Tag: Demolitions

Lanier Place
02/17/10 1:19pm

What Could Possibly Take the Place of Chicken N Egg Roll?

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New Construction, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail
9 Comments

A hungry reader writes in wanting to know about the new concrete-block building going up at 2802 S. Shepherd, just across Harold St. from the Houston Wine Merchant. Half of the lot is the site of the former Chicken N Egg Roll. Because the neighboring house on Harold was carted away, the new lot is twice as deep.

I have confirmed that it is a commercial establishment, but can’t find any additional info. Do you know? It looks too small to be a restaurant, but one can hope . . .

Here’s one clue our reader will be happy to hear: The original demolition report from last April listed the owner or occupant of the property as Toyama Japanese Restaurant.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Demolitions
02/15/10 11:37am

If Wishes Were Museums: Don’t Give Up on That Immanuel Lutheran Church Demolition Just Yet

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Historic Preservation, Houston Heights, Neighborhood Disputes, Religious Facilities
2 Comments

That report we passed on last Friday about the congregation of Immanuel Lutheran Church in the Heights voting to turn its former sanctuary at the corner of Cortlandt and 15th St. into a museum of Lutheran history turns out to have been false. City Council members Edward Gonzalez and Sue Lovell, who announced the decision in a press release, jumped the gun a bit:

Lovell spokesman Tim Brookover said the councilwoman’s office received a report from a preservationist attending the meeting that there had “been a lot of talk about a Lutheran museum” and presumed the church group approved the plan.

Though informally discussed, such a proposal has not been formally presented to the governing board, [board president Ken Bakenhus] said.

But there was some progress at the meeting: The congregation did vote to reject local artist and engineer Gus Kopriva’s proposal to lease the sanctuary and turn it into an art museum, the Chronicle‘s Allan Turner reports.

Bakenhus told Turner late last year that the board was “’99 percent’ in favor” of spending $60,000 to demolish the 1932 brick building. The church has a signed contract to tear down the structure this summer.

Photo: Heights Blog

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Apartments
02/15/10 10:28am

Doing Their Level Best

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Demolitions, Disaster Aftermath, Park Place, Quicklink
8 Comments

DOING THEIR LEVEL BEST Latest poster child for the approximately 9,000 abandoned, vandalized, or dangerous structures the city is working bit by bit on demolishing: the 43-unit Park Place Apartments at 7410 Park Place Blvd., near the corner of Long Dr. and Telephone Rd. in southeast Houston — which neighbors say has been vacant of paying tenants for at least 20 years: “More than $84,000 in back taxes is owed on the property, according to the Harris County Tax Assessor Collector. Owner Rodolfo Yannarella, 67, said he fell on tough times and wants more time to get a loan so that he can repair the place, which he called his last chance for retirement. ‘It is very Draconian,’ Yannarella said of a Houston police order earlier this month that it be leveled. ‘I plead with you, I want to repair this property. It is my only future,’ he said moments before he was told the building would have to come down. Five years ago, the city delayed demolition and gave him a chance to fix it up. He claims he was making progress until Hurricane Ike ripped it further apart in 2008 and he fell ill. Then, thieves ripped apart the walls and ceilings in search of copper piping and wires, he said.” [Houston Chronicle]

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Demolitions
02/12/10 9:47am

Immanuel Lutheran Church Likes a Different Museum Idea

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Historic Preservation, Houston Heights, Neighborhood Disputes, Religious Facilities
11 Comments



Update, 2/15: As Miz Brooke Smith notes in a comment below, the report turns out not to be true.

The congregation of Immanuel Lutheran Church in the Heights has reversed itself and voted not to tear down its 1932 brick sanctuary building after all, abc13 reports. Instead, they’ve decided to turn it into a museum.

Will it be a Heights art museum, as proposed and promoted by local gallery owner and engineer Gus Kopriva? No. Congregants voted to turn the structure at the corner of 15th and Cortlandt into a museum of Lutheran history.

Photo of Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1448 Cortlandt St.: Flickr user dey37

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Demolitions
02/09/10 6:28pm

Wilshire Village Owners: Wedge Made Us Tear Those Buildings Down

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Financing, Foreclosures, Lancaster Place, Neighborhood Disputes
15 Comments

Wilshire Village rubberneckers: Pull on over; you are in for quite a treat! The gift that keeps on giving — the tragicomedy of real estate errors at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy in Montrose — has come through with another rich round of jaw-dropping twists. It’s up to us to recount and gawk.

We’re still combing through documents filed in the recent lawsuit for more goodies. But a reader who’s a few steps ahead of us has dug into them already and found these gems:

The property has been appraised at $26.8 million. Alabama & Dunlavy (“the partnership”) claim that they were jerked around by Wedge [Real Estate Finance, LLC] as follows:

At the instruction of Wedge, the partnership demolished the buildings on the property. They did this in an effort to prepare the site for development and increase its value by “millions of dollars.” Wedge demanded that this be done because Wedge purchased the Amegy $10 million loan, held the $3 million Wedge loan, and wanted to foreclose. Wedge allegedly stated that if the partnership demolished the buildings and increased the value of the property, Wedge would work with the partnership to avoid foreclosure.

So, the partnership – at great expense – “evicted squatters” and demolished the buildings. But, alas, Wedge decided to foreclose on the partnership and also seize $1,000,000 the partnership held in an amegy account that the partnership planned to use to help fund development.

Among the juicy tidbits…

What? There’s more!?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Boulevard Oaks
02/08/10 5:20pm

A South Blvd. Teardown, If You Need More Headroom

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Home Design, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Ormond Place
5 Comments

“Beautiful corner lot, gorgeous oak trees. House has been added onto and has 8 ft ceilings,” begins the terse listing for this 80-year-old property with a $1.6-million asking price on live-oak-lined South Blvd. It’s part of the newly declared historic district portion of Boulevard Oaks.

A 4,270-sq.-ft. home with lowish ceilings — is that a problem? Nothing you can’t make up for by taking your interior shots from atop a stepstool:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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