How difficult will it be for developer Sandy Aron to fit the 6- or 7-story apartment complex he’s planning for the lakeside site of the shuttered Vargo’s Restaurant at 2401 Fondren into its peacock-filled Piney Point Village neighborhood? Last month the owner of Hunington Properties was forced to send plans for the complex back to the architects at the Steinberg Design Collaborative so that they could add an emergency vehicle lane inside the property — after residents of the 15-townhome community directly to the east voted to deny driveway access to the proposed development from Woodway. And last night other neighbors gathered in front of teevee cameras to voice general complaints about the plans for Vargo’s on the Lake, which according to abc13’s report has now been cut back to 288 units from 312. Deed restrictions established in the seventies will require the apartments to sit back 50 ft. from the lake on the property. Aron told the Houston Business Journal last month that he expected to close on the land — which he’s buying out of bankruptcy — in late August.
- Residents band to fight apartment project in Memorial Villages area [abc13]
- Building on smaller slice of the Vargo’s pie and Vargo’s site earmarked for apartment development [Houston Business Journal]
- Previously on Swamplot: The Messy End of Vargo’s Restaurant
Photo of Vargo’s back yard: Rolando Silva
well what a friendly neighborhood this place sounds like.
They’re afraid of traffic? Oh dear. Didn’t Vargo’s create traffic?
Sorry, I don’t blame those neighbors at all.
GlenW, apparently you haven’t been to Vargo’s in a long time.
Vargo’s probably didn’t create a lot of traffic, but southbound Fondren already backs up at that S curve from the people trying to turn left to get to all the apartments already on Woodway. Northbound Fondren goes from two lanes to one almost at that intersection and there is a busy office building across the street.
I can’t imagine why the townhouse community didn’t want to provide driveway access…oh wait, yes I can. I wonder what kind of complex they plan to build. The developer is a little late to the game, what with the 10000 new units already going in inside the loop. What’s the under/over that piney point village delays the project until the new owner goes bankrupt? Apartments aren’t welcome in the “villages”.
Lost, the border between Piney Point Village and Houston is Buffalo Bayou, so that puts the Vargo’s land in the city of Houston.
Just drain the lake and pave it over. This is Houston.
KC, in that area piney point extends south of buffalo bayou if you cared to look. Vargos may or may not be in piney point but the article above indicated it was so I figured it was. If it isn’t it borders piney point.
Lost: You cannot build apartments or businesses in Piney Point or Bunker Hill, only churches, single family homes and government buildings. If this lot was in Piney Point there wouldn’t even be a discussion.