Tag Archives: density

The Ashby Highrise is getting close to being finished

Posted on December 1, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Wow! Developers recently hit a key milestone in the construction of a high-rise apartment complex in Boulevard Oaks that sparked one of the fiercest land battles in Houston’s history, more than 17 years a high-rise on the site was initially … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Ashby Highrise is getting close to being finished

Whitmire’s Montrose Boulevard plan passes on second try

Posted on November 9, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Dammit. A controversial Montrose Boulevard redesign plan is set to move forward with key revisions introduced by the Whitmire administration after board members of the area’s Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone voted to accept the changes Friday morning. The Nov. 1 meeting … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Not so fast on Whitmire’s Montrose Boulevard revisions

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Nice. Probably fleeting, but still nice. After months of delays, the controversial redesign of Montrose Boulevard was still in limbo Monday night when a split vote at a contentious public meeting stalled the project yet again. The Whitmire administration favors a design that would … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Montrose Blvd project officially delayed

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I dunno, man. Permitting for an overhaul of Montrose Boulevard, a project that has drawn ire from residents pushing to protect the road’s oak trees, has been delayed at City Hall after Mayor John Whitmire’s staff asked project organizers to … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

“If you’ve ever gardened, you know you have to weed”

Posted on March 31, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

What Allyn West says. I moved to Montrose in 2008, just in time for Hurricane Ike to welcome me to the Gulf Coast formally, and I lived on Crocker at Avondale during the pandemic. When Hurricane Harvey claimed the Honda … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Coliving

Posted on June 16, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I’m fascinated by this. In one of Montrose’s newest residential projects opening next year, renters will be able to walk into fully furnished spaces stocked with basic supplies, paying rents below market rate in one of Houston’s trendiest neighborhoods. Rent … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Ashby 2.0 gets sued

Posted on June 7, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s party like it’s 2007, baby! Just when the 16-year battle over the proposed Ashby high-rise site in Boulevard Oaks appeared to drawing to a close, opponents have filed a lawsuit that again puts the fate of the project into … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

How much downtown parking do we need?

Posted on April 27, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know the answer to that, but this is how much we have. Downtown Houston dedicates more than a quarter of its land to parking spaces, surpassing the percentages in most major U.S. cities, a new report shows. A photo from … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Ashby 2.0 cleared for groundbreaking

Posted on April 23, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

It’s actually happening. Along-embattled residential high-rise project in Boulevard Oaks is set to move forward, with one Houston City Council member calling the news “terrible.” The Langley , a new luxury rental community jointly developed by El Paso-based Hunt Companies, … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ashby Highrise 2.0 gets a permit

Posted on March 10, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

It’s happening! For years a controversial proposal to build a high rise in the wealthy enclave of Boulevard Oaks appeared to be dead — a lesson in how land-use battles can erupt even in a city with virtually no zoning. … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The slow but steady march of Houston’s non-car transportation infrastructure

Posted on September 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good story. When he arrived in Houston two years ago, what David Fields saw belied what he had heard. The nation’s fourth-largest city has long been known as car-centric and geared toward commuting, with a web of wide freeways that … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The slow but steady march of Houston’s non-car transportation infrastructure

West 11th construction is about to start

Posted on September 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Get ready, here it comes. City staffers are finalizing a plan to add protected bike lanes along 11th Street in the Heights and reduce the number of driving lanes, despite pushback from some residents in the area. Crews will begin … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

More on A Tale Of Two Bridges

Posted on September 7, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

After I wrote about the effort to get two new bike and pedestrian bridges built in the Heights area, with the intent of making some new connections across the White Oak Bayou and to the existing White Oak Bayou Trail, … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on More on A Tale Of Two Bridges

Yes, let’s build more bike trail bridges

Posted on August 22, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s all about connectivity. Stopping for a water break on the normal blistering-hot Houston day, bicyclist Reagan Smithers, 33, can see the tops of the trees along her street from the White Oak Bayou Trail. As the grackle flies – … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Yeah, we’re still talking about West 11th Street

Posted on June 1, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We can’t help it, sorry. When Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner assured concerned Heights residents he’d take “a closer look” at plans to reduce 11th Street to one lane in each direction, he likely didn’t expect a sightseeing tour to give … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Yeah, we’re still talking about West 11th Street

Ashby Highrise 2.0

Posted on May 3, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Since a judge sided with developers of the so-called Ashby high-rise in 2016, the grassy lot at the center of one of the most closely watched land-use battles in Houston’s history has sat untouched, surrounded by chain-link fencing. … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

More on the 11th Street project

Posted on March 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron editorial board mostly approves of the city’s plans for 11th Street in the Heights. Ever since Mayor Sylvester Turner unveiled his Vision Zero Action Plan — an ambitious program to end traffic fatalities by 2030 — the city … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on More on the 11th Street project

The 11th Street makeover

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Gonna be interesting to see how this turns out. A main thoroughfare through Houston’s Heights is the latest street where city officials are preparing for fewer car lanes, in an effort to consider more ways that people get around. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

More fourplexes

Posted on August 25, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I am in favor of this. Houston is mulling changes to its planning rules that could encourage a broader variety of housing types, such as triplexes and fourplexes, that developers and the city say could create more affordable options and … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Big Tex Storage

Posted on February 13, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I’m strangely almost nostalgic for a controversy like this. A group of Heights residents are lobbying legislators to protest the development of a storage facility at the site of the former Stude Theater, which was demolished after the property was … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

In which Houston becomes more walkable

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a start. On 19th Street, one of Houston’s most enduring strips of shops and restaurants, there is a vacant lot tucked between two stores, about a block from the landmark “Heights” sign. When developers recently expressed interest in putting … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston, Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The coronavirus doesn’t care about your rugged individualism

Posted on March 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Put a pin in this story, and let’s see how things are in a week, and in two weeks. Reports of COVID-19 cases might not be as prevalent outside of the metropolitan areas, and official actions have been slower and … Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

The autonomous cars/mass transit debate

Posted on August 18, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Seems to me this should be a “both-and” rather than an “either-or”, but you know how I get. Autonomous vehicles that will outperform buses, cost less than Uber and travel faster than cars stuck in traffic today are two years … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Kinder Houston Area Survey 2017

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the press release. The majority of area residents don’t just feel okay about living in Houston – they would choose to stay in the Bayou City even if given a choice to move, according to the 2017 Kinder Houston … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Kinder Houston Area Survey 2017

As go gas prices, so goes interest in transit

Posted on December 4, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It is what it is. Cheap gasoline has Texans driving more, indicating that efforts to promote mass transit or bicycle commuting are falling short, a new statewide poll suggests. As folks hit the road, though, they are increasingly supportive of … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

MUDs and debt

Posted on October 18, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Another story about the least-understood form of debt and taxation in Texas. In Houston’s conservative suburbs, where local governments are loath to raise taxes, the thankless task of hiking revenues has fallen to hundreds of so-called municipal utility districts created … Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Who’s willing to pay for more flood mitigation?

Posted on August 12, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. Harris county’s four commissioners said Wednesday they could support either a property tax increase or reallocation of funds in the county budget to better fund flood control projects after a series of … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

What makes transit successful?

Posted on July 14, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It’s pretty basic, as this report lays out. A new report released [Tuesday] by TransitCenter, a foundation dedicated to improving urban mobility, finds that developing transit in walkable areas and offering frequent, fast bus and rail service is the key … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Appeals court reverses Ashby damages award

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It’s kind of amazing to me that the Ashby Highrise saga is still a newsmaker. In a major ruling that could stymie future legal challenges against developers, a state appellate court has reversed a key portion of the 2014 judgment … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Appeals court reverses Ashby damages award

Reimagining Lower Westheimer

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

This ought to be interesting. Lower Westheimer is one of Houston’s most well-known streets, but on some fronts its reputation isn’t a positive one. Narrow and bumpy, the street is both a hub of retail and recreation activity and also … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Turner reiterates the need to rethink transportation

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

New audience, same theme. Houston’s transportation future – and perhaps its economic vitality – relies on more options than new freeway lanes to make room for more cars, Mayor Sylvester Turner said Tuesday. “The solution is to increasingly take advantage … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Will the Ashby highrise ever get built?

Posted on May 7, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Who knows? Penelope Loughhead’s house in the leafy neighborhood near Rice University abuts the land where, nearly a decade ago, a proposed high-rise sparked a land-use battle that resonated citywide and throughout the local development community. This week marks two … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Ashby legacy

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

What hath it wrought? The plot of land where developers promised the so-called Ashby high-rise would be built in an affluent neighborhood still sits empty. Yet the 1.6-acre lot at 1717 Bissonnet, which in 2007 sparked a battle that came … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Ashby legacy

The reverse Ashby

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

You have to admit, this is kind of clever. A Houston developer has filed a pre-emptive strike against the owners of a luxury high-rise near the Galleria to head off an “inevitable lawsuit” over its plans to build a tower … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment