A Swamplot reader reports that construction vehicles have started pushing dirt around on the east side of 610, opposite the Northwest Mall. That marks some down-to-earth progress on developer David Weekley Homes’ plans to turn the 5.4-acre northeast corner (indicated at top) into something homelier than what its encompassing 33.6-acre tract (indicated above) is now: vacant.
Weekley filed plans last month to create a new subdivision dubbed Heights at Minimax that’s entered where Salford Dr. now terminates in a roundabout. Those whereabouts set the neighborhood back some from the West Loop, beyond an undeveloped buffer zone.
You can see where the west end of that zone butts up against the highway behind the Miller Lite billboard in the photo below, taken back before construction wrapped up on 610’s elevated northbound feeder lanes above Hempstead Dr. last March:
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The last building to occupy the field — an industrial complex torn down roughly a decade ago — took up nearly all 33 acres of it.
Images: City of Houston (map); Cushman & Wakefield (satellite); TxDOT (photo)
So now 2 miles from the actual Heights is the Heights? What’s next to get the moniker, Forth Ward, Rice Military, Montrose, Near Northside?
“Heightsâ€. Right. Why not just aim high and call it River Oaks?
This is soooooo inside Bunker Hill y’all. . . . . .
The construction is on the far west side of this property closest to the loop. Property is being leveled. Looks like 20-30 acres.
Walking distance to Whataburger. These things will be gone before they’re built!
I actually said that when we bought our house in Galleria (or the RIA as locals call it – actually we don’t): look sweetheart, we can walk to What-A-Burger!
Why buy right next to a freeway when you can just live under it for free?
Add me to the chorus of laughter at that subdivision’s name. Why not have a shred of self-respect and call it something plausible? Even “Minimax Manor” would be cute and not try to glob on to the Heights name bandwagon. Heck, Timbergrove Manor is closer so why not riff off of that?
Ideas – free of charge:
TimberMax Place
Minimax Manor
The Estates of Minimax Manor (no actual estates needed)
The Lakes of Timbermax (no actual lake needed)
Les Bois de Minimax (to Frenchify this)
I started to call you out with an “I don’t think that word means what you think it does,” but on second thought, perhaps you do know exactly what “homely” means and its use here is intentional.
Not a good site for housing. It is too close to the freeway and will suffer high levels of air pollution. There’s a good article about this here:
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-freeway-pollution-what-you-can-do-20171230-htmlstory.html
A lot of the current industrial to residential redevelopment over there seems odd-looking and not well thought out.
I’d hardly call a collection of townhomes a “neighborhood†but okay.
Does anybody know what used to be on these sites before they were leveled?
@ Starman: I think it was a big concrete warehouse building. IIRC, Sysco food occupied it in the ’80s and ’90s.
One of the things that used to be on that plot was a giant Southwest Teacher Supply building at 1500 W Loop N. Historicaerials shows that the buildings disappeared between 2004 and 2009. Googling finds other businesses at other suites in that address, but I remember that the teacher supply building was huge. Not 34 acres huge, though.
@Anonymous @ 1:52, these look far enough away to avoid most of the worst ‘stuff’ that precipitates from freeways. Then again, I would expect prevailing winds won’t generally be kind to this place. Noise on the other hand… Let’s just say these will sell in the Summer when the freeway rumble doesn’t travel. Buyers in the Winter, if there are any or many, would do well to check which windows in which rooms are facing the freeway.
@EldoradoEd, I have just one point of data from a complex of townhomes in a once affordable pocket of land not too far from the River Oaks shopping center where there was actually a pretty good sense of neighborhood. Which is to say most of the people knew each other and got along OK and then there were the occasional jerks.
As for the naming, well, I thought we all agreed that North of I-10 is the Heights and South of I-10 is River Oaks. The Galleria is the place with the mall and fancy pants restaurants, Downtown is on the other side of I-10 from the mall and, if you need medical treatment, cultural enrichment, or Goode Co. Seafood, then and only then should you go south of US-59.
Thank you GoogleMaster. I was going to call them out on that description too, but maybe you’re right.
Looking at the streets I would assume a phase 2. I would also assume an apartment and some kind of retail going in between the homes and the freeway. And you get to tell people you are an innerlooper.
Public housing project?
Alliance Residential will no doubt build an apartment complex here next to this “neighborhood.†Mark my words.