- Randalls Parent Company Safeway Merging with Albertsons in Deal Valued at $9.2B [Houston Business Journal; more info]
- Parking Variance Approved for Proposed Entertainment Venue at Old Balinese Room Site on the Seawall [Houston Chronicle]
- Opening of Ogdens’ Heights Restaurant Bradley’s Fine Diner Indefinitely Delayed Due to Water Line Bust [Food Chronicles; previously on Swamplot]
- Local Businesses Say They’ve Lost Customers Because of US-290 Construction [The Leader]
- 806-Acre ‘Hidden Creek’ Subdivision in Bridgeland Receives Wetlands Permit, Will Bring 1,000 New Homes to Area [Houston Chronicle]
- Builder Expects To Deliver Last Train to Metro 5 Months Late; Southeast and East End Lines May Open with Borrowed Red Line Trains, Limited Service [The Highwayman]
- The Temporary Executive Offices Forged out of Hilton Americas Hotel Rooms for CERAWeek Energy Conference [FuelFix]
- Can You Identify the Art in this Woodland Heights Home? [The Great God Pan Is Dead; previously on Swamplot]
Photo of Boardwalk Bullet, Kemah Boardwalk: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
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RE: Local Businesses Say They’ve Lost Customers Because of US-290 Construction
With this bomb shell, I’m sure that Rep. Culberson will stick to his principles and block all federal funding from this transportation project that is adversely affecting homeowners and businesses. It’s only a matter of time b/f the construction on 290 will get to his district.
I dont think Odgen took a good look at the parking situation for his new location. Don’t quite understand how that whole shopping strip between Yale and Heights got permitted on parking. I drive by multiple times a day and there is hardly any parking available. I have given up on Chipolte’s as I never can park even on a Saturday at 2pm. Even going to the liquor store on the Yale side is next to impossible so I just pass up everything in that center.
@DNAguy for comment of the day
Looks like someone carries a grudge.
@Di: I too have wondered the same. The pad is set up with 5 spaces per 1000 sq ft. I think shopping centers are only required to have 4/1000, but have to increase the parking if they have more than 20% of their sq ft in restaurants. The requirement for restaurants is 8-10 per 1000, depending on what kind of restaurant it is (take out, small/large). I haven’t done the math, but would bet that they just barely meet the minimum. Given that there will be spillover from the other two pads, I would agree that parking will be a challenge if this BFD place is popular.
Parking challenges? That’s life in the big city. I would assume there’s public streets to park on, which would be normal in any urban location like this. The city shouldn’t be requiring on-site parking for most businesses anyway,
@local planner: Are you even in Houston? You are not sounding very local. There is scant public on street parking around that development. The streets in the adjoining neighborhoods are 18′ wide and have very little in the way of additional parking to offer. Plus, most Fridays and Saturdays, the area is flooded with people partying on Wash Ave. who are already taking up the few on street public parking spaces that are in the area.
@ Old School: Yes, I am a native of Houston, actually, and live/work here. My comment has two underlying “snark” points which probably didn’t come across: 1. It is ridiculous for people to always assume that a business will have (free) onsite parking when in the middle of a city the size of Houston. Houstonians, especially those residing and visiting the urban core, will have to outgrow that mentality whether they like it or not; if Houston’s quality of life is focused primarily on easy/cheap parking, it’s not much of a city, and the financial and physical realities of increased density and tighter development sites pretty much dictate that anyway. 2. Yes, streets in that area (and in many places in Houston) are poorly designed to accommodate on-street parking and sidewalks. Ideally this should be rectified, but it will take a different attitude on the part of City leaders, voters, and property owners regarding taxation and spending.
Point #2 does not negate point #1 or my more direct statement that the COH shouldn’t have onsite parking requirements.
Couldn’t you just park at Walmart and walk over? That lot is huge. There will be even more parking when the sprouts and la fitness open?
Well, there’s always the #50 bus to get you there and back, runs straight up Heights Blvd.
The fact Di wanted to shop there, but passed because of lack of parking, proves my point that you don’t need laws to tell people how many spots they need. If you don’t have enough, people won’t come. Or they’ll not have as much business as they otherwise could. If you have too much, you give up extra income space (or green space) for bleh parking.
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So things will end up working out…
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Let each business decide for themselves how much parking they need. It’s not like people will start building things w/o any parking.