Swamplot Archives by Tag: 77027

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Westcreek Apartments: Refinanced, Waiting

January 22, 2009 – 12:08 pm
   

The Austin-based owners of Westheimer’s Westcreek at River Oaks Apartments — just inside the Loop, just west of the giant new steel sculpture known as High Street — have refinanced the 574-unit complex with a $27.5 million, 7-year, floating-rate loan that allows prepayment with a penalty: “A flexible prepayment also means when market conditions warrant, the owner can redevelop the asset, which sits on 14.5 acres. ‘This is a well-maintained, but older property that sits on dirt, and the dirt is actually worth more than the apartments,’ [Matt] Greer [of Capmark Finance] explains. He says the asset’s owning partnership, which consists of local management company Kaplan Management Co. Inc. and an equity partner, will redevelop the property when market conditions come back.” [Globe St.]

12:08 pm | 1 Comment | Read more about Apartments, Development Strategy, Financing, Neighborhoods: Highland Village, Quicklink, Redevelopment
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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Apartment Demo: Bettis the Same One?

December 31, 2008 – 10:24 am

Late yesterday a reader wrote in expressing concern about the “very cool, worth saving, worth redoing in an intelligent way” 4-plex at 4311 Bettis Dr., just northeast of the stalled-out High Street project on Westheimer. The Bettis Apartments were designed by Robert Wilson in 1955, and are listed as “Most Endangered Moderns” on the Houston Mod website.

A few hours later, 3 properties with the address of 4211 Bettis showed up as demos in the city permit report. You can see them in this morning’s Daily Demolition Report below. The properties are described as the San Felipe Court Apartments . . . didn’t those go down some time ago?

4211 Bettis and 4311 Bettis must be different properties, right? Except HCAD has no entry for a 4211 Bettis. And 4311 Bettis is listed in the rolls as part of the “Trilogy on Bettis Street.”

Swamplot’s tipster provides this tip sheet about the apartments:

Continue Reading This Story >

10:24 am | 11 Comments | Read more about Apartments, Demolitions, Neighborhoods: Highland Village
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Monday, December 29, 2008

High Street: Left High and Dry

December 29, 2008 – 10:50 am

Problems getting credit have stalled or dashed hopes for many Houston developments, leaving vacant sites, ratty construction fences, and more than a few misleading “coming soon” signs touting unachievable goals. Off Westheimer just west of Mid Lane, though, we’ll have a much bigger and longer-lasting reminder of changed fortunes to look at, for a good long while: The steel frame of the first building in Trademark Property’s High Street project.

Work has stopped.

What happened?

Continue Reading This Story >

10:50 am | 4 Comments | Read more about Apartments, Commercial Real Estate, Mixed Use, Neighborhoods: Highland Village, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers
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Monday, December 1, 2008

A Collection of Sticks: Costco Apartment Construction Collapse

December 1, 2008 – 10:18 am

A 3-story section of The Collection, the Morgan Group’s 528-unit apartment complex under construction behind the new Costco on Weslayan and Richmond apparently collapsed early Sunday. A Swamplot reader sends in these photos of the scene following the accident, along with a few sharp comments:

The 4 story “stick built” apartment facility known as “The Collection” (www.collectionliving.com) became a “collection of sticks” early Sunday morning. It seems as if the contractors and the Morgan Group were in a Thanksgiving hurry to get home for turkey and giblets and forgot to “tie in” to the adjoining 3 and 4 story section of the main building.

Good thing it was a Sunday as Monday morning will bring back a tribe of contractors to push to get this facility on the Harris County Tax Roll by Summer 2009….Someone could have been seriously hurt if not killed. The Morgan Group should be “thankful” this Thanksgiving that it was not the case - and that they can “rush” to completion.

Continue Reading This Story >

10:18 am | 11 Comments | Read more about Apartments, Hazards, Neighborhoods: Greenway Plaza, New Construction: Residential
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Friday, November 14, 2008

Costco Sidewalk Maze: Better for the Trees

November 14, 2008 – 11:41 am
   

Lee McGuire gets to the bottom of the wacky sidewalk screwup at Trammell Crow’s Greenway Commons, on the corner of Weslayan and Richmond: “It turns out the city actually required the new sidewalk to run right through the utility poles to save a row of trees. The developer said the project meets federal guidelines — except perhaps the blocked handicap ramp. The final inspection won’t take place until the shopping center is finished. If it’s in violation, the developer promises to fix it.” [11 News, via BlogHouston; previously]

11:41 am | 1 Comment | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Neighborhoods: Greenway Plaza, New Construction, Quicklink, Shopping Centers, Streets
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Monday, October 27, 2008

Costco Greenway Commons Sidewalk Obstacle Course: Fun!

October 27, 2008 – 11:15 am

Sidewalk Along Weslayan St., Greenway Commons, Houston

The wise folks behind Greenway Commons — the new shopping center replacing the old HISD headquarters building at the corner of Richmond and Weslayan — have apparently taken some extra-special steps to make sure the new development (which includes a brand-new Costco) is super-friendly to pedestrian visitors!

Making everything welcoming to people arriving on foot makes sense — the project had been criticized for exhibiting suburban-style development patterns in a location that some dreamers had imagined would be a street-fronting mixed-use center. It’s already a busy corner, and Metro’s new University Line will have a stop only a short walk away.

But “easy to access” can also mean “boring.” So it’s comforting to see these pictures of the project’s street edge sent in by a reader, which show a gentle, fun infrastructure-themed obstacle course taking shape along the new Weslayan and Richmond sidewalks in front of Trammell Crow’s grand development:

Continue Reading This Story >

11:15 am | 16 Comments | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Mixed Use, Neighborhoods: Greenway Plaza, New Construction, Retail, Shopping Centers, Sprawl, Strip Centers
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Friday, October 24, 2008

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Pecky

October 24, 2008 – 11:27 am

Neighborhood Guessing Game 29: Bedroom

The winner of this week’s contest . . . didn’t even bother with a guess!

The rest of you guessed Westbury, “off Rayford,” the Woodlands, Memorial, Memorial Drive, Hilshire Village (twice), Braeswood, Old Braeswood, Braes Heights, Piney Point, Meyerland, Riverside Terrace (twice), Glenbrook Valley, West University, Bellaire, Afton Oaks, Spring Branch (three times), Tanglewood (three times), Memorial Bend, Spring Valley, T.C. Jester just outside the Loop, Richmond inside the Loop west of Weslayan, or off Woodway near Sage.

Nobody actually guessed River Oaks, but Richard mentioned it:

. . . I also like this house and totally agree that it took some $$$ to create the hallucinogenic patterned nightmare. Without the kitchen it actually looks like a Howard Barnstone house or even the house that Philip Johnson designed for Dominique de Menil in River Oaks.

So he is the winner!

An honorable mention goes to paneling expert Robert, who obviously knows his woods:

The paneling in the den is a pecky cypress commonly referred to as “wormwood.” Expensive in it’s day, too expensive for Westbury. The house appears to large with too many custom features like that to be a basic tract house. The pattern festival was popular back in the 70’s and cost a lot to create that abomination in decorating.

In what part of River Oaks has this home been hiding?

Continue Reading This Story >

11:27 am | 3 Comments | Read more about Construction Materials, Home Decor, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Neighborhoods: River Oaks
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Friday, August 29, 2008

West Loop Nineties Revival Not Getting Enough Love

August 29, 2008 – 8:39 am

Proposed Novati Group Office Tower at 1600 West Loop South, Uptown, HoustonThe Houston Business Journal’s Jennifer Dawson is reporting that the Novati Group’s plan to dust off a 15-year-old Ziegler Cooper design for a 20-story office tower and build it on the West Loop

appears to be in limbo. The deal isn’t dead, but it’s not moving forward.

The problems: finding debt financing . . . and that pre-leasing thing.

Meanwhile, Dawson expects Transwestern to announce details soon on a large new addition to Uptown’s Four Oaks Place — to replace the 24-Hour Fitness on Post Oak Blvd. owned by TIAA-CREF:

The proposed building being called Tower Five at Four Oaks Place is now set to be 30 stories tall, with 525,000 square feet of office space on 22 floors atop a parking garage with roughly 1,500 spaces, says Carleton Riser, head of Transwestern’s development group.

He says the building designed by architectural firm Pickard Chilton could break ground in the first quarter of 2009.

The fact that no tenants have committed to the new building won’t delay construction, Riser says.

Rendering: Ziegler Cooper

8:39 am | 1 Comment | Read more about Financing, Highrises, Houston Architects, Neighborhoods: Galleria, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments
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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

State Grille Demolition: Just for the Hell of It

August 27, 2008 – 12:57 pm

Plan Showing Former Site of State Grille, 2925 Weslayan St., Houston

Tower? What 27-story tower? A spokesperson for Interfin tells the Memorial Examiner the company has “no plans and no timing as of now” for anything on the site of the State Grille.

What do they mean, no plans? The site plan above, for the northeast corner of Weslayan and W. Alabama, is shown in a document on the Interfin website, labeled “Future Development.” And it clearly shows what the demolition crews were busy . . . uh, building on the site last week.

Site Plan: Interfin

12:57 pm | 3 Comments | Read more about Demolitions, Neighborhoods: Highland Village, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment
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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Venue-Appropriate Stucco Repair

August 21, 2008 – 8:02 am

Circuit City, 4500 San Felipe St., Uptown, Houston

Walking from their car to the front door of the Circuit City on San Felipe, Bunny Bungalow resident Annie Sitton and her husband notice a crack in the stucco covering a pilaster at the front of the building. Looking closer, they notice that . . .

Continue Reading This Story >

8:02 am | 10 Comments | Read more about Construction Materials, Neighborhoods: Galleria, Retail, Shopping Centers
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Monday, August 11, 2008

Costco $17K Left Turn Green Light

August 11, 2008 – 11:41 am
   

The new Costco on Richmond gets on okay for tree-free left turns: “According to Craig Cheney, spokesman for partner-developer Trammell Crow, nine bald cyprus and three other trees will be removed from the Weslayan median and replanted elsewhere. The developer will ‘buy out’ three live oaks that will be cut down on Richmond to make way for two left-turn lanes for a total of $17,000, a spokesman for the city said. [River Oaks Examiner, previously in Swamplot]

11:41 am | 1 Comment | Read more about Neighborhoods: Greenway Plaza, Quicklink, Shopping Centers, Streets, Trees
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Friday, July 25, 2008

Highland Village Sprinkles

July 25, 2008 – 10:55 am
   

“Sprinkles Cupcakes, The Original Cupcake Bakery, opens in Houston this winter at 4010 Westheimer in Highland Village. Let’s see, we have Sugar Baby’s, Crave and Ooh La La Dessert Boutique (they’re actually in Katy, TX, but it’s a suburb of Houston so we’ll count it) and now Sprinkles, the one who started the cupcake craziness in 2005 in Beverly Hills.” What’s next — Pinkberry? [Cleverley's Blog]

10:55 am | 2 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Highland Village, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants, Retail
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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Left Turns at Weslayan and Richmond: Trees Get in the Way

July 2, 2008 – 11:15 am

Costco at Richmond and Weslayan Under Construction

Street trees in medians on Weslayan and Richmond will likely be disappearing soon, reports Sarah Kortemeier in the offline-only Village News. Three left-turn lanes on Weslayan and two on Richmond are planned for the new Greenway Commons Costco-powered Power Center under construction on the northeast corner of that intersection:

Trammell Crow Managing Director of Retail Development Craig Cheney says that the company was required by the City of Houston to put the turning bays in for traffic mitigation purposes, and his company was not made aware of any extra permitting required to remove trees. . . .

The median does not appear to be wide enough to accommodate extra lanes without removing trees. Cheney says that Trammell Crow is “open to any suggestions [the City] might have” about relocating or mitigating the effect on trees, but that the turning bays cannot be constructed without removing or relocating at least some of the trees.

Photo of Costco construction: Flickr user Graustark

11:15 am | Add a Comment | Read more about Neighborhoods: Greenway Plaza, Shopping Centers, Streets, Trees
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Friday, June 27, 2008

The Loneliest Doctor in Houston

June 27, 2008 – 9:51 am

River Oaks Physician Plaza

Medistar’s brand-new River Oaks Physician Plaza adjacent to the just-shuttered River Oaks Hospital has just one tenant, reports Monica Perin in today’s Houston Business Journal:

The 105,000-square-foot, five-story River Oaks Physician Plaza was intended to house offices for River Oaks Hospital physicians as well as a sports medicine center, sleep lab and an endoscopy and pain management center, all operated by River Oaks Hospital, which was originally set to lease space in the building. . . .

But, according to Dr. Leroy Sterling, a physician investor in River Oaks Hospital, there is currently only one tenant — a physician — in the building.

Colliers is now trying to lease the building to commercial tenants. Space is listed at $21 a square foot, triple net. The building has been renamed River Oaks Plaza.

Photo of River Oaks Physician Plaza: River Oaks Hospital

9:51 am | 1 Comment | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Leasing, Medical Buildings, Neighborhoods: Greenway Plaza
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Thursday, June 26, 2008

59 Feeder AT&T: A Starring Role in the iPhone Ecosystem

June 26, 2008 – 4:13 pm

Apple’s Where To Buy Page for the iPhone, Showing the AT&T Store between Edloe and Weslayan

A Swamplot reader who’s been itching for one of them new 3G iPhones points us to this page on the Apple website, designed to show where you’ll be able to buy an iPhone. On July 11th, the new phones will be available at Apple Retail Stores and at AT&T outlets.

Naturally, Apple illustrates the two store options with photos of the most glamorous examples of each type. The Apple Store shown is the famous glass cube on 5th Avenue in New York City. And the AT&T store is . . . the AT&T Experience Store on the side of the Southwest Freeway between Edloe and Weslayan!?

Our reader comments:

And no, it doesn’t look that good in person. It’s on at least its third incarnation as a cellphone store: first it was a pretty boring two-story concrete box for Houston Cellular, then it got some outlandish rooftop decoration with a rebranding to Cingular, and then it changed brands (and colors) to ATT.

4:13 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Greenway Plaza, Retail
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