- 504 Byrne St. [HAR]
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Woodland Heights
When a shutterbug crosses a picket line, the results could look like this white-fenced, louver-loving 1920 cottage in Woodland Heights. The well-porched property is on its third run at the market in 5 months. This round, initiated earlier this week by a new agency, sets the price at $550,000. An initial listing of the corner lot cottage in July 2013 was priced at $635,000, though the ask was reduced to $599,000 a month later. A relisting in September floated a $575,000 price tag, but only for a month. (Way back in 1997, the home sold for $229,900.)
The Louvered Life
This is one of the trees that the city alleges was “wantonly” and “maliciously” chopped down over the weekend by developer Signature City Homes. (This and another 100-year-old live oak that used to stand across town on Bomar in Hyde Park.) In response, the city is seeking $500,000 in damages. The tree stood in front of 1702 Blodgett — which, you’ll remember, was demolished a few weeks ago to make room for 4 townhouses. That demolition was precipitated by an approved variance request by Signature City to reduce the setback on this lot at the corner of Blodgett and Jackson in Museum Park, just down the street from that strip center that caught fire in August.
- 2928 Michaux St. [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WOODLAND HEIGHTS BACK IN ITS NAKED FOLK DANCING DAYS 
“When I first moved to Woodland Heights in the 80s, responsible parents were more likely to strip naked and perform a tarantella on the Houston Avenue overpass than to send their kids to Travis, and I got burgled frequently enough to do my very own comparison test of TVs.
Things change.” [mollusk, commenting on Comment of the Day Runner-Up: Looking Sharp] Illustration: Lulu
THIS OK? GREYSTAR CHECKS IN WITH WOODLAND HEIGHTS NEIGHBORS ABOUT SKYLANE REPLACEMENT 
Motivated to avoid some of the same blowback that developers of the Ashby Highrise, Morrison Heights condos and apartments, and 17-story San Felipe office building have received from sign-making neighbors, Greystar has been busy meeting with folks in Woodland Heights to discuss Elan Heights, the 8-story, 276-unit complex that will be replacing the ’60s Skylane on Taylor St. And what are those neighbors worried about? The usual suspects, writes the Houston Chronicle’s Erin Mulvaney: “. . . [S]pecifics of entry and exit at certain streets, plans for sidewalks, availability of bicycle parking, sewage and the preservation of existing oak trees . . . [and] the implications of the traffic analysis required by the city.” A rep explains why Greystar’s doing what it’s doing: “People more than anything else want to be informed and know what’s happening in their community. . . . The reality is that we are not required to do that. . . . We do it because we want to be good neighbors.” Greystar says it will close on the property next month, and the demo of the Skylane will follow in early 2014. [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Meeks + Partners
Yep, it was a costly mistake: A $300,000 fine was paid to the city on Friday with a cashier’s check signed by Bill Workman, the first-time developer who says a miscommunication with a subcontractor led to the clearing of almost an acre of trees and stuff near Little White Oak Bayou in Woodland Park.
Though neighbors accused Workman of ordering the slashing to improve the view of the 8 townhouses he is building on Wrightwood St., he denied those accusations, telling Swamplot in June that one of the reasons he chose the site for development was its proximity to the park. Seeing what happened, he says, left him “devastated.”
Apparently, the fine isn’t quite enough to satisfy Andrea Greer, who originally reported what she called “egregious clear-cutting” on her blog:
Across town from the new “Stop the San Felipe Skyscraper” signs popping up in River Oaks and Vermont Commons to oppose the proposed 17-story Hines office building, another crop of anti-development placards is objecting in free verse to the Morrison Heights complex of apartments and condos that’s currently under construction near Houston Ave. and White Oak. Eschewing both the bold imperative of the San Felipe signage and the cartoon menace of the Ashby Highrise hatred, these seem to prefer the rhetorical oomph of puns and wordplay and rhyme. And what, exactly, is the development that has received this poetic ire?
THE WOODLAND PARK THINNING STORY THICKENS 
The backlash to the clearing of Woodland Park vegetation behind the 7 townhomes he’s building on Wrightwood St. seems to have encouraged first-time developer Bill Workman to make hardhat-in-hand rounds this week with local media: He’s given similar statements regretting the snafu to Hair Balls, KUHF, Click2Houston, and abc13. But more details are coming out that complicate a situation that Workman maintains resulted from a miscommunication with a subcontractor hired, he says, only to grade the site: Debris from what’s been reported to be 3/4 of an acre of parkland has been pushed down to the banks of Little White Oak Bayou, presenting a possible drainage problem — which, of course, the grading was undertaken in the first place to solve. And the claim that only invasive species had been removed doesn’t seem to be the case, either, reports the Houston Chronicle: “The Parks Department reported that the cleared property included some healthy trees,” write Erin Mulvaney and Mike Norris. (As many as 100, estimates abc13.) “Reforestation and replanting will be necessary, and erosion control and possible regrading of the site may be required, officials said. A debris pile will also need to be removed. Workman said a large amount of bamboo and an undergrowth of vines were removed in the clearing.” [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot] Photo: Andrea Greer
According to developer Bill Workman, the clearing of parkland behind his Woodland Heights townhomes stems from a miscommunication: “I never intended for this to happen.” A subcontractor, he says, was hired last week only to grade the land as dictated by a city plat for drainage purposes. In fact, Workman — a first-time developer — was out of town when the so-called “egregious clear-cutting” went down. Returning to the site on Wrightwood St. on Sunday, he saw the missing vegetation, he says, and was “devastated.”
That might be because one of these townhomes Workman is building for himself, and he bought the property in 2011 because of its views of and proximity to the park. Coincidentally, he says that he’s a member of Friends of Woodland Park — the organization tasked with protecting the very land that was — well, overzealously groomed. And he claims that he never said he was trying to improve the townhomes’ view — as blogger Andrea Greer reports that she was told by a neighbor.
Since the weekend, Workman and his general contractors have been meeting with the parks department and flood control management to begin resolving the situation; he says he intends to follow their recommendations.
- The Woodland Park Massacre [Nonsequiteuse]
- Previously on Swamplot: Woodland Heights Neighbors Accuse Townhomes Developer of Clear-Cutting Parkland
Photo: Andrea Greer
Note: Read more on this story here.
Some neighbors seem pretty darn upset with the developer of these Woodland Heights townhomes for “egregious clear-cutting” of about an acre of vegetation from nearby Woodland Park, reports the blog Nonsequiteuse. The report, posted yesterday, claims that the developer acted in order to improve the townhomes’ view of Little White Oak Bayou. Bill Workman, the owner of the property and developer of these City Homes of Woodland Park, wasn’t immediately available to give a different side of the story that the photos taken at the site suggest.
The low-lying Skylane Central apartments beside the Taylor St. bridge are about to be sold to Greystar, which says it plans to tear them down and put up something like this parkside 8-story complex — but that’s just one of several renderings the Houston Chronicle is reporting that the developer is considering for the site near White Oak Dr. at the southern end of the Woodland Heights. The deal should be done by September.
- Aging apartment complex near downtown to be replaced with luxury building [Houston Chronicle]
Rendering: Meeks + Partners
The furnishings and perennial planting changed between this home’s two most recent homeowners, but that’s about it for this back-on-the-market Woodson Place bungalow. The 1920 middle-of-the-block property was listed a week ago at $429,000, less than a year after (and $42K more than ) its April 2012 purchase.
Wraparound porches on two levels add a little more living space to this by-the-park, by-the freeway 1920 home in Woodland Heights, outside the Houston Ave. boundary of that vintage neighborhood’s historic district. The garage-free property relisted with a new agency yesterday at $325,000 — after 4-months of toe-testing at $345,000. Its crisply painted exterior trim gives way to the interior’s stained wood, one of a few elements retained or accented in a 2005 remodeling by one of several previous owners this millennium.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE HERITAGE WEST BIKEWAY IS BACK ON TRAIL “If you had not heard, the construction contractor for this project had gone bankrupt, leaving the project dormant for quite a while. Good news is that the new contractor started working yesterday (8/13/12) and has 120 days to complete the bikeway project. Yes, this should mean that the project will be done by 12/31/12.” [Dan Raine, commenting on Did the Heritage West Bikeway Lose Its Way?]