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Wednesday, February 4, 2009
February 4, 2009 – 7:56 am
“A proposed ordinance before council would prohibit the planting of tall trees, including live oaks, under power lines. The measure originally was intended to strengthen existing rules to protect trees in public rights of way from being cut down or hacked up by developers. But the proposed ban on planting live oaks under electric lines — a last-minute addition to the measure — has a vocal group of tree lovers dismayed. Their main complaint centers on the live oak’s usefulness for hiding power lines. ‘If this were to pass, we would have to look a lot more at the ugliest feature of our city: power lines,’ said Hugh Kelly, a former general counsel for Houston Light & Power who advocated against the change on behalf of two neighborhood groups. ‘And we would not be able to look at one of the prettiest features: live oaks.’” [Houston Chronicle]
Read more about: Development Restrictions, Landscape, Streets, Trees
Thursday, January 29, 2009
January 29, 2009 – 10:59 am
A tidbit from Lamesa Properties, proud owner of that block of Bolsover St. in the Rice Village that was supposed to turn into a grand plaza for Randall Davis’s Sonoma development, but for now is just a fenced-off lot:
Company representative Julie Tysor said that while construction is on hold, the firm is open to ideas for the site to have some “long-term benefit to the community.” For now, plans are under way to make the unpaved area a green space, and the paved area may be used for much-needed Village parking.
Photo of Sonoma Site on Bolsover St.: Miya Shay
Read more about: 77005, Cancellations and Delays, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Randall Davis, Retail, Rice-Village, Sonoma, Streets
Monday, January 19, 2009
January 19, 2009 – 2:53 pm
Stopping briefly at the Sunny Flea Market and the Cedar Lounge, and passing by Dance Town USA, John Nova Lomax decides a weekend evening on Airline Dr. is a familiar scene: “Even on a Sunday, the street is livelier than most in Houston - in fact, it reminded Beebe and I of nothing so much as lower Westheimer circa 1986, albeit en español. Teenagers still cruise the northern stretches of Airline in their cars, many of which sport speakers mounted in their grills, the better to share their norteño tunes with all those around them. (It’s loud, but since norteño is pretty much devoid of resonant bass frequencies, it doesn’t bulge glass or rattle your fillings.) There’s near gridlock at some intersections and the same sort of fleeting, duration-of-a-stoplight sexual tension (and thus its traveling partner — potential violence) ‘Theimer was known for back in its teenage hormone-drenched alleged heyday.” [Hair Balls; previously]
Read more about: 77037, Airline Dr., Little York, Lower Westheimer, Streets
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
January 13, 2009 – 12:18 pm
“I sometimes think that Woodway is made nicer by the fact that Westheimer exists. There are certainly numerous suburbs and exurbs where the Westheimers look like Woodways. Oh, there’s retail, but it’s set back from the street, perhaps behind a tree buffer, with tasteful monument signage out front. I’ve always found such environments to be stifling. It’s so obviously contrived. All-night, six- and eight-lane arterials are SUPPOSED to have large illuminated signs. They’re SUPPOSED to have ratty businesses alongside the nice ones. Every suburb has a Target and a ratty convenience store. Westheimer has a Target and twenty ratty convenience stores, plus ‘24 hours video and news.’ I’ve never been in there, but its existence tells me that this strip is whatever it wants to be. This holds true of Woodway. It’s not a pure residential drive; there is retail, much of it even with tasteful signage. The signage follows from the road - Westheimer has large signs because it’s big and straight and a larger sign means higher visibility. Put up a larger sign on Woodway and it’d just be obscured by trees. Some people think of Westheimer (and other streets like it) as ugly. I don’t, but I understand where they’re coming from. Perhaps if they wanted to do something about it, they should plant trees instead of making rules about commercial signage. Proactive versus restrictive. Woodway is a nice drive because it was built to very nice design standards (10′ median with staggered trees) and because the people who own stores and homes along Woodway want to keep it pleasant. And so it is.” [Keep Houston Houston]
Read more about: 77056, 77057, Retail, Streets, Streetscapes, Westheimer, Woodway
Monday, December 22, 2008
December 22, 2008 – 2:08 pm
A few fun pix from around town! Reader Michele sends in this snapshot of some “‘groovy‘ Christmas Yard art” taken on Ella Lee in River Oaks.
What’s next?
Continue Reading This Story >
Read more about: 77008, 77019, 77065, Cypress, Home Decor, Houston Heights, River Oaks, Streets
Monday, December 15, 2008
December 15, 2008 – 10:45 am
Just line that short central driveway through your new power-center parking lot with a small number of stores and head-in parking. Fortify the freeway frontage with an FM-1960-worthy strip of more than the usual number of pad sites, and build the whole thing next to a mall! Next problem?
Introducing the new Katy Main Street, a just-announced 86-acre shopping center named for the short strip of 4 retail buildings meant to line its gullet.
The mixed-use development is designed to include 485,000 square feet of retail space, 500,000 square feet of office space and a full-service hotel and convention center at the southwest corner of Interstate 10 and Pin Oak Road in Katy.
All this . . . just across the street from the Katy Mills Mall!
Continue Reading This Story >
Read more about: 77494, Katy, Mixed Use, Power Centers, Proposed Developments, Shopping Centers, Streets
Thursday, December 11, 2008
December 11, 2008 – 11:54 am
Earlier this week, Google greatly expanded the areas covered by its Street View feature. The expansion means street views in areas way outside of Houston and its surrounding areas are now viewable from within Google Maps. In fact, Google’s new coverage map indicates that pretty much all of Texas (or at least areas near its major roads and highways) now has navigable street images available, excepting a few patches here and there and a couple of wide swaths of land near El Paso.
What about the rest of the country? Oh, there’s some expanded coverage out there too:
Continue Reading This Story >
Read more about: Google Maps, Maps, Online Resources, Streets
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
December 3, 2008 – 4:35 pm
One possible future for the site of the shelved Sonoma development in the Rice Village: nothing — for a long time. “The 2400 block of Bolsover could remain undeveloped and in the possession of Lamesa Properties another seven-and-half years, according to the terms of the ordinance approving the street’s abandonment. A spokesman for the city said Monday in addition to the five years the agreement allowed for the completion of the retail-residential project and some traffic-related construction, an additional three-year extension can be granted at the ’sole discretion’ of the director of Public Works. Under the terms of the sale of the street, the additional time could be allowed ‘for extenuating circumstances,’ city spokesman Alvin Wright said.” [West University Examiner]
Read more about: 77005, Commercial Real Estate, Proposed Developments, Rice-Village, Sonoma, Streets
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
November 26, 2008 – 9:11 am
Google has rolled out another update to its Street View feature, this time allowing simultaneous views of a property from the air and the street — as shown in this view of a familiar Rice Village site. The button labeled “Street View” that used to sit at the top of most maps is gone. In its place: a character named Pegman who stands at the ready above the zoom slider on the left side of each map, and who narrates this video detailing the new Google Map features:
Continue Reading This Story >
Read more about: Google Maps, Online Resources, Streets, Streetscapes
Thursday, November 20, 2008
November 20, 2008 – 10:28 am
Sonoma’s would-be developers try to explain to West U Examiner reporter Michael Reed why the Rice Village retail-and-condo project was put “on hold” only a few weeks after the sales team sent out an email to prospective buyers claiming it had received financing:
Julie [Tysor], president of the Appelt Companies, said in an e-mail response to Examiner questions about the financing, “We had secured a substantial majority of the financing for the south building through the cooperation of some local lenders who have also supported this project since its inception.”
She said a number of factors contributed to the financing falling through, “not the least of which is historical world economic crisis that is unprecedented…”
So what’s going to happen to the site — which includes that block of Bolsover St. purchased from the city — now?
Continue Reading This Story >
Read more about: 77005, Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Financing, Mixed Use, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Randall Davis, Retail, Rice-Village, Sonoma, Streets
Friday, November 14, 2008
November 14, 2008 – 11:41 am
Lee McGuire gets to the bottom of the wacky sidewalk screwup at Trammell Crow’s Greenway Commons, on the corner of Weslayan and Richmond: “It turns out the city actually required the new sidewalk to run right through the utility poles to save a row of trees. The developer said the project meets federal guidelines — except perhaps the blocked handicap ramp. The final inspection won’t take place until the shopping center is finished. If it’s in violation, the developer promises to fix it.” [11 News, via BlogHouston; previously]
Read more about: 77027, Commercial Real Estate, Greenway Commons, Greenway Plaza, New Construction, Pedestrians, Richmond-Avenue, Shopping Centers, Streetscapes
November 14, 2008 – 11:04 am
Last month, a Sonoma sales rep told the West U Examiner that the project had secured financing — which turned out to be condo-sales-speak for “Maybe if people think we’re definitely going ahead we can still sell units and somehow find a way out of this mess.” Now Nancy Sarnoff reports in the Chronicle that the developer of the condos-and-retail complex slated for what used to be Bolsover St. in the Rice Village has told her that the project “is being put on hold ‘for the short term.’” This appears to be developer-speak for “We’re toast.”
Was the problem just “economic uncertainties and tumultuous credit markets”? After developer Lamesa Corp. and partner Randall Davis pulled their switcheroo, deciding to start with the project’s second phase because they couldn’t get the more grandiose first phase financed,
they went back to the market and were negotiating for a $70 million loan with 40 percent equity to build the smaller second phase of 85 units.
At that point they had nearly 70 buyers who had put down deposits. More than half were interested in the second building.
Translation: Almost half their buyers bailed.
There’s good news for the trashed 2-block section of the Village Sonoma leaves behind, though:
Continue Reading This Story >
Read more about: 77005, Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Financing, Land Sales, Mixed Use, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Randall Davis, Rice-Village, Sonoma, Streets
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
November 11, 2008 – 1:03 pm
Good news! The drainage work that’s turned Kirby Dr. between Westheimer and Richmond into a dusty obstacle course is almost over — for the year, at least: “Construction work will pause from Nov. 21 through Jan. 2, said Travis Younkin, capital projects coordinator for the Upper Kirby District. Work along side streets will continue, though. ‘We can’t have construction crews working on the street during the busiest shopping season of the year,’ Younkin said. The $18 million project, managed by the Upper Kirby District Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, is scheduled to be completed by next November.” [Houston Chronicle, via BlogHouston]
Read more about: 77098, Streetscapes, Upper Kirby
Friday, October 24, 2008
October 24, 2008 – 10:10 am
Randall Davis’s Sonoma development couldn’t get financing for its first phase, but the condos-and-retail project’s sales team is now saying it has financing for its second phase, planned for the south side of Bolsover St. And requirements for taking over the block of Bolsover between the two projects have been fulfilled: “In an e-mail sent Saturday, sales team member Keith Kaposta said groundbreaking at the Rice Village site was still expected in February following the expiration of Walgreens’ lease on the property at 5313 Kelvin St. In another development, the city of Houston said Tuesday that developer Randall Davis property owner La Mesa Corp. had successfully completed all work that was required by the extended deadline of Oct. 27. . . . [Public Works Department spokesman Alvin] Wright said even if the work covered under the letters of credit was not completed by the deadlines, the city would not get the property back. [West University Examiner; previously]
Read more about: 77005, Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Financing, Land Sales, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Randall Davis, Rice-Village, Sonoma, Streets
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
October 14, 2008 – 7:43 am
Threatened patch of prairie? Shovels to the rescue! “The 90-acre patch at Saums and Greenhouse roads north of I-10 is a subtly spectacular example of what the dwindling Katy Prairie looked like before development spread west out of Harris County. Sometime later this fall, construction on the extension of Greenhouse Road, plus a detention pond, will start there. Folks in straw hats, with shovels, buckets and bug spray, spent several mornings digging up clumps of this mature prairie for transplanting to other sites. . . . Digging up clumps of little blue stem, rattlesnake master and bee blossom gives prairie gardens a jump start they couldn’t get from seeds - and seeds are hard to come by.” [Inside Fort Bend]
Read more about: 77084, Barker, Fort Bend County, Gardening, Katy, Katy Prairie, Land Development, Landscape, Streets
