Tag: New Construction: Residential

Wabi Sabi House, 2316 Bartlett St., Houston

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

77019, 77098, Boulevard-Oaks, Buying and Selling, Greenbriar, Home Design, Homebuying, Montrose, New Construction: Residential, Price Reductions, Real Estate Marketing, Temple Terrace, Townhomes

Home Decor

06/26/08 2:37pm

Inside the Wabi Sabi House

Home Design, Homes for Sale, New Construction: Residential, Real Estate Marketing

3 Comments

Kitchen and Dining Room, Wabi Sabi House by Olson Sundberg Kundig and Allen, Houston

Hall, Wabi Sabi House by Olson Sundberg Kundig and Allen, Houston

The Dwell blog and a Dubai-based “ezine” named De51gn both feature long-awaited interior photos of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen‘s Wabi Sabi House on Bartlett St. near Greenbriar. Doesn’t look like the house has been staged too heavily, but . . . isn’t that the point of “imperfect beauty”?

Have a look around:

77098, Greenbriar, Home Decor, Home Design, Homes for Sale, New Construction: Residential, Real Estate Marketing

Greenbriar

05/19/08 10:02am

Not Lived In Yet: The Wabi Sabi House

Home Decor, Home Design, Homes for Sale, New Construction: Residential, Real Estate Marketing

5 Comments

Wabi Sabi House by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen, 2316 Bartlett St., Houston

The Wabi Sabi House is Carol Isaak Barden’s latest High Concept development. Tucked into a normal-sized lot between Greenbriar and Kirby just south of 59, the 3,700-sq.-ft. cedar-faced home is the first Texas residence designed by Seattle architects Olson Sundberg Kundig and Allen. It’s scheduled to be complete this month.

What’s the big idea? Explains Barden,

Generally, wabi means humble, and sabi refers to the imperfection that comes with time. Freely translated, it means something like “lived in.”

Alternate translation: Move over, feng shui. Wabi-sabi is the ancient Japanese idea behind the latest category of home-design looks and books.

After the jump: A view from the Wabi Sabi House’s huge roof deck. Plus: Barden’s checkered and gilded past!

77098, Greenbriar, Home Decor, Home Design, Homes for Sale, New Construction: Residential, Real Estate Marketing

Apartments

05/08/08 12:24pm

Memorial Hills Apartments: Timelessly Emerging 8 Stories

Houston Architects, Jackson Hill, New Construction: Residential, Real Estate Marketing, West End

2 Comments

Memorial Hills Apartments Under Construction, 3200 Scotland St., Houston

A reader sends photos of the new Memorial Hills Apartments under construction just north of Memorial Drive and west of Jackson Hill at 3200 Scotland St., on the site of the old . . . Memorial Hills Apartments! The new apartments are being developed by Gables Residential, and were designed by Ziegler Cooper Architects.

The apartments will be 8 stories tall and face Cleveland Park directly to the south. The parking garage will be on the north side of the site.

Below: more reader photos of the construction site, plus pretty words and pictures from Ziegler Cooper!

77007, Apartments, Houston Architects, New Construction: Residential, Real Estate Marketing

Home Design

05/07/08 9:57am

Trading Houston Spaces: Mike James for Juwan Howard . . . Plus a Putting Green, Basketball Court, Gym, and Dance Studio

Interiors, Memorial, New Construction: Residential, Rivercrest, Royal Oaks

3 Comments

Mike Jamesâ€™s House at 2 E. Rivercrest Dr., Houston

Juwan Howardâ€™s Home in Royal Oaks, Houston

A reader reports that the large and well-turreted home at the corner of Rivercrest and Westheimer — not far from State Rep. Hubert Vo’s curious mansion — is almost complete:

The home belongs to Mike James, formerly of the Houston Rockets, who was traded to the Timberwolves, only to be traded back in exchange for Juwan Howard. The irony is that the home is an exact replica of Juwan Howard’s home in Royal Oaks, just a few miles down the road (Mike and his wife were unaware of this as their “Manager” picked out the plan — they were not amused when they found this out after Mike and his manager parted ways). It was designed by Berrios Designs (exceptional building designer), as was the guest house and the full NBA regulation indoor basketball court at the back of the ~3.5 acre property. The property also features two putting greens complete with dual sand bunkers and a water hazard, a “sunken” pool between the guest and main house, and a gym and dance studio attached to the basketball court. Sadly, the project, which had so much potential, is being finished on the cheap because of cost over-runs caused by their former manager (trying to do things cheap generally ends up costing a lot more money). Regardless, it is turning out pretty decently, but could have been done so much better.

Mike James’s house under construction in Rivercrest is pictured at the top of this story; Juwan Howard’s home in Royal Oaks is the one below it.

We hope the house-plan trade works out better than the player trade: James was sent to the New Orleans Hornets in February. But he says he’ll be back!

After the jump, more glimpses of Mike James’s Howardian manor and sports compound, plus a look inside the Royal Oaks home it’s modeled after!

77042, Home Design, Houston Rockets, Interiors, Memorial, New Construction: Residential, Rivercrest, Royal-Oaks

Homebuilders

05/02/08 2:15pm

Tattooed in Willowbrook: Pulte Makes a Lasting Impression

Homes for Sale, New Construction: Residential, Real Estate Marketing, Willowbrook

1 Comment

Tattoo Ad for Pulte Homes in Willowbrook in Houston Press

Media-specific marketing helps bring everybody together! Just wait until the buyers of new Pulte homes in Willowbrook lured by this uh, interesting ad in this week’s Houston Press move in next door to folks attracted to the neighborhood by some very different marketing.

Tattoo fans: Watch the video below and meet your new neighbors!

77070, Homebuilders, Homes for Sale, New Construction: Residential, Pulte Homes, Real Estate Marketing, Willowbrook

Condos

04/21/08 8:22pm

Mosaic: More Condos Available!

Hermann Park, Highrises, Real Estate Marketing

Ad for Mosaic Houston

Expect to see a lot more, uh . . . interesting advertising for the Mosaic towers on Almeda. Nancy Sarnoff reported in the Chronicle this past weekend that “about 65 units have closed” out of a total 790 in the two towers. The second glass tower is currently under construction at the eastern edge of Hermann Park.

That’s a long way to go, but the path sounds a whole lot steeper when you compare Sarnoff’s report to what Jennifer Dawson reported in the Houston Business Journal last August:

As of last week, 218 condos had sold in the first tower. Units in the second phase won’t go on sale until early next year. Ken Manfredi of Miami-based Developer Sales Group is handling Mosaic’s condo sales.

After the jump: More evocative ad imagery! Plus: the view from above.

77004, Condos, Hermann Park, Highrises, Mosaic and Montage, New Construction, New Construction: Residential, Real Estate Marketing

Buying and Selling

04/08/08 8:46am

More Vo Real Estate for Sale: Memorial Mansion with Multiples

Home Design, Homes for Sale, Memorial, New Construction: Residential, Rivercrest

24 Comments

31 W. Rivercrest, Houston

As recently as last Friday, the home owned by State Rep. Hubert Vo and his wife in Memorial’s Rivercrest subdivision was listed on HAR as “Option Pending.” Then — by yesterday — it was back on the market. Did something happen to disrupt a potential sale?

The new, 23,000-sq.-ft. “awesome Mediterranean estate” at 31 W. Rivercrest has been listed at the same price for 21 months.

What’s the story? A comment posted to HAIF last November offers some clues:

That house is a disaster. I believe, it was, initially being built for Rep. Vo, but when the budget quickly ran out and then they realized it wasn’t worth what was spent on it, it has been a mess trying to get rid of the thing.

I met with an agent that was showing the house privately about a year and a half ago just before I started a project down the street and she eluded that it was initially being offered, still incomplete, for 7.5mm. So far as I know, it is STILL incomplete and has dropped a lot. Eventually, they will have to liquidate it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is a tear down with as hideous as the house is.

The actual $4.7 million asking price has in fact held steady. For $200K less than Vo’s other real-estate offering, you get a 2.66-acre lot, an enormous brick home with 5 stairways, 2 attached garages holding a total of 8 cars, plus a separate guest house. And it’s all almost complete!

But this isn’t just your typical Memorial mansion for column-and-arch-crazed empty-nesters! Everything about this home — from its 8 bedrooms, 9 full baths, and 2 half baths, to its dual Master Bedroom suites — is tailor made for occupancy by large numbers of people!

See what we mean below the fold, in a few choice scenes from inside.

77042, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Memorial, New Construction: Residential, Rivercrest

Bellaire

03/25/08 4:22pm

Bellaire Field Study Notes

Demolitions, New Construction: Residential, Trees

1 Comment

From the course description for Anthropology 325L: Ethnographies of Ordinary Life, spring semester, UT Austin:

This course tries to approach the “ordinary” through ethnographic research. Each student will choose a project for participant observation. Questions include: how is the ordinary made to seem meaningful or made invisible or naturalized? How is ordinary life experienced by particular people in particular situations? How is it the site of forms of attachment and agency? What are the practices of everyday life? How do people become invested in the idea and hope of having an ordinary life? How does ordinariness dull us, or escape us, or become a tempting scene of desire?

And an excerpt from a recent posting of student fieldnotes on the Ethnographies of Ordinary Life class blog:

Bellaire has a different story. My mom often tells friends of the family about how over the course of our first ten years in this house, there was always at least one house being torn down and rebuilt. Our house along with three or four others are now the only original houses on the street. And they are now dwarfed by the pseudo-stucco three story behemoths that have come to characterize Houston exurbs. The street is littered with showy luxury vehicles, and most of the new neighbors donâ€™t really socialize with us or one another. And you should hear my father lament the plight of the trees on our street (and I am totally with this one). My mom stopped organizing the block party a few years ago simply because no one else expressed interest or willingness to help out.

Dreamworlds of Bellaire [Ethnographies of Ordinary Life]
ANT 325L [University of Texas at Austin]

77401, Bellaire, New Construction: Residential, Redevelopment, Trees

Demolitions

03/11/08 9:44am

Big and Modern on Lazy Lane: John Arnold Tries House Trading

Historic Preservation, Home Design, Homewoods, Houston Architects, Land Sales, Neighborhood Disputes, New Construction: Residential, River Oaks

7 Comments

Perspective View of House at 2950 Lazy Lane, Designed by Alexander Gorlin

This massive 20,000-sq.-ft. home featured on New York Architect Alexander Gorlin‘s website is under construction at 2950 Lazy Lane in River Oaks. The Museum of Fine Arts’ Bayou Bend Collection is next door.

Gorlin’s client is the youngest member of the Forbes 400 list of the Richest Americans (he’s number 317): 34-year-old former Enron trader John Arnold, who now runs secretive Centaurus Energy, a small but extraordinarily successful hedge fund company that trades energy commodities.

Four years ago, Arnold bought a recently renovated 1926 home in the French Norman manorial style in the Homewoods subdivision of River Oaks. The home, which had sat on the market for close to three years, was designed by Houston architect Birdsall Briscoe in collaboration with John Staub, who also built the Bayou Bend estate for the children of former Texas governor James Hogg next door. Briscoe’s creation was dubbed “Dogwoods” by Hogg’s son Michael, who lived there for many years with his wife.

A year after purchasing Dogwoods — currently valued by HCAD at $4.9 million — Arnold angered River Oaks preservationists by tearing it down.

After the jump, more illustrations of the house John Arnold will be trading into, plus a few photos of the one he didn’t leave behind.

77019, Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Home Design, Homewoods, Houston Architects, John Staub, Land Sales, Modern Design, Neighborhood Disputes, New Construction: Residential, River Oaks

Buying and Selling

03/10/08 4:44pm

Menil Townhome Sales Looking for a Lift

Home Design, Homes for Sale, Montrose, New Construction: Residential, Real Estate Marketing, Temple Terrace, Townhomes

2 Comments

Patio at 608 Stanford St., Houston Carol Isaak Barden, developer of the towering white now-a-lot-less-than- a-million-dollar townhouses near Allen Parkway, explains to Swamplot why she thinks the second unit hasn’t sold yet:

We always expected that it might take longer to sell the homes. They are bachelor pads. They are not for people with children, they are not for residents with bad knees, they are vertical structures for people who don’t mind using the stairs. Since both Francois [de Menil, the architect] and I have lived in Manhattan in buildings without elevators, we didn’t think it would be such a big deal. We were wrong.

Hey, nothing a little retrofitting can’t solve! Barden says a 4-story lift could be put in “easily” — but she hasn’t, because some potential buyers preferred it as the architect designed it, and “didn’t want to give up the extra storage.”

Francois lives in a 4-story townhouse in NYC, my first apt. in NYC was in the Apthorp, an old pre-war building on the upper east side without an elevator. I schlepped luggage and groceries up the stairs, and stayed thin and fit. Francois and I were dead wrong about the elevator issue. Houstonians valet park at restaurants, stores, hospitals, and even some churches. (New Yorkers don’t). And therein lies the problem.

608 Stanford Unit B sold three months after completion, last May. Unit A? Not so lucky:

The second unit has had contracts, unfortunately, none of them have closed. . . . we’re hoping to close on a contract with a buyer who happens to be an architect. It seems that the people who most appreciate these homes can’t afford them. (Architects, engineers, designers)

After the jump: what a bargain! Plus, a bit of news . . .

77019, Buying and Selling, Elevators, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Montrose, New Construction: Residential, Price Reductions, Real Estate Marketing, Temple Terrace, Townhomes

Commercial Real Estate

02/26/08 8:36am

Whole Foods, Fast Foods, and the Titan

Condos, Development Strategy, Galleria, Highrises, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail

Still from Video of The Titan, Randall Davisâ€™s Proposed Condo Tower on Post Oak Blvd., Uptown, Houston

If you’re looking for clues to help you figure out what the McDonald’s on Post Oak is gonna look like when it gets rebuilt, the flashy new website for the Titan doesn’t help much. There’s a video that shows Randall Davis’s latest theme-heavy condo tower from all sorts of dramatic angles, but it never answers the question most of us have been asking since the project was announced last fall: How, exactly, is the drive-thru gonna fit next door?

Davis told the Houston Business Journal last September that the new McDonald’s would be a “long, skinny building” facing Post Oak, between the Titan and the new Alexan Post Oak apartments directly to the north. In the new video, though, there are no Golden Arches, and camera angles artfully block the most direct views of that portion of the building site.

There’s no mention of the McDonald’s on the Titan website. There is, however, a welcome second confirmation that another fine food establishment will be built down the street at Boulevard Place:

A newly planned Whole Foods Market, only half a block away, places hard to find gourmet items at your fingertips.

Okay, so it’s just advertising copy. But it’s recent!

After the jump, more views of the Titan — none of which show where the real Big Macs are gonna live.

77056, Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Development Strategy, Fast Food, Galleria, Highrises, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Randall Davis, Restaurants, Retail, Titan, Uptown, Whole Foods

Condos

02/21/08 4:48pm

The Titan: Uptown Theme Blender

Galleria, Highrises, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing

Penthouse View, Randall Davisâ€™s Proposed Titan Condo Highrise, Post Oak Blvd., Uptown Houston

All the condos in Randall Davis’s new Titan condo tower on Post Oak will be named after . . . industry titans! Get it? On the 18th floor, for example, you’ll have units named after J. Paul Getty, Coco Chanel, Pablo Picasso, and . . . Bill Gates! Now that’s a party. Floor 14? More people of brilliance, though a few of them might not actually get along so well with each other: Frank Sinatra, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, Rudolph Valentino, Steven Spielberg. Isn’t that clever?

It gets better: The Brin/Page is . . . a two-bedroom! Strangely, the Buffet has a Kitchen and Dining Room that are separated from the rest of the unit’s living space. And the three-bedroom penthouse named after Mies van der Rohe — whose neighbors are of course Rupert Murdoch and Neil Armstrong — has a Great Room with a curved wall in it, and is connected to the Entry Foyer by a long hallway.

One unit on floors 23 and 24 is simply named The Titan. But there’s no reason for Randall Davis to be so bashful — he really ought to go ahead and name it after himself. Is there anyone else in Houston who even comes close to his stature in the themed-condo market?

The Titan is a break from Davis’s earlier projects, though — because it seems to have so many different themes! Put all those architects, movie stars, musicians, Silicon Valley insiders, oilmen, and suicidal novelists together in a tower styled vaguely like a comic-book rocketship, add in Michelangelo’s sculpture of David as the naked brochure-and-website coverboy, and you’ve got the Titan’s winning marketing formula! A bit confused? Sure. But if anyone can mix all this stuff up and make it work, it’s Randall Davis.

After the jump, floorplans that prove what we all know already: Designing a great building is just like planning a great dinner party that includes a few famous dead people!

77056, Condos, Galleria, Highrises, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Randall Davis, Real Estate Marketing, Theming, Titan, Uptown

Buying and Selling

02/19/08 12:15pm

Menil Townhouse: Almost a Quarter Off

Home Design, Homes for Sale, Montrose, New Construction: Residential, Real Estate Marketing, Temple Terrace, Townhomes

Menil Townhomes at 608 Stanford St. A, Temple Terrace, Houston

Deck of Menil Townhomes at 608 Stanford St. A, Temple Terrace, Houston Remember those sleek modern million-dollar white-stucco townhouses designed by New York architect Francois de Menil for a small lot over in Temple Terrace, just behind Allen Parkway?

It was unusual to include the One-Two Townhomes being on the AIA Houston 2006 Home Tour in that they were, and are, unfinished. “My concern was that they would soon be sold,” says [developer Carol Isaak] Barden, “and then nobody would get to see them.”

She shouldn’t have worried. One of the units apparently sold a little less than a year later, and the other is still on the market — though it’s not a million-dollar townhome anymore. After construction finally ended last July, there were five successive price reductions. Since the end of last month this 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 2,845-sq-ft. townhome has been available for a humbling $779,000. If you count the garage level below and the rooftop deck as a single story, that’s almost as good as getting one whole floor . . . free!

After the jump, a brief gawk inside.

77019, Buying and Selling, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Montrose, New Construction: Residential, Price Reductions, Real Estate Marketing, Temple Terrace, Townhomes

Apartments

02/14/08 2:19pm

Fairmont on San Felipe: Stacked!

Briargrove, Commercial Real Estate, Mixed Use, New Construction, New Construction: Residential, Retail, Strip Centers

Rendering of The Fairmont on San Felipe, Houston

It looks like our earlier report about the Fairmont at San Felipe — the strip-center-apartment combo planned for the southeast corner of San Felipe and Winrock — was wrong. Judging from this new rendering of the complex, it sure looks like those apartments will actually be stacked directly on top of the retail spaces, forming a lovely parking-lot-courtyard tableau!

Permits for construction of the apartments were just approved by the city. After the jump: closeups, plus the plan that led us astray.