Sugar Land

Development Regulations, Quicklink, Sugar Land

APARTMENT INSPECTIONS IN SUGAR LAND Sugar Land requires single-family rental units to be inspected each year. And the city council has just voted to require the same for multifamily apartments: “The multifamily ordinance must be approved on second reading at a future meeting to become law. If approved, the measure will require apartment owners to pay an annual fee of $8 per rental unit. Sugar Land Community and Environmental Director Mike Goodrum told City Council members on Tuesday that the fee would equate to an annual cost of about $2,000 to $2,400 for the typical apartment complex in the city. Most of those complexes, he said, are owned by Gables Residential of Atlanta, Ga., which was consulted during creation of the new proposed policy. . . . Since apartment complexes typically have somewhat rapid tenant turnover, city inspectors would annually inspect those units that are vacant on the day the inspector schedules a visit, Goodrum indicated.” [Fort Bend Now]

77478, 77479, 77498, Apartments, Development Regulations, Public Safety, Sugar-Land

Fort Bend County

06/02/09 3:49pm

Where the Walls Come To Life: At Home in Venetian Estates

Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Sugar Land, Venetian Estates

3 Comments

One highlight of the decorating sampler provided by the listing for 403 Lombardy Dr.: the Monkey Bed.

What’s more to see in this fine home for sale in Venetian Estates?

There’s the multicolor cloud motif gracing the Media Room:

77478, Fort Bend County, Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Sugar-Land, Venetian Estates

Comments

05/13/09 4:08pm

Comment of the Day: Inner Loop Traffic Scare

Freeways and Toll Roads, Quicklink, Sugar Land, Traffic

12 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: INNER LOOP TRAFFIC SCARE “Iâ€™m always surprised at the people in the Houston metro area who live in the suburbs in order to avoid scary traffic. To me, the traffic in the commercial centers of the suburbs is just as bad, if not worse, than what I encounter within the Loop. My boss dropped me off at home once, with the surprised comment that ‘wow, you can drive from the Med Center to the Heights without going on the highway’. Then proceeded to tell me that the reason he lived in Sugarland was that his wife was terrified of highway driving. I still donâ€™t get it.” [Sunsets, commenting on Sub-Suburban SUV Adventure: Braving That Big Trip â€œDowntownâ€]

Comments, Freeways and Toll Roads, Houston Heights, Real Estate Marketing, Sugar-Land, Traffic

Quicklink

05/08/09 12:40pm

Leadbelly, Waiting for the Sugar Land Train

Sugar Land

LEADBELLY, WAITING FOR THE SUGAR LAND TRAIN Houston music historian Roger Wood traces the lyrical references of Bob Dylan’s new song, “If You Ever Go To Houston”: “Not nearly as many people realize that ‘Midnight Special’ is a song about getting arrested in Houston and sent to prison in Sugar Land (where the train tracks ran right past the prison near Hwy. 90, and where the folklore about the midnight train beacon signifying early release for the lucky cell-dweller upon which it might shine predated Leadbelly’s song, written while he was incarcerated there). The first verse of that one: ‘If you ever go to Houston, you’d better walk right’ (also recorded by Leadbelly with the alternate line, ‘If you’re ever down in Houston, you’d better walk right,’ which I myself allude to in the title of my first book, ‘Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues’).” [Hair Balls]

Houston History, Music, Sugar-Land

Lower Westheimer

03/24/09 6:02pm

Openings and Closings: Bars and Barbecue

Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Rice Village, Riverside Terrace, Sugar Land

4 Comments

An update on recent comings and goings:

Now Open: “A small group of cocktail freaks,” including former Beavers bartender Bobby Heugel, have at last opened the doors of Anvil Bar & Refuge on the Westheimer Curve. The location was originally a Bridgestone-Firestone tire shop, but was known more recently as the home of the Daiquiri Factory and Sliders.
Closed: In advance of that new 25,000-sq.-ft. Spec’s opening up in the former Linens â€™N Things in Weslayan Plaza, owner Christopher Massie decided to shut down Cepage Noir, his considerably smaller wine shop on Times Blvd. in the Rice Village.

More twists and turns:

77004, 77005, 77006, 77479, Lower Westheimer, Montrose, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Rice-Village, Riverside-Terrace, Sugar-Land

Homes for Sale

12/18/08 11:57pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Sugar Walls

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Sugar Creek, Sugar Land

1 Comment

Great game this week!

Here’s where you thought this home was: 4 of you guessed Memorial, 2 the Memorial Villages, and 2 Crestwood; Hunter Creek Village and Hedwig Village each got a vote. There were 2 guesses of Sugar Land, 2 of Sugar Creek, and 1 of Sweetwater. There were 2 votes each for FM 1960 and Champion Forest, plus single guesses of Huntwick and Olde Oaks. Plus: The Woodlands, Kingwood, Pasadena, Clear Lake, River Oaks, Tanglewood, Twin Lakes/North Eldridge, Bellaire (or was that Bel Air?), and League City.

The winner was writergeek, who guessed around, but ended up getting it — all the way down to the golf course:

For some reason the entry screams Sugar Land to me – either Sugar Creek (near the country club) or Sweetwaterâ€¦ The dated decor screams of the flight to the suburbs in the 80s and it looks like they went bust shortly after since the house hasnâ€™t been touched since. Perhaps someone who was in a S&L scandal?

An honorable mention goes to movocelot, who was first to detect the home’s actual age:

Expansive rooms, painted brick, ceiling beamlets, applied molding on cabinets say early to mid 70â€™s to me.

Congratulations! Here’s what you’ve won:

77478, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Sugar Creek, Sugar-Land

Buying and Selling

11/11/08 9:03am

Bill Heard Bid Heard

Quicklink, Retail, Sugar Land

8 Comments

BILL HEARD BID HEARD The Sugar Land location of bankrupted Bill Heard Chevrolet has a new owner. And the new place is gonna be . . . a car dealership! “[Jean] Durdin, who owns Parkway Chevrolet in northwest metro Houston, outbid fellow Houston dealer Mac Haik for the Heard store in southwest Houston. Durdin added more than $7.7 million to Haik’s original bid to buy the store for $20 million, not including vehicle and parts inventory. Durdin also outbid two other competitors, but [turnaround consultant Fred] Caruso declined to name them.” [Automotive News, via Swamplot inbox; previously]

77037, Bankruptcies, Buying and Selling, Retail, Sugar-Land

Fort Bend County

10/24/08 11:45pm

Weekend Open House Tour: New Territory

Homes for Sale, New Territory, Open Houses, Sugar Land

1 Comment

In this episode: four decade-old houses in New Territory, all within walking distance of . . . each other! Each home has distinctive touches! And they’re all open for your visit this weekend!

1743 Heddon Falls Dr., New Territory, Sugar Land, Texas

Location: 1743 Heddon Falls Dr.
Details: 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths; 2,769 sq. ft.
Price: $290,000
The Scoop: 1998 brick 2-story home with slightly winding path and two 10-year-old live oak trees in front. Double-height arched brick entry. Cathedral ceiling in Family Room. Hardwood floors downstairs, new carpet up. Breakfast Room has new light fixture. Pool and spa in back. On the market since mid-August.
Open House: Sunday, 1-4 pm

More New Territory options as the tour continues . . .

Fort Bend County, Homes for Sale, New Territory, Open Houses, Sugar-Land, Tours

Fraud

10/02/08 12:30pm

Bill Heard Chevrolet: Nothing Must Go!

Openings and Closings, Retail, Sugar Land

1 Comment

Bill Heard Chevrolet Dealership, Sugar Land, Texas

Security Guard, Bill Heard Chevrolet Dealership, Sugar Land, Texas On the lot at the shuttered Bill Heard Chevrolet off the Southwest Freeway in Sugar Land Saturday: a couple of armed security guards, hired by GM to make sure nothing leaves the lot.

Inside the dealership’s main offices it looks as though the entire showroom floor was frozen in time. Deflated balloons hang off of cubicle corners and showroom models. A loan application sits on a desk, unfinished. A framed picture of a family going down a roller coaster at Sea World hangs above an uncleared desk, one of many family photos that indicate the suddenness of the announcement.

If you’re to believe one of the managers of this particular dealership, the employees stayed late into the night helping customers get their plates processed and out the door. Contradicting this is an article from Wednesday in the Houston Chronicle in which the operations manager of Bill Heard Sugar Land, Linda Patterson, claimed they were selling vehicles into the night and would continue to stay in business. But by the next morning it was announced they would be closing, possibly for good.

After the jump: More on Bill Heard’s collapse, plus photos from Jalopnik’s (how’d they get?) behind-the-scenes report!

77037, Fraud, Openings and Closings, Retail, Sugar-Land

Openings and Closings

09/25/08 6:49pm

Bill Heard, Finally Due: Landmark Chevrolet Dealerships Shut Down

Retail, Sugar Land, W. Mount Houston

7 Comments

Bill Heard Chevrolet, Sugar Land, Texas

Car-shark favorites Landmark Chevrolet — on I-45 North near Gulf Bank — and Bill Heard Chevrolet — on the Southwest Freeway at 90 in Sugar Land — are both closing as part of a nationwide 13-dealership shutdown orchestrated by the pair’s parent company, Bill Heard Enterprises, which is based in Georgia. The move should make a lot of former customers very happy.

Available soon: A few more of those 9.9-acre stormwater-special feeder-road concrete lots?

Bill Heard Chevrolet Closes Dealerships [Click2Houston, via HAIF]
Chevy dealership stays open [Houston Chronicle]
Bill Heard closing local Chevrolet dealerships [Houston Business Journal]

Photo: Bill Heard Chevrolet

77037, Openings and Closings, Retail, Sugar-Land, W. Mount Houston

Downtown

09/18/08 4:37pm

Coming Soon to Houston: More of the Pitter-Patter of Little Pita Pits

Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, Sugar Land

2 Comments

Pita Pit, 3303 C Highway 6, Sugar Land, Texas

Sandwich franchise Pita Pit has a store tucked inside a Greenway Plaza office building. Two more locations debuted recently: one at Highway 6 and Williams Trace in Sugar Land (opened in May) and another in the tunnel beneath McKinney St. Downtown (opened in July). A new store in a strip center at Westheimer and Fountainview is listed as “coming soon” on the company website.

Now a source reports that a total of 10 Pita Pit franchises are planned for the Houston area — including one in the shopping center at 3939 Montrose Blvd., just north of the Hurricane-Ike-swept Diedrich’s Coffee, near Marble Slab.

Pita Pit [via Swamplot Inbox]

Photo of Sugar Land Pita Pit: Pita Pit

77002, 77006, 77478, Downtown, Downtown Tunnels, Fast Food, Franchises, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, Sugar-Land

Fort Bend County

06/06/08 11:54pm

Weekend Open House Tour: Greatwood

Greatwood, Open Houses, Sugar Land

Greatwood. Where the builder floor-plan numbers are still fresh, and the sellers are eager to exit their mortgages. Stop by for a visit this weekend — maybe you can help! Here’s our tour of 7 Greatwood homes:

6614 High Knoll Dr., Sugarland, Texas

Location: 6614 High Knoll Dr., Sugarland
Details: 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths; 2,185 sq. ft.
Price: $174,549
The Scoop: 1992 brick 2-story by Ryland Homes in Greatwood Knoll. Tile floors in Entry, Kitchen, and Breakfast Area; carpet everywhere else. Covered back patio with built-in gas grill. Listed since the beginning of May; price cut more than $14K.
Open House: Sunday, 2-6 pm

The tour continues below . . .

77479, Fort Bend County, Greatwood, Open Houses, Sugarland, Tours

Galleria

12/11/07 10:15am

Fig. Leaves: Miraculous Advanced LipoDissolve Works on Retail Locations Too!

Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers, Sugar Land, The Woodlands

Collage of Diagrams from fig. Medical Body Shaping Website Showing How Advanced LipoDissolve Is Supposed To Work

Swamplot’s many readers eager to return to Houston-area Fig. Medical Body Shaping clinics for continuing fat-reducing injections will be saddened to learn that the national chain has abruptly shut down and discontinued all operations. A note on the fig.com website indicates the company will likely be seeking bankruptcy protection.

There are three local Fig. clinics: in Sugar Land at 59 and Highway 6, next to Panera Bread; next to Jamba Juice at the Summit Plaza by Lakewood Church; and at the Portofino Shopping Center across I-45 from the Woodlands. (Yes, that’s the same Portofino Shopping Center that was home to the statue-genitalia controversy a few years back — which was ultimately solved with . . . a fig leaf.) All three Houston-area Fig. locations had been open only since April.

Okay, whose inside joke was it to locate all three fat-reduction clinics in shopping centers on feeder roads?

What happened to Fig. that would cause it to shut down so suddenly? (Reader caution: suggestive uh . . . medical detail below.)

77027, 77385, 77479, Feeder Roads, Galleria, Liposuction, Medical Clinics, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers, Sugar-Land, The Woodlands

Commercial Real Estate

11/16/07 1:23pm

Sugar Land Whole Foods: Water on the Roof, Sweet Peas Inside

First Colony, Retail, Shopping Centers, Sugar Land, Uncategorized