Lancaster Place

Hyde Park
12/28/09 10:17am

Wanted in Montrose: Rock Hard, Built by Apple

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Lancaster Place, Montrose, Public Art, Signage
6 Comments

Trying to work in a little last-minute resale shopping before Christmas, photographer Sarah Lipscomb spots a few signs that some desirable hardware is missing in Montrose:

My mom and I were on our way to the Guild Shop the other day and I noticed a couple of multi colored signs posted just before the Fiesta on Dunlavy. The first one says “WHY CAN’T YOU LOVE ME” the next one “LIKE l LOVE YOU?” I thought this was curious, my mom didn’t notice and we kept driving. We get to the Guild and it was closed for Christmas so we turned right on Welch and headed to the Blue Bird (our second choice in Resale shops.) I then see two more signs. The first one says “I WANT A ROCK HARD” next one “SIX PACK” Now I am getting really interested . . .

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Comments
12/17/09 1:51pm

Comment of the Day: Why That Garden on Sul Ross Seems So Peaceful Now

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Demolitions, Gardening, Lancaster Place, Quicklink
9 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY THAT GARDEN ON SUL ROSS SEEMS SO PEACEFUL NOW “bye bye 1749 sul ross. my home for 9 years. to be torn down to expand the neighbors garden. 9 year totals:

  • “4 roomates
  • 7 noise complaints ‘weve been called out here before sir’
  • 1 night of fun with boxes of fake movie snow
  • 2 car break-ins
  • 1 front yard fistfight with real blood on the movie snow ..best comment “wow, looks…looks like a movie”
  • 1 fugitive running through the property to be nabbed by the HPD
  • 1 ‘electrical event’ when a falling tree slowly ripped out the power and fried a ton of appliances”
[JPSivco, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Record Breaking]

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Bankruptcies
11/05/09 12:23pm

Dilick: Pay No Attention to Chapter 11

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Foreclosures, Lancaster Place, Land for Sale, Neighborhood Disputes, Quicklink
1 Comment

DILICK: PAY NO ATTENTION TO CHAPTER 11 A well-timed bankruptcy filing earlier this week by the entity that owns Wilshire Village did in fact prevent the almost-8-acre vacated property at West Alabama and Dunlavy from foreclosure: “Matt Dilick, whose name is listed on the Secretary of State’s web site under registered agent for Alabama & Dunlavy Ltd., said his role is that of development manager. His company, Commerce Equities, ‘is proceeding with its development plans on the property and continues to market the property,’ Dilick said. He recently told me that the property was being offered for sale, but there was a chance he’d still build something on the land.” [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]

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Financing
10/30/09 2:52pm

Inside the Dilick Pickle: Those Trustee Sale Documents for Wilshire Village

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Foreclosures, Lancaster Place, Land for Sale
No Comments

By popular demand — and in hopes that even more exciting or sordid detail might be gleaned from the legalese therein — we’re making available the trustee’s sale notices for Wilshire Village that were sent to Swamplot yesterday. The notices describe the foreclosure peril faced by Alabama & Dunlavy Ltd., the limited partnership apparently controlled by Matthew Dilick of Commerce Equities. That partnership owns the 7.68-acre now-vacant property at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy.

Here they are:

Think there’s more — or less — to these documents than meets the eye? Find any clues, factoids, or muck hidden between the lines? Think any of it helps explain the bizarre sequence of events that’s taken place at Wilshire Village over the last few years? Let us know!

Photo of Sign at Wilshire Village, 1701 West Alabama St.: Swamplot inbox

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Comments
10/29/09 5:36pm

Comment of the Day: Sweet Ass Wilshire Village Park

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Financing, Foreclosures, Lancaster Place, Parks, Quicklink
6 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: SWEET ASS WILSHIRE VILLAGE PARK “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]

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Demolitions
10/29/09 1:34pm

Surprise! Wilshire Village Facing Foreclosure

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Development Strategies, Financing, Foreclosures, Lancaster Place
19 Comments

The Wilshire Village soap opera continues: A source sends Swamplot two trustee’s sale notices for the now-demolished 7.68-acre apartment complex at the corner of W. Alabama and Dunlavy.

How deep into it is the owner? There’s a first lien of $10,742,000 to Amegy Bank, now “wholly due and payable”! That lien dates from January 31, 2006 — the same date, according to HCAD, that the owner, a limited partnership named Alabama & Dunlavy Ltd., took over the property.

The second notice documents problems with Alabama & Dunlavy Ltd.’s separate mezzanine financing with Wedge Real Estate, in the amount of $3 million. That separate promissory note appears to date from May 30th of 2008. Both trustee’s sale notices are dated earlier this month.

Our source comments:

It is rather interesting that Wedge Holdings is the mezz lender, with Wedge being Mayor Bill White’s former company. I feel certain that Matt [Dilick] will avert foreclosure by filing bankruptcy, if he has not already done so.

Oh but if if if foreclosure somehow isn’t averted, where and when might eager Swamplotters be able to snap up this fine scraped property?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Development Strategies
10/26/09 1:42pm

Dilick: How About We Throw Up Some Townhomes Where Wilshire Village Was?

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Lancaster Place, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Townhomes
3 Comments

The purported owner of the Wilshire Village complex at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy, who managed to stay out of the media spotlight while the 69-year-old 8-acre complex was emptied and then torn down after a sequence of peculiar events earlier this year, appears at the end of Nancy Sarnoff’s phone line to make a few pronouncements about the property.

First, that big Commerce Equities sign on the property that says “Available”? Well, here’s what it really means:

“We would consider an outright sale if the appropriate user was identified,” owner Matt Dilick of Commerce Equities said.

That’s right: Dilick might wanna do a little creatin’ there himself!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Buying and Selling
09/16/09 2:18pm

Comment of the Day: Wilshire Village Logic

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Comments, Commercial Real Estate, Lancaster Place, Land Sales, Quicklink
12 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILSHIRE VILLAGE LOGIC “I am really amazed at this debate. The principle is very simple. The land is too valuable for the revenue generating capacity of existing structures. You can’t rent those spaces for enough money, no matter how you remodel. This is definately a high density project and could be high-rise site in a better market, where are you going to find north of 7 acres in an area like this? The Fiesta across the street is in the Cohen family, so that could be in play. The Cohen family is surrounded by real estate guys. The real shame here, is that you have complicated personalities that probably prevented any new construction during a time in which it would have been viable, so now they are trying to market a property in a climate that almost no one can get financing that would make a deal work. A new project would have provided comfortable living space in a convenient and desirable location, with maybe even a mixed use component. You tear down 40+ year old properties, that have a great deal of deferred maintanence, for marketing purposes, and now they can showcase those beautiful magnolia trees, which I hope they can preserve as many as possible, but it has to make economic sense. I am sure that if someone will make a fair market value offer, and they are a credible buyer, they would sell. Death to rumors. The dirt could be as much as $100 a foot, if you turned back the clock 2 years. It is special so may still demand it.” [Alexander, commenting on All Cleaned Up and Ready for Sale: What Can We Get for Wilshire Village?]

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Demolitions
09/14/09 1:13pm

All Cleaned Up and Ready for Sale: What Can We Get for Wilshire Village?

by
Lancaster Place, Land for Sale, Real Estate Marketing
45 Comments

Here’s a view of the new sign up at the now-scrubbed site of the former Wilshire Village Apartments at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy. It’s . . . for sale! Apparently, all that demolition work was just for staging.

Can we get a closeup on that sign?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Comments
08/31/09 2:45pm

Comment of the Day: Cue the Wilshire Village Sale and Redevelopment Rumors

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Home Design, Homebuilders, Lancaster Place, Quicklink, Redevelopment
35 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: CUE THE WILSHIRE VILLAGE SALE AND REDEVELOPMENT RUMORS “I heard (not joking) that KB homes (I think, or another home builder) was looking at this site for a new style of very small and relatively inexpensive 1,000 sf-ish single family hyomes on very small lots. The [target] pricepoint was about $150k I believe.” [Charlie, commenting on Boyd’s Wilshire Village Prayer, with Photos]

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Demolitions
08/26/09 1:25pm

Boyd’s Wilshire Village Prayer, with Photos

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Lancaster Place, Redevelopment
33 Comments

From Robert Boyd’s blog, Wha’ Happen?:

Wilshire Village is officially no more. . . .

I am interested in what happens next. Certainly something new will be built there, but in today’s economic environment, getting loans for development is hard. So it may sit for a while. But I will be watching and taking photos whenever I notice a change in status.

Here’s what I hope. I hope that the new development there, whatever it is, is a reasonably high density development, like the one it replaces. I hope that the new development preserves the beautiful trees on the site.

I hope the new development is people-oriented and community-oriented. I hope that it engages the street and is pedestrian-friendly. I hope that it is architecturally interesting. I hope it has no fake stucco, no faux-Tuscan features. I hope it has no turrets or oversized, penis-shaped entryways. I hope it doesn’t have big garages that face the streets.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Demolitions
08/21/09 6:48pm

The Wilshire Village Apartments, All Gone

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Lancaster Place, Quicklink
6 Comments

THE WILSHIRE VILLAGE APARTMENTS, ALL GONE The demolition of the Wilshire Village Apartments across from the Fiesta Market on Dunlavy is now pretty much complete, readers tell Swamplot. The last buildings to come down were the ones on West Alabama. “The smell of crushed, still-good lumber was very sharp, and very poignant,” writes one correspondent who drove by late yesterday. Reader OkieEric comments: “The good news is that most of the trees are still there.” [Swamplot inbox; previously on Swamplot]

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Comments
08/05/09 4:24pm

Comment of the Day: It’s the Circle of Building Life, and It Moves Us All

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Demolitions, Lancaster Place, Quicklink
6 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: IT’S THE CIRCLE OF BUILDING LIFE, AND IT MOVES US ALL “Gosh, I guess [I] would get away from debating the merits of antiquated cross ventilation systems vs. central air conditioning (a/c won out by the way). Or whether or not our rent is sufficiently cheap for a slum lord to maintain a viable apartment for this month and into the future. Pause just for a moment, hands off the pocket books for a second, to look at these images and contemplate the inevitable humbling the passage of time brings and how buildings just like people grow old, decay and die. Soon Old Wilshire will be gone and we will have a brand spanking new baby building we can all play with and tickle. Now won’t that be fun!” [Dimit, commenting on At Home in Houston’s Wilshire Village Apartments, Back in the Day]

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Apartments
08/04/09 4:24pm

At Home in Houston’s Wilshire Village Apartments, Back in the Day

by
Demolitions, Home Decor, Houston History, Interiors, Lancaster Place
21 Comments

Note: Updated below.

So tell me, whatever happened to . . . those Wilshire Village Apartments? Houston photographer Sarah Lipscomb stumbled across a couple of classic interior shots of the then-new apartment complex while poking through old photos a few months ago with her aunt, Johnna Lee Muller.

Writes Lipscomb:

They didn’t have internet in those days but they got to smoke, read magazines and look at globes.

Another view of home entertainment in the early 1940s, Wilshire Village-style:

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