- 4132 Lehigh Ave. [HAR]
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U.S. GOVERNMENT WILL TRY TO TRACK ANONYMOUS CASH REAL ESTATE BUYERS Meanwhile, in Manhattan and Miami: The U.S. Treasury Department announced an upcoming trial run for keeping tabs on the identities of “luxury real estate” buyers in 2 high-volume markets, citing concerns that cash purchases by anonymous shell corporations are being used to safeguard ill-gotten assets. From March through August, title insurance companies in Manhattan will be required to identify and report the buyers of any property priced above $3 million; in Miami-Dade County, the threshold will be $1 million. The Department says that permanent nationwide reporting requirements could be developed if many sales involving suspicious money are uncovered during the trial period. [New York Times]
Now pending: the sale of the First Church of Christ the Scientist at 1720 Main St., north of Jefferson St. The 1961 structure, designed by Texas architect Milton Foy Martin, was listed for $2.25 million; the listing caught the attention of the Houston chapter of the American Institute of Architects, who had hoped to buy the building and move into it.
The organization made an offer, and even got Mayor Annise Parker to write a letter to the Church’s congregation in early December — Parker’s letter asked the Church to consider selling the building to AIA for the sake of historical preservation, citing fears that “any other purchaser would tear the building down.”
AIA was apparently outbid, however, by a cash buyer asking for no due diligence period. The sale is currently listed as pending on HAR. More detailed photos of the inside and out below, including that golden spire and turquoise tile:
It’s Blue Inside
The wild Woodlands house whose every corner popped with color and faux-finish texture has been tamed. The property, which was relisted last week with stunningly neutral photos, hit the market again in June of last year at $1,650,000; the price has since been lowered 3 times, most recently to $1,275,000.
The house sold previously in 2009 for a smidge below 1.3 million, and sold again in 2014 for $1,215,000 after more than 3 years on and off the market, still dressed in technicolor. The old listings have been removed, though internet traces remain. Check out some before-and-after comparisons below:
Back to Basics
As of rush hour yesterday, a reader tells Swamplot, the Downtown Aquarium’s Ferris wheel at 410 Bagby St. was missing something — namely, the whole wheel bit. Workers were observed dismantling the spokes earlier in the day at the freeway-side restaurant-tainment complex. According to the restaurant’s website, the wheel is out for winter maintenance and won’t be spinning again until March 1st.
From Memorial Dr. headed west under I-45, here’s an evening snapshot of the newly unemployed support posts:
Bagby at Buffalo Bayou
- Galveston County Commissioners Approve Use of Eminent Domain To Acquire 16 Acres Around Rollover Pass [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Weingarten Realty Picks Up Pier One Property at 1935 West Gray for River Oaks Shopping Center Expansion [Houston Chronicle]
- Walmart To Cut 440 Jobs When It Closes Willowbrook Mall Super Center, Neighborhood Market at 2740 Gessner Rd. [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- Houston Building Owners Expected To Start Cutting Rental Rates Soon Amid Oil Downturn [Realty News Report]
- Homebuilders Offering Discounts, Others Buying Fewer Lots in Slower Housing Market [Houston Chronicle]
- City Launches Website Where Uses Can Track Progress of Reported Potholes [Houston Public Media]
- Slideshow: The Streets with the Most Pothole Reports [Houston Chronicle]
- Groups Call To Designate 2-Mile Tree-Lined Stretch in the Heights the Yale Green Corridor [Houston Chronicle]
- Petition Opposing Houston’s Switch to LED Streetlights Has More Than 400 Signatures [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of the Med Center: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
A sneak peek on the set of this reality demolition program.
- 14939 Cullen Blvd. [HAR]
The encampment under Louisiana St. (shown above) was dismantled earlier today; a reader sends both now-you-see-it and now-you-don’t shots. The camp was previously tucked above the south bank of Buffalo Bayou, about halfway between Sesquicentennial Park and Allen’s Landing.
The removal appears to have been carried out by workers for Houston First, responsible for maintenance of public venues such as Miller Outdoor Theater and the George R. Brown Convention Center, along with a list of downtown parks that includes Sesquicentennial and the Sabine Promenade. Houston First also works on marketing and branding for the venues (and more generally for “the Houston product”) in partnership with the Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Here’s what the spot looked like after today’s clear-out:
Gone Downtown
COMMENT OF THE DAY: KICK BACK, RELAX, AND ENJOY THE BUST 
“Downturn or not, Houston was so lacking in new development, ALL of what is getting built needed to be built . . . we were sooooooo far behind. The building boom allowed Houston to catch up to where it should have been — so these other delays/cancels are good for now. The pent-up demand will fill up what’s already in the works, and the delays/cancels can get after it at another time. What Houston has developed in the last several years has transformed the city, for the better. During the slowdown, we can catch our breathe and savor/enjoy the successes of the recent boom, and regroup and prepare for the next great haul.” [TXT, commenting on The University of Texas ‘Invasion’; Houston’s Hottest Neighborhoods] Illustration: Lulu
The deal is sealed on the University of Texas’s purchase of a 100-acre hunk of land south of South Main St. as of last Friday. The sale marks the first concrete move toward UT’s planned Houston campus, though closings on the parcel patchwork comprising the rest of the 300-ish ac. likely won’t wrap up until early 2017, according to a press release from the school’s Office of Public Affairs.
The sold land is a forested tract northwest of the wiggly intersection of Willowbend Dr. and Buffalo Spdwy.; the property is split along a northwest-southeast diagonal by a linear drainage feature which makes an appearance in those preliminary campus designs (shown from the north in the image above).
That land was owned previously by Buffalo Lakes Ltd., an entity associated with UT grad John Kirksey of Kirksey Architecture. A plan for a Buffalo Lakes master-planned community (see below) was drawn up more than 4 years ago by Kirksey for the same space:
South Main Master Plans
Today Swamplot’s Sponsor of the Day is Judy Thompson, Exclusively a Buyer’s Agent. Thanks for supporting this site!
Judy Thompson has operated the West U Real Estate website since 2003. Among the data sets regularly updated there: 1-year and 10-year price-appreciation calculations for several popular neighborhoods. The latest numbers show Westbury as the winner in both categories.
Sales in other popular neighborhoods, Thompson notes, trailed off after summer; only 3 had double-digit appreciation rates for the year: Westbury, Montrose/Upper Kirby (meaning the portions of 77098 north of 59), and West U.
A portion of the latest stats is reproduced in the screenshot above; you can see the rest of the rankings on this page. Thompson also maintains color-coded charts to indicate whether the market favors buyers, sellers, or neither in each tracked neighborhood. If you’re tracking real estate values in any of the covered areas — or just trying to come up to speed on historical conditions — her site is a helpful resource.
Got some appreciation you’d like to show Swamplot readers? Talk to us about becoming a Sponsor of the Day.
Sponsor of the Day
A GLIMPSE OF THE HIDDEN PECAN AT 509 LOUISIANA ST., NOW THAT THE BUILDING IS OUT OF THE WAY 
While much of the 1906 structure that formerly stood at 509 Louisiana St. was still on site as of early afternoon yesterday, the pieces had mostly been rearranged. A couple of excavators can be seen picking them over in this shot sent in by a reader. The once-secret pecan tree is also hanging out in the open as it waits for the axe — look for the branches peeking out around the corner of the Calpine Center parking garage entrance, on the left edge of the shot. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Jack Miller via Swamplot inbox
- Johnson Development To Build 2,500-Home Community Veranda on 590 Acres in Fort Bend County [Houston Chronicle]
- Midtown Development Awaits Approval To Sit Closer To Brazos, Smith and Elgin Than Normally Allowed [Houston Chronicle]
- The Port of Houston’s Low 3.4% Submarket Vacancy Rate a ‘Completely New Phenomenon’ [HBJ]
- Houston Home Sellers Slashing Prices, Offering Incentives as Oil Slump Hits Market [Wall Street Journal]
- Fresh Off Opening 500 Crawford Downtown, Developer Marvy Finger Prepares for a Slowdown [Houston Chronicle]
- ‘Filthiest Home in Houston’ in Champions Area Under Contract, Has 12 Back-Up Offers [abc13]
- Chapman & Kirby Gastropub Planned for EaDo Mixed-Use Project East Village [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- The Halal Guys Restaurant Chain Opening First Houston Location on January 30 at 3821 Farnham [Culturemap]
- What Ever Happened to Houston’s ‘One Bin For All’ Program? [Houston Public Media; previously on Swamplot]
- Unidentified Smell Has Been Bothering Richmond Residents for at Least a Month and a Half Now [abc13]
- Slideshow: Inside Houston’s Abandoned Places [Houston Chronicle]
Photo: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
No demo permits issued on Martin Luther King Day – check back tomorrow for a fresh list of elements.