Construction has begun on the 16-story, 1,600-car parking-only highrise at 1311 Louisiana St. When complete, it’ll cover the northeast half of the block surrounded by Polk, Milam, Louisiana, and Clay, and provide layers of automotive insulation for the cars up against the ropes (and more recently installed chain-link fence) on the adjacent Wedge International parking garage. In the meantime, Wedge parkers will have a decent view of the construction activity below.
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- Previously on Swamplot: A Downtown Parking Highrise?
Photos: Swamplot inbox. Rendering: Gensler
16 Stories of Vertical Parking Bliss
I like the exterior design of this new park’scraper , but I keep wondering to myself why do they build the floors at a slant? If one would ever want to convert the structure, into say office space or condos, the slanted floors makes it impossible. Yes, no one really likes the short ramps that a flat floor design dictates, but I do like options and these have none until they are pulled down.
will this garage have an elevator for the cars?
A structure dedicated to parking automobiles is terrible for city design and short-sighted, but hopefully this means that with new district parking rules it can help reduce the number of surface lots downtown.
@WR
You bring up a great point that should really be considered. For those interested in this the Atlantic Cities had a great article on this. We really should be designing parking garages that can easily be converted to residential living or offices and retail. I’m not saying that Houston will be carless anytime soon, but why design a building that is, and only ever can be, used for parking cars. This really is a more sustainable solution than knocking down old structures all the time when a new and higher use is desired (even though this is one of Houston’s favorite pastimes). Lets at least consider this and even push for its encouragement in the building code for parking structures.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2013/11/its-time-design-parking-garages-car-less-future/7583/
Do we seriously need more parking spots in Houston? I find parking garages to be functional, but abysmal creations that should be buried underground. Nevertheless, if the number of surface lots decrease, then *maybe* it’s acceptable.
Would be more interesting if this was an automated parking garage
[quote]Do we seriously need more parking spots in Houston?[/quote]
Apparently whoever is building this parking garage thinks so. I tend to agree since a spot downtown goes for around $100-$130 a month.
It’s obvious that some people hate cars so much that they would rather keep blocks and blocks of surface parking lots in downtown than make any sort of new accommodation for cars. Cutting off the nose to spite the face.
Do we need more parking downtown? Um, yes. Corporations have bought up many garages and left nothing for everyone else.
I work in the Wells Fargo building, where an unreserved spot costs $400/mo. I had a spot in the Travis Place garage for $150, but Kinder Morgan or El Paso bought all the spots. I got a spot at 919 Milam for $190-ish, and some tenant bought all those spots. Then I got a spot above Pappas BBQ at 1100 Smith, but they kicked out a bunch of parkers (including me) to open up spaces for new tenants at 1100 Louisiana. I tried to get a spot in the Theater District garages, but they have a wait list a mile long. So now I’ve moved to Two Shell, which is $215/mo. Renovations are about to begin there, so I’ll either get the boot again or it will become prohibitively expensive. (Again, all of these prices are for plain-jane unreserved spots. And I can’t take the bus because I am in and out of the car all day.)
So, yes… We need more non-corporate parking downtown.
This is why the no parking requirements for downtown work. If there’s a parking need someone can build a parking structure to meet those needs. This frees up people to develop their lot to the greatest potential and not have to sacrifice a ton of space to non revenue generating parking. (unless they charge for their structure, but that adds to the total project cost). It’s the market working itself out without interference from some generic regulation. They should do away with the off street parking requirements for the entire city.
The parking garage at 1100 Louisiana has ground level retail. I have no problem with structures dedicated to cars, but nice if they have GLR. Plus, when I’m getting out of my car every moring I can smell the smoke from the bbq place on the first floot.
If you put another one up at the corner of Milam and Polk you could have a nice little parking garage four-plex. 2 blocks – 4 garages.
Sure, you design them with future living in mind, but where then do those tennants park?
WR / JT100: Why not build office space with slated floors so it’s easier to convert them into car parking later if needed :)