Buying and Selling

01/23/19 1:15pm

Mandell Montrose Midrise Developer Officially Calls It Quits, Offering Up Land and Leasing Office for $2.6M

Condos, Hyde Park, Montrose

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The development team that had hoped to put a 7-story, 24-unit condo building dubbed Mandell Montrose on the corner of Commonwealth and Fairview streets appears to have given up entirely on that effort now: 3 days ago, the property — which includes the house-turned-leasing-office pictured above — was listed for sale at a price of $2.6 million. It’s the second condo project that failed to get off this particular ground in the past 2 years. The seller Midtown Uptown Development Partners picked up on the site after a different developer’s plans to put an 8-story building called Flats on Fairview there fell through.

The good news is that this porch view from the adjacent house remains totally unobstructed:

Condo, Discontinued

77006, Buying and Selling, Condos, Hyde Park, Montrose

12/12/18 5:30pm

Abandoned Battelsteins’s Building Bought by Its Main St. Marriott Neighbor

Downtown, Retail

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The new owner of 812 Main St. (shown above) is the same entity that owns the JW Marriott next-door at 806 Main St. Well, sort of. Technically, the properties belong to 2 separate entities, but they both tie back to the same real estate overlord: Pearl Hospitality, a Houston-based hotel operator with a few extra properties in Lubbock. Pearl closed on the 812 Main St. building last month for $3.6 million.

Designed by Houston architects Joseph Finger and George Rustay the recently-transacted tower was completed in 1950 for the Battelsteins’s department store — which occupied each of its 10 floors. It’s now been vacant for roughly 30 years. Battlestein’s signage has been replaced by the smudges visible above the mural-ized storefront face in the photo at top. But 2 naked flagpoles remain on either side of where the lettering once was.

After visiting the property in December, 2015, PDG Architects estimated it’d cost nearly $17 million to renovate it into something suitable for office tenants to inhabit. Just bringing it up to code could cost $8 million, according to public records.

The JW Marriott next-door at Rusk St. — formally known as the Samuel F. Carter building — underwent its Pearl-Hospitality redo starting in 2010 with a bit of financial help from the city and HUD, as well as architectural know-how from Gensler:

Department Store Skyscraper

77002, Abandoned Properties, Buying and Selling, Downtown, Hotels, Retail, Skyscrapers

12/10/18 1:00pm

Abandoned Heights Jack in the Box: Sold

Houston Heights, Restaurants

You may remember the Jack in the Box at 2001 N. Shepherd that was left high and dry in September after shutting down. It’s got a new owner: an entity connected to New York brokerage firm Edry Real Estate. The sale closed last month and includes just over half an acre at the northwest corner of Shepherd Dr. and W. 20th St.

Previously on Swamplot: Blank Abel Motors Sign Now Directing N. Shepherd Traffic to Its Burger Joint Replacement; Abel Motors To Vacate N. Shepherd Spot and Head to Halls Bayou; Whatâ€™s Getting Wrapped Up on the Corners of 19th and N. Shepherd,Â Strip Center Alteration Planned for Houston Alternator Shop at N. Shepherd and 19th St.

Photo: Swamplox inbox

Burger Flip

77008, Buying and Selling, Fast Food, Houston Heights, Restaurants

Boulevard Oaks

12/07/18 9:30am

Stahlman Lumber Up for Sale by Landowner That Didn’t Replace It with a Car Dealership

Buying and Selling, Retail

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Evidently, those plans to put another car dealership across 59 from the existing 7-story Audi Central Houston wonâ€™t be panning out since the land where it wouldâ€™ve gone is now up for sale. A newly-erected sign at the corner of the Greenbriar and the Southwest Fwy. feeder road advertises its availability.

A group connected to Sonic Automotive bought the property — which stretches all the way east to Shepherd Dr. — in January 2017. When news orgs got wind that itâ€™d changed hands, Sonicâ€™s executive vice prez Jeff Dyke told them heâ€™d have more info on what the dealership would end up looking like near the end of the year. The parcelâ€™s 2.4-acre size prompted at least one guess thatâ€™d the plans — like those Sonic implemented across the street — would involve something tall.

Amidst all the hubbub, itâ€™s been business as usual at Stahlman. Itâ€™s entering its 59th year at 4007 Greenbriar Dr.

Previously on Swamplot: Southwest Fwy. Midrise Showroom To Get a Dealership Neighbor on the Stahlman Lumber Land

Photo: Lulu

59 at Greenbriar

77098, Boulevard-Oaks, Buying and Selling, Retail

12/04/18 3:15pm

Your Chance To Own Half of Chapultepec Lupita and All of Its Richmond Ave Next-Door Neighbors

Montrose, Retail

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Nearly the entire block-face of Richmond Ave between Roseland and Stanford streets is now up for sale; altogether: just over 19,400 sq.-ft. for $4.2 million. The offerings include the 2-story former Drew’s BBQ house pictured above, the residential lot behind it, the eastern half of the Chapultepec Lupita restaurant next-door to it (the portion of the restaurant with a red awning has a different landlord), and the former notary shop between the restaurant and the Koelsch Gallery on the corner of Stanford St.

The restaurant’s lease on its building at 817 Richmond — shown below — runs until next April:

Fitze Homestead

77006, Buying and Selling, Fitze Homestead, Restaurants, Retail, Roseland Estates

11/30/18 2:15pm

Kaldis Buys Coffee-Adjacent Cameron Iron Works Plant

Redevelopment, Second Ward

2 Comments

An entity connected to Kaldis Development is the proud new owner of the Cameron Iron Works complex across the railroad tracks from the shuttered coffee plant on Milby St. And already, the developer — which has a thing for refilling old Houston buildings — is marketing its purchase for lease as The Cameron and promising to renovate it into something that restaurant, bar, and event venue tenants can get in on.

The 1.43-acre property at 711 Milby St. is home to 2 buildings: the 3-story brick one shown above with Cameron’s name set in stone above the main entrance, and a less eye-catching warehouse next-door to it, shown below from the corner of Rusk St.

Forging a New Path

77023, Buying and Selling, Redevelopment, Second Ward, Warehouses

Brookesmith

10/15/18 3:45pm

I-45 ‘End Hunger’ Warehouse Sells to a Houston Food Supplier

The new owner of the former Mary Barden Keegan Center along the southbound Iâ€“45 North feeder goes by the name Houston Market Center LLC and is connected to J. Lunaâ€™s Produce, a longtime vendor at the soon-to-be redone Houston Farmers Market on Airline. The sale closed late last month and included both the parking lot and 5,000-sq.-ft. community garden that sit behind the warehouse, closed-off from Vincent St. and the rest of residential Brooke Smith by a wrought-iron fence. Last week — reports a neighbor — workers got rid of that fence, â€œcleared outâ€ an onsite homeless camp, began dismantling a retaining wall, and cut down a few trees adjacent to the parking lot.

The seller, Virgata Property Company, picked up the building from the Houston Food Bank 2 years ago and — last summer — leased it to the Peli Peli restaurant group as a prep center for the South African chainâ€™s catering operation and a production hub for its house-brand sauces and spices. Since then, Peli Peliâ€™s added 2 more order-at-the-counter restaurants to its lineup of formal and informal locations: one in the Esperson Building at 808 Travis downtown, and the other in the new 365 by Whole Foods Market on 610.

Previously on Swamplot: Empty ‘End Hunger’ Warehouse by I-45 North To Be Filled with Workers Making South African Food and Seasonings

Photo: Virgata Property

2445 N. Fwy.

77009, Brooke Smith, Buying and Selling

10/12/18 10:00am

Hines Picking Up Less Than an Acre Across from Montrose Whole Foods Parking Lot

Montrose, North Montrose, Quicklink

HINES PICKING UP LESS THAN AN ACRE ACROSS FROM MONTROSE WHOLE FOODS PARKING LOT The developer entered into an agreement earlier this year to buy the property at the corner of Waugh Dr. and Dâ€™Amico St., reports the HBJâ€™s Olivia Pulsinelli in her round-up ofÂ recent North Montrose land sales. On-site that nearly three-quarter acre parcel right now: a parking lot, driveways, and 2-story dingbat office building that backs up to the adjacent strip housing Pimlico Irish Pub and others. To the east, BMW-focused auto shop Bavarian Machine Specialties buffers the tract from whatâ€™ll soon be Stages Repertory Theatreâ€™s new theater and green space on Rosine St. [HBJ] Photo: LoopNet

77019, Buying and Selling, Montrose, North Montrose, Office Buildings, Quicklink

Apartments

10/05/18 5:15pm

What’s Staying Put in a Westmoreland House of 7 Units After It Finds a New Owner

Avondale, Buying and Selling, Montrose

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A few of the tenants inside this 7-unit, now-up-for-sale apartment building on Hawthorne St., 2 blocks from Spur 527 appear to be on the same page design-wise. The photo above shows the living room inside one of the building’s 6 one-bedroom apartments done up with a Persian rug, atop which sits a glass tabletop covered in curios surrounding a floral centerpiece.

Now, compare that to that to the living room the building’s sole 2-bedroom unit, shown below:

429 Hawthorne

77006, Apartments, Buying and Selling, Montrose, Westmoreland

10/01/18 9:45am

Best Friends Animal Society Has a New Habitat Behind the Yale St. Walmart

The former Berger Ironworks complex shown above behind Walmart and across Koehler St. from the new Heights West End apartments now belongs to Best Friends Animal Society, a national nonprofit that keeps homeless creatures alive by diverting them from shelters where they wouldnâ€™t always be as lucky. To that end, the group hosts adoption and awareness events (like the upcoming Strut Your Mutt charity dog walk planned for Stude Park), partners up with non-lethal shelters, and in some cases operates its own facilities â€” the largest of which is a 20,700-acre sanctuary in southern Utah. (National Geographic ran a 4-season teevee documentary about it called DogTown.)

At 1414 Bonner St., just under an acre and a quarter currently serve as home to a pair of abutting metal-roofed buildings. Making use of the new vernacular, the landâ€™s previous owner Riverway Properties had been calling it Bonner Heights. A rendering released as part of that groupâ€™s old listing showed the buildings with a brand-new gap between them and â€” in a setup that now seems less likely to materialize â€” retailers inside them:

Meet the Buyers

77007, Buying and Selling, Katyville, Washington Heights

Brookesmith

09/24/18 11:15am

Any Takers on The Greensheet’s 6-Acre N. Loop Printing Complex?

4 Comments

The founders of The Greensheet are looking to part with their defunct printing complex at I-45 and the N. Loop after selling the publication earlier this month to MVR Publishing — a newly-formed partnership whose majority owner Jonathan McElvy also publishes The Leader. From 1998 onward, the facility cranked out all Houston editions of the classified paper (it’s also got versions in Dallas and Fort Worth), along with other publications like the New York Times — which Greensheet agreed in 2006 to start printing for local distribution.

Delivery trucks loaded with bundles of The Greensheet’s own reading material rolled out of the parking lot pictured from the north in the aerial above.

Here it is at ground level:

Shopper Hits the Market

77009, Brooke Smith, Buildings for Sale, Buying and Selling

Apartments

09/11/18 3:00pm

Colquitt Corner Mini-Complex Sells

Buying and Selling, First Montrose Commons

2 Comments

The building’s longtime owners handed it off last week to Fat Property, and the new landlord’s turned around and listed one of 10 units inside for lease already. Built in 1965, the structure grabs some frontage on Stanford St. — pictured above — but most of its exterior and adjacent parking lies to the north along Colquitt.

77006, Apartments, Buying and Selling, First Montrose Commons

4202 Stanford

08/21/18 12:30pm

Brothers Taco House’s Backyard Could Change Hands Any Day Now

East Downtown, Quicklink

BROTHERS TACO HOUSE’S BACKYARD COULD CHANGE HANDS ANY DAY NOW The 1.3 acres situated behind Brothers Taco House are now under contract after just over a month on the market. Aside from the 6,000-sq.-ft. northeast portion of the block occupied by the restaurant and its parking lot, the rest has long been empty. It’s all overlooked by a row of townhouses put up along Bastrop St. in 2008. [HAR via HAIF] Photo: Swamplox inbox

77003, Buying and Selling, East Downtown, Quicklink

08/20/18 5:30pm

Midtown Kirby Mansion Sold to Midtown Car Dealership Owner