Annie Sitton documents Ligne Roset’s surprise weekend move from that fancy strip mall on Kirby to . . . the River Oaks Shopping Center? Uh . . . wasn’t the mod French furniture store supposed to be moving this April . . . to West Ave?
And what does this move mean for Design Source, West Ave’s prize showroom of showrooms, that Ligne Roset was supposed to headline?
Just opened in this . . . uh, extra-wide storefront at 2521 University in the Rice Village, just a few doors down from Candylicious: a second — and considerably larger — location for the Chocolate Bar. A reader sends in this night-time photo, providing evidence that the retail space was formerly the home of . . . yes, a Lane Bryant.
Photo: Swamplot inbox
A few fun pics from around and about town! First, this crowd of black vultures ponders its next real-estate venture from atop a communications tower parked in a gated community in Cypress. Photographer Karen Morris happened upon the scene on Eldridge near Grant Rd.:
It was an awesome sight. Personally, if they adorned my rooftop every evening, I’d clean the roof, sell the house and move to the other side of town. . . . Black Vultures/Buzzards are a bit smaller and less colorful that the Turkey Vulture. They tend to follow the Turkey Vulture because it has a keener sense of smell and can find it’s meal through use of that sense. They eat dead animals and occasionally capture small live animals (field mice, etc.). Although they do not build a nest, they will take an abandoned nest. Often roost together as seen in this set of photos. If startled while roosting, they will regurgitate with power and accuracy.
More local habitat:
Major wrapping operations ended last Saturday at the Mission Burrito on Morningside Dr. in the Rice Village, a Swamplot reader reports:
We went to the W. Alabama location and had our tortilla soup, but I was just really surprised that the Village location tanked so soon.
The Village Arcade location opened last May. A new Mission Burrito opened on FM 1960 in Atascocita just last month.
Photo of Mission Burrito, 5510 Morningside Dr.: Mission Burritos
A tidbit from Lamesa Properties, proud owner of that block of Bolsover St. in the Rice Village that was supposed to turn into a grand plaza for Randall Davis’s Sonoma development, but for now is just a fenced-off lot:
Company representative Julie Tysor said that while construction is on hold, the firm is open to ideas for the site to have some “long-term benefit to the community.†For now, plans are under way to make the unpaved area a green space, and the paved area may be used for much-needed Village parking.
Photo of Sonoma Site on Bolsover St.: Miya Shay
A few months after Ike, this tricked-out FEMA trailer rolls into Houston as . . . art?? Paul Villinski’s reworked 30-ft. Gulfstream “Cavalier” trailer, which took the artist 7 months to mod, will be parked outside the Rice University Art Gallery starting later this month.
Re-born as the Emergency Response Studio, the trailer’s formaldehyde-ridden original materials are replaced by entirely “green†technology and building materials, including recycled denim insulation, bamboo cabinetry, compact fluorescent lighting, reclaimed wood, and natural linoleum floor tiles made from linseed oil. It is powered by eight mammoth batteries that store energy generated by an array of solar panels and a “micro†wind turbine atop a 40-foot high mast. Not only practical, Emergency Response Studio is a visually engaging structure with an expansive work area featuring a wall section that lowers to become a deck. A ten-foot, elliptical geodesic skylight allows extra headroom and natural lighting in the work area. Though designed as an artist’s studio and residence, Emergency Response Studio is an ingenious prototype for self-sufficient, solar-powered mobile housing.
Party on the back deck!
Here’s a 15,000-sq.-ft. plot of West U. land at the corner of Kirby and Plumb across the street from Rice Village, offered in 2 separate parcels for a total of $750,000.
We know what you’re wondering: Is there a closeup of the property?
And you’re in luck! The HAR listing provides one:
SOUTHAMPTON HOUSE OF 48,762 CUBIC ZIRCONIAS Give him another 18 months to finish it, Dr. Anthony Walter tells reporter Kate Murphy, and he’ll open the Grand Hall in his Southampton home to the public for tours. A few church groups have already seen it: “‘People are just astounded.’ Indeed, it’s hard not to gape at a gilt and mirrored hall so boisterously baroque that you half expect Marie Antoinette to appear and offer you cake. Lighted by sparkling chandeliers, the hall is 100 feet by 25 feet, with a soaring 22-foot-high coffered ceiling in gilt and lacquer. The walls are embellished with gilt cherubs, roses, feathers, foliage and birds. Enormous and richly hued paintings in elaborate jeweled frames depict romantic, mythological and biblical scenes. . . . Dr. Walter said he tried to interest curators at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in his project, perhaps to make it a satellite decorative arts museum, but ‘they could care less.’ One of the museum’s curators, Emily Neff, said she had visited his home but wasn’t able to spend much time there and thus had no comment. He said their reaction was understandable, given that the museum’s collection includes abstract art, which he disdains. ‘I am a huge threat because what I have done renders everything they have junk,’ he said beneath the glinting chandeliers in his great hall. ‘I hope that doesn’t sound arrogant but the reaction of people who come in here tells me the power of it.’†[New York Times; slide show]
EMPTY SONOMA SITE UPDATE One possible future for the site of the shelved Sonoma development in the Rice Village: nothing — for a long time. “The 2400 block of Bolsover could remain undeveloped and in the possession of Lamesa Properties another seven-and-half years, according to the terms of the ordinance approving the street’s abandonment. A spokesman for the city said Monday in addition to the five years the agreement allowed for the completion of the retail-residential project and some traffic-related construction, an additional three-year extension can be granted at the ‘sole discretion’ of the director of Public Works. Under the terms of the sale of the street, the additional time could be allowed ‘for extenuating circumstances,’ city spokesman Alvin Wright said.” [West University Examiner]
The River Oaks version of Michael Reed’s Examiner story about Sonoma’s failed financing efforts quoted here yesterday has an additional Walgreens update appended. The halt in plans for developing the Sonoma won’t change anything:
Meanwhile, Walgreens spokesman Robert Elfinger said Monday the Rice Village store will close Dec. 31 as planned and will not be relocated.
Photo of demolition on Bolsover St. last year: Jackson Myers
Sonoma’s would-be developers try to explain to West U Examiner reporter Michael Reed why the Rice Village retail-and-condo project was put “on hold” only a few weeks after the sales team sent out an email to prospective buyers claiming it had received financing:
Julie [Tysor], president of the Appelt Companies, said in an e-mail response to Examiner questions about the financing, “We had secured a substantial majority of the financing for the south building through the cooperation of some local lenders who have also supported this project since its inception.â€
She said a number of factors contributed to the financing falling through, “not the least of which is historical world economic crisis that is unprecedented…â€
So what’s going to happen to the site — which includes that block of Bolsover St. purchased from the city — now?
Last month, a Sonoma sales rep told the West U Examiner that the project had secured financing — which turned out to be condo-sales-speak for “Maybe if people think we’re definitely going ahead we can still sell units and somehow find a way out of this mess.” Now Nancy Sarnoff reports in the Chronicle that the developer of the condos-and-retail complex slated for what used to be Bolsover St. in the Rice Village has told her that the project “is being put on hold ‘for the short term.’” This appears to be developer-speak for “We’re toast.”
Was the problem just “economic uncertainties and tumultuous credit markets”? After developer Lamesa Corp. and partner Randall Davis pulled their switcheroo, deciding to start with the project’s second phase because they couldn’t get the more grandiose first phase financed,
they went back to the market and were negotiating for a $70 million loan with 40 percent equity to build the smaller second phase of 85 units.
At that point they had nearly 70 buyers who had put down deposits. More than half were interested in the second building.
Translation: Almost half their buyers bailed.
There’s good news for the trashed 2-block section of the Village Sonoma leaves behind, though:
Earlier this year, Buffalo Pharmacy announced it would leave its soon-to-be-demolished digs at Bissonnet and Buffalo Speedway and move inside the new H-E-B under construction just behind the store. In the interim, Buffalo Pharmacy was set to operate out of a trailer on the site.
But those plans have changed: Buffalo Pharmacy will close for good this Saturday, November 8. The pharmacy opening in the trailer 2 days later will be called H-E-B Pharmacy.
The new supermarket, meant to be a cross between a Central Market and a typical H-E-B, is scheduled to open next year. And it’ll have an H-E-B Pharmacy inside.
Photo of Buffalo Pharmacy: Flickr user Kevin Trotman [license]
GO-AHEADS FOR SONOMA Randall Davis’s Sonoma development couldn’t get financing for its first phase, but the condos-and-retail project’s sales team is now saying it has financing for its second phase, planned for the south side of Bolsover St. And requirements for taking over the block of Bolsover between the two projects have been fulfilled: “In an e-mail sent Saturday, sales team member Keith Kaposta said groundbreaking at the Rice Village site was still expected in February following the expiration of Walgreens’ lease on the property at 5313 Kelvin St. In another development, the city of Houston said Tuesday that developer Randall Davis property owner La Mesa Corp. had successfully completed all work that was required by the extended deadline of Oct. 27. . . . [Public Works Department spokesman Alvin] Wright said even if the work covered under the letters of credit was not completed by the deadlines, the city would not get the property back. [West University Examiner; previously]
The West U Examiner‘s Michael Reed points out that Randall Davis has a looming deadline to complete some work on the block of Bolsover St. in Rice Village that was purchased from the city:
A condition, passed by the Houston City Council at the time of the sale, specified that some changes to the site of the high-end condo over retail project must be completed within one year.
The block was sold in August of last year so that Davis could use it as part of his Sonoma mixed-use development. Since then, Davis has run into problems finding financing, and the project has changed considerably. He now wants to build the smaller second phase — on the south side of the street — first. But the Walgreens currently on that site has a lease that won’t be up until January.
What needs to get done by the end of October?
The plugging and abandonment of the 8-inch water line within the street, and the relocation of the existing storm sewer inlets to Bolsover and Morningside.
The developer is “required to eliminate the appearance of the public street†at the intersections of Bolsover and both Kelvin and Morningside.
