Sunday, November 8, 2009

Waco On The Waterfront


There are essentially 3 underdeveloped quadrants along the banks of the Brazos river on either side of IH-35. Which would be prime real estate for redevelopment due to its high visibility and the constant heavy traffic along IH-35.

NE Bank
NW Bank
SW Bank

Now space is tight in some of these areas, so these are just exercises in brainstorming for a few good, usable ideas. And any ideas could always be relocated down south along Franklin Ave.

In addition, there is currently also another great new center of development at the Central Texas Marketplace where Hwy 6 S intersects IH-35. With a lot more open real estate there to build upon, too.

So is Waco finally ready to revitalize, beautify and redefine itself? As a livable, or at least visitable, city? It obviously cannot compete head-to-head yet with its neighboring DFW or Austin giants...but perhaps it can compensate by offering a lower-cost, fun, new green detour?


Well if so, this blog has been created to suggest and solicit development proposals for such realistic goals. So, please contribute and comment! Let's get some group discussion started! Please throw out ideas or other good cities to model!

4 comments:

  1. The housing market is showing some signs of recovery. Sales are up and prices have stabilized after falling for three years. The ten metro areas that enjoyed the greatest home-price increases over the past year (through June 30, 2009) largely missed the housing boom and didn't indulge in subprime-lending excesses.

    With no boom, these cities had no need to bust. Instead, their housing markets have plugged along at 4% annual price appreciation, below the national average of 6% annually between 1968 and 2008, according to the National Association of Realtors. Most of these areas are relatively small, with populations less than 200,000.

    Texas makes a strong showing, with six cities in the top ten, reflecting the state's population and job growth in recent years, much of it related to strong energy prices.

    7. Waco, Texas

    One-year % change in home price: 3.7%
    Median home price: $112,411 (estimated)
    Median family income: $48,200
    Affordability index: 2
    Population: 226,189
    Unemployment rate: 6.9%
    Foreclosure rate: 0.25% of all housing units
    Forecast change in home price over the next year: 0.7%

    Waco is in the Interstate 35 manufacturing and technology corridor and is a regional healthcare center.

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  2. More than 30 years later, man who discovered Waco Mammoth Site proud as public opening nears
    Friday, December 04, 2009

    Paul Barron set off looking for snakes but found something much bigger.

    On a chilly but sunny April day in 1978, Barron, then 21, and Eddie Bufkin were wandering along a creek bed off China Spring Highway when Barron put his hands on what he thought was a rock. It turns out it was a mammoth bone belonging to one of the 24 mammoths that have been discovered at what is now the Waco Mammoth Site.

    More than 30 years after Barron’s discovery, the Waco site will open to the public for the first time Saturday. Visitors will see the dig site and the slick, new, climate-controlled shelter that will protect it all.

    Immense fundraising efforts have made the site a reality, and it may soon become a national monument as legislation that has passed the U.S. House awaits Senate approval.

    But that is only the latest chapter in the Waco Mammoth Site story, which truly began 68,000 years ago, when a nursery herd of Pleistocene Columbian mammoths died in possibly a mudslide, some of them trying to lift the juvenile mammoths out of the muck on their tusks.

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  3. There is no better place than the H.O.T. for solar power! This could be a great green feature to integrate upfront in any new developments that will pay for itself over time..

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  4. Great park & zoo... Keep building!

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