Expect to see a lot more, uh . . . interesting advertising for the Mosaic towers on Almeda. Nancy Sarnoff reported in the Chronicle this past weekend that “about 65 units have closed” out of a total 790 in the two towers. The second glass tower is currently under construction at the eastern edge of Hermann Park.
That’s a long way to go, but the path sounds a whole lot steeper when you compare Sarnoff’s report to what Jennifer Dawson reported in the Houston Business Journal last August:
As of last week, 218 condos had sold in the first tower. Units in the second phase won’t go on sale until early next year. Ken Manfredi of Miami-based Developer Sales Group is handling Mosaic’s condo sales.
After the jump: More evocative ad imagery! Plus: the view from above.
The Hermann Park kiddie trains are running again! But blogger Lou Minatti considers the replacement C.P. Huntington too “plasticy”:
A news photographer was there and we chatted for a bit. According to his sources, the old train was replaced due to three reasons: The old 50’s-era train had no dead man’s switch, it wasn’t wheelchair-accessible, and our collective asses are bigger than they were in the 1950s. Hence the need for the much wider train.
Renovate or demolish? It’s a false choice, really. Now you can do both!
If ever one listing encapsulated the essential paradox at the heart of the Third Ward’s uh . . . “resurgence,” it’s the one just posted for 2103 Berry St.
Contractors are hard at work completely renovating this Third Ward duplex . . . so that you can buy it and tear it down. Then you can start over and build brand-new townhouses! The brand-new listing features the construction-site photo above and the following description:
GREAT DUPLEX UNDER RENOVATIONS LOCATED MINUTES AWAY FROM DOWNTOWN,MIDTOWN, TOYOTA CENTER AND MINUTE MAID PARK. CORNER LOT SURROUNDED BY NEW CONSTRUCTION. PHENOMENAL OPPORTUNITY FOR A DEVELOPER’S OR INVESTOR’S TO BUILD TOWNHOMES.
Who says you can’t have it all?
After the jump: Can’t we just slather the stucco over the exterior brickwork and call it even?
Former Ibiza and Catalan investor Rhea Wheeler and two partners have bought the shuttered Twelve Spot bar on Travis St. — just around the corner from Market Square downtown — and will be turning it into a gastropub called Hearsay.
218 Travis is Houston’s second-oldest building, and originally served as a Confederate Army munitions depot. It’s a dramatic space inside: There are three stories, but the upper floors have been removed and a mezzanine placed in the back.
Wheeler told Jennifer Dawson of the Houston Business Journal he’ll open the new restaurant in the first half of next year.
After the jump: More Wheeler restaurant plans! In actual old buildings!
UH students: Beware of “secluded spots” on campus!
Just a few days ago, University of Houston officials called in Pearland beekeeper Mike Knuckey to remove a giant colony of 100,000 bees from behind a 40-foot-high section of wall in the engineering college’s Building 1. The wall had been dripping with honey.
But now the bees are coming back . . . to an undisclosed location on campus! From a UH press release:
UH plans to build a new nest for the bees in a wooden, isolated area of campus. The bees should be in their new home on Friday, Nov. 16.
A report from the Houston Chronicle is a little more ominous:
While moving the hive was a bit of a headache, university officials ended up with a sweet surprise: five gallons of fresh honey.
“We’re gonna think of something clever to do with it here on campus,” Alexander said.
A permit was issued late last week. And so sitework begins for the 119-unit, 168,398-square-foot Belle Meade at River Oaks, on Westheimer between Ferndale and Sackett, developed by Grayco Partners:
The project is a 6-story epicore (light steel) construction on top of a 2-story podium garage. The boutique building will resemble the look of turn of the century, old New York hotels in brick with cast stone details, while spacious interiors will include such amenities as hardwood floors, 10-foot ceilings, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and individual wine chillers. Community amenities will include conditioned interior corridors, heated pool, fitness facility, business center and a resident recreation room.
Grayco is also developing Museum Place, at Fannin and Oakdale in Midtown—a “contemporary design” also on a two-story podium. And Braeswood Place, on North Braeswood just east of Stella Link: the more usual four-story stick apartments hugging a parking garage, but it’ll also include 21 townhouses. It’s meant to look like Rice. All three properties will be managed by Camden Property Trust.
DiverseWorks gave graffiti collaborative Aerosol Warfare free reign to paint the arts organization’s satellite space at the corner of Alabama and Almeda in Midtown, and this is the result.
You remember this house, right? It’s the one that used to have giant Sesame Street characters airbrushed all over it.
Will something like this be coming soon to a home near you? Up now: a green roof atop a renovated building that will serve as a fabrication shop for architecture and industrial design students at the University of Houston. Unlike most of Houston’s (few) commercial and institutional buildings with a plantedroof, this one has a slope to it.
As autumn creeps in, Neighborhood Protection rolls up to demo a rundown home near U of H. Addresses for the protected property and eight other demo-bound houses are in our daily list.
Ever wonder what it would be like if hundreds of mating-season-crazed bats infested your home? If your home happens to be a men’s dorm at Texas Southern University, there’s no need to imagine.
Yes, last weekend was batting practice time again at TSU’s Lanier Hall East dormitory. Before the 211 students living there were moved into area hotels, some of them got in a few swings, as documented in this YouTube video. Sure, the delivery may have included some wild pitches, but the bats may also have been throwing rabies spitballs.
Extermination teams are reportedly working on clearing out the (now obviously mosquito-free) dorm.
More structures at the Holiday House Motel come down, along with a Holiday Inn cabana. Read the addresses in our daily list, which begins after the jump.
A whole lotta demo going on: A county outpost downtown, more industrial buildings along Studemont, plenty of houses, and more. Our daily list of addresses begins after the jump.
Ten knock-em-down homes and one gotta-tear-it-out before you build-it-bigger museum, in today’s list of demolition permits. Addresses are listed after the jump.
The glass tower is half full: 218 of the 394 units in the first Mosaic tower have been sold, reports the Houston Business Journal. Are those just the north-facing units? Because directly to the south, the second tower is ready for liftoff:
Phillips Development & Realty LLC of Tampa, Fla., which is developing both condominium towers near Hermann Park at a cost of $203 million, secured a $141 million loan from Chicago-based Corus Bankshares Inc. last week to refinance the first building and finance the second one. . . .
Phillips says the company financed the first Mosaic tower as a rental property because that was the only way to secure funding.
Why is it called Mosaic? There are a lot of tiny units in there, 18 to a floor, averaging 980 square feet. They start at $165,000.
Swamplot covers real estate, home design and renovation, architecture, and the landscape of Houston, Texas. Swamplot did not flood during Allison. Honest! Read more
