FIRST THEY’LL NEED TO CLEAR OUT ALL THAT VEGETATION THAT’S IN THE WAY Nancy Sarnoff hears word that the owners of the 100-year-old Teas Nursery at 4400 Bellaire Blvd. near Newcastle are hoping to sell off the property for single-family homes: “The Bellaire business will be relocated, sold or liquidated, according to Tom Teas, president and manager of the landscaping division. Plans are for the nursery company to redevelop the five acres of land itself and then sell lots to builders. The project will start in January.” [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]
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I grew up going to this nursery with my grandparents almost once a month; plainly put–this sucks.
The worst part about this is that the Teas Nursery corner is the best looking block on that street for miles…
Oh… I was sad when they sold off the back property to make way for homes a few years ago… That is one of my favorite places in the area. Any guesses what the land will go for per square foot?
Sounds like déja vu all over again. I seem to recall that they had a contract on their land some years back, so they packed up the plants and relocated to Beechnut and Frankway, only to have the deal fall through, for some reason. They quickly shut down the new location and moved back to the old homestead.
so. totally. inevitable.
Hilly, pretty Teaswood, near Lake Conroe, was a Teas nursery years ago. Today, its crepe myrtles are lovely, and famous…
Hopefully the Bellaire site will also retain some of the plant-stock, which may ‘volunteer’ progeny on into the future!
The Developer’s sales/marketing dept. needs to impress this potential on their home-buyers.
No doubt the new development will be called Tuscany Terrace. I wonder if any of these builders who have inundated this section of Bellaire with their “Tuscany” homes have ever been to Tuscany? The style is more like Tuscany collides with Mediterranean Mish-Mash with a touch of French Farmhouse thrown in for good measure. Something for everyone. None of whom have probably been outside of Texas and wouldn’t know Tuscany from Tudor.
This news breaks my heart. I always felt proud of Tea’s in some distant way, recognizing that one person or one family could make such a lasting mark on a city and its landscape, and that the passion could continue to be a resource to the community after so many years. We aren’t allowed much history or legacy in Houston, and I feel old before my time, driving by places that are no longer here, already saying my “remember when’s.” Add this one to the list.
This is terrible news. Teas Nursery was always such a neat place, and they carried very good quality merchandise. However, I’m sure they are paying quite a bit in property taxes each year. It would be nice if the new development incorporates some of the existing landscaping and the historic homes on the property, but I’m not holding my breath.
Like when Kaplan’s Ben Hur closed in the Heights a few years ago, all I can say is – I hope the family got a big whopping bundle of money and happy trails to them.
The sad reality is that the nurseries had to compete with the “garden centers” and really couldn’t. I never understood the “cheaper is better” attitude with regard to the spring ritual. But some would rather pay $10 for an azalea than $20 even if they had to replace the azalea during the fall ritual.
Nurserymen have bills to pay just like the rest of us. Teas Nursery was not a non-profit organization. It was a business that slowly went out of business.
I doubt declining sales had anything to do with it, Matt M. There have been giant garden centers and Home Depots in this city for at least 25 years. More likely they simply did the math. Five acres is how many lots? At how much per? Who among us could walk away from all those millions.
Somebody who knows this stuff in that area – help me out.
I’m making a very rough guess of 6 lots per acre * $500K/lot * 5 acres = $15 million for the dirt. That’s probably on the low side for the per-lot value, maybe on the high side for lots/acre, but estimating about a 60 x 125 lot, it’s probably somewhere in the ballpark.