Tag Archives: urbanism

Alexan Heights on Yale

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

If you live in my neck of the woods you’re probably interested in the news (via Swamplot) of the new apartment complex being planned for the empty lot on Yale between 6th and 7th. The RUDH January newsletter has details. … Continue reading →

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Houston’s BikeScore

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Some parts of Houston are very bike friendly. Others, not so much. Houston ranks in the middle of the road when it comes to overall bike friendliness, but some local neighborhoods are cycling nirvanas, according to BikeScore.com. The company, which … Continue reading →

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Chapter 42 is back

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This is going to be fun. Sprawling, boomtown Houston may be in for another battle over land use and development, this time driven by the most significant changes proposed to the city’s building rules in 13 years. The rewrite would … Continue reading →

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Council approves Washington Avenue parking benefit district

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see how this works. The Houston City Council on Wednesday formed a special parking district along Washington Avenue, intended to ease the woes associated with the bustling corridor’s mix of bars, restaurants and residential streets. The plan will add … Continue reading →

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On the Parking Benefit District

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

A proposed ordinance to create a parking benefit district in the Washington Avenue corridor was on Council’s agenda this week, but it was tagged and will wait a week while everyone gets up to speed on it. District C Council … Continue reading →

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HouZE

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This is very cool. Independence Heights earned a place in history as Texas’ first African-American city, settled in 1908 and sovereign until it was swallowed by the city of Houston 21 years later. But tomorrow’s residents may be pioneers of … Continue reading →

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Why does Midtown need a big box store?

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This story is about a forthcoming six-acre “superblock” being developed in Midtown, and about Midtown’s rise as a successful residential/entertainment area. What caught my eye was this bit at the end: Still, Midtown has yet to see any significant new … Continue reading →

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That big East End KBR site has been sold

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

There’s one less huge tract of land on the market these days. A Buffalo Bayou-front parcel spanning 136 acres just east of downtown has found a buyer. The mostly vacant tract is under contract and expected to close by the … Continue reading →

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The Heights Wal-Mart is now open

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

On the plus side, the world did not come to an end. On the minus side, it’s still a lousy location for a Wal-Mart and a giant missed opportunity for better, more urban-oriented development. For nearly 2½ years, Heights-area residents … Continue reading →

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Why not a university?

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Tory Gattis has an interesting suggestion for that 136 acre tract of land east of downtown. This parcel of land could be the last opportunity for Houston to add a major college campus to the city.  We should consider something … Continue reading →

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Techies and the city

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The reason why tech companies are eschewing suburban campuses for urban office locations. For as long as many of us can remember, high-tech industries have flourished in the suburban office parks that are so ubiquitous in Silicon Valley, North Carolina’s … Continue reading →

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A streetcar for the East End?

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

It could happen. As the once solidly industrial East End transforms with a 4-month-old soccer stadium, a light rail line under construction and the imminent sale of a 136-acre plot that could signal coming lofts and boutiques, boosters are studying … Continue reading →

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Ashby everywhere

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Nancy Sarnoff notes a trend. Homeowners in the Memorial area held a meeting last month in the lobby of a nearby medical office building to discuss what to do about a large apartment complex being planned in their neighborhood. They … Continue reading →

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What would you do with 136 acres near downtown?

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Something urban, mixed-use, and transit-oriented, one hopes. A rare opportunity lies in 136 acres just east of downtown Houston. The Buffalo Bayou-front parcel, a longtime industrial and office complex, went on the market earlier this summer – a move bayou … Continue reading →

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More on carless commuting in Houston

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Greg adds on to my recent post about getting to work in Houston if you didn’t have a car. In the comments of this Kuff post, Robert Nagle actually beats me to the punch in answering the central question. Yes, … Continue reading →

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Discussing the Z word

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. The go-ahead for the Ashby high rise has left me feeling really depressed. If affluent residents with all their political and social connections can’t keep a 21-story skyscraper out of their bucolic … Continue reading →

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Sugar Land has its own Ashby

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The unhappy dissenters part of it, anyway. The planned development of the city’s last piece of open land would turn the abandoned Imperial Sugar site – the very genesis of the city – into an $800 million urban space with … Continue reading →

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Still waiting on the new density rules

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

With all that went on last year in Houston, one item that had been on the table was a revision of Chapter 42, to redefine the rules about density and other codes for developers. The planned revisions never made it … Continue reading →

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What’s to become of the downtown post office?

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Lisa Gray writes about the future of the downtown post office on Franklin. In the past couple of years, there have been rumblings that the U.S. Postal Service plans to leave 401 Franklin and sell the 16-acre complex – a … Continue reading →

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Thinking outside the box on the city’s finances

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve seen the ideas generated by the Long Term Financial Management Task Force, which I thought lacked a certain amount of breadth to its perspective. Here’s a taste of what else might be out there to think about. Good Jobs … Continue reading →

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Council passes high rise ordinance

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

And with that, Council is done for the year. After four years of planning and discussion, the Houston City Council on Wednesday approved new restrictions on residential high rises. The restrictions, which passed after a failed proposal to delay a … Continue reading →

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Downtown suburbia

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Lisa Gray writes approvingly of a forthcoming urban development in Sugar Land. A far bigger project in the works is the Imperial, a 715-acre development that includes the site of the defunct Imperial Sugar refinery – the factory that built … Continue reading →

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The Bellaire “urban transit village”

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Very interesting. Nearly a year in the drafting, a sweeping change to Bellaire’s zoning laws creating an “urban transit village” where there is now a collection of nondescript warehouses will soon be before City Council. On Nov. 1, the city’s … Continue reading →

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Apartment boom coming

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I have many things to say about this. High occupancies and rising rents for apartments are driving a new wave of development in Houston’s high-end urban neighborhoods. More than 3,500 units in a dozen complexes are under construction primarily inside … Continue reading →

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Parking feedback

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

A couple of weeks ago I noted that the city is undergoing a review of its 1989 Off Street Parking ordinance. The idea is to recognize some changes in the real estate market, especially having to do with entertainment and … Continue reading →

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On getting to walkable urbanism

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This story about neighborhood opposition to the Kroger 380 agreement doesn’t quite get at what I think are the key issues that need to be discussed. [O]pponents of both the Wal-Mart and Kroger deals say suburban-style big-box stores don’t fit … Continue reading →

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I-45 again

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I went to the open house for I-45 on Tuesday night to see what was going on, since we didn’t have much information about what the current state of TxDOT’s thinking is about this. Apparently, there isn’t a set plan … Continue reading →

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If fixing the streets is easy, then tell us how to do it

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Lisa Gray writes about a guy who thinks Houston’s streets could be much more user friendly if only we tried a little harder to make them be. “Houston’s streets behave like alleys,” Nathan Norris shouted to the 20 or so … Continue reading →

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Downtown living

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

There are two things about this Chron story about the residential population of downtown that I find curious. Twenty-five years after the residential development of downtown Houston began in earnest, fewer than 4,500 people reside in the city’s central core, … Continue reading →

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The Census and Central Texas

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

While much of the focus post-Census will be on redistricting, the data it contains is fascinating and illuminating in its own right, absent any political context. This story about explosive growth in former small towns around Austin that now serve … Continue reading →

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You need more than more miles to get more riders

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The new 28-mile Green Line in Dallas has begun full service, and it is expected to add about 30,000 daily boardings, bringing DART’s total rail ridership to about 90,000 per day. That’s for 72 miles of rail lines, which is … Continue reading →

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RUDH recommendations to the city

Posted on September 18, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Whether you think the Stop Heights Wal-Mart effort is a righteous cause or the annoying whine of a bunch of fancypants elitists, I recommend you go check out this post to read the recommendations made by Responsible Urban Development for … Continue reading →

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What could be done with the Wal-Mart site instead

Posted on September 15, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

If you read through my previous post, you may be wondering “if not Wal-Mart there, then what?” For that, I turn to Andrew Burleson, wearing his President of the Houston Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism hat, who … Continue reading →

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Defining downtown San Antonio

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The city of San Antonio is going to take a closer look at what it’s doing with its downtown. How to change the locals’ experience of downtown, and why it even matters, has become Topic A for many — in … Continue reading →

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