COMMENT OF THE DAY: MINIMUM LOT SIZE ORDINANCE EXIT STRATEGY “. . . The future of the minimum ordinances will depend on the individual blocks when the ordinances themselves expire. A few of my neighbors are planning for their retirement as soon as their ordinances expire with several options: duplexing their house with a garage apartment for rental income or selling out to condo builders as a last laugh for the looming McMansions next to them. If I don’t think my block will re-up our ordinances, I’ll be sure to sell out before the vultures start circling.” [Studes Second, commenting on Where Houston’s Lot-Size Restrictions Went, Year by Year]
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Buying and Selling
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FULL DISCLOSURE “. . . maybe real estate [listings] should include all the important viruses previous owners might have had, like herpes, or HPV, or hepatitis, or epstein-barr, or mononucleosis. Not to mention bacteria! Or addiction! Or the viewing of pornography! Gosh, it might be hard for [some] to ever live in a previously owned building.” [Karen, commenting on Nicer Than a Log Cabin: John Staub River Oaks Deb, at $9.5 Million]
PAPERS, PLEASE? A Tomball city council member’s attempt to prohibit anyone unable to cough up government-issued documentation of citizenship or residence from owning any sort of property or business, or from renting a home within city limits was defeated last night by a vote of the entire council — along with a few other proposals intended to get area residents riled up about illegal immigration: “All of the controversial measures, which drew both strong support and heated opposition from citizens and activists Tuesday night, were proposed by first-term Tomball City Councilman Derek Townsend Sr. His move to place the items on Tuesday’s agenda was seconded by Councilman Mark Stoll, who said he did not support the proposals but wanted to give Townsend a venue for discussion. . . . Townsend told the audience his proposals were not about racism, but about standing up for the U.S. Constitution.” [Houston Chronicle]
Liking the views you’ve seen of the new Walmart coming to the former Trinity Industries steel fabrication property at Yale and Koehler in the West End? Well, one of them could be yours! A few more of those front-row townhouses lining the property’s southern edge will soon be available, reports 11 News reporter Shern-Min Chow.
“Sitting on the couch to the fence line is roughly 55 feet,” brags Anne Marie Leahey, who says she’ll be selling her 1,167-sq.-ft. townhome on Center Plaza Dr. soon. Chow sounds impressed:
Her home is beautiful. The inside is stunning. As she pulled the bay window curtains back, it was clear the view outside would also be eye-catching. Her home looks out directly onto the site of the new Walmart.
Leahey, a Bonner Street Homeowners Association board member, was already thinking about moving before she heard of the new development, but has since decided to relinquish her home now instead of waiting. That’ll give some more dedicated Walmart fan a chance to enjoy the complete construction process from close range. She tells Chow she regularly gets calls from neighbors asking her if they should move, too.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY HOMEBUYERS REALLY WANT BEIGE “it is understandable why people would want neutral colors though. moving into a home is a huge price shock and it can take a while until people save enough to throw down for all the interiors as they choose. i would certainly prefer to live with neutral colors until the time comes to change rather than someone else’s preferred color of choice. it’s not necessarily a lack of creative thinking in buyers, but often a choice of practicality.” [joel, commenting on Comment of the Day: Staging Is for Wusses]
THE BLACK FOREST MIX How do you follow your recent purchase of the FBI-invaded office building at 5050 Westheimer — you know, the former Galleria headquarters of that charmingly creative Stanford Financial Group? Black Forest Ventures — a Woodlands-based venture capital firm started by a member of the family behind the Bruker biomedical empire — has the answer: Go out west near Katy and buy Mustang Engineering’s 175,000 sq.-ft. office building in the Park Ten office park off I-10. Just add both to Black Forest’s growing potpourri of properties. Other holdings gathered by the company: Woodlands gourmet grocers Hubbell & Hudson; 3 Black Walnut Cafes in the The Woodlands, Sugarland, the Rice Village; a few Woodlands office buildings; numerous rental homes; and a 15,000-sq.-ft. hangar at David Wayne Hooks Airport in Spring. [Houston Business Journal]
BATTLEFIELD RECOVERY A group of Texas history buffs called the Friends of the San Jacinto Battleground has spent $625K to buy 19 mostly overgrown acres near the San Jacinto Monument — 8 of them under water — from the estate of noted car collector and attorney John O’Quinn. The group intends to restore the tidal marsh, place historical markers, and add 1830s-approprate foliage such as cypress and pine to the property on Battleground Rd. just southwest of the Lynchburg Ferry, on the south bank of Buffalo Bayou. The goal: a landscape that evokes the good ol’ days of the Texas Revolution, long before the local ground started sinking. More detailed plans for the redevelopment are still under discussion, but the organization hopes to raise $325K for the project and wants to begin improvements in time for the 175th anniversary of the Texian assault in 2011. A few decades after it was crossed by battling Mexican and Texian armies, the land held a Confederate armory, barracks and shipyard. More recently, other potential bidders for the property were interested in using it for an industrial complex or a school for energy and maritime workers. [Houston Chronicle; project details]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SOMEONE WAS SLEEPING IN MY ROOM! “Never mind houses that have experienced murder-suicide or even natural death. A lot of today’s Houston area buyers seem to be creeped out by the thought of buying a house that someone else has LIVED in.” [GoogleMaster, commenting on Comment of the Day: Deal Killers]
BACKING OFF THAT EXCLUSIVE Metro’s new board voted today to revise the notable exclusive 3-year contract the previous regime had signed last December with real-estate consultants McDade Smith Gould Johnson Mason + Co. The arrangement would have awarded the commercial brokerage firm up to $6.25 million in commissions on land transactions related to the construction of 5 new light-rail lines, as well as additional consulting fees. At the time of the signing, 2 of the 7 employees in Metro’s real-estate division were McDade Smith brokers. Michael Reed reports: “The new agreement with McDade Smith will be for one year and will utilize the firm only for selected properties that require their professional expertise. More work will also be done within Metro, it was indicated.†Update, 6 pm: More details on the new contract in this later story from Reed. [River Oaks Examiner; previously on Swamplot]
AURORA PICTURE SHOW’S ORIGINAL MOVIE HOUSE HAS A BUYER 
The woman who’s buying the former home of the Aurora Picture Show from microcinema pioneer Andrea Grover plans on starting her own new film and arts organization and running it out of the former Sunset Height Church of Christ at 800 Aurora St. Artist, filmmaker, and law student Cressandra Thibodeaux‘s name for her new concept: 14 Pews. She hopes to host theater and film productions, weddings, art exhibitions, classes, and workshops in the space, along with occasional screenings from . . . Aurora Picture Show. Writer Steven Thomsen gets Thibodeaux to gush: “‘I’m going through a divorce and thought that Houston would be the best place to lick my wounds,’ she tells CultureMap. ‘It’s always treated me like a forgiving lover who wraps me in her warm moist arms. And the moment I landed at the airport I was engulfed in her warm moistness. . . . I have spent 10 years tossing ideas and projects at the walls in Los Angeles,’ she explains. ‘I came to Houston and in one week everything I tossed stuck to the walls. I credit the humidity.’” [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Kenny Haner
COMMENT OF THE DAY: DEAL KILLERS “. . . the fact of someone breathing their last at a property holds no ick factor for me. Once, at a Closing, in that long interval where you are waiting for copies, the little old lady Seller told me about her boyfriend dying at the house I had just bought. Didn’t creep me out at all– just a sweet sad tale. But . . . I am really curious as to what house history would be a deal breaker for you all. [Death] by natural causes? By violence? Creepy perpetrators of off-site crimes?” [Harold Mandell, commenting on A Swank Modern Meyerland Home with a Record]
Note: Story updated below.
A little bird tells Swamplot that Walmart is close to buying a 5-acre piece of land on Heights Blvd. just south of I-10. Formerly on that site: the Sons of Hermann Hall, which was demolished last summer. The property also fronts Yale, and is bounded by the Center St. railroad tracks to the south. Just across the street: the Art Car Museum. If the discount retailer does close the deal and build on the property, it would be the first Walmart-owned store inside the Loop. (Of course, there’s already a Walmart and a Sam’s Club just outside the South Loop; the Sam’s Club is a direct train ride from Downtown.) Also in the works, though much further along: A new Walmart under construction next to Northline Commons, the former site of the Northline Mall.
Update: Reader Nick Banks is already trying out Walmart store models for size:
HCC’S NEW PLANNED PARENTHOOD Houston Community College will take over guardianship of the land and buildings Planned Parenthood left behind when it moved to its new Gulf Fwy. headquarters. Nancy Sarnoff reports that HCC paid $5 million for 2 separate buildings plus parking lots on 2 acres of land on Fannin St. in Midtown, 2 blocks north of West Alabama. They’ll become part of HCC’s Central College campus: “[HCC vice chancellor Daniel] Seymour said it hasn’t been decided exactly how the college will use all the space, but the smaller building — formerly a bank before Planned Parenthood bought it – will be torn down because of structural problems. HCC also plans on consolidating operations currently in leased space downtown into the old Planned Parenthood building at 3601 Fannin.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
THE METRO LAND COMMISSION DEAL Real estate brokerage firm McDade Smith Gould Johnston Mason + Co. is slated to earn as much as $7 million in consulting fees and commissions from land transactions related to the construction of 5 new rail lines, the West University Examiner‘s Michael Reed reports. Last year’s hiring of Kristen M. McDade as associate vice president of real estate services means 2 out of Metro’s 7 real estate division employees are also McDade Smith brokers. The 3-year deal approved by the outgoing Metro board last December outlines that payments are to be made “even though the land to be used has already been predetermined by the route and could be taken through eminent domain, if need be,” Reed explains: “As stated in the contract, ‘Consultant (McDade Smith) shall receive commissions on every transaction closed by Metro, including but not limited to all right of way acquisitions, calculated on the basis of 6 percent of the “sales price.‒ Metro, however, receives a credit of rebate equal to 40 percent of that payment, according to the contract. Since, legally, a buyer — in this case, Metro — cannot force a seller to pay commissions to a broker, Metro’s true price for land acquisition for five lines, including the University route, would likely be bumped up by $6.25 million in buyer paid commissions as well.” [West University Examiner]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE UCHI HOUSTON PARKING PLAN “They have the whole 40,000 sf under contract, which includes the Prive building and the 12,000 sf lot across the street. The Prive building probably wont be leased to a bar or restaurant, thus freeing up more parking for the peak hours.” [Adam Brackman, commenting on Montrose Uchi To Be an Uchi; No Plans To Crush Felix]