Recent Comments

77005, 77006, 77027, 77098, Galleria, Greenbriar, Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interior-Design, Interiors, Montrose, Southampton, Staging, Upper Kirby, West University

Comments

08/11/09 5:18pm

Comment of the Day: The Elusive Essence of River Oaks

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE ELUSIVE ESSENCE OF RIVER OAKS “What the hell is ‘A River Oaks style Tuscan beauty’? Can you just add a couple million to the sales price of a house by adding the words ‘River Oaks’ to the description? . . .” [Bernard, commenting on Swamplot Price Adjuster: Blue Bonnet Spread]

77019, 77027, Comments, Home Design, River Oaks, Theming

Interiors

08/11/09 4:52pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Hard Rock Bar

36 Comments

Think you’ve got what it takes to win a membership in the Rice Design Alliance?

Ordinarily, an individual membership only takes 45 bucks. But if you want to win one through Swamplot, you’ll have to guess the location of this home. Guess correctly, and you’ll be the newest RDA member!

If more than one of you guesses the correct neighborhood, the prize will be awarded to the player who provided the best explanation for the guess.

If you know this property already, or if you see the listing while the game is being played, don’t ruin the fun for everyone else by blurting out the answer. Instead, send Swamplot an email with a link to the listing. Then submit your own brilliantly argued incorrect guess. If you do this well, maybe throwing a few fellow players off the scent, you’ll earn special recognition when we announce the winner. And if nobody guesses the correct neighborhood, you could walk away with the prize!

Ready to play, players? Then dig these photos:

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game

1031 Exchanges

08/11/09 11:54am

Okun Gets 100 Years; How Many for the West Oaks Mall?

4 Comments

High-stakes real estate swindler Edward H. Okun was sentenced last week in a Virginia courtroom to 100 years in prison for absconding with about $126 million in funds entrusted to his qualified intermediary company by 1031 exchange investors. Meanwhile, back on the corner of Westheimer and Highway 6, one of his former properties went up for sale.

Okun’s Investment Properties of America bought the West Oaks Mall for $110 million in 2005. The sellers of the bankrupt property might expect to get $20 million for the million-sq.-ft. mall today, reports Globe St.‘s Amy Wolff Sorter:

The mall’s anchors include Dillard’s and Macy’s, which own their own space, and Sears, which is on a lease. [Holliday Fenoglio Fowler’s Robert] Williamson says the Sears lease is up in 2010, but negotiations are underway to keep the retailer in place.

When Okun bought the mall from Somera Capital and CoastWood Capital a little less than four years ago, the asset was 95% leased, and sported $10 million worth of exterior and interior improvements. IPA had even larger plans for even more renovations on the 33-acre site, Williamson says.

Less than a year later, the owner was able to secure $86 million of permanent financing for the mall. Yet by late 2007, IPA had filed for bankruptcy protection to stave off foreclosure. Okun’s troubles and a failing economy dropped the mall’s occupancy to a little less than 70%.

How’s the mall looking these days?

1031 Exchanges, 77082, Alief, Attractions, Commercial Real Estate, Edward H. Okun, Financing, Foreclosures, Fraud, Leasing, Malls, Retail

Daily Demolition Report

08/11/09 9:50am

Daily Demolition Report: Blow This Joint

Smokeout on Harrisburg. Plus a little more off the Inwood Oaks Apartments. A brief guide to the day’s destruction:

Daily Demolition Report, Demolitions

Braeswood Place

08/10/09 6:14pm

Swamplot Price Adjuster: Blue Bonnet Spread

19 Comments

The Swamplot Price Adjuster needs your nominations! Found a property you think is poorly priced? Send an email to Swamplot, and be sure to include a link to the listing or photos. Tell us about the property, and explain why you think it deserves a price adjustment. Then tell us what you think a better price would be. Unless requested otherwise, all submissions to the Swamplot Price Adjuster will be kept anonymous.

Location: 3105 Blue Bonnet Blvd., Southern Oaks
Details: 3 bedrooms, 4 baths; 4,109 sq. ft. on a 16,992-sq.-ft. lot
Price: $3,400,000
History: On the market since last Thanksgiving. Price reduced $100K mid-June.

Our nominator, struggling with the price tag:

Typical newer construction home in Southern Oaks. The chandelier in the foyer is way too ostentatious for my taste…but to each their own. The rest of the house shows like any other new construction mcmansion in Southern Oaks and Braes Heights that list between $1,000,000 – $1,300,000. Also, it’s sits four houses off of Buffalo Speedway in one direction and two houses down from a huge apartment complex in the other direction. The only advantage I see this house has is that it’s on a 16,000 sf lot, whereas most of the others average 9,000 sf. The house is only 4,100 sf, making it smaller than most of the new construction in the area. So, the question is, why the $3.4 million price tag?

77025, Braeswood Place, Homes for Sale, Price Adjuster, Southern Oaks

Fifth Ward

08/10/09 5:32pm

Ode to the Fifth

3 Comments

ODE TO THE FIFTH “The Fifth Ward never let me down all summer long,” writes James M. Harrison, saying goodbye to the neighborhood at the end of his internship at Covenant Community Capital Corp.: “You can talk about drug dealers and violent people all you like– but Fifth Ward would not be what it is without J-Boy Hollins, who owns the corner of Bringhurst and Market every day after 5 PM. Under the shade of some old trees, J-Boy sits back in his trademark overalls, and takes in the end of the afternoon in an old, beat-up office chair. You’re welcome to join him for some friendly conversation, but Mr. J-Boy won’t let you leave until you’ve cracked at least two beers and shared several laughs. He’ll talk with you about anything from the Bible to his boyhood in Mississippi with an outhouse in the backyard. And as long as you don’t disrespect nobody, you’re welcome to stay as long as you like.” [Neighborhood //#5]

77020, Fifth Ward

Comments

08/10/09 5:03pm

Comment of the Day: And All Cats Are Gray in the Dark

2 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: AND ALL CATS ARE GRAY IN THE DARK “Also, as an aesthetic aside, is it some sort of tradition, or just the mechanics of writing with a spray can, that all graffiti, no matter where, seems to have the same writing style (the font, as it were) ?” [Dave, commenting on Playing Townhouse Tag in the Near Northside]

Comments, Graffiti

League City

08/10/09 3:04pm

League City Lawn Tricks

Just for kicks.

More tricking here, with a brief guide to a few local hazard areas on this particular front lawn.

need a vacation [Vimeo]

Video: Kyle McLean

77593, Front Lawns, League City

Commercial Real Estate

08/10/09 11:17am

The Fifth Ward’s Old Bruce Elementary School: Lead Scraped and Ready!

12 Comments

Swamplot’s new “Bottom” of the Fifth Ward correspondent Vaughn Mueller reports from the site of the old Bruce Elementary School, where a sign indicates the property is for sale. A source tells Swamplot that a few details need to be worked out before it’s “officially” on the market, but an HISD web page provides some information about the property.

The school, which was closed at the end of the spring 2007 semester, sits along Cage and Bringhurst on the I-10 feeder road, and comprises a little more than 2 blocks. Mueller reports that the new Bruce Elementary (built by a 2002 HISD bond) less than a mile away on Jensen opened its doors in the fall of 2007.

Why the move?

77020, Commercial Real Estate, Environmental, Fifth Ward, Hazards, Land for Sale, Schools, Superfund-Sites, Toxic Sites

Daily Demolition Report

08/10/09 9:20am

Daily Demolition Report: Bungle the Jungle

Swamplotâ€™s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.

A little Lower Westheimer streetfront clearance, a little freeway strip removal today. But that’s not all:

Daily Demolition Report, Demolitions

Comments

08/07/09 3:00pm

Comment of the Day: North Shepherd Automotive District Expansion Program

6 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: NORTH SHEPHERD AUTOMOTIVE DISTRICT EXPANSION PROGRAM “Forget Ross and Krogerâ€¦.Iâ€™m excited about the new Auto Parts store that just put up a contruction sign up on 11th and Dorothy (across from Dragon Bowl). How exciting to have a third auto parts store within the 1/10th mile!!!” [biggerintexas, commenting on Opening Day: H-E-B Buffalo Market Stampede Begins]

77008, Comments, Houston Heights, New Construction, North Shepherd, Openings and Closings, Retail, Theming

Hazards

08/07/09 2:38pm

Playing Townhouse Tag in the Near Northside

16 Comments

It’s tagger war! Always on the lookout for dramatic artistic expression, blogger Sean Carroll snaps photos of the custom balcony paint jobs on this set of unfinished townhomes not far from his home. The site: Eichwurzel Ln., just west of Lindale Park and steps from the I-45 feeder. Reports Carroll:

they’ve been tagged for about two or three months, the parking lot in front of the townhomes is a messy half-finished lot, and it looks like they never finished the buildings. no occupants. kids are sneaking in and tagging the hell out of the inside probably too…

More views:

77008, Graffiti, Hazards, Lindale Park, Townhomes

Parking

08/07/09 10:10am

What H-E-B Got That Kroger Don’t Got: Working All the Angles in the West U Grocery Showdown

45 Comments

WHAT H-E-B GOT THAT KROGER DON’T GOT: WORKING ALL THE ANGLES IN THE WEST U GROCERY SHOWDOWN Reporting live from the Battle of Buffalo Speedway, Allison Wollam scrutinizes the new Buffalo Market arsenal: â€œ’We are based in Texas so we have certain items that we know Texans eat,’ [H-E-B Houston president] McClelland says. ‘We have an inherent advantage because we know how Texans think better than a grocer based …. anywhere else would know.’ For example, McClelland points out that H-E-B carries a brisket that can be fully cooked in 45 minutes that garnered more than $25 million in revenue for the chain last year. The grocer also offers crawfish sushi as well as Texas-shaped cheese and hamburgers.” Plus, why campus might seem a bit tighter this year: “Because parking is also limited, the grocer has reached an agreement with nearby Rice University to allow its employees and vendors to park on the campus parking lot and be shuttled to the store.” [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]

77005, Grocery Stores, Parking, Retail, Rice-University, West University

Commercial Real Estate

08/07/09 9:44am

Houston’s Commercial Foreclosure Boom