bully?!
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We’ll just wait until unwanted development happens to one of their members. Maybe it won’t be a badly sited high rise. It could be a halfway house or a recycling center. Or maybe their neighbors will apply for protection under the Historic Preservation regulations. That’s always fun to watch, since it really makes them so hot and bothered.
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“Oh but you should have done your research and not bought a home at the edge of a neighborhood,” they’ll say. Or “just quit whining and lobby for zoning.” Living near the center of a neighborhood might offer temporary insulation from the immediate impact of unwanted development, but it does nothing to help with the long term effects. And contrary to popular belief, zoning will NOT prevent land use battles. Developers simply apply for variances and the fights happen anyway.
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Flame me if you want to, but even if Ashby High Rise opponents are acting like spoiled children at this point, we need to be very leery of the cult of “don’t like it, move.” We are becoming a denser city. Growth is inevitable. But We as Houstonians need to demand that development be sensitive to its surroundings. If we don’t, the result is a city I don’t think any of us will want to live in.
“They should make it a mixed use building, containing a specialty french fry cafe on the ground level.”
That will be the next lawsuit. That the developer chose a restaurant that was “inappropriate for the neighborhood.” No doubt they’ll get a letter from Annise Parker stating she would never eat there.
Everybody in Texas is anti-government, pro-business, pro capitalism until the market decides that a highrise/shopping center/strip club should go in THEIR precious neighborhood.
Laissez faire les bon temps rouler!