COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILSHIRE VILLAGE PLAN “The notices from the fire marshall are actually Fire Hazard warning stickers not condemned notices. Yes, they are very different according to the Fire Marshall. The condeming of the property will take a little more time but I am sure the plan is in motion. According to the fire marshall when he was at the property on thursday we will still have till the end of the month to get out. After that it’s going to get messy for the people who decide to stay.” [Dawn, commenting on Wilshire Village Apartments: Okay To Stay?]
Sign up for the Newsletter
Tag: Apartments
TAKARA SO AND BEYOND: MORE OF ALLEN STANFORD’S HOUSTON REAL ESTATE VENTURES Long before the Stanford Lofts debacle, Guardian International Investment Services — Allen Stanford’s former real-estate company — bought and sold or developed a number of Houston properties. Nancy Sarnoff follows the trail: “The properties include the 77-unit Takara So at 1919 W. Main and the 66-unit Severne at 7650 Moonmist. They were later sold, according to records from the Harris County Appraisal District. In 1989, Stanford built the patio home project [on Mimosa Drive, just east of Kirby and south of San Felipe], which he named Stanford Oaks, and hired [Martha] Turner’s company as the exclusive marketing agent to sell the homes. They started at about $400,000. Turner said the company didn’t have to borrow money to get it built. ‘They had their own money. They were financing their own stuff,’ she said. A couple years later, Guardian started a new enclave of homes called Le
 Voisinage on Bammel Lane south of West Alabama.” [Houston Chronicle]
City officials have declared the Wilshire Village Apartments on Dunlavy and West Alabama a fire hazard, reportedly slapping these notices on all the buildings. Residents, here’s that number to call: (713) 865-7100. A little more here.
- Wilshire Village Apartments: Condemned? [Swamplot]
- Wilshire Village coverage [Swamplot]
Update, 4:30 pm: The West University Examiner‘s Michael Reed confirms the report:
The order from Senior Inspector Mike Thomas said “occupancy is dangerous to human life†and told those living there they were “directed by law to communicate in person or by phone immediately with the fire marshal.â€
A semi-anonymous reader just leaned hard on the caps lock key to post this comment about the Wilshire Village Apartments across from the Fiesta at Dunlavy and W. Alabama:
FIRE MARSHALL HAS SLAPPED “CONDEMNED” NOTICES ON ALL BUILDINGS!!!!
Might want to take some blankets over there – looks like a lot of elderly people will be sleeping under bridges pretty soon! Does this mean the Houston Housing Authority will now get involved??
Are any Swamplot readers nearby? Wanna give us the scoop?
- Wilshire Village coverage [Swamplot]
Michael Reed from the River Oaks Examiner documents a rumor floating around the Wilshire Village Apartments on W. Alabama at Dunlavy — that former-and-maybe-still-current owner Jay Cohen has been telling tenants they don’t need to leave after all:
Monday afternoon, there was confusion about the order to vacate on the part of another tenant, who would only talk to the Examiner if he were not identified.
The tenant said he and another resident had been told by Cohen shortly after the notices were issued that they did not have to move.
He added he was under the impression Cohen still had the controlling interest in the property.
Cohen could not be located for comment.
According to the Secretary of State’s office, the property’s owner is Alabama & Dunlavy, a limited partnership. The general partner — or manager — is listed as General Commerce Equities II. Limited partners are not a matter of public record.
- Amid confusion, eviction notices come to Wilshire Village [River Oaks Examiner]
- Previously in Swamplot: Wilshire Village Utility Work, Wilshire Village Update: “A Nice Messâ€, Wilshire Village Apartments: Actual Tenants Actually Being Evicted
Photo of Wilshire Village Apartments: Katharine Shilcutt Gleave
A reader sends in this photo of the corner of Sul Ross and Woodhead, just west of the Wilshire Village Apartments, showing what appears to be work on wastewater lines connecting to the complex. Sul Ross dead-ends into a parking lot at the garden apartments at the end of the block.
The utility work was mentioned in this reader comment on Swamplot’s original story on Wilshire Village. Two weeks ago, tenants at the 70-year-old complex received mysterious notices demanding they vacate the property by the end of this month.
- Wilshire Village Update: “A Nice Mess†[Swamplot]
- Wilshire Village Apartments: Actual Tenants Actually Being Evicted [Swamplot]
Photo: Swamplot inbox
What’s really going on at Wilshire Village? Are tenants of the aging garden apartments at the corner of W. Alabama and Dunlavy actually being evicted?
Houston City Council Member Sue Lovell — and separately, at least one attorney — has reportedly told tenants of the complex that the eviction letter they received is not legally binding, since it was not signed by all owners of the property. Here’s the original report Swamplot received about the eviction notices last week:
We received information from two tenants at the site. Each received letters and/or cards from Alabama & Dunlavy, Ltd., 11144 Fuqua St., Suite 200, Houston, TX 77089 . The letters told them to vacate by the end of the month and that the electricty will be shut off on that date. The cards were signed by Matthew Dillick [sic], and the letters were cc’d to Mr. Jay Cohen, Mr. Clifton Hebert, and Mr. Howard Hebert (we don’t know who the Heberts are).
Matthew Dillick [sic] has had some interest in the property for several years. We had always been led to believe that Mr. Cohen continued to own the majority of the property, but when the tenant talked to Doug Anders in the Public Works Department, he implied that perhaps Mr. Cohen no longer maintained the majority interest in the property and that the majority has made other plans for the site.
So . . . who owns Wilshire Village?
At least 2 tenants of the Wilshire Village garden apartments have received eviction notices from the owner, demanding that they vacate the property by the end of February, a source tells Swamplot. The notices, which were signed by Commerce Equities president Matthew Dilick, say that electricity at the property will be turned off after that date. Swamplot’s source also says that the city’s Public Works department is aware of plans for the site.
Wilshire Village is the classically modern but now classically decrepit yellow-brick complex at the southwest corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy, across from Fiesta. The 17 buildings were designed by local architect Eugene Werlin and completed in 1940. Wilshire Village hit a downward spiral in more recent years under the peculiar supervision of its previous owner, who reportedly fought off throngs of eager potential tenants in order to keep the 144-unit complex largely vacant — then declared bankruptcy in 2002 when he was unable to pay the taxes on the property.
Although reports that the 8-acre complex would be demolished have circulated for years, the timing of these eviction notices is a bit of a surprise, given problems other developers are currently having securing construction loans. Equally surprising to many others who have driven past the run-down apartments recently is news that actual tenants are still living there.
MAYBE HE JUST LIKED THE PARTY HAT ON TOP? Mayor White takes a turn hawking the expensive rentals at the Finger Companies’ One Park Place highrise Downtown. Rick Casey thinks he could have delivered a better pitch: “When it comes to a place to live, people are motivated by a dream. Only a pocket-protected city planner could have his dreams triggered by such phrases as ‘residential infrastructure,’ or ‘leisure destination,’ or ‘luxury multifamily rentals,’ or ‘price points lower than you would think,’ or ‘landmark project on a unique site.’ The mayor managed to stuff all these infelicitous phrases and more onto a single page. One can only speculate why White wrote the letter. He had already done enough, it seems to me, by marshalling the money, the research and the architects to build Discovery Green, a beautiful and exciting 12-acre park across the street from Finger’s property. It’s the best front yard an urban dweller could want, and the city mows the grass.” [Houston Chronicle]
Houston art blogger Sean Morrissey Carroll remixes a glowing profile of the Isabella Court Apartments at Main and Isabella — penned recently by Corilyn Shropshire for the Chronicle — with resident Cathy Matusow’s terse response in Hair Balls. The result? Pure magic.
Here’s a taste, with source indicators removed for full effect (but really, it’s not too tough to figure out which lines come from which report):
When Vernon Caldera walked through Isabella Court’s ornate wrought-iron gates and spotted the courtyard that seemed magically transplanted from his grandmother’s hometown in Nicaragua, he gasped.
Then he fell in love.
The picturesque 80-year-old building in Midtown, a Spanish Colonial with original porcelain sinks and no-two-are-the-same apartments, “had me at hello,†he said.
When I first heard the Chronicle was doing a story on the building I live in, Isabella Court, I thought, “Oh great, is rent going up now?”
WESTCREEK APARTMENTS: REFINANCED, WAITING The Austin-based owners of Westheimer’s Westcreek at River Oaks Apartments — just inside the Loop, just west of the giant new steel sculpture known as High Street — have refinanced the 574-unit complex with a $27.5 million, 7-year, floating-rate loan that allows prepayment with a penalty: “A flexible prepayment also means when market conditions warrant, the owner can redevelop the asset, which sits on 14.5 acres. ‘This is a well-maintained, but older property that sits on dirt, and the dirt is actually worth more than the apartments,’ [Matt] Greer [of Capmark Finance] explains. He says the asset’s owning partnership, which consists of local management company Kaplan Management Co. Inc. and an equity partner, will redevelop the property when market conditions come back.” [Globe St.]
HOUSTON APARTMENTS: MORE VALUE FOR YOUR RUPEE A quick back-of-the-air-mail-envelope real estate comparison of greater Tanglewood and Colaba, a commercial district in South Mumbai: “My friends house was about 2 blocks away from Nariman house – the sight of the infamous siege on the Jewish community on 26/11. For a 600 sq ft 1 bedroom hall kitchen, my friend and his room mates were coughing up Rs 45,000 /- a month. My friend corrected me that the real rent is actually Rs 50,000 / month but he is getting a discount because of some renovation going on in the building. Judging by the fortune he paid for the apartment, you would imagine it to be an ocean facing villa with modern amenities like swimming pool, gym and manicured garderns. Horror behold! His apartment was actually in a very busy market area, in a dilapidated building which was probably more than 40 years old and might come down any minute. Once inside his compact apartment, I immediately started comparing this with my $700/ month (Rs 34,000 month), 800 sq ft 1 BHK in Houston in a very wealthy neighborhood. If Senior Bush could live a mile away from my apartment, I am sure my neighborhood must be really good! So even if I earn in rupees, it is much easier for me to afford a place in Houston than in Mumbai!!” [Continued Unnoticed]
The developer of the Mosaic highrise overlooking Hermann Park — a limited partnership between Phillips Development & Realty and publicity-shy Florida Capital Real Estate Group — declared bankruptcy earlier this week to avoid foreclosure on a $71 million loan from Chicago lender Corus Bankshares. Florida Capital, originally the equity partner, will be taking over as the general partner.
The bankruptcy covers just the first Mosaic tower. The second tower, rebranded the Montage, has not yet defaulted on its separate $71 million Corus loan.
So how have sales been going at the Mosaic? It depends, the Houston Business Journal‘s Jennifer Dawson learns, who you ask:
Late yesterday a reader wrote in expressing concern about the “very cool, worth saving, worth redoing in an intelligent way” 4-plex at 4311 Bettis Dr., just northeast of the stalled-out High Street project on Westheimer. The Bettis Apartments were designed by Robert Wilson in 1955, and are listed as “Most Endangered Moderns” on the Houston Mod website.
A few hours later, 3 properties with the address of 4211 Bettis showed up as demos in the city permit report. You can see them in this morning’s Daily Demolition Report below. The properties are described as the San Felipe Court Apartments . . . didn’t those go down some time ago?
4211 Bettis and 4311 Bettis must be different properties, right? Except HCAD has no entry for a 4211 Bettis. And 4311 Bettis is listed in the rolls as part of the “Trilogy on Bettis Street.”
Swamplot’s tipster provides this tip sheet about the apartments:
Need a place to crash somewhere in Houston for a short visit — say, a week — but don’t want to stay in a hotel?
Phillips Development & Realty, developers of the Mosaic and freshly rebranded Montage towers across Almeda from Hermann Park, is handling rentals of Mosaic condos owned by investors — as well as rentals of the many units the developer has been unable to unload. Now a source passes on a new rumor to Swamplot: Some of those available rentals may be extremely short-term.
Not a bad idea for a property that’s close to the Med Center! With that rumor, though, come a couple more:
Phillips’s Corporate Leasing Director will be taking over management of the Mosaic’s homeowners association from the company that had been running it since the building opened last year. But Phillips’s new tenure at the HOA may be a short-term one too. Why?
Because Florida Capital Real Estate Partners, the Mosaic’s lender, might just be foreclosing on Phillips’s property soon — both the Mosaic and an apartment complex in Tampa called the Casa Bella. Swamplot’s source also suggests that Camelot Realty Group — the company that’s clearly been very busy handling the Mosaic’s many condo sales — may already have had discussions with Florida Capital about taking over onsite rental duties from Phillips once the foreclosure takes place.
- Mosaic Splits in Two [Swamplot]
- Mosaic Rumor: Second Tower Going Rental? [Swamplot]
- Casa Bella on Westshore [Phillips Development & Realty]
Photo of Mosaic and Montage: Swamplot inbox
