A reader writes in to share the exciting news that one of those Northgate Custom Homes townhouses on Heights Blvd. that’s snuggled up next to the train tracks and just behind the recycling center on Center St. is now listed as “option pending” on MLS. Readers chose the complex as the city’s Best Vacancy in the Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate just a few months ago. Is someone buying right next to the tracks?
Well, not exactly. 114 Heights Blvd. Unit B, priced at $309,000, is the one that’s now listed as option pending. It’s shielded from those noisy trains by the full 20-or-so-ft. width of the adjacent townhome, Unit A. And here’s the featured view from one of its balconies:
“. . . My reason for staying away from those townhomes…Any one of those townhomes could be easily tweaked in the future to be 2 apartments. Pair that with the common driveways and you could easily have alot of people sharing a pretty small area.” [justguessin, commenting on Comment of the Day: Here Come the Almeda Promoters]
Here’s a real slice of Houston: A shiny new just-redone vintage 1975 townhouse with underground garage and glass elevator, tucked into the pride of this city in the 1970s: the hidden-away-in-the-middle-of-it-all Briar Hollow ’hood.
Any problem with heat gain through those giant west-facing windows? Not at all, because the 12-story office tower across the street acts as a convenient sunshade:
Over on Lovely Listing, readers are noting the resemblance of this shiny new yet-to-be-manufactured residence planned by On Point Custom Homes for 1517 Driscoll St. to a certain alcohol-guzzling teevee robot.
Both do feature state-of-the-art home automation systems.
The posting’s author begs:
Oh please oh please oh please someone buy this house and paint it silver and put your TV antenna on top please please please
Note: Story updated below. Stand by for . . . the turret!
One of the nicest things about Swamplot is that we all care about our neighbors! So when one reader sends in a photo of a unique garage-chimney configuration balanced carefully on a townhome near the corner of Ashland and 16th St. in the Heights, it’s only natural that others in our community will want to volunteer their talents and services to help the situation.
The problem: The obvious allures of lick-and-stick stone facing have left a Heights homebuilder with a street face that’s a little . . . attention-getting?
The solution: It’s nothing an architect can’t fix — with a fresh copy of Photoshop and a toolkit of contemporary design favorites! Here’s the completed rendering that was sent into us:
The purported owner of the Wilshire Village complex at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy, who managed to stay out of the media spotlight while the 69-year-old 8-acre complex was emptied and then torn down after a sequence of peculiarevents earlier this year, appears at the end of Nancy Sarnoff’s phone line to make a few pronouncements about the property.
First, that big Commerce Equities sign on the property that says “Available”? Well, here’s what it really means:
“We would consider an outright sale if the appropriate user was identified,” owner Matt Dilick of Commerce Equities said.
That’s right: Dilick might wanna do a little creatin’ there himself!
A reader accustomed to shaking his head when he drives along Greenbriar just north of Richmond informs us that the recently built “big, expensive monstrosity” for sale on that corner is now advertising its bank pedigree:
This long-on-the-market house/thingy now has large for-sale-by-bank sign slapped all over the very nice fence. This has all sort of ridiculous written over it: four car garages, pool, etc.
If a 7,976-sq.-ft. villa with 4-car garage for less than a million in that location sounds cheap, it’s because the building is actually 2 separate “townhomes” — each roughly half that size — with a “common element.” The $959K price tag is for the foreclosed unit at 2201 W. Main.
After a year-long run on MLS, that front unit is now listed as “pending continue to show.” Which in light of the ready-to-loan listing copy maybe isn’t so surprising:
FORECLOSURE!!BANK WILL FINANCE FOR 4.5% WITH 10% DOWN(BAD CREDIT OK)
“A lot of people would think twice with the townhome next door, I know I did. Cherryhurst is a nice area but has evidently let whatever deed restrictions it had slide. This will hurt prices there in the long run as older homes are replaced with townhomes. Apart from the aesthetic, which is subjective, great neighborhoods aren’t build round townhomes. It probably already has hurt this seller.” [sidegate, commenting on Swamplot Price Adjuster: Your Cherryhurst Neighbors]
A reader notes that a few of those new Villas at the Heights townhouses from Northgate Custom Homes, built “right on the railroad tracks on Heights Blvd, backing up to the recycling center” are now sporting new — and much lower — asking prices:
The most extreme price reduction on one went from $365k to $299k. There are now 5 units for sale with prices ranging from $289k to $309k. They are getting there, only another $40k to go before someone might actually look at them!
Front-row train-side Unit M — featured in Dave McC’s famous video below — seems to have taken a break from MLS, but it’s still listed on the Northgate website for just $299,900!
It’s tagger war! Always on the lookout for dramatic artistic expression, blogger Sean Carroll snaps photos of the custom balcony paint jobs on this set of unfinished townhomes not far from his home. The site: Eichwurzel Ln., just west of Lindale Park and steps from the I-45 feeder. Reports Carroll:
they’ve been tagged for about two or three months, the parking lot in front of the townhomes is a messy half-finished lot, and it looks like they never finished the buildings. no occupants. kids are sneaking in and tagging the hell out of the inside probably too…
A new development sign went up recently in Midtown. It’s a variance notice regarding a lot bounded by Chenevert, Anita, and Hamilton streets adjacent to Baldwin Park. The developers name on the variance notice (#53 on the July 9th variance meeting) published at Houston P&D is “Treemont Homes”. Interestingly, no such builder seems to exist either in the business directory or with an online presence. Tremont Homes, however, does exist and, I believe, was involved in the Tremont Towerfiasco a few years back in Montrose. I am currently trying to determine who “Treemont Homes” is and who the principals are and if this could be another mortgage fraud/shoddy building/screw the people type of project.
Any help you could offer is appreciated.
The variance request is for a 5-ft. setback along Hamilton St., the 59 feeder road — which typically requires 25 ft. Hamilton Court would consist of 20 single-family lots on an L-shaped 0.78-acre property. The item was deferred until the July 23rd planning commission meeting, on the request of the planning staff.
“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]
“. . . First Montrose Commons is not ‘ok’ with the plans to replace the homes with townhouses. But the fact remains that the homes were bought by a developer for the express purpose of building townhouses, and so townhouses will be built there no matter how much FMC kicks and screams. The only thing FMC acquiesced to was a variance request. The only effects of that variance will be to save a tree on the property and to preserve what little street parking we have around that corner. Townhouses would be built whether the variance passed or not. Furthermore, the two homes at issue would be outside the boundaries of the proposed historic district because there are too many non-historic, non-contributing properties on that side of the neighborhood to qualify for protection.” [Jason Ginsburg, commenting on Comment of the Day: On the Corner of West Main and Roseland]
“903 W. Main is a lovely Prairie style home in First Montrose Commons. The owner of it and the neighboring home 909 W. Main, an even grander Craftsman, will demolish both homes for replacement with eight townhouses (likely four story, given the density). But he’s saving the trees, so apparently the civic association is ok with the plans! First Montrose Commons is currently working on an application to become a city historic district. And these two homes contribute to that historic fabric.” [no history remains, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Rambam]
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Comment of the Day: Look Out for Those Tweaked Townhomes!
“. . . My reason for staying away from those townhomes…Any one of those townhomes could be easily tweaked in the future to be 2 apartments. Pair that with the common driveways and you could easily have alot of people sharing a pretty small area.” [justguessin, commenting on Comment of the Day: Here Come the Almeda Promoters]