Lol. I just moved back to Houston.......they just opened this premium outlet stores up 290 about 10 minutes away from me too.....
Does Houston Really need another suburb? Although, I will say that 288 is by far the easiest route in right now. We might as well clog that freeway to hell, as well.
This is not going to be another Riverwalk; this is going to be another fancy suberb. If they did this in the downtown or Galleria area you may have something.
Since when is 288/Beltway 15 mins from downtown? Mondays at 3:30 am if you're booking 85 + mph? That place will be a mosquito-infested hellhole before it even opens. Evan
As a former Land Planner and Landscape Architect let me just say every freaking developer I ever worked with wanted the next 'Riverwalk'. The water in the Riverwalk in San Antonio comes from a Limestone aquifer..though the real river has been diverted and it is a totally controlled riverine environment. The economic effect of the River walk extends about two blocks on either side of it. Outside of that, downtown San Antonio is just another ugly patch of concrete. The muddy bayous of Houston will never produce a attractive aquatic environment unless you want to spend huge amounts of money maintaining it. Most of the flow in Buffalo Bayou, when it's not raining, is from sewage treatment plants. That sounds bad but really it's the cleanest source of water you'll find for a flowing stream. And really, how many days in Houston is it too hot or too wet for people to be outdoors any way? I would always reccommed building a higher vertical development with a large indoor air conditioned space for people to gather and use more of the land to build a more forested open space for people to look down on. Living in Houston is like living on a hostile planet a lot of the year.
haha i finally found something to agree on with Fatty. We have enough problems getting into down using I-45, 59, I-10, 290 and now here goes 288. Even without any of this it takes an hour to drive 12 miles from 518 to downtown at 8 in the morning.
Not that it will make that much of a difference, but 288 is the only freeway that was built with major expansion coming later in mind, which is why there is such a large gap in between the freeway.
houston's weather (climate-wise, at least) is pretty moderate throughout the year, excluding july-september. so i disagree with you on that point. the renovations and developments planned for the bayou will be a tremendous addition to the cityscape, imo. i do agree that inner houston needs to focus on creating a more pedestrian friendly urban landscape... going vertical instead of out, more mixed use developments (which are definitely coming), expanded mass transist/light rail, parks (including infrastructure upgrades), etc. i stand by my statement regarding the probability of this development coming to fruition, especially now. developments of this size take years and years, and they are almost always downsized. take into account the availability of financing in our current market and all signs point to this thing stalling, decreasing in scope, or being axed altogether. i dont have any firsthand knowledge, however, so i could be wrong. have they done anything other than put some statues up?
Looks like the development and project is a go. The City of Pearland gave the final approval to it earlier this week. Construction begins next month.
sounds right to me. and even if they do complete this project, the river just looks like a great place for mosquitoes to hang out. i wonder if that's ever a problem with san antonio's riverwalk.
Let's hope all of these new commercial developments actually succeed... I went to the Marq*E theatre last night and the entire shopping center was dead, despite being quite lively 5 years ago.
Presumably, this sort of thinking is why the city of Dallas took a look at the Trinity River and instead of thinking "Riverwalk", they thought "I'm pretty sure we could put a six-lane highway in there."
The I-10 construction must have just about killed it. The last time I went there was for a Rockets viewing party last year during the playoffs. The Marq*E is pretty cool but nobody wants to screw with I-10 West unless it's absolutely necessary. This development in Pearland is no great shakes, in my opinion. Take a look at the Woodlands Mall, it's the same exact fake Riverwalk. The development they're building at the old Town & Country mall is more interesting to me.
I never skateboarded, but this looks pretty sweet for someone who does: http://www.houstonparksboard.org/projects/lee_joe_jamail_skatepark.php
Hippieloser -- I pass that CityCentre project virtually everyday. My church meets in a little community theater right across the street from it...and my younger boy goes to school right next to it. I'm blown away by the scope of it. The brownstones are up now...not finished, but they're built.
Creme de la Creme, eh? CityCentre is nice and all, but the traffic is going to be a nightmare (already is at times). And unless they decide to build a direct route to Memorial City Mall, the Kimberley --> Vindon --> Benignus --> Kingsride route is going to be even more backed up than it is now, if that's possible.
you're right...more direct access to Gessner would be great. i think the traffic is made so much worse right now, though, because of the construction. that feeder road going down to 2 lanes at the beltway and i-10 is a sick joke.
