COMMENT OF THE DAY: CUE THE WILSHIRE VILLAGE SALE AND REDEVELOPMENT RUMORS “I heard (not joking) that KB homes (I think, or another home builder) was looking at this site for a new style of very small and relatively inexpensive 1,000 sf-ish single family hyomes on very small lots. The [target] pricepoint was about $150k I believe.” [Charlie, commenting on Boyd’s Wilshire Village Prayer, with Photos]
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Redevelopment
From Robert Boyd’s blog, Wha’ Happen?:
Wilshire Village is officially no more. . . .
I am interested in what happens next. Certainly something new will be built there, but in today’s economic environment, getting loans for development is hard. So it may sit for a while. But I will be watching and taking photos whenever I notice a change in status.
Here’s what I hope. I hope that the new development there, whatever it is, is a reasonably high density development, like the one it replaces. I hope that the new development preserves the beautiful trees on the site.
I hope the new development is people-oriented and community-oriented. I hope that it engages the street and is pedestrian-friendly. I hope that it is architecturally interesting. I hope it has no fake stucco, no faux-Tuscan features. I hope it has no turrets or oversized, penis-shaped entryways. I hope it doesn’t have big garages that face the streets.
REDEVELOPMENT BRAWL AT THE SHARPSTOWN MALL Developer and former Sugar Land mayor David Wallace now says his firm’s $350 million proposal to redevelop the Sharpstown Mall — approved in early July by the Southwest Houston TIRZ over the objections of the mall’s owner and manager — isn’t likely to happen: “R.D. Tanner, a partner in the firm, resigned from the TIRZ board the day his company [Wallace Bajjali Development Partners] submitted its vision for the mall. The board voted to support his firm’s bid that same day. The board is tasked with overseeing the site’s redevelopment and distributing up to $20 million of public money to assist in that effort. The mall’s owner and manager — whose own redevelopment plan was rejected by the authority in May — filed suit last week, alleging that Tanner and the TIRZ board’s subsequent requests for information were “a subterfuge†to obtain “confidential, proprietary information†they could use to make their own bid. The allegations highlight a widespread problem in Houston: that developers on TIRZ boards are often able to make decisions about tax abatements — and the use of public dollars for economic development — that ultimately benefit themselves or their projects, according to Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, an advocacy organization that promotes openness and accountability in government.” [Houston Chronicle]
Right on time for tonight’s public meeting, Swamplot’s “Bottom” of the Fifth Ward correspondent Vaughn Mueller sends in a bit of information about the proposed redevelopment of the Houston Housing Authority’s Kennedy Place apartments:
It is located in lower fifth ward, bounded by Bayou, Gillespie, Meadow and Baron streets. According to the HHA, it was built in 1982 but in its current condition, it looks reminiscent of a 1950-1960 1-story development. There is currently no central AC or heat in any of its 60 units.
In mid July a sign was put up out front describing the construction. Soon after, we received a notice of public meeting in the mail also describing the construction. The meeting is set for August 18th. The new development will contain 108 new apartments, 88 of which are going to be government assisted while 20 are going to be market rate.
The proposed site plan:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: GRADING THE REPLACEMENTS “I’d love to see any examples you can provide of [lovely architecture] being replaced by a poorly built McMansion. For every one you might find, I can show you a thousand where a tiny, usless, worn out, obsolete, shack was town down and replaced with one or more new, modern, luxurious, atractive homes. Are they all perfect? Certainly not. But I think the transformation that has occurred in the Inner Loop over the past 25 years is nothing short of amazing. I only hope [it] can continue for another 25 years. Better homes inside the Loop. Better apartments inside the Loop. More people inside the Loop. More money inside the Loop. More shopping inside the Loop. More restaurants inside the Loop. More jobs inside the Loop. More density. More energy. More everything.” [Bernard, commenting on Comment of the Day: What Happens To Those Small, Stylin’ Inner-Loop Homes?]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE SMALL, STYLIN’ INNER-LOOP HOMES? “Gotta wonder how many of these homes will be standing a year from now. The danger in many in-loop neighborhoods is that one day you must face the fact that your home is a tear-down. I have a friend near Pershing Middle School in that situation. Plans on selling when the kids are grown, which is soon, but it makes every dollar for repairs and upkeep especially painful.” [finness, commenting on Small, Stylish, and Already Sold: Design-y Inner Loop Home Bargains You Missed]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: DON’T TEAR DOWN THAT RESTAURANT! “A restaurant is a pretty good highest and best use for land in the loop. Look at the projects involving buying a restaurant and knocking it down to build. Little Woodrow’s = Empty lot no activity. The State Grille = Empty lot no activity. Nit Noi in Rice Village = Empty lot no activity. Am i missing any?? . . . Did the Stables on S. Main become anything?” [JPSivco, commenting on Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye: Otto’s, Back from the Edge of the Market]
There may be a buyer for Galveston’s Flagship Hotel, reports Laura Elder in the Galveston County Daily News. The hotel suffered about $7 million in damage from Hurricane Ike last year. But Landry’s Restaurants, the current owner, has a fallback plan in case the sale doesn’t go through:
If the 225-room property at 25th Street and Seawall Boulevard doesn’t sell, Landry’s likely would demolish the hotel and develop a “pleasure pier†with amusement rides, officials say. . . .
Landry’s is pricing demolition for the hotel, built in 1965 as a show of confidence after Hurricane Carla, Jeff Cantwell, senior vice president for development, said.
Perched on a pier overlooking the Gulf, the Flagship fell into disrepair on its own after 1990, when The Flagship Hotel Ltd. took over management.
Landry’s paid the city $500,000 for the hotel in 2004, saying it planned to spend $15 million transforming the property into an entertainment plaza with amusement rides, including a roller coaster.
Landry’s attempted to move ahead, but was stymied by agreements that gave Daniel Yeh, head of The Flagship Hotel Ltd., control of the hotel until 2031.
THE NEW INNER LOOP TOWNHOME POSTER CHILD “Density hasn’t been kind to Cottage Grove, a small neighborhood with narrow streets, few sidewalks, poor drainage and scarce parking for the owners of its many new homes and their guests. Like many neighborhoods inside Loop 610, Cottage Grove in recent years has experienced a flurry of construction of large townhomes that loom over 80-year-old cottages next door. Two or three dwellings crowd sites where one house stood previously. Streets are cluttered with vehicles parked every which way. Water stands in the streets after heavy rains. ‘It was shocking to see this jewel of a neighborhood in this condition,’ said former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy, a senior fellow with the nonprofit Urban Land Institute who toured Cottage Grove two years ago. ‘It was about the ugliest thing I’d ever seen, to be honest with you.’†[Houston Chronicle]
Is this a view of a planned replacement for the Compass Bank building at 2200 Post Oak — a block north of the Galleria — that was imploded back in March? So claims Reverberation, a participant on the SkyscraperPage forum, who posted the image. Reverberation adds that the Redstone Companies is calling the project The Perennial, and that it’s “supposedly coming 2011.”
The 4-acre site is immediately north of the Centre at Post Oak shopping center. The street on the far left of the rendering appears to be Post Oak; that would put Guilford Ct. on the right. The project appears to include office, residential, and hotel components, along with at least one multi-story parking garage.
As a poster on HAIF points out, the domain name theperennial.com redirects to the Redstone Companies website. Records show the domain name has been registered to Redstone Companies since 2004. Redstone has not officially announced its plans for the website — or the site on Post Oak.
- Houston Development Thread II [SkyscraperPage]
- Perennial – Post Oak, Imploded Compass Bank Site [HAIF]
- This Time with Fair Warning: Galleria Bank Collapse [Swamplot]
- More Action on Post Oak: Goodbye, Compass [Swamplot]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: LITTLE HOUSES NOT FAR FROM PRAIRIE ST. “I did get a chuckle out of the statement that the problem with the old houses was that they were 900 square feet and thus there was ‘nothing to do’ but tear them down. I actually think there’s quite a market for 900 square foot living spaces located right near downtown. When they are condos or apartments, they’re quite popular, and there are quite a few houses that size in the Heights that continue to sell – and not as teardowns. It’s an ideal, efficient living space for a single person or a couple, and the existence of smaller houses creates housing options – so the entry price in a neighborhood isn’t higher than many can afford – and thus you get a healthy mix of residents, from young professionals in the smaller houses to families in the larger ones. Having small houses in the mix is really good for an urban neighborhood; the idea that they all have to go is kind of crazy.” [John, commenting on Withering Townhouses of the First Ward]
A First Ward resident wants the scoop on a nearby development that’s “really going to pasture” on the 1500 block of Bingham, just west of Houston Ave. and across from Brock Elementary.
It is a townhouse project that got started 1-2 years ago, was never finished, and is now becoming a huge eyesore (broken doors, windows, garage doors…they got as far as putting mesh siding but stopped short of actually getting the stucko on there).
I have lived in the first ward for about 2 years in a renovated bungalow. it makes me sick to see all these properties built on spec to make a quick buck that are becoming abandoned, and only after demolishing what was there in the first place.
A few more photos our reader sent in:
Jerry and Wynonne Hart are scheduled to be sentenced today for “misapplication of fiduciary property” in the operation of their auction business at the Hart Galleries. In return for the couple’s guilty plea, prosecutors dropped charges of theft and money laundering.
11 News reporter Dave Fehling spoke to several former Hart Galleries customers:
The auction house thrived for years. The Harts enjoyed a sterling reputation among the rich and not so rich who all trusted the Harts to sell their valuables. But around 2003, something strange began happening . . .
. . . the Harts auctioned furniture and antiques for John Zielinski and his wife.
They were expecting to get $20,000.
“And I said, ‘where’s our money?’ And they said, ‘we’re having difficulty collecting some of the checks,’†said Zielinski.
The next thing Harts’ customers learned was that the couple was bankrupt.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILSHIRE VILLAGE PAYMENT DUE “I forgot to mention that with regard to the loan Dilick took out to pay for taxes on the property four years ago, sources have reported that the bank set a deadline of early April 2009 for him to take steps toward paying back that loan. In demolishing the apartments and selling the land, Dilick would be able to pay back the loan and make a profit as well. . . . As to the comment, ‘This is private property. The owner should be able to do with it as he sees fit,’ the problem is that Jay Cohen, who inherited the property from his parents, still holds 80 percent ownership. Sadly, he was duped or forced by circumstance into signing over managing control to Dilick. . . .” [dredger, commenting on Comment of the Day: Grand Unified Wilshire Village Conspiracy Theory]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: GRAND UNIFIED WILSHIRE VILLAGE CONSPIRACY THEORY An “anonymous news reporter/non-resident” explains all the wacky goings-on at Wilshire Village — complete with a detailed timeline. Here’s an excerpt, but if you love real-estate soap operas, settle in with a snack and read the whole finger-pointing thing: “. . . The original owner, Jay H. Cohen, inherited the apartments and property from his parents, who had the apartments built in 1940. In November 2005, Matthew Dilick partnered with Cohen under a partnership called Alabama & Dunlavy, Ltd., taking out a loan to pay for taxes. Through this partnership, Dilick was able to obtain general partnership status to make management decisions, and his widely published plan all along has been to demolish the buildings and sell the land. Before the apartments could be demolished, they would have to be vacated. But the original owner Jay H. Cohen maintained majority ownership and wished to keep the buildings standing. Toward that goal, Cohen obtained two repair permits in January and February 2009 and set electricians to consistently making electrical repairs over the course of the next couple of months. . . . Questions: If the buildings were demolished and new condos were built, would the City of Houston stand to profit by the increased value of the land and therefore increased taxes? Was the City of Houston working in coordination with Alabama & Dunlavy, Ltd to cause the buildings to be vacated? Why were Cohen’s repair efforts disregarded by Alabama & Dunlavy, Ltd. and the City of Houston? Has everything been legit? . . .” [dredger, commenting on Wilshire Village Is Ready for Its Closeup]