The community garden at 803 Kipling St. in Audubon Place listed for sale earlier at the end of last month is set to be purchased by the City of Houston and turned into a neighborhood park, according to its owner. William Winkler tells Swamplot he and the city have settled on a price and he’s signed off on a letter of intent; he says he’s now waiting for a formal purchase contract. The 8,400-sq.-ft. lot at the southwest corner of Kipling and Stanford, known as Greenleaf Gardens since Winkler first built raised beds and leased them out in 2012, was previously the site of a 2-story home that burned in 2008. It’s still listed on MLS for $630,000.
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- Previously on Swamplot: Next Up for Shuttering Audubon Place Community Garden: New Historic Home Construction or Crowdfunded Nonprofit Buyout?; Leasing Garden Apartments on a Vacant Lot in Audubon Place
Photos: HAR
Greenleaf Gardens
Awwwww, some developer missed out on building a row of 4 story fake stucco boxes, boo hoo for them!
Way to go COH for making this happen!
@commensense said last week, “the community could technically pay for it but it will never happen. There’s no way in green thorny hell anyone will fork over enough cash to do this”
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So how does that crow taste?
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Not trying to pick a fight here, I just know eaten my fair share over the years. ?It’s not hazing, it’s just your turn?
I hope the City will consider something like this in the Heights at the site of the 7th and Yale and 7th and Height proposed development!
The community DID NOT come up with the money, City of Houston did, it’s easy to spend someone else’s money.
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So the 6 to 12 month COH land procurement process dance begins
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A question still remains, since it will be a Public Park, will they have to chase off the human cows and turn it into a dog poop box or do they have any precedent of continuing renting public land for private use?
@Ornlu
To be fair, he was teachnically talking about a civic association.
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The real credit goes to @Dream for this nugget.
“why can’t the city of houston buy it with the park money they have been getting from developers/builders? they were looking at a lot on lower westheimer for the same money?”
Wow…my first thought on this was echoed almost exactly by commonsense…I can’t believe it….moments like this renew my faith in finding common ground regarding any issue.
@commonsense. Seriously, why do you care? You live in Piney Point insulated from all of the horrors and riff raff of Houston.
Commonsense, you do realize there are literally millions of acres of governmental lands leased for private uses, right?
Since, I assume that you mean the leasing of the garden plots as “private uses”- yes the COH has a precedent at Richmond and Mandell a mile or less away from this proposed park. Leasing these small plots of land- offered publicly- offsets the taxpayer’s burden in maintaining the park.
I do care because we have a lot of properties in CoH proper and pay (in my opinion) an unreasonable amount in property taxes. I’m looking at City of Houston spending half a million dollars of tax money on a fraction of an acre where a half dozen vegiterrorists indulge in their silly hobby of eating vegetables bathed in car exhaust fumes, while Richmond is more pothole than street all the way from Beltway to Downtown.
Mandell Park rents plots for personal use, how do they work that out?
Veggieterrorists are the number 1 threat facing this country. When they screamed at the top of their lungs, “Artichoke Akbar!” before they detonate their fiber bomb on our digestive systems. I will never forget. United we stand against the evils of Lentil Law. Which mandates that children eat their broccoli, TO THE LAST BITE. I curse, you curse, we all curse against Asparagus.
Anon… Yeah, that seems right.. My first question was how they would handle renting the spaces. I guess current tenants would get first dibs then there would be some type of waiting list for anyone else. I wish there were more opportunities in the city to rent a small plot.
Commonsense…I’m not sure saying that they are ‘bathed in car exhaust fumes’ really does more than come off as inflammatory (which seems to be the point of most of your posts). The extra co2 in the air from the cars might actually give the plants a little boost in their growth rates. It would be interesting to research if the plants actually take up any pollutants from the air and transfer them to the edible parts. Of course, in some cases, this would be the case with the soil. It isn’t like we are using lead in gas anymore! Using a good soil and no pesticides might give you something much fresher, tastier and healthful than something from the san joaquin valley.
Ornlu?? Ornlu?? Beuller?
*crickets chirping*
The way I see it is developers have raped this city since day one and reaped profits at homeowner’s expense, so I could care less if the City finally does something to benefit homeowners for a change. And this comes from someone who would be considered a fiscal conservative.
Doesn’t the Mayor live near there?
@JT: “The way I see it is developers have raped this city since day one and reaped profits at homeowner’s expense…”
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Overheard Allen brothers conversation:
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John: So, here it is. Day one of Houston town! Let’s rape it at the expense of some homeowners.
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Augustus: Not so fast, there, brother of mine. There are no homeowners to rape as of yet. We’ll have to delay the raping for at least a few weeks while we sell some homes.
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John: Sigh. So be it. What shall we do until then?
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Augustus: I’ve a brilliant idea. Since we’re called “developers”, let us develop.
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John: Capital! First we develop, THEN we rape!
Dustan – I don’t know all the details of how it works at Mandell Park since I am only an interested observer and not an actual participant, but you are basically right. The original garden organizers got first dibs on spots, the rest were offered to whomever wanted them – I don’t think they had to do a lotto because there were enough for all takers. (In fact, I believe that there are still some available.) If the current lesee fails to maintain their small parcel then they forfeit their lease and it is offered to someone new, but I it hasn’t been a problem yet.
Bait and switch, or did the sale to CoH fall through?
http://www.har.com/803-kipling-st/sale_13379820
“NOW AVAILABLE.. Montrose – Audubon Place Historic District – Build TWO new construction single family homes on this beautiful 70 x 120 or 8400 square foot corner lot. 803 Kipling is currently being used as an organic community garden (fully fenced – fabulous garden shed – rainwater harvesting system & compost bins). No Deed Restrictions on this lot. Located in one of Houston’s most desirable and walk-able neighborhoods!”