Right… I couldn’t believe both of those places had shutdown… when I left Houston in 2018 that little area with Pink’s & Calhoun’s was popping!
The Den is still hanging in there, though…
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i meant more for the regular students, i dont think the Greek kids will like or appreciate the grittiness of 2nd Ward, but that’s just my personal opinion lol…*prepares deflector shields for incoming comments
There is a finite amount of land for our use currently. If someone with some imagination could select whole facilities that could be moved. For example build a new baseball facility on the east side of the freeway. It would free up land on the main campus and for the most part, except for games, it is only used by the team. There could be other single purpose facilities that could be relocated.
We have a very naive notion of what a UH Greek Row needs. We are several generations away from an Alabama or Ole Miss system. We need a party room/meeting room, a kitchen, perhaps some residential rooms or efficiencies and a lot of parking. Think barndominium. That would work somewhere in the East End.
If Coulson Tough were still alive he could figure it out. You could enhance the campus and move the lesser used and lower density facilities to the other side of the freeway. The third ward could take its time in becoming whatever it thinks it wants to be. We would be outside their political issues.
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So true of being too gritty for Greek life on that side of the tracks (taking cover as well) however on the other side of the tracks on the Macy’s Distribution Center lot would be ideal for a Greek community. It sits next to a residential neighborhood and can be accessible to Cullen Blvd via a newly constructed bridge through the Gateway on Cullen Student apartments. 
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On talks of the Nook, ever since 2022 it just had a bad reputation on campus. The staff walked out over being underpaid among other things from the ownership. They were all fired, they brought back an OG staff to be the new manager, cut the entire menu, and threw out a bunch of stuff. When they opened the rooftop back up, most of the other staff came back to witness it (so it seemed like there was no bad blood), but it shut back down again some time later and never opened back up. COVID put the Rooftop to it’s knee, the Nook put it out of it’s misery.
The Nook was acquired by Katz Coffee and everything in that place changed. Prices went up, quality went down, the entire interior was ripped out and corporatized. They opened up a spot in the RAD with a similar theme. They still have their RAD location, but the one in the original spot on campus is now gone.
Hopefully something new and original takes over. The strip has some good stuff, such as Hangry Joe’s, Kizuna (replaced Domoishi, same ownership), and now Osmow’s Shawarma (first location in Texas, maybe even the US, from a Canadian company. This location is going to THRIVE for populations on campus).
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Why would you write this?
How close is the uta campus to sixth street? Maybe one mile or 1.5?
Seriously how far are we for a “street” similar to 6th street?
Take ASU in Tempe AZ, how close do you think they are close to the same type of environement? even closer than uta. the same can be said about UCLA.
Students want to “exhale” We all know this. Does our current Third Ward neighborhood allows for this?
The answer will be no. Only through gentrification can we see some changes that will have a direct effect. This won’t be possible until the local politicians are called out for what they are.
“UT-Austin and UH are literally the same campus.”
Gentrification is going to make the entire Third Ward more appealing. This is not only going to be true for the home and business owners but also for the UH and TSU students.
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I wish they would open up a small bar catered to the Law school/ Grad students. Something completely 180 to the Den. Small dive bar meant to have a conversation. Not a sports bar.
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Make it a jazz/piano bar then.
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problem is always how do you keep the undergrads out though
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UH has always needed what is common at so many campuses. An Entertainment district next to the campus.
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The beatification project will help a lot. Has the extra density of students helped generate demand for restaurants and grocery stores?
i’ve always thought dr. khator was worthy of sainthood but i don’t think she’s quite eligible for beatification yet
Texas Southern is an HBCU university, which exist to primarily serve a demographic that has historically been oppressed, but they are going to embrace the gentrification of a historically black neighborhood? The same neighborhood the university sits within? I don’t think that’s how it works.
Not sure what you mean that UH students want to “exhale” when much of the student body commutes from 30+ minutes away. I would say that perfectly exemplifies exhaling.
UH, UT and A&M all share almost the exact same number of on-campus student population. The difference is that UH has many students commuting from the suburbs, whereas UT/A&M has many off-campus students living close to campus which gives off an “on-campus” feel despite not being a formal university-owned dorm/apartment.
Third Ward is NOT why students aren’t living close to campus via off-campus housing. It’s cost. If the surrounding neighborhood around UH campus gets gentrified to look more appealing, then the cost of off-campus housing is likely to increase as well.
When i said that UH and UT are essentially the same campus, I was alluding to the fact that they are both urban campuses, and not rural-adjacent campuses like the various SEC campuses or other Big 12 campuses in the midwest.
You hit on a valid point that we have to honestly address. TSU and UH probably have totally different agendas for the third ward. I don’t see the alumni of TSU supporting the gentrification of third ward. There is a history there that they probably want respected.
It is for that reason that we need to look across the Freeway, as I have stated. It will be many years, lost years, before there is any agreement about the future of third ward. I respect that but it shouldn’t slow down our development. Cross the freeway.
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Why start across the freeway? There is a neighborhood just north of the baseball stadium.
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Well there are multiple facilities that probably merit relocation. A Greek Row is not compatible with a residential neighborhood, as some anticipate. For all kinds of reasons commercial development has not happened adjacent to the campus. I can see that happening in the adjacent East End. Safer, more sites to choose from and greater flexibility. Leave the campus for higher and denser uses.
It seems like there are a lot of abandoned homes in that neighborhood. UH should be buying up those lots and develop that area. And the east end is residential too….
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TSU alumni dont live in 3rd ward as a whole - trust me - they wouldn’t mind any change
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It may not be THE reason, but it most certainly is A reason without any doubt.
Sure, urban, but they are diametrically different by every other measure; it is weak to make this case.
Gotta agree there. Bad analogy.
UT may be “urban” in a strictly technical, purely definition sense, i.e., being located within the city limits of a large city, but any superficial similarity to or comparison with UH ends there.
UT is surrounded by relatively affluent neighborhoods, while UH is immediate adjacent to a pretty dilapidated slum.
No comparison.
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