![]() ![]() However, by the late 70s, fewer homes were being built on increasingly smaller lots. The neighborhoods would be slightly above average homes, on good-sized lots. ![]() Such as the development of a few residential neighborhoods, and an elementary school. Prior to this, a few improvements were made to the area in the 70s. ![]() It wouldn’t be until the 1990s when the Mall actually donated a portion of its space to the city that Greenspoint would finally get its own HPD substation. While the developers had planned on the city immediately building new services in the area, this wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, though, this annexation would end up creating a “jurisdictional enclave” with the nearest HPD station over 10 miles away. This truck was sitting in the parking lot of Good Will There was no planning for police stations, fire stations, etc… This was all expected to be provided by the City of Houston which annexed the land just after the mall opened. As such, it did little to plan for city services outside of the basic MUD connections (Electric, Water, Sewer, and Gas). When Friendswood was initially planning the development, it was the largest undertaking they had ever planned. “until the mid-80s oil bust when everyone moved out.” or “until the 90s when that cop was shot at the mall.” or “until the 2000s when those Katrina evacuees moved in.” The thing is, none of this really is true, the failings of Greenspoint started much earlier. From here forward you hear the familiar story of “Greenspoint was nice until…” and then you hear one of a few different starting points. While Greenspoint was initially a very nice area and had a mall that reflected it, by the time our local economy straightened out again in the 90s, the greater neighborhood had deteriorated, and few developers were willing to invest in Greenspoint. While the Galleria was started in the 60s during the oil boom, and mostly finished by 1980, work on Greenspoint would begin just as the oil economy began to wobble, in a cycle of busts and booms. However, the biggest difference between the development of Greenspoint and the Galleria would be the timing. The plans were ambitious sometimes being termed as Houston’s “second downtown” for the scale they wished to achieve. The Greenspoint plan would be much the same with Exxon buying up 2000 acres for development around the mall and office spaces they were planning. The idea would be somewhat influenced by the success of The Galleria in Houston where a large mall and new office buildings had helped spur a residential boom in the area. Unlike earlier projects undertaken by the company which involved developing land they had purchased for mineral rights, Greensgate (as it was initially known) was new land purchased for the purpose of creating a new hub for Exxon (Humble Oil) owners of the Friendswood Development Company at the time. Greenspoint Mall opened in 1976, as a centerpiece of the Friendswood Development Corp’s new project, the Greenspoint neighborhood. It actually seems to still be doing a bit better than it was 10 years ago, even though its most recent “revival” seemed to mostly involve a migration of stores from Northwest Mall after they closed. At this point, I wouldn’t say Greenspoint is really dead. At the moment the two malls on “high levels of alert” are Pasadena Town Square/Marcoplaza and West Oaks with Greenspoint bringing up a close third. While we’ve had malls that have been problematic, we’ve usually been limited to one to two malls dying at a time, and in the 4th largest city in the United States, and that ain’t too bad. Houston’s dead mall problem has never been particularly bad. Chances are you learned about this blog through one of our Mall based posts, dead, dying, or otherwise. Single visits are just £5 so if you're curious you can always just try it out first.Welcome back to Houston Historic Retail, where Dead Malls, are a bit of specialty. If you live nearby I'd definitely recommend this gym. So far I've tried the spinning class, total body blitz and a soulbounce class and all three have been fun and have left me feeling like I've had a good workout. As far as classes go there's a few to choose from. There's loads of weights too and everyone in the gym is friendly which really helps when you're intimidated by using the free weights. The equipment is great, there's a range of machines from basic stuff to more interesting ones like the summit and the assault bikes. It's so much better than the cheap chains because you're welcomed in warmly by everyone and if you need help there's always someone about who is willing to give you their time. The staff are all brilliant and they take time with you to show you the place and give you advice on what you can do during your workout. Fantastic experience: I've just joined after trialing the gym for a week and I'm really starting to feel at home here. ![]()
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