MORE SHOPPING CENTERS LIE IN WAIT FOR THE GRAND PARKWAY Under previous owners it was going to go residential, but now all the site at the southeast corner of Kuykendahl and Spring Stuebner in Spring needs is an offramp: “Steve Gregory, president of Hopkins Commercial, said the site is a long-term investment for a retail center that will be built, possibly in one to three years. The site is attractive to the company because a leg of the Grand Parkway that will start construction in late 2010 will go by the 56 acres. The site is just north of a big collection of retailers at FM 2920 and Kuykendahl, including Wal-Mart SuperCenter, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Kroger, Palais Royal and 24 Hour Fitness.” [Houston Business Journal]
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Tag: Spring
A few fun — and not-so-fun — sights around town: First, Houston visitor Mike Smith’s photo shows some of the few letters left after Ike’s attack.
More hurricane photo souvenirs below!
OFF-MAP JOGGING IN GLEANNLOCH FARMS Another lost jogger, rescued by iPhone. But what happens when Google Maps fail? “Every time I am in Houston I am filled with renewed trepidation over the in-laws neighborhood. It’s lovely, of course, but it’s also a Houston suburbs’ subdivision. Despite having visited numerous times over the course of the past three and a half years, I am remarkably unable to maintain any sense of cardinal directions or relative location once we enter the sprawling land of pale-red-and-cream houses in well-manicured cul-de-sacs with nice names.”
Some brand-new houses sold by Lennar Homes will be very convenient to the new Grand Parkway!
Robert A. Hudson, a Spring developer who partnered with Lennar on the project, said builders knew the highway might come through the subdivision.
“We are not up there on a daily basis to make sure that the builders make it clear to everybody else,” he said.
Plans for the Grand Parkway have been on the books for 25 years, but only 28 of its proposed 185 miles have been built. Environmental and neighborhood groups have opposed the project.
It would include 11 segments traversing seven counties. The 12.1-mile Segment F2 would cut directly through the Lakes of Avalon Village, a subdivision with several hundred homes located on FM 2920 just west of Kuykendahl Road.
About 60 homes are in the right-of-way and would have to be demolished to make way for the parkway once construction began, [executive director of the Grand Parkway Association David] Gornet said.
Talk about offering transportation options! But it’s not just Lennar . . . J. Patrick Homes also is selling models in the Lakes of Avalon Village subdivision.
But hurry! The subdivision is in “close out”!
After the jump: pics of a Lennar Homes model for sale in this quaint little village in Spring!
AND JUST IMAGINE HOW WELL THEY’D DO IF THERE WERE JOBS OR SHOPPING NEARBY! Discovery at Spring Trails, Land Tejas’s gated and solar-panel-badged community north of Spring, is selling well, says Lisa Gray: “. . . only a few weeks after Discovery put itself on the market, and without even a finished house that would-be buyers can tour, most of the lots ready for building have been optioned, and the developer is scrambling to make more available fast. In fact, Discovery is off to the fastest start of any development in the company’s 11-year history, and Land Tejas expects demand to pick up even more this fall. Already, propelled mostly by Google searches, 200 to 300 people a week are touring the neighborhood’s ‘Discovery Center.'” [Houston Chronicle]
SPRING’S ETERNAL HOPE: RELEASE FROM HOUSTON ETJ
Almost 1,000 petitioners want to create a new city called Spring-Klein: “‘I called the state and they said there was no city of Spring, and that Spring was in the city of Houston’s extraterritorial jurisdiction,’ [Najjia’s Fine Furniture owner Earl] Hodge said. ‘There has to be at least 400,000 people out here, and that has to be equal to the size of the fifth or sixth-largest city in Texas.’ Hodge said he created the petition to test the waters and has found that many are supportive of an effort that would prevent another city, such as Houston, Conroe or a possible future city of The Woodlands, from swallowing up the Spring Klein community.” [Houston Chronicle, via HAIF]
This week: Two neighborhoods off Louetta, just east of Stuebner-Airline, north of Cypress Creek. Zoned to the Klein School District. In Spring!
Location: 17607 Teal Forest Ln.
Details: 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths; 2,922 sq. ft.
Price: $158,900
The Scoop: Quaint 1980 home on cul-de-sac in Spring Creek Forest. Master Bedroom downstairs; other bedrooms off upstairs Game Room. Painted woodwork inside; large yard. Covered walkway connects to garage in back. On the market at the same price for almost 6 months.
Open House: Saturday, 11 am-2 pm
Read on for more!
Continental pilot Stephen Williams and his wife Nancy are the proud owners of one of several homes built in airplane hangars at Hooks Airport, a private airfield in Spring.
Initially, the Williamses wanted to add on to a Hooks Airport hangar they owned which contained a small apartment. But that plan was rejected by the FAA because it would have been too close to the runway.
They worked with Architect Kyle Cox to create their new 3,300-sf hangar-home.
At the top of the spiral staircase is the pinnacle of this unique home. The tower room is complete with a 360-degree set of windows, providing guests an overview of the airport. It has a steel catwalk that adds to the design, and provides visitors a chance to step outside to enjoy the view as well as the weather. The room also houses a bar and a dumbwaiter to make entertaining simple.
“We put in the things that we wanted. I wanted a nice cooking area,” Nancy said.
With a host of friends and a community full of fellow aviation enthusiasts living at Hooks Airport is nothing short of spectacular. “It’s a neat, quiet community,” Nancy said. “We love it here.”
- Artistic designs make hanger a breathtaking home [1960 Sun Group]
Photo: 1960 Sun Group
For months, the giant, burned-out shell of a home has been sitting on an acre lot at the corner of Links Crossing Lane and Augusta Pines Parkway in Spring, less than half a mile from the baby Bermuda grass fairways of the Augusta Pines Golf Course and its 100,000-sf “southern style” clubhouse. But now Harris County Fire Marshal investigators are reporting that the fire that destroyed the 7000-sf McMansion in February was a poorly concealed arson. While owner Michael Macomber was vacationing in the Bahamas, a man named Adnan Aquil filled the home with 25 five-gallon cans of gasoline he had purchased over several days from Wal-Mart and arranged them so they would ignite spectacularly.
According to investigators, Macomber has now confessed that he paid Aquil $10,000 for his handiwork, before filing a $1.2 million insurance claim.
What made Macomber do it? Was he tired of being overextended on an overmortgaged, overpriced, and oversized home in an overmarketed subdivision in Northwest Houston?
“He was holding on to everything,” [Harris County Senior Arson Investigator Dustin] Deutsch said. “His credit score was getting impacted, payments were getting impacted. The county probably didn’t appreciate him bouncing his tax check. . . .”
Of course there’s more to the story:
“After further scrutiny of the closing paperwork, investigators determined that the residence’s value was grossly overvalued by a local real estate appraiser,” Harris County Arson Investigations officials stated in a media address. “It was also learned that Macomber grossly inflated his stated income to the mortgage company. This embellishment included forged financial documents and other misleading credentials.”
In return for paying an inflated price for the Augusta Pines McMansion in March 2006, Macomber allegedly received a $171,000 kickback from the seller. In all, seven people, including a neighbor couple, have been charged in fraud related to this home. According to KHOU, every house on the street has been foreclosed on.
Yes, it’s a short street.
- Seven charged in arson, insurance fraud scheme [Spring Observer]
- Mortgage fraud burns homeowners [KHOU]
- Several charged in alleged fraud and arson scheme [abc13.com]
Photo of 7802 Links Crossing Ln.: KHOU
