Montrose

Buying and Selling
09/08/08 11:23am

The Solar Powered Shipping Container Sales Center for the Mirabeau B.

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Condos, Construction Materials, Development Strategy, Environmental, Green Design and Development, Homes for Sale, Hyde Park, Montrose, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing
3 Comments

Mirabeau B. Sales Center, 2410 Waugh, Hyde Park, Montrose, Houston

The new sales center for the Mirabeau B. is looking pre-fab! Now at the northwest corner of Hyde Park and Waugh: two 20-ft. recycled shipping containers, outfitted with a solar array on a digitally fabricated rack. The website for Metalab, the architecture firm in charge of the project, claims the solar panels will generate 180 kilowatt hours per month. What’s that figure converted to condo sales?

Oh, but selling condos is apparently only this structure’s day job for now:

Solar panels on the roof can fold shut at night or during bad weather, said Andrew Vrana from Metalab.

“We would like to further develop this as a solution,” he said. “People could have one of these made and put in their backyard and supplement their energy with solar power.”

Below: more pics!

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Condos
09/05/08 10:00am

Cisterns and Balcony Bikes: What You’ll See at the Mirabeau B.

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Construction Materials, Development Strategy, Environmental, Green Design and Development, Hyde Park, Montrose, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing
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Rendering of Mirabeau B. Condos, 2410 Waugh Dr., Hyde Park, Montrose, Houston

How could anyone hope to top the opening line of River Oaks Examiner reporter Kirsten Salyer’s story about the Mirabeau B. condos?

Pigs flew over Hyde Park as residents and developers came together to promote Houston’s first green condominium.

This full-priced condo building is slated for the former site of Half Price Books, at the corner of Hyde Park and Waugh in Montrose. The 4-story development will have 14 units, priced mostly from $400,000 to $600,000 — though one penthouse unit will go for a cool million.

If they can sell 6, developer Joey Romano tells Salyer, they’ll actually build it!

And here’s some of the promised greenishness: The Mirabeau B. will leave 5 large oak trees and a large open space on the site. There’ll be a green roof, a solar array to shade one of the walkways, and cisterns to capture runoff. Harvest Moon Development says it’ll use low-flow plumbing fixtures, low-E glass, and low-VOC paints. A single central heating-and-cooling system to save energy. Attention to natural light in each unit. An in-condo recycling area. And actual native plants!

Plus a few more things that go with the hoped-for LEED-Silver rating: 10 percent of all building materials will contain recycled content, and 20 percent will come from within 500 miles. Half of all construction waste will be recycled.

What’s the punchline? How about . . . the architecture firm is from Austin?

More images of the Mirabeau B. below!

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Montrose
09/02/08 2:46pm

Anvil Strikes the Daiquiri Factory

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Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Renovations, Restaurants
3 Comments

ANVIL STRIKES THE DAIQUIRI FACTORY Beaver’s barkeeps Bobby Heugel and Kevin Floyd will be opening their own place in the former Daiquiri Factory on the Westheimer Curve: “Our new bar, Anvil, located at 1424 Westheimer, will be opening in mid-November. Beneath the decades of former bar structure and traffic, lies a beautiful building with priceless windows, historic brick, and exciting features that are certain to make Anvil a site to see.” [Drink Dogma]

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Hazards
08/28/08 5:49pm

Grave Concerns for Regent Square

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Montrose, North Montrose, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Redevelopment
1 Comment

GRAVE CONCERNS FOR REGENT SQUARE The College Memorial Park Cemetery once stretched across the entire block bounded by Dunlavy, W. Clay, Gross, and W. Dallas. Portions of the Allen House Apartments were built on former cemetery land that was sold in the 1960s. So what will the developers of Regent Square do? “In a statement, the company vice president said his group has created a site excavation action plan which includes continual archeological monitoring. So far, there is no documentation showing that the graves exist, but all parties agree that remains need to be preserved. The biggest goal is to restore the entire cemetery to what it use to be.” [11 News]

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Montrose
08/12/08 3:24pm

Wharton Elementary Land Rush: Not Yet

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Public Buildings, Quicklink
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WHARTON ELEMENTARY LAND RUSH: NOT YET The school will be removed from the latest list of HISD school closures. “The charming 85-year-old school sits — unfortunately for its future — near the corner of West Gray and Waugh, a commercially valuable site in Montrose. Think cookie-cutter townhome/condos with some yuppified street-level retail, which is precisely what that area of town needs, if you think that area of town should continue its rapid descent into hellish mediocrity. HISD superintendent Abe Saavedra has been dickering back and forth on the school’s future, part of a larger plan to consolidate schools with low enrollments.” [Hair Balls]

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Audubon Place
08/05/08 12:39pm

Piazza Townhomes: Fountain Below

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Home Design, Homebuilders, Homes for Sale, Montrose, New Construction: Residential, Townhomes
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Piazza Townhomes, 620-640 Harold St., Audubon Place, Houston

The planter cutouts next to the garage doors . . . the single-sided, shingled pediments . . . the cast-in-foam detailing . . . the security fence. Yes, it could only be another themed stucco townhouse compound in Montrose!

But the Piazza Townhomes, now under construction by Savannah Home Builders on Harold St. near Stanford in Audubon Place, will surely be unique! Consider: 4 stories. A garage-level wedding-cake-style central fountain, topped with . . . something that looks like a naked cherub. Above, an elevated second-floor courtyard, wrapped with wrought-iron-look railings and greened with potted topiary.

In the video below, it all blends together seamlessly, thanks to a languid easy-listening soundtrack. The project’s website puts it best: the Piazza Townhomes truly is “Architecture Imitating Art.”

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Audubon Place
07/22/08 2:50pm

InnerLoopCondos Wants To Know: Would You Prefer Ugly, Pretentious, or Simply Out of Place?

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Condos, Montrose, Neartown, Proposed Developments
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Style Possibilities for Proposed InnerLoopCondos.com Condo Development on West Alabama St., Houston

Group LSR, aka InnerLoopCondos.com, wants to build a new condo building in Montrose — and you get to play the stylist! What should the new development look like? Entry-arches-gone-crazy Apartment Romanesque? Inigo Jones’s Last Stand at the Alamo? Shangri-La Festival Palace Moderne? Mountainside Office Park Tinted-Glass Tech? Or something a little more home-ly, like that building with the curvy hairdos they’ve done a couple of versions of already?

Yeah, it’s kinda hard to choose, but don’t sweat it — you can vote for as many of the six choices (shown above) as you want! They’re all pictured (and yes, they’re the only options) in an online questionnaire sent out by the company earlier this month, apparently meant to gauge consumer interest in a development the company is planning on the 800 block of West Alabama, near Audubon Place. Yes, that includes the site of the recently shuttered Bistro Vino. As a commenter to our earlier story deduced, Group LSR is the mysterious “unnamed residential developer.”

The survey sez:

Our decision to develop this project will greatly depend upon the feedback we receive from Houston condominium buyers regarding the location. . . .

If you were in the market to purchase, please indicate what type of architecture would you prefer in your next condominium home?

Your theme choices matter!

Images: InnerLoopCondos.com

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Buying and Selling
07/17/08 2:03pm

Latest on the Late Late Night Pie Location

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Commercial Real Estate, Montrose, Proposed Developments, Quicklink
2 Comments

LATEST ON THE LATE LATE NIGHT PIE LOCATION HAIF rumor alert: The owners of the Crome nightclub on Shepherd have purchased the former Humble service station on the corner of Elgin and Brazos in Midtown, until recently the location of PM pizza joint Late Night Pie. The Crome owners’ alleged plans for the site: a 2 or 3-story building, which may include a new nightclub. (Late Night Pie has moved on to 302 Tuam.) [HAIF]

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Buying and Selling
07/17/08 10:32am

Bistro Vino: The Honeymoon Is Over

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Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants
2 Comments

The Former Bistro Vino Restaurant, 819 W. Alabama, Montrose, Houston

Patio of the Former Bistro Vino Restaurant, 819 W. Alabama, Montrose, HoustonIt took 2 weeks, but someone at last noticed: Montrose wedding-reception capital Bistro Vino has shut down. Scooping a number of popular restaurant-review websites, the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff reports that owner Mohammad Bayegan sold the house-turned-restaurant at 819 W. Alabama (at Roseland) and a small apartment building next door to an unnamed residential developer.

[La Colombe d’Or owner Steve] Zimmerman, who lived in a house behind Bistro Vino in the late 1970s and 1980s, said the area had been a quiet residential neighborhood until the 1990s, when small businesses opened offices on West Alabama.

In a note on the Bistro Vino website, Bayegan bids

farewell to all our loyal customers especially to our hundreds of brides that gave us the honor to be part of the start of a very important journey of their lives.

After the jump: one of those brides, starting a journey!

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Condos
07/15/08 11:06am

Regent Square Ghost Tower: I Come from the Future

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Mixed Use, Montrose, North Montrose, Proposed Developments
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View of Proposed Regent Square, North Montrose, Houston, Showing Ghost Tower in the Distance

This updated rendering of Regent Square’s central square, showing a ghost-like tower looming in the not-so-distant distance, has been posted to CBRE’s leasing page for the project, notes sharp-eyed HAIF user ChannelTwoNews. A reader sent it to us, too.

What is it?

Two condo towers are planned for the first phase of the project. In a rendering leaked to us back in May, the condo towers are are drawn as shadowy boxes. But this new ghost tower isn’t one of them.

After the jump: the ghost of Regent Square’s future!

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Hotels
07/14/08 2:02pm

1634 Westheimer: New Bunkhouse Hotel in Montrose

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Mixed Use, Montrose, Proposed Developments
3 Comments

Drawing Showing Planned Hotel at 1634 Westheimer, Montrose, Houston

Concept drawings for the new “boutique” hotel on Westheimer mentioned here on Friday are out! A tipster sends us to a HAIF post pointing to the Bunkhouse Management website, where Liz Lambert and company — the team behind Austin’s too-cool slow-mo Hotel San Jose rehab and Jo’s Coffee — have posted sketches of a 5-story, 75-room hotel complex planned for 1634 Westheimer, between Dunlavy and Mandell.

Yes, that’s the long-vacant failed-condo site next to Buffalo Exchange, across the street from the Leopard Lounge. Bunkhouse describes the site as a “blank slate,” but they’re likely to find a number of poured-then-abandoned piers on the property.

Bunkhouse’s plans show a restaurant, patio, and retail space fronting Westheimer. The hotel, wrapping around a pool, is in back, reachable from the front patio and a car entrance along one-block-long Kuester St., on the east side of the property.

Below: More drawings, including a site plan.

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Hotels
07/11/08 10:27am

Boutique Hotels Coming to Washington Ave. and Lower Westheimer?

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Montrose, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Washington Corridor
2 Comments

BOUTIQUE HOTELS COMING TO WASHINGTON AVE. AND LOWER WESTHEIMER? They’re not saying much, but two separate potential developers have targeted Inner Loop sites. No “immediate plans,” of course: “Liz Lambert, the businesswoman behind the hip Hotel San José in Austin, has a site on lower Westheimer earmarked for a possible hotel. . . . Sergio Ortiz, owner of Houston-based Orion Hotels Inc., is working on the development of a boutique hotel on Washington Avenue, one of the hottest emerging strips in the Bayou City.” [Houston Business Journal]

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Boulevard Oaks
06/27/08 1:54pm

Wabi Sabi: Sold!

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Buying and Selling, Greenbriar, Home Design, Homebuying, Montrose, New Construction: Residential, Real Estate Marketing, Temple Terrace
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Wabi Sabi House, 2316 Bartlett St., Houston

The Wabi Sabi House in Boulevard Oaks has sold, reports developer Carol Barden. And she says the buyer found his new home . . . by reading Swamplot.

The buyer apparently came across the Wabi Sabi while reading stories on this site about another Barden property: yes, that lonely Modern townhome on Stanford St. in Montrose designed by Francois de Menil that Barden was still trying to unload. Swamplot’s last report noticed that once-a-million dollar townhouse being offered for $749,000. Barden tells us that the Menil townhouse is now under contract. She won’t reveal any pricing details, but says that she “didn’t discount the price again.”

Photo of Wabi Sabi House: Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen

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Buying and Selling
06/24/08 5:00pm

Finding Hidden Value in the Tremont Tower

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Condos, Crime, Financing, Montrose
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Tremont Tower, 3311 Yupon St., Houston

It didn’t garner much local attention, but a certain local condo building — along with a few close friends — made a star appearance in last week’s big mortgage-scam announcement by the FBI. More than 400 people were charged in 144 separate mortgage fraud cases nationwide over the last 3 months as part of the agency’s “Operation Malicious Mortgage.” Six of those arrests were in Houston:

This indictment charges Houston-area residents Frankthea Annette Williams, Ishmael Boyd Laryea, Charles Joseph-DeShawn Wilson, Kristen Anne Way and Robert Wilfred Stanley, and Tasha Rene Bellow, of Burbank, Calif., with engaging in a scheme to defraud by providing false and fraudulent information to residential lenders to induce the lenders to fund the purchase of single family homes and condominium units.

11 News reporter Allison Triarsi describes how the scams worked:

The suspects would find a home for sale, let’s say $200,000.

They would then get a phony appraisal that would almost double the home’s actual value. In that case, $400,000.

The culprits would then look for an investor. That’s someone to actually put the house in their name using their good credit for the closing and title.

A bank would then loan the money for the house, which has the phony appraisal value. The crooks would then pay the seller the $200,000 asking price and pocket the other $200,000.

Here’s a question. If you were trying to run this scam, where would you find properties you could get appraised for as much as twice their actual value? Sure, Houston had some price runups . . . and yes, appraisals can be played. But why fake something you don’t have to?

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Condos
05/29/08 10:03am

Tremont Tower: How Bad Could It Be, Really?

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Foreclosures, Highrises, Homes for Lease, Leasing, Mold, Montrose
42 Comments

Tremont Tower, Montrose, Houston

We get mail . . . from a reader who’s considering renting one of the many available condos in Montrose’s famed Tremont Tower:

I am moving to Houston in June and when I was looking around for housing I found an ad for a rental at Tremont Towers. I went to look at the place and liked it but something seemed odd to me. If this place is as nice as it looks, it is in Montrose (apparently a desirable area to live) why is is so silent and why does one man own at least 5 separate units and even more odd, why are they so cheap when last year they were valued at >300K (odd even in this real estate market). So, I plugged them into Google and started following a trail. I read about Jordan Fogle and Heather Mickelson.

I talked to my possible future landlord and he told me a story that Jordan Fogle confused the builder of Tremont with the ones who built her home. In addition he offered a story that the Heather Mickelson had purchased the property and then not long after moving in decided to move out with her boyfriend. Since they would not purchase the property back from her she sabotaged the apartment by opening her windows through all weather which then lead to some horrible development of mold.

My issue is that since the coverage in 2005-2006 I haven’t been able to find much information and I cannot verify either side of this tale. I was wondering if any readers had passed on more information about the Towers or if anything had been done in this building that had nearly 100% foreclosure. I am concerned because I would prefer to avoid paying nearly a thousand a month just so I can get sick and not be able to work.

A little more below, plus: your chance to help!

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