Houston Real Estate to Develop Underground in the Next Decade
A report predicted that Houston be Underground in the next few decades.
What does this
mean? Is it going to fall into a giant sinkhole? Well, I
certainly hope not.
Actually, I'm talking about Forbes reporter Matt Woolsey's prediction that by 2017 Houston will enclose a major portion of its downtown. This isn't too far-fetched, seeing as how there's already the 7-mile-long Tunnel under Houston's downtown streets that connects offices, banks, hotels, restaurants, stores, theaters, etc. Perhaps Matt is envisioning something more along the line of Montreal in Canada.
See the picture from Quebec Tourism, which shows current underground shops in Montreal.
CANADA'S UNDERGROUND SHOPS
In Montreal, many of the shops,
offices, etc. are underground in the tunnels themselves
rather than just using the tunnels to connect and many Montrealers
never see the light of day. Good news is that there are a limited number of underground
residential complexes there.
In Canada this makes sense since the
winters are so cold there, but I'm not sure how it will fly in
Houston. I guess the tunnels would be a cooler way to get around in
summer, but I'm betting that most Texans prefer the wide open spaces
to life as mole people.
This could be a trend to watch as more relocation and second home buyers settle in Texas.
That is very cool. I never knew about the Montreal underground shops. Thanks for the info!
Posted by: FSBO Louisville | Sunday, October 28, 2007 at 12:15 AM
I haven't been to them, but Maria was very familiar. It was pretty interested. It definitely makes sense in some areas of Texas. We have so much land that I'm not sure how popular it would be except downtown in large cities like Houston and Dallas.
Posted by: Dee Copeland | Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 05:27 PM
Well, the underground places I've seen are pretty cool to visit - great for shopping or entertainment when it's too hot/cold/raining/snowing/etc. to want to spend much time out on the street. I'm not sure I'd really want to live underground, though. But what I am really in favor of is more underground parking!
Posted by: Maria Scinto | Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 05:50 PM
I have been down there in that tunnel system - It is really great -
Leo Muscarello
www.queenofforeclosure.com
Posted by: Leo Muscarello | Saturday, February 09, 2008 at 12:55 PM