COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE GREAT WEST HOUSTON DIVORCéE BELT “It basically runs in between Beltway 8 and 610 and is crossed by the likes of Westheimer, Woodway, Richmond, Bissonnet et al. Basically these people met in drunken stupors along the Richmond strip in the early 80s at those cheesy night clubs; tried to make lasting marriages but eventually divorced; and then bought homes and patio homes close but not too close to their old stomping grounds. Incidentally, many of them work non-descript office jobs at middle market companies in the Westchase district and raaaaaave about the tres leches cake at the Churrasco’s out there on Westheimer. Yay Divorcee Belt!” [Bobby Hadley, commenting on Neighborhood Guessing Game: Blue Check]
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Tag: 77056
Some fun recent pix from around town!
Above, from this weekend: the Williams Tower just moments before liftoff, as captured by Flickr user Bokeh Down.
Oh yes there’s more:
This weekend’s Galleria-area bank implosion won’t be televised nationally, but you should be able to watch it happen live if you wake up early enough on Sunday. Preparations for the dynamite-fueled takedown of the Compass Bank building at 2200 Post Oak are just about complete.
A notice sent out last month to area businesses by Cherry Demolition says the implosion is scheduled for approximately 7:45 am on March 15th — which happens to be the 2,053rd anniversary, give or take a calendar adjustment, of the Julius Caesar demo. A few details:
Adjacent streets will be closed at approximately 6:00 am and re-open at 9:15 am. Streets to be closed are Guilford and Post Oak Boulevard between Westheimer and Ambassador Way.
So where’s the best vantage point for viewing this cathartic form of timely public theater gonna be?
“Ronald McDonald will soon have all of his parking spaces back,” writes Swamplot tipster Michele, who also sends in these photos from yesterday. They show the sales office for Randall Davis’s canceled Titan highrise — which hung out in the McDonald’s parking lot on Post Oak for many months — boarded up and readied for its next location and rebranding assignment.
THE WOODWAYS AND THE WESTHEIMERS “I sometimes think that Woodway is made nicer by the fact that Westheimer exists. There are certainly numerous suburbs and exurbs where the Westheimers look like Woodways. Oh, there’s retail, but it’s set back from the street, perhaps behind a tree buffer, with tasteful monument signage out front. I’ve always found such environments to be stifling. It’s so obviously contrived. All-night, six- and eight-lane arterials are SUPPOSED to have large illuminated signs. They’re SUPPOSED to have ratty businesses alongside the nice ones. Every suburb has a Target and a ratty convenience store. Westheimer has a Target and twenty ratty convenience stores, plus ’24 hours video and news.’ I’ve never been in there, but its existence tells me that this strip is whatever it wants to be. This holds true of Woodway. It’s not a pure residential drive; there is retail, much of it even with tasteful signage. The signage follows from the road – Westheimer has large signs because it’s big and straight and a larger sign means higher visibility. Put up a larger sign on Woodway and it’d just be obscured by trees. Some people think of Westheimer (and other streets like it) as ugly. I don’t, but I understand where they’re coming from. Perhaps if they wanted to do something about it, they should plant trees instead of making rules about commercial signage. Proactive versus restrictive. Woodway is a nice drive because it was built to very nice design standards (10′ median with staggered trees) and because the people who own stores and homes along Woodway want to keep it pleasant. And so it is.” [Keep Houston Houston]
POST OAK LANE PARK DOLLAR TIMELINE: ALL THE OFFERS AND COUNTERS Following up on the overview of the controversy he and Carolyn Feibel published last week, Bradley Olsen provides this updated summary of all the offers made for James and Jock Collins’s 7,230-sq.-ft. property at the the corner of San Felipe and Post Oak Ln., adjacent to Boulevard Place: “In April 2002, the Uptown Development Authority offers the Collins brothers $289,000 for their property to widen San Felipe and for other purposes (they bought it for $363,750 in 1982). They declined. In February 2004, Uptown offers the Collins brothers $398,035 for their property. They declined. Wulfe & Co. begins negotiations with the brothers to buy the property in 2004. In early 2006 (one side says March, the other says May), Wulfe and Co. offered the Collins brothers $1.985 million, which included a $1.46 million cash offer plus financing of $525,000 over five years. The brothers declined that offer, both sides confirm. The brothers counter-offer by asking for $1.7 million in cash, according to Cary Gray, their attorney. In June 2006, Wulfe and Co. responded with a $1.46 million cash offer, which they withdraw in July, according to both sides. In October 2006, the city notifies the Collins brothers of its intent to seize the land through eminent domain powers. Before filing its eminent domain lawsuit, the city gives the brothers a final offer in May 2007 of $433,800. They declined. In February 2008, a panel of special commissioners appointed in Harris County Civil Court voted to award the Collins brothers $723,000. They declined. The legal proceedings between the city and the brothers are still ongoing and are in the discovery phase.” [Houston Chronicle]
Swamplot mentioned the cancellation of Randall Davis’s Titan condo project in passing yesterday, announcing at the same time that the project had scored the first-place spot in the hotly contested Most Grandiose Development category of the Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. But really, if any 2008 event in Houston real estate deserves its own separate post on Swamplot, this is it.
Davis told the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff that slow sales convinced him to shut down the 25-story highrise project. There’ll be no rearranging of the deck chairs, no putting the project “on hold,” no “My Heart Will Go On.” It’s all over.
But the Titan will be sorely missed.
Today’s as good a day as any to highlight the work of YouTube user hcp051000, aka Senior Airman Pan, who has compiled an impressive array of videos documenting the performance of some of this city’s finer vertical conveyances.
What’s it like to ride in these Houston elevators, really? Now you can find out — and shop for your favorite — from behind the comfort of your own computer screen.
Here’s S.A. Pan’s ride in the colorful cab of a Dover elevator at the Kemah Boardwalk Inn Hotel:
If the purchase deal can pass City Council, the Water Wall next to the Williams Tower will go from developer amenity and vacant-lot placeholder to actual Galleria public park:
The seller is an affiliate of Houston-based Hines Interests LP, which originally developed the Water Wall and adjacent Williams Tower along with Transco Energy Co. in the 1980s. The skyscraper, Water Wall and green space have changed hands over time, but went back under Hines-related ownership earlier this year when they were acquired by Hines Real Estate Investment Trust Inc.
The city is expected to pay $8.5 million for the Water Wall and the three-acre park where it sits.
How good a real estate investment was that fountain back in 1985?
The land was most recently appraised at $3.8 million, according to Harris County Appraisal District records. But [Mayor] White and [Uptown TIRZ administrator John] Breeding said the $8.5 million price was well below market rates, which occasionally have gone as high as $200 per square foot, which would have amounted to a $24 million selling price.
- City makes splash with Water Wall [Houston Business Journal]
- $8.5 million deal assures Water Wall will survive [Houston Chronicle]
Photo: Dave Thomas
Houston architect Preston Bolton built this bright house for himself in 1970, on the south bank of Buffalo Bayou just west of Memorial Park. It went on the market earlier this week, listed for just under $2 million.
We’ve had a pretty good run of 35 Neighborhood Guessing Games. So a train wreck like this week’s contest was probably overdue.
At least 6 participants in this round already knew the property posted on Tuesday. Sadly, only one bothered to spice up the game by writing in with the answer, then attempting to deceive the other players with wacky but mildly credible guesses. Most everyone stuck by the rules, but those rules will probably need to see some adjustments (beginning next year) to prevent the NGG from turning into a contest where players compete to guess at things they already know.
Here’s where those of you who were actually guessing thought this colorful pad might be: Meyerland, Tanglewood, the edge of River Oaks, Southampton, Mandell Place, Montrose, the Medical Center, the near Northside near Patton and Main, on Blossom near Shepherd, the Memorial Villages, “somewhere near the Galleria,” Rivercrest, Southgate, Rice Military, Camp Logan, Memorial near Westcott, “that modernish enclave of new houses north of Richmond and west of Kirby,” “just west or southwest of Highland Village shopping center,” or off Woodway near Buffalo Bayou.
The winner this week was John, who managed to stretch out his quick guess into this complete sentence:
My guess is, of all places, Tanglewood.
A few of the many (later) Tanglewood entries:
I think it is that hideous house that is painted school bus yellow just off the boulevard that was built maybe 10 years ago.
this has to be that horrible house in tanglewood near chimney rock.
This has to be that bright yellow, Legorreta wannabe house just east of Chimney Rock.
It reminds me of the hotel Pierce Bronsan stayed at in Matador. All that purple, pink and yellow sure is festive.
Special honors go to this week’s double-agent, Richard, who unleashed some mad FUD-inducing skillz:
The owners of this paean to contemporary high-class-Mexican architecture are probably maxing out their platinum American Express cards at the Louis Vuitton shop at the Galleria. The scale and colors remind me of the Camino Real Hotel in Mexico City, but if they want to sell this house in Rivercrest, they’re going to have to make a trip to Home Depot for some taupe and tan colored paint. This second-home for Mexican immigrants of the non-gardening-or-custodial variety is in Rivercrest, probably even north of Briar Forest on Crestbend. . . .
In fact, after reviewing a previous Swamplot headline, may I venture to guess it’s on the corner of Crestbend and Enchilada??
So what’s the scoop?
From the Swamplot mailbin, questions about the tower Randall Davis got up:
I would like an update on the Cosmopolitan. I drove by and it looks like barely anyone is living in the building. Roughly 20% of the units are either for sale or lease in the building. Given the problems the Titan is having in sales, can anyone provide insight into the viability of the Cosmopolitan. Does anyone live there? How is it?
The last time Swamplot posted a reader’s questions about the Cosmopolitan, the response was . . . underwhelming. Anybody home?
- The Cosmopolitan: Is It Flipping Time Yet? [Swamplot]
- Head of the Titans: Cosmopolitan Pissoirs on Post Oak [Swamplot]
Photo of Cosmopolitan Tower: HAR
The rumor Swamplot reported late last week has now been confirmed from multiple sources: The 34-story Turnberry Tower luxury condo palace planned for the Galleria area — yeah, the one with the tombstone-shaped silhouette — is officially dead.
- Turnberry Tower: Turning Away? [Swamplot]
- Nine and a Half Bathrooms: The Turnberry Tower Penthouse Evacuation Plan [Swamplot]
- The Turnberry: More Wiping, in More Places, than at Any Other Condo Tower [Swamplot]
- Tune In to the Turnberry Tower [Swamplot]
Rendering of Turnberry Tower Galleria: Robert M. Swedroe Architects and Planners
From Jennifer Dawson in today’s Houston Business Journal comes confirmation of part of Swamplot’s report earlier this week on the two highrises planned for Boulevard Place. The Hanover Company’s planned 37-story apartment tower isn’t moving forward anytime soon:
Construction was supposed to start this month, but that’s not going to happen because it’s too difficult to get a construction loan right now, says Hanover President John Nash.
He says it would be impossible to predict when the credit market would allow the project to move forward, but it could be delayed as much as a year.
- Tight money postpones plans for residential tower [Houston Business Journal]
- Putting Off the Ritz: Boulevard Place Towers Stalled [Swamplot]
- Hanover Apartment Tower at Boulevard Place: 37 Stories [Swamplot]
Tower rendering: Solomon Cordwell Buenz, via the Houston Chronicle
From the Swamplot rumor mill comes an unconfirmed and second-hand report: that the team behind proposed Houston Turnberry Tower — the 34-story luxury highrise planned to rest just behind the Williams Tower — “officially pulled the plug on their galleria deal yesterday.”
Could this be true? A lot of hard work — and a lot of plumbing design — has been poured into that project. It would be sad to see it all go down the toilet.
Late Update: The rumor has been confirmed.
- Nine and a Half Bathrooms: The Turnberry Tower Penthouse Evacuation Plan [Swamplot]
- The Turnberry: More Wiping, in More Places, than at Any Other Condo Tower [Swamplot]
- Tune In to the Turnberry Tower [Swamplot]
Rendering of Turnberry Tower Galleria: Robert M. Swedroe Architects and Planners
