Washington Ave.: Extending The Core?

The Core Apartments, 3990 Washington Ave., Houston

A West End resident writes in with a question about plans for the former Trinity Steel plant off Koehler St. between Yale and Bonner:

They have recently begun demolishing the huge industrial warehouses that made up the Trinity Industries complex. Our Civic Club President seems to think they are building an extension of the The Core apartment complex that just went up at 3990 Washington Avenue (www.thecoreapts.com). That would be a disaster since the Trinity Industry property parcel is HUGE and if they are going to be ALL apartments, our narrow neighborhood streets will be clogged constantly with all that extra traffic.

I can’t find anything about who developed The Core to see if they have any updates on their website about future extension plans. Do you have any leads on what is going on and going up there?

The Core Apartments were developed by the Morgan Group. Any Swamplot readers have the scoop on future plans for the site?

Bonus question after the jump:

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While you’re investigating the Core Apartments website, let us know what you think of the Morgan Group’s idea of including this photo among images of the apartments:

Photo Included on The Core Apartments Website

Hmmm . . . you can see what they’re getting at, but this sure isn’t a view of anything near Washington Ave. now, is it? Can any of you figure out where the photo was taken?

Photos: The Morgan Group (at least the first one)

18 Comment

  • The best course of action on the limited right on those streets would be to have the planning commission intervene. They have the ability to withhold any variance requests by required additional right of way be granted.

    Neighborhood support is vital in pushing this though. The critical aspect is not to go to the commission with the idea you are going to stop a project. Go with the idea to find a solution to its construction. Additional right of way would east congestion on the tight street.

    The lower land value of the West End it making it more prone to the dense urban development versus Midtown.

  • Isn’t that the Getty Center in L.A.

  • Definitely the Getty, looking up from the central garden. Hey, if they want to build the Getty on the Washington corridor I’m all for it but I don’t think the views are going to be able to compare.

  • I’m another West Ender … Thanks for the spot on the Getty Center!

    My best guess is its one of two things:

    -There’s a plan for a large museum/gardens like the Getty Center at the old Trinity site, which would be fantastic, but EXTREMELY unlikely

    -Whomever compiled this website made a mistake, and put images of the Getty on the Core site based on its similar metal structures out in front of the building. Really, I think its either intended to be a inspirational thing, or its a complete mistake.

  • I think the Getty copied their bougainvillea trees from The Core. And Meier had the Getty refaced in CMU too. I think the Getty needs a misuse of imagery heads up!

  • I live two blocks away from the former Trinity plant, and I am very interested to see what becomes of that property. I wish they would make it a park, but there are too many vagrants and drug dealers in the area.

  • Has anyone done a soil sample from that area? I worked off of Center Street & Yale in my former life(in the 80s) and there were some companies back along the tracks which used some pretty nasty stuff. Detergents and caustic solutions and such. The stuff would sometimes find it’s way into the storm sewers and then suds up the bayou real good. Then the city would show up and shut operations down until the situation was remedied. I bet it would qualify as a superfund site, I couldn’t imagine living along there.

  • If the ends up being another large scale apartment complex with a parking garage, it will most likely have soil tests. It’ll need that just for parking garage design. When testing for the strength of the soil, they will also produce some chemical analysis.

  • Whatever entity bought the land the Trinity Steel plant stood on had to buy the whole thing. That doesn’t mean they are required to build whatevery they bought it for on ALL of the property. That land is still very valuable and they can use a portion of it to get what they want and sell off the rest to any number of other builder/developers. I live in the general vacinity. It’s nice to see the whole Washington Ave. corridor transform from the dunghole it’s been for decades. I don’t think many people will miss any of the dumpy used car lots that are rapidly going or have already gone byby.

  • Washington Avenue has had car lots since the 1920’s. The day the last one disappears, well, maybe it will be time for the Rapture. Or Armageddon, one.

  • They have done soil sampling out there. The black drums containing the soil borings are hanging around the lot and several of the lots around the Trinity Steel Plant.

  • Just heard from a local business owner that a large portion of this lot has been purchased for development by HHN Homes (http://www.hhnhomes.com/).

    This is presently not listed as an upcoming or currently available project. I would imagine that they would/will sell or lease parcels off, as its a big chunk of land, and develop whats left.

    Beyond that, this zone has been approved as an upcoming ‘Quiet Zone’, although its presently far down on the slate for implementation, probably 3-5 years off.

  • That’s good to hear. I’m guess the cost of the land and the potential return on any development may outweigh the cost of environmental remediation.

    There was a time where a property like that wouldn’t have been bought because of potential environmental concerns.

  • Nick: “Beyond that, this zone has been approved as an upcoming ‘Quiet Zone’, although its presently far down on the slate for implementation, probably 3-5 years off.”

    Source? Thanks.

  • I live in the Core (since October 2008), and I’m certain that there are no plans to extend this complex across the street. The Core is a great place to live, but like every other large inner city complex, they’ve been slow to fill vacancies here. With that said, it would be foolish for them to even consider expanding.

    The last I heard, there were plans to put a small two story shopping strip there similar to the one on the other side of the Core. Still no solid plans though from anyone. By the way, if anyone wants to live here in the Core, put me as a reference and you and i both will get cash back. :) thanks.

  • I believe that lot is being brokered by CBRE. I am hoping a big box retailer (24 hour fitness anyone?) will come in and develop the entire parcel. That would be nice, since there really is no 24 hour fitness in the Heights area. Seems to be a 24 hour everywhere else though.

    Somebody posted a link to CBRE flyer on HAIF and they mention TXDOT expanding the feeder roads from Patterson down to Studemont in August 2009. That would be a positive, since it will ease entrance into the large parcel of land. Though I can’t find anything official on TXDOT about these plans.

  • Well, the home developer fell through/decided not to develop. Lot is/has been for sale at $14.00/ft. They’ve said its 14 acres, so roughly USD $8mil asking price.

  • Are you talking about the empty lot by the railroad tracks?

    If so, where are you getting your pricing info? The CBRE flyer I mentioned above had a listing price of $22M for the entire lot. If it has dropped to $8M, that is a huge discount.