Renovations to a 1950 rancher in the Montclair neighborhood just north of West University a dozen years ago added a wide open upper level studio-dance hall outfitted for meditation (top). The Eat-Pray-Lease property offered up its zen as the year began. Located north and east of Weslayan Plaza, the singular retreat is asking $6,200 a month, and offering short-term leasing terms. Whether the furnishings come with is negotiable.
This postwar property in Washington Terrace appears to be especially animal friendly, what with the horsey sculpture frolicking out front (above) and an embossed elephant tending the front door (at right).
But more decorative critters linger within the artsy 1945 home, where bursts of color glow in hues far brighter than the taupe visible at curbside.
Above the renovations that have been opening up the bunker-like Alley Theatre all the way from its sub-basement to (new) fly loft, the revamped skylight — distinctive triangles kinda forming a series of “A’s,” for Alley — now appear in high relief (top). A hard hat tour for the media Thursday showed off portions of the $46.5 million project, which was designed by Studio RED Architects.
Construction kicked off in July 2014 and plans to wrap up for an October 2015 debut. Here’s a peek at what’s been going on behind the behind-the-scenes:
The high beams are on — and so are a lot of tilted-grid details — at a 1999 custom home in the Indian Trail neighborhood of Memorial. Double-pane windows, interior paint, and a few other tweaks since its March 2014 change of hands, at $1.674 million, have prepped it for a New Year’s re-debut that’s asking $1.895 million. The meticulously clipped property has Chimney Rock Rd. as a side neighbor to its slightly bulbous lot on a cul-de-sac cross street located north of Woodway Dr.
Another section of the former Shell Tech Center on Bellaire Blvd. in Southside Place is hitting the dirt this week, this time for a townhome community proposed by builders Rohe & Wright, whose previous developments include 30 Sunset, Winfield Gate, and Cáceres. The company is planning to build a townhome development on the site at 3747 Bellaire Blvd. called Crain Square — for which, the company’s website declares (without much more detail), “the classic American townhouse featuring southern traditional architecture is the muse.” (E.L. Crain was the founder of Southside Place.) The Village News provides more info, reporting that the company plans to fit 62 townhomes on the 5.5-acre center section of the former research complex — which occupied 3 properties totaling 9.7 acres.
Forty or so years of a family’s ownership of a 1958 rancher in Briargrove north of San Felipe Rd. is likely ending soon with the midblock property’s listing for $899,000 earlier this week. Briargrove Elementary School sits 3 blocks to the south. Painted paneling, a plethora of shuttered windows and built-ins, and laminate counters in the kitchen indicate some updates have been made over the years to the home, which displays original hardwood flooring — and a lot of tended landscaping front and back.
Three years ago, this 2011 custom Oak Forest home with porch and pool sold for $460,000. Now? A listing over the weekend of the Craftsman-with-stuck-on-stone property carries a $750,000 price tag. That’s where price reductions from a previous listing by the same agent had landed after an initial ask of $799,500 in November 2014 and pre-holiday drop to $775,000. If the back yard’s oasis doesn’t provide enough of an escape, Oak Forest Park is a (very long) block up the street, which is located east of Rosslyn Rd.
Converted to condos in 1977, hacienda-themed 1963 Trafalgar Place is part of an architectural lineup encompassing Georgian and French Empire inspired apartment, townhome, and converted properties of the same era — plus more recent residential developments. Old and new properties share a block-long street — extra-wide to accommodate both a median and complex-serving feeder lanes — that spurs south off Westheimer Rd. just west of Fountainview Dr. The tidy, stucco-clad property lies across Westheimer from Briargrove, and across Briarhurst Dr. from the Lambo Chinese Buffet.
One of its updated 1-bedroom units popped up on the market earlier this month, and it’s asking $93K. It last changed hands in 2010, for $65K.
Shaggy carpet, lots of louvers, and plenty of boldly patterned wallpaper from a long ownership tenure cling to a 1960 rancher in Woodside. Its midblock lot curves slightly to fit the mid-neighborhood roadway that spans from Latma to Timberside. In its listing late last week, the property’s asking price was set at $359K.
