Set back behind the trees along I-10 and Memorial Dr. and beside the trails of Terry Hershey Park, the ExxonMobil Chemical Company Headquarters have gone up for sale. Marketing firm HHF says that the sale of the 35-acre Energy Corridor property was precipitated by the company’s impending consolidation northwest of here at the under-construction 385-acre campus behind other trees in Spring. Standing now on the property at 13501 Katy Fwy. are a 5-story, 576,968-sq.-ft. office building and a 20,463-sq.-ft. conference center.
Looks like this mile and a half extension of a hike and bike trail leading north out of Terry Hershey Park is ready to go. Photos popped up on HAIF yesterday that follow the trail as it dives beneath the Katy Fwy. and banks west between Highway 6 and Eldridge Pkwy. along the Addicks Dam.
According to the Terry Hershey Park website, this extension now makes a continuous ride possible from neighborhoods around Wilcrest, Kirkwood, and Dairy Ashford to the Addicks Park and Ride to the northwest.
Here are a few more photos of what you’ll see:
“. . . The Long Point fault cuts straight through the area, hitting brittmore just south of I-10, crossing saint mary’s just to the west, then going through wycliffe and Wilchester, crossing Kirkwood just south of Memorial. It goes all the way down to around Whittington just west of Dairy Ashford. But if you don’t buy a house directly on the fault, you’ll be fine. Judging from the location of this house and where the Long Point fault map shows the fault, this house should be fine. Its neighbor to the west, maybe not.” [Lost_In_Translation, commenting on Yards of Yard in Britmore Oaks]
A day after this Memorial West home hit the market late last month, its price rose by $15,000 to $465,000 — where it remained until today. Now, in honor of the new deep discounts on the iPhone 4S, it’s been cut to $425,000. The tidy ranch-style home sits upon the clipped suburban grasslands of Britmore (one “t”) Oaks, a neighborhood that appears to have pine trees and magnolias as well as the namesake oaks. Like its neighbors, It’s a mid-fifties single-story. The street is 2 blocks south of I-10 off Brittmore Rd. (2 “t”s), has drainage gulleys, dead-ends 9 homes in, and takes a bit of a jog right out front of the property.
Decorative panels mimic and emphasize the vertical orientation of windows on the front of this 1977 Fleetwood home just past the Energy Corridor. Around back, though, it’s all windows overlooking the pool. Behind the property, a shared alley provides access to the home’s 2-car garage as well as the garages of similarly pooled-up homes on the street. The alley also ups the distance between the back fence and the homes beyond it.
Last week, this corner-lot property resurfaced when a new agency relisted it at an even $312,000. The initial asking price back in February 2011 had tested the waters at an unusual $343,343, with a dive 2 months later to $328,328 — before throwing in the towel in October.
“Seems like there is one come down in 77079 almost everyday. Prices are really getting up there too.” [Candor, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Queensbury Clearing]
Joining the style smorgasbord on a cul-de-sac in Wilchester, a 1966 home’s exterior nods to the Space Age in the city where orbits were controlled. Check out the entry portal. Wider versions of its elongated arch — would that be paraboloid or inverted catenary? — appear in the decorative pewter-toned brickwork. The elevation is one-part 1-story, one part 2-story. (The listing averages out the two sides and calls the home a 1 1/2-story.) The floor plan includes 3 or 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths, and 2 half-baths. The family room’s fireplace has an interesting configuration.
Dismemberment of the former ARCO office building west of Eldridge at 15375 Memorial Dr. should begin sometime within a month or two, Catie Dixon reports. What will new owner Skanska USA do with the 21-acre site — rumored as a possible location for the new Phillips 66 headquarters? Skanska is currently hunting for an architect to provide a master plan, Dixon writes, “potentially with a couple of offices.” Meanwhile, the other pre-owned office building purchased recently by the Swedish construction firm appears safe from the wrecking ball: The company’s regional manager tells Dixon he expects to begin remodeling the Houston Club building at 811 Rusk St. downtown by the end of 2012. [Real Estate Bisnow; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Houston Club building: Silberman Properties
If, as rumored, Skanska USA Commercial Development is the buyer of this sprawling former ARCO building at 15375 Memorial Dr. west of Eldridge, the Swedish construction giant will soon be the owner of a small one-of-each collection of Houston office types: The Houston Club building Downtown, the 20-story tower Kirksey designed for the company that just began construction on the Galleria side of the West Loop, and this 21-acre Energy Corridor campus. According to reports, the company is likely to tear down both the Memorial Dr. building and the one Downtown and build office buildings on each site from scratch.
Photo: Silberman Properties
A reader who says he’s always been curious what the gaudiest house in Houston looks like on the inside tells Swamplot his wish has come true — now that photos of this 5-bedroom just-outside-the-Beltway home at 12930 Memorial Dr. have been published on MLS. Four readers have written in to express awe at its appearance. “I’m not sure how to even begin describing the living area decor,” writes another, who also seems transfixed on the “giant high heel and giant lady statues (or are those murals?) in the entryway,” as well as the mermaid-themed master bathroom.
Here’s a heartwarming holiday story. Embarrassed by media reports that all residents of the Skylane West apartments on I-10 were being kicked out of their homes with only 10 days’ notice just days before Christmas, the property’s new owners have given tenants, many of whom pay weekly, a wonderful Christmas present: Now they’ll be kicked out of their homes just days before New Year’s. Sonia Azad reports the new owners of the property just across the Beltway from CityCentre is Houston Garden Centers, which operates a nursery next door to the ratty complex and plans to tear it down. In the holiday spirit, the company “extended family leases through December 29 and gave them each $500 Walmart gift certificates. In an email, the new owner says, ‘We had no idea that there were children living here.’” [abc13] Image: 39Online
“Dunno about demolishing before [a] permit is issued. But I do know that when they took down the Nissan dealership on the Katy Freeway a year or so back I was able to look at the already demolished and cleared site on StreetView the day the permit came up in the Daily Demo Report. So it certainly happens.” [Jimbo, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Chelsea Place Lately]
Comment of the Day: Ending the Gaywood Embarrassment
“As a longtime resident of Gaywood, I can tell you we have had a lot of fun with that name. In fact, I have even entertained making the following motion at one of our homeowners’ association meetings: ‘In order to end the embarrassment we all suffer because of the name of this subdivision, we should remove that offensive, misleading, double-entendre word from the name. Therefore, I propose that we rename our subdivision . . . GayFOREST.’” [Scott, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Capping Haddick]