Swamplot Archives by Category: Neighborhoods: League City

Monday, November 16, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Major League

Some very smart and interesting guesses in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game!

Here’s where you thought this home might be: “Off of Highway 249, Jones Rd. and Louetta,” West University, Katy, Lakeside Estates, “around the Augusta/Bering area” (2 guesses), Riverside Terrace (also 2), “that strip between Almeda and 288,” Lakeside Place, “Barker’s Landing, between Memorial and I-10, behind the BP compound,” Gaywood, Braeswood Place, Ayrshire, Braes Heights, Braes Oaks, Braes Manor, Braes Terrace, Emerald Forest, Southern Oaks, the Rossmoyne Addition (near Bonnie Brae and Graustark), Wilchester, Clute, Meyerland, Memorial, FM 1960, along Yorktown and Sage in the Galleria, “just south of Memorial City Mall, maybe on Gessner,” Westhaven Estates, “one of the Fleetwood neighborhoods near Memorial and Highway 6), Montrose, “within a mile or 2 of Memorial and 610,” Sugar Land (2), Richmond, Sugar Creek, Quail Valley, “along Cypresswood and Louetta,” the Energy Corridor, Prestonwood Forest, “East of Eden,” The Woodlands (3), Dickinson, along Dickinson Bayou, Champions, Champion Forest, “that River Oaks Lite neighborhood between Shepherd and Kirby, north of Westheimer,” Pecan Grove, Tanglewood, Vatican City (2), Bellaire, the Museum District, Willow Meadows, Linkwood, “the ‘Ashford’ subdivisions along Briarforest west of Kirkwood,” “the older subdivisions in Pearland and Friendswood along Clear Creek,” Bay Oaks in Clear Lake, Idylwood, Briargrove Park, Spring Valley, Northfield in Fondren Southwest, Lazybrook, Timbergrove Manor, “the Shepherd Forest/Brookhollow area,” Inwood Forest (2), Bayou Bend, “the Woodstone/Woodlake Forest/Hudson Oaks area,” Tealwood, “I-10, just before the Beltway, north side of the highway,” Kingwood, River Oaks, “on Breakwood by 610 South,” Townhouse Manor, and “one of the more upscale subdivisions in outer Mongolia.”

Matt Mystery wins this one with his close-enough, uh . . . 19th guess:

The paneling is the main clue but the ceiling height is what is so mysterious - not just a high ceiling. Not a two story ceiling. It’s a one and one-half story ceiling. Wherever it is, I suspect it is a custom home. Some built custom homes in “tract” subdivisions which is what I’m wondering about - some other possibilities could be Bellaire, the Museum District, Willow Meadows, Linkwood, the “Ashford” subdivisions along Briarforest west of Kirkwood, the older subdivisions in Pearland and Friendswood along Clear Creek, Bay Oaks in Clear Lake. So many possibilities.

Yes, but this is where it is:

Continue Reading This Story >

Read more about: , , , , ,
Monday, August 10, 2009

League City Lawn Tricks

Just for kicks.

More tricking here, with a brief guide to a few local hazard areas on this particular front lawn.

Video: Kyle McLean

Read more about: , ,
Monday, April 13, 2009

Out of Their League: Victory Lakes’ Battle of the Freeway Flank

Some residents of 9-year-old Victory Lakes have been demonstrating against a La Quinta Inn proposed for the commercial strip that separates the recent master-planned community from the Gulf Freeway in League City, reports Rhiannon Meyers in the Galveston County Daily News:

[Developer Roy] Mease turned what was supposed to be an upscale suburb and high-end offices into a hub for big box retailers, fast food restaurants and hotels, Victory Lakes residents claimed.

“I’m opposed to these hotels,” resident John Calebrese said. “It’s just another step in the wrong direction of the promises made to the original homeowners of Victory Lakes … (The subdivision) is nothing like what was promised.”

But Mease said the subdivision, with its 14 big box retailers, brings in an “ungodly amount” of sales tax revenue for League City. There is no reason to oppose a hotel plotted for land far away from any Victory Lakes homes, he said.

A Hampton Inn and Candlewood Suites are already under construction. What’s wrong with La Quinta?

Continue Reading This Story >

Read more about: , , , , , , ,
Thursday, April 9, 2009

League City Condo Trap: Bad Conversion at the Fairways

Just how did a group of Israeli investors get stuck with 114 condo units in this quaint converted apartment complex in League City? And why are they now suing the project’s developer and property manager?

The Galveston County Daily News’s Laura Elder explains:

The investors never intended to live in the units but instead were seeking to generate income by renting them to others, according to the lawsuit. Through agreements, the units owned by the investors were put in a rental pool managed by the defendants, according to the lawsuit.

But while Westcorp Management Group, of which Roni Amid is vice chairman, had been collecting rent from tenants, it failed to pay proceeds to the mortgage company or the investors for some units, according to the lawsuit.

Without rental income, some of the investors are unable to pay their mortgages, leading lenders to begin foreclosure proceedings on at least 30 units in the complex, said Danny Sheena, a Houston attorney representing investors.

The suit also claims the defendants used the investors’ units at the Fairways at South Shore as collateral for a $23 million loan from Deutsche Bank obtained behind their backs last August. Which means, the suit claims, the investors can’t sell their units.

And that Israeli connection? Looks like it’s all in the family:

Continue Reading This Story >

Read more about: , , , , , , ,
Monday, October 29, 2007

Know Your Tuscan-Themed Shopping Centers, Part One: Villagio Vs. Villaggio

Tuscan Villaggio Shopping Center in Tuscan Lakes

There’s so much of that Tuscan charm in Houston, sometimes it’s hard to keep the new developments straight. Maybe this will help:

Villagio, you’ll remember, is the “boutique life-style center” opening in Cinco Ranch, but also planned for the Woodlands and north Austin, and later . . . Round Rock, San Marcos, New Braunfels, and Dallas. Tuscan Villaggio, on the other hand, is the 30,000-square-foot Tuscan strip planned for the corner of League City Parkway and Tuscan Lakes Boulevard. It’s pictured above, and planned for only 15 tenants. The first phase will open next year adjacent to Tuscan Lakes, the 840-acre uh, Tuscan development in League City also developed by Johnson Development Corp.

Villagio in Cinco Ranch has Bookworm and Network Funding Mortgage. But you’ll be able to identify Tuscan Villaggio because a new 31,310-square-foot Tuscan-themed Kiddie Academy will be nearby.

Got it? Which one more convincingly conveys that authentic feeling of historic Italian drive-up retail?

Drawing of Tuscan Villaggio: Slattery Tackett Architects

Read more about: , , , , , , , ,