- 5054 Fallen Oaks Dr. [HAR]
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Tag: 77091
- 4918 Bayou Vista Dr. [HAR]
A sun-baked mini-villa in White Oak Terrace that spent most of 2012 on the market is back from its winter break as a re-listing with a new agent. Same price, though: $250,000. Symmetrical on its street-side, the 2010-built home likes columns, arches, and contrasting color so much it used them outside and in, where dappled tile floors further styl-i-fy the somewhat open floor plan. The garage-free property is located off T.C. Jester a little south of W. Little York. Elsewhere on the street, which has a dead-end in the next block, mostly single-story homes in the little northwest neighborhood are either a decade old or well past 40.
If you triple the $54,000 purchase price of this 1978 pop-top property when it sold in April (and add some spare change), you get the initial asking price of its back-after-renovations listing: $164,840. Located on a cul-de-sac in Candlelight Oaks Village, the corner-lot home is also up for lease at $1,500 per month. It features a plethora of windows in a range of styles, proportions, and function. Several skylights, transoms, and tilt-top dormers, meanwhile, offset the bunkered-down brick facade and expansive roof.
From the street, this lightly landscaped property in Antoine Forest Estates appears a bit stark. The 1983 home’s greenery is out back, however, where a screen of trees at the lot line throws shade on a yard-sized pool and patio. The outback scenery’s all within view of the main living area’s floor-to-cathedral ceiling windows fireside. There’s another unobstructed view over in the master bathroom (at left), where the soaker tub’s picture window also shows off nature. In both directions. For even more natural surroundings, head to the westside trail of nearby White Oak Bayou.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE NORTH SHEPHERD EXPRESS “RE: DOT I-45 IMPROVEMENTS: I wonder why North Shepherd isn’t included as a ‘parallel route’ for development ‘to add capacity & alleviate congestion.’ It’s already a wide, straight corridor with a direct N-S orientation but (currently) too slow to be a viable alternative to I-45 (except under extreme crash/flooding conditions.) Many I-45 North drivers are headed to areas in The Heights, Galleria and points in-between, and, neither the Sam Houston/Beltway 8 Loop nor the Hardy Tollway are their paths of choice. Center lanes of Shepherd could be elevated as an express route. Below it, neighborhood traffic would be unaffected and the area could rejuvenate (or whatever developers call it these days) to a residential/light commercial area. There is currently a multi-unit project planned for the area, on Rittenhouse . . .” [movocelot, commenting on Headlines: The Push for Waterfront Homes; Unintended Light Show at the Rice Skyspace]
- 6125 Rollins St. [HAR]
Today, two and a half years after city officials shut down the Gables of Inwood apartments and ordered all its tenants to move out, demolition crews began tearing down the squatter-friendly 163-unit, 10-building, 4 1/2-acre Inwood Forest complex — a process expected to take 6 weeks. City officials say they hope to recoup the $400,000 cost of the demo from the owner, Collins Ofoegbu of El Sobrante, California. But that may not be so easy. As of August 2009, Ofoegbu ranked as Houston’s top scofflaw, having racked up more than 700 building-code violations for issues with the property at 5600 Holly View Dr. His attorney told the Chronicle at the time that the warrants couldn’t be resolved until Ofoegbu settled a dispute with his insurance company, which he said had refused to pay for damages resulting from a fire at the complex.
- It’s Demolition Day for Northwest Houston Apartment Complex [39 Online]
- Previously on Swamplot: City Shuts Down Gables of Inwood; Park Memorial Condos Next?, Daily Demolition Report: Out with the Gables of Inwood
Photo: 39 Online
Mayor Parker, after a stint behind the controls of JTB Services’ excavator at yesterday’s demolition of the Candlelight Trails condominium complex north of Tidwell:
My most fun day yet as Mayor. Make all the jokes you want. I operated a giant backhoe as we demolished an abandoned property off Antoine!
CANDLELIGHT TRAILS IS GOING DOWN 
The demolition of the 11-acre Candlelight Trails empty-condos-and-crime site could begin as early as today. Officials at city hall tell 11 News reporter Sherry Williams that a judge approved the demolition of the abandoned complex — in the 5500 and 5600 blocks of DeSoto, off Antoine north of Tidwell — this morning: “The city recently sued about 150 of the condo owners to get them to sign off on the demolition. Some of those lawsuits added up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties. . . . ‘As long as they agree to sign over their title to the city, then we’re not going after them for money,’ said Houston City Councilwoman Jolanda Jones. ‘It’s really sad that they bought into a place where the people who ran it absconded with their money, but I’m thankful that we are not further, I don’t know, kicking them while they’re down.’” Update: The demolition is now scheduled to begin at 1:30 pm, according to the Near Northwest Management District. [KHOU; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Matt Stiles
REGISTERED AGENTS FOR CONDOS A bill recently passed by the Texas Legislature — inspired by problems encountered in contacting the 150 separate owners of Candlelight Trails in northwest Houston — would make it a whole lot easier for the city to demolish decrepit condo complexes. “The bill by Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, applies only to Houston. It requires every condo development to maintain a registered agent to accept service of legal papers; if any development fails to do so, the Texas secretary of state automatically becomes the agent. The law will take effect Sept. 1 if Gov. Rick Perry signs it or allows it to become law without his signature. Perry will review the measure carefully before deciding, spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said. Current law requires each owner to be served either in person or through a legal notice in a newspaper. Defendants served through publication have two years to file a motion for a new trial. ‘It is extremely time-consuming, expensive and allows the substandard and often dangerous conditions to continue while the city struggles to obtain personal service on each owner,’ Ann Travis, Mayor Bill White’s governmental affairs director, said in a background document explaining the bill.” [Houston Chronicle]
Time’s up! But . . . there’s no winner this week. None of you got it. We’ll keep the prize — a one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance — to give away another time.
Where did you think this week’s home was? Meyerland, “some schlubby little neighborhood off West Airport,” Briargrove, “the area just north of I-10, south of 11th street, east of Westcott and west of Durham,” Westbury (2 guesses), Westchase, Nottingham Forest, Oak Forest, Memorial Hollow, Lakeside Estates, Walnut Bend, off 290 and the Beltway, Thornwood, Kirkwood and Briar Forest, the Heights, Clear Lake, Friendswood, “between T.C. Jester, Ella, 11th, and 18th,” First Colony, Fondren Southwest (2 guesses), Willowbrook near S. Post Oak, Willowbend, Willow Meadows, Briarmeadow, Glenshire, “one of the generic Champions wannabe neighborhoods out near Willowbrook or Jones Road,” and “below Woodlake in the neighborhood bounded by Westheimer, Fondren, Gessner & Richmond.”
No dice.
Carol gets an honorable mention for being close, with Oak Forest.
So where is it?
COMMENT OF THE DAY: CANDLELIGHT TRAILS, DIMMED “My family lived there for 17 years (1985-2001) and we watched this place transform from a luxury conodo complex into a complete waste. We frequently revisitied the complex on several occaisions and it stayed just about the same from the late 1980s until now. The danger of living there really showed its true colors when we went onto the abandoned property last January and discovered a murder scene in our old condo. For many reasons I want this place torn down, but for the most reasons, I don’t want this place down mainly because that used to be my home and where I grew up and seeing it go into the ground might be too much of a sight to bear on my part. Despite this, I rest easily knowing that the complex will never be torn down because it was one of those ‘take action for a day and feel good about it but forget about it the next day’ types of situations so there is no doubt in my mind that the buildings will remain standing as long as I live.” [John, commenting on Lights Out for Candlelight Trails?]
It took almost 3 years, but the Pecan Shadows Apartments have finally sold, says Globe St.‘s Amy Wolff Sorter:
[Hendricks & Partners senior advisor Jeff] Eisenhardt, who represented the Santa Clarita, CA seller, says before the current buyer, another interested tax credit buyer had the complex at 480 W. Parker Rd. tied up in escrow for close to a year.
“Then they got a new CEO who decided he didn’t want to buy and rehab buildings, so they had to walk away from a ton of earnest money,” Eisenhardt comments. Shortly afterward, a second buyer signed a contract, went hard with the earnest money, then dropped out of the deal days before it was due to close.
“This is the third or fourth time this had been under contract,” Eisenhardt acknowledges. “Since day one, we had a lot of activity on this, but just bad luck with buyers.”
The 137-unit complex sits on more than 5 acres next to a forlorn-looking Family Dollar shopping center off I-45. One of apartments’ 12 buildings lost a roof to Hurricane Ike.
A partnership led by Houston investor Doug McGregor paid $4.5 million for the apartments and plans to spend another half-million on interior upgrades, Sorter reports.
- Final Asset Sells From 428-Unit Portfolio [Globe St.]
Photo of Pecan Shadow Apartments: Rentsmart
City building officials closed down the Candlelight Trails condo complex in northwest Houston 14 months ago, citing substandard living conditions. But neighbors have still been complaining about squatters and crime. Now the Chronicle‘s Matt Stiles reports that city attorneys have filed a lawsuit asking a judge to allow them to demolish it:
the complex technically is a condominium property, so the city has to sue 150 owners to get authority to tear the property down. The City Council is set to vote this week to hire a law firm for those cases.
Candlelight Trails sits on 11 acres in the 5500 and 5600 blocks of DeSoto, off Antoine north of Tidwell.
- City legal targets blighted apartment property [Houston Politics]
- Request for Council Action (PDF) [Houston Chronicle]
- Condo residents told to move out of seedy complex [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of Candlelight Trails: Matt Stiles
