AND JUST IMAGINE HOW WELL THEY’D DO IF THERE WERE JOBS OR SHOPPING NEARBY! Discovery at Spring Trails, Land Tejas’s gated and solar-panel-badged community north of Spring, is selling well, says Lisa Gray: “. . . only a few weeks after Discovery put itself on the market, and without even a finished house that would-be buyers can tour, most of the lots ready for building have been optioned, and the developer is scrambling to make more available fast. In fact, Discovery is off to the fastest start of any development in the company’s 11-year history, and Land Tejas expects demand to pick up even more this fall. Already, propelled mostly by Google searches, 200 to 300 people a week are touring the neighborhood’s ‘Discovery Center.'” [Houston Chronicle]
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Maybe the East Downtown Management District should just Give Up on those other names.
- Houston, We Have Art [Current]
- Give Up
- East Downtown District Wants a New Name [Swamplot]
The Wabi Sabi House in Boulevard Oaks has sold, reports developer Carol Barden. And she says the buyer found his new home . . . by reading Swamplot.
The buyer apparently came across the Wabi Sabi while reading stories on this site about another Barden property: yes, that lonely Modern townhome on Stanford St. in Montrose designed by Francois de Menil that Barden was still trying to unload. Swamplot’s last report noticed that once-a-million dollar townhouse being offered for $749,000. Barden tells us that the Menil townhouse is now under contract. She won’t reveal any pricing details, but says that she “didn’t discount the price again.”
- Not Lived In Yet: The Wabi Sabi House [Swamplot]
- Inside the Wabi Sabi House [Swamplot]
- Menil Townhouse: Almost a Quarter Off [Swamplot]
- Menil Townhome Sales Looking for a Lift [Swamplot]
Photo of Wabi Sabi House: Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen
Mattress Mack’s home in Northgate Forest sold back in April for $815,000, reports Jennifer Dawson in the Houston Business Journal. That’s more than a 50 percent discount off the home’s original asking price.
The McIngvales’ 7-bedroom, 6,840-sq.-ft. home at 3002 Pine Lake Trail originally went on the market in May of 2007 for $1.75 million. Three months and a $250K price cut later, John Daugherty Realtors decided that marketing the pad as “The Home of Mattress Mack” might help. But it didn’t, apparently. The price cuts spiraled from there.
Jim and Linda McIngvale’s new home is a 2,000-sq.-ft. apartment on the grounds of their Westside Tennis Club on Wilcrest near Briar Forest, but that’s not necessarily a step down, says Dawson:
While the couple may have a lot less house, right outside the door is a resort-styled pool, family fitness center, lighted soccer field and one of the city’s largest yoga facilities.
- ‘Mattress Mack’ joins neighborhood club [Houston Business Journal]
- Westside Tennis and Fitness
- Previously in Swamplot: Mattress Mack: A Consistent Record of Slashing Prices, Mattress Mack Saves You Money, Mattress Mack Pad Available . . . Today!
Photo of 3002 Pine Lake Trail: HAR
The Dwell blog and a Dubai-based “ezine” named De51gn both feature long-awaited interior photos of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen‘s Wabi Sabi House on Bartlett St. near Greenbriar. Doesn’t look like the house has been staged too heavily, but . . . isn’t that the point of “imperfect beauty”?
Have a look around:
A post offering “a few notes of clarification” appears on the HAIF thread discussing the new sign on the property next to the Onion Creek Coffee House on White Oak:
a. The structure, as currently envisioned, will include first floor retail and parking, probably two floors of parking and six to seven floors of office/studio lease space. The top floor of the garage will be designed for an art gallery, or similar space, with the roof of the garage as outdoor terrace areas.
b. The project is in a very, very early design stage and will be a Class-A “green” structure with early 20th-century details. Equivalent-scaled structures might be the Lancaster downtown or The Plaza in Montrose.
c. Target tenants will be neighborhood small businesses and individuals currently doing business in homes, garages, guest rooms, etc…within walking or biking distance and not wanting a heavy commute routine.
d. Project is in commercial district and would only “border” the residential district of the Heights.
e. Since it is primarily an office building there are considerations for the parking to be utilized after-hours by the nighttime oriented buinesses nearby for off-street parking which would limit the intrusion of parking into residential areas.
f. This is the only information available at this time. Further postings will come in the near future.
Thank you for your interest.
- High Rise Apartments on White Oak? [HAIF]
- More on the Heights highrise [Off the Kuff]
- At Risk: New 14-Story Tower Drawn in the Heights [Swamplot]
Photo: HAIF user tmariar
This sign, posted near the corner of White Oak and Oxford in the Heights, has apparently stirred up concerns among a few area residents. And really, if causing a commotion was the goal, broker Ed Rizk couldn’t have picked a better location: the property is right next to the Onion Creek Coffee House.
Judging from the emails we’ve received, the project already has a name: It’s “another Ashby Highrise.” The latest from the sleuths on HAIF: Planning and Development says it hasn’t received any permit or subdivision application for the project.
- High Rise Apartments on White Oak? [HAIF]
- Rizk Properties
- Can’t Stop This: Southampton Pop-Up Tower [Swamplot]
Photo: HAIF user tmariar
Nancy Sarnoff reports that construction is about to begin on a new gated 52-townhouse development on South MacGregor, east of 288. The developer, Joseph Casimir of Cypresswood Capital, reports on the project’s website that the development
bears three distinctive yet integrated architectural flavors: Florentine, Venetian, and Romanesque, affording you a lifestyle of unparalleled comfort and understated sophistication.
The townhouse development is called The Modigliani, after an Italian artist who spent most of his adult life in Paris, and who died of TB at the age of 35, aggravated by persistent alcoholism and drug abuse.
The 4.3-acre site at 3028 S. MacGregor Way is next door to the University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center and across the street from Brays Bayou. Casimir bought it in 2006 for $4.6 million, then demolished the 1936 Wright Morrow estate on the property. The previous owner, the UT Health Science Center at Houston, had intended to build a mental health outpatient facility on the site, but put it up for sale after encountering vocal opposition from neighborhood residents and State Rep. Al Edwards.
Below: Elevations and a site plan!
New drawings and details appear of Discovery Tower, the 30-story office building now under construction at the northwest corner of Discovery Green Downtown.
The wind turbines at the top of the building are still there. The brochure also mentions solar panels on the south face of the building, a green roof on top of the entrance pavilion, 2 stories of retail, as well as some old Houston favorites: 2 floors of underground parking (151 cars), and a 10-story, 1,350-space parking garage one block north, connected by . . . . an air-conditioned (phew!) skybridge!
After the jump, more green-hot Downtown tower architectural rendering porn!
Those drawings some of you have seen of the new HEB shopping center coming to the corner of Buffalo Speedway and Bissonnet? Pay no attention to them, says the West University Examiner:
Rare sightings of renderings depicting the H-E-B grocery store development at Buffalo Speedway and Bissonnet Street are not an indication that construction is pending, a company spokeswoman said.
“Nothing is final,†said Cyndy Garza Roberts. “The real estate division is working with architects.†. . .
There is no start date and no project particulars to share, she added. . . . most tenants vacated the property in May.
Buffalo Grille and Buffalo Pharmacy, however, will remain in business at the site during construction.
Hey, if you’ve got a copy of these renderings, why not share them with Swamplot, so we can all ignore them together?
After the jump: An aerial view of the site!
A reader sends photos of some recent construction on the garage podium beneath the Cosmopolitan tower and asks:
What are those three giant urinals affixed to the east exterior wall of Randall Davis’ latest glass-clad erection, the one on Post Oak where James Coney Island used to be? . . .
Where is the Colossal Statue of Constantine when you need him? (Well, he’s in Rome, but that’s no help to Post Oak Boulevard!)
Sure, there’s the vaguely Roman theming going on with the marketing for Davis’s next tower across the street, the Titan. But these new constructions might be something much more contemporary . . . think Marcel Duchamp by way of Claes Oldenburg: The big fountains!
Below: the Colossal Head of Constantine . . . and the Colossal Heads of the Cosmopolitan, on display!
A reader has questions about the Cosmopolitan, Randall Davis’s tower-on-a-box on Post Oak:
What’s going on with this building? My wife and I looked at this last month as they were closing out and only had 2 units left, with the agent (surprise) saying they would be sold out shortly. Now there are 4 units on MLS. Are these from the builder or resales? There are only 80 units in the building–I wonder if some speculation is going on as I heard that Randall Davis offers sizable discounts to his employees, who bought several of the units at the Cosmo at a discount and are now trying to flip them. Is this Houston or Miami?
Hey, 4 units for sale out of 80 doesn’t sound too bad. On the other hand, it looks like one of the available units on MLS is, in fact, the Miami.
Cosmo buyers, readers . . . any comments?
- The Cosmopolitan Houston [Randall Davis Company]
- 1600 Post Oak Blvd. Unit 1001 [HAR]
Photo: HAR
The Wabi Sabi House is Carol Isaak Barden’s latest High Concept development. Tucked into a normal-sized lot between Greenbriar and Kirby just south of 59, the 3,700-sq.-ft. cedar-faced home is the first Texas residence designed by Seattle architects Olson Sundberg Kundig and Allen. It’s scheduled to be complete this month.
What’s the big idea? Explains Barden,
Generally, wabi means humble, and sabi refers to the imperfection that comes with time. Freely translated, it means something like “lived in.”
Alternate translation: Move over, feng shui. Wabi-sabi is the ancient Japanese idea behind the latest category of home-design looks and books.
After the jump: A view from the Wabi Sabi House’s huge roof deck. Plus: Barden’s checkered and gilded past!
A company called JAW Equity Management has bought 5 Houston apartment complexes and is making some changes, reports Globe St.:
The . . . portfolio consists of the 340-unit Westbrook Place Apartments at 7825 Corporate Dr., which has been renamed to The Lodge Apartments; the 294-unit Waterstone Apartments at 7502 Corporate Dr., which was renamed Waterfall Park Apartments; the 252-unit Greenridge Park at 1351 Greens Pkwy., which is now Live Oak Bend Apartments and the 155-unit Wayforest Glen Apartments at 17601 Wayforest Rd. which was renamed Courtyard Manor Apartments. The 224-unit Ashford Point Apartments at 3950 Ashburnham Dr. will operate under the same name.
Please update your address lists.
- JAW Equity Snags 1,265 Units [Globe St.]
- Previously in Swamplot: Apartment Complex Changes Hands; Tenants Endure Meaningless Name Change
A reader sends photos of the new Memorial Hills Apartments under construction just north of Memorial Drive and west of Jackson Hill at 3200 Scotland St., on the site of the old . . . Memorial Hills Apartments! The new apartments are being developed by Gables Residential, and were designed by Ziegler Cooper Architects.
The apartments will be 8 stories tall and face Cleveland Park directly to the south. The parking garage will be on the north side of the site.
Below: more reader photos of the construction site, plus pretty words and pictures from Ziegler Cooper!
