All right! NFL owners voted today to give Houston Super Bowl LI in 2017. At their spring meeting at the Hyatt Harborside, the owners voted the coveted Super Bowl L to San Francisco over South Florida. South Florida took another one on the chin in the next vote, losing Super Bowl LI to Houston. The [...]
Posts under ‘Elsewhere in Houston’
Alexan Heights trying again
The Leader News reports that the proposed mid-rise apartment complex for Yale at 7th Street has been reworked in a way that would avoid the need for a variance. The deed restrictions involved single-family homes within the proposed complex — properties that the owners did not want to sell and that TCR was able to [...]
Are we too hip for our own good?
Craig Hlavaty notes Houston’s current status as the It City of the national media, and wonders if that’s necessarily a good thing for us. But with the praise and accolades, lots of Houstonians are fearful that the Bayou City will become a boomtown cesspool of out-of-towners clogging our roadways, gyms, eateries, apartment complexes, and bars [...]
On the Astros’ Wives Gala
What Nonsequiteuse says: I’m really upset that the Houston Astros have left the Houston Area Women’s Center in the lurch as far as the gala this year. I know the people and the programs that will suffer without those funds, and let me tell you, it will hurt. I’d like to suggest some constructive next [...]
Memorial Park will not become the Riverwalk
Council will vote on the proposed Uptown/Memorial TIRZ this week, which may or may not put an end to some of the wild speculation about what expanding the Uptown TIRZ boundaries to include Memorial Park may mean. Imagine you’re jogging through Memorial Park, squinting past rows of neon signs in front of fast food joints, [...]
Five years of Discovery Green
Five great years for a great park and an awesome city amenity. Five years after its opening, more than 1 million people annually come to stretch out on the grassy slope to take in live music and movies with the skyline as a backdrop, to play with Frisbees and soccer balls, to splash in the [...]
Looking forward on Memorial Park
Meet Shellye Arnold, the new Executive Director of the Memorial Park Conservancy. There is no doubt that it is a pivotal moment for the 89-year old-park. Decimated by the drought of 2011, Memorial Park lost thousands of trees. The conservancy – whose stated mission is to “restore, preserve and enhance Memorial Park for the enjoyment [...]
The Washington Avenue parking benefit district is now operational
From CultureMap: It took a while, but nearly five months after Houston City Council approved the first citywide Parking Benefit District for the Washington Avenue corridor, the meters started charging at 7 a.m. on Wednesday. The City of Houston’s Administration and Regulatory Affairs Department hopes to solve a handful of issues with the new parking system, including [...]
Florida’s failure to be insane is our gain
Good news if you’re rooting for Houston to host Super Bowl LI. Houston’s bid for Super Bowl LI received a major boost Friday when Florida lawmakers ended a 60-day legislative session without approving a plan that would have provided a $350 million upgrade for Sun Life Stadium in Miami. Houston is bidding for the 2017 [...]
Ashby developers sued
I don’t know about this. A group of residents who live near the site of the high-rise planned for 1717 Bissonnet filed suit against the developer in state district court Wednesday, another attempt to stop construction of the 21-story building. The seven plaintiffs say if the property is built it will cause harm to them [...]
So long, Skylane Apartments
This is happening in my neighborhood, and it’s already generated a lot of interest from the locals. The aging Skylane Central apartments, perched near the entrance of the Woodland Heights neighborhood, are headed for demolition as a developer makes plans to replace the building with an upscale rental complex. Charleston, S.C.-based Greystar is under contract [...]
Have your say on the Uptown/Memorial Park TIRZ
From the inbox, and the office of CM Oliver Pennington: To the Residents of District G: As many of you are aware, the May 1, 2013, Council Agenda contained several items related to the Reinvestment Zone Number Sixteen (Uptown Zone), also known as TIRZ 16. Included on the agenda today were Items 15 (enlarging the [...]
The emotional Dome decision
Nobody really wants to tear the Astrodome down. That in a nutshell is why the process to determine what to do with it has taken so long even though there aren’t any viable alternatives to demolition at this time. A failure to come up with a feasible plan with the financing to make it happen [...]
Questions about the Memorial Park part of the Uptown/Memorial TIRZ
Lisa Falkenberg reports that some people have raised questions about the Memorial Park part of the Uptown/Memorial TIRZ. Reforestation is sorely needed in a park devastated by hurricane damage and drought. This is a great deal, city leaders and supporters say, a great way to restore our crown jewel to its former beauty. And we [...]
UH goes smoke-free
Good for them. The University of Houston, which educates more than 40,000 students each year on its 667-acre campus, will become tobacco-free June 1, school officials announced Thursday. The new policy, approved by UH Chancellor Renu Khator, bans the use of tobacco products in all university buildings and grounds, including parking areas, sidewalks and walkways. [...]
The 2013 Houston Area Survey
The 2013 Houston Area Survey shows that tolerance is prevalent in our region. The results, according to institute co-director Stephen Klineberg, may reflect the region’s growing ethnic diversity, younger residents’ acceptance of change and the emergence of live-and-let-live “tolerant traditionalists.” Part of a larger survey of attitudes in the 10-county Houston metropolitan region, the 32nd [...]
Tweet My Jobs Houston
On Friday, Mayor Parker delivered the State of the City 2013. Her address was heavy on accomplishments from the past year – there are a lot of them, and there is an election coming up – but there were also announcements of new things to come. One is Tweet My Jobs Houston, and I’ll refer [...]
Revamped Chapter 42 ordinance finally passes
Strangely enough, in the end it was not very contentious. Houston City Council on Wednesday voted 14-3 to allow greater single-family home density outside Loop 610, while also strengthening the proposal’s already robust protections for neighborhoods concerned about unwelcome development. Council voted to drop the threshold of support needed to impose a minimum lot size [...]
Today is Chapter 42 day
Actually, today is almost certainly the day that the Chapter 42 revisions get tagged by multiple members of Council, thus pushing it back for a week. Nonetheless, this is the beginning of the end of a long, long journey. Here’s another story about what that will mean. The Fourth Ward would not look quite the [...]
A STEM vision for the Astrodome
Tory Gattis has an idea for what to do with the Astrodome. Where can America’s kids go to be inspired toward careers in our country’s most crucial need: science, technology, engineering and math (aka STEM)? Something far beyond their little local science or children’s museum? Houston could be that city, building not only on our [...]
It’s Chapter 42 week
We won’t know for years what the upcoming revisions to Chapter 42, the development and density codes in Houston, will mean to the city and its development and population patterns. There’s certainly a lot of hope that the changes will be positive. Southwest Houston, with its glut of apartments and condominiums, is three times denser [...]
The Uptown/Memorial TIRZ
Big projects, big plans, big funding mechanism. Transit and trees – things that make urban areas move quickly and look pretty – are the centerpieces of a $500 million project that would remake the Uptown area and reinvigorate Memorial Park. Mayor Annise Parker and other officials announced a plan Thursday that would fund construction of [...]
Fifth Ward revitalization
I’m very glad to see this renewal project going on it the Fifth Ward. But now the stains of that past are being scrubbed clean by the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation with what it calls the Lyons Avenue Renaissance. The multimillion-dollar project aims to attract new businesses and homeowners to one of Houston’s oldest [...]
How will Chapter 42 affect housing in Houston?
Yes, we’re still talking about Chapter 42, the local development and density code. One of the goals of revamping Chapter 42 is to make it easier and more attractive to build mid-range housing in the city limits. How do we hope that will work? “We have housing for the working poor, we have a lot [...]
It’s going to be a good year for the tax assessor
That should make it a good year for the entities that depend on property tax revenues, as Loren Steffy notes. When Williams Tower sold for $412 million recently, the new owners may have expected a break on property taxes. After all, the iconic west Houston skyscraper was valued on the tax rolls at the time [...]
Clean Water Forum
If you’re not at the Battleground Texas meeting today, Environment Texas has a fine thing to do instead: Houston Clean Water Forum on Saturday, April 6th at 3:00 PM As part of a Clean Water Forum sponsored by Environment Texas, three conservation experts will engage with members of the public about the potential for water [...]
Ashby Highrise gets its permit
Ready or not, here it comes. The city of Houston [last] week granted full permitting approval for the 21-story apartment building planned near Rice University at 1717 Bissonnet and Ashby. An existing apartment complex at the site is now vacant and will be demolished soon, the developers recently said. But one major piece of the [...]
The Chron would like someone to do something about the Dome
Something other than turning it into a parking lot, please. Whatever we do with the former Astrodome location should bolster Reliant Stadium’s capability to host events and make the overall complex a more attractive location during bidding processes. For inspiration, county officials should look north along the light rail line to downtown’s Discovery Green. During [...]
Why we need flexibility in our parking regulations
Here’s the story of Coltivare. As many of you know, we are in the process of opening Coltivare, our interpretation of an Italian-inspired, American, neighborhood restaurant, at the corner of White Oak and Arlington Streets. Undoubtedly, one of the most unique aspects to Coltivare, is the potential to have a 3,000 square foot, fully-functioning vegetable [...]
County disputes cheaper Dome demolition price tag
It’s on. Harris County officials on Thursday disputed an estimate released this week showing it would cost $29 million to implode the vacant Reliant Astrodome and build a 1,600-space parking lot in two and a half years. The figure, calculated by local firms Linbeck Construction and Walter P. Moore and Associates after a three-month study [...]
Marfreless to close
They’re looking for a new location, but it can never be the same. Marfreless, Houston’s infamous make-out lounge, is closing after 40 years. Guests can have their last cocktails and smooches in the bar without a sign on March 30. Owner Michael Wells said Wednesday that rent increases at the River Oaks Shopping Center made [...]
Maybe it wouldn’t be so expensive to demolish the Dome after all
Hey, look! It’s another What To Do With The Astrodome study! Woo hoo! The Houston Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo have commissioned a study showing it would cost $29 million to demolish the 48-year-old stadium and build a 1,600-space parking lot, less than half what consultants hired by the Harris County Sports [...]
What other environmental groups think about “One Bin For All”
As you know, last week the city announced that it had won the $1 million runnerup prize from the Bloomberg Foundation that would enable it to begin work on a single-bin solution for solid waste and recycling. While this announcement was generally met with cheers, the Texas Campaign for the Environment was not among those [...]
The drought is back
And we’re gonna be in trouble if it doesn’t rain soon. Since the middle of August, the city has gotten just a foot of rain over a time period when it should get twice that. We also have recorded six straight months of below-normal rainfall. And despite last Sunday’s splash of rain, March is likely [...]