Buildings for Sale

11/22/11 11:10pm

Comment of the Day: The Admiral Motel His Castle

Comments, Land for Sale, Norhill, Quicklink, Real Estate Marketing

No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE ADMIRAL MOTEL HIS CASTLE “I would kill for a moat like that. Even if it couldnâ€™t keep the riff raff out, I could mock all those that are subject to water restrictions.” [Hawthorne Mike, commenting on Houston Property Listing Photo of the Day: Flooded with Offers]

77009, Buildings for Sale, Comments, Flooding, Land for Sale, Norhill, Real Estate Marketing

10/03/11 8:13pm

Comment of the Day: Houston Mod Lovers’ Googie Condo Collective

Buildings for Sale, Buying and Selling, Comments, Houston Landmarks, Modern Design, Quicklink, Upper Kirby

2 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOUSTON MOD LOVERS’ GOOGIE CONDO COLLECTIVE “OK mod lovers, this is your ONE BIG CHANCE. How many of you have commented on Swamplot that you would love to buy that about-to-be-torn-down mod home if you only could afford it? Six of you guys put your heads together and buy this place. You can each have a 1,000+ SF condo unit in an iconic building in a great neighborhood for less than $125,000 per person.” [Bernard, commenting on Penguin Arms, Houstonâ€™s Only Googie Apartment Building, Is Now for Sale]

77098, Apartments, Buildings for Sale, Buying and Selling, Comments, Condo Conversions, Houston Landmarks, Modern Design, Upper Kirby

10/03/11 5:07pm

Penguin Arms, Houston’s Only Googie Apartment Building, Is Now for Sale

Buildings for Sale, Houston Architects, Houston Landmarks, Modern Design, Upper Kirby

31 Comments

Arthur Moss’s 1950 Penguin Arms Apartments at 2902 Revere St. behind the Kirby Dr. Whole Foods is now on the market. Sadly, no pix showing the condition of the interior are included with the listing, though the agent’s reference to “lots of deferred maintenance” — along with the comments of a former tenant — should provide a clue. What gives this unique building its Googie cred? Well, a photo of it was included in the original 1952 House and Home magazine article that gave the style its name (amidst complaints about its “orgiastic” and “organic” features, of course). Penguin Arms “looks like something that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for George Jetson,” Chron columnist Lisa Gray declared a few years ago. These days, that’s considered a compliment.

77098, Apartments, Buildings for Sale, Googie, Houston Architects, Houston Landmarks, Modern Design, Upper Kirby

06/16/11 9:40pm

HISD Looking for Cage Match in Eastwood

Eastwood, Historic Preservation, Public Buildings, Schools

8 Comments

What’s happening with the old Rufus Cage Elementary School on Telephone Rd., just north of Lawndale? Some roof repairs, and . . . a possible sale? “Now we actually have some people that have interest in the property, but our concern is that the interest is in the land, not necessarily in the building,” HISD trustee Juliet Stipeche tells abc13’s Cynthia Cisneros. The Eastwood school, built in 1910, closed in the mid-1980s and is currently used as a storage facility by the school district. An organization called the Rufus Cage Educational Alliance is trying to find a public use for the building and its 1.021-acre site. A deal the school district had negotiated to sell Cage to Historic Houston fell through long before the nonprofit’s recent financial difficulties. Nine other school properties are listed for sale on the HISD real estate website.

East End residents try to save old Cage Elementary [abc13]
Historic Rufus Cage Educational Alliance [Facebook]

Photo: Candace Garcia

77023, Buildings for Sale, Eastwood, Historic Preservation, Public Buildings, Schools

Buildings for Lease

06/08/11 11:36am

King Biscuit Comeback Efforts Grind to a Halt, Building Up for Sale

Buildings for Sale, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Woodland Heights

4 Comments

Noting the new handcrafted plywood “for sale or lease” signs now hanging on White Oak in front of King Biscuit Patio Cafe, a few Swamplot readers have written in to tell us that it looks like the Woodland Heights restaurant’s promised comeback has been called off before it even started. Restaurant guide b4-u-eat announced last month that building owner Pat Quinn would be teaming up with former Fitzgerald’s owner Sara Fitzgerald to reopen the restaurant. One reader tells Swamplot that remodeling work came to a halt 2 weeks ago, and that Fitzgerald spent all of last Thursday moving out of the building. The signs — one of them advertising the availability of owner financing — were posted over the weekend.

Previously on Swamplot: Will King Biscuit Bounce Back?

Photos: Swamplot inbox

77009, Buildings for Lease, Buildings for Sale, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Woodland Heights

Art

12/24/10 1:23pm

Among the Giant Bugs of Midtown, Up on the Roof

Buildings for Sale, Development Strategies, Midtown, Public Art

5 Comments

Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia, who’s been steadily documenting the transformation of the vacant former Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority building on Fannin between Tuam and Drew into a canvas for street artist Daniel Anguilu and a few friends, was able to tour the building’s roof earlier this week. Commissioned by commercial real-estate broker Adam Brackman — whose family owns the building — Anguilu has already wrapped critter-filled paintings around much of the building’s ground floor for his “Public Decor Project.” But up in the Midtown sky, the work he and a few collaborators are creating on a few stray surfaces comes across as something else entirely:

77006, Art, Buildings for Sale, Graffiti, Midtown, Public Art

12/01/10 12:56pm

Auction of Old House in Police Station Parking Lot Held Over by Lack of Popular Demand

Historic Preservation, Houston History, Old Sixth Ward

9 Comments

How about another go of it? The auction of the 1872-vintage former home of Gottlieb Eisele, now a vacant and dilapidated former HPD office surrounded by parking lots and the Gulf Freeway, ended last night with no bids. But today it’s back on the block, with a brand-new item number and a new closing-gavel time of 8 pm tonight. For a minimum bid of $1,000, the opportunity to partially demolish, jack up, repair, move, restore, and then register this property can be yours.

77007, Auctions, Buildings for Sale, Buying and Selling, Historic Preservation, Housemoving, Houston History, Old-Sixth-Ward

07/19/10 1:33pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Last Chances

Commercial Real Estate, Montrose, New Construction, Nightlife, Washington Corridor

No Comments

Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood youâ€™d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we canâ€™t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:

Some odds and ends to tie up from last week:

Montrose: “Let’s just say business has not been getting stronger,” Chances Bar co-owner Anne Vastakis tells Houston Press reporter Richard Connelly, who followed up on Swamplot’s hot tip from last week. Vastakis continues:

With the economy the way it is — these mega-lesbian bars — there are four bars there, and in the `90s they were thriving. Now, I don’t know, maybe there’s too much competition.

So yes, the bar and the entire block it’s on are for sale, though the owners hope to sell the 27,341-sq.-ft. property at 1100 Westheimer at Waughcrest to “someone who won’t change things too much.” The owners plan to keep the place open in the meantime.
Washington Corridor: That warehouse at 1120 Knox St., across the street from Benjy’s on Washington, will become Washington Wine Storage, according to a state license uncovered by commenter Guy Incognito. The building’s owner is the Urban Meridian Group. Expected opening date: around the end of August.

Weâ€™ll post more reader questions tomorrow. Send us what youâ€™ve got before then!

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Chances Are [Swamplot]

Photo: Commercial Gateway

77006, 77007, Bars and Clubs, Buildings for Sale, Commercial Real Estate, Montrose, New Construction, Openings and Closings, Washington Corridor

07/19/10 10:56am

Swamplot Price Adjuster: Some Unfinished EaDo Business

East Downtown, Foreclosures, Land for Sale, Price Adjuster, Townhomes

26 Comments

The Swamplot Price Adjuster runs on your nominations! Found a property you think is poorly priced? Send an email to Swamplot, and be sure to include a link to the listing or photos. Tell us about the property, and explain why you think it deserves a price adjustment. Then tell us what you think a better price would be. Unless requested otherwise, all submissions to the Swamplot Price Adjuster will be kept anonymous.

Location: 2312 Sperber Ln., East Downtown
Details: 3 bedroom, 3 1/2-bath, 2,006-sq.-ft. unfinished townhome on a 1,400-sq.-ft. lot
Price: $151,700
History: Current listing up since mid-April

For your consideration: this special property, just over the tracks from EaDo. Submitted by a reader, who comments:

Hereâ€™s another one from the Waterhill debacle. Thereâ€™s a set of 3 townhouses in the corner of this EaDo neighborhood that all appear to be in tear down condition.Â HAR description states â€œGreat opportunity for investor or builder to purchase 3 partially completed townhomes, never lived in.â€ HA!Â I beg to differ!Â I bet homeless people have been living there off and on for the last 2 years! HAR lists this stand-alone unit for $151,700.Â Is it really worth that?

Then . . . well, what is it worth?

77003, Buildings for Sale, East Downtown, Foreclosures, Land for Sale, Price Adjuster, Townhomes

07/12/10 1:58pm

The Norman’s Replacement Price

Buildings for Sale, Montrose, New Construction: Residential, Redevelopment

14 Comments

A reader writes in to let Swamplot readers know the unpublished asking price for the 8-unit apartment building going up on the ashes of The Norman apartments at the corner of West Alabama and Stanford, featured here last month. Pssst: It’s $875,000, all stucco colors shown included. The building is expected to be complete next month. And here’s one of the last pics of its hot hot predecessor, taken during a little incident last August:

77006, Apartments, Buildings for Sale, Fires, Montrose, New Construction: Residential, Redevelopment

06/30/10 4:13pm

West Alabama Antique Compound Available More Than Fully Furnished

Commercial Real Estate, Dearborn Place, Furniture

1 Comment

This string of antique-store buildings on West Alabama just east of Shepherd has been on the market since last fall. Swamplot noted the Brian Stringer Antiques 40-percent-off going-out-of-business sale in December, but the 25-percent-off sale on the buildings began only last month, after a second price reduction. The bungalow, showroom, and 2-story warehouse on the 14,004-sq.-ft. lot are now priced at $1,099,000. The listing notes the store and its inventory are also for sale “for additional consideration.”

“Everyone in Houston knows the shopping ritual here,” explained ritual antique shopper Joni Webb last year. “You go [through] the main showroom first, work your way to the back storeroom, stop at the side showroom, then exit through the metal garage door to go outside where you then enter the little French house through its side door.”

77098, Antiques, Buildings for Sale, Commercial Real Estate, Dearborn Place, Furniture

06/07/10 12:56pm

All Others Must Pay Cash

Land for Sale, Signage, Washington Corridor

11 Comments

The view from along good Shepherd Dr. at Center St., where Metro Realty Group is hoping and praying it can unload up to 32,500 sq. ft. of property. In front of the signs is the office for Alvagraphics; the South Beach car wash and detailing center is directly behind.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

77007, Buildings for Sale, Land for Sale, Signs, Washington Corridor

04/27/10 12:47pm

Lovebird Hideaways: 3 Out of 4 Fourplexes on West Gray

Buildings for Sale, Land for Sale, North Montrose, West Gray Terrace

17 Comments

Three fourplexes in a row, plus a vacant lot that used to hold one, are for sale on West Gray between Stanford and Taft, across the street from Barnaby’s and next to the West Gray CafÃ©. And Swamplot brings you this exclusive color commentary from a former tenant:

. . . they’re roach motels inside. Plus, the back parking has potholes deep enough for cars to get stuck in. The maintenance was horrible while I lived there, and then they jacked up the rent. But, for the price, the apartments were quite large with central AC. Just had to ignore the mice, roaches, ants and leaks.

No idea why, but there have been instances of lovebirds using the back parking lot to get some privacy in the past. Guess they drank too much at Cecil’s.

Why is the listing agent insisting all 4 properties “must be sold together”?

77019, Apartments, Buildings for Sale, Land for Sale, Multifamily Properties, North Montrose, West Gray Terrace

04/26/10 8:57am

Meadowcreek Neighbor Swings Either-Or

Homes for Sale, Interiors, Meadowcreek

21 Comments

Eastside mod chaser (and Swamplot advertiser) Robert Searcy reports on a peculiar property he toured last week on Allendale Rd., not too far from Meadowcreek Village Park:

“. . . it is an odd mix style & architecture wise. The exterior looks like some suburban office building while the interior has a semi-commercial utilitarian feel with a heavy dose of Boogie Nights decor. The rooms are all ridiculously large with huge vaulted ceilings and lots of glass. Giant room dividers, not unlike what you see to partition off hotel ball room spaces, divide the giant open kitchen from . . . large U shaped front living areas. Could be a living room and a den, or a conference room and a reception area. Walking through the cavernous space, which appears much larger than HCAD records, you find yourself describing the rooms with sentences that all start with “well it could be either….”

Seems to fit right in with another hint in the listing: If you like that cute little white home you see next door [see bottom photo], it’s . . . available too!