Kingwood Row. New development

Cbear :
OMG, I miss them!!!!!

Zz98721 :
yes, I had a friend who lived at those apartments, and they flooded, more than once. The new HEB center flooded, during Harvey, and much of it was new, then

LittleTexas : thank you for the input. I don't recall the area flooding prior to the major development additions.

Joe :
we have the area where Sharky's is, which has never become as popular, or grown, as hoped. The similar venue in the Woodlands does well because the Mall and the Concert/event venue are close, and so, a part of it all, as well. We don't have those draws

Cbear :
That's just what we don't need, more building!😱😱

Cbear :
The issue is the rent costs are so high on most of those strip mall areas. That's why they sit vacant. It's often cheaper to build new than to pay the "going" rate on the rent. The landlords that own/manage those spaces aren't willing to budge on their numbers, so often the company will tell them to pound sand & go elsewhere. That happened with the Bath & Body Works that USED to be right here in Kingwood in the Kings Crossing shopping center. The space that is now occupied by Lash Lounge / Results PT is where Bath & Body Works used to be. When the lease was up, they raised the rent so high that B&BW just opted to close the store.

CatalinaD :
The overpass is ONLY to get over the railroad tracks. It will not connect to the highway. It was intended to create an evacuation route in the 'event of a hurricane'. We are so far inland that we really don't have to evacuate, but people in this town panic over the littlest things.....

Joe :
ridiculously overpriced rent for the retail spaces & landlords who are unwilling to budge.

Zz98721 :
Yes!!!! Those apartments flooded EVERY SINGLE TIME it rained heavily or for more than 30 minutes! When the new HEB was being built, they did not raise the ground but instead left it below grade. Water finds low spots! That grocery store parking lot floods every time we have a major downpour.

beadweaver :
As noted on other posts - the landlords are unwilling to budge on their rates, so companies go elsewhere or build new - it's actually cheaper. The other thing about Kingwood is that, with just a few exceptions, they don't support businesses for terribly long. A new restaurant will come along & have great support, then after about 6-8 months, there's no one in the place & eventually they fold. Chachi's & Three Bs are the rare exceptions that continue to thrive in the community. Everyone is quick to say what they think we need (or don't need) here, but no one is actually willing to put up their own money & start a business.

LittleTexas :
The 1st 12-24 hours after Harvey made landfall, that parking lot was dry. (We had just installed the MRI in the Memorial Hermann site that week & I went in to check on it.....)It wasn't until they opened the floodgates on Lake Conroe & all that water flew downstream, overloading Lake Houston & flooding us from the back of Kingwood that the entire area flooded.

LittleTexas :
There's no parking where Zammitti's, Raffa's, Chimichurri's, Sharkey's are. Until the parking problem there is solved, adding more retail or restaurants is going to be difficult.

FloridagirlinTX :
If you live here, I hope you look into reasons why people choose to evacuate.Hurricane Harvey caused massive flooding in Kingwood. There were helicopter rescues and boat rescues in residential areas. Flood maps were updated to show the risk. That and many other storms over the years caused weeks without electricity. Gas is hard to find because people hoard for portable generators and fuel trucks can't meet the demand.Those are things people who want to evacuate remember. Being this far inland still comes with reasons to evacuate.

MrsC67 :
I am originally from Miami, & have been through at least 20 hurricanes, including Andrew. Andrew changed the landscape around the country for first responders (I worked at Baptist Hospital of Miami at that time). Miami, also built on a ground type similar to Houston, floods as well, but the drainage there is simply better - there's more places for the water to run off. The gas issues are no different here than Miami. The biggest problem we have, particularly in Kingwood, is the power. Miami also has above-ground power lines. The difference is that there, they maintain a very wide swath of land around the poles & the A-frames. I am all for trees, plants, etc. But until we start to clear a wide berth around the lines (I'm talking 40-50ft), every time the wind blows, we are going to have tree branches dropping onto the lines & taking out power for a week! It's far too costly to bury the lines here in Houston, so getting folks to understand HOW to work around what we have is going to be the game changer.Harvey didn't actually cause the flooding though. That was from the floodgates on Lake Conroe being opened in the middle of the night & water barreling downriver, overloading Lake Houston & flooding Kingwood. (see my previous post about it being dry that first 12 hours post-storm). We've been here since 1997, in Sand Creek. Yes, I am aware of the flooding that occurred - I live at the top of Rustic Woods. My youngest son was a freshman at KHS & we saw the field, locker room, high school hallways etc. What people need to understand & often fail (or choose not ) to remember is that this was a man-made event, NOT mother nature.

FloridagirlinTX :
I think most of us who went through it know it was a man made event. That's not a good reason to say we don't need to evacuate. We still need people in these jobs to make good decisions. If they made bad decisions before a new group of people can do it again.Remember when we were told the new and expanded gates for Lake Houston were going to be completed by now? I don't think ground breaking is even on schedule to happen. We are still subject to bad decisions by people who don't even live here.