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]
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Tenants have already begun moving out of the Wakeforest Apartments just north of 59, reports the Michael Reed in the River Oaks Examiner. The Upper Kirby District TIRZ board voted last week to buy the 101-unit complex, tear it down, and build a new “civic complex” on the property, which sits at the eastern edge of Eastside St.’s Levy Park.
A few farewell views sent in by a reader:
If the purchase deal can pass City Council, the Water Wall next to the Williams Tower will go from developer amenity and vacant-lot placeholder to actual Galleria public park:
The seller is an affiliate of Houston-based Hines Interests LP, which originally developed the Water Wall and adjacent Williams Tower along with Transco Energy Co. in the 1980s. The skyscraper, Water Wall and green space have changed hands over time, but went back under Hines-related ownership earlier this year when they were acquired by Hines Real Estate Investment Trust Inc.
The city is expected to pay $8.5 million for the Water Wall and the three-acre park where it sits.
How good a real estate investment was that fountain back in 1985?
The land was most recently appraised at $3.8 million, according to Harris County Appraisal District records. But [Mayor] White and [Uptown TIRZ administrator John] Breeding said the $8.5 million price was well below market rates, which occasionally have gone as high as $200 per square foot, which would have amounted to a $24 million selling price.
- City makes splash with Water Wall [Houston Business Journal]
- $8.5 million deal assures Water Wall will survive [Houston Chronicle]
Photo: Dave Thomas
Redemption Community Development Corp. has raised $10,000 out of $75,000 it needs to turn a 16-acre site at 822 West Greens Road from a gang hangout to a park: “The corporation selected the site just [west] of Interstate 45 because it is surrounding by low- to moderate-income apartment and mobile home communities that do not have easy access to recreational facilities, said [RCDC executive director Evelyn] Ogletree. To take a property utilized for less-than-positive purposes and transform it into a park has been a long-standing dream. The ‘phase one’ park plan includes a covered basketball pavilion, playground, nature gardens, walking/jogging trail, benches and picnic tables.” The remainder of the funds will likely come from grants. [Houston Chronicle]
Pretending to be a tourist in his hometown, Misha from Tasty Bits puts together a day’s itinerary that includes the Breakfast Klub, the Rothko Chapel, the Menil, Westmoreland and Audubon Place, Nippon, . . . and Discovery Green:
11am: Head to Discovery Green to see exactly how much park $145 million dollars buys you. The corporate sponsorship at this place is a bit “enthusiasticâ€, but overall Disco Green (that’s what the cool kids call it these days, I hear) is a surprisingly good time. I didn’t bring my bocce balls or a putter, but I did have fun reflecting the best of Kraftwerk off the completely awesome Listening Vessels, designed by Doug Hollis. Being a bit stubborn, I also spent no less than half an hour trying to figure out if the Synchronicity of Color sculpture was interactive. It’s not, but feel free to give it a shot anyway.
The most interesting thing about Discovery Green is not how much it cost, but how much more livable Houston Downtown appears to be than it was as recently as 5 years ago. . . . Though a bit crammed with “featuresâ€, the park goes a nice job of combining a nature, architecture and art in a single organic space that anchors a new, far more residential Downtown than ever before.
- Itinerary: Rothko Chapel and Discovery Green [Tasty Bits]
Photo: Misha
$325K FOR A 50-ACRE TEXAS CITY PARK? “BP is staring at a $650,000 penalty for unauthorized land disposal of hazardous waste. . . . The penalty is not yet final but will probably come before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in October, an agency spokeswoman said. Half of the proposed $650,000 fine requires BP to buy a minimum of 50 acres of contiguous property in and around Texas City and make it suitable for park land. The company will be required to preserve the entire property in perpetuity as a park and nature preserve.” [Hair Balls]
Never mind the virtual obstacles: The website for Discovery Tower has a new promotional video that pays silent homage to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Also: more fancy renderings of the office building, now under construction.
More interesting to Discovery Green fans, though, will be a few new aerial renderings that depict the Downtown park in urban glory, surrounded by a crowd of real, planned, imagined, and soon-to-be-axed new projects. But . . . uh, which is which?
That orangish tower perched on Discovery Green’s southwest corner: the stalled 22-story Embassy Suites hotel. That sorta-identical but mirrored Hilton Americas on the north side of the park? The Convention Center Hotel Part Two!
So . . . what’s going on behind Discovery Tower?
METRO NATIONAL GETS ITS PARK BACK That Texas Heritage Park that Metro National created with a land donation 4 years ago? Nevermind. “Roberta Prazak said she was also suspicious of Metro National’s motives for taking back the land, for which they received a tax break when they donated the land. ‘I would like to see the city demanding that these management districts have a master plan for park space,’ she said. ‘Otherwise, it’s just a moving target.’” The small park — one of 3 created by Metro National — is located between Bally’s and Dillards at the Memorial City Mall. [Memorial Examiner]
SKATEBOARDING IS NOT A CRIME? Some residents of the Sabine Street Lofts are unhappy with the new Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark that opened across the street on June 1st: “an average of 320 people have skated its ramps and concrete bowls every day. Lofts residents say the skaters also have tagged city property, left behind soda cans and snack-food trash and even trespassed onto loft property to skate in the parking garage. Topping their complaints is illegal parking on the Sabine Street bridge, which they say constricts the route they use into and out of the complex.” [Houston Chronicle; previously]
Lou Minatti notes that the construction crane parked on the site of the Park 8 condo tower project on the west side of Beltway 8 between Bellaire and Beechnut has at long last been dismantled and removed. Is it time to say goodbye to the Land of Oz?
More bad news for fans of the 3-tower (plus hospital and strip center) project: The video originally embedded in our story about the project from last year is down too. But don’t worry . . . YouTube has a copy! See it again — and relive some of that Oz highrise magic — after the jump.
NEW DYNAMO SPORTS COMPLEX IN SOUTHERN HOUSTON The City of Houston, the Houston Dynamo, and a few other partners are funding a new multi-use recreation center between a new extension of Kirby Dr. and 288, just north of Sims Bayou and southeast of the former toxic landfill now known as the Wildcat Golf Club. “The complex, on a 100-acre site purchased earlier this year by the city, will include as many as 18 outdoor soccer and athletic fields with natural and artificial turf, plus recreational parks. Part of the facility will house a practice field for use by Dynamo that would include site improvements paid for by the team.” The site may ultimately include a social center and charter school. [Houston Business Journal]
MISSOURI CITY POISED TO TAKE OVER QUAIL VALLEY COUNTRY CLUB BY EMINENT DOMAIN “City officials decided to try to purchase the property because of fears that the owners would shutter the club and redevelop the site. If the club were closed, city officials and many residents feared, property values in the city would plummet.” The city would run a golf club and park on the 390-acre lot. Price: $3.1 million. [Houston Chronicle]
Some residents of Glen Cove St. have been encroaching on the Hogg Bird Sanctuary with their lawnmowers and destroying the birds’ habitat, complains an area resident. The sanctuary is nominally a part of Memorial Park, but is adjacent to Bayou Bend, the former Ima Hogg estate.
Abc13’s Miya Shay comments:
there are about a dozen homes whose own lawn shares a border line with the sanctuary. One of the women who actually lives there is complaining her some of her neighbors are mowing the grass, and putting up a hammock in what is technically city property. Instead of respecting land deeded by the Hogg Foundation, the neighbors are using the land as their own property.. for free.. forget the birds. As you can imagine, some folks are not so happy about it.. and demanding that the Parks department do a little more than just send angry letters and putting up “do not mow” signs….
Shay reports that City Council wants to get to the bottom of it . . . and maybe store some construction equipment in the sanctuary too!
- Birds vs. big houses: the sanctuary question [Houston Political Blog]
- Development takes toll on Houston bird sanctuaries [KHOU]
- Protecting the Sanctuary [abc13]
Where, where is the town? Now, it’s nothing but flowers.
From a proposed amendment to the Houston’s development ordinance:
A plat restriction limiting the use to residential or single-family may be amended to permit the use of that property only for landscape, parks, recreation, drainage or open space.
I thought that we’d start over
But I guess I was wrong
- Proposed amendments to Chapter 42, the City’s land development ordinance (Microsoft Word Document) [Planning & Development Department]
Lyrics: Talking Heads
Lou Minatti asks the $54 million question:
Why is Discovery Green a sea of brands? Waste Management, Inc. Gardens? OK, I understand the revenue issue. Are these naming rights perpetual?
Dunno about the perpetual part, but the list of brand and donor names on the new 12-acre Downtown park’s many features does go on and on! A few of our favorites: The Kinder Large Dog Run, the Martin Family Scent Garden, and the Marathon Oil Bike Racks.
Fortunately, Houstonian Kim Borja didn’t have to pay anything to choose the park’s name — he won the naming contest:
The response was overwhelming: more than 6,200 entries were submitted, and a theme soon emerged. Houstonians wanted a name that was distinctive and unusual, including elements that mirrored Houston itself. Words such as “surprising,” “unexpected” and “vital” were reoccurring.
If this place had ended up with a name like “Unexpected Gardens,” we’d all probably want there to be a serious donation behind it.
After the jump: that long list of Discovery Green’s branded park parts — plus: a few yet-unbranded park features may still be available!
