Driving around North Montrose, a reader is surprised to find the Allen House Apartments still standing. Weren’t those units part of the Allen House that was demolished more than 2 years ago — so the land could rest for a bit while Regent Square tries to get some funding?
I am curious as to why 2 buildings of the erstwhile allen house were left untouched. Was Regent square never expected to cover these lots or is this allen house a new entity with no links to the GID Urban Development Group ? Are these going to be demolished in the future?
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- Regent Square coverage [Swamplot]
Photos: Swamplot inbox
I don’t know much detail on ownership, but I do know the Regent Square developer wasn’t planning on demoing all of Allen House immediately. It was to be demoed as needed for the project expansion. All of Regent Square was not to be built at once.
GID anticipated moving forward quickly with the financing and construction of the initial phases of Regent Square, demolished portions of it, and left this part of Allen House for future ‘creative destruction’.
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None of the land was ever intended to “rest”, btw. The early demolition was either an overconfidence-induced error or it was a necessity in order to comply with the timed obligations set forth under their agreement for public subsidy. I’m not an insider, so I don’t know which, but I’d suspect the former case.
This portion has always been Phase II, to begin construction after Phase I — Phase I being the area west of Dunlavy.
Sorry about that. Phase I is west of Dunlavy.
And that’s why you should never close on the land until financing has been secured.
The Boston based company that wants to develop Regeant Square had bought the Allen House property property in the early 80s.
All of these new developments going up are just rotting on the market with no buyers. Houston is way overbuild and way overpriced. Buy a nice overpriced condo and when it’s time to sell, you have nothing more than a used apartment that you will NEVER get the price that you initially paid for……….NEVER.
And TODAY, there are jackhammer noises in the air . . .