Buying and Selling

Buying and Selling
02/14/12 1:59pm

New Real Estate Listings Website Reveals Hidden Price Histories

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Online Resources, Real Estate Marketing, Uncategorized
16 Comments

There are more than enough bugs to go around in the NuHabitat beta that officially went live yesterday, but the brand-new real-estate listings website does have one killer feature with the potential to shake up Houston’s real-estate landscape. To registered users, NuHabitat coughs up a set of details that until now were available only to real estate agents: date-by-date, blow-by-blow pricing histories for listed properties — even if the MLS numbers have changed. With these little kittens wandering out of the bag, there aren’t a whole lot of top-secret MLS data fields left to the exclusive domain of real-estate agents.

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Buying and Selling
02/10/12 3:54pm

Metro Buying Tiny Post Oak Parcel To Use for Uptown Line, Someday

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Galleria, Transportation
4 Comments

Note: Story corrected below.

Houston’s transit agency is scheduled to close next month on the twice-delayed $550,000 purchase of a 3,589-sq.-ft. strip of land across Post Oak Blvd. from the Waterwall Park — even though the Uptown Line, the light-rail line the land would be used for, isn’t part of its current construction contract, and isn’t even expected to be complete before 2020, according to Metro documents. Negotiated under the real-estate happy regime of Metro’s previous administration, under Metro’s current administration, under an authorization approved by its earlier real-estate-happy board, the contract Metro signed for the property at 3009 Post Oak prohibits the agency from backing out of the purchase — even if its plans or route alignment have changed. But a Metro spokesperson tells Memorial Examiner reporter Michael Reed that the purchase still makes sense, and turns out to be a less expensive option for it than using eminent domain to acquire the parcel later. Going up next door to the site: a 20-story office tower for its owner, the U.S. subsidiary of Swedish development firm Skanska.

Photo: Memorial Examiner

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Attractions
01/19/12 10:58am

Wichita St. Mystery House Now in Foreclosure

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Buying and Selling, Foreclosures, Houston Landmarks, Real Estate Marketing, Renovations, Riverside Terrace
6 Comments

The late Charles Fondow’s castle-like construction at 2309 Wichita St. in Riverside Terrace has fallen into foreclosure, a source tells Swamplot. The neighborhood landmark was listed for sale at a price of $325,000 last May. That listing expired in November, but the home’s condition and an included stipulation that only all-cash offers would be accepted may have doomed it. Fondow’s legendary 31-year renovation and expansion project remained unfinished after his death last year; the former daycare center’s top-heavy rack of decks, gables, and turrets have long attracted attention from neighbors and passers-by.

Photo: HAR

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Apartments
01/13/12 11:21am

Apartments Planned for Montrose Fiesta Site Will Go Tall Mediterranean

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Buying and Selling, Lancaster Place, Proposed Developments, Retail
36 Comments

Apartment developer Marvy Finger tells Nancy Sarnoff that he’s the developer who’s buying the Fiesta Food Mart on the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy — and planning to build a 6-to-8-story complex in its place. Finger says the closing is scheduled for February, and that he’s looking to fit 390 apartments onto the 3.68-acre site. Finger has charged architects Wallace Garcia Wilson with designing something “Mediterranean” — presumably a structure dressed up in that style will fit the neighborhood better than Lake Flato’s new H-E-B Montrose Market across the street, the modern Menil Collection campus nearby, the many bungalows and brick homes surrounding the site in Lancaster Place, and the occasional new gallery along West Alabama. “We’re going to try to create something really beautiful,” he tells Sarnoff.

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Buying and Selling
01/12/12 3:46pm

Changing Buildings on Mid Lane

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Highland Village, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail
8 Comments

A reader passes on the rumor that the retail buildings along the west side of Mid Lane north of Westheimer, from Capone’s Bar and Oven (above) up to but not including Crapitto’s Cucina, are under contract to a developer — with a closing scheduled for this month. Purported plans for the properties: demolition and the construction of a highrise, with new retail spaces at the bottom. No rush, though, apparently: “They can’t do anything for 16 months because of the leases.”

Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Buying and Selling
01/12/12 1:52pm

Downtown Parking Lot Playland

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Downtown, Parking, Proposed Developments, Quicklink
2 Comments

DOWNTOWN PARKING LOT PLAYLAND The 4 full-block surface parking lots along the rail line just east of the ExxonMobil building bounded by Leeland, Fannin, Clay, and Travis streets downtown will soon have a small blot on their perfect cars-and-asphalt-only record: a 10,000-ft. childcare center for JPMorgan Chase employees. The new owner of the easternmost block, Skanska USA Commercial Development, plans to build the center on a third of it to replace the facility currently housed in Skanska’s other recent downtown purchase, the 18-story (soon-to-be-former) Houston Club Building at 811 Rusk St. Moving the tenants out of that building, which the company is considering demolishing and replacing, would give Skanska “more options,” a company spokesperson tells Nancy Sarnoff. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Bill Barfield

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Apartments
11/22/11 11:41am

West Ave-Style Apartments and Retail Planned for Dunlavy Fiesta Site?

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Buying and Selling, Lancaster Place, Land Sales, Montrose, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail
62 Comments

Survey stakes have gone up around the Montrose Fiesta Market on the southeast corner of Dunlavy and West Alabama, directly across the street from the brand-new H-E-B Montrose Market.

What could that mean? A source who is not a party to the transaction claims that the survey is connected to a sale of the property, which is already under contract for “‘crazy money’ — something on the scale of $85-$90 SF”:

The reputed use will be for a 6 to 7 story multi-use development — something on the order of West Ave or the Read-King chimera promised for the SWC of Alabama and Shepherd. . . . Personally, I find the land purchase price to be pretty hard to believe . . . because market value of land in that area is $40 – $50 max or maybe $60 at a stretch. Fiesta’s lease expires in 2014 with no renewal and either they or the owner has an early out option. The other tenants in the center all have short lease terms with no renewal.

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Buying and Selling
11/18/11 3:31pm

Skanska Goes for a Houston Office Building Hat Trick

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Commercial Real Estate, Energy Corridor, Office Buildings, Redevelopment
3 Comments

If, as rumored, Skanska USA Commercial Development is the buyer of this sprawling former ARCO building at 15375 Memorial Dr. west of Eldridge, the Swedish construction giant will soon be the owner of a small one-of-each collection of Houston office types: The Houston Club building Downtown, the 20-story tower Kirksey designed for the company that just began construction on the Galleria side of the West Loop, and this 21-acre Energy Corridor campus. According to reports, the company is likely to tear down both the Memorial Dr. building and the one Downtown and build office buildings on each site from scratch.

Photo: Silberman Properties

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Buying and Selling
11/18/11 1:24pm

Indians on Scotland

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Institutional Buildings, Magnolia Grove, Office Buildings, Openings and Closings, Quicklink
6 Comments

INDIANS ON SCOTLAND After a ceremony yesterday, this 1984 office building across from the Cleveland Park at 4300 Scotland St. in Magnolia Grove is the new official home of the Consulate General of India. The Indian government bought the building in August. Next door: the Gables Memorial Hills apartments. [Voice of Asia] Photo: LoopNet

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Buying and Selling
11/16/11 3:44pm

IAH Warehouse Condos Go Rental

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Condos, IAH, Industrial Properties, Leasing
2 Comments

3-year-old 11-building condo complex at the intersection of Beltway 8 and Hwy. 59; great feeder-road-U-turn access to IAH. Swimming pool — okay, it’s a retention pond — at the center. And bank-owned. Well, not anymore. Interra Capital Group bought 112 of the 128 flex-space industrial condo units at the High Ridge Business Park from the lender last month, and for the 60-some units still available, it’ll be lease only.

Photo: Commgate

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Buying and Selling
11/11/11 5:13pm

Kipling Street Academy Taking Over Shepherd Dr. Church

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Churches, Magnolia Grove, Proposed Developments, Schools
4 Comments

Montrose preschool Kipling Street Academy has purchased a 1-acre lot at the corner of Shepherd Dr. and Blossom, where it plans to open a “sister school” to its main (and recently expanded) tiny-tot campus at the corner of Kipling and Mulberry. The 600 Shepherd Dr. address in Magnolia Grove belongs to the former Shepherd Drive Methodist Church; the 1955 church building on the site is currently home to Center Street Ministries. An email sent to parents of Kipling kids indicates that construction on its new facility across the street from the Kicks indoor-soccer complex will begin early next year, and that the new school is scheduled to open next fall — but doesn’t specify whether or how much of the existing buildings on the lot will be retained.

Photos: Swamplot inbox

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Buying and Selling
11/09/11 11:17am

George Mitchell Wants To Buy Galveston Piers

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Galveston, Quicklink
8 Comments

GEORGE MITCHELL WANTS TO BUY GALVESTON PIERS Billionaire George Mitchell’s Mitchell Historic Properties has been leasing Piers 19-22 on the dock side of Galveston since 1993. The leases don’t expire until 2065, but he now wants to buy the properties from the city. Sitting on the piers: the Harbor House Hotel and Marina and a couple of Landry’s-owned restaurants. Mitchell claims he wants to make improvements to the docks that would make more development possible. The sale would require a city charter amendment and voter approval, which the company hopes would take place next May. [Galveston County Daily News] Photo: TripAdvisor

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Buying and Selling
10/21/11 7:26pm

Champions Golf Course Chateau: Sold, for $3.5 Million

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Champions, Foreclosures, Home Design, Interiors
22 Comments

Have a look around this little 25,637-sq.-ft. castle on a 5-acre lot at the edge of the Champions Golf Course. The master suite alone measures 3,000 sq. ft. Construction began in 2005, but last year the property was taken over by the lender, Encore Bank, before the final touches could be completed — like the elevator connecting the 3-car underground garage to the rest of the house. The MLS listing announced the bank planned to auction the home by November 5th to the highest bidder. But it was scooped up before then — for $3.5 million — by someone who could truly appreciate its fine marble and plaster finishes: the founder of a drywall contracting company and his wife. Wayne and Karen Martin tell the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff they plan to finish the home and landscape it with “European-style” gardens and reflecting ponds. “There’s a lot of history in that place. It’s phenomenal,” Martin tells Sarnoff.

But they don’t plan to move in.

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Apartments
10/03/11 8:13pm

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

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

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