Swamplot Archives by Tag: 77055

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The Sound of the 290 Expansion

March 9, 2011 – 1:58 pm

A small group of homeowners that includes residents of Timbergrove, Brookwoods Estates, and Holly Park have filed a lawsuit against the Federal Highway Administration claiming that the agency approved the expansion of Hwy. 290 along the 38-mile stretch from 610 to FM 2920 last August without properly analyzing how noise from the project would affect their properties. In the filing, the plaintiffs say they are not opposed to the project, but are concerned that TxDOT’s environmental studies of its planned elevated roadways at the 610 and I-10 interchanges — some of which will reach as high as 100 ft. in the air — didn’t account for noise impacts on Memorial Park and the Houston Arboretum as well.

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1:58 pm | 13 Comments | Read more about Freeways and Toll Roads, Neighborhood Disputes, Neighborhoods: Brookwoods Estates, Neighborhoods: Holly Park, Neighborhoods: Timbergrove, Sound
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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Spring Branch Woods Fast Flip: From Unphotographable Crapshack to Dream Home in Just 48 Days!

December 23, 2010 – 12:46 pm

Remember this home in Spring Branch Woods? Maybe not. Because the last time it went up for sale the home was in such bad shape the listing agent resorted to illustrating it with a gallery of cheesy stock photos, along with such enticing adjectives as “inhabitable.” And then there was this classic offer: “A diamond in the WAY rough, enter at your own risk, with a mask.”

The next day, enterprising Swamplot reader Claire de Lune drove by the property, and sent in a few photos of the place, including the one above, which helped explain the agent’s photographic choices — at least the image of all those children, running.

On October 15th, the home sold for $80,000, down a bit from the $110K asking price. And tax records dug up by a reader show the buyer, Titan Premier LLC, financed $71K of it — not exactly the “cash only” offer the seller had wanted. Then, at the beginning of December, the home went . . . gasp! . . . back on the market.

How does it look now? Just a little different:

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12:46 pm | 14 Comments | Read more about Buying and Selling, Homes for Sale, Neighborhoods: Spring Branch Woods, Renovations
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Friday, August 13, 2010

Unmasked: That Unphotographable Home in Spring Branch Woods

August 13, 2010 – 3:56 pm

Reader Claire de Lune has a reconnaissance report on the mysterious home at 9765 Oak Point Dr. in Spring Branch Woods Swamplot highlighted yesterday — you know, the new “enter at your own risk, with a mask” $110K listing apparently so horrifying to the agent that only a series of seemingly random stock photos could properly represent it. “There IS a house behind all that foliage,” our volunteer correspondent assures us. But then: “I must say, of all the stock photos [the listing agent] used, the little children running away in fear is the MOST appropriate.”

Claire de Lune reports that the rest of the street is pretty, but there’s no for-sale sign in front of this home:

This is a corner lot, overgrown with a minimum 3-4 years of neglect. Dead tree limbs on the roof suggest Ike damage. I suspect someone who really knows where and how to dig can find out when the taxes were last paid. . . . This place is within walking distance of the ginormous HEB @ Bunker Hill and all that surrounds it.

A couple more photos from the scene:

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3:56 pm | 36 Comments | Read more about Hazards, Homes for Sale, Neighborhoods: Spring Branch Woods, Real Estate Marketing
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Thursday, August 12, 2010

What Awfulness Lurks in Spring Branch Woods?

August 12, 2010 – 3:34 pm

Must be pretty bad, if a brand-new listing has to resort to a gallery of stock photos (some shown above) in place of actual property pix. “Enter at your own risk, with a mask,” reads the description. But the note to agents is more colorful and contradictory:

Sold As is. Investors only. Cash Only. A diamond in the WAY rough, enter at your own risk, with a mask. Unoccupied, Feel free to walk on property. Inhabitable. . . . Drive by only, just make offer.

“I can only imagine what condition this place is in,” writes the reader who sent us the listing. All the excitement and adventure can be yours — for just $110,000.

3:34 pm | 22 Comments | Read more about Homes for Sale, Neighborhoods: Spring Branch Woods, Real Estate Marketing
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Friday, July 23, 2010

Walmart Can’t Wait

July 23, 2010 – 8:18 pm
   

Scratch that bit about “within a couple months”: A representative of Walmart told neighbors yesterday that construction of the new Supercenter behind the Marq*E Entertainment Center at Silber Rd. and I-10 will begin next week: “Several Afton Village residents spoke highly of Ikea, which they say reached out to the neighborhood well before plans were drawn for its larger store, which required the permanent closing of Afton Street from the I-10 feeder road. [Public affairs rep Kellie Duhr and Houston operations manager Jerry Peacock] said that Walmart believes in community and has a record of being a good neighbor. They said that philosophy would continue at the Silber store. ‘We bought the property. We can build there,’ Duhr said. ‘We’re here now, and it’s important to work with the community.’” [Memorial Examiner, previously on Swamplot]

8:18 pm | 4 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Afton Village, New Construction, Quicklink, Retail
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Thursday, July 22, 2010

On Top of Old 1,1-Dichloroethene: The New Silber Rd. Walmart

July 22, 2010 – 11:13 am

A little more detail on that other Walmart headed for I-10, from Memorial Examiner reporter Rusty Graham: Construction will begin within a couple of months on the 185,000 sq. ft. Supercenter just north of the Marq*E Entertainment Center, on the remaining 23 acres of the former Cameron Iron Works plant. The company has quietly owned a portion of the TCEQ remediation site, which features soil and groundwater rich in cleaning solvents, since 2008. (“Most of the soil at the site has now been cleaned to meet residential standards,” Cooper Cameron claims.) Six of 7 surrounding pad sites will line Silber Rd. The Walmart itself will form a scenic backdrop to an expansive 880-space parking lot:

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11:13 am | 18 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Afton Village, New Construction, Retail, Toxic Sites
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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Comment of the Day: Discovering Yet Another New Houston Walmart

July 14, 2010 – 1:43 pm
   

“. . . in my search for Wal-Mart to see if anything is going on at Yale, I found that a license is out for Wally at I-10 and Silber behind the Marq-E. $9 mil, starting 04/10 and finishing 1/11. Wally wants to be at every I-10 exit, I suppose. That seems more than gossip, right, if there’s a license and review completed? Who knew all of Wally’s 2010/2011 new stores would be in a ten mile radius in Houston, TX? Awesome growth plan, guys!” [brandyc, commenting on Swamplot Street Sleuths: Chances Are]

1:43 pm | 5 Comments | Read more about Comments, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Retail
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Friday, June 25, 2010

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Komart’s Best Products

June 25, 2010 – 7:07 pm

Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:

Not sure the “answers” readers provided for this week’s Street Sleuths feature were satisfying enough to merit a summary post, but it’s nice at least to have another excuse to run Jason Tinder’s dramatic photo showing the end of the Komart Marketplace. Here’s what we, uh, “learned”:

  • Spring Branch: So yes, Tinder now does have some “clues” that might help him figure out what’s going on with the Gessner Place Shopping Center on the west side of Gessner just north of I-10, and the remains of Komart. The property is owned by MetroNational, but any redevelopment schemes the company is hatching from its Death Star overlook remain a mystery. Harmonica adds another tidbit to the Memorial City Mall area rumor mill:

    I also understand that they own the center on the other side of Kingsride from the professional building on the South side of 10 and have not been renewing leases.

    In this photo, the Death Star surveys its vanquished foe:

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7:07 pm | 3 Comments | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Demolitions, Neighborhoods: Midtown, Neighborhoods: Montrose, Neighborhoods: Spring Branch, Proposed Developments, Strip Centers
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Swamplot Street Sleuths: From the Ruins of Komart Marketplace

June 22, 2010 – 12:48 pm

Got an answer to any of these reader questions? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Here’s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.

  • Midtown: A couple of readers are curious about this new sign, which went up at the end of last week at the long-languishing lot south of West Alabama between Travis and Main, across the street from Julia’s Bistro and the Breakfast Klub. There were plans to build a hospital in this location a few years ago. In the last year it’s become an inexpensive parking lot, notes roving Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia, who’s curious how whatever’s being envisioned for the property might “tie in with the rail, the church (SMBC), and the Men’s Center nearby.”
  • Spring Branch: Reader Jason Tinder snaps the dramatic photo below, showing the final moments of vanquished Korean grocery store Komart, and notes the entire Gessner Place Shopping Center, on the west side of Gessner just north of I-10, is being demolished. It looks to him like something else is going in there . . . can anybody give him some clues?

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12:48 pm | 21 Comments | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Demolitions, Neighborhoods: Midtown, Neighborhoods: Montrose, Neighborhoods: Spring Branch, Proposed Developments, Strip Centers
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Openings and Closings: That Flood of New Establishments

November 11, 2009 – 6:50 pm

So much new stuff going on it’s impossible to keep track of it all!

  • Opening Soon? A new “Houston Ave. Bar” at the site of the former Farmers Coffee Shop on the corner of Houston Ave. and White Oak. Here’s the evidence: A permit for a “2 story addition” to the property was approved by the city last month. The corner is already a popular gathering place for floodwaters — several commenters on HAIF have posted photos of the intersection after Hurricane Ike (see above) and Tropical Storm Allison.
  • Moved: The Central City Co-op Wednesday market, from that Ecclesia space next to the Taft St. Coffee House to new digs at the Grace Lutheran Church at 2515 Waugh, just north of Missouri St. Sunday markets are still at Discovery Green. Next up for the co-op crew: Selling enough veggies to pay off those loans used for the church buildout.
  • Opening Softly, Later This Month: A place called Canopy, from the folks who brought you that place called Shade. Claire Smith and Russell Murrell’s new restaurant will go in the spot where Tony Ruppe’s was, in the double-decked strip center at 3939 Montrose, reports Cleverley Stone. Three meals a day, 7 days a week, plus 3 seating areas:

    a bright and refreshing dining room, festive bar and side street patio. We will eventually offer curbside “to go” service.

  • Opening Early Next Month: The brand-new Dessert Shoppe, in the strip center portion of 19th Streete in the Heights. Fred Eats Houston writes that sisters Sara and RaeMarie Villar will be serving up “whole cakes and pies to individual desserts, along with assorted breakfast pastries, cookies, quiches, cupcakes, and some breads.”
  • Reopened, for the First Time Since Ike: The Shriner’s Hospital for Children in Galveston. The combined boards of the International Shriners and Shriners Hospitals for Children had originally decided to close the hospital for good, after 30 inches of water wandered through the building’s first floor during the Hurricane. Shriners voting at this summer’s convention in San Antonio reversed that decision. The new hospital will have a smaller staff and budget. The Chronicle‘s Todd Ackerman reports that the hospital should already be open for reconstructive surgery cases; burn victims will have to wait until December for treatment.

And yet even more new stuff:

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6:50 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Attractions, Baytown, Galveston, Neighborhoods: Downtown, Neighborhoods: East Montrose, Neighborhoods: Houston Heights, Neighborhoods: Hyde Park, Neighborhoods: Montrose, Neighborhoods: Spring Branch, Neighborhoods: Upper Kirby, Neighborhoods: Washington Corridor, Neighborhoods: West End, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers
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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Goldilocks in Spring Branch: This One Looks Just Right

September 8, 2009 – 8:01 am

Hidden among the pix of this new Spring Branch listing: more evidence of Houston’s snoozy real-estate market. Details:

Drastic reduction by $105k! Bargain hunter where r u? . . . can easily convert to commercial use for clinic,office,corner store,washertia. High traffic area . . .

We’re hoping that’s a plain ol’ residential use pictured in the bedroom here.

And who’s sleeping in that other bed?

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8:01 am | 15 Comments | Read more about Buildings for Sale, Homes for Sale, Neighborhoods: Hillendahl Acres, Neighborhoods: Spring Branch, Real Estate Marketing
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Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The New Farmers Market in Spring Branch

August 12, 2009 – 3:12 pm

It’s a Wednesday, about 3 o’clock, which means it’s time for Houston’s newest — and probably smallest — “farmer’s” market, in a corner of the parking lot at the School of the Woods Montessori school, 1321 Wirt Rd. at Westview, in Hilshire Village. It’ll last until 6. Yelper Aeryk P. says the market started out pretty small a few weeks ago. He found:

Village Botanica’s produce and meat, Quick-n-ezee’s Indian food, Shirley Ann’s pies and [quiche], Barky Dogz natural dog treats, Katz’s Coffee, Trentino’s Gelato and CareKindly’s environmentally friendly cleaning products.

Photo: School of the Woods

3:12 pm | 3 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Hilshire Village, Neighborhoods: Spring Branch, Retail
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Friday, July 10, 2009

Baby Needs a New Pair of Schools

July 10, 2009 – 8:51 am
   

“Inspired by the birth of our first baby” and the idea that there might be some deals out there, a reader writes in to ask for help with a home search: “We started off looking to be zoned Spring Branch – Memorial HS or HISD – Bellaire high school and are looking for a single family home (no townhome or patio homes). Generally speaking range house price expectations $400 – $600k, so we are expecting to end up in a lower to maybe lower mid range value of homes in the applicable neighborhoods. Recently discovered area code 77055 (had been focused on 77024 for Memorial). We are wondering what people’s opinions of Hillshire Village / Spring Valley / Hedwig in terms of long term appreciation / ability to resale / quality of neighborhood? Seems from an outsiders perspective Memorial and Bellaire area have generally hung in there, not sure of the perception of 77055 among Houstonians. Of course, high school for a little one is a long ways off - where would people target in this price range to squeeze into the best neighborhood (qualitatively based on long term appreciation and quality of neighborhood for a family) in the current market?” [Swamplot inbox]

8:51 am | 22 Comments | Read more about Homebuying, Neighborhoods: Hedwig Village, Neighborhoods: Hilshire Village, Neighborhoods: Spring Valley, Quicklink, Real Estate Investing, Schools
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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Where Long Point Is the High Point: Houston Westside Taco Tourism

June 25, 2009 – 1:19 pm

Maybe this is the industry that’ll bring in . . . all those bargain-seeking tourists from Austin?

Video: Nelson Flores

1:19 pm | 4 Comments | Read more about Attractions, Neighborhoods: Long Point, Restaurants, Tourism
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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Comment of the Day: I-10 and Bunker Hill Paving Report

May 21, 2009 – 4:42 pm
   

“. . . as someone who lives on Westview and who has lived in the area mentioned (or near it) for 15 years… let me tell you what was paved over. -Ditches on either side of Bunker Hill between Longpoint and Katy freeway. -Old Katy road, which had grass on both sides and a ditch. -A little shop (maybe a car dealership I dont remember) that was on an island between both sides of bunker hill, dirt and green was taken from there -the already mentioned quarry which was NOT all pavement. I went there often and it was very much dirt. Cars would get stuck there when it rained. -The daniel area that was also not all paved where those new apartments are (where there is standing water when it DOESNT rain due to poor drainage). This is not a flooding that hasnt happened in 20 years, the houses here are much older than 20 years… these houses are 50+ years old and it has NEVER happened.” [Alma, commenting on The Detention Battle of Bunker Hill: Flooding Above the New Katy Freeway]

4:42 pm | 7 Comments | Read more about Comments, Flooding, Neighborhoods: Long Point Woods, New Construction, Quicklink
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