THE WEST END WALMART AND THAT “OUTSIDE AGITATOR” ARGUMENT Sadly, KPRC reporter Carl Willis doesn’t exactly specify who is “raising questions” about the neighborhood groups fighting Walmart’s attempts to build a new store in Houston’s West End. And he only shows a portion of Walmart spokesman’s Daniel Morales’s musings on the subject. But still, this is starting to get real fun: “As for the outspoken opposition, questions have come up about just who is supporting them,” Willis declares. “Written reports have alleged competing chains have paid consultants, or so-called Walmart Killers, to run anti-development campaigns in other cities.” Where could these suggestions have come from? Willis cuts to Morales: “It would be unfortunate,” says the Walmart spokesperson, “if another outside group or competitor would be creating a disingenuous movement . . .” Oh, but why cut him off there? [News2Houston; previously on Swamplot]
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Tag: Proposed Developments
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THEY LAUGHED AT THE IDEA OF PUTTING A DOME ON TOP OF A SPORTS STADIUM, TOO 
“. . . It is possible. The air space, the cooling system, flooding, venting, and anything else you could possibly think of. You people don’t think they have already thought of every possible scenario? These are very smart people, smarter than me and everyone else on this opionated blog. Like one of the guys on here said about us not ever imagining [an] indoor sports arena possible, and now we have many. And let’s just say it did happen. Did any of you ever stop to think about the extreme economic growth it would create for our city? A major city turned into probably the worlds number one tourist attraction. Resturants, shops, malls, and probably every business would boom. Not including the thousands that would pop up becasue of it. Creating thousands of jobs. . . .” [fhp, commenting on We’re All Astrodome Now: The Mile-Wide Dome Over Houston] Image: Engineering, Discovery Channel
The art-gallery building at 4411 Montrose, just north of the bridge over the Southwest Freeway, stands only a few feet back from the front sidewalk. But just one block south, the Midway Companies is planning to plant its new 13-story office tower (which, like 4411 Montrose, will feature a restaurant space on the ground floor and gallery spaces upstairs) a full 25 feet back from the Montrose Blvd. property line. But that’s not because Midway is shy about getting any variances necessary to get around mandated city setbacks.
No, Midway director Shon Link tells Swamplot the M Fifty-Nine building must stand clear of the bright yellow Clear Channel billboard that pokes out from the southwest corner of the property. Restrictions require the billboard to have a clear view of oncoming traffic driving south on Montrose. Currently peeking out from the bottom part of the billboard: The Nesquick Bunny.
Behind Montrose, M Fifty-Nine won’t be so shy with the streets:
That’s 4,000-sq.-ft. of art-gallery space on the second floor of M Fifty-Nine, a new 13-story office building Midway Companies is planning for the northeast corner of Montrose Blvd. and the Southwest Freeway. This view is from the southwest, looking toward Downtown (in the lower left, you can see the ghostly image of a portion of the Montrose Blvd. bridge that would actually be in the foreground). The design, by local architects Muñoz + Albin, includes 64,000 sq. ft. of office space and 7,000 sq. ft. of “restaurant ready” retail on the ground floor facing Montrose. Behind the gallery space: an enclosed parking garage for more than 200 cars. Midway Companies, the developers of CityCentre, hopes to begin construction on the project early next year.
What’s on the site now?
KHOU reporter Tiffany Craig says her news team “did a little digging” and has discovered that one of the design options H-E-B is considering for its new Montrose store across from Fiesta at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy is “similar to” Carlos Zapata’s famous Publix supermarket in South Beach — aka “the Mothership.” That’s good to hear, because as we all know since about 1987 all new buildings built in Houston have been required to look kinda like some more famous structures from somewhere else.
But Zapata’s 12-year-old Publix by the Bay is an actual 50,000-sq.-ft. grocery store, with carts and ramps and everything. The parking is above the store — on 2 levels:
Signs have been going up and coming down around the West End site Walmart is reportedly buying. Yesterday, Swamplot reported that signs posted over the weekend across from Koehler St. on Yale had been taken down, though a representative of the planning firm hired for the project told blogger Nicholas Urbano, who’s been protesting the development, that the removal had been a mistake and that the signs would be back up soon. They are up now, Urbano reports. But the two other signs surrounding the Walmart site (for the replatting of a portion of the Houston Heights Addition, shown above) have been removed. Another member of the “Stop the Heights Wal-Mart!” group reported on the group’s Facebook page that an engineer he encountered on the property told him that Ainbinder Company would now be “looking to present this a different way” at the August 5th planning commission meeting.
The Yale St. variance sign, now back up:
CITY TAX INCENTIVES TO HELP WALMART BUILD IN THE WEST END? Mayor Parker tells the Houston Press‘s Christopher Patronella Jr. that the city has been discussing the possibility of a tax-incentive agreement with the developer of the 25-acre site off Yale St. in the West End — where Walmart is planning to build a new store: “‘The city is not negotiating with [Walmart]. However, there are ongoing conversations with the developer regarding a 380 Agreement, which allows for the dedication of future tax revenues from a qualifying project to be used as reimbursement to the developer for necessary infrastructure improvements. 380 Agreements are authorized under state law and have been used previously by the city. This is still not a done deal.’ The 380 agreements, as established by the Texas Local Government Code, authorize cities to refund a portion of projected sales-tax income over a period of time. From Jan 1, 2000 to May 21, 2008, according to the City of Austin’s peer city comparison of economic development agreements, Houston has among the lowest number of such agreements with 11, next to Austin with 7. San Antonio is next in line with 43 and Dallas and Fort Worth with a combined 85. City spokesperson Janice Evans told Hair Balls that the city generally considers projects that are at least $25 million, require substantial new public infrastructure and create a measurable number of new jobs, for the 380 agreements. “The major project that I can point you to that utilized these same concepts is the planned [Regent Square] redevelopment of the former Allen House site. That project will eventually be a $750 million investment.'” [Hair Balls; previously on Swamplot]
Will construction of a new Walmart off Yale St. just south of I-10 and the Heights require any variances from the Planning Commission? This sign appeared over the weekend across the street from where Koehler St. ends at Yale, just south of Dirt Bar. It appears to refer to the proposed extension of Koehler St. to Heights Blvd. shown on the Ainbinder Company site plan for the property. That’s not for the portion of the property Walmart will be occupying, but for an adjacent tract.
By Sunday night, though, the sign had been taken down. According to Kent Marsh of planning firm Marsh Darcy Partners, it was removed “erroneously” and should be reinstalled soon. Meanwhile, a separate set of signs are up along Koehler and on the other side of Yale, closer to where the Walmart is likely to go. But they appear to be for the Yale St. pad sites in the Ainbinder plan. And they aren’t for variances:
H-E-B Houston division president Scott McClelland tells the Chronicle‘s Mike Morris what he’s been telling members of the Montrose Land Defense Coalition for several months: That the grocery company is willing to include a 2-acre park adjacent to its planned Montrose store on the site of the former Wilshire Village apartments at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy — but only if community fundraisers can come up with “some offset” of the $2 to $3 million in extra costs required. “I’m not saying it has to be dollar-for-dollar,” McClelland says. “If we get close to raising that kind of money, we’ll find a way to do it. But if we can’t raise any money, it’d be tough for me to justify putting a park in.”
The company plans to have its new store back up to West Alabama and face south. If enough money can be raised, McClelland says the store can be raised — on stilts, so parking can fit underneath. That would leave room for a 2-acre park on the site’s south end. The “H-E-B on stilts” plan would also include space for a farmers market. Without the extra funds, that park area would be used for parking instead — though mature trees on the south portion of the property would still remain.
Walmart has not completed its purchase of 15 acres of the former Trinity Industries steel fabrication site on Yale St. just south of I-10 and the Heights, but an executive with the Ainbinder Company, which has owned the property for 3 years, has been quoted as saying it is no longer negotiating with any other potential buyers (H-E-B was one), and that the deal should be complete within a few weeks. A site plan obtained by the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff shows 2 bank-style pad sites and a park-in-front strip center facing Yale, in front of the 152,000-sq.-ft. Walmart’s 664-car parking lot. Also shown in that plan, as part of the proposed development: a sprawlerrific future for the current site of the Heights Plaza Apartments to the northeast of the site, featuring a strip center along Heights Blvd. and a “bank” site just to the north, at the southern edge of White Oak Bayou. Yet another strip center is shown on the back side of the bank site, facing Yale St. to the west.
Ainbinder has the Heights Plaza Apartments at 205 Heights Blvd. under contract. Speaking at a meeting organized by city council member Ed Gonzalez, Michael Ainbinder said he expects to close on that property this fall and include the land in the retail development, bringing its total land area to 24 acres. Nicgk, who took extensive notes on the meeting and included them in his blog, They Are Building a Wal-Mart on My Street, reports that the developers are claiming that the development will not be “a ‘typical suburban’ project.” Nicgk reports an Ainbinder representative noted the
‘warehouse’ type of architecture; they noted the ‘Core’ apartments, and ‘Berger Iron Works’ on the corner plot of land. They intend to keep that type of neighborhood feel to the development
-It was described as a more modern warehouse/urban type of feel . . . Ainbinder assured that the infrastructure of the land, and surrounding, would be brought up to appropriate specs to support.
Below: a few photos of the site from a larger set and scouting report by another neighborhood blogger, Charles Kuffner.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: DISCOVERING YET ANOTHER NEW HOUSTON WALMART “. . . in my search for Wal-Mart to see if anything is going on at Yale, I found that a license is out for Wally at I-10 and Silber behind the Marq-E. $9 mil, starting 04/10 and finishing 1/11. Wally wants to be at every I-10 exit, I suppose. That seems more than gossip, right, if there’s a license and review completed? Who knew all of Wally’s 2010/2011 new stores would be in a ten mile radius in Houston, TX? Awesome growth plan, guys!” [brandyc, commenting on Swamplot Street Sleuths: Chances Are]
EVEN IF SHAYA BOYMELGREEN CAN MAKE IT THERE, HE WON’T BE BUILDING TOWERS HERE In his first interview with a reporter in 3 years, international developer-in-distress Shaya Boymelgreen tells the New York Observer he’s back in Manhattan, scouting for “new development opportunities,” and singing an old movie tune: “Unless I get an offer I can’t refuse, I would like to concentrate now in Manhattan. I believe this is now the opportunity and the time. If I cannot make it in Manhattan, I don’t know where else I can make it.” Translation: His long-threatened twin condo tower development planned for San Felipe at the end of Woodway in Houston is officially toast. [New York Observer; previously on Swamplot]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE CREEPING SOCIALIST MENACE THAT LURKS WITHIN “It’s horrifying to think that a business would have to actually have to work with neighbors who will be living with their presence for a long, long time. The next thing you know, people will start thinking that as citizens they have some stake in the city they live in, and a right to participate and influence its future! What kind of crazy society would we be then?” [John, commenting on Mayor Parker to Walmart: Start Talking]
MAYOR PARKER TO WALMART: START TALKING “This is not yet a done deal. The property has been assembled for a major retail venture. When that moves forward, there will be careful review for impact on traffic, mobility and city infrastructure. I encourage Wal-Mart, or any other retailer interested in the property, to open dialogue with the Greater Heights and Washington Avenue Super Neighborhoods 15 and 22 as well as other neighborhood groups and civic clubs in that area.” [Hair Balls; previously on Swamplot]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY HOUSTON NEEDS THAT NEW WALMART BY THE BAYOU “With all this rain, surely pollutants are leeching out from the soils of this brownfield site and flowing into White Oak Bayou. If there were a Wal-Mart here, the surface would be impermeable with only trace amounts of leaked motor oil contaminating the bayou. And as a kayaker that enjoys high water, that means less cancer for me!” [TheNiche, commenting on Only a Little Off Target: Walmart Heading Right Between Washington Ave and the Heights]