ALEXAN LOFTS ON THE MARKET Trammell Crow Residential and Morgan Stanley are ready to sell the 224-unit Alexan Lofts, the Second Ward apartments just northeast of Downtown on the site of the failed El Mercado del Sol. Multi-year historic tax credits on the property expire in September. [Globe St.]
Sign up for the Newsletter
Tag: Buying and Selling
LATEST ON THE LATE LATE NIGHT PIE LOCATION HAIF rumor alert: The owners of the Crome nightclub on Shepherd have purchased the former Humble service station on the corner of Elgin and Brazos in Midtown, until recently the location of PM pizza joint Late Night Pie. The Crome owners’ alleged plans for the site: a 2 or 3-story building, which may include a new nightclub. (Late Night Pie has moved on to 302 Tuam.) [HAIF]
It took 2 weeks, but someone at last noticed: Montrose wedding-reception capital Bistro Vino has shut down. Scooping a number of popular restaurant-review websites, the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff reports that owner Mohammad Bayegan sold the house-turned-restaurant at 819 W. Alabama (at Roseland) and a small apartment building next door to an unnamed residential developer.
[La Colombe d’Or owner Steve] Zimmerman, who lived in a house behind Bistro Vino in the late 1970s and 1980s, said the area had been a quiet residential neighborhood until the 1990s, when small businesses opened offices on West Alabama.
In a note on the Bistro Vino website, Bayegan bids
farewell to all our loyal customers especially to our hundreds of brides that gave us the honor to be part of the start of a very important journey of their lives.
After the jump: one of those brides, starting a journey!
“A group of doctors and entrepreneurs” calling itself New Era Hospitality is the mystery buyer of the long-abandoned 31-story former Days Inn-former Holiday Inn-former Heaven on Earth Plaza Hotel on St. Joseph Parkway between Travis and Milam, reports Nancy Sarnoff in the Chronicle:
. . . demolition has already started on the interiors, which are being gutted and will be replaced with 340 modern suites, 60 standard guest rooms, 32,000 square feet of meeting space and a swimming pool and bar on top of the attached garage.
That’s down from 600 rooms in the original structure. New Era is hoping either Sheraton, Marriott, or . . . Holiday Inn (again!) will operate the property when it’s finished, in January 2010.
- Hotel owners look for brand [Houston Chronicle]
- Heaven on Earth Sells Again [Swamplot]
Photo: arch-ive.org
The Wabi Sabi House in Boulevard Oaks has sold, reports developer Carol Barden. And she says the buyer found his new home . . . by reading Swamplot.
The buyer apparently came across the Wabi Sabi while reading stories on this site about another Barden property: yes, that lonely Modern townhome on Stanford St. in Montrose designed by Francois de Menil that Barden was still trying to unload. Swamplot’s last report noticed that once-a-million dollar townhouse being offered for $749,000. Barden tells us that the Menil townhouse is now under contract. She won’t reveal any pricing details, but says that she “didn’t discount the price again.”
- Not Lived In Yet: The Wabi Sabi House [Swamplot]
- Inside the Wabi Sabi House [Swamplot]
- Menil Townhouse: Almost a Quarter Off [Swamplot]
- Menil Townhome Sales Looking for a Lift [Swamplot]
Photo of Wabi Sabi House: Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen
Mattress Mack’s home in Northgate Forest sold back in April for $815,000, reports Jennifer Dawson in the Houston Business Journal. That’s more than a 50 percent discount off the home’s original asking price.
The McIngvales’ 7-bedroom, 6,840-sq.-ft. home at 3002 Pine Lake Trail originally went on the market in May of 2007 for $1.75 million. Three months and a $250K price cut later, John Daugherty Realtors decided that marketing the pad as “The Home of Mattress Mack” might help. But it didn’t, apparently. The price cuts spiraled from there.
Jim and Linda McIngvale’s new home is a 2,000-sq.-ft. apartment on the grounds of their Westside Tennis Club on Wilcrest near Briar Forest, but that’s not necessarily a step down, says Dawson:
While the couple may have a lot less house, right outside the door is a resort-styled pool, family fitness center, lighted soccer field and one of the city’s largest yoga facilities.
- ‘Mattress Mack’ joins neighborhood club [Houston Business Journal]
- Westside Tennis and Fitness
- Previously in Swamplot: Mattress Mack: A Consistent Record of Slashing Prices, Mattress Mack Saves You Money, Mattress Mack Pad Available . . . Today!
Photo of 3002 Pine Lake Trail: HAR
It didn’t garner much local attention, but a certain local condo building — along with a few close friends — made a star appearance in last week’s big mortgage-scam announcement by the FBI. More than 400 people were charged in 144 separate mortgage fraud cases nationwide over the last 3 months as part of the agency’s “Operation Malicious Mortgage.” Six of those arrests were in Houston:
This indictment charges Houston-area residents Frankthea Annette Williams, Ishmael Boyd Laryea, Charles Joseph-DeShawn Wilson, Kristen Anne Way and Robert Wilfred Stanley, and Tasha Rene Bellow, of Burbank, Calif., with engaging in a scheme to defraud by providing false and fraudulent information to residential lenders to induce the lenders to fund the purchase of single family homes and condominium units.
11 News reporter Allison Triarsi describes how the scams worked:
The suspects would find a home for sale, let’s say $200,000.
They would then get a phony appraisal that would almost double the home’s actual value. In that case, $400,000.
The culprits would then look for an investor. That’s someone to actually put the house in their name using their good credit for the closing and title.
A bank would then loan the money for the house, which has the phony appraisal value. The crooks would then pay the seller the $200,000 asking price and pocket the other $200,000.
Here’s a question. If you were trying to run this scam, where would you find properties you could get appraised for as much as twice their actual value? Sure, Houston had some price runups . . . and yes, appraisals can be played. But why fake something you don’t have to?
A tipster informs us that the lovely 1.35-acre lot at 6040 Glen Cove in Memorial — which had been languishing on the market for about a year and a half — has finally been bought! The purchaser: County Judge candidate David Mincberg.
And apparently, Mincberg isn’t too interested in that free Talbott Wilson Midcentury Modern home that comes with it.
Photo of 6040 Glen Cove St.: HAR
A reader has questions about the Cosmopolitan, Randall Davis’s tower-on-a-box on Post Oak:
What’s going on with this building? My wife and I looked at this last month as they were closing out and only had 2 units left, with the agent (surprise) saying they would be sold out shortly. Now there are 4 units on MLS. Are these from the builder or resales? There are only 80 units in the building–I wonder if some speculation is going on as I heard that Randall Davis offers sizable discounts to his employees, who bought several of the units at the Cosmo at a discount and are now trying to flip them. Is this Houston or Miami?
Hey, 4 units for sale out of 80 doesn’t sound too bad. On the other hand, it looks like one of the available units on MLS is, in fact, the Miami.
Cosmo buyers, readers . . . any comments?
- The Cosmopolitan Houston [Randall Davis Company]
- 1600 Post Oak Blvd. Unit 1001 [HAR]
Photo: HAR
A reader points us to the latest rumor swirling around HAIF: The long-vacant, 31-story shuttered hotel on St. Joseph Pkwy. between Travis and Milam downtown finally sold . . . 3 weeks ago! To . . . somebody!
The hotel was built in 1971 as a Holiday Inn and later converted to a Days Inn. In 1992 an organization affiliated with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (yes, the one the Beatles consulted) purchased the by-then-rather-shabby structure for $2 million and renamed it the “Heaven on Earth Plaza Hotel.” The irony was not lost on city officials, who shut the building down in 1998; it’s remained (at least officially) vacant since.
If news of a sale sounds familiar, it should be. As Houston Press reporter Craig Malisow wrote last year in a feature on the Holiday Inn and two other vacant properties downtown, the hotel sold in 2004:
The Maharishi people sold it for $8.5 million to a group of investors that included a Colorado Springs outfit called LandCo. Michael Raider, a Houston native who works for LandCo, told the Houston Business Journal in 2005 that the property would be slated for apartments or condos.
Another LandCo guy, Don Nicholas, told the Houston Chronicle in 2004: “An ugly duckling downtown will become a swan.”
Unfortunately, the swan kicked the bucket when the investors defaulted on the $8.5 mill, and the hotel went back to the yogis.
Better luck this time?
- Holiday/Heaven on Earth Inn IT SOLD! NO KIDDING! [HAIF]
- holiday inn – downtown [arch-ive.org]
- This Blows! [Houston Press]
- Tenants forced out of hotel [Houston Chronicle]
Photo: arch-ive.org
Hines has “finalized the acquisition” of the Main Street block between Texas and Capitol Downtown, Nancy Sarnoff reports. That’s the site of the secret new 742,000-sq.-ft. office tower reported here a week and a half ago.
- Apartment abundance could signal trouble [Houston Chronicle]
- The Secret New Downtown Tower Hidden on the Web [Swamplot]
A company called JAW Equity Management has bought 5 Houston apartment complexes and is making some changes, reports Globe St.:
The . . . portfolio consists of the 340-unit Westbrook Place Apartments at 7825 Corporate Dr., which has been renamed to The Lodge Apartments; the 294-unit Waterstone Apartments at 7502 Corporate Dr., which was renamed Waterfall Park Apartments; the 252-unit Greenridge Park at 1351 Greens Pkwy., which is now Live Oak Bend Apartments and the 155-unit Wayforest Glen Apartments at 17601 Wayforest Rd. which was renamed Courtyard Manor Apartments. The 224-unit Ashford Point Apartments at 3950 Ashburnham Dr. will operate under the same name.
Please update your address lists.
- JAW Equity Snags 1,265 Units [Globe St.]
- Previously in Swamplot: Apartment Complex Changes Hands; Tenants Endure Meaningless Name Change
A reader tells us that the Harold Farb Apartment Homes sign at the Broadway Square Apartments hasn’t been taken down yet, but it has been hooded — with a new temporary fabric covering identifying the apartments and new property manager Pinnacle.
- Property Listings in Houston [Pinnacle]
- Farb Gone: Will the Signs Go Down on Broadway? [Swamplot]
Photo: David Beebe
The last of the Harold Farb apartment complexes has been sold. Cypress Real Estate Advisors, an Austin firm, bought the Nob Hill Apartments on North Braeswood and the West Point Apartments on Woodway last December. And Post Investment Group, an LLC out of LA with some NYC backing, just closed on Farb’s Broadway Square Apartments just north of Hobby Airport.
David Beebe, who’s just posted his own account of the southeast-side walking tour he took with John Lomax last month, has a few comments about his stroll along Broadway:
The [trees] throughout this neighborhood are mature and beautiful. They are, for the most part, oaks. This is a big difference between the Harold Farb pioneered Hobby Airport area and the Frank Sharp designed Sharpstown. If [Sharp] had been as pro-active about tree planting his nighborhood would look more like this. The architecture and age is about the same.
. . . and on the Broadway Square Apartments, which Farb built in 1975:
His apartments here on Broadway are still the best looking of the entire area’s- French Victorian style, but without falling off shutters and with better built and ornate wrought iron railings and kempt landscaping.
There’s been no announcement about it, but the iconic signs along Broadway showing a silhouetted Farb wielding what appears to be a roll of blueprints are likely to be replaced. Globe St.‘s Amy Wolff Sorter reports that Post Investments is planning a $2.5-million renovation:
Work will begin in two months on the 182-building complex and take 1.5 years to complete, according to Jack R. Ehrman, Post’s acquisitions director. The lion’s share of the tab will be used to replace 90% of the roofs.
- Post Investment Snags 2,469-Unit Complex [Globe St.]
- Post Investment Eyeing More Units in Houston [Globe St.]
- Better late than never- Southpoint/Almeda Genoa/Broadway/Harrisburg/Downtown H-TOWN Part One [David Beebe’s take on music and more in Texas]
- Southpoint/Almeda Genoa/Broadway/Harrisburg. H-TOWN Part 2 [David Beebe’s take on music and more in Texas]
- L.A. firm buys Farb’s Broadway Square Apartments [Houston Chronicle]
- Southeast Side: A Tour of the Houston Heartland [Swamplot]
Photo of sign at Broadway Square Apartments: David Beebe
We have a winner! The house at 230 Blalock, which the City of Piney Point Village bought last year — with the intention of using as its first-ever inside-city-limits city hall — has at last been sold . . . at a $60,000 loss, excluding commissions. The buyer, according to the Memorial Examiner, is U.K. resident Edward L. Solari.
The home had been on the market since last summer, when city council gave into pressure from Piney Point residents opposed to housing their city hall in a $1.53 million party pad . . . in a residential neighborhood.
After the jump, one last longing look inside the City Hall That Might Have Been!
