We have such a weird history of them in this town.
A proposal to build a mixed-use tower in Montrose has hit a roadblock after the Houston Planning Commission rejected a variance request needed for the project, sending developers back to the drawing board amid neighborhood concerns.
The panel’s vote March 5 comes seven years after owners of Khun Kay Thai Café, at 1209 Montrose, pitched plans in 2018 to replace the restaurant with a high-rise, now dubbed the Icon M Tower.
City plans describe a 20-story tower, though the restaurant owners, who have a stake in the group developing the project, said it would have 18. The city documents show it would have 46 condominiums and a 3,200 square-foot ground-floor restaurant.
Developers sought approval to build the tower 16 feet closer to Montrose Boulevard. They argued the reduced setback was needed to build a more walkable development with an enclosed parking garage, instead of a surface parking.
Without the setback, the project’s architect told commissioners, there “was no way to do a vertical development on this property.”
But Planning and Development Department staff argued that the “proposed high rise is disproportionate to the size of the property and is inconsistent with surrounding development patterns.” They also argued that the developer didn’t prove that it would experience “financial hardship” if the request were denied.
In a video of the meeting reviewed by the Chronicle, some residents said they were worried about the effects of the project on traffic and pedestrian safety.
“When I have talked about it with my neighbors and described the plan for the site, the response has been incredulous. It’s just sort of obvious (that it’s an) inappropriately small lot for a 20-story tower,” said Sarah Frazier, president of the Hyde Park Civic Association. “We’re trading an inexpensive restaurant that’s currently there for an expensive restaurant with a bunch of luxury units and penthouses.”
Here’s a view of the block where this is. I don’t object to the idea of a highrise there – easy for me to say, I don’t live there, I know – but it sure does feel like that’s cramming a lot of building into a small space. By contrast, the infamous Ashby Highrise is sited on an entire block. I don’t know how that’s supposed to work on the Khun Kay space. Given the history of highrises in this city, it’ll be at least a few more years before we really have to contend with it. Good luck, y’all.