The anti-Bolsover
Last month, the Houston City Council voted to sell one block of Bolsover Street in the Rice Village to a private developer for the construction of Sonoma, a large mixed use project. I’m not sure that’s a bad thing — Bolsover was never a busy street, and the new project will make the Village more active and more pedestrian-friendly.
But it’s worth noting that where the Sonoma is subtracting a street from the street grid, other projects are adding streets. The Houston Business Journal reports that construction is about to begin on BLVD Place, 350 apartments, 200,000 square feet of office space, a hotel, and 500,000 square feet of retail (including Whole Foods) at the corner of San Felipe and Westheimer.
Here’s that intersection now, with the site in purple:
Here’s the BLVD plan. South Post Oak Lane will be extended connect to Post Oak Blvd, eliminating a little one block jog on San Felipe. It will also connect to Ambassador Way, opening up a new path to the condos and apartments on McCue and Sage.
The disjointed street network in the Uptown area is responsible for much of the congestion there; this development will actually improve that network. BLVD Place also improves on Sonoma in another way: it will be right next to a transit station on the Uptown line. That means not everyone who works, lives, stays, or shops there will need to drive. That will help traffic, too.
At least two other major mixed use projects that are in the works — Regent Square on Allen Parkway and Dunlavy, and West Ave at Westheimer and Kirby — will also add new streets. There’s an article by Susan Rogers more about all these developments, and my take on Bolsover, in Cite 72, out next week. Add your take in our forums.