Workers began taking down the engraved stone Stanford Financial Group sign embedded in the facade of the company’s former headquarters building at 5050 Westheimer last Friday, reader Andrew Tyler reports with this tweeted photo. Federal law enforcement officials raided the building and Stanford Financial offices in Galleria Tower II almost 3 years ago; company founder Allen Stanford was arrested 4 months later. In July of 2010, Woodlands-based Black Forest Ventures bought the 3-story, 71,000-sq.-ft. structure across the street from the Galleria for $12.5 million.
- 5050 Westheimer [Black Forest Ventures]
- Previously on Swamplot: The Black Forest Mix, Comment of the Day: Inside the Stanford Financial Group Offices at 5050 Westheimer, Westheimer Office Building and All: Allen Stanford Says Sell!, Feds Now Raiding Stanford Financial Group Offices in the Galleria
Photo: Andrew Tyler
$176 psf buildable for a “aim for the stars” piece of real estate was a steal. call it a glorified land bank..
that site is uniquely suited for anything on this earth RE wise, from existing to hotel, convention center, redevelopment office.
Nice buy.
Real nice. The guy hasn’t even had his day in court yet and all his seized property is liquidated by the gubment.
Sounds like he’s already determined guilty, why bother with a trial??
Where does it say that the government had anything to do with the sale?
The guy has no liquidity. The property must sell at some point. Why don’t they just scramble the blocks, like they do with old, idle billboards: maybe “STOUPNAN FIORD GRANFCIAL?â€
My first job fresh out of Rice back in 1978 was working at 5050 for Bernard Johnson Inc (consulting engineers.) Back then it was all Bernard’s building. No garage in the back. I shared an office for a year with a guy who is now a Houston city councilman.
markd – True. The man has not had a day in court and the government has seized and liquidated his property. This taints that jury pool in so many ways and portrays this man as GUILTY already. It’s like everything else the judge in the case has done to crucify this man without a chance to defend himself. Stanford’s assets were not “frozen” but where in fact seized, liquidated and the receiver began to spend the money immediately on himself and Baker Botts and the rest of his cronies … not one cent out of over $200M paid out has gone to a depositor … and now you have to question the authority of what right does the government have to seize anything since they did this under “securities fraud†charges, which have now been dropped along with “bank fraud†charges,also dropped.
Unless I had the cash for a helicopter and a helicopter pad, I’d stay clear of this building. How in the “h” do you people get in and out? I had a meeting in the building next door which concluded at 4:45. Never again!
Is that you, Brandon P? There’s no question that the receiver is as much a thief as RAS, but other SFG scoundrels still run free, hobonobbing with Republican presidential candidates and the like.