11/03/08 12:23pm

Mobile Above Stairwell at 503 Fargo St., Houston

This dramatically hung mobile above the entry and stairwell of the house for sale at 503 Fargo St. in Montrose certainly captures your attention!

But that’s not why reader Kelley Owen alerted Swamplot to the listing. She noticed some artwork hung much lower on the wall in the Master Bedroom . . . and calls it “possibly NSFW.”

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

10/21/08 9:35am

Kung-Fu Panda, Po, at 8601 Westview, Cedarwood, Spring Valley, Houston

For a good 3 weeks, this Kung Fu Panda stood guard over the front yard of a Spring Valley redo at the corner of Westview and Bingle, a reader reports. Since the hurricane, Po has relocated to the back yard. But he’s still visible from the street!

Maybe he’ll attract buyers! Some pix of the interior Po cleared out with his mad Kung Fu skillz:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

10/17/08 10:41am

JPMorgan Chase Bank Building, 5177 Richmond Dr. at Sage, HoustonThe HBJ’s Allison Wollam reports that the Westgate Houston Preview Gallery, a large timeshare sales center in the JPMorgan Chase bank building on Richmond at Sage, has closed:

The gallery, located at 5177 Richmond Ave., offered a full-size model with a living room and kitchen styled after Central Florida Investments’ timeshare properties.

The Houston location, which opened in 2004, was the first offsite sales center for Orlando-based Central Florida Investments. The company owns Westgate Resorts, which operated the preview gallery.

Almost 3 weeks ago, CFI founder and CEO David Siegel told the Orlando Sentinel that financial troubles had recently begun at the company — with the suddenness of “a heart attack.”

Until that time, Siegel apparently thought he was doing pretty well.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

10/14/08 10:36am

Doll in Master Bedroom, 14543 Misty Meadows Ln., Memorial Club, Houston

And here’s a view of the spacious 16×12 . . . uh, Master Bedroom in the home at 14543 Misty Meadow Ln. in Memorial Club. Plenty of room for . . . anyone!

The 2-story townhouse has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. It’s been waiting patiently for you — on the market — since early May.

After the jump: There’s Bugs in the Den, too!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

09/12/08 3:02pm

HELPFUL HINTS FOR HURRICANE IKE HOME SELLERS A special notice on the HAR home page: “As Hurricane Ike advances toward the greater Houston area, the Houston Association of REALTORS® (HAR) urges homeowners to remove or secure all objects outside their homes that could become deadly projectiles in high winds. This should not be limited to patio furniture, barbeque grills and other large pieces, but include yard signs promoting home sales, contractor services, home security services and other messages.” Well sure, but won’t that make househunting a little difficult this weekend? [HAR]

09/09/08 10:37am

Flowers on the Dining Room Table, 6023 Rose St., Glen Cove, Houston

Lou Minatti finds a very lush garden in back of the house at 6023 Rose St. in Glen Cove, featured in this past weekend’s open house tour:

This house built in 1948 features a koi pond. I am not impressed with the interior staging, but I will say the outdoor landscaping is beautiful. In fact, the landscaping is the best part of of property. What the current owner has done outside is gorgeous. Go look at the gallery.

But what about the Dining Room?

Update: It just occurred to me. Do these people eat flowers for dinner?

09/09/08 9:03am

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Pf-c5jVm1g 400 330]

Pay no attention to that dying possum by the side of the road! Lou Minatti takes a bike ride through a neighborhood of new Royce and Centex homes in Katy and finds lots of building going on — and plenty of “sold” signs!!! But . . . is anybody actually living here? And uh, some of those signs look awfully familiar — from a ride through this same area back in May.

After the jump: some of the same scenes, 4 months ago!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

09/08/08 11:23am

Mirabeau B. Sales Center, 2410 Waugh, Hyde Park, Montrose, Houston

The new sales center for the Mirabeau B. is looking pre-fab! Now at the northwest corner of Hyde Park and Waugh: two 20-ft. recycled shipping containers, outfitted with a solar array on a digitally fabricated rack. The website for Metalab, the architecture firm in charge of the project, claims the solar panels will generate 180 kilowatt hours per month. What’s that figure converted to condo sales?

Oh, but selling condos is apparently only this structure’s day job for now:

Solar panels on the roof can fold shut at night or during bad weather, said Andrew Vrana from Metalab.

“We would like to further develop this as a solution,” he said. “People could have one of these made and put in their backyard and supplement their energy with solar power.”

Below: more pics!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

09/05/08 10:00am

Rendering of Mirabeau B. Condos, 2410 Waugh Dr., Hyde Park, Montrose, Houston

How could anyone hope to top the opening line of River Oaks Examiner reporter Kirsten Salyer’s story about the Mirabeau B. condos?

Pigs flew over Hyde Park as residents and developers came together to promote Houston’s first green condominium.

This full-priced condo building is slated for the former site of Half Price Books, at the corner of Hyde Park and Waugh in Montrose. The 4-story development will have 14 units, priced mostly from $400,000 to $600,000 — though one penthouse unit will go for a cool million.

If they can sell 6, developer Joey Romano tells Salyer, they’ll actually build it!

And here’s some of the promised greenishness: The Mirabeau B. will leave 5 large oak trees and a large open space on the site. There’ll be a green roof, a solar array to shade one of the walkways, and cisterns to capture runoff. Harvest Moon Development says it’ll use low-flow plumbing fixtures, low-E glass, and low-VOC paints. A single central heating-and-cooling system to save energy. Attention to natural light in each unit. An in-condo recycling area. And actual native plants!

Plus a few more things that go with the hoped-for LEED-Silver rating: 10 percent of all building materials will contain recycled content, and 20 percent will come from within 500 miles. Half of all construction waste will be recycled.

What’s the punchline? How about . . . the architecture firm is from Austin?

More images of the Mirabeau B. below!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

09/03/08 11:55am

Aerial View of Discovery Green and Discovery Tower, Downtown Houston

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?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

08/25/08 11:24am

Bathroom and Toilet, 15451 Bammel Fields Ct., Bammel Village, Houston, by Royce Builders

A few commenters on the Home Builder Implode-O-Meter website refer to a unique regular participant in Royce Builders sales meetings: a barking toilet seat.

What’s the story here? A Swamplot tipster explains the innovative sales-motivation tool . . . employed by recently released Houston Division head John Zunker:

If anyone else mentions the ‘rubbing of the toilet seat’, that is true by the way. Bizzarre riitual he drempt up- when the meeting was at a close, he has a toilet seat with his face painted on it. The employees would rub it while chanting… Royce, Royce, Royce. Has nothing to do with their financial problems, but thought it was bizarre.

Huh?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

08/20/08 3:06pm

Royce Builders Building, 7850 N. Sam Houston Pkwy. West, HoustonHow did that sales meeting go this morning at beleaguered Royce Builders? Just peachy, reports a reader:

John Speer was not in attendance, but Shawn and [Shonna Speer] were there. They will be running things. There are no project managers, only two construction managers, no VP of Sales, nothing. Corporate is down to 20 employees total. The sales staff was told not to listen to all the negative rumors, and most of the informaiton is all heresay and rumor. They were told they could sell from their assigned community and any other out there. Shawn assured them they would do their best to get the money form the banks when a home closed to pay the salesperson. (The HUD never shows commission due a salesperson, so I cannot imagine how they will get the salespeople paid.) He also addressed the question of Stewart [Title] not closing several deals in the past weeks due t new liens. Shawn again said that was rumor. He told them that was the case in only one closing, and it was for a $25.00 landscaper bill. That bill was also placed on the wrong home. (Yeah right!)

The salesperson I spoke with is currently looking for another job, as are everyone else I have either talked to or gotten word from. Why they would think that anoyone would give Royce a contract, and God forbid ernest money, is beyond me.

Meanwhile, over at the Houston Association of Realtors:

HAR discussed the Royce situation in their board meeting yesterday and decided to e-mail their Realtors. They basically informed the Realtors of the situation so they would not get caught in the middle of a huge problem.

Photo of Royce Builders offices at 7850 N. Sam Houston Pkwy. West: Stewart Title

08/13/08 10:25am

Den, 1317 Sue Barnett Dr., Garden Oaks, Houston

This home on Sue Barnett went on the market in early February for $410,000, but it’s only been downhill since. It’s been listed since July at $375K.

The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and claims 1,872 sq. ft. The lot, however, is more than 17,000 sq. ft. How many prospective buyers in Garden Oaks will be looking long or hard at the home’s 1950 Ranch pedigree — or the singular collection of dolls and figurines inside?

More pics of the Sue Barnett Doll Ranch, after the jump!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

08/06/08 2:46pm

Bridge over Railroad Tracks, First Ward North of Edwards St., Houston

It seems son-of-a-son-of-a-guv Paul Hobby wasn’t quite clear at first what to do with a huge industrial site he bought in the First Ward:

Over the years, Hobby says, there was interest in turning it into an indoor soccer facility. There was also talk of growing lettuce inside the large warehouse. But a year ago, Hobby came up with the idea to create a data center in the space.

But that’s just the start of it. The site is the former Budweiser distribution plant Silver Eagle Distributors left behind when it built its new bunker further west on Washington Ave. Hobby bought the First Ward facility quietly from Silver Eagle in 2004 and leased it back to the company for a while before it left. The site stretches along Edwards St. from Sawyer to Silver, a few blocks north of Washington.

Indoor farm . . . server farm . . . why not? The possibilities are endless! But then, there’s always . . . townhomes!

A row of eight to 10 townhomes are slated to be built along Edwards Street. And an undetermined number of units are being considered for the eastern-most part of the property.

Of course! But it gets better . . .

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

07/30/08 11:51am

2213 Wichita St., Third Ward, Houston

You are, no doubt, entirely accustomed to finding perfectly pleasant homes listed for sale on HAR . . . as teardowns. Usually, a listing broker won’t even pretend to show off the virtues of a targeted house, limiting photos to exterior shots and including such enticing wording as “sold for lot value only,” “as is,” and the always alluring “do not disturb tenants.”

Which is why John Whiteside, who writes the By the Bayou blog, is especially appreciative of the “chirpy optimism” expressed in the listing for 2213 Wichita St., a home dating from 1930 and perched by the side of 288 in Riverside Terrace, on the market since the end of March. Next to this quaint photo of what looks like a well-roasted garage apartment are these encouraging words:

Owner started renovations on the large house with garage apartment off the freeway. Lot almost 10,000 sq. ft. Pick up this gem, dust it off, add polish and it will shine.

Sadly, you’re a little late to see this house shining its absolute brightest.

Below: More photos from the listing — including interior shots . . . and outdoor furniture!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY