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Westpark Tollway VS. Kirby Drive

retrosmart

retrosmart

Do you still drive on either Westpark Drive and Kirby Drive.


The reason why the name of the topic is of these streets, is because of the history of the TV studios.


It has been 8 years since channel 47 was vacated on Westpark Drive, channel 51 was vacated 4 years ago, now what will channel 39's future be?


Just imagine looking at Westpark between Dunvale and Hillcroft, looking like Kirby.


KYAZ look the path that KTXH took, now wouldn't KIAH take the path KXLN did, it was the last station to vacate on Kirby Drive. Channel 45 was kept for a while after channel 20 vacated. During it's construction permit studios on the loop and 59-South, KTMD was vacated a year before the moving of KXLN.


KHCB is located on Kirby Drive @ South. I assume that the vacate year for KIAH will be in 2018, I would say that, if by next year they would buy an acre, BTW did KXLN used a former office building, I bet HTV would want to build one.
 
Why in god's name would KIAH vacate their Westpark studios, simply by virtue of the other stations leaving the area? They have plenty of room where they are, and nothing else going on in the building except the NewsFix. They probably have room to spare, based on the visible footprint of the building.

And are you suggesting that Kirby Drive's redevelopment came about only because the TV stations once located there moved? Give me a break. The redevelopment of "UK" district has been going on since the mid-90s and only because the management district succeeded in getting a TIRZ (Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone) set up to pay for it.

If we go by your logic, the Uptown/Galleria area came about only because KPRC left their original Post Oak location.

Westpark is a commercial warehouse/light industrial corridor between the SW Freeway and Fondren and it's likely it will stay that way. It's likely Bellaire at the SW Freeway (Sharpstown) will be redeveloped/rehabilitated long before anything happens on Westpark.
 
Tim-In-Houston said:
And are you suggesting that Kirby Drive's redevelopment came about only because the TV stations once located there moved? Give me a break. The redevelopment of "UK" district has been going on since the mid-90s and only because the management district succeeded in getting a TIRZ (Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone) set up to pay for it.
Click to expand...

So I had a bit of bad information stuck in my head...I forget that Kirby Drive runs down past Reliant Center (which is where both KTXH and KXLN were once located). That being said, my central argument remains valid. Redevelopment along *that* stretch of Kirby did not occur because those stations vacated studios there. It happened because of construction of Reliant Stadium (and related business expansion).
 
As of matter of fact, Tribune is going bankrupt, what if smile of a child takes over the ownership, and what will happen to KETH? Smile of a child started to do Qubo series, like Veggietales, 3, 2, 1 Penguins, Miss BG, what if Qubo merges with smile of a child? I kind of afraid if smile of a child has news, and commercials, in fact classic commercials though out the years, with PSAS.
 
KPRC can always relocate to Uptown again. Besides, its studios are too far away from everybody else (its competitors), and that's just bland and lame.
 
Do you have a picture of the KRIV building on Stella Link, in fact how many stories was it, did it had like a special sign like the present building? In fact what did it looked like?
 
Tribune actually came OUT of bankruptcy at the end of 2012 (after a veeeery long time). Trib owns the building, so there's no reason to move.

And about KPRC... why does it matter whether they're "near" the other stations? Doesn't change a thing about what you see on TV.
 
Does the old KTXH building on Kirby still exist? Or is it long gone?

And, yes, KIAH sits on a huge tract of land -- much of it vacant -- and, if it's ever sold, the site would almost certainly be redeveloped so a new owner could get the most bang for his buck.
 
I forgot to tell you that El Camino Real is almost history, KLTJ is the only remaining studio at 1070 Gemini Avenue, KUBE was vacated over a decade at that same address in Hercules Avenue, kind of a lucky number for him and Xena.




I heard that KLTJ is downsizing it's studios?




Would they also try to take the path that Kirby Drive took, as well as future Westpark Drive.
 
newsmark said:
Tribune actually came OUT of bankruptcy at the end of 2012 (after a veeeery long time). Trib owns the building, so there's no reason to move.

And about KPRC... why does it matter whether they're "near" the other stations? Doesn't change a thing about what you see on TV.
Click to expand...

Austin's Fox 7 KTBC is located Downtown, as KVUE is located on Metric near Braker on Austin's North side.

So should KVUE move or KTBC move?
Although during the Time Warner/Warner Cable Houston days, KPRC always had a reception problem in South west Houston. Ever since the channel moved back to Channel 2 for Cable Ready Television sets.
 
intx said:
KEYE is the station on Metric Boulevard. KVUE is actually on Steck Avenue.
Click to expand...

I always get those confused.
Thanks for the correction.

But Downtown Austin has changed from the 70's to today, and I don't see KTBC which is downtown moving their studios as I don't see Channel 39 in Houston moving theirs.
 
As far as KTBC is concerned, if that station was even ON Fox's corporate radar, that land would have been sold long ago and the station moved to some nondescript office park out east of town.
 
Speaking of vacant TV studios, is the abandoned KVVV building in Dickinson still standing?
 
I think KVVV studios are still there in Lundry, they moved to Main Street @ Walnut Bend in Stafford, Texas, along with the KUBE, as well as KUGB. BTW they were on El Camino Real, and it has been a decade since they moved to Stafford, now KLTJ is the only 1 remaining on El Camino Real, turning into the new Kirby Drive/Westpark Drive memory lane. I saw their studios on Stafford and their studios looks about the size of KIAH, maybe the old KXLN building, or even the old KRIV building. The old KYAZ building kind of looks like KTXH, and KIAH does as well, accept it's a 1 story building. If KVVV vacate the studios on Stafford, I would make this the path the KTBU did, as it took the path the KRIV did. I do like this area, do you visit the Jack In The Box on Spencer @ Perez, and Fairmont @ Bruke? Please reply back.




AMEN
 
Have you drove by Westpark Drive 25 years ago when KTMD signed on, did it had a billboard sign near the lane where the station was when they signed on?
 
When KTXH & KXLN signed on in the 80's, did they had a billboard sign on the loop at Kirby Drive?




Did KLTJ & KUBE did the same thing?




As well as KIAH, KTMD, KYAZ?
 
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