- City Council Could Veto $12M State Grant to Help Chevron Build 50-Story Downtown Tower [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot]
- Woodland Heights Residents Square Off with Developer of Midrise Apartment Complex About Traffic, Property Values [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Houston Apartment Market the Next Investment Destination for Chinese, Mexican Investors [Prime Property]
- Slideshow: Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse’s New Galleria-Area Home [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
- Salata Opens First Stand-Alone Restaurant in Westchase Featuring Drive-Through Service [Culturemap]
- City Suing the 9600 Bissonnet Block for Profiting from Crime [MyFoxHouston]
- Ordinance Allows Pedicabs in Galveston Once Again [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Comedian Lewis Black Takes Aim at Rick Perry’s Pro-Texas Ads on The Daily Show [KHOU]
Photo of the Williams Tower: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool
These city council members do realize that they just approved (like two days ago just approved!) giving Costco $$$$ to build in an area that would have most likely been developed regardless of the incentives, right? An area that’s NOT EVEN TECHNICALLY IN HOUSTON.
I don’t agree with the way the Texas Enterprise Fund has become Perry’s personal pet project piggy bank. The merits of its existence can be debated at a later date. But the fact that the city is raising this issue on a project that will actually help the city and raise tax revenue well beyond the subsidy is mind boggling.
Where was this skepticism of corporate hand-outs on the Walmart, Kroger, Costco abomination? I mean, WTF?
I think we can all agree with Mr. Fisher’s this statement:
“I moved to Spring for the specific reason I don’t want to live next to a high-rise,” Fisher told the room at one point. “At the end of the day, there is no zoning in Houston.”
“I’m not rolling over anyone,” he continued. “I’m building what is legal for my lot.”
And not to sound all stalkery (and I don’t know what the women from the articles photo really said or how veracious her opposition to the development was), but I did a quick search in the Harris county tax appraisal and found that she lives in a very large (takes up a whole block) 5 story condo development in the neighborhood. Now if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black, I don’t know what is.
–Word to the wise, don’t give your real name in published articles if you don’t have to. People can easily find stuff out about you…. like where you live. Either that or never buy property in Texas. Thems records are public. :-O
Poster #3- Who lives in a condo development in the neighborhood? What neighborhood? The woman featured in the story that lives next to the featured midrise lives in a period bungalow with an unobtrusive addition on the back.
Maybe we can all pitch in some money for Chevron or start a canned food drive if this thing doesn’t work out. I’d hate to think of them having to pay all those heavy taxes on their new tower.
Texas, where we hate welfare for poor people, but are happy to give a handout to massive corporate interests. Unbelievable.
@ Mel
I was referring to the lower picture (not the main pic) and the museum district.
Good news about the 9600 Bissonnet lawsuit. I hope it works. That section of Bissonnet could be a valuable commercial/ retail connector between Brays Oaks and the West Belt. Instead it’s a crimeridden embarrassment. More importantly, the people who live in the apartments around there don’t deserve to be prisoners of all the prostitutes and gang bangers.
DNAGuy, that’s just what I thought about the Costco/Chevron thing.
And CouncilMember Martin, quoted in the Chevron article, has no clue about how much sales tax Houston usually gets of the 8.25% we pay or how much of the sales tax Houston gets in this special area the Costco will be in. He thinks Houston gets the whole 8.25% and that Costco will generate $1M sales taxes for Houston in just a couple of months. That was his basis in voting for it. His bad calculations.
@Jules
To be fair he’s only worked for two of the “Big Four” accounting firms…..
http://www.houstontx.gov/council/e/about.html
Maybe if he had also worked at Deloitte and KPMG as well he would have picked up the necessary experience to understand local tax policy…..
It’d be one thing if they were trying to accomplish a policy objective such as to fill in food deserts…even if they did so in a bumbling and foolish way. But clearly they’re only interested in the fiscal impacts, in the possibility of capturing retail sales from people that don’t otherwise live within the City’s taxing jurisdiction. That’s a not just cause when it comes to retail incentives IMO.
For that matter, I really wish that the state legislature would review/revise the permissibility of Limited-Purpose Annexations.