Our first day in Houston started off with a visit to the City of Houston Land Development Office. We met with several of the city of Houston’s City Planners, Richmond Coward, Bryan Crimmins, and Ryan Albright. The group spoke with us about several different subjects that concern the City of Houston, zoning, sprawl, and incentives given for development.
Houston’s mission statement “is to ensure Houston stays vibrant and sustainable city. One of the key elements that the city of Houston uses to achieve this mission by not having zoning restrictions throughout the city of Houston. This lack zoning has contributed to Houston being the 4th largest city in the U.S. We were explained that just because the city lacks zoning does not mean you can place any structure anywhere, there are land and deed restrictions that prevent pick up in the place of several zoning issues. The job of the planners in Houston is to create flexibility and community without creating sprawl. Some of the downtown goals of the city to promote densification, however downtown Houston has a problem with parking. The city offers incentives for Green developers. One lesson that should be taken from meeting with the city of Houston are assume the worst with every property, make sure to do your due diligence, and deed restrictions.
Our second meeting was with Steven Stelzer from the Green Building Resource Center. The center promotes Green building among builders and developers. This is a great resource.
Our third stop on our trip to Houston was the West Ave. Gables project off of Kirby and Westheimer. Ben Peacecock and Josh Landry were our guides through the property. This was a great mixed use development that with 200,000 sqft. of retail space, 5 floors of residences, and storage. The goal of the company and the community is to build a premium neighborhood. We were told by the builder that if they could do it over they would not build so much storage space. This project is an example of an Established Premium Neighborhood (EPN). Most of the residents looking to move into this community are looking to move into a trendy apartment with every amenity you will need. One of the biggest issue with project and it falls in line with the city Houston not having zoning is that there was another mixed-use development built right next door. This is one of the downfalls of not having zoning requirements, you never know what will built right next door.
Our final stop on Monday was to the Core on Washington Avenue in Houston. We met with the developer project Michael Morgan. This was also a very nice multi-family project in west Houston. This project is 326 units whose target market are late 20’s to early 30’s singles. Some of the challenges that he faced with this project were that it was a brown field site on a railroad track. Mr. Morgan spoke with our class about his experience as a developer and some of his different projects. The key to a good development project is to buy it right and price it right. When budgeting your project be very conservative with the downside and the upside will take care of itself. Overall we had a great first day in Houston.
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