TLDR: https://www.change.org/p/save-northgate

January 9 at 6pm, College Station City Council is meeting, in part to discuss the development of Northgate, specifically and especially the ~2 acres that is currently the parking lot on the promenade behind the Chicken/Backyard/etc.

Background
Some time ago, the city resolved to sell the Northgate parking lot. A local developer already involved in another project in the area invested significant time and resources in creating a plan for the whole of that stretch of Northgate, recruiting the time, expertise, and experience of the businesses, citizens, peacekeepers, and patrons of Northgate. They took into account the stated goals of the city, to include NOT prioritizing more student housing while providing more parking, and facilities and space for law enforcement and first responders. The result was a phenomenal plan that would have positioned Northgate - and College Station - as a year-round entertainment destination, fully embracing and preserving its history.

Current Status
When the city staff - I repeat... city staff, not city council - saw that plan, it is my belief that they saw an opportunity the scale of which they didn't see before. They walked away from the proposed plan and developer who provided it and opened the property for bids, ultimately receiving a $13,000,000 offer from a student-housing developer. Saying nothing of the fact that this bidder has yet to render a plan or meet with served parties, or that this developer has zero experience with entertainment districts, the selection of a student housing developer stands in complete opposition to the initial proposed vision to not prioritize student housing. This paints a pretty clear picture - to my interpretation - of a moving target set by city staff, with motives beyond if not in direct conflict with the preservation of Northgate.

What you can do
The city is now deciding whether or not to approve and enter into a contract with a student-housing developer, and to enter into that contract without a plan. If that doesn't make sense, you are in fact reading it correctly. What your reasoned voice can and WILL do is to cause the city to hit pause, come up with a concrete plan first, and then reopen the process to the bids and proposals of developers with demonstrated experience with respect to that plan.

A Note on City Council
That a contract (without a plan) was not already pushed through is a product of a city council that is at least in part led by individuals who value Northgate and our history - and, again, in my opinion - the spirit of propriety and fair dealing, especially by city government and its staff. Please show the council members respect. Not all see this issue the same way, but to bring them together with those that do, it would be counterproductive to attack them. The issue - again, in my opinion - informed as it may be - is with staff and city planning. We need to encourage and empower - as citizens and/or patrons - to stop and do this right.

I strongly encourage any- and everyone to make your voices heard - in a positive and solutions-minded way - directly with council members and Mayor Nichols, by email to the same, and in person at the council meeting.

I'm not much for petitions, especially online. But for anybody who can't make it to town or carve out the time to connect directly otherwise, there is an online petition here: https://www.change.org/p/save-northgate

People are so enamored with the idea of what Northgate "should" be that they lose track of what actually has happened there over the years.

I know I've said some of this before but Northgate is a joke. I've said some of this before in other posts but just to reiterate:
- As Northgate densifies the parking is going to get harder and harder. It is now near-impossible to visit, say, Roni's Mac Bar, if you aren't a student. You're going to have to walk blocks for it or pay out the [redacted].

- If you aren't a student living in the area anyway there's really no reason to visit Dixie Chicken/Duddley's Draw/Dry Bean anyway; once those businesses die there's not even a reason to keep the buildings around.

- Developing the parking lot into a (larger) plaza is a laughable idea because it's just going to get completely disgusting like the existing promenade is, which was developed itself as part of a misguided "entertainment district" plan including some buyouts of businesses that were in the way of that plan...and then the end result caused so much trouble that you literally couldn't have a glass of beer out in the plaza, the very think it was designed to do.

- I'm really not sure if there are people on this board that unironically think Bottle Cap Alley is something "special" or not.

- The city has always been terrible at guiding Northgate development, the current set-up is the result of the lopsided policies over the years and hilarious unintended results, and most of them have never come to fruition. The back-and-forth between what to do with the old Albertsons was always a big question; between being abandoned and turning into "The Stack Field" (lol) that's almost thirty years of non-use!

- On that note, most of the legitimate businesses at Northgate have been run out years ago. Student housing COULD help revitalize those legitimate businesses...

- Entertainment districts aren't ultra-planned developments and as cities change, they fall out of fashion. Northgate is at that point where it's already suffering--running out of parking space, high rent, poor reputation, difficult navigation (I personally think the city should reopen College Main), one of these days, something will change...

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- If you aren't a student living in the area anyway there's really no reason to visit Dixie Chicken/Duddley's Draw/Dry Bean anyway; once those businesses die there's not even a reason to keep the buildings around.

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The Chicken just turned 50. Duddley's has been there since the early 90s as far as I know. These businesses are failing?

Duddley's opened in 1977.

What? My kids love getting a burger and talking to Sneaky Snek.

We get together with out of town friends often there.

There's plenty of reason for non students to visit the chicken.

Northgate is a huge tourist destination and gets tons of families almost year round. When not TAMU, all of the tournament teams that come for the various visiting sports to veterans park etc. Anyone who doesn't realize that never goes there.

PS3D said:

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TyHolden said:

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Quote:

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- If you aren't a student living in the area anyway there's really no reason to visit Dixie Chicken/Duddley's Draw/Dry Bean anyway; once those businesses die there's not even a reason to keep the buildings around.

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The Chicken just turned 50. Duddley's has been there since the early 90s as far as I know. These businesses are failing?

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I'm not saying that closure is imminent, it's that businesses have a finite lifespan and when they go, they go. You don't actually think the Chicken will be around forever, do you?

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Yes, I think it could be around forever (in some capacity). It's been renovated several times and looks completely different inside than it did 20-30 years ago. It's over 50 years old now. That's the minimum for a Texas Historical marker I believe. If somebody tries to sell it, the BMAs will either force the issue or get it marked as a historical marker. That's what happened to the Scholz Beer Garden at tu. And that piece of property is worth a ton more than NG. That's my logic after a couple beers.

We should build condos above Costco. Just way too convenient.

800 unit apartment complex being built above a Costco store in Los Angeles.

Would you live here? pic.twitter.com/bl0P2VrXnI

— TaraBull (@TaraBull808) January 5, 2025

They better have big closets and pantries.

Density housing at Northgate but no development plan, no grocery store, no medical facility, no real plan for the area.

That fairly small piece of property is only going to increase in value. I don't understand the rush to sell without a real plan. Good to see Bob Yancy being vocal about this.

ZoneClubber said:

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Density housing at Northgate but no development plan, no grocery store, no medical facility, no real plan for the area.

That fairly small piece of property is only going to increase in value. I don't understand the rush to sell without a real plan. Good to see Bob Yancy being vocal about this.

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Thank you. I appreciate it. I can't comment on it as it's a posted agenda item now- but I can say thanks!

Bob Y

I for one, am really tired of the blunder, blunder, blunder, What?!?! Bad things happen?!? routine that the CoCS seems stuck in.

What would really fit in well there are businesses that offer services that the high-rise residents need.

Restaurants
Cleaners
Small grocery store
Sure bars are needed, but not as many as currently on-site.

I can understand having preferences as far as what other people do with their property. But I have trouble grasping how people can feel so comfortable using political power to force their preferences on others. Especially in this case. It isn't like this is in service to some "greater good" utilitarian thing.

The idea is to prevent property owners from doing sensible things with their property in order to force students, university workers, and businesses that belong near campus to be miles away from campus.

There is no question this suppresses economic prosperity. Maybe some don't realize that. But I suspect many of the people pushing this don't care anyway because they are retired or tenured (thus indifferent) or are actively hostile to development because it would reduce their rental property income.

There is no question this is increasing traffic issues near campus. But the people pushing this don't seem to care because they rarely go to campus during commuting times.

ZoneClubber said:

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I don't understand the rush to sell without a real plan.

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We have too much important stuff to do. Letting that property sit as a surface lot is a horrible waste of a valuable commodity. Waiting another decade to let it turn into something super cool is incredibly wasteful.

Trying to plan out development in that area is similarly wasteful. The area near campus is too important to play central planner. Figuring out the highest value use is an incredibly difficult problem to solve. The market does an amazing job of solving it. Chasing the whims of politicians and bureaucrats instead of letting the free market play out is a huge mistake. The stakes near campus are too high to be making those kinds of mistakes.

Brian Alg said:

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I can understand having preferences as far as what other people do with their property. But I have trouble grasping how people can feel so comfortable using political power to force their preferences on others. Especially in this case. It isn't like this is in service to some "greater good" utilitarian thing.

The idea is to prevent property owners from doing sensible things with their property in order to force students, university workers, and businesses that belong near campus to be miles away from campus.

There is no question this suppresses economic prosperity. Maybe some don't realize that. But I suspect many of the people pushing this don't care anyway because they are retired or tenured (thus indifferent) or are actively hostile to development because it would reduce their rental property income.

There is no question this is increasing traffic issues near campus. But the people pushing this don't seem to care because they rarely go to campus during commuting times.

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TAMU shouldn't have unlimited enrollment then expect that the city's not doing a good enough job at having everyone "close to campus". Personally, I don't think TAMU really cares that people are miles away from campus, but expecting to turn half the city into rental properties is a massive burden on the populace and is rightfully getting pushback.

I have seen posts on TexAgs that think that upzoning in Northgate is good because it creates some sort of "containment zone" for students; that couldn't be farther from the truth.

Bob Yancy said:

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Brian, you own the property. As a taxpayer it belongs to the citizens.

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This is a great excuse to post this classic column from Walt Williams where he talks about the importance of private property ownership and a little bit about the absurdity of saying citizens are owners of public property in some meaningful way.

"My test of whether I own something is whether I can sell it. Indeed, the working definition of private property is the rights held by the owner to keep, acquire and dispose of property."

https://www.deseret.com/1998/8/13/19396244/self-interest-interests-everybody/

This is what was presented to the city and that they will be voting on later this week.

I really hope the hit the pause button. There's an opportunity to create a plan and really turn Northgate from a Bar District to an Entertainment District that generates a lot more revenue for the city long term AND creates new community space.

There is PLENTY of room for high-rise residential development just 1/4 mile back from that parking lot. Hope the City Council takes a step back and is willing to think bigger.

A giant residential student housing building with 3500 sq feet of retail? That's 1% or less of the usable square footage.

No idea what council will do on this, but I do think that it the sale gets approved, the deal has been made much better because of the work of people like Councilman Yancy. It incorporates some elements (public restrooms, public parking, police substation, and a public lawn space) that would be positive additions to Northgate.

The "public lawn" already exists (small strip of trees on promenade), these plans only infringe on what is already there, no public lawn or space is being added. Look at the plans. the pool and courtyard are private for residents.