Although only one includes living space, both structures shown separated by St. Charles St. in the rendering at top are intended to give people spaces to live. The big one — depicted in more detail above — is Kirksey Architecture’s 5-story design for an affordable housing operations center, to be placed directly across the street from 20 units of actual housing. The Midtown Redevelopment Authority bought the vacant land for both sites along Elgin in 2015, back when the renovation of neighboring Emancipation Park was still taking shape.
On the left in the aerial below, you can see the parcel where the HQ is planned across from the park and its on-site Emancipation Community Center:
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It isn’t the first time someone’s had plans for this spot: 2 years ago, an affordable housing thinktank called the Coleman Global Center made its mark in renderings that showed a towering glass sphere in what appeared to be the the same southeast northeast corner of Emancipation and Elgin. The Midtown Redevelopment Authority’s more recent overview of what’s planned for its land makes no mention of that organization, however.
Instead, it calls out a different group by name: The Center for Civic and Public Policy Improvement, a nonprofit focused partly on housing that’s currently headquartered along 288 near Binz St. Other occupants including “a mix of local government organizations, commercial tenants, and housing nonprofits” will take up the rest of the HQ’s 58,000 sq.-ft. of rentable space, according to CCPPI. On the ground floor, both retail and some open areas for community events are planned. The parking garage’s 4 floors along Elgin St. — shown below — will accommodate about 215 spaces.
As for the apartments, they’re back on the city planning commission’s docket this week after receiving a deferral at the group’s last meeting on August 30. With the city’s permission, they’d sit 10 ft. from the property line along Elgin — on the right in the rendering below — as opposed to the standard 25.
New concrete sidewalks are also being proposed along the complex’s outskirts on both Elgin and St. Charles streets, reports Adolfo Pesquera over at Virtual Builders Exchange. And an even broader walkway made of pavers is on the table for the HQ’s frontage on Emancipation.
- News Updates [Center for Civic and Public Policy Improvements]
- Midtown Affordable Housing Plan [Midtown Redevelopment Authority]
- Houston: Midtown Set to Launch Affordable Housing/Office Projects in Fall [Virtual Builders Exchange]
- Previously on Swamplot: The Glittering 5-Story Affordable Housing Thinktank Bubble That Could Rise by Emancipation Park
Renderings: Houston Planning Commission (apartments and aerial); Center for Civic and Public Policy Improvements (all others). Photo: Perkins + Will
This is the same intersection as, but a different corner from, the previously proposed Coleman Global Center. The CGC was the *southeast* corner of Emancipation and Elgin, where Navy Seafood is, and this is the *northeast* corner.
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The MRA’s projects are Emancipation One, at the northeast corner of Emancipation and Elgin, stretching the complete block east to St. Charles, and Emancipation Two, at the northeast corner of St. Charles and Elgin. E1 will be east of the park and north of where Navy Seafood is now.
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* I’ve simplified the whole directional thing, because in reality the street grid is rotated 30+ degrees, making Emancipation Park’s lot the “north” corner, Navy Seafood’s the “south” corner, and the proposed E1 the “east” corner.
Wow. The MRA looks like it is spending MORE on it’s new HG bldg. than putting that sun INTO new “affordable” housing. Of course, a chunk of that money is going to the ABCDE (architecture / builder / contractor / development /engineering companies. As always. Nothing ever changes. The MRA( probably run by Garnett Coleman) just self deals all the time. His onw fiefdom. Term limits on ALL elected officials.
It kind of seems as though an entity dedicated to affordable housing should occupy nondescript Class C office space…you know, so that there’s more money available to develop affordable housing. It also kind of seems like such a dramatic improvement to the built environment of the Third Ward might hasten the process of gentrification.
so much parking!