HOUSTON | The Plant/Second Ward

[Wattleigh]

Really cool East End project that ultimately should tie into the work the BBP has planned for the eastern stretch of the Bayou nearby.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bus...photo-23173998

Exclusive: New 17-acre East End project aims to make cars obsolete with
walkable, 'micro' living

Marissa Luck
Nov. 18, 2022
Updated: Nov. 18, 2022 1:01 p.m.

Plans to turn a swath of the East End into a walkable district are getting larger and more ambitious – setting the groundwork for what could become Houston’s next 15-minute neighborhood -- where everything a resident needs is within 15 minutes of walking distance.

Houston real estate firm Concept Neighborhood – a group of entrepreneurs that include some of founders of the Axelrad beer garden -- previously unveiled plans to convert the former W-K-M warehouse complex in the East End into a mixed-use destination with hyperlocal businesses and walkable streets.

Now, the scale of the project -- estimated at $350 million -- has grown to 17 acres, and developers plan to incorporate up to 1,000 mixed-income apartments with 250,000 square-feet of retail and office space over the next decade. Working with global architecture firm Gensler on a master plan, Concept Neighborhood is expanding its vision for the district after purchasing additional land from Union Pacific Railway and a handful of other property owners over the past few months.

While some neighbors are nervous about gentrification, the developers, if successful, could achieve what urban planners say could be the first project of its kind in the city: a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood of adaptive reuse buildings where low- and middle-income residents can live affordably, and where owning a car would be optional.

“Houston does not have a neighborhood for people that want to rely on micro mobility, biking and transit," said Jeff Kaplan, principal with Concept Neighborhood who lives in the district he’s helping to redevelop. "People can choose to have a car if they want to, and if they want to live car-free, they can.”

In the project called The Plant/Second Ward, developers are stitching several parcels together to create a nearly mile-long corridor of streets lined with small businesses, restaurants and housing across a mix of about 21 old and new buildings -- starting from Harrisburg Boulevard in the south and extending north to Navigation Boulevard, a critical thoroughfare in the East End a few blocks south of Buffalo Bayou. Concept Neighborhood also plans to convert a section of a former Union Pacific railway into a hike-and-bike trail running one-third of a mile through the development from Commerce Street to Navigation Boulevard.

Rendering of the southwest corner of Roberts St. and Commerce St. showing "Roberts Row" ("RxR"), the name of a collection of shops and businesses along Roberts Street proposed within The Plant/Second Ward, a proposed adaptive reuse mixed- use project comprising historic warehouses, plazas, trails, and greenspaces adjacent to the Coffee Plant/Second Ward METRORail stop in the Second Ward.

CultivateLAND

An early conceptual map of The Plant/Second Ward district, showing proposed upgraded greenspaces throughout the area (including projects proposed by other entities). The buildings in brighter white are properties Concept Neighborhood controls.

Concept Neighborhood

An early conceptual map showing where Concept Neighborhood wants to build residential, retail and office. Harrisburg Boulevard is to the south of the map while Navigation Boulevard is in the right upper corner a few blocks from Buffalo Bayou.

Gensler

Rendering of Garrow Street between Sampson Street and Roberts Street in "Roberts Row" ("RxR"), a collection of shops within The Plant/Second Ward district, Concept Neighborhood's proposed adaptive reuse mixed-use project comprising historic warehouses, plazas, trails, and greenspaces adjacent to the Coffee Plant/Second Ward METRORail stop in the Second Ward.

CultivateLAND

Rendering of Roberts St. looking north in “Roberts Row” ("RxR"), a proposed adaptive reuse mixed-use project comprising historic warehouses, plazas, trails, and greenspaces adjacent to the Coffee Plant/Second Ward METRORail stop in the Second Ward.

Cultivate Land