Beltway Southwest Business Park Hosts Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
On June 14, 2016, Council Member Green, the TIRZ 25 Board members, Hines Development Corporation, Chushman & Wakefield representatives and residents of District K gathered at the 112, 500 square feet distribution space to celebrate the ribbon cutting and grand opening of the Beltway Southwest Business Park. Located in a 75 acre, master planned, deed restricted, corporate park with frontage on Fort Bend Tollway and Beltway 8, the Beltway Southwest Business Park is an outstanding location with excellent access to all Houston submarkets.
“We are extremely proud to have attracted a Class A, master planned business park to District K. This light manufacturing and distribution space will surely attract other quality businesses to our immediate area,” states Council Member Green.
Designed by Architects Plus, the building features a sleek, distinctive design while also providing tenants with functional and efficient floor space, all within a controlled business park setting. According to Charlie Meyer, Hines Director, many of the tenants they have done business with in north Houston have additional locations or have expressed a desire to have another location in the southwest part of town. Hines has a stellar reputation for providing highly functional, architecturally distinctive and flexible buildings at extremely competitive rates in order to fill a void within the submarket.
Delivery is scheduled for the last quarter of 2016 with tenant spaces ranging from 20,000 square feet to 240,000 square feet, with additional land to accommodate build-to-suit and end users.
Department of Neighborhoods Canvasses Meredith Manor Neighborhood
A team of Department of Neighborhoods (DON) Community Liaisons and Code Enforcement Officers conducted a “Block Walk” Wednesday, June 8, 2016 in the Meredith Manor neighborhood.
The team distributed printed information door-to-door to inform residents about common city code violations, fines and compliance. Code Enforcement Officers inspected Chapter 10 code violations such as overgrown lots, junk motor vehicles and rubbish.
“Our neighborhoods are one of our greatest assets in the district. We want to continue to foster positive relationships between residents and city code enforcers. Educating our neighborhood residents is critical to maintaining safe and vibrant communities,” Council Member Green states.
DON’s Block Walk is an educational canvassing initiative designed to establish positive communication about city services and code compliance with citizens and civic leaders. Big thanks to DON and Super Neighborhood Council #40 for supporting this neighborhood project. We look forward to seeing the improvements throughout Meredith Manor.
Sims Bayou Federal Mitigation Project Remove Floodplain Designation from Hiram Clarke Properties
It has been 25 years since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Harris County Flood Control District started the Sims Bayou Federal Flood Risk Management Project – beginning at the Houston Ship Channel and working its way westward to Croquet St. within the Windsor Village subdivision. Following the recent completion of this federal and regional flood damage reduction project along Sims Bayou, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved a major floodplain remapping effort that that will remove the floodplain designation from approximately 4,400 homes and businesses within the Sims Bayou watershed within the City of Houston. This includes the property owners of the Hiram Clarke community. Effective last month (May 18, 2016), this change will lead to significant flood insurance rate reductions for many property owners in this area.
Completed in late 2015, the $395 million Sims Bayou Federal Flood Risk Management Project is a partnership project between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the Harris County Flood Control District. The Corps was the lead agency on this 25-year project, which officially began in 1990. The project included widening and deepening 19.3 miles of Sims Bayou and adding environmental enhancements from the Houston Ship Channel to Croquet St., just west of South Post Oak Rd. The project also included the replacement or modification of 22 roadway bridges, and the acquisition of 925 acres of right-of-way along Sims Bayou. In addition, the Flood Control District constructed three stormwater detention basins in the 1990s and 2000s, providing temporary storage for millions of gallons of stormwater during periods of heavy rain.
Following completion of the federal and regional projects, FEMA approved an official Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) that shrinks floodplain boundaries on the effective floodplain map for Harris County. Property owners can NOW contact the floodplain administrator for their area to determine how their property is affected by the newly revised floodplain maps. Houston residents can contact the City of Houston Floodplain Management Office at 832.394.8854 or fmo@houstontx.gov for map information. Please visit FEMA’s Map Service Center at www.msc.fema.gov to view the effective FIRM for Harris County. For an official floodplain determination, please contact an insurance agent or mortgage lender.
A FIRM is a floodplain map produced by FEMA and adopted by a city or a county. It is used to determine flood insurance rates and to assist in floodplain management and the regulation of land development. Its purpose is to identify areas at risk for flooding from a bayou, creek or other waterway overflowing during 1 percent (100-year) and 0.2 percent (500-year) floods, and from coastal flooding related to storm surge during a tropical storm or hurricane.
Map revisions typically are issued after the completion of major flood damage reduction projects and can result in the reduction of flood insurance rates. A LOMR typically involves one or two panels of the FIRM. In the case of the Sims Bayou LOMR, five panels of the 144 for Harris County were involved. Capital projects may reduce the size of floodplains by increasing the capacity of bayous and creeks and by excavating stormwater detention basins to temporarily store excess stormwater.
The City of Houston’s interactive mapping system at www.gims.houstontx.gov has now been updated to include this map change. The Flood Control District is also in the process of updating its Flood Education Mapping Tool at www.harriscountyfemt.org, which allows homeowners to enter their address to learn their flood risk.
For more information about the project, or if you have questions or comments, please call the Flood Control District’s Project and Study Information Line, which is monitored daily, at 713-684-4040 or email ProjectCommunications@hcfcd.org.
West Orem Dr. Concrete Panel Replacement is Finally Complete
The West Orem Dr. concrete panel replacement project between Almeda Rd. to Bathurst Dr. began in September 2015 with completion anticipated in July 2016. This roadway project is part of a three-street improvement project (West Orem, Fannin St., and Crosspoint) that has deteriorated beyond normal maintenance and repair. The total cost of the three part project is $4,395,333.00
Concrete panel replacement is used to rehabilitate severely cracked and broken sections of concrete streets. The Buffalo Speedway concrete panel replacement project involves the design and construction of reinforced concrete pavement, base repair, as well as repairs and improvements to curbs and accessible ramps.
