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Uptown (more commonly called The Galleria Area) is a business district in Houston, located west of Downtown Houston and is centered along Post Oak Boulevard and Westheimer Road (Farm to Market Road 1093). The Uptown District is roughly bounded by Woodway Drive to the north, I-610 (West Loop) to the east, Richmond Avenue to the south, and Yorktown Street to the west. It covers .
At of office space, the Uptown District is the 17th-largest business district in the United States, comparable in size to the downtowns of Denver and Pittsburgh." Office ." Uptown Houston. Retrieved on January 18, 2009. The district is home to approximately 2,000 companies and represents more than 11 percent of Houston's total office space.
By 1987, the Uptown area had more hotel rooms and retail shopping centers than Downtown Houston had. The Uptown area, with 55,000 employees, also had more office space than Downtown Atlanta and Downtown Denver.Mintz, Bill. " METRO/The Transit Question: Bus or Rail?/Metro goal is to link employment centers across sprawling city." Houston Chronicle. Sunday July 19, 1987. Section 3, Page 1. Retrieved on October 28, 2012.
A major feature of Uptown Houston is The Galleria, the largest shopping mall in the state of Texas and the seventh-largest in America. The Galleria hosts many of the upscale shops of the area as well as citywide chain stores that appear in many Houston-area malls. It also includes several well-regarded restaurants and a large indoor ice skating rink.
Several subdivisions, including Afton Oaks, Briarcroft, Briargrove, Broad Oaks, Briarmeadow, Del Monte, Larchmont, St. George Place, Tanglewood, and Westhaven Estates border Uptown Houston.
Numerous radio studios are located in Uptown. Two of the four major English-language commercial radio broadcasters have studios here. Three radio stations owned by Urban One, which are KKBQ," Contact Us ." KKBQ. Retrieved on April 24, 2009. KGLK," Contact Us ." KHTC. Retrieved on April 24, 2009. and KHPT," Contact Us ." KHPT. Retrieved on April 24, 2009. is in 3 Post Oak Central. The IHeartMedia Houston cluster of KBME, KODA, KQBT, KPRC (AM), KTBZ-FM, and KTRH is located in 2000 West Loop South. Spanish-language Univision Communications Houston TV studio ( KXLN-DT and KFTH-DT) and radio cluster ( KLTN, KAMA-FM, KLAT, KOVE-FM and KQBU-FM) is located near the Southwest Freeway and Loop 610 interchange.
Cushman & Wakefield's Houston office is in Four Oaks Place.Martin, Betty L. " Top broker sees good times ahead." Houston Chronicle. April 15, 2008. Retrieved on November 12, 2009." Global locations." Cushman & Wakefield. Retrieved on November 12, 2009.
In the 1990s Weatherford Enterra (now Weatherford International) had its corporate headquarters in Four Oaks Place." Contact Us." Weatherford Enterra. December 18, 1996. Retrieved on January 23, 2010/ By 2000 Weatherford moved to a new location in Houston." Locations." Weatherford International. August 15, 2000. Retrieved on January 23, 2010. Before its dissolution Stanford Financial Group had its headquarters in Uptown." Contact Us > North America." Stanford Financial Group. Retrieved on February 18, 2009.
Many international hotel chains have locations in Uptown.Nicholson, Heather. " Galleria area offers varied housing options." Houston Chronicle. March 26, 2010. Retrieved on March 30, 2010.
From its founding on May 25, 1982, to April 1988, the Consulate-General of Indonesia in Houston was located in Post Oak Central in Uptown." Short History of the Consulate General of Indonesia in Houston." Consulate-General of the Republic of Indonesia in Houston. The Consulate-General of Egypt in Houston was located in Suite 1750 at 2000 West Loop South and later in Suite 2180 in Post Oak Central." Background Notes: Egypt." Office of Public Communication, Bureau of Public Affairs. December 15, 1990. Retrieved on December 22, 2008.Maxwell, Virginia, Mary Fitzpatrick, Siona Jenkins, and Anthony Sattin. Egypt. Lonely Planet. 2006. " 526. As of 2008 the consulate is now at 5718 Westheimer Road, outside Uptown. Home page. Consulate-General of Egypt in Houston. Retrieved on December 22, 2008.
The Consulate of the Netherlands was in Uptown." Welcome to The Netherlands Consulate in Houston, Texas ." Consulate of the Netherlands in Houston. Retrieved on December 22, 2008.
The Williams Waterwall is a multi-story sculpture 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 tall and sits among 118 Texas Live Oak trees. Approximately 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.
Completed in 2004, Saint Martin's Episcopal Church (with spires and antennae reaching 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). Award-Winning Projects , Matrix Structural Engineers (maintained by Rhonda Hurley). Super Green Solutions Houston, 28 January 2023
Houston Fire Department operates Fire Station 28, a station in District 28, west of Uptown." Fire Stations." City of Houston. Retrieved on May 8, 2010. Station 28 moved to a location at Westheimer Road at Sage in what is now Uptown in 1953. The station moved to Chimney Rock at Dolores in 1987. The station received a minor renovation in the fiscal year of 2006." Fire Station 28." City of Houston. Retrieved on May 8, 2010.
The neighborhood is served by the Houston Police Department's Midwest Patrol Division, headquartered in Greater Sharpstown." Beat Map." City of Houston. Retrieved on May 8, 2010." Districts ." Greater Sharpstown Management District. Retrieved on August 15, 2009.
Residents are a part of Houston City Council District G. City of Houston, Council District Maps, District G ." City of Houston. Retrieved on November 5, 2011. In the first 1991 Mayor of Houston election most voters within and around Uptown voted for Bob Lanier.Rodriguez, Lori. " Saying goodbye, with no regrets ." Houston Chronicle. Saturday November 9, 1991. A31.Bernstein, Alan and Jim Simmon. " Black vote went solidly for Turner/Whitmire failed to produce split ." Houston Chronicle. Thursday November 7, 1991. A21.
The Uptown Management District is headquartered in Suite 1580 in 2 Post Oak Central at 1980 Post Oak Boulevard in the Post Oak Central complex." Contact Us / Subscribe ." Uptown Houston. Retrieved on April 7, 2009.
The United States Postal Service operates the Galleria Post Office in Suite 1200 at 5015 Westheimer Road, in Uptown Houston." Post Office Location - GALLERIA." United States Postal Service. Retrieved on December 11, 2008.
In addition the City of Houston operates the Post Oak Park at the intersection of Post Oak Drive and the 610 Loop." Our Parks O-Z ." City of Houston. Retrieved on April 4, 2010.
In 2007 the city seized land from James and Jock Collins via eminent domain in order to widen San Felipe and convert the rest into a park. The city planned to build the Post Oak Lane Park, a pocket park in Uptown. The pocket park is so small that it will not have a basketball court. City of Houston officials, including the Mayor of Houston Bill White and the Houston City Council, said that there was a public need for the park.Feibel, Carolyn and Bradley Olson with contributions from Matt Stiles. " Tiny bit of land triggers big fight over city powers." ( Archive) Houston Chronicle. December 28, 2008. Retrieved on April 4, 2010. The City of Houston operates the Grady Park, which is located outside Uptown and two blocks away from the site of the Post Oak Lane Park. List of parks . City of Houston. Retrieved on April 4, 2010.
According to Carolyn Feibel and Bradley Olson of the Houston Chronicle, the Houston Chronicle obtained documents that show that the city eminent domain helped Ed Wulfe, the developer of the BLVD Place complex adjacent to the park, complete a $12.5 million land sale related to the development. Wulfe was a major donor to White. As of December 2008 the city had not created any plans for the Post Oak Lane Park. Houston Parks and Recreation Director Joe Turner said in a sworn disposition in November 2008 that his department did not create the idea of the park and that he opposed the usage of eminent domain. The Collins brothers said that the city government had used eminent domain to seize land only for the purposes of private development, which is not legal in Texas.
On December 8, 2006, the Uptown District and the Texas Department of Transportation opened the Hidalgo Park, located south of the Galleria. The park, previously a vacant plot of land, has 650 trees and shrubs and of sod. The park includes a pond with a lighted fountain; the fountain was first activated on the day of the park's opening." Hidalgo Park set to open." Houston Business Journal. Thursday December 7, 2006. Retrieved on April 7, 2010.
Local routes
Uptown elementary school pupils located north of Westheimer Road are zoned to either Briargrove Elementary School (in Briargrove)," 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)." St. George Elementary Attendance Zone ." Houston Independent School District. Residents of the Briargrove Elementary School attendance zone may apply for the Briarmeadow Charter School." Registration ." Briarmeadow Charter School. Retrieved on May 7, 2009. Mark White Elementary School is scheduled to open in August 2016. Residents of the Briargrove Elementary zone, along with those of the Pilgrim, Piney Point, and Emerson zones, will be allowed to apply to this school.Baird, Annette. " Planned HISD elementary to relieve crowding." Houston Chronicle. June 10, 2014. Retrieved on December 21, 2014.
Middle and high school pupils living in Uptown are zoned to Tanglewood Middle School (formerly Grady Middle School)" Grady Middle Attendance Zone ." Houston Independent School District. and Margaret Long Wisdom High School (formerly Robert E. Lee High School) attendance boundaries," 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. Home Page as of May 9, 2005. Lee High School.
Al-Hadi School of Accelerative Learning, a private K–12 school, is in the area. Al-Hadi School of Accelerative Learning
Two Catholic high schools, Strake Jesuit College Preparatory and Saint Agnes Academy, are located in Sharpstown, southwest of Uptown. Other nearby private schools include The Awty International School, St. John's School, and The Kinkaid School. The Awty school moved to 1615 Garrettson Street in Uptown in 1960.Hughes, Kim. " Awty school marks its 50th." Houston Chronicle. September 8, 2006. Memorial News. Retrieved on May 17, 2014. In moved to its current location in Spring Branch in 1979. The Village School in the Energy Corridor area has a bus service to an area along Westpark, via Royal Oaks Country Club. This stop serves students living in the Galleria area. - Village Bus Routes 2018-2019 (states: "Sam’s Club @5301 S. Rice Bellaire (used by students in Galleria, Bellaire, West University, etc.)") and Royal Oaks/Westpark Bus Route (states: "Families who live in the Galleria, West University, Bellaire, etc. areas may access this service from the Sam’s Club stop.") - Note the Sam's Club is in the Houston city limits.
The Houston Weekend College of Our Lady of the Lake University previously operated at the Art Institute of Houston in the Galleria area.
Public libraries
Houston Public Library operates the Jungman Neighborhood Library at 5830 Westheimer Road." Jungman Neighborhood Library ." Houston Public Library. Retrieved on December 11, 2008.
Colleges and universities
The Texas Legislature designated Houston Community College System (HCC) as serving Houston ISD (including Uptown). Sec. 130.182. HOUSTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM DISTRICT SERVICE AREA.
See also
External links
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