COMMENT OF THE DAY: APARTMENT COMPLEX SEO “It’s not just for marketing. Some naming is also for search engine optimization. If someone is searching for an apartment in a specific area, apartments are naming themselves to come up in as many area searches as possible. So Alexan Heights becomes Midtown Heights so a web search will pick it up when someone types in “Midtown†or “Heights†and “apartments†in Houston.” [Heights Weirdo, commenting on Top City Development Officer: What Makes the Heights So Special?]
Sign up for the Newsletter
HOW FAR FROM HOUSTON? David Streitfeld tracks down the foreclosure on a $75,000 Denmark, Maine, house that sparked the recent robo-signing crisis: “Mr. Cox realized almost immediately that Mrs. Bradbury’s foreclosure file did not look right. The documents from the lender, GMAC Mortgage, were approved by an employee whose title was ‘limited signing officer,’ an indication to the lawyer that his knowledge of the case was effectively nonexistent. . . . Fannie Mae and GMAC, which serviced the loan for Fannie, have now most likely spent more to dislodge Mrs. Bradbury than her house is worth. Yet for all their efforts, they are not only losing this case, but also potentially laying the groundwork for foreclosure challenges nationwide.” [NY Times; previously on Swamplot]
Welcome home to Park Memorial! More than 2 years after city officials ordered the entire Memorial Dr. complex evacuated, the coast may now be clear for owners of the Park Memorial Condominiums to move back into their homes! Except, umm . . . some of those sheet-rock, copper-wiring, and AC-unit removal operations that have been going on in the meantime on the locked and officially empty grounds might make moving back in a little rough. 11 News’s Gabe Gutierrez reports that a Harris County district judge has ruled that the city’s order to vacate the property violated the state’s due process rules because there was no prior notice or hearing, and that there was “no evidence that there was any emergency or immediate danger that justified” requiring the residents to leave without one. The city plans to appeal the ruling.
A few pix from around town, in our occasional photo feature: First, a reader sends in this view of the curious paint job now in progress on the original Ruggles Grill on Lower Westheimer.
Next, we discover the just-opened new home of I-10 refugee Las Alamedas, on the simulated Main Street of Katy’s LaCenterra shopping center in Cinco Ranch:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FREE ENTERPRISE CITY “And can we stop repeating the myth that Houston is some big unzoned city of freedom? Houston has a ton of ordinances regarding building forms and how property is used, from parking requirements that are stricter than most cities, to rules about setbacks, weirdly random designations of areas as ‘suburban’ and ‘urban’ with accompanying rules, rules about the sizes of townhouses, and so on. People love to say that we’re some kind of mecca of affordable housing because we have ‘no zoning.’ It’s nonsense. We have affordable housing because we have no natural boundaries preventing expansion and therefore have spread out more than most cities, and because we subsidize the building of big roads to make it easier to get to remote places. . . .” [John (yet another), commenting on Preservation Ordinance Passes]
The president of a local real estate organization is hoping Swamplot readers can help her put together a slide show illustrating changes that have taken place over the years to the Washington Ave streetscape. How many of you have access to really old photos of Washington Ave? Well, you probably don’t have to go back too far to find images of a street that looked rather different than it does today. Send your old images — and please include captions and credit info — to the Swamplot tipline, and we’ll forward them to CCIM Houston/Gulf Coast‘s Ann-Marie Daleo, for inclusion in that organizations’ Washington Corridor Overview and Networking Event on November 4th. Daleo promises she’ll post the presentation online after the event, for anyone to download. And if any good before-and-after views come out of it we’ll post them here as well.
- Houston/Gulf Coast CCIM
- Washington Corridor coverage [Swamplot]
- Previously on Swamplot: Streamline Appeal: Knapp Chevrolet Is Not Going Away, GM Wants To Take Away Knapp
Photos: Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library (top) and GHPA (bottom)
TOP CITY DEVELOPMENT OFFICER: WHAT MAKES THE HEIGHTS SO SPECIAL? Where does Andy Icken get this kind of attitude, anyway? From . . . uh, reading some of the reader comments on Swamplot? The Chronicle‘s Mike Morris rummages through that stash of city emails about the West End Walmart and discovers “dismissive, and sometimes derisive, references to citizens opposed to the development” from Mayor Parker’s top development honcho: “For example, in response to a subordinate’s e-mail regarding potential fallout from a July 2 Chronicle report about Wal-Mart’s interest in the site, the city’s chief development officer, Andy Icken, wrote, ‘In that neighborhood I assume there are some who feel they have access to unique info that makes those folks uniquely qualified to decide what is good for everyone else. … Walmart deals with folks like this everywhere.’ Three weeks later, as neighborhood opposition intensified, Icken responded to a colleague’s comment about Wal-Mart’s growth in the Houston market by writing, ‘We have had 4 new ones built in the last 2 years without a community comment until they touched the effete in the heights!’” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
A small flurry of last-minute amendments — some of them apparently pushed at the request of builder and Realtor groups — means it may take a little time for everyone to sort out all the details of those changes to the preservation ordinance city council passed earlier today. But here are a few highlights, as we’ve pieced them together: Creating a new historic district will now require the approval of owners of 67 percent of all tracts in the district. Also, decisions by the archaeological and historical commission (the HAHC) will now have more teeth: Property owners whose plans for renovations, new construction, or demolition have been rejected will no longer be able simply to wait 90 days and proceed anyway. However, HAHC rulings can now be appealed to the planning commission, and if that doesn’t work, to city council as well.
But the ordinance’s most exciting feature is the one-time opportunity for all existing historic districts — except for the Old Sixth Ward and Main St./Market Square — to remove the shackles of . . . uh, history. All it’ll take to start the repeal process in one of those districts is signatures of owners of 10 percent of the tracts. (And once the city posts the new petitions, districts will have 30 days to gather them.) For each district where that threshold is reached, there’ll be public meetings and a vote — by mail-in ballot. If owners of 51 percent of the tracts in a district vote for repeal, the planning director will recommend to city council that that district’s historic designation be removed — or that the boundaries be shrunk and redrawn to maintain 67 percent support. For each district, city council will make a final decision.
- Previously on Swamplot: Preservation Ordinance Passes
Here’s a tailgater’s-eye-view of the former Heights Camphouse BBQ at 2820 White Oak, about to be reborn as the third location of Christian’s Tailgate Bar and Grill. The Heights Life blog posted a closeup view of the TABC notice posted on the front door earlier this week. Onion Creek Coffee House is less than 100 yards to the west.
- I can hardly contain myself [Heights Life]
- Previously on Swamplot: Wet and Wild: Strip Redo on White Oak
Photo: Aaron Carpenter
COMMENT OF THE DAY: AND WHAT ARE THE STATS ON GALVESTON COUNTY’S STRIP CENTER OUTPUT? “If you look at production data, Galveston County is currently producing around 30000 BOE (barrel of oil equivilent) per month on over 20 wells. One of the fields that is producing is less than 1000ft off 45 just south of [Kemah]. Depth of producing interval is around 4000ft. I have a hard time believing that moving a rig out there for about the 3 weeks it takes to drill a well to 3000ft, set casing, and complete it to a producing well, would be any worse than having some tacky strip mall taking 6 months to construct.” [Mr. Hand, commenting on League City’s Neighborhood Drilling Boom]
Next establishment moving into the restaurant testing ground known as 1511 Shepherd, according to a tipster: pidgin-Spanish promoters Lupe Tortilla. Shuck Daddy’s, which replaced Mak Chin’s just last year in the Cottage Grove location between Maxie and Eigel, closed up its oysters last month. Before that, yes, the building was home to fine-dining-establishment Richard Head’s.
- Previously on Swamplot: Aw, Shucks
Photo: Fred Eats Houston
That’s 3-and-a-half levels of parking artfully hidden behind the extended forehead of the new Galleria Whole Foods Market in this latest rendering being waved by the developers of Blvd Place. Also obfuscated: your view of that little mustache of strip-mall-valet-style parking in front, behind those hedges facing Post Oak. But most Whole Foods shoppers will be parking in a separate 300-car underground garage, and will feed into the store on a moving sidewalk. The parking levels above are meant to serve an additional 140,000 sq. ft. of retail, restaurants, and office space Wulfe and Co. is hoping to fill in this portion of its scaled-down redevelopment project. But so far no leases have been signed, reports the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff.
This Whole Foods has now been marked back up to 48,500 sq. ft. — about 25 percent larger than the chain’s Kirby location, but down from the 78,000 sq. ft. originally announced 4 years ago. The latest construction start date: next summer.
- Plan for new Whole Foods takes shape [Houston Chronicle]
- Blvd Place coverage [Swamplot]
- Previously on Swamplot: Taking a Bite out of Whole Foods, Whole Foods Galleria and North Montrose: Still on Track, Galleria Whole Foods Parking Puzzle Solved, The Sleek Strip, the Ritz Tower, and the Path to Whole Foods: A Closer Look at Boulevard Place, Uptown Whole Foods: Still on Track, Apparently, Is Whole Foods Coming to Boulevard Place . . . or Not?
Rendering: Wulfe & Co.
PRESERVATION ORDINANCE PASSES Houston’s City Council has just voted to approve a new — amended — historic preservation ordinance. We’ll have more details shortly. “We know there are none of you out there that are absolutely happy,” said council member Sue Lovell after the vote. “That means we have a good ordinance.”