COMMENT OF THE DAY: GREAT CHALLAH DROUGHT “Yay, welcome back 3 Bros! Hopefully this will prevent a repeat of the great challah drought of the ‘08 Rosh Hashannah season, when I almost had to knock down a little old lady at the Rice Epicurean on Post Oak for the last loaf of raisin.” [lildebbi, commenting on Openings and Closings: Super Happy Baking Brothers]
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT HAPPENED TO CARTER’S GROVE? “I still go back to Carter’s Grove Apartments as an example of restoration vs. teardown. They were the shame of Garden Oaks and a proven hazard to residents with over 240 municipal court violations resulting in a $100K fine for the owner. Take a drive around North Shepherd at 34th and see what restoration hath wrought with minimal disruption to the area and improvements on utility infrastructure as well as property values. If those ratholes can have a future life as pricey condos, anything is possible.” [Hellsing, commenting on Wilshire Village Fire Hazard Sale: Everyone and Everything Must Go!]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SUPERIOR LOCATIONS “On one hand, it is ironic that these kids consider one bunch of chain restaurants superior to an identical bunch in another location. But it is also a demonstration of how even in an environment of repetitive conformity, persons especially sensitive to barely visible (and possibly pheromonic) indicators of superiority will seek such places out. It suggests that even if we lived in a Stalinist city of identical concrete apartment blocks, where everyone wore identical Mao suits, there’d still be a cool part of town.” [RWB, commenting on Hey, Hey, Stay Outta Our Chick-fil-A]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: STREET FIGHTERS “Washington Ave is short on Mexican food but it may be long on wrestlers.” [EMME, commenting on Washington Ave. Latest: Wrestler-Themed Tacos To Calm the Nightly Grind]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOME OF THE 150-FT. BUDDHA “I don’t think there would be outrage over a Buddha. Everybody would think it was ‘cute’ and look for the adjacent Chinese restaurant.” [EMME, commenting on Sagemont Cross: New Higher Power Lines Beltway 8]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHO OWNS WILSHIRE VILLAGE? “Dilick purchased the property in 2002. He was aware that prople still lived in Wilshire Village as the rent checks continued to come in. He/Flat Stone II Ltd./Alabama & Dunlavy Ltd. was not only a developer at that point but a property owner and a landlord. . . . here’s where the circus music gets cued. Jay Cohen continued to ACT in the capacity of property manager/landlord/owner for the next SEVEN years. It is highly unlikely that Dilick had no idea this was going on. Texas law considers a principal to be vicariously liable for the torts of agents committed in the course and scope of their employment. Was Jay Cohen actually employed as the Wilshire Village property manager or do we have a case of ostensible (“for all appearancesâ€) agency? If Dilick ALLOWED him to walk, talk and act like one, then a reasonable person could legitimately assume that such was the case. Jay Cohen made the statement to more than one resident, acting in the capacity of someone with the authority to do so, that they would not have to leave the property as stated in the eviction notice. Texas recognizes oral agreements as binding with 4 exceptions that must be in writing, but lease extension is not one of them. Implied authority is further conveyed by Cohen being cc’d on the notice. Looks like Lucy has some ’splainin to do, hmmm?” [Hellsing, commenting on Comment of the Day: Wilshire Village Town Meeting]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILSHIRE VILLAGE TOWN MEETING “Residents met with an official of the City of Houston Police Department last night at a “town meeting†regarding the fate of Wilshire Village. They were informed that in the next 2 days the city will post orange notices for residents to vacate. They will follow up no later than the first week in March to remove personal items and toss them “on the side of the road, off the propertyâ€. Matt Dillick also reportedly has a request to a district judge to have anyone still on the property next week “removed†as well. Considering the age of those who were told they didn’t have to leave by Jay Cohen and now have 4 days to get out, I hope the authorities won’t feel the need to pull a Robbie Tolan on any of them.” [Hellsing, commenting on Comment of the Day: Wilshire Village Plan]
COMMENTS OF THE DAY: LAS ALAMEDAS PACKS UP “I drove by yesterday and there were two large U-Haul trucks backed up to the back door. I think Las Alamedas is toast. What a shame; I’ve had many good times there.” And later: “Well, I drove by a couple of hours ago and the sign out front says something like ‘Thank you for 28 great years. We will relocate.’†[Clive, commenting on Las Alamedas: Landlord Wants More]
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?]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILSHIRE VILLAGE LIMBO WEEK “This is falling under the ‘oh, come on’ category. The end of the month falls on a Saturday; perfect time for a new lease to start on March 1st in a new place. Now people who had plans settled have to find someplace to store their lives for a week and themselves as well. I don’t care who made the complaint or whatever that got the fire marshall out there – he/she is a shithead of the first water. The complex didn’t just fall into total entropy in the last few days. No one got electrocuted or drowned or caught on fire. A week isn’t going to make one bit of difference to the developers or owners.†[Hellsing, commenting on Wilshire Village Apartments: Fire Hazard, Everybody Out!]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: BUILDING GREEN SPACE “I think the State and Henderson historic properties are adjacent and both owned by Fenchurch Properties. Certificate of Appropriateness information at http://tinyurl.com/bhfzsj and http://tinyurl.com/al479p – in both applications, Fenchurch claimed it wants to turn the properties into green space. The Chairman of Fenchurch Properties is Thomas A. Reiser. Tom Reiser spent $1.2 million of his own money in a 2002 Texas House race against Chris Bell, and lost.” [ArlingtonSt, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Making Demolition History]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: COLE’S COMFORT “I live not too far from Cole’s, and visited once or twice. It was only a matter of time before the fire marshal shut it down, really. The only place I’ve ever been to where you can buy lawn mower parts, used cassette tapes of old tejano music, or 10 pairs of socks for a dollar, view Cole’s dusty collection of antique motorcycles, and pick up a pit-bull puppy off the back of a truck on your way out.” [Jessica, commenting on Regrets, More Than a Few: Cole’s Did It Their Way]
COMMENT OF THE DAY “I did work for Allen a few years back and found him to be a genuinely nice person who was willing to pay (on time, no less) for what he wanted. At the time he was focused on ‘trust’ services, which were primarily vehicles for Latin and South American wealth protection from currency fluctuations that were common in the 1990’s. He was extremely generous with the Antiguan people and government which he could afford to do, as the profits from the Antigua banks would incur hefty taxes upon re-patriation to the US. He was heavily tied to the democratic congressional members at the time. I once bumped into Conn. Senator Christopher Dodd in the lobby of his building on Westheimer. Sarbannes and even Sheila Jackson Lee counted on him for support. He does have a bit of history with the State Department, and paid a fine for lax controls related to potential money laundering in the 1990’s. I’ll be curious to find out about the SEC’s findings.” [mt, commenting on Feds Now Raiding Stanford Financial Group Offices in the Galleria]
COMMENT OF THE DAY “Years ago — maybe 10 — I know that St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and School, which is just a half block down Alabama, had their eyes on this property. They wanted to expand the school campus, which right now is in several of the homes surrounding the church. The value of the land has probably escalated out of their price range. While I would like to see the apartments stay and be renovated, a school on the property would have been nice.” [Carol, commenting on Wilshire Village Apartments: Okay To Stay?]
Longtime Swamplot readers know where the action is: in our comments! A few from the this past week:
- Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: In Tandem
From marmer: “Maybe the original owner had a clunker prewar auto with no reverse gear.†- Coming Soon: Late Night Rice Military Action
From Bob: “Wait– Sex in cars!? ::calls realtor:: ‘Yes, a condo across from Coco Loco. That’s right. With a good street view. Huh? No, price is no object.’†- Las Vegas to Houston: What Are the Odds?
From Mike: “For the most part, home values in Houston will be steady. Some of the newer product and developments will see a slight discount as builders try to unload inventory, but the same builders are still slowly building – but 4 homes at a time in a development instead of 20. Selling your house in Vegas will likely be a bigger issue for you. The market was hyperinflated there and saturated with speculation and investment buys. A lot of those purchases are now in foreclosure and will undermine the price of anyone trying to put their house on the market. The estimates I have seen don’t have home values recovering in places like Vegas and California for 5 years.†- A Collection of Sticks: Costco Apartment Construction Collapse
From mt: “Construction accidents and defects are more prevalent than one might think. It is mostly related to the ‘lowest common denominator’ approach to construction that most buildings receive. The most exciting accident that I have witnessed on a project was for another major multi-family developer here in town where there was a fire at the bottom of a parking garage, which led to a secondary explosion of a pick-up truck. The fire doors were not fully active yet and the smoke damage was tremendous.” - Daily Demolition Report: Lost Shepherd
From Larissa Lindsay: “. . . the building at Union and Henderson that lost it’s roof during Hurricane Ike, and suffered some structural damage is also expected to be coming down in the near future. We had hoped the owner would stabilize it a number of years ago since it is a former store and built almost to the lot line. Once it s demoed, the set back kicks in and they will loose a fair amount of the lot since it is on a corner.”