HOUSTON | Development Thread II

[photoLith]

Its great that new residential will be going up around the ballpark but do they really have to destroy yet another historic building when they could easily restore it? So short sighted, ugh.

Originally Posted by lockmat

Photolith, do you have a flickr account?

Yeah, why?

[Reverberation]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Its great that new residential will be going up around the ballpark but do they really have to destroy yet another historic building when they could easily restore it? So short sighted, ugh.

I read somewhere that the floor to ceiling height in the hotel made it difficult if not financially unfeasable to convert it to anything else.

[JManc]

Make it apartments for little people and midgets then. Problem solved.

[N90]

Office development revs up in West Houston:

Extremely tight availability for office space in west Houston has opened the doors for several traditional Class A projects to begin construction in 2012, with the first space coming online this year.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/p...p-in-west.html

Industrial development in North Houston area:

The market is looking up for industrial real estate development in Houston, both literally and figuratively. Not only do local developers say they see continuous investment in new space, but the hottest submarkets also appear to be in north and northwest Houston.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/p...in-strong.html

[lockmat]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Its great that new residential will be going up around the ballpark but do they really have to destroy yet another historic building when they could easily restore it? So short sighted, ugh.



Yeah, why?

Care to share your handle? I really enjoy your pics.

[photoLith]

^
Yeah, its photolitherland, some of the stuff on there isnt mine since I upload other random things on there to post on here but the stuff thats not mine is pretty obvious and thanks.

On another note, its super depressing that all of those towers are going up in the burbs.

[lockmat]

Originally Posted by photoLith

^
Yeah, its photolitherland, some of the stuff on there isnt mine since I upload other random things on there to post on here but the stuff thats not mine is pretty obvious and thanks.

On another note, its super depressing that all of those towers are going up in the burbs.

At least most are visible from the freeway.

You mean you didn't take this one? Dangit

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by photoLith

On another note, its super depressing that all of those towers are going up in the burbs.

Why? It means more people, which means more infill. Innerloop and West Houston in general is blowing with infill.

[photoLith]

Oil industry people generally aren't the most urban of people and usually quite conservative unfortunately and most of those towers are related to the energy industry. At the office I work at with halliburton, out of all the people I know there, im the only one who lives within the loop. Everyone else i know lives in Katy or some other generic suburb.

[rdavis4559]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Oil industry people generally aren't the most urban of people and usually quite conservative unfortunately and most of those towers are related to the energy industry. At the office I work at with halliburton, out of all the people I know there, im the only one who lives within the loop. Everyone else i know lives in Katy or some other generic suburb.

Very true. I work for Shell Trading downtown. I live 3.5 miles from downtown and I know maybe two or three other people who live inside the loop. The rest are spread all over the suburbs (but again particularly Katy). I actually know of someone who works a 6AM-3PM shift and commutes from College Station.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Oil industry people generally aren't the most urban of people and usually quite conservative unfortunately and most of those towers are related to the energy industry. At the office I work at with halliburton, out of all the people I know there, im the only one who lives within the loop. Everyone else i know lives in Katy or some other generic suburb.

Originally Posted by rdavis4559

Very true. I work for Shell Trading downtown. I live 3.5 miles from downtown and I know maybe two or three other people who live inside the loop. The rest are spread all over the suburbs (but again particularly Katy). I actually know of someone who works a 6AM-3PM shift and commutes from College Station.

You aren't looking at the big picture, you need to look further than just the O&G workers. How do you think we even get infill when the majority of jobs aren't inside of the loop?

And since we are bringing up anecdotal evidence I know 3 O&G workers that live inside the loop. Two live in apartments (Greenway Plaza and North Montrose) and one got married not too long ago and closed on a house in the Heights.

Not trying to be argumentative, but it's great news that the Energy Corridor is booming. Vacancy rates in Houston are getting very low, even in places like Downtown.

[TexasPlaya]

Swamplot: The Museum District’s New 4-Story Skin Building

...at 1401 Binz St., catty-corner from the Children’s Museum, is for a 4-story structure combining ground-floor shops, 2 floors of medical office space, and a top-floor residence — all in less than 30,000 sq. ft. A small courtyard will separate the building from a linked multilevel 160-car parking garage....Bailey Architects notes on its website that the building “will reflect the architectural fabric of Houston’s premier museum district buildings.” Sarnoff’s translation: It’ll look Modern.

[rdavis4559]

Originally Posted by TexasPlaya

You aren't looking at the big picture, you need to look further than just the O&G workers. How do you think we even get infill when the majority of jobs aren't inside of the loop?

And since we are bringing up anecdotal evidence I know 3 O&G workers that live inside the loop. Two live in apartments (Greenway Plaza and North Montrose) and one got married not too long ago and closed on a house in the Heights.

Not trying to be argumentative, but it's great news that the Energy Corridor is booming. Vacancy rates in Houston are getting very low, even in places like Downtown.

I was only speaking about the people I know in O&G at Shell, Exxon, El Paso, and even BP seeming to all live far away. I was not making any comment about the energy corridor.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by rdavis4559

I was only speaking about the people I know in O&G at Shell, Exxon, El Paso, and even BP seeming to all live far away. I was not making any comment about the energy corridor.

I know. It was just easier how I responded to both of you. Most definitely the O&G crowd is spread over much of Houston.

[rdavis4559]

Originally Posted by TexasPlaya

I know. It was just easier how I responded to both of you. Most definitely the O&G crowd is spread over much of Houston.

For the inner loop, what can you expect? If you want kids you are stuck with suburbs unless you are wealthy enough because
1) HISD sucks (starting at middle school and getting worse in high school)
2) It is hard to get into a magnet (and you have to start your kid out a normal/non-magnet school
3) private school is anywhere from $7 to $15k a year per kid.

If you want a house in a low crime area within the loop, its definitely going to be at least somewhat smaller than a house of the same price in the suburbs (and again, HISD).

FYI - this is the position I am in right now. My wife and I expect to have a child in about 3 years and we do not see any viable options except for moving to the suburbs. It pains me to think about it... when I used to live in northwest houston near willowbrook, my commute was 52 miles a day. Now it is 7, so I commute less in a week than I was doing in one day, and then you have to consider that I am also close to everything I want to go see/do outside of work as well.

[Reverberation]

Originally Posted by rdavis4559

For the inner loop, what can you expect? If you want kids you are stuck with suburbs unless you are wealthy enough because
1) HISD sucks (starting at middle school and getting worse in high school)
2) It is hard to get into a magnet (and you have to start your kid out a normal/non-magnet school
3) private school is anywhere from $7 to $15k a year per kid.

If you want a house in a low crime area within the loop, its definitely going to be at least somewhat smaller than a house of the same price in the suburbs (and again, HISD).

I would attribute it ALL to HISD. The East side is relatively affordable but wait, the schools.... There are some great bungalows and old homes in the MacGregor area - oh yeah the schools are terrible. Lamar always seemed like a halfway decent school but the prices for homes are crazy in that area. If HISD decided (and had the backing from parents) to put some heat on some of the bad kids that constantly disrupt the classroom, and pressed the sh*t out of those schools to take extra measures to make the kids hit and exceed high standards - infill in Houston would be nuclear. There would no longer be a need to move to The Woodlands and people could live close to work. I would go so far to say that someone with the city needs to make HISD aware that they are driving potential taxpayers and families out of the city.

I'm thinking of buying my first house soon and I'm in the same boat. I desperately want to live in the loop but I also want to have kids eventually and don't want to have to sell and move to the suburbs when that happens. Private school is too expensive for me and there are stories of kids getting stabbed with screwdrivers and gangs fighting at the local public schools. So I will probably just rent until that day comes and try to live in Sugar Land or someplace close enough to town that I don't have to commute 70 miles a day to get to work and back.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Oil industry people generally aren't the most urban of people and usually quite conservative unfortunately and most of those towers are related to the energy industry. At the office I work at with halliburton, out of all the people I know there, im the only one who lives within the loop. Everyone else i know lives in Katy or some other generic suburb.

Every now and then we need to realize that not everyone likes the same kind of living environment. The people I know who live in suburbs love it, and those who live in the inner city love it (yes, there are exceptions). We don't all need to be the same.

I sort of like seeing tall buildings in the burbs. I'd like to see more downtown, though.

[photoLith]

You can see the new Pancreatic Cancer Research tower crane in this photo I took this evening is just to the right of the new Methodist Hospital Building if you look closely.


Heres a more close up photo.



Gables new addition.


Rice Village development


Crane on the right is for BBVA Compass Bank, on the left is 3009 Post Oak.


Then a bonus shot for the heck of it.

On a side note, does anyone know how to have the photos appear larger on this page from flickr?

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by rdavis4559

For the inner loop, what can you expect? If you want kids you are stuck with suburbs unless you are wealthy enough because
1) HISD sucks (starting at middle school and getting worse in high school)
2) It is hard to get into a magnet (and you have to start your kid out a normal/non-magnet school
3) private school is anywhere from $7 to $15k a year per kid.

If you want a house in a low crime area within the loop, its definitely going to be at least somewhat smaller than a house of the same price in the suburbs (and again, HISD).

FYI - this is the position I am in right now. My wife and I expect to have a child in about 3 years and we do not see any viable options except for moving to the suburbs. It pains me to think about it... when I used to live in northwest houston near willowbrook, my commute was 52 miles a day. Now it is 7, so I commute less in a week than I was doing in one day, and then you have to consider that I am also close to everything I want to go see/do outside of work as well.

Originally Posted by Reverberation

I would attribute it ALL to HISD. The East side is relatively affordable but wait, the schools.... There are some great bungalows and old homes in the MacGregor area - oh yeah the schools are terrible. Lamar always seemed like a halfway decent school but the prices for homes are crazy in that area. If HISD decided (and had the backing from parents) to put some heat on some of the bad kids that constantly disrupt the classroom, and pressed the sh*t out of those schools to take extra measures to make the kids hit and exceed high standards - infill in Houston would be nuclear. There would no longer be a need to move to The Woodlands and people could live close to work. I would go so far to say that someone with the city needs to make HISD aware that they are driving potential taxpayers and families out of the city.

I'm thinking of buying my first house soon and I'm in the same boat. I desperately want to live in the loop but I also want to have kids eventually and don't want to have to sell and move to the suburbs when that happens. Private school is too expensive for me and there are stories of kids getting stabbed with screwdrivers and gangs fighting at the local public schools. So I will probably just rent until that day comes and try to live in Sugar Land or someplace close enough to town that I don't have to commute 70 miles a day to get to work and back.

That's fine. Sounds like y'all would be better off than suburbs if you are dead set on a single family residence. However, I would actually take a look into to public schools inside the loop, it's not nearly as bad as you make it out to be in my opinion. Plus bad schools = lower house prices for private schools. Oh and btw, not all private schools are stereotypically outrageous in price. Not to mention charter schools. You have plenty of options on education if you just take the time to look.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by photoLith

You can see the new Pancreatic Cancer Research tower crane in this photo I took this evening is just to the right of the new Methodist Hospital Building if you look closely.


Heres a more close up photo.



Gables new addition.


Rice Village development


Crane on the right is for BBVA Compass Bank, on the left is 3009 Post Oak.


Then a bonus shot for the heck of it.

On a side note, does anyone know how to have the photos appear larger on this page from flickr?

Awesome updates. Especially the bonus material.