- Bruce Molzan’s Brownstone Restaurant Reopening after Thanksgiving as 3 New Concepts [Eating Our Words]
- Second Liberty Kitchen Location Moving into Former Vida ‘Sexy Tex-Mex’ Space on San Felipe Next Year [29-95.com; previously on Swamplot]
- 2 Converted Warehouses Downtown Designated as Protected Landmarks [Prime Property]
- Quiet Doubling of Incentive Zone Area May Lure Developers Downtown [Houston Business Journal ($)]
- $86M Renovation of Mickey Leland Federal Building Irks Congressman Who Opposed Stimulus [abc13]
- Former Texans Punter Sues Reliant Stadium Over Injury on Grass Turf ‘Tray’ Seam [Houston Chronicle]
- Lawsuit Claims Dioxin-Contaminated San Jacinto River Making Neighbors Sick [Click2Houston]
- 90-Day Burn Ban in Effect for Brazoria County [Pearland Journal]
- Can Tourists Protect the Texas Gulf Coast from Storm Surges? [OffCite]
Photo of Shadowdale Dr. stormwater ditch: elnina999 via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Do the owners of buildings ask for the protected landmark designation or does the city just assign it?
RE: San Jac Dioxin pits.
While working for the Houston Post as a photog in the mid 80s, I had to suit up, with a ventilator, get on a boat and photograph those pits, so this shouldn’t be news to ANYONE in that vicinity. At the time all I could think about was: if I fall in can I sue someone?
miss_msry: I too have heard about the San Jacinto Dioxin pits for at least 30 years and don’t live anywhere remotely close and never have. For anyone to live right there and be unaware seems difficult to comprehend. Best of luck to those folks.
Bill B: There are potential tax benefits to the Protected Landmark designation, so the owner submits an application. Don’t worry, Houston is still a place where not much can be done to stop you from tearing down a beautiful and/or significant old building if you own the property. It’s even more difficult to force a property owner to maintain his property (e.g., Savoy Hotel).
Kevpat64:
Yep, even just driving by on I-10, you knew that soup pit was bad news.
While I work with Environmental Liabilities every day and know my way around the system, anyone can and should perform some level of due diligence. Certainly our commercial/industrial real estate folks here should be performing a Phase 1 for properties. You never know where an old gas station or dry cleaner could have been.
For Residential buyers, check out http://www.epa-echo.gov/echo/
http://www12.tceq.state.tx.us/crpub/index.cfm?fuseaction=regent.RNSearch
For both try searching by Zipcode to find sites around you.
You should also be asking your realtor and the selling agent about any known sites in the area. I’m no attorney, but failure to disclose can be a big deal, but if you don’t ask…
An hour of time before you buy can save you years of headaches (particularly if you have contamination issues).