The Montrose Collective is incredible! (Houston, Shepherd: tenants, nightlife, design)

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

I’m not sure which mom and shop places you guys are talking about. The Space store is mom and shop in my opinion

In reality, you can still open mom-and-pops in Montrose, you just have to have a lot of access to capital. It's no longer a place for shoestring businesses, rents / property prices are just too high.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Not sure what would be considered mom and pop shops but stand alone stores and boutiques are common in Montrose (again, not sure how this compares to 15+ years ago). To run them, you do have to be loaded with Capital though. I personally enjoy the Space Store by Common Bond because they sell home made vegan soap.

As for what I feel projects like the Montrose Collective bring to Montrose, it addresses the biggest issue from a recreational stand point in my opinion which is walkability. Recreationally, Montrose is designed to be a very pedestrian-friendly, open air kind of neighborhood. Sadly the infrastructure told a different story. People walked in Montrose despite the poor sidewalk scene. Projects like this one + Skanksa are transformative and make smaller land owners follow.

This one is a much farther catch but it would be cool to one day see Highland Village become more walkable as well. The semi walkable portions like where the Apple store and new Yeti store are is a nice little pocket they could keep building on. Crossing Westheimer is the tricky piece of the puzzle to solve on that one.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

Not sure what would be considered mom and pop shops but stand alone stores and boutiques are common in Montrose (again, not sure how this compares to 15+ years ago). To run them, you do have to be loaded with Capital though. I personally enjoy the Space Store by Common Bond because they sell home made vegan soap.

As for what I feel projects like the Montrose Collective bring to Montrose, it addresses the biggest issue from a recreational stand point in my opinion which is walkability. Recreationally, Montrose is designed to be a very pedestrian-friendly, open air kind of neighborhood. Sadly the infrastructure told a different story. People walked in Montrose despite the poor sidewalk scene. Projects like this one + Skanksa are transformative and make smaller land owners follow.

This one is a much farther catch but it would be cool to one day see Highland Village become more walkable as well. The semi walkable portions like where the Apple store and new Yeti store are is a nice little pocket they could keep building on. Crossing Westheimer is the tricky piece of the puzzle to solve on that one.

Totally agree with your points about Montrose, and Highland Village as well. I wish the Drexel light could be more of a focus of the whole complex, because that's where the safe crossing of Westheimer is. But, that's for another thread...

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

Totally agree with your points about Montrose, and Highland Village as well. I wish the Drexel light could be more of a focus of the whole complex, because that's where the safe crossing of Westheimer is. But, that's for another thread...

Well atleast that’s where the newer stores are going. I.e. Peloton and as mentioned, Yeti. And of course the Apple store. That’s probably why the trendier stores are going right there. That northern end around Drexel has a nice walkable pocket overall. And I never thought about it, but I’m just realizing that the stores that are generally made for “store hopping” are in that strip. The south end of westheimer seems to have larger anchor destination stores like pottery barn.

The two things that would improve Highland Village’s score is crossing Westheimer as well as the train crossing to connect it to the River Oaks District and the developments around it.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

Well atleast that’s where the newer stores are going. I.e. Peloton and as mentioned, Yeti. And of course the Apple store. That’s probably why the trendier stores are going right there. That northern end around Drexel has a nice walkable pocket overall. And I never thought about it, but I’m just realizing that the stores that are generally made for “store hopping” are in that strip. The south end of westheimer seems to have larger anchor destination stores like pottery barn.

The two things that would improve Highland Village’s score is crossing Westheimer as well as the train crossing to connect it to the River Oaks District and the developments around it.

Yes, having a continuously good pedestrian environment from the Hotel Derek all the way to where the Upper Kirby TIRZ has already done improvements (Buffalo Speedway I think). The RR crossing is critical. You have a very dense office and residential development that has been occurring literally on the other side of the tracks from HV - it is ridiculous that the crossing should discourage people from walking between the two sites. I also think there needs to be another safe crossing of Westheimer between Drexel and Mid Lane, like at Suffolk. Follow the Post Oak Boulevard model.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

Yes, having a continuously good pedestrian environment from the Hotel Derek all the way to where the Upper Kirby TIRZ has already done improvements (Buffalo Speedway I think). The RR crossing is critical. You have a very dense office and residential development that has been occurring literally on the other side of the tracks from HV - it is ridiculous that the crossing should discourage people from walking between the two sites. I also think there needs to be another safe crossing of Westheimer between Drexel and Mid Lane, like at Suffolk. Follow the Post Oak Boulevard model.

Well it’s not literally on the other side of the track. There’s a small gap. But that small gap of empty space goes a long way. I’m pretty sure that discourages walkers more so than the tracks themselves. Now once that gets developed, this could be a game changer in connecting the two areas. If I’m not mistaken, there’s a planned residential/office mixed use development going there but I could be wrong.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

Well it’s not literally on the other side of the track. There’s a small gap. But that small gap of empty space goes a long way. I’m pretty sure that discourages walkers more so than the tracks themselves. Now once that gets developed, this could be a game changer in connecting the two areas. If I’m not mistaken, there’s a planned residential/office mixed use development going there but I could be wrong.

The current open space has been developed as a park / green area, but that is temporary in the long run - there will be development.

The gap between the properties is a transmission line easement next to the tracks, so it will always remain. Shouldn't be treated as an unsurmountable obstacle, however. Good pedestrian improvements can deal with it - just don't expect trees.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

The current open space has been developed as a park / green area, but that is temporary in the long run - there will be development.

The gap between the properties is a transmission line easement next to the tracks, so it will always remain. Shouldn't be treated as an unsurmountable obstacle, however. Good pedestrian improvements can deal with it - just don't expect trees.

The RR tracks separate the high end stores of HV from the ultra high end stores of ROD

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

The RR tracks separate the high end stores of HV from the ultra high end stores of ROD

That and a bunch of other development on Mid Lane etc. But that whole part of Westheimer from the Loop to Buffalo Speedway (and down Weslayan) needs pedestrian improvements so that folks can walk from one development to another; it's a rapidly densifying area.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

I really need to go by there. Given that Montrose and Westheimer is the "heart" of one of the city's most famous neighborhoods, it was always seriously underwhelming (and that's an understatement). This project and whatever Skanska eventually does catty-corner will help transform the intersection into something worthy of its location.

The Shepherd/Durham Corridor project is another big step forward. Just broke ground.

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