Yeah, there are lots of very large homes in Houston that kinda look like some drug lord’s mansion. But how can you find one that’s truly authentic? Here’s one way: Look for a property that’s been put on the market by actual U.S. marshals!
Like this 5-bedroom, 4-bath pinkish-brownish stucco crib at 17907 Elk Valley Circle in Ponderosa Trails. It sits on a 2.54-acre lot on a quiet cul-de-sac just south of Cypress Creek near Kuykendahl, and comes complete with the requisite pool and patio, hot tub, double-height porte-cochere, and 4-car garage.
Sure, it sorta looks like it might be the home of a drug kingpin, but so do a lot of other big homes in town built since, say, 2000. What’s this one’s pedigree?
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Read more about: 77090, Auctions, Crime, Foreclosures, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Ponderosa Trails
Hey, who turned out all the street lights along I-10 between the East Loop and Uvalde? Copper thieves! “[Public Works spokesperson Alvin] Wright said a similar theft took place inside the loop, but this was the first time it had happened on such a large scale further east.
In response, public works is considering replacing the copper wires with aluminum, and installing lock boxes to keep the copper conductors safe. Officials said they don’t know how long it will take to complete the repairs, which could eventually cost taxpayers thousands of dollars.” [KHOU.com]
Read more about: 77013, 77015, 77029, Crime, Freeways, Jacinto City, Outdoor Lighting, Streetscapes
February 22, 2010 – 10:55 am
Will Julia Roberts play her a second time in this new movie? Houston socialite Joanne King Herring claims that an 18th century painting New York mortgage broker Geoffrey Rice tried to sell through Sotheby’s auction house last year was stolen from her home 24 years ago — and she’s got an original 1980 purchase receipt from Christie’s and a 1986 Houston police report to prove it. Rice claims he bought the painting for about $1,000 in Houston back in 1983 from — who’da guessed it? — Jerry and Wynonne Hart’s now-defunct Hart Galleries.
Alas, the Harts are in legal trouble of their own: last year they pled guilty to felony “misapplication of fiduciary property” while charges of theft and money laundering were dropped. But another judge later awarded them a new trial. Nevertheless, in an affidavit, they claim they never sold the painting — or anything else — to Rice.
Rice tells the New York Post he took the painting — by Scottish artist Sir Henry Raeburn — with him to New York after he got divorced, “where it sat in his laundry room until early last year.”
Wow. Just wow. A laundry room — in Manhattan!
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Read more about: Art, Crime
February 10, 2010 – 11:04 am
More than 700 of the abandoned or problem properties documented and written up by the Houston Police Dept.’s Neighborhood Protection Corps over the last 3 years belong either to the City of Houston or Harris County agencies, reports 11 News reporter Jeremy Rogalski. Approximately half of those properties are located in 4 not-so-fancy Zip Codes — 77016, 77026, 77028, and 77051 — three of which are in the northeast area of the city.
One piece of the problem: those tax-delinquent properties the county puts up for public auction:
. . . if they don’t sell, it becomes the county’s obligation to maintain them. But [Harris County Facilities & Property Management Chief Administrative Manager Jim] Lemond admits, the county can’t even check them all.
“We have two inspectors whose primary function is to do many other things and not this,” Lemond said.
As for the violations the city writes, there’s another problem: The county claims for years, the city never told it about the violations.
“No that’s not acceptable. Obviously that’s not acceptable,” Lemond said.
He added that his office was puzzled when the city did send over a packet of violation notices in June 2009.
“What are these, and where did they come from and what’s this all about,” Lemond recalled of his reaction.
But Montecella Flaniken, Assistant Director of Field Operations with Neighborhood Protection Corps, maintains the city had been routinely e-mailing the county of violations all along.
Graphic: KHOU.com
Read more about: 77016, 77026, 77028, 77051, County Tax Auctions, Crime, Delinquent Properties, Fifth Ward, Harris County Government, Neighborhood Disputes, Northeast Houston
February 1, 2010 – 5:19 pm
What’s become of the 20-some Houston-area car lots dealers have shut down over the last year or two? Here’s a sampling: “‘My mother lived here 27 years, and we never had any trouble with Landmark Chevrolet,’ said Rhys Everett, who was cleaning out his mother’s former residence in the Hidden Valley neighborhood behind the defunct dealership. ‘But now it is filled with vagrants who have taken everything that wasn’t nailed down, and it’s a jumping-off point for crime in our neighborhood.’ The dealership, one of 13 outlets nationwide that Bill Heard Enterprises closed in September 2008, sprawls for blocks near the intersection of Gulf Bank and the North Freeway. It looks as if it had been hit by a cyclone. The main showroom’s exterior and interior windows are shattered. Ceiling tiles are torn away, exposing duct work that dangles like limp straws. Awnings hang in tatters. . . . The ravaged Chevrolet dealership’s antithesis can be found on Interstate 10 in Baytown, where the defunct Baytown Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealership is preserved in near-pristine condition.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
Read more about: 77037, 77521, Auto Dealerships, Baytown, Crime, Hidden Valley, Landscape, Openings and Closings, Retail, Vacant Buildings
January 29, 2010 – 11:01 am
That condo in The Huntingdon belonging to Ken and Linda Lay may soon have company on the market. Randi Stanford, daughter of alleged swindler Robert Allen Stanford — who’s lived in a 2,803-sq.-ft. condo in the same highrise at 2121 Kirby for the last 3 years — has agreed to vacate her unit by the end of March.
The agreement ends a longstanding dispute. The court-appointed receiver for the assets of the Stanford Financial Group will put the unit up for sale.
According to HCAD records, Unit 16NE is owned by an LLC whose address is listed as 5050 Westheimer Rd. — the former headquarters of Stanford Financial Group. Writes the Chronicle’s Mary Flood:
A report by an accountant working for the receiver showed that Allen Stanford paid for the condo with
$1.3 million in early 2006. It shows that at least $44,000 paid for condo maintenance came directly from company funds, and that $34,000 of that came from the certificates of deposits issued by Stanford’s bank in Antigua that are at the heart of the alleged fraud.
Photo of The Huntingdon: HAR
Read more about: 77019, Allen Stanford, Condos, Condos for Sale, Crime, The Huntingdon, Upper Kirby
January 22, 2010 – 11:12 am
A reporter for a Houston media outlet is exploring a “potential story” on neighborhood watch groups around the Houston area, and has a few questions for Swamplot readers: “In your experience with the Houston real estate market, have you seen the existence of watch groups affect the market in the watch neighborhood? In other words, would a potential buyer be deterred or reassured/pleased by neighborhood watch signs in the area in which she/he is looking at buying? Would they think it was unsafe/safe? Do watch groups bring the prices up, down or neither? I’m interested in any light you could shed on the topic of neighborhood watch groups–even if it is slight.” Well, whaddya think? Add your comments below, or send them privately to this email address. [Swamplot inbox]
Read more about: Crime, Public Safety
November 23, 2009 – 10:26 am
The microcinema’s founder, Andrea Grover, reports on the little Sunset Heights church on Aurora St. turned little movie theater — turned little crime scene: on recent events at the Menil-bungalow office of Aurora Picture Show on Sul Ross: “Now that the dust has settled . . . it’s OK to tell you: Aurora was burglarized, not once, but twice in 9 days, and the insurance claim was denied. . . . There was a small clause about a B3 monitoring system (a monitored alarm) that was not highlighted at signing and allowed the insurer to deny Aurora, after eleven uninterrupted years of payments to them (without a single claim) - probably amounting to $30-40,000 in insurance payments. . . . Now, out over $5000 worth of equipment, plus staff time, and contract labor for clean up . . .” [Facebook, via Arts in Houston]
Read more about: 77009, Attractions, Crime, Insurance, Sunset Heights
November 18, 2009 – 5:31 pm
Now that a suspect for at least one of the recent Heights-area arsons is in custody, blogger Fred Eats Houston feels a bit more comfortable sharing his photos of some local burn victims.
There have been 18 “suspicious” fires in the Heights area since mid-August. Here are 2 views of a playhouse on Ashland St., part of one of the first structures to burn:
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Read more about: 77008, Arson, Crime, Demolitions, Fires, Houston Heights, Shady-Acres
November 5, 2009 – 9:35 am
“Yesterday, a friend of mine sent an e-mail out with this in the subject line: ‘You can’t own anything nice if you live inside the loop…’ She sent this because the large wooden bench she keeps on her front porch had been stolen. Carted off. In broad daylight. This was a big bench. It was not a one-person job. This tells me there must be a big gang of these people in the Heights, strolling around while we sit at our desks in office buildings, treating our houses like unattended garage sales. I would tell her to get a dog, but we have a dog. And we’ve still had every single thing not attached to our concrete foundation pilfered. Maybe she should get a dog bred for something besides decoration. Maybe that’s the key.” [A Peine for Your Thoughts]
Read more about: 77009, Crime, Furniture, Heights, Home Decor, Security
September 17, 2009 – 3:24 pm
Early this morning: the 10th and 11th in a series of set blazes in the Heights, all targeting vacant homes. The latest were on 9th St. and 12th St.: “Before today, all the other fires had occurred along Ashland between 10th and 11th streets. Today’s fires were within three blocks of the previous blazes. District Chief Arthur Broussard said both fires appeared suspicious, and the second one appeared to start near an exterior staircase. Firefighters put it out within 15 minutes. ‘It’s pretty brazen, pretty brazen,’ he said of the second fire starting such a short distance from where firefighters and police were still on the scene of the first one.” [Houston Chronicle]
Read more about: 77008, Crime, Fires, Hazards, Houston Heights
September 16, 2009 – 11:06 am
Read more about: Crime, Graffiti, Public Art
Comment of the Day: The Neighborhood of the Traveling Pants
“My friend lives in a small Montrose (Audobon Place) apartment complex. He had a pair of pants and a sweatshirt stolen out of the dryer. He called the police AND THEY CAME OUT! For a pair of pants! I didn’t think they came out anymore even for a car break-in. Even more unbelievable is the police actually caught a homeless guy wearing my friends clothes about 20 minutes later and brought him back and made him take the clothes off and give them back.” [Tangyjoe, commenting on The Front Porch Gang]