COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHO OWNS WILSHIRE VILLAGE? “Dilick purchased the property in 2002. He was aware that prople still lived in Wilshire Village as the rent checks continued to come in. He/Flat Stone II Ltd./Alabama & Dunlavy Ltd. was not only a developer at that point but a property owner and a landlord. . . . here’s where the circus music gets cued. Jay Cohen continued to ACT in the capacity of property manager/landlord/owner for the next SEVEN years. It is highly unlikely that Dilick had no idea this was going on. Texas law considers a principal to be vicariously liable for the torts of agents committed in the course and scope of their employment. Was Jay Cohen actually employed as the Wilshire Village property manager or do we have a case of ostensible (“for all appearancesâ€) agency? If Dilick ALLOWED him to walk, talk and act like one, then a reasonable person could legitimately assume that such was the case. Jay Cohen made the statement to more than one resident, acting in the capacity of someone with the authority to do so, that they would not have to leave the property as stated in the eviction notice. Texas recognizes oral agreements as binding with 4 exceptions that must be in writing, but lease extension is not one of them. Implied authority is further conveyed by Cohen being cc’d on the notice. Looks like Lucy has some ’splainin to do, hmmm?” [Hellsing, commenting on Comment of the Day: Wilshire Village Town Meeting]
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Neighborhood Disputes
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILSHIRE VILLAGE TOWN MEETING “Residents met with an official of the City of Houston Police Department last night at a “town meeting†regarding the fate of Wilshire Village. They were informed that in the next 2 days the city will post orange notices for residents to vacate. They will follow up no later than the first week in March to remove personal items and toss them “on the side of the road, off the propertyâ€. Matt Dillick also reportedly has a request to a district judge to have anyone still on the property next week “removed†as well. Considering the age of those who were told they didn’t have to leave by Jay Cohen and now have 4 days to get out, I hope the authorities won’t feel the need to pull a Robbie Tolan on any of them.” [Hellsing, commenting on Comment of the Day: Wilshire Village Plan]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILSHIRE VILLAGE PLAN “The notices from the fire marshall are actually Fire Hazard warning stickers not condemned notices. Yes, they are very different according to the Fire Marshall. The condeming of the property will take a little more time but I am sure the plan is in motion. According to the fire marshall when he was at the property on thursday we will still have till the end of the month to get out. After that it’s going to get messy for the people who decide to stay.” [Dawn, commenting on Wilshire Village Apartments: Okay To Stay?]
Allen Stanford’s international “banking” empire is falling apart. How’s his work as a Houston real estate developer holding up?
Stanford Development Corporation still owns a couple of units on the top floor of the Stanford Lofts, the 5-story East Downtown condo building topped with a starred tiara that the company completed in 2002, just a few blocks east of Minute Maid Park. But owning the condos didn’t prevent the condo owners association from filing a construction-defect lawsuit against the Stanford Lofts developers and builders in 2007, charging Stanford Development with “breach of contract, Deceptive Trade Practices, breach of warranty, fraud, and negligent design, construction, and supervision.”
The summary of problems with the building included in the original complaint is 9 pages long, and includes failure to meet building codes, wall cracks and leaks, structural movement, and a series of defects causing continuing problems with water infiltration. The repair estimate: more than $2 million.
The case has dragged on for some time. Attorneys for the Stanford Condo Owners Association complained that Stanford Development was dragging its feet, arguing last year in response to a stay request:
City officials have declared the Wilshire Village Apartments on Dunlavy and West Alabama a fire hazard, reportedly slapping these notices on all the buildings. Residents, here’s that number to call: (713) 865-7100. A little more here.
- Wilshire Village Apartments: Condemned? [Swamplot]
- Wilshire Village coverage [Swamplot]
Update, 4:30 pm: The West University Examiner‘s Michael Reed confirms the report:
The order from Senior Inspector Mike Thomas said “occupancy is dangerous to human life†and told those living there they were “directed by law to communicate in person or by phone immediately with the fire marshal.â€
A semi-anonymous reader just leaned hard on the caps lock key to post this comment about the Wilshire Village Apartments across from the Fiesta at Dunlavy and W. Alabama:
FIRE MARSHALL HAS SLAPPED “CONDEMNED” NOTICES ON ALL BUILDINGS!!!!
Might want to take some blankets over there – looks like a lot of elderly people will be sleeping under bridges pretty soon! Does this mean the Houston Housing Authority will now get involved??
Are any Swamplot readers nearby? Wanna give us the scoop?
- Wilshire Village coverage [Swamplot]
Michael Reed from the River Oaks Examiner documents a rumor floating around the Wilshire Village Apartments on W. Alabama at Dunlavy — that former-and-maybe-still-current owner Jay Cohen has been telling tenants they don’t need to leave after all:
Monday afternoon, there was confusion about the order to vacate on the part of another tenant, who would only talk to the Examiner if he were not identified.
The tenant said he and another resident had been told by Cohen shortly after the notices were issued that they did not have to move.
He added he was under the impression Cohen still had the controlling interest in the property.
Cohen could not be located for comment.
According to the Secretary of State’s office, the property’s owner is Alabama & Dunlavy, a limited partnership. The general partner — or manager — is listed as General Commerce Equities II. Limited partners are not a matter of public record.
- Amid confusion, eviction notices come to Wilshire Village [River Oaks Examiner]
- Previously in Swamplot: Wilshire Village Utility Work, Wilshire Village Update: “A Nice Messâ€, Wilshire Village Apartments: Actual Tenants Actually Being Evicted
Photo of Wilshire Village Apartments: Katharine Shilcutt Gleave
A reader sends in this photo of the corner of Sul Ross and Woodhead, just west of the Wilshire Village Apartments, showing what appears to be work on wastewater lines connecting to the complex. Sul Ross dead-ends into a parking lot at the garden apartments at the end of the block.
The utility work was mentioned in this reader comment on Swamplot’s original story on Wilshire Village. Two weeks ago, tenants at the 70-year-old complex received mysterious notices demanding they vacate the property by the end of this month.
- Wilshire Village Update: “A Nice Mess†[Swamplot]
- Wilshire Village Apartments: Actual Tenants Actually Being Evicted [Swamplot]
Photo: Swamplot inbox
What’s really going on at Wilshire Village? Are tenants of the aging garden apartments at the corner of W. Alabama and Dunlavy actually being evicted?
Houston City Council Member Sue Lovell — and separately, at least one attorney — has reportedly told tenants of the complex that the eviction letter they received is not legally binding, since it was not signed by all owners of the property. Here’s the original report Swamplot received about the eviction notices last week:
We received information from two tenants at the site. Each received letters and/or cards from Alabama & Dunlavy, Ltd., 11144 Fuqua St., Suite 200, Houston, TX 77089 . The letters told them to vacate by the end of the month and that the electricty will be shut off on that date. The cards were signed by Matthew Dillick [sic], and the letters were cc’d to Mr. Jay Cohen, Mr. Clifton Hebert, and Mr. Howard Hebert (we don’t know who the Heberts are).
Matthew Dillick [sic] has had some interest in the property for several years. We had always been led to believe that Mr. Cohen continued to own the majority of the property, but when the tenant talked to Doug Anders in the Public Works Department, he implied that perhaps Mr. Cohen no longer maintained the majority interest in the property and that the majority has made other plans for the site.
So . . . who owns Wilshire Village?
He may have officially retired last summer, but the former CEO of Houston’s HCC Insurance Holdings doesn’t seem to have slowed down! A settlement with the SEC, which accused Stephen L. Way of backdating stock options on at least 38 occasions, means the former executive is barred from serving as an officer or director of any public reporting company for five years. But Way has apparently found a way to keep himself busy, making improvements around his Bayou Woods home.
There’s just one problem with the lovely boxwood-hedged and pine-shaded parking lot pictured above, along with a concrete driveway and speed bumps Way also had built down the street:
IS THAT THREE BROTHERS BAKERY ON THE LINE? A spokesperson for Weingarten Realty reports the company has “a number of good prospects” to lease the second-story space in the semi-curved replacement building that caused all that fuss over at the River Oaks Shopping Center. Earlier this week, Tony Vallone announced he’s backing out of plans to open a new Italian restaurant in the space: “. . . the recent flak between neighbors and developer Weingarten Realty on such points as the building’s setbacks and the use of the patio were not factors in pulling the plug, he said, adding the discourse was full of misinformation. Vallone said, for example, rumors were circulated that the patio would have been used, at times, as a band venue, which would not have been the case. ‘I would never do anything to jeopardize the relationship with the neighborhood,’ Vallone said.” [River Oaks Examiner; previously]
Weingarten’s Planning Commission victory earlier this month doesn’t resolve everything for the westernmost of two replacement retail buildings now under construction at the River Oaks Shopping Center. First, reports Mary Ann Acevedo in the Houston Business Journal, that last-minute compromise left a few neighbors grumbling:
. . . some of the neighbors are not pleased that they didn’t have an opportunity to review the final agreement after Weingarten’s most recent changes prior to the Jan. 8 hearing with the Planning Commission.
According to [neighbor Janet] Moore, Weingarten had told the group it would deliver an advance copy for their review.
“They presented us a signed, unmarked copy at the hearing and had no one available authorized to negotiate changes to the agreement,†Moore says. “Some of the neighbors are disappointed with a few of the changes in the agreement.â€
On, Jan. 13, Weingarten presented the neighbors with a revised agreement that Moore says does address some of those concerns, although the parties continue to work out the details.
Next, that Vallone restaurant planned for the building’s second floor and balcony — which at one point was referred to in Weingarten’s marketing materials as Il Tavolo (and is labeled Adagio Vino in the renderings) — may not be a done deal yet:
Some juicy emails to former residents of Park Memorial leaked to Swamplot reveal new information about the proposed sale of the shuttered 4.85-acre property off Memorial Drive. The emails were sent by the condo complex’s board of directors, which apparently has quite a few problems to work out before the sale can go through.
First, about that mysterious buyer — whose name had apparently been kept secret from condo owners. The buyer is “now known as Detering Acquisitions,” according to the latest email. Detering Acquisitions is also the name of an LLC managed by Marvy Finger, president and CEO of apartment developer The Finger Companies.
According to the emails, 97 out of 108 Park Memorial owners want to sell the complex to this “unnamed” buyer for an agreed-upon price of around $17 million. But 11 others are seeking separate negotiations with the buyer, even though the buyer has indicated that he “will not negotiate” with the group.
This is also the group of people that filed the actions against the City, and that is now suing the Association (along with individual directors, the realty company, and an attorney).
And . . . there’s even more quasi-legal fun!
POST OAK LANE PARK DOLLAR TIMELINE: ALL THE OFFERS AND COUNTERS Following up on the overview of the controversy he and Carolyn Feibel published last week, Bradley Olsen provides this updated summary of all the offers made for James and Jock Collins’s 7,230-sq.-ft. property at the the corner of San Felipe and Post Oak Ln., adjacent to Boulevard Place: “In April 2002, the Uptown Development Authority offers the Collins brothers $289,000 for their property to widen San Felipe and for other purposes (they bought it for $363,750 in 1982). They declined. In February 2004, Uptown offers the Collins brothers $398,035 for their property. They declined. Wulfe & Co. begins negotiations with the brothers to buy the property in 2004. In early 2006 (one side says March, the other says May), Wulfe and Co. offered the Collins brothers $1.985 million, which included a $1.46 million cash offer plus financing of $525,000 over five years. The brothers declined that offer, both sides confirm. The brothers counter-offer by asking for $1.7 million in cash, according to Cary Gray, their attorney. In June 2006, Wulfe and Co. responded with a $1.46 million cash offer, which they withdraw in July, according to both sides. In October 2006, the city notifies the Collins brothers of its intent to seize the land through eminent domain powers. Before filing its eminent domain lawsuit, the city gives the brothers a final offer in May 2007 of $433,800. They declined. In February 2008, a panel of special commissioners appointed in Harris County Civil Court voted to award the Collins brothers $723,000. They declined. The legal proceedings between the city and the brothers are still ongoing and are in the discovery phase.” [Houston Chronicle]
If any of those holdouts at Park Memorial are still trying to camp out in their condos, it had to have become a whole lot tougher for them after Saturday. That’s when the city cut off power to the complex and chained the gates.
Among the Park Memorial Forever crowd, a source tells Swamplot, is a family that went to court seeking an injunction against the city — on grounds city officials had no legal right to evict them for safety reasons because the safety issues applied to a different building on the same property. That request has been one of the obstacles holding up the sale of the entire complex, to a so-far-secret buyer.
