“Dual toilets in the Masterbath…very unique,” reads the caption on this photo in a listing for a Riverside Terrace home on Parkwood Dr.
But haven’t we seen something like this somewhere before?
Oh, yes.
But that just means this home, built in 1965, was way ahead of its time:
Good news for the residents of Grace Ln. who back up to that Griggs Rd. waste treatment and disposal facility run by CES Environmental Services! It’ll probably be a while before another thermal oxidizer ruptures and sends four-foot-wide metal pieces flying over their back fences again:
“I mean, this was metal that could have decapitated people,” [Grace Ln. resident and salon owner Kimberly Sadberry] said. “It was sharp. We had to put it on a dolly to take it back, it was that heavy.”
CES assured residents nothing like that would ever happen again, but less than two weeks later, another explosion occurred, she said.
Why the grace period now? Responding to complaints about intermittent explosions and noxious smells emanating from the plant — as well as the fiery death last month of a CES employee as he attempted to clean a tanker truck — police officers and federal agents raided the facility yesterday morning. And figuring out what’s really going on there might take a while:
An update on recent comings and goings:
More twists and turns:
The last time the peachy little townhouse-by-the-freeway at 2232 Riverside Dr. was available for sale — in the good ol’ boom-boom days of May 2007 — the owner refused to make any repairs on the property, which was listed for sale at just under $500K. What’s up with it now?
A good year after it was sold (for a much lower price, about half[!?] of what someone paid for the next-door unit just a few months later), the 2003 townhouse with the front-row view of 288 went back on the market! And it’s still there.
A Swamplot reader asks for some help with a recent discovery:
Accidentally came across a neighborhood with some rather large lot sizes and homes off of Scott south of U.H. east of 288…seemed “out of the blue” considering some of the nearby neighborhoods. Think one of the streets was “bowling green”. Please let me know what neighborhood/area this is as it looked nothing like Houston!
Neighbors of a permitted, non-hazardous waste treatment and disposal plant less than a mile south of Riverside Terrace have been upset by the stench that regularly rises from the new facility. And last weekend there was a bit of an eruption at the CES Environmental Services plant at 4904 Griggs Rd.:
No one was injured in Saturday’s explosion, but it was the latest in a series of incidents involving the treatment facility, which is permitted to handle non-hazardous industrial waste, such as used oil.
The city has received more than 135 complaints about the plant this year, mostly related to the odors.
So what exactly landed in the yards along Grace Lane in McGregor Terrace? Exploded waste?
You are, no doubt, entirely accustomed to finding perfectly pleasant homes listed for sale on HAR . . . as teardowns. Usually, a listing broker won’t even pretend to show off the virtues of a targeted house, limiting photos to exterior shots and including such enticing wording as “sold for lot value only,” “as is,” and the always alluring “do not disturb tenants.”
Which is why John Whiteside, who writes the By the Bayou blog, is especially appreciative of the “chirpy optimism” expressed in the listing for 2213 Wichita St., a home dating from 1930 and perched by the side of 288 in Riverside Terrace, on the market since the end of March. Next to this quaint photo of what looks like a well-roasted garage apartment are these encouraging words:
Owner started renovations on the large house with garage apartment off the freeway. Lot almost 10,000 sq. ft. Pick up this gem, dust it off, add polish and it will shine.
Sadly, you’re a little late to see this house shining its absolute brightest.
Below: More photos from the listing — including interior shots . . . and outdoor furniture!
Nancy Sarnoff reports that construction is about to begin on a new gated 52-townhouse development on South MacGregor, east of 288. The developer, Joseph Casimir of Cypresswood Capital, reports on the project’s website that the development
bears three distinctive yet integrated architectural flavors: Florentine, Venetian, and Romanesque, affording you a lifestyle of unparalleled comfort and understated sophistication.
The townhouse development is called The Modigliani, after an Italian artist who spent most of his adult life in Paris, and who died of TB at the age of 35, aggravated by persistent alcoholism and drug abuse.
The 4.3-acre site at 3028 S. MacGregor Way is next door to the University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center and across the street from Brays Bayou. Casimir bought it in 2006 for $4.6 million, then demolished the 1936 Wright Morrow estate on the property. The previous owner, the UT Health Science Center at Houston, had intended to build a mental health outpatient facility on the site, but put it up for sale after encountering vocal opposition from neighborhood residents and State Rep. Al Edwards.
Below: Elevations and a site plan!
“Fish tank in face bowl” is the actual caption to this photo in the listing for 3838 Southmore, in University Woods, by Riverside Terrace.
Face bowl?
The house has 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths. Clearly, though, this one ought to count for more than just a half. The home is listed at $224,999 — bathroom aquarium included.
After the jump: How to get your own very private fish tank . . . without having to buy the whole house!
Continue Reading This Story
Just a few blocks north of the site of the new Houston Texans YMCA, the University of Houston has bought 43 acres immediately southeast of its main campus.
The new UH land looks like it’s part of MacGregor Park, but whether it is — or was — was a matter of intense . . . legal interest. The property was originally part of a larger 110-acre parcel that was donated by the MacGregor family to the City of Houston in 1930. More recently, the donors’ heirs sued the city for violating the terms of that gift, which required that the city turn the land into a park. By 2002, the MacGregor heirs had won back rights to the wooded 41 acres between MLK and Spur 5, on the north side of Old Spanish Trail.
The MacGregor heirs’ sale of the property to UH for $25 million closed in February, according to a report by Jennifer Dawson in the Houston Business Journal. The new UH property is south of the gigantic Wellness Center, across Buffalo Brays Bayou.
The land gives UH a possible new entrance on Martin Luther King Blvd., but it’s also likely to give the campus a fifth light-rail station: a MacGregor Park stop will be the second station on the Southeast line, which begins at the new transit center planned for Palm Center.
Rendering of planned Southeast light-rail line on MLK, south of UH: Metro
Why has this property in Riverside Terrace been floating aimlessly on the market for almost five months? Sure, it’s being sold “as is” — and the “is” apparently doesn’t merit an interior photo. But the home has four bedrooms, contains 2,875 square feet of living space, and is apparently salvageable. Plus it sits on a 11,100-square-foot lot on a “lovely, tree-lined street” in a part of town that’s been pretty hot recently, no?
What happens when townhomes don’t crack half a million? Sellers get mighty cranky:
This unit has a great view of downtown. It features a large balcony, spacious rooms, high ceilings, both wood & carpeted floors, an elevator, fireplace, beautiful kitchen and much more! It is being sold ‘AS IS’. The seller will do NO REPAIRS.
Don’t want to deal with this kind of unwillingness to negotiate? For a mere $200K+ more, you can buy the townhouse next door. And that seller isn’t saying what will or won’t be repaired—at least not in the listing.
A nice view of 288 from the balcony, plus an interior photo, which you can scan for evidence of a need for repairs the seller won’t make, after the jump.
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