Swamplot Archives by Category: New Construction: Residential

Popular Stories in This Category:

Friday, June 5, 2009

Getting Houston Right: The Toll Brothers Come to Town

June 5, 2009 – 3:41 pm

Houston, the Toll Brothers have been looking for just the right home for you:

“We have been studying the Houston market for a long time and have been looking for the right opportunity to enter it,” Robert Toll, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “In 2008, Houston was the second-largest home building market in the nation.”

Actually, the “nation’s leading builder of luxury homes” is headed to The Woodlands. The Pennsylvania-based company, which already operates in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio, promises its first houses in the Village of Creekside Park will be complete early next year. Sales will begin this August.

Toll Brothers at Creekside Park will offer homes on 80′ wide home sites and will showcase five floorplans with multiple exterior designs.

A Swamplot reader comments on the photo accompanying the announcement that appeared in the Houston Business Journal:

The story includes a photo of one of the exterior choices: A French provincial pastiche. What in the name of pete does anything like this have to do with the climate and traditional architectural style of the Gulf Coast? Do the Toll Brothers even pay attention?

Well, that may not have been the company’s intent. On its own website, Toll Brothers illustrates its press release with this separately tuned sample:

Continue Reading This Story >

3:41 pm | 21 Comments | Read more about Homebuilders, Homes for Sale, Master-Planned Communities, Neighborhoods: The Woodlands, New Construction: Residential
Read more about: , , , ,
Monday, May 18, 2009

Timbergrove Manor’s Biggest Price Cut Ever

May 18, 2009 – 10:39 am

Why oh why won’t anyone buy this Timbergrove Manor pleasure palace? A Swamplot reader writes in to note that the 6,000-sq.-ft., 5-bedroom home at 6204 Queenswood Ln. — “the biggest house by far in Timbergrove” — endured a rather dramatic price cut recently.

The home has been listed since last August — presumably during construction — for a whopping $1.8 million. As of late April, though, it’s been available for just $1 million! That’s a reduction of about two neighboring houses!

Continue Reading This Story >

10:39 am | 85 Comments | Read more about Homes for Sale, Neighborhoods: Timbergrove Manor, New Construction: Residential
Read more about: , , , ,
Thursday, May 7, 2009

Withering Townhouses of the First Ward

May 7, 2009 – 10:25 am

A First Ward resident wants the scoop on a nearby development that’s “really going to pasture” on the 1500 block of Bingham, just west of Houston Ave. and across from Brock Elementary.

It is a townhouse project that got started 1-2 years ago, was never finished, and is now becoming a huge eyesore (broken doors, windows, garage doors…they got as far as putting mesh siding but stopped short of actually getting the stucko on there).

I have lived in the first ward for about 2 years in a renovated bungalow. it makes me sick to see all these properties built on spec to make a quick buck that are becoming abandoned, and only after demolishing what was there in the first place.

A few more photos our reader sent in:

Continue Reading This Story >

10:25 am | 19 Comments | Read more about Construction Problems, Neighborhoods: First Ward, New Construction: Residential, Redevelopment, Townhomes
Read more about: , , , , ,
Friday, May 1, 2009

A Setback for Jackson Hill

May 1, 2009 – 10:04 am

A curious reader writes in to report on a new development on the east side of Jackson Hill St., between Feagan and Gibson:

The developer is building 5 townhomes on the plot. We were of the understanding that there is a mandatory 10′ setback but as you can see from the pictures - his actual setback is only about 5 feet. How did he get a permit for this development? He poured the slabs and did the framing over the weekend so we’re wondering if he’s even legal. Thanks for any info.

Time to pull out Houston’s development ordinance: Any building-line experts want to field this one?

Littler pics below:

Continue Reading This Story >

10:04 am | 23 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Jackson Hill, New Construction: Residential, Townhomes
Read more about: , , , ,
Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Comment of the Day: Heights Home Replacement Program

April 15, 2009 – 6:01 pm
   

“Demo permits sold in the greater Heights last year - approx 220. (zips 007,008, 009) The Chron’s real estate report showed that 25% of 2008 home sales in the Heights were new construction. And how many were built in the last 10 years? Don’t know, but for anyone who thinks The Heights has NOT been decimated, go to HAR.com to see how nearly all listings were built since 1999 or are lot value only. Heard a story on the radio not long ago about how people stood in line for hours to see the Bill of Rights, but when an exact replica went on display, nobody bothered. What does that tell us?” [Sheila, commenting on Jack Preston Wood: Making an Impression in the Freeland Historic District]

6:01 pm | 25 Comments | Read more about Comments, Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Neighborhoods: Houston Heights, New Construction: Residential, Quicklink
Read more about: , , , , , , ,

Bloated, Not Quite Finished, and Hanging on the Market: Some Second Thoughts on Those Greenwood King Numbers

April 15, 2009 – 12:51 pm

The Swamplot reader who’s been focusing on Greenwood King Properties’ monthly market reports has spotted some problems in the latest sales data. The latest report, for the first time, provides separate totals for new homes and resales:

If dollars fall by more than units, then price has fallen.

If you add together 2 significant segments and one is lower and one is flat then the total is lower.

The quick math doesn’t work!!!

How can Flat+Down=Flat??

How can -38% dollars and -33% transactions = Flat??? It implies lower prices…

So now I have a report that raises more questions than answers. Total sales prices are flat? Resale prices are flat? ALL of the pain is in new construction?

Price has always followed volume in every market around the country. So are the price drops for resales ahead of us now? The average resale high end home in Houston is now $585,000??? Isn’t that LOT VALUE in most of these neighborhoods? We never got the news on what happened over the past 3 or 4 years on resale only. Were prices actually flat on the way up?

A few more comments on looming problems in the market for high-priced homes:

Continue Reading This Story >

12:51 pm | 7 Comments | Read more about Buying and Selling, Houston Data, New Construction: Residential, Price Trends
Read more about: , , ,
Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Latest Greenwood King Report: On the Double!

April 14, 2009 – 11:31 am

Swamplot’s Greenwood King-watching reader informs us that the real-estate firm’s March survey of home sales in Houston’s tonier neighborhoods is already out — early, this time. And this month the report details separate data for new construction and resales. Snarks the GK watcher:

This is a typical reaction of the Realtors to falling prices. Find a way to re-segregate the market to make the bread and butter look OK. Last year it was “Inside the loop never goes down!” Pretty soon we will see the market cut into “Three Story (-34%) Two Story (-2%) and One Story (-26%) homes.”

Hmmm . . . not a bad idea! But what about the new numbers?

Continue Reading This Story >

11:31 am | 2 Comments | Read more about Buying and Selling, Houston Data, Neighborhoods: Houston Heights, New Construction: Residential, Price Trends
Read more about: , , , , ,
Monday, March 9, 2009

New Heights Fantasy 4-Pack: Welcome to the Neighborhood!

March 9, 2009 – 9:35 am

A reader stumbles across this oldish-fashioned gated compound of brand-new $650K-$800K townhomes in the northern part of the Heights and sends in a photo report:

Driving to my favorite taco stand this morning, I happened on this “gated community” within the Heights on E. 22nd just west of Gostic. Thank God they will be gated in. We in the Heights don’t like having to interact with such snooty riff raff.

The 4 homes at 621 E. 22nd St., labeled The Court at 22nd Street, were developed by the Frankel Building Group. How will they do in the court of public opinion?

Continue Reading This Story >

9:35 am | 13 Comments | Read more about Homes for Sale, Neighborhoods: Houston Heights, New Construction: Residential, Townhomes
Read more about: , , , , ,
Monday, February 23, 2009

Katy and Those New Home Growths

February 23, 2009 – 3:01 pm
   

“Houston is the largest home-building market in the nation, according to the Greater Houston Partnership and Builder and Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, with 42,697 building permits. Population trends, job growth, home prices and the rate of building permits all factored in to rank the top 75 markets in 2008. Assisting the numbers, no doubt, was Katy. Business Week magazine ranked Katy as the second-fastest residential community in the U.S. in a study published this month titled ‘America’s Biggest Boomtowns.’ The study was based on new home growth from 2000 to 2008.” And what will next year’s numbers say? [Houston Business Journal]

3:01 pm | 5 Comments | Read more about Houston Data, Katy, New Construction: Residential, Quicklink
Read more about: , ,
Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Hall Says No Go to Vo Pad

February 4, 2009 – 8:50 am

abc13 reporter Miya Shay says likely Houston mayoral candidate Ben Hall has decided not to buy State Rep. Hubert Vo’s enormous Rivercrest mansion after all.

Hall maintains he’s got a condo in the city, and more than meets the residency requirements. I guess Rep. Vo will have to find another buyer with $3.9 million to spare.

Hall currently lives in Piney Point Village.

8:50 am | 2 Comments | Read more about Buying and Selling, Homes for Sale, Neighborhoods: Memorial, Neighborhoods: Rivercrest, New Construction: Residential
Read more about: , , , , ,
Friday, January 23, 2009

From Vo’s Folly to Hall’s Hall: The Outsize Rivercrest Mansion for a Man Who Would Be Mayor?

January 23, 2009 – 4:05 pm

Remember that crowd-friendly but vacant and unfinished mansion on Rivercrest that State Rep. Hubert Vo has been trying to unload since mid-2006? It may soon have a buyer! Abc13 reporter Miya Shay says former city attorney Ben Hall — who would need to move inside Houston city limits from his current home in Piney Point Village if he decides to run for mayor — is interested in buying it!

The house is nice, very nice. It’s currently listed for $3.9 million on HAR. There are 8 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms and 2 half baths, and an 8 car garage. So, if Hall buys the house, you can bet that his mayoral ambitions are pretty real. Imagine the fundraisers he can hold there!

The $800K price cut apparently went through last May. And though the revised listing still lists the home as “under construction,” the rooms now look . . . finished!

Continue Reading This Story >

4:05 pm | 13 Comments | Read more about Buying and Selling, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Neighborhoods: Memorial, Neighborhoods: Rivercrest, New Construction: Residential
Read more about: , , , , , ,
Monday, January 12, 2009

Bammel Lane Park Homes: Still Going On?

January 12, 2009 – 3:09 pm

Speaking of abandoned residential projects, another reader wants to know if this development qualifies:

I have noticed the Bammel Lane Park Homes project appears to have ceased development. The houses are between Bammel Lane and Eastside. There are 3 or 4 very large homes that looked completed. ( I cannot figure out if they are occupado) Then, they were painted stark white? Not so good. The sign advertising the project is still up but it appears they are at a stand still. Can you ask the readers or let me know if you have any scoop?

Continue Reading This Story >

3:09 pm | 1 Comment | Read more about Homes for Sale, Neighborhoods: Ferndale, New Construction: Residential
Read more about: , , , ,

Half Off New Construction: Where?

January 12, 2009 – 12:20 pm

A reader writes in wanting to know where all the half-built houses are. Sure, High Street came to a halt after producing a naked frame, but what neighborhoods in the greater Houston area feature finer examples of similarly dramatic frozen-in-time residential work that a real-estate gawker could appreciate? Abandoned slabs, lonely stick frames, flapping Tyvek — that sort of thing?

12:20 pm | 23 Comments | Read more about Cancellations and Delays, New Construction: Residential
Read more about: ,
Friday, January 9, 2009

Mosaic Avoids Foreclosure, Files for Bankruptcy

January 9, 2009 – 4:59 pm

The developer of the Mosaic highrise overlooking Hermann Park — a limited partnership between Phillips Development & Realty and publicity-shy Florida Capital Real Estate Group — declared bankruptcy earlier this week to avoid foreclosure on a $71 million loan from Chicago lender Corus Bankshares. Florida Capital, originally the equity partner, will be taking over as the general partner.

The bankruptcy covers just the first Mosaic tower. The second tower, rebranded the Montage, has not yet defaulted on its separate $71 million Corus loan.

So how have sales been going at the Mosaic? It depends, the Houston Business Journal’s Jennifer Dawson learns, who you ask:

Continue Reading This Story >

4:59 pm | 9 Comments | Read more about Apartments, Condos, Condos for Sale, Financing, Foreclosures, Highrises, Neighborhoods: Hermann Park, New Construction: Residential
Read more about: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Monday, December 1, 2008

A Collection of Sticks: Costco Apartment Construction Collapse

December 1, 2008 – 10:18 am

A 3-story section of The Collection, the Morgan Group’s 528-unit apartment complex under construction behind the new Costco on Weslayan and Richmond apparently collapsed early Sunday. A Swamplot reader sends in these photos of the scene following the accident, along with a few sharp comments:

The 4 story “stick built” apartment facility known as “The Collection” (www.collectionliving.com) became a “collection of sticks” early Sunday morning. It seems as if the contractors and the Morgan Group were in a Thanksgiving hurry to get home for turkey and giblets and forgot to “tie in” to the adjoining 3 and 4 story section of the main building.

Good thing it was a Sunday as Monday morning will bring back a tribe of contractors to push to get this facility on the Harris County Tax Roll by Summer 2009….Someone could have been seriously hurt if not killed. The Morgan Group should be “thankful” this Thanksgiving that it was not the case - and that they can “rush” to completion.

Continue Reading This Story >

10:18 am | 11 Comments | Read more about Apartments, Hazards, Neighborhoods: Greenway Plaza, New Construction: Residential
Read more about: , , , , , , , ,