03/04/09 11:16am

As the retail churns . . .

  • Reopening Soon: The original Three Brothers Bakery next to Brays Bayou in Linkwood, closed since Hurricane Ike, has a permit in hand to rebuild. Cynthia Lescalleet reports in the River Oaks Examiner:

    While the exterior of the building, 4036 South Braeswood Blvd., will retain the colors, 60s-vintage architectural elements and windows of its past, the inside has been reconfigured a bit to be “cozy,” with a more efficient layout.

    Among the tweaking are the addition of a small room for wedding consultations and staff offices that look out over the interior so they can see and connect with the customers they’ve missed since Hurricane Ike damaged the business, [co-owner Janice] Jucker said.

    “We’re almost like therapists over the bakery counter,” she said.

    But: no plans to return to the River Oaks Shopping Center or Sugar Land.

    Any future expansion would likely be into properties the bakery would own and build itself, she said: “We want control over our destiny.”

    Near the end of the 10- to 12-week building project, the building’s crooked sign will be re-set. If you see a straight sign, that’ll mean the bagels are almost ready.

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03/03/09 6:14pm



The last time
the peachy little townhouse-by-the-freeway at 2232 Riverside Dr. was available for sale — in the good ol’ boom-boom days of May 2007 — the owner refused to make any repairs on the property, which was listed for sale at just under $500K. What’s up with it now?

A good year after it was sold (for a much lower price, about half[!?] of what someone paid for the next-door unit just a few months later), the 2003 townhouse with the front-row view of 288 went back on the market! And it’s still there.

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02/12/09 11:10pm

Lots of very detailed Montrose guesses in this week’s game, which would have helped in parsing a winner — if that were the right neighborhood! We had “Montrose, north of West Gray, east of Montrose Blvd.,” “just behind Texas Art Supply off Montrose,” Montrose near W. Dallas and Taft, Montrose within walking distance of the Black Lab, “somewhere between Kirby and Montrose, south of Westheimer, north of 59,” “in the greater Montrose, more specifically west of Hyde Park and the diagonal grid, bounded to the north by West Gray, to the west by Shepherd, and south by Westheimer,” Avondale, the W. Dallas-Dunlavy-W. Gray-Woodhead quadrant, “lower Montrose, just around the corner from Baba Yega,” and Winlow Place.

There were also 3 Southampton guesses, 2 West Universities, and 2 Lindale Parks. The rest: Woodland Heights, “Near Almeda, north of Hermann Park,” “the southerly parts of Third Ward, in the area bounded by Wheeler, Scott, McGregor and 288,” Southgate, Garden Oaks, Riverside Terrace, Idylwood, Eastwood, North Norhill, the Museum District, “Somewhere in Riverside or MacGregor,” “in the odd trapezoid between Binz, Almeda, Montrose and 59,” “the TSU-ish part of Midtown,” “near the Riverside Terrace area,” Almeda Place, Southmore, Old Braeswood, and Sunset Heights. There’s not a bad guess in the bunch!

Bonuses this week: a couple of well-faked entries by players who wrote in first to let us know they knew the listing, then crafted very convincing red herrings. First Ben, who pushed Montrose with this duplexitous entry:

The record/CD collection and Obama sign in the window most definitely belong to a former hipster that still resides in Montrose. Also, this reminds me of the Reality Bites house, so I’m guessing this is in the W. Dallas & Taft area, possibly off W. Dallas displaying the Obama sign for all those heading to/from downtown.

Then tcpIV, who demonstrated classic trash-guessing form — beginning in mock agreement with another player, throwing out “in the know” references, then going in for the kill:

Procrastination…I think Eric was reading my mind! This house reminds me of something like George Bunker’s house in the 2000 block of Quenby. He was head of UH’s art dept. and his house was filled…I digress. An older house – 30’s to 40’s wedged between the big ones on Rice and Sunset Blvds. near Kent or Ashby. Is it safe to say Ashby?

Well done!

But first place this week — and a free, 1-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance — goes to lildebbi, for this well-reasoned entry:

I have to agree with the guessers, especially EMME, who pegged the preponderance of books and music (vinyl or cd) for academics. To expand on her answer, this home is one of the grand old dames either in the museum district or perhaps on the other side of 288, with great access to Rice, TSU and UH. The wood paneling in the entry way and the tile around the fireplace remind me of so many places off Calumet or Southmore. But the unrenovated kitchen (that stove!) screams for east of the dividing line. Somewhere in Riverside or MacGregor–wish I knew the subdivision names there better.

You knew them well enough to win! Edged out only by a hair was Miz Brooke Smith, who provided the detail and coordinates to earn an honorable mention:

What a sweet place. Definitely 1930’s-1940’s for all the reasons posted by movocelot above. This could be a single-family home but has that duplex feel thanks to the narrow hall with dining area beyond, off the kitchen. Two bedrooms up with quaint bathroom (and purple fuzzy slippers), plenty of spacious hardwood living space down for those post-dorm couches and endless Ikea shelving for music and books. That bay window is indeed a quiz-buster. Somehow the neighborhood vibe is genteel pre-teardown, pre-townhouse. I’m guessing the southerly parts of Third Ward, in the ara bounded by Wheeler, SCott, McGregor and 288.

Oh . . . kudos also to Pat this week, for cracking the Neighborhood Guessing Game Code:

This might sound like sour grapes since I never win, but we actually have only about six kinds of houses in our myriad neighborhoods:
1)Before 1930 and updated or not
2)50s ranch
3)70s faux everything
4)Mini-mansion
5)Mega-mansion
6)The guy is an architect and this is his Personal Dream

So essentially we’re guessing which neighborhood it’s in by peeking out the windows. If we can’t see trees, we guess townhouse #1 through #6.

Y’all’ll still play, though, right?

So . . . how about that house?

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01/28/09 9:53am

Houston art blogger Sean Morrissey Carroll remixes a glowing profile of the Isabella Court Apartments at Main and Isabella — penned recently by Corilyn Shropshire for the Chronicle — with resident Cathy Matusow’s terse response in Hair Balls. The result? Pure magic.

Here’s a taste, with source indicators removed for full effect (but really, it’s not too tough to figure out which lines come from which report):

When Vernon Caldera walked through Isabella Court’s ornate wrought-iron gates and spotted the courtyard that seemed magically transplanted from his grandmother’s hometown in Nicaragua, he gasped.

Then he fell in love.

The picturesque 80-year-old building in Midtown, a Spanish Colonial with original porcelain sinks and no-two-are-the-same apartments, “had me at hello,” he said.

When I first heard the Chronicle was doing a story on the building I live in, Isabella Court, I thought, “Oh great, is rent going up now?”

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01/16/09 5:00pm

What is it with these Landscape folks and their capsules? Last spring, L.A.’s sly Center for Land Use Interpretation began its residency in Houston by hauling an old trailer, dubbed the organization’s “field station,” to an old junkyard on the banks of the Houston Ship Channel. And now, a year later — the oil-industry spying mission almost complete — CLUI guru Matthew Coolidge and his henchpeople are capping their Houston romp with another demonstration of the delights of enclosed living.

That’s a Brucker Survival Capsule, painted bright red and decorated with a typically deadpan CLUI inscription, being installed outside the University of Houston’s Blaffer Art Gallery, where CLUI’s exhibit on the landscape practices of the Texas oil industry opens — tonight. If planting an offshore-oil-rig emergency escape vehicle on the front lawn of a university art gallery strikes you as slightly absurd, you’re only beginning to appreciate CLUI’s rare and dry sense of landscape humor.

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01/09/09 4:59pm

The developer of the Mosaic highrise overlooking Hermann Park — a limited partnership between Phillips Development & Realty and publicity-shy Florida Capital Real Estate Group — declared bankruptcy earlier this week to avoid foreclosure on a $71 million loan from Chicago lender Corus Bankshares. Florida Capital, originally the equity partner, will be taking over as the general partner.

The bankruptcy covers just the first Mosaic tower. The second tower, rebranded the Montage, has not yet defaulted on its separate $71 million Corus loan.

So how have sales been going at the Mosaic? It depends, the Houston Business Journal‘s Jennifer Dawson learns, who you ask:

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12/30/08 5:15pm

Need a place to crash somewhere in Houston for a short visit — say, a week — but don’t want to stay in a hotel?

Phillips Development & Realty, developers of the Mosaic and freshly rebranded Montage towers across Almeda from Hermann Park, is handling rentals of Mosaic condos owned by investors as well as rentals of the many units the developer has been unable to unload. Now a source passes on a new rumor to Swamplot: Some of those available rentals may be extremely short-term.

Not a bad idea for a property that’s close to the Med Center! With that rumor, though, come a couple more:

Phillips’s Corporate Leasing Director will be taking over management of the Mosaic’s homeowners association from the company that had been running it since the building opened last year. But Phillips’s new tenure at the HOA may be a short-term one too. Why?

Because Florida Capital Real Estate Partners, the Mosaic’s lender, might just be foreclosing on Phillips’s property soon — both the Mosaic and an apartment complex in Tampa called the Casa Bella. Swamplot’s source also suggests that Camelot Realty Group — the company that’s clearly been very busy handling the Mosaic’s many condo sales — may already have had discussions with Florida Capital about taking over onsite rental duties from Phillips once the foreclosure takes place.

Photo of Mosaic and Montage: Swamplot inbox

11/24/08 10:25am

Now available on the Asia Society website, amid pix of dragon dancers and Yao Ming shoveling dirt at the groundbreaking last spring: 2 more renderings of architect Yoshio Taniguchi’s design for the society’s new 38,000-sq.-ft. Texas Center in the Museum District.

The view from Southmore St. at Caroline, in 2010:

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11/10/08 12:12pm

Aerial View of Mosaic Tower with Montage Tower Under Construction, Houston

The soon-to-be-complete second Mosaic tower on Almeda across from Hermann Park will have a different name, reports Nancy Sarnoff in the Chronicle. It’ll be called the Montage, and all 394 units will be rentals, as predicted.

“The market is not supporting sales in two towers,” said Thomas Cervone of Camelot Realty Group, which was hired over the summer to sell units in the building.

Leasing on the second building will start in January, with the units renting for an average of $2.25 per square foot.

The new name will help distinguish the southern tower from the first one, which apparently also features a large number of rentals, even though it remains officially a condo building.

Photo: Aerial photo of Mosaic from July: Aero Photo

10/30/08 2:25pm

Hannah Project Row House CDC Duplexes on Francis St. Under Construction, Third Ward, Houston

Division St. Duplexes Behind Project Row Houses, Third Ward, HoustonRow House CDC has completed a second group of 8 duplexes for low- to moderate-income residents — on Francis St. between Dowling and Live Oak. That’s just north of the growing Third Ward campus of Project Row Houses, the CDC’s sister organization. At least 6 units are still available, reports Robin Foster in the Chronicle:

The units range from 700 to 900 square feet; 10 are family-sized with three bedrooms and 1½ baths and six have two bedrooms and one bath.

[Row House CDC executive director Alain] Lee said funds for the project were stretched to allow the builder to frame-in back porches. If additional money can be found, the porches will be finished as part of a courtyard envisioned for both the new and original housing complexes, he said.

All 16 duplexes were based on designs by students in the Rice Building Workshop at Rice University.

Photo of Francis St. duplexes under construction: Flickr user b2tse; photo of original duplexes along Division St.: Row House CDC

08/11/08 9:55am

Aerial Photo of Second Mosaic Tower Under Construction, June 20, 2008, Hermann Park, Houston

A reader asks:

Has anyone else heard the rumor that Mosaic Hermann Park’s South Tower (already under construction) is going all rental once complete?

It would be kinda cute if the second condo tower did end up switching to apartments, since the first tower went in the opposite direction:

[Phillips Development managing director Donald] Phillips says the company financed the first Mosaic tower as a rental property because that was the only way to secure funding.

“We did whatever we had to do to get the thing built,” he says.

Photo: Aerial photo of Mosaic from June: Aero Photo

07/30/08 11:51am

2213 Wichita St., Third Ward, Houston

You are, no doubt, entirely accustomed to finding perfectly pleasant homes listed for sale on HAR . . . as teardowns. Usually, a listing broker won’t even pretend to show off the virtues of a targeted house, limiting photos to exterior shots and including such enticing wording as “sold for lot value only,” “as is,” and the always alluring “do not disturb tenants.”

Which is why John Whiteside, who writes the By the Bayou blog, is especially appreciative of the “chirpy optimism” expressed in the listing for 2213 Wichita St., a home dating from 1930 and perched by the side of 288 in Riverside Terrace, on the market since the end of March. Next to this quaint photo of what looks like a well-roasted garage apartment are these encouraging words:

Owner started renovations on the large house with garage apartment off the freeway. Lot almost 10,000 sq. ft. Pick up this gem, dust it off, add polish and it will shine.

Sadly, you’re a little late to see this house shining its absolute brightest.

Below: More photos from the listing — including interior shots . . . and outdoor furniture!

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07/25/08 1:21pm

TSU LOSES A LIGHT RAIL STATION Under pressure from Third Ward residents and elected officials who didn’t want rail on Wheeler, Metro has officially rerouted an eastern section of the University Line further north. From Main, the line had been planned to travel east on Wheeler, north on Ennis, then east on Alabama to Scott at U of H. The new route snakes north sooner: north on Hutchins from Wheeler, east on Cleburne, north on Dowling, then east on Alabama to Scott. [Houston Chronicle]

06/04/08 10:22am

Bathroom with Toilet Fish Tank, 3838 Southmore Blvd., University Woods, Houston

“Fish tank in face bowl” is the actual caption to this photo in the listing for 3838 Southmore, in University Woods, by Riverside Terrace.

Face bowl?

The house has 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths. Clearly, though, this one ought to count for more than just a half. The home is listed at $224,999 — bathroom aquarium included.

After the jump: How to get your own very private fish tank . . . without having to buy the whole house!

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