Tag: Hurricane Ike

Disaster Aftermath
11/20/09 8:04am

Houston Real Estate Market Doing Much, Much Better Than Last October

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Forecasts, Foreclosures, Houston Data, Price Trends
11 Comments

Swamplot’s chart-wielding analyst is back with a few comments on the Houston Association of Realtors’ latest report and media push:

Median and average home sales prices fell $7,200 from the prior month. This was including increased activity to get the $8,000 home buyer tax credit in under the wire! Now it is not fair to compare month to month numbers as seasonal factors are working against the housing market this month.

So we get some good spin from the realtors: “Home prices up 5%” “Sales up 13.8%” …this maps directly over to the mainstream press with no research: “Home sales rise for second month,” “Home prices up 5%,” “Sales up 13.8%” Homeowners in this town should be proud that such a hardworking PR machine still gins out great product!

Why would you call those year-over-year increases spin?

The realtors get to make a press release every month and every month something is a “record” and the press is under deadlines and it gets copied in verbatim. This is home prices up 5% and sales up 13.8% from HURRICANE IKE with no caveat in the headline going out to 200,000 print readers and as many web readers!  Not bad for a days work.

Oh, yeah. Forgot about that whole Ike thing. So what’s the market looking like really?

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Uncategorized
09/25/09 1:14pm

Galveston’s Flagship Hotel: No Sale

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3 Comments

Those rumors earlier this summer that Galveston’s Flagship Hotel would soon be sold to an unnamed buyer didn’t pan out. And now it looks like Landry’s Restaurants may also be backing away from its earlier backup plan to tear down the hotel and build a “pleasure pier” in its place. A Landry’s official tells the Galveston County Daily News‘s Laura Elder the company now plans to repair and reopen the hurricane-ravaged hulk-on-a-pier at 25th Street and Seawall Blvd.:

The city built the Flagship in 1965 as a show of confidence after Hurricane Carla struck the coast.

If Landry’s developed an entertainment complex, it would return the 25th Street pier to its roots. In 1943, the city built the Galveston Municipal Pleasure Pier.

At 1,130 feet long, the pier held a dance hall, a 2,000-seat open air arena, restaurants and concessions, according to the “Galveston Architecture Guidebook.”

Landry’s officials declined to divulge what their specific plans were.

The company is assessing the price of repairs, [Landry’s VP Steve] Greenberg said.

Photo: Ellen Yeates

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Bolivar Peninsula
09/14/09 4:34pm

Comment of the Day: A Boost for the Bolivar Buyout?

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Comments, Disaster Aftermath, Flooding, Foreclosures, Quicklink
3 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: A BOOST FOR THE BOLIVAR BUYOUT? “A large part of Bolivar is going to be turned into a nature preserve. FEMA is buying out many of the properties. . . . I suppose that buyout was made easier by the rate of foreclosures. . . .” [Raj, commenting on Where the Action Was: Houston Summer Foreclosure Map]

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Apartments
08/31/09 1:42pm

What’s the Story with the Bayou on the Bend Apartments?

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Bayous and Waterways, Flooding, Hazards, Mold, River Oaks
13 Comments

Robert Boyd’s original remarks on the scraping of the Wilshire Village Apartments briefly mentioned another older apartment complex that Matt Dilick redeveloped and now runs: the Bayou on the Bend Apartments, at 5201 Memorial, just west of Shepherd. Boyd’s link to discussions of that complex at ratings website Apartment Ratings sparked a quick note from a reader:

It looks like Apartment Ratings attracts tenants who want to complain, but it seems like most of the gripes about other apartments focus on managers who are hard to deal with, thin walls, neighborhood crime, that sort of stuff. Have you read the reviews of Bayou on the Bend?

Bayou on the Bend gets a 35 percent positive rating from readers who have written in to comment — certainly not the lowest number for a large Houston complex. Here are a few choice excerpts:

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Homes for Sale
08/28/09 3:23pm

Wood and Fruit in Place, the Tree House Is Ready for Its Photo Shoot

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Houston Architects, Hyde Park, Montrose, New Construction: Residential
32 Comments

Note: Story updated below.

Developer (and Swamplot advertiser) Carol Isaak Barden says to give her latest project another week or 10 days before it’s ready — the paint isn’t quite dry yet. But all the peppers, candles, and watermelons are certainly in place for these fancy photos she sent us.

Barden calls the home, which is available for sale in a non-MLS kinda way, the “Tree House.” The architects are Erick Ragni and Scott Strasser. The 4,150-sq.-ft. home (3,500 if you don’t count the oversized garage) is on a 50×100-ft. lot at 1608 Indiana, across the street from HISD’s Wilson Montessori School.

What’s so tree-ish about it?

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Bayous and Waterways
08/19/09 10:36am

From Show House to Wet House to No House: Saying Goodbye the MacGregor Way

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Demolitions, Disaster Aftermath, Flooding, Idylwood
11 Comments

The 2-story 1939 brick home at 1504 N. MacGregor Way, on the banks of Brays Bayou in Idylwood, has completed the Swamplot trifecta. In July of last year the home made its first appearance, as the subject of a Neighborhood Guessing Game (answer revealed here). In September, after the pre-Hurricane Ike storm surge brought about 2 feet of water in for an extensive tour of the first floor, the home was featured again: an after-Ike-cleanup poster house, still on the market for $359,000.

And then, this morning, a third and likely final showing on Swamplot: in our Daily Demolition Report.

A quick look back at the home’s better (and not-so-much better) days:

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Disaster Aftermath
08/14/09 11:23am

Party at Arne’s

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First Ward, Openings and Closings, Retail
2 Comments

Arne’s Warehouse Store — that 5-building, 2-story maze of party decorations, pet supplies, and small appliances tucked into the embattled warehouse district at the base of the Heights just west of the First Ward — reopened yesterday, almost a year after being hit hard by Hurricane Ike. How hard?

The building that houses Arne’s inventory and staff offices suffered the brunt of the damages – two of its walls were blown down – and the warehouse roof was torn off by the strong winds of the storm, as well. The interior of the store, which is made entirely of wood, and all the products inside got wet, so all goods were purchased by other vendors, thrown out or destroyed. . . .

Although most of the store was in a workable condition, Arne’s was forced to close because it could not function properly without the inventory section. The necessary repairs were made to the warehouse, and the office building was rebuilt.

Photo of Arne’s, 2830 Hicks St., after Hurricane Ike: Paul McRae

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Construction Materials
07/29/09 11:42am

Hard To Find Green in Houston

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Disaster Aftermath, Green Design and Development, Renovations
19 Comments

A reader calls attention to this Chronicle letter to the editor from Pamela R. Zuteck of Clear Lake Shores:

Regarding “Texans can pay extra to rebuild the eco-friendly way if their home is hit by disaster” (Page A1, Sunday), trying to “go green” using Houston’s contractors will make you throw up your hands. They are clueless or resistant to even simple things like low-VOC paint. Product suppliers are hard to find or too far away to be practical. We saw Ike as a real opportunity to step it up but have met frustration at every turn. There’s no help out there. It was a victory just to get a few items, like Hardiplank removable interior wallboard. We had to do all the research and coordination, then design and supervise every step of installation. We sorted the waste for recycling. No wonder more people don’t go green. It’s just too hard.

Writes our reader:

I have no reason to doubt the contentions, but am stumped at the writer’s mention of “Hardiplank removable interior wallboard.” Since your reader/participants are so very knowledgeable, could you ask them to weigh in? My search of the internets provided nada.

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Disaster Aftermath
07/22/09 5:42pm

The Grey Gardens of Galveston’s Original Aqua Beach House

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Galveston, Home Decor, Interiors, Laffite's Cove
2 Comments

How’d that Granddaddy of all aqua-toned beach houses in Lafitte’s Cove stand up to Hurricane Ike? Joni Webb — who after Verandah magazine is perhaps the home’s greatest fan — shows off some recent pics of the once-grand weekend showcase on her blog, Cote de Texas:

It is here, today, almost a year after Ike, still languishing empty and neglected – a sort of sad, upscale Grey Gardens of Galveston. I’m not sure why it hasn’t been repaired – it all seems like minor, superficial damage, certainly nothing on a par with the slaughter of the Live Oaks going on uptown. But, still, the house has been left to the elements – something that on the beach should always be avoided. Maintenance is a must in the salt air. A loyal Cote de Texas reader happened upon the Aqua House and took new pictures for me.

The home, decorated in all its much-copied aqua glory by Houston designer Babs Watkins, was sold by a later owner shortly before the hurricane hit last year. And then?

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Disaster Aftermath
07/20/09 1:47pm

When the Spindletop Stops

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Downtown, Openings and Closings, Restaurants
8 Comments

A longtime fan of the rotating Spindletop Restaurant perched on top of the Hyatt Regency Hotel Downtown writes in to note the passing . . . of the restaurant’s website:

I last called them in January to see about a reservation but they were still closed from Hurricane Ike. The gentleman who answered insisted they would re-open someday soon and I was intrigued. I continued checking their website for an announcement every few weeks but it never arrived and then the site itself disappeared Sadly, when websites revert to parking pages, it’s all but assured the business behind them has folded.

If the Spindletop is indeed gone, a slowly revolving icon of Houston’s oil boom days, what would the Hyatt do with such a, umm, unique structure perched atop it’s hotel? Landry’s Heliport and Cloud Bar? Rennovate it to become *the* foremost penthouse in the city? “Hey baby, not just the bed rotates, but the whole penthouse!” Perhaps just another semi-adequate restaurant with a unique and stunning view?

What was the city perch like in its glory pre-Ike days?

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Disaster Aftermath
07/16/09 1:20pm

Timbergrove’s Waterfall House: Half Off

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Homes for Sale, New Construction: Residential, Price Reductions, Timbergrove Manor
20 Comments

The reader who first brought that humongously discounted house in Timbergrove Manor to our attention earlier this spring writes in to report that the tall courtyard home’s asking price has been further reduced. The 6,000-sq.-ft. home at 6204 Queenswood Ln. was originally listed for $1.8 million, but was cut to $1 million in April.

As of last week, the home has been relisted with an even-further-reduced price: $749,999. Why the continuing freefall? Writing in May, a commenter on our earlier story offered some details:

. . . the listing agent indicated that the home had sustained water damage during Ike due to broken windows. She also let me know that the home would soon be going into a short sale, which is now listed on the Agent side of the MLS Listing. . . . Unfortunately, the home did suffer major damage, which in reality looked like the roof leaked throughout the house. The sheetrock has been removed from all ceilings and top ¾ of the walls on the entire second floor. All the molding has also been removed throughout the house. The floorplan is amazing with large rooms, wide hallways and high ceilings. It is really an amazing place!

The photos in the new listing are considerably different from those in the first, and reveal some of the extent of the damage. Here’s the latest view of the central courtyard, scene of that dramatic waterfall:

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Disaster Aftermath
07/14/09 11:08am

No Mercy for Galveston Street Trees

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Galveston, Quicklink, Streets, Trees
18 Comments

NO MERCY FOR GALVESTON STREET TREES Hundreds of Galveston residents have been calling the city’s tree-appeal hotline, arguing that particular street trees targeted in the massive post-Ike chainsaw sweep should not be cut down. After seeing new leaves on the 3-story Live Oak in front of his Avenue L home, one resident offered the city $1,000 not to chop it down. His tree got a re-evaluation, but didn’t exhibit enough new growth to get a reprieve. “If the city could give the trees more time to recover, and if it rained soon, a few more might stand a chance of survival, [Texas Forest Service urban forester Pete] Smith said. But the city will get reimbursed only for the expensive removal process through Sept. 12. Between now and then, crews are scheduled to remove an estimated 11,000 trees in the public right of way and about 30,000 trees on private property. Live oak tress must have at least 30 percent of their leaves to be spared. Other varieties must have at least 50 percent of their leaves.” [Galveston County Daily News]

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Demolitions
06/30/09 11:59am

Roller Coaster on the Pier: Crunch Time for the Flagship Hotel

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Disaster Aftermath, Galveston, Hotels, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment
18 Comments

There may be a buyer for Galveston’s Flagship Hotel, reports Laura Elder in the Galveston County Daily News. The hotel suffered about $7 million in damage from Hurricane Ike last year. But Landry’s Restaurants, the current owner, has a fallback plan in case the sale doesn’t go through:

If the 225-room property at 25th Street and Seawall Boulevard doesn’t sell, Landry’s likely would demolish the hotel and develop a “pleasure pier” with amusement rides, officials say. . . .

Landry’s is pricing demolition for the hotel, built in 1965 as a show of confidence after Hurricane Carla, Jeff Cantwell, senior vice president for development, said.

Perched on a pier overlooking the Gulf, the Flagship fell into disrepair on its own after 1990, when The Flagship Hotel Ltd. took over management.

Landry’s paid the city $500,000 for the hotel in 2004, saying it planned to spend $15 million transforming the property into an entertainment plaza with amusement rides, including a roller coaster.

Landry’s attempted to move ahead, but was stymied by agreements that gave Daniel Yeh, head of The Flagship Hotel Ltd., control of the hotel until 2031.

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Bolivar
06/19/09 8:45am

Growing Property Lines on the Beach

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Crystal Beach, Development Restrictions, Disaster Aftermath, Gardening, Quicklink, Singing Sands
1 Comment

GROWING PROPERTY LINES ON THE BEACH The owners of more than 2 dozen properties on the Bolivar Peninsula have been planting grass and shrubs along the edges of the dunes on the seaward side of their land. Why? The General Land Office prohibits new construction beyond the natural vegetation line. “‘The front row (of beach houses) is gone, and they are hoping to establish the vegetation line where it was before,’ said Dan Peck, 54, whose neighbors planted a swath of grass about 250 yards long. . . . Peck’s house in the Singing Sands subdivision near Crystal Beach was in the fourth row from the beach before Ike swept away the front three rows of houses Sept. 13. The vegetation line is established by the General Land Office, but Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said he may wait as long as two years after the storm before marking the formal line that could determine the fate of many Gulf properties.” [Houston Chronicle]

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