October 2018

According to one estimate, Greater Houston will exceed 10 million people by 2040. That would mean about three million more people would be added to the region. But so many additional cars may not require additional parking spaces.

“The buildings are not built for today. If you do your job right, you are trying to ask yourself: how is this going to be a good investment over 25 to 50 years? »Declared David Mincberg, general manager, officer of Flagship Properties Company, a company that invests in commercial real estate. He is also president of Houston first, which operates the City of Houston’s underground parking lot, including the George R. Brown Convention Center and Jones Hall.

Mincberg said parking needs are changing because the way people move is changing.

“As rail grows in Houston, Texas, you have more people, and more people, and more people using Uber and Lyft, and maybe autonomous vehicles in the near future; the near future being a decade. A decade for a building is not very long, ”said Mincberg. “And what is the ideal point between” what should an investor-developer do “and” a municipality should she demand? ” “”

How the city is responding to changing developments

City officials are already considering how to deal with Houston’s growing population.

“We have to find ways to get cars off the streets,” said Houston Pro-Tem Mayor Ellen Cohen. She is also a member of the District C council, which includes updated parking systems for busy areas like Washington Avenue and Montrose. “We have to be able to get people to Houston by bus, light rail, integrated transit. And how can we do that so that people aren’t driving cars with one person behind the wheel?”

Cohen said parking regulations have changed and the city has tested less in the city center.

“Instead of having regulations requiring restaurants, for example, to have an ‘X’ number of places available, we are testing the idea – which is currently underway downtown – but in the city center where you don’t need to have “X” number of parking spaces. You come to the restaurant, you can park in the adjacent streets. That sort of thing. So that it just leaves more space for people park where they can. “

“A third of its residents in this new apartment did not have a car at all”

Market needs have led downtown Houston to be exempt from parking restrictions for years, said Andy Icken, city of Houston development manager. He said the changes in development have also resulted in changes in the parking needs in the city center.

“Someone built a new multi-family project in the city center, which has a lot of people renting out apartments. And they instituted a one-car-to-apartment unit process, and they actually agreed. to buy it back to the individual, “said Icken.” So what this owner told me was: he discovered that about a third of his residents in this new apartment did not have a car at all. others who have it would make good economic sense. “

Not having a car can be a growing trend in Houston. Icken said many places in the city have evolved into mixed-use development, such as the Galleria district.

“If we look at the total square footage of the Galleria area, which is over 35 million square feet, one-third is commercial office, one-third is residential and one-third is actually retail space,” said Icken. . “It requires fewer cars if people are to go to this area.”

Icken added that they have more projects coming up in the city looking to have mixed use because it’s convenient for people. He said they are considering more rules and regulations to help improve pedestrian communities, like Rice Village. Another factor to consider, Icken said, is the technology.

“Autonomous vehicles are going to play a role, longer term,” said Icken.

the Harris County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (METRO) has already set up a prototype plan for its first autonomous vehicle, in University of South Texas. And Icken said the city supports this plan and is thinking of others.

“We actually believe that the rapid bus line in the middle of the Galleria can be converted into a self-driving vehicle. We are planning experimental work on an autonomous vehicle going from the convention center to airports. The technology needs to be improved, but it evolves every day and I think it’s up to us to see how we’re going to adapt to it.

In the years to come, that could mean big changes in a city where, right now, so many people are driving themselves.