New Construction: Residential

27 Comments

Is the Houston Extreme Makeover: Home Edition home all those volunteers built for the Johnson family on Goodhope St. at last complete? Swamplot hasn’t been able to get an update: HHN Homes’ website has been out of commission for a couple of days, and the company’s email service may be down too. (Maybe that’s the best way for everyone there to get some much-needed rest after the double-overtime build?) Over the weekend, Swamplot photog Candace Garcia took a little stroll around the now-very-quiet construction site and came back with some interesting pictures, a few to-do items, and one burning question:

77021, Construction Problems, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, New Construction: Residential, Photos, South Union

Homebuilders

08/05/10 5:17pm

Still Working on Goodhope: The Drawn-Out End of the Extreme Makeover Is Near

Homebuilding, New Construction: Residential, South Union

7 Comments

Four long and hot construction days after the big made-for-teevee bus-moving ceremony, HHN Homes still needs help finishing its 4,400-sq.-ft. Extreme Makeover on Goodhope St. in South Union. What exactly is the company looking for? â€œPlumbers to finish trim features,â€ HHNâ€™s Linda Stewart tells Swamplot. And there’s still that ongoing, restrained request for some patio furniture. When will the Johnson family get to move in? Theyâ€™ve been â€œin and outâ€ of the house over the past few days, Stewart says. HHN Homes hopes to have all of its work complete by Friday evening.

77021, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Homebuilders, Homebuilding, New Construction: Residential, South Union

Homebuilding

08/02/10 3:53pm

No, Not Finished Yet: Extreme Conditions After the Deadline at Houston’s Extreme Makeover House

31 Comments

“I’ve just been told we need Gatorade,” HHN Homes manager Linda Stewart emails Swamplot from the site of the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build on Goodhope St. in South Union. “Water is not doing the trick as far as electrolytes are concerned. Â If you can spread the word and people can just drop off 3-4 6 packs would be great.”

Wait a sec . . . wasn’t the weeklong building project’s grand finale this past weekend? Didn’t the Johnson family come back from Paris and wait patiently to see their new home? Didn’t thousands of well-wishers shout “Move that bus!”?

Yeah, that all happened Sunday night — only a little more than a day later than originally scheduled, despite all of last week’s rain. But don’t imagine the Johnsons are gonna get to move in too soon . . . not with these kinds of requests still going out:

77021, Cancellations and Delays, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Homebuilding, New Construction: Residential, South Union

Construction Problems

07/30/10 4:10pm

Extreme Makeover: How’s This Home Gonna Get Finished? Edition

15 Comments

The Johnson family may not want to come directly from the airport to their new home when they return tomorrow from their weeklong surprise vacation in Paris. “Organizers are frantic they may not be able to finish,” reports abc13’s Cynthia Cisneros, who adds that the project was still 21 hours behind schedule as of this afternoon (that’s marked down from about 30 yesterday). Meanwhile, the folks at HHN Homes have updated the company’s website for the project with a screaming headline: “Extreme Help Needed!!” and a list of specific trades they’re hoping to attract for shifts beginning 8 pm tonight and Saturday.

“Every radio station and tv station is soliciting the public for volunteers,” notes Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia, who visited the site this afternoon. And she noted evidence of more problems:

77021, Construction Problems, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, New Construction: Residential, South Union

New Construction: Residential

07/28/10 7:43pm

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Meets Extreme Mud: Houston Edition

South Union

11 Comments

Note: Story updated below.

HHN Homes manager Linda Stewart tells Swamplot the construction crew building the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition home for the Johnson family on Goodhope St. in South Union is running about 10 hours behind schedule — and still “desperately” needs framers and workers from the “cornice trades” (to complete exterior trim work).

Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia watched workers slip and slide on the muddy site and rain-slick materials earlier today, and snapped a few pix of the scene. “It is REALLY wet out there,” she reports:

77021, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, New Construction: Residential, Photos, South Union

Demolitions

07/27/10 2:54pm

Live from Goodhope St.: Extreme Upsizing in South Union

7 Comments

Yesterday was demo day at 3613 Goodhope St. in South Union. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition host Ty Pennington (or his designated photo-Tweeter) sent out this pic Monday, showing the final moments of the Johnson family’s 700-sq.-ft. 1945 bungalow. What’s going on today at the Houston build?
HHN Homes manager Linda Stewart tells Swamplot last night’s rain set back the schedule. The slab for the new 4,500-sq.-ft. home is now on track to be poured at 3 pm today. Pre-assembled wall panels should be “ready to set” 50 minutes later, she says. Intrepid (and now hard-hatted) Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia files these photos from the scene:

77021, Demolitions, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, New Construction: Residential, Photos, South Union

Bellaire

07/26/10 1:56pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Just Needed a Coat of Paint

Downtown, Homes for Sale, New Construction: Residential, Signage, Townhomes, Washington Corridor

1 Comment

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:

We’ve got some answers to your questions:

Downtown: The mystery of the missing Houston Pavilions signs (shown — or rather, not shown — above) is solved . . . in rather unexciting fashion. The development’s management office explains the lettering is being painted, and should be reinstalled in short order.
Bellaire: Noting that other lots just west of Bellaire High School have a similar shape and size, subprimelandguy provides a matter-of-fact explanation for the triple-deep lots on the south side of Maple St.:

Mimosa (and the adjacent smaller lots on the south side of Maple) ends short of the Loop simply because that was the edge of the Bellaire Oaks subdivision when it was developed in the 50â€™s. The larger lots are in a different subdivision likely developed by a different developer, and of course at that time the Loop didnâ€™t exist for Mimosa to extend out to.

None of you took the bait on the reader’s second question: Should a triple-size lot always command a triple-size price?

And what about that monument to eternal redevelopment at the corner of Washington and Jackson Hill?

77002, 77007, 77401, Bellaire, Downtown, Homes for Sale, Houston Pavilions, New Construction: Residential, Signage, Signs, Townhomes, Washington Corridor

Disaster Aftermath

07/26/10 7:46am

Extreme Makeover: South Union Edition

New Construction: Residential, Quicklink, South Union

22 Comments

EXTREME MAKEOVER: SOUTH UNION EDITION Texas Children’s Hospital pharmacy technician Eric Johnson, his wife Elaine, and their 5 daughters — all of whom live in a 720-sq.-ft. Hurricane-Ike-damaged house at 3613 Goodhope St. in South Union — learned over the weekend that they’ll be traveling to Paris this week. When they return on Saturday, they’ll find their old home gone and a new 4,500-sq.-ft. 2-story home installed in its place, designed by Studio RED Architects and the team from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and constructed by HHN Homes and hundreds of volunteers. The Harrises run a small marriage and family counseling nonprofit they founded called Optimum Lifestyle. Host Ty Pennington and the EM:HE crew are promising an “innovative tears-free episode” of the teevee show this time (the Harrises got the news in a comedy club). And no, this home is not in the Third Ward. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]

77021, Demolitions, Disaster Aftermath, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Hurricane Ike, New Construction: Residential, South Union

Bellaire

07/20/10 6:11pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: The Case of the Missing Houston Pavilions Signs

Downtown, New Construction: Residential, Signage, Townhomes, Washington Corridor

8 Comments

Got an answer to any of these reader questions? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Hereâ€™s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.

Downtown: A reader wants to know why the backlit signage that used to be attached to those fancy Houston Pavilions multi-story hole-in-the-middle bridges over Fannin and San Jacinto streets Downtown is — gone! “You can see the remains of little black studs that supported the letters. Probably not a big deal at all, just something I noticed the last couple of trips [and] thought I would share.”
Bellaire: From just outside the Loop, we have interest in the “extremely long residential lots” on the south side of Maple St., just east of S. Rice Blvd. (Map here.) Each property, bounded by a storm drain to the south, is the equivalent of 3 lots deep, a curious reader notes. And asks: “1) Why does Mimosa end before W. Loop? 2) Is a triple lot property 3x the value of single lot? What shapes their value?”

One more puzzle for you to solve:

77002, 77007, 77401, Bellaire, Downtown, Houston Pavilions, New Construction: Residential, Signage, Signs, Townhomes, Washington Corridor

Comments

07/19/10 3:31pm

Comment of the Day: Room To Grow in the Heights

Demolitions, Houston Heights, Industrial Properties, New Construction: Residential, Quicklink

13 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: ROOM TO GROW IN THE HEIGHTS “Driving past the site on 25th St over the weekend, it looks like the entire block (bounded by 24th, 25th, Ashland and Rutland) has been vacated. Platted at 33-ft frontage, this would mean space for about 40 new home single family residences. There also appears to be demo activity on the north side of 25th street on the same block. Add this to the warehouses on the 500 block of W 22nd and 23rd (part of the Sullivan Bros. project) and thereâ€™s probably potential for 60 new houses in a pretty small area. The price points on similar houses has been $450 to $550k, which means about $30M total. Iâ€™m not sure how quickly this area can absorb that much supply.” [Angostura, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Do Adair]

77008, Comments, Demolitions, Houston Heights, Industrial Properties, New Construction: Residential

Apartments

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

Apartments

06/25/10 2:04pm

A Bright Stucco Future for the Norman Apartments

Construction Materials, Montrose, New Construction: Residential, Redevelopment

5 Comments

The Norman apartment building at 717 West Alabama at Stanford St. caught fire and burned last August. The 8-unit Montrose building, which the Houston Press saw fit to declare the city’s “Best Apartment” back in 2004, showed up in Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report just before Christmas. A reader sends in pics of the new multicolored stucco-and-foam construction going up in its place and notes:

It appears that they were quick to rebuild, It looked to me that they used the old piers, and just added the support beams for a (pier & beam foundation). Glad to see that they took advantage of the exsiting foundation.

And look, new foam quoins at the corner, to hold the stucco rainbow together! Are they fireproof?

77006, Apartments, Construction Materials, Fires, Montrose, New Construction: Residential, Redevelopment, Stucco

Comments

06/02/10 5:41pm

Comment of the Day: I Can Get It for You Wholesale

Homebuilders, New Construction: Residential, Quicklink

5 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE “. . . Tricon Homes, if they are not the number one builder in terms of number of units in the Heights, they are definitely in the top two. Since the 90â€™s theyâ€™ve built over a hundred units a year, with the majority of them located in the Heights. If you think their construction costs even sniff $100/sqft, you simply do not know what you are talking about. I sell land for a living to top builders in town, and work for a home building company that builds from the $150â€™s to $1.8M. A $1.8M house in Memorial will average $120/sq.ft in direct costs for construction. Are you trying to say that it costs more per square foot to build a bungalow with siding in the Heights than it does a brick/stone mansion in Memorial or River Oaks?? If so, againâ€¦.go find a better builder cause youâ€™re getting ripped off.” [MCoerver, commenting on Comment of the Day: The High Cost of Building Small]

Comments, Homebuilding, New Construction: Residential

Ferndale

05/12/10 1:59pm

Hangin’ with the Large and Lonely Homes of Bammel Lane Park

Homes for Sale, New Construction: Residential, Price Reductions, Upper Kirby

14 Comments

A couple of readers have expressed — how best to put this? — concern for the financial well-being of the developers behind the Bammel Park Homes featured on Swamplot early last year. Writes one recent visitor to the complex:

The development was originally intended to have 12 homes. There are only three complete and it doesn’t look as if any more will be built. . . . The front gate is rusted, the driveways haven’t been paved, the fountain is clogged, there isn’t any landscaping and loose wires are hanging here and there.

Didn’t Black Diamond Development claim the park-like setting would in fact be “enchanted”? Meanwhile, the asking prices for the hefty properties at 3204, 3244, and 3248 Bammel Ln. have been cut in three hacks each from $2.239 million to $1.798 million. Just look at all the bricks that includes: