“I read the demolition report nearly every day, hoping to see our neighborhood’s crack houses on the list; but way too often I see gorgeous houses like the one here being wasted instead. Depressing.” [Jen Mathis, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Herod’s Fall]
“My grandfather, Milton Brucker - designer of the capsule, passed away in 2007 at the age of 94. He would have been delighted to see your innovative use for it!” [Michael Brucker, commenting on CLUI in Houston: Attack of the Pod People]
“This house was torn [down] yesterday…very sad. [The] large house that is next to it was still there this morning. We will see if its there when I go home today. There is another small house on the same lot that was torn down about a week and a half ago.” [Casey, commenting on An Old Sixth Ward House To Take Home with You]
“There are too many high-speed arterials, especially outside the Loop, with no sidewalks. I was taking the bus to work for about a month earlier this year (I work in an office on the North beltway). There are bus stops there but no sidewalks. Speeds on the feeder road tend to be 45 to 50 mph. There are few pedestrians (for obvious reasons) but there are some; bus commuters like me, kids walking to school every day, etc. They will walk on muddy paths to avoid walking in the street. And bus riders with wheelchairs or strollers are simply SOL. I liked riding the bus, but not the sidewalk-free walk at the end of the ride.” [RWB, commenting on Where the Sidewalks End]
“My friend lives in a small Montrose (Audobon Place) apartment complex. He had a pair of pants and a sweatshirt stolen out of the dryer. He called the police AND THEY CAME OUT! For a pair of pants! I didn’t think they came out anymore even for a car break-in. Even more unbelievable is the police actually caught a homeless guy wearing my friends clothes about 20 minutes later and brought him back and made him take the clothes off and give them back.” [Tangyjoe, commenting on The Front Porch Gang]
“Does anyone have any information of OBRA HOMES bankruptcy? I am also in TimberMeadows and a few of us are trying to organize a meeting this coming Sunday, Nov 15th at 6 pm to see about hiring an attorney to contact OBRA Homes. Any info will help. Thanks.” [Miguel, commenting on Obra Homes Secret Hiding Place Revealed!]
“Last I lived inside the loop was 17 years ago in Midtown…before it was chic. I lived behind an 8 foot chainlink fence topped with razor wire. My friends called it “the compound” but I never ever had a problem.” [Tex, commenting on The Front Porch Gang]
“Properly implemented, turrets *are* good. The problem in this particular case as well as with so many modern faux-Tuscan and faux-Chateau adaptations is that architects fail to incorporate functional support for modern defensive armament and surveilance equipment. For instance, no McMansion is truely complete without a remote-controlled servo-actuated Browning M2 machine gun hardwired to the saferoom. But that critical bit of hardware doesn’t do the least bit of good if the turret does not project out from the structure or if it is lacking a sufficient number of meurtrieres to ensure an adequate field of fire. Along similar lines, I question the lack of murder holes above the entrances to such homes; no McMansion should be complete without the capability to dump a vat of scalding hot oil onto Jehovah’s Witnesses at the mere flick of a switch.” [TheNiche, commenting on Comment of the Day: Beauty Is in the Intention of the Landholder]
“Houston is full of architectural bad taste, but it tends to be bad taste that politely pays obeisance to prevailing norms of bad taste. Hence the faux-Tuscan McMansion becomes a self-perpetuating meme. Developers keep building them and homebuyers keep buying them [and] because they see so many other versions of the same crap, they start believing that turrets are good. La Luz del Mundo utterly ignores the norms of architectural tastes in Houston (which are horrible but all [too] common). Its crimes against taste are unique and displayed with gusto. Unlike the buyer of a faux-Tuscan architectural travesty, the congregants of La Luz del Mundo don’t care what other people think. To which I say, right on!” [RWB, commenting on Freeway Church of the Eastex Holy Roaming Empire: Shining a Little Light on La Luz Del Mundo]
“I can understand if a unique house such as this is torn down when it hasn’t been maintained or updated over the years. But this one clearly has. To say it’s beautiful is an understatement. There just aren’t enough mid century mod enthusiasts in Houston who have $3 million to spare. Maybe someone in LA can have it moved over there.” [Carol, commenting on A Last Look at the Old Schnitzer Home]
“The house is old. The house must be torn down. The house will be replaced by one with separate rooms for every task imaginable. The house will have a six car garage - the new four car garage. A realtor will advertise the property with ‘old growth trees’. This must be done.” [tcpIV, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Taking from Friar Tuck and Little John]
“Some quick math… 7.68 acres = 334,541 SF. Amegy loan = $10,742,000 = 32.11 PSF. Wedge loan = $3,000,000 = 8.97 PSF. Total loans = $41.08 PSF. It seems to me that the dirt should be worth a lot more than $41 PSF. . . . Amegy doesn’t appear to have a lot of risk of loss in the deal. . . . It’s clear they’ve decided to force the owners hand rather than sit back and let the owners try to sell for max $$$, which ain’t easy in this market. A BK by the owner will only delay the process for so long. Amegy obviously wants their cash back. Even without a foreclosure, it seems that this parcel is going to trade hands soon. Somebody needs to round up some cash real quick and buy this prime piece of dirt and turn it [into a] sweet ass park.” [Bernard, commenting on Surprise! Wilshire Village Facing Foreclosure]
“. . . Other good Heights grocery news is that HEB is seriously considering opening a store on Heights BLVD. just across the street from The Art Car Museum.” [EMME, commenting on Expanded Heights Kroger: Now Wider Than Wide Angle]
“Ahe yes, the technology of the HOT lane. I had the opportunity to reverse communte I10 last week all week and every day I was the only car to correctly stay in the toll lane as I went past the toll gate rather than seamlessly merging into the high occupancy lane [and then] merging back out after skipping the toll. It looked like a peloton of single occupant cars as we sped along. Do they actuially intend to enforce the high occupancy part of this system somehow at some point[?]” [Jimbo, commenting on Paying Tolls on I-45, 290, and 59]
From GTello (Gus Tello): @Lennar Houston Real Estate Market Doing Much, Much Better Than Last October http://twurl.nl/t6uo7b (RT @HoustonPress @swamplot)
From HoustonPress (Houston Press): RT @swamplot: Houston Real Estate Market Doing Much, Much Better Than Last October http://twurl.nl/t6uo7b
From isthishouston (isthishouston): RT @swamplot: How’s That Corner of Harrisburg and Wayside Looking? http://snipurl.com/tay31From isthishouston (isthishouston): isthishouston Harrisburg & Wayside - http://isthishouston.com/2009/11/19/harrisburg-wayside/ - #houston @swamplot #eastend
From jenxer (Jennifer Mathis): I can hear it now: "Obsess much, Jen?" RT @swamplot: Comment of the Day: Demo Addicts http://twurl.nl/yf4twm
From kniemeier (Karen Niemeier): Attention East Enders! RT @swamplot How’s That Corner of Harrisburg and Wayside Looking? http://snipurl.com/tay31From jenxer (Jennifer Mathis): I need to quit reading @Swamplot's demolition reports. Seriously. This one breaks my heart. http://is.gd/4YfUZ
From TheLoopScoop (TheLoopScoop): Wow! Hope this works out! RT @GunsandTacos: RT: @swamplot: The Block Party’s Over http://twurl.nl/nxk320
From GunsandTacos (Jay): RT: @swamplot: The Block Party’s Over http://twurl.nl/nxk320From jenxer (Jennifer Mathis): "Oh please oh please oh please someone buy this house & paint it silver and put your TV antenna on top" RT @swamplot: http://twurl.nl/i4w204
Comment of the Day: The Market Has Spoken
“TO ANYONE WHO CARES - THE HOUSE HAS SOLD FOR $415K. NOT quite what we were hoping, but clearly the original poster, who claimed this should be priced in the mid 300Ks, is rather mistaken.” [Justin, commenting on Swamplot Price Adjuster: Your Cherryhurst Neighbors]