Uptown Houston

The Uptown District of Houston is located 6.2 miles (10 km) west of downtown and is centered along Post Oak Boulevard, Westheimer Road (Farm to Market Road 1093), and the Galleria. In its role as a high-end fashion and hotel district, it is approximately the Houston equivalent of San Francisco's Union Square and Los Angeles's Beverly Hills.

The Uptown District is bounded by Woodway Drive to the north, the I-610 (West Loop) to the east, U.S. Highway 59 to the south, and Yorktown Street to the west. [ [http://www.uptown-houston.com/about/organization/district-map.html District map] "Uptown Houston District, view looking westward across the intersection of I-610 and Westheimer Rd."]

At 23.6 million square feet (2,193,000 m²) of office space, the Uptown District is the nation's 17th-largest business district and is approximately the size of downtown Denver or Pittsburgh. http://www.uptown-houston.com/info/factSheets/UT_Fact_Office.pdf] The district is home to approximately 2000 companies and represents more than 11 percent of Houston's total office space.

Overview

The Uptown District measures about 5 million square feet (500,000 m²) of retail space, and is the center of Houston's high-fashion scene. Around the Galleria, many trendy shopping centers, eateries, and other sorts of entertainment venues exist in the area. Uptown is home to many upscale boutiques, as well as many Houston-based and local high-fashion designers and stores. Uptown is also host to Houston's largest hotels, which host about 20 million visitors a year.

A major feature of Uptown Houston is the Houston Galleria, the largest shopping mall in the state of Texas and the fourth largest in America. The Galleria hosts many of the upscale shops of the area as well as eccentric local shops and city-wide chain stores that appear in many Houston-area malls. It also includes an array of fine eating establishments.

Uptown Houston is a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ), which is a self-imposed taxing entity created by property owners in economically challenged areas in order to fund improvements and encourage development within the zone. [ [http://www.uptown-houston.com/about/organization/district.html About Uptown] . "Uptown Houston District"] Although Uptown is arguably not in need of being designated a TIRZ, the area was designated as a TIRZ by city council. The Uptown District has used the funds for landscaping and mobility improvements as well as specialty street lamps, signage and stainless steel gateways and halos over major streets and intersections. Uptown Houston is located in Texas's 7th congressional district and Harris County Precinct 3. [ [http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/tx07_109.gifTexas's 7th congressional district] . "National Atlas"] [ [http://www.pct3.hctx.net/index2.html About Precinct 3] . "Harris County Precinct 3"]

Several consulate-generals are located in Uptown; the consulates of Angola, Argentina, Chile, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Italy, Qatar, South Korea, and Turkey are in Uptown. In addition the Consulate of the Netherlands resides in Uptown. [" [http://www.uptown-houston.com/info/Map2008.pdf Uptown Houston] " Map. "Uptown Houston". Accessed July 22, 2008.]

Architecture

The Uptown District boomed along with Houston during the 1970s and early 1980s. A collection of mid-rise office buildings appeared along the Interstate 610 west (or simply "West Loop"). It became one of the most impressive instances of the edge city. The highest achievement of Uptown was the construction of the 901-foot-tall (275 m), Philip Johnson designed landmark Williams Tower (known as the Transco Tower until 1999). At the time, it was believed to the be the world's tallest skyscraper outside of a central business district. The Williams Tower was the product of a unique era in Houston: energy companies were highly profitable entities and they sought impressive, monumental structures to broadcast their power.The Williams Waterwall is a multi-story sculptural fountain which sits at the south end of Williams Tower in Uptown. It and its surrounding park were built as an architectural amenity to the adjacent tower. Both the fountain and tower were designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Philip Johnson. Construction of the complex was completed in 1983. The semi-circular fountain is convert|64|ft|m|sing=on tall and sits among 118 Texas Live Oak trees. Approximately 11,000 US gallons of water flow over both sides of the wall every minute.

The Uptown District is also home to other buildings designed by noted architects such as I. M. Pei and César Pelli among others also designed by Philip Johnson; Pelli designed the Four Oaks Place complex. Large-scale office construction in Uptown came to an end with the collapse of energy prices and the meltdown of Houston's economy in the mid-to-late 1980s. Uptown had 23.8 million square feet (2,210,000 m²) of office space in 2001, whereas Downtown Houston had about 40 million square feet (4,000,000 m²). In the late 1990s, there was a mini-boom of mid-rise residential tower construction, typically about 30 stories tall. Uptown has accumulated a large concentration of high-rise residential structures.

Four Leaf Towers, a high-rise residential complex consisting of two 40-story buildings located on San Felipe Street was constructed in 1982. The towers were designed by architect César Pelli. [Cite web
title = Four-Leaf Towers :: 5100 San Felipe, Houston, Texas, United States :: Glass Steel and Stone
accessdate = 2008-04-05
url = http://www.glasssteelandstone.com/BuildingDetail/2092.php]

Completed in 2004, Saint Martin's Episcopal Church (with spires and antennae reaching convert|188|ft|m into the sky), designed by Jackson & Ryan Architects, was featured on the covers of three national magazines: "Civil Engineering" magazine (April 2005), "Modern Steel Construction" magazine (May 2005) and "Structure" magazine (December 2005). [ [http://www.matrixstructural.com/awardwinning.shtml Award-Winning Projects] , Matrix Structural Engineers (maintained by Rhonda Hurley).]

Public services

Fire services

Houston Fire Department operates Station 28 [http://www.houstontx.gov/fire/firestations/station28.html] at 3000 Chimney Rock and Station 2 at 5880 Woodway at Chimney Rock. [http://www.houstontx.gov/fire/firestations/station2.html]

Police services

The neighborhood is served by the Houston Police Department's District 18 Patrol Division. [" [http://www.houstontx.gov/police/contact/images/hpd_beat_map.pdf Beat Map] ." "City of Houston".]

Parks

The city of Houston operates the Grady Park at 1700 Yorktown. [ [http://www.houstontx.gov/parks/images/NeighborRev2List2.gifList of parks] . "City of Houston"]

Transportation

Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas, known in short as METRO, provides public bus service to Uptown.

Bus routes that serve the Uptown area include [http://www.ridemetro.org/schedules_and_maps/system_maps/grnwyuptown_web.pdf] :
* 6 Jensen/Tanglewood [http://www.ridemetro.org/pdf/routes/006-jensen.pdf]
* 25 Richmond [http://www.ridemetro.org/pdf/routes/025-richmond.pdf]
* 33 Post Oak Crosstown [http://www.ridemetro.org/pdf/routes/033-post.pdf]
* 35 Fairview [http://www.ridemetro.org/pdf/routes/035-fairview.pdf]
* 49 Chimney Rock Crosstown [http://www.ridemetro.org/pdf/routes/049-chimney.pdf]
* 53 Briar Forest [http://www.ridemetro.org/pdf/routes/053-briar.pdf]
* 73 Bellfort Crosstown [http://www.ridemetro.org/pdf/routes/073-bellfort.pdf]
* 82 Westheimer [http://www.ridemetro.org/pdf/routes/082-westheimer.pdf]
* 283/286 Greenway/Uptown [http://www.ridemetro.org/pdf/routes/uptwn.pdf]

METRO light rail will soon provide service to Uptown Houston. Construction will start in the summer of 2008, and be completed by 2012. From just north of the San Felipe/Post Oak intersection to the Northwest Transit Center, the Uptown/Pink line will be in a subway. [ [http://www.metrosolutions.org/go/doc/1068/112150/ Uptown Corridor Updates ] ] The rail line will be constructed on Post Oak Boulevard, and head north to Northwest Transit Center. It will connect with the University Line, which will also be under construction in 2008, and be complete in 2012.

Education

Public schools

Children living in Uptown are zoned to schools in the Houston Independent School District.

Uptown elementary school pupils located north of Westheimer Road are zoned to either Briargrove Elementary School (in Briargrove) [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/BriargroveES.pdf Briargrove Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".] , while pupils located south of Westheimer Road are zoned to St. George Place Elementary School (in St. George Place). [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/StGeorgeES.pdf St. George Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]

Middle and high school pupils living in Uptown are zoned to [http://ms.houstonisd.org/gradyms Grady Middle School] [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/GradyMS.pdf Grady Middle Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".] and Lee High School attendance boundaries [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/LeeHS.pdf Lee High School Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".] , although students in the Lee attendance area may choose to attend Lamar High School or Westside High School. [http://web.archive.org/web/20050509100740/hs.houstonisd.org/leehs/home2.htm Home Page] as of May 9, 2005. "Lee High School".]

Residents of the Briargrove Elementary School attendance zone may apply for the [http://es.houstonisd.org/briarmeadowes/ Briarmeadow Charter School] . [" [http://es.houstonisd.org/briarmeadowEs/parentInfoRegistration.html Registration] ." "Briarmeadow Charter School".]

T. H. Rogers School, a Vanguard magnet and alternative school, is in the area.

Private schools

[http://www.stmichaelcs.org/ St. Michael School] , a Roman Catholic K-8 school that is a part of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, is in the area. [http://www.archgh.org/SchoolPages/schoolpages-new/stmichael-houston.htm] Two Catholic high schools, Strake Jesuit College Preparatory and St. Agnes Academy, are located in Sharpstown, south of Uptown.

Al-Hadi School of Accelerative Learning, a private K-12 Islamic school, is in the area. [http://www.alhadi.com/index.shtml]

Other nearby private schools include The Awty International School, St. John's School, and The Kinkaid School.

Public libraries

Houston Public Library operates the Jungman Neighborhood Library.

Other

The Art Institute of Houston (AIH) is also located in Uptown at 1900 Yorktown. AIH offers a multitude of both associate and bachelor degrees in Design, Media Arts, Culinary Arts and Fashion. The art school is incorporated by the Art Institutes International.

Area subdivisions

Uptown-area subdivisions include:
*Briargrove
*Briarcroft
*Larchmont
*St. George Place
*Tanglewood

Community information

The closest YMCA is the Post Oak YMCA.

ee also

*List of leading shopping streets and districts by city
*Houston Galleria

References

External links

* [http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/nbhd_svces/TechCntrInfo/SN_21.htm Houston Neighborhood Services]
* [http://www.uptown-houston.com/ Uptown Houston Homepage]