The major topics discussed included:
* the zoning environment, and lack thereof. We particularly discussed
- the advantages of the virtually no zoning requirements in the city. While TIRZ and districts can set their own requirements, there are no preset zoning requirements in the city.
- The perception of developers regarding the lack of zoning requirements - overwhelmingly positive as developers enjoy the freedom to do what the market dictates.
- The impact of deed restrictions, which are almost absolutely enforceable except in very limited exceptional circumstances.
* Developer's tendency to use the city as a model to test products,
* Infrastructure planning; the need to build redundancy due to the lack of predictable development patterns. Developers are required to put infrastructure requirements for their developments beyond those provided by the city,
* Impact of the geographical expansion of the city, especially to the west and the issues of sprawl,
We also visited the Green Building Resource Center. The center:
* is LEED Gold,
* reused about 85% of furniture,
* focuses on reducing the lifetime cost of buildings by initial increased costs in design and implementation.
Here are some of the snapshots of the green resource center...
We also visited two projects in the afternoon:
We first visited the WestAve project. This development:
* is located on Kirby and Westheimer on the west side of the city,
* is developed by the Gables group
* is a mixed use development,
* has about 397 residential units and retail components (about 195k sf of retail space in two floors)
* second floor retail space is also a flex space...it can be converted to office space if market dictates,
* currently about 89% occupied for residential and 41% occupied for retail,
* has a diverse tenant mix, mainly young professionals and recent grads,
* has a very contemporary look and aims to capitalize from the urban and trendy nature of young professionals.
Here's a snap of the development...
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