November 20, 2009 – 7:03 am
Royce Builders alumni and victims: Do you miss all the intrigue that surrounded Royce’s implosion last year? KPRC Local 2 investigative reporter Amy Davis tells Swamplot she’s working on a story about Royce Homes and its various reincarnations. Got any news to pass on about former Royce subdivisions? If you have any information to share about Vestalia, WG Builders, or any other entities where former Royce higher-ups might have resurfaced, she’d like to talk to you. Just send her an email — she says you can remain anonymous! [Swamplot inbox; email]
Read more about: Homebuilders, Houston Media, Royce Builders
November 19, 2009 – 2:39 pm
Got plans with your camera or cameraphone for the weekend? How about taking it out to the corner of Bellaire Blvd. and Bissonnet St. and using it to take some pix for next week’s group photo feature? That little corner of Bellaire is our next assignment. (The deadline for the current assignment is midnight tonight!) We’ll have a map of the area for you to look at and more details tomorrow, after this week’s photo feature runs.
Read more about: Notices, Photography, Swamplot Projects
November 19, 2009 – 12:49 pm
Two proposals out of Mayor White’s office earlier this year — one to pay down the consumer debt of homebuyers, the other to give $5,000 bonuses to Realtors representing buyers in 8 revitalization areas — didn’t get very far. But City Council approved the latest version yesterday: $620,000 in construction subsidies from the TIRZ Affordable Housing Fund for 10 homes — 4 in Trinity Gardens and 6 in the Fourth Ward. The participating builders and CDCs are to be chosen by the city’s Housing and Community Development Director. “The developers may sell the homes after they are used for at least a year as models, but the net proceeds must be reinvested in the same community.” [Houston Chronicle, via Swamplot inbox; details on page 200 here (PDF)]
Read more about: 77016, 77019, 77026, 77028, Affordable Housing, Development Strategies, Fourth Ward, Trinity Gardens
November 18, 2009 – 2:18 pm
A whole lotta railroad action next to the site of the planned Crawford Stations on the East End line, between Minute Maid Park and Discovery Green — but will this train be rolling?: “If a series of deals go through, the city would be able to create a ’super block’ previously eyed for a new hotel, redevelop Avenida De Las Americas and move two historic houses and a railroad engine to create a small historic area on the eastern side of downtown. The train would complement the homes and proposed heritage center — which would be paid for with privately raised funds — and underscore the importance of locomotives in Houston’s history in facilities across the street from the former Union Station. . . . But the plans also call for an unusual process to sell land to a wealthy, well-connected real estate investor and former council member, and force the city to move the historic homes.. . . Several City Council members raised questions about the initial step in the process, which the council will consider today, to appoint an independent appraiser to name a price for the land on Avenida De Las Americas, between Capitol and Rusk. If the city sees the price as favorable and decides to sell, it would then be up to Louis Macey, who owns a far larger piece of land that abuts the area, to buy. . . . Andy Icken, deputy director of the city’s Department of Public Works and Engineering, said the city needs to relocate the homes before the Metropolitan Transit Authority begins building light rail lines along Capitol and Rusk. . . . The city has chosen to sell the houses through a process normally used with abandonments because it is likely to get more money that way, he said. By itself the land’s potential may be limited, but if an appraiser can consider its value in the context of other downtown land — which is possible in this case because Macey is the adjacent landowner — it is almost certain to fetch a higher price, he said.” [Houston Chronicle]
Read more about: 77002, 77003, Development Strategies, Downtown, East End Line, Historic Preservation, Light-Rail, Real Estate Investing, Transportation
November 17, 2009 – 4:14 pm
Dana Jennings reports from Eastwood, 2 blocks west of Lockwood, “where the light rail project is in high jackhammer mode.”: “Bob Street would be a good place to live. It’s short, like the name. Starts at Harrisburg and dead-ends into Garrow Street near the meandering, tree-lined Harrisburg hike and bike trail. Bob St. is just two short blocks lined with single story bungalows and front porches. Most need love and repair. . . . Talked to a young man, drinking coffee on his front steps, enjoying the morning mist. He was making sure I wasn’t up to no good. . . . Quiet little street with its own version of neighborhood watch, and with artists in the night, spraypainting dragons at the corner. Curiously, all homes face the street at a slight 15? degree angle. Lining up the porches to salute the rising sun? Wonder what the trendmaker builder of the time was thinking, back in 1910?” [The Next San Miguel de Allende]
Read more about: 77011, Bungalows, East End Line, Eastwood, Light-Rail, Streets
November 16, 2009 – 8:56 pm
“My grandfather, Milton Brucker - designer of the capsule, passed away in 2007 at the age of 94. He would have been delighted to see your innovative use for it!” [Michael Brucker, commenting on CLUI in Houston: Attack of the Pod People]
Read more about: Art, Comments, Landscape
November 12, 2009 – 7:26 pm
“Federal prosecutors are seeking to seize the Islamic Education Center at 2313 S. Voss, just north of Westheimer, as part of a move against the Alavi Foundation, nonprofit organization with suspected ties to the Iranian government: “Faheem Kazimi, chairman of the board of directors of IEC, said tonight that the center leases its building from Alavi Foundation. No other connection exists, he said. . . . The Center’s premises on South Voss is occupied by one of Houston’s largest Shiia mosques and Al-Hadi School of Accelerative Learning, a private Islamic school. . . . The mosque . . . will remain open while the forfeiture case works its way through court in what could be a long process. What will happen to them if the government ultimately prevails is unclear. But the government typically sells properties it has seized through forfeiture, and the proceeds are sometimes distributed to crime victims. There were no raids Thursday as part of the forfeiture action. The government is simply required to post notices of the civil complaint on the property. Prosecutors said the Alavi Foundation, through a front company known as Assa Corp., illegally funneled millions in rental income back to Iran’s state-owned Bank Melli. Bank Melli has been accused by a U.S. Treasury official of providing support for Iran’s nuclear program, and it is illegal in the United States to do business with the bank.” [Houston Chronicle]
Read more about: 77057, Briargrove, Financing, Religious Facilities
November 12, 2009 – 3:55 pm
While some of you are still out at the corner of Hillcroft and Harwin, snapping a few last-minute pix for this week’s group photo feature (you’ll see those photos Friday), we’ll go ahead and announce the location for next week. A reader wrote in to request we send y’all to the intersection of Harrisburg and Wayside. So . . . Harrisburg and Wayside it is! We’ll have a few more details and a map to show you tomorrow, after this week’s feature runs.
Read more about: Notices, Photography, Swamplot Projects
November 11, 2009 – 11:56 am
Archbishop Daniel DiNardo details the demo list: “The St. Therese of Lisieux mission building on the Bolivar Peninsula already has been demolished. The new plan adds Our Mother of Mercy church, also on the peninsula, to the list to be torn down. Members of Our Mother of Mercy’s congregation, who have opposed the archdiocese’s plans through litigation, said via e-mail Monday that the church’s fate was still to be decided. They said there would be a mediation session on the issue Friday. Ancillary buildings, but not the main church structures, will be removed at both the Holy Rosary and Sacred Heart campuses. The lot and buildings at Reina de La Paz are slated to be sold. The buildings that comprise the St. Peter the Apostle site are all to be either destroyed or sold. Historic stained glass windows, sacred statues, artwork and other items of architectural or symbolic interest will be preserved, Auxiliary Bishop Joe S. Vasquez said. ‘The church intends to keep them. We won’t throw them away or sell them, and will reuse them locally if possible.’” [Galveston County Daily News]
Read more about: 77550, 77551, 77554, Churches, Demolitions, Galveston, Religious Facilities, Religious Structures
November 10, 2009 – 1:36 pm
“On Airline Drive, for example, up to 40,000 people arrive every weekend to visit flea markets that line both sides of the road. The neighborhood’s management district is gearing up to spend $2.9 million on pedestrian improvements, including two new, signalized crosswalks on Airline, as well as sidewalks on nearby streets that are heavily used by local residents. . . . [Harris County] has a policy of not installing sidewalks when it builds a new road, unless a group or city provides the extra money. ‘It’s an expense that doesn’t have to do with transportation,’ said Mark Seegers, a spokesman for Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia. ‘The county does not do sidewalks; it’s not what gets cars from point A to point B.’ . . . In the eight-county region that includes Houston, an average of 100 pedestrians died every year between 2003 and 2008, and an average of 1,175 were injured, mostly within Harris County, according to statistics compiled by the Texas Department of Transportation. More than half of all pedestrian deaths occur on [high-capacity, high-speed roads called 'arterials'], often as people are trying to cross to reach retail shops or bus stops.” [Houston Chronicle]
Read more about: 77022, 77037, 77076, Airline Dr., Pedestrians, Public Safety, Sidewalks, Transportation
“This house was torn [down] yesterday…very sad. [The] large house that is next to it was still there this morning. We will see if its there when I go home today. There is another small house on the same lot that was torn down about a week and a half ago.” [
Comment of the Day: The Market Has Spoken
“TO ANYONE WHO CARES - THE HOUSE HAS SOLD FOR $415K. NOT quite what we were hoping, but clearly the original poster, who claimed this should be priced in the mid 300Ks, is rather mistaken.” [Justin, commenting on Swamplot Price Adjuster: Your Cherryhurst Neighbors]