Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Houston
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 10-26-2017, 05:19 PM
 
Location: Buffalo, NY
3,576 posts, read 3,078,446 times
Reputation: 9795

Advertisements

Developers and the city have invested quite a bit of money in the last few years in downtown infrastructure, and hundreds of new apartments have been completed in just the last year or two, with more on the way. Yesterday afternoon I spent a little time in the North and East sections of downtown, and I have very mixed feelings about what I saw. I was expecting to see more vitality, but maybe I had unrealistic expectations, maybe Harvey had an impact, maybe the nearby construction re-routed people, or maybe I was just there at the wrong time of day.

I was also surprised that few of the apartments near Minute Maid had any ground floor retail or other activity, and I was also surprised that many streets had diagonal nose-in parking that made the streets look like parking lots.

That said, I am interested in others' opinions and observations: have there been significant improvements in downtown vitality yet, is it coming, or did Houston miss an opportunity?

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7571...7i13312!8i6656

Last edited by RocketSci; 10-26-2017 at 05:30 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 10-26-2017, 06:01 PM
 
Location: Houston
6,870 posts, read 14,857,927 times
Reputation: 5891
I guess it depends on what part of Downtown you where. You'll probably see more activity in the Theater District in the early evening. The lunch hour probably sees more people in the other parts of Downtown during the weekday. Discovery Green is most likely active on the weekends. Houston will never have the type of Downtown you see in more dense cities like NYC. Adding a few more apartments and improvements won't change that. I think we just have to appreciate any positive changes we see and there have been many to be proud of.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-26-2017, 06:46 PM
 
268 posts, read 239,748 times
Reputation: 249
I don't usually go on the weekends but they usually have some decent activity after work (like happy hour) and a somewhat busy bar seen by market square. Discovery green is a great amenity that sees lots of use and has family friendly activities like ice skating and fair ground food. The east end by the stadium is kind of icky in my view. It has kind of a frat house feel to it. But downtown has such distinct districts that it is hard to tie them all together (theater district, discovery green, market square, stadium district and green street by toyota centet).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-26-2017, 11:06 PM
 
568 posts, read 1,129,249 times
Reputation: 654
This isn’t New York/San Fran etc... so let it go with the whole street level/retail etc...

The amount of people living in the Downtown area has increased with all the development from Skyhouse/Market Place/ and all those other apt/condo towers popping up. The new hotels along with Discovery Green and with the exposure from the Super Bowl has done wonders for Dow town.

Specifically in the East End/EADO those are 300/400k townhomes that are being put in place. The area really isn’t apartment driven. That area is turning and with the recent activity from the baseball series and soccer stadium just going to improve.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-27-2017, 08:51 AM
 
Location: South Padre Island, TX
2,452 posts, read 2,303,345 times
Reputation: 1386
Quote:
Originally Posted by dejamiller View Post
This isn’t New York/San Fran etc... so let it go with the whole street level/retail etc...
It doesn't need to be in order to have street level retail...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-27-2017, 10:00 AM
 
1,632 posts, read 3,327,162 times
Reputation: 2074
Quote:
Originally Posted by Texyn View Post
It doesn't need to be in order to have street level retail...
Agree. Anyone been to Fort Worth recently? They've redone their downtown over the last few years and it's great. Houston has a lot of work to do.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-27-2017, 10:14 AM
 
568 posts, read 1,129,249 times
Reputation: 654
Quote:
Originally Posted by Texyn View Post
It doesn't need to be in order to have street level retail...
In that case, go visit both SkyHouse towers, Market Square, and the fewer newer residential towers that have retail/restuarants below.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-27-2017, 10:53 AM
 
Location: Buffalo, NY
3,576 posts, read 3,078,446 times
Reputation: 9795
I enjoy visiting Market Square, and there are usually a few people around the area taking advantage of the food stand. Definitely more people around on weekends in the last year or so, pleasant enough, more of a quiet urban pocket park than a busy area, at least during the day.

Approaching the Sky house along Pease are walls of parking ramps. Only about 3/4 of one side of each block is ground retail, and is like an island. The rest of the block and most adjacent blocks have no retail frontage, not exactly a busy pedestrian area when I was last there.

Are there any areas diwntown that approach places like West Gray in Midtown, Rice Village, or even City Center in pedestrian vitality? I know Main Street at night is very busy.

Really what I'm trying to find out is whether other people have seen changes in vitality as a result of the new construction, or is it just more buildings and cars on the road?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-27-2017, 02:13 PM
 
1,501 posts, read 1,770,670 times
Reputation: 1320
Want vitality? Go near Minute Maid tonight.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-27-2017, 05:39 PM
 
Location: Houston
6,870 posts, read 14,857,927 times
Reputation: 5891
Quote:
Originally Posted by Texascrude View Post
Agree. Anyone been to Fort Worth recently? They've redone their downtown over the last few years and it's great. Houston has a lot of work to do.
Downtown Houston is far better than Downtown Fort Worth. You won't find anything like our Theater District, Discovery Green, Minute Maid Park, Toyota Center, George R. Brown, and there are so many more workers in Downtown Fort Worth. Sure Downtown Fort Worth has an entertainment district downtown but Houston doesn't need anything like that because we have those all over the city. Even Downtown NYC is heavily financial and little entertainment. You have to go to the other areas of Manhattan to find the majority of the retail/entertainment. Nothing wrong with keeping corporate/financial areas separate from retail/entertainment.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Houston

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:04 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top