Tag: Neighborhood Disputes

Idylwood, Neighborhood Disputes, Parking, Parks

26 Comments

At a meeting yesterday, reps from the Houston Parks Board told reps from the Idylwood Civic Club that the HPB would agree to let alone that grassy knoll, shown here, where a trailhead providing access to the Brays Bayou hike and bike was to have been installed. Described in 2009 documents as “Sylvan Dell Parking Lot,” it appears that the proposed trailhead would have provided 19 off-street parking spaces, benches, lighting, a gazebo, and exercise equipment. Though those specs don’t really matter now: Houston Parks Board rep Jen Powis tells Swamplot that the Idylwood residents “chose to eliminate” the project.

77023, Bayous and Waterways, Brays-Bayou, Idylwood, Neighborhood Disputes, Parks, Recreation, Trails

Uncategorized

09/10/13 10:00am

No Parking: Idylwood Residents Want Parks Board To Move Proposed Hike and Bike Lot Somewhere Else

42 Comments

Note: Read more about this story here.

First a Walmart, and now a parking lot? Some Idylwood residents are organizing opposition to a 20- or 30-space parking lot proposed for this site by the Houston Parks Board for the Bayou Greenways Project. The parking lot, presumably meant for users of theÂ hike and bike trail to be built at some point along this stretch of Brays Bayou — which slithers beneath I-45 on its way toward U of H and the Med Center — would replace this sylvan knoll in theÂ bayou-hugging â€™hood where N. Macgregor Way curves into Sylvan Rd. But residents have some concerns . . .

77023, Bayous and Waterways, Idylwood, Neighborhood Disputes, Parking-Lots, Parks

09/05/13 11:00am

Hines Not Stopping San Felipe Skyscraper

Neighborhood Disputes, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Vermont Commons

26 Comments

HINES NOT STOPPING SAN FELIPE SKYSCRAPER Speeches? Yard signs? Websites? Alarming maps portraying the inevitability of equally tall Petco and Red Lion Pub towers popping up nearby? Apparently, Hines has been unmoved by the various media deployed by concerned neighbors, telling the Houston Chronicle that it will start construction before Thanksgiving on that 17-story office building at the corner of Spann and San Felipe, just outside the boundaries of River Oaks. Erin Mulvaney reports that John Mooz, senior managing director, says that Hines plans to get going on the 167,000-sq.-ft. tower “in the next 60 days.” [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Hines

77019, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Vermont Commons

08/26/13 12:00pm

This OK? Greystar Checks In with Woodland Heights Neighbors About Skylane Replacement

Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Woodland Heights

20 Comments

THIS OK? GREYSTAR CHECKS IN WITH WOODLAND HEIGHTS NEIGHBORS ABOUT SKYLANE REPLACEMENT Motivated to avoid some of the same blowback that developers of the Ashby Highrise, Morrison Heights condos and apartments, and 17-storyÂ San Felipe office building have received from sign-making neighbors, Greystar has been busy meeting with folks inÂ Woodland Heights to discuss Elan Heights, the 8-story, 276-unit complex that will be replacing the ’60sÂ Skylane on Taylor St. And what are those neighbors worried about? The usual suspects, writesÂ the Houston Chronicle’s Erin Mulvaney: “. . . [S]pecifics of entry and exit at certain streets, plans for sidewalks, availability of bicycle parking, sewage and the preservation of existing oak trees . . . [and] the implications of the traffic analysis required by the city.” A rep explains why Greystar’s doing what it’s doing: “People more than anything else want to be informed and know what’s happening in their community. . . . The reality is that we are not required to do that. . . . We do it because we want to be good neighbors.” Greystar says it will close on the property next month, and the demo of the Skylane will follow in early 2014. [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Meeks + Partners

77007, Apartments, Demolitions, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Woodland Heights

Bayous and Waterways

08/20/13 11:15am

Oops! Mistakenly Cleared Parkland Costs Woodland Heights Townhouse Developer $300K

Parks, Townhouses, Woodland Heights

34 Comments

Yep, it was a costly mistake: A $300,000 fine was paid to the city on Friday with a cashier’s check signed by Bill Workman, the first-time developer who says a miscommunication with a subcontractor led to the clearing of almost an acre of trees and stuff near Little White Oak Bayou in Woodland Park.

Though neighbors accused Workman of ordering the slashing to improve the view of the 8 townhouses he is building on Wrightwood St., he denied those accusations, telling Swamplot in June that one of the reasons he chose the site for development was its proximity to the park. Seeing what happened, he says, left him “devastated.”

Apparently, the fine isn’t quite enough to satisfy Andrea Greer, who originally reported what she called “egregious clear-cutting” on her blog:

77009, Bayous and Waterways, Developers, Neighborhood Disputes, Parks, Townhouses, Woodland Heights

08/16/13 12:15pm

If Hines Builds That 17-Story Tower on San Felipe, Everyone’s Gonna Wanna Build One

Maps, Neighborhood Disputes, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, River Oaks, Upper Kirby, Vermont Commons

39 Comments

Seems the concerned neighbors around that 17-story office building that Hines is considering building on San Felipe aren’t worried only about traffic. This map, created by a member of the recently formed nonprofit East San Felipe Association — which says it is committed to supporting “reasonable development” in this area around S. Shepherd, Kirby, and San Felipe — suggests another threat to the â€™hood: copycatting.

Clearly speculative, the map takes pains to show those sites where other unreasonable highrises could pop up in response to the precedent that Hines is setting with 2229 San Felipe. On S. Shepherd, for ex., you might see the Red Lion Pub forgo its street-level scale, or Petco abandon the confines of its big box. (But wouldn’t that long elevator ride down give you some quality time to bond with your recently adopted pup?) If this map is to be trusted, it seems like it would be only a matter of time before the bug spreads north and Chipotle throws up a tower of burritos.Â The last thing the neighbors want, says just one of the messages on that oppositional website that they set up, is for this residential area to become “the next Greenway Plaza.”

What is it? [Stop the San Felipe Skyscraper]
A New Boutique Office Address for the River Oaks Community [2229 San Felipe]
Previously on Swamplot: Hines Develops Website To Explain 17-Story San Felipe Development, â€œStopâ€ Signs Oppose 17-Story Hines Office Building on San Felipe, A Look Around San Felipe at the Randall Davis Condos and Planned Hines Office Building Site, Hines Plans a Shiny New 18-Story Office Building Across San Felipe from River Oaks

Image: Swamplot inbox

77019, Highrises, Maps, Neighborhood Disputes, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, River Oaks, Upper Kirby, Vermont Commons

08/07/13 3:00pm

Allston or Nothing: Side Street Now at Center of Alexan Yale Apartment Dispute

Houston Heights, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Streets

17 Comments

ALLSTON OR NOTHING: SIDE STREET NOW AT CENTER OF ALEXAN YALE APARTMENT DISPUTE About 290 ft. of Allston St. have become the latest point of contention between developer Trammell Crow and HeightsÂ opponents to the proposed 5-story Alexan Yale apartment complex. This complex, planned immediately south of the other one, would sit on the block bound by 5th, 6th, Yale, and Rutland, with Allston running through it. The Leader reports that Trammell Crow has requested that the city abandon Allston, which dead-ends just before 5th St., so the complex doesn’t have to be discontiguous; opponents, of course, want Allston to be opened up, to help with traffic and ensure connectivity to the nearby detention basin that’s been proposed as a recreation site. The abandonment request is going to be decided upon soon by a city committee of reps from public works, planning, and the fire department — though Trammell Crow appears to have some leverage, reports Cynthia Lescalleet: “The structure could go even higher, the developer says, if it doesnâ€™t get what itâ€™s seeking. . . .Â [Trammell Crow] has ‘alternate plans’ that would add two or three floors to the building. Thereâ€™s also speculation about a possible sky bridge connecting sections on either side of the still-open street.” [The Leader; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Allston St.: Allyn West

77007, Apartments, Houston Heights, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Streets

07/31/13 12:00pm

Hines Develops Website To Explain 17-Story San Felipe Development

Neighborhood Disputes, Office Buildings, Online Resources, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Vermont Commons

11 Comments

HINES DEVELOPS WEBSITE TO EXPLAIN 17-STORY SAN FELIPE DEVELOPMENT Much of the information you might want about that shiny office building Hines says it plans to start building this year on San Felipe has been organized — by Hines, of course — on a new website. Like the recently launched ‘Stop San Felipe Skyscraper’ site supported on the ground by that neighborhood campaign of knee-high yard signs, the Hines site presents its side of things in a handy Q-and-A format: “Are there other tall buildings in the area? Yes. . . . Will the building reduce the privacy of nearby properties? No. . . . Does Hines care about the potential impact on the neighborhood? Absolutely.” [2229 San Felipe; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Hines

77019, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Office Buildings, Online Resources, Proposed Developments, Vermont Commons

07/25/13 10:45am

Dogging the Morrison Heights Midrise with Doggerel

Condos, Houston Heights, Signage, Woodland Heights

61 Comments

Across town from the newÂ “Stop the San Felipe Skyscraper” signs popping up in River Oaks and Vermont Commons to oppose the proposed 17-story Hines office building, another crop of anti-development placards is objecting in free verse to the Morrison Heights complex of apartments and condos that’s currently under construction near Houston Ave. and White Oak. Eschewing both the bold imperative of the San Felipe signage and the cartoon menace of the Ashby Highrise hatred, these seem to prefer the rhetorical oomph of puns and wordplay and rhyme. And what, exactly, is the development that has received this poetic ire?

77009, Apartments, Condos, Houston Heights, Neighborhood Disputes, Signage, Woodland Heights

07/23/13 4:00pm

“Stop” Signs Oppose 17-Story Hines Office Building on San Felipe

Neighborhood Disputes, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, River Oaks, Signage, Vermont Commons

24 Comments

These understated “Stop the San Felipe Skyscraper” signs started going up about knee-high this weekend in River Oaks and Vermont Commons to protest that shiny 17-story office tower that Hines is proposing to build nearby. Though these signs — spotted at the corner of Spann and Welch and San Felipe and Spann, catty-corner from the proposed site — might be lacking the services of an imaginative cartoonist like their yellow precursors across town in Boulevard Oaks, their message still comes through, directing the onlooker as well to a recently launched website for all things skyscraper-stopping:

77019, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, River Oaks, Signage, Vermont Commons

Boulevard Oaks

07/19/13 3:00pm

New Ashby Highrise Fence Graffiti Talks Hoops, Holdups

Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Southampton

18 Comments

So the site where the 21-story Ashby Highrise is going up appears to have been cleared now of the Maryland Manor apartments and bordered with a nice new fence, which appears to have been freshly tagged with some carefully considered —Â commentary? The reader who sends these photos suspects that the all-caps shout-outs to 2 of Houston’s most well-known towers showed up early this morning

Ashby Highrise coverage [Swamplot]

Photos: Swamplot inbox

77005, Ashby Highrise, Boulevard-Oaks, Graffiti, Neighborhood Disputes, Southampton

07/15/13 2:45pm

A Photo Tour: The 2 Yale St. Lots Where Those 2 Alexan Apartment Complexes Want To Be

Houston Heights, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments

38 Comments

This photo shows 6th St. between Allston and Yale, the street that would more than likely be pressed into service for theÂ 2 Alexan-brand apartment midrises that Trammell Crow has said it plans to build here.Â Alexan Heights, the first of the 5-story, 300-odd-unit complexes to be announced, would take up much of the lot to the north to the hike and bike trail near 7th; Alexan Yale, the second, which neighbors seem to have found out about just last week, would take up much of the lot to the south to 5th. The photos below walk you around the lots in question:

77007, Apartments, Houston Heights, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments

Inwood

07/08/13 12:00pm

New Inwood YES Prep Says No to Next-Door Loan Store

Neighborhood Disputes, Quicklink, Retail, Shopping Centers

5 Comments

NEW INWOOD YES PREP SAYS NO TO NEXT-DOOR LOAN STORE Calculating interest must not be part of the curriculum: The Leader reports that this vacant Kroger in the shopping center at W. Tidwell and Antoine is being renovated into a YES Prep School, with an inaugural class of sixth-graders ready to file in this August. But ACE Cash Express, the former grocery store’s next-door neighbor at 5616 W. Tidwell, seems to have become suddenly unwelcome, as a YES Prep rep explains: â€œ’Weâ€™re worried that the activity there isnâ€™t really compatible with a school, and we have some definite safety concerns. Weâ€™re hoping we can get them to relocate. If they donâ€™t, we think their presence could have a negative impact on our ability to have students stay late on campus.’â€ [The Leader] Photo: Michael Sudhalter

77091, Inwood, Neighborhood Disputes, Renovations, Retail, Schools, Shopping Centers

Environmental

06/13/13 2:00pm

The Woodland Park Thinning Story Thickens