Tag: Renovations

Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Sunset Heights

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Former Post Office at 2601 Baylor St., Sunset Heights, Houston

Here’s just one paragraph from a nine-page variance request application submitted for consideration at today’s Planning Commission hearing:

So what message does this whole process send to people like me who are willing to go out and spend their time and their hard earned money and take risks in order to improve the city and improve our neighborhoods? The message is: Only the guys with deep pockets and deep connections—the Perry Homes, the Tricons, the Fingers, the Olmsteads, the Levits, the Weingartens—only those guys get to win at this game. Those guys can build what they want when they want. Everybody else loses. Everybody else gets bad advice and the run around. Everybody else should just stay home and sit quietly on their couches and watch TV.

There’s more to like in Jared Meadors’s request to subdivide the 49-by-120-ft. property he owns at 2601 Baylor St. in Sunset Heights into three separate lots — including an accounting of his annual net adjusted income over the last three years, two HAR.com screen shots, and some occasional heavy leaning on the CAPS LOCK key. But it’s nothing, really, compared to his more wide-ranging complaints about his difficulties with his neighbors and the Prevailing Lot Size ordinance that he has posted on the website of his company, Medusa Properties. It begins:

NEW CONSTRUCTION! SUNSET HEIGHTS – MODERN CRAFTSMAN STYLE – AVAIL SPRING 2008
*** UPDATE *** THE BLUE HAIRED LAWN NAZIS OF EAST SUNSET HEIGHTS STRIKE AGAIN!

More name-calling, after the jump!

77009, Development Restrictions, Neighborhood Disputes, Planning Commission, Prevailing Lot Size, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Sunset Heights, Variances

Construction Materials

03/04/08 11:47pm

Just Listed: Little Green Rehab in the Sixth Ward

Development Strategy, Environmental, Green Design and Development, Historic Preservation, Homes for Sale, Old Sixth Ward, Real Estate Marketing, Renovations

706 W. Sawyer St., Old Sixth Ward, Houston

It’s a little old bungalow on a small lot . . . but it’s clean and green inside! The sellers of this 2-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath, 960-sq.-ft. home say they’re trying to get this Sixth Ward home LEED certified:

The 1920 facade has been preserved, but when you open the door, its all about 21st century. The hm has been renovated using non toxic materials, low VOC paint & sustainable design materials.

A neighbor who watched the work reports the house was sold to the current owners as a teardown:

It was a nasty, dirty, filthy, funky house with a garage in the front yard. They tore the garage off the front, moved the house around on the lot a tad, and have done an outstanding renovation.

Plus: the neighbors are very very quiet, says our correspondent. The house is next to Glenwood Cemetery.

Read on for more pics, from before and after!

77007, Construction Materials, Development Strategy, Green Design, Green Development, Historic Preservation, Homes for Sale, Old-Sixth-Ward, Real Estate Marketing, Renovations

Avalon Place

02/15/08 7:02pm

River Oaks International: Out with the Old English, In with the Old Swedish

Home Decor, Interiors, Renovations, River Oaks

Avalon Place House, Old English Version, Family Room, River Oaks, Houston

Avalon Place House, Old Swedish Version, Family Room, River Oaks, Houston

Houston interior designer Joni Webb takes time out from her usual focus on French design to tell the story of a home in Avalon Place that was done up first in an English country style (top photo), and then — some years later — completely redone by the same owners to something more . . . 18th century Swedish (second from top).

The English incarnation, which was captured in a Country Living magazine feature in the 1990s, had taken years to perfect, Webb reports:

. . . the finished project was perfect: a cozy English, country-style home, filled with authentic antiques, Italian oil paintings, wall to wall seagrass, faux painted yellow and red walls, toile wallpapers, Bennison fabrics and Kenneth Turner candles. It was an open, fun house – the site of many parties where people gathered around a roaring fire and lounged in the deep George Smith sofa, all the while remarking on how warm and inviting the home was.

So, it was a great surprise to many, including [Houston interior designer Carol] Glasser herself, when the wife declared she had changed. She no longer loved her home’s decor, she wanted a new look – a Swedish look – and not just a Swedish antique here and there, but a total, complete Swedish home. And so, for the second time, everything in the house was either sold or was stored and they started the process of decorating their home, completely from scratch, again.

Who best to complete this European migration? Carol Glasser, the same designer who had created the house’s first look. (This time, she enlisted help from Swedish Style expert Katrin Cargill.) After the jump, more before-and-after photos, plus nitty-gritty details of international style-travel.

77019, Avalon Place, Furniture, Home Decor, Interior-Design, Interiors, Renovations, River Oaks, Theming

Historic Preservation

01/29/08 11:15am

Just Listed: Fifties Bayou Cool

Home Design, Homes for Sale, Houston Architects, Interiors, Memorial, Open Houses, Real Estate Marketing, Renovations

Family Room of 403 Westminster Dr., Houston

A reader reports that the Frame House, a fifties-Modern classic tucked off Memorial Dr., is up for sale for a cool $3 million. Designed by Houston architect Harwood Taylor in 1960, this is about as close to a Case Study House as Houston ever got — and it perches just about as close to Buffalo Bayou as you’d ever want a home to get. Its recent restoration from a mid-eighties whitewashing earned the current owner, his architects, and builder a local preservation award.

If you’re a fan of this kind of Modness, the best news of all is that you don’t have to pay to play: An open house is scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, February 17th. If you’re not a fan, you can visit and imagine how it would all look with crown moulding and a nice, traditional pitched roof.

After the jump, a few more details about the home, plus a demonstration of the real value real estate agents can bring to a fine listing like this.

77024, Buffalo Bayou, Historic Preservation, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Houston Architects, Interiors, Memorial, Modern Design, Open Houses, Real Estate Marketing, Renovations, Restorations

Buying and Selling

01/22/08 8:36am

Third Ward Demo Duplex: Dressed Up To Get Messed Up

Demolitions, Development Strategy, Homes for Sale, Real Estate Marketing, Renovations, Third Ward, Townhomes

Interior of 2103 Berry St., Third Ward, Houston, Under Construction

Renovate or demolish? It’s a false choice, really. Now you can do both!

If ever one listing encapsulated the essential paradox at the heart of the Third Ward’s uh . . . “resurgence,” it’s the one just posted for 2103 Berry St.

Contractors are hard at work completely renovating this Third Ward duplex . . . so that you can buy it and tear it down. Then you can start over and build brand-new townhouses! The brand-new listing features the construction-site photo above and the following description:

GREAT DUPLEX UNDER RENOVATIONS LOCATED MINUTES AWAY FROM DOWNTOWN,MIDTOWN, TOYOTA CENTER AND MINUTE MAID PARK. CORNER LOT SURROUNDED BY NEW CONSTRUCTION. PHENOMENAL OPPORTUNITY FOR A DEVELOPER’S OR INVESTOR’S TO BUILD TOWNHOMES.

Who says you can’t have it all?

After the jump: Can’t we just slather the stucco over the exterior brickwork and call it even?

77004, Buying and Selling, Demolitions, Development Strategy, Duplexes, Homes for Sale, Real Estate Marketing, Renovations, Third Ward, Townhomes

Commercial Real Estate

12/17/07 10:31am

Secret Midtown Boy Scout Sushi Location Revealed

Midtown, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Restaurants

1911 Bagby St., Midtown, Houston

Earlier this month, Rhea Wheeler told the Houston Business Journal about his plans to open three restaurants in existing buildings in the greater downtown area: Gastropub Hearsay next to Market Square, a Texas cuisine restaurant called White House at Austin and Elgin in Midtown, and . . .

What was that third location? The HBJ wouldn’t say:

The company’s third location is a secret ingredient in the restaurant mix. Wheeler does not want to reveal the location of the large Midtown property, which was purchased two years ago, because he’s trying to buy the surrounding properties.

Below the fold: oops — where it is!

77002, Midtown, Renovations, Restaurants

Downtown

12/04/07 11:04am

Hearsay: Market Square Gastropub Rehab . . . and More

Historic Preservation, Midtown, Renovations, Restaurants

Former Twelve Spot Bar on Travis Street, Downtown Houston

Former Ibiza and Catalan investor Rhea Wheeler and two partners have bought the shuttered Twelve Spot bar on Travis St. — just around the corner from Market Square downtown — and will be turning it into a gastropub called Hearsay.

218 Travis is Houston’s second-oldest building, and originally served as a Confederate Army munitions depot. It’s a dramatic space inside: There are three stories, but the upper floors have been removed and a mezzanine placed in the back.

Wheeler told Jennifer Dawson of the Houston Business Journal he’ll open the new restaurant in the first half of next year.

After the jump: More Wheeler restaurant plans! In actual old buildings!

77002, 77004, Downtown, Historic Preservation, Midtown, Renovations, Restaurants

Home Design

10/26/07 8:25am

When Graffiti Artists Paint the House

Institutional Buildings, Midtown, Renovations

This Old House by Aerosol Warfare at the Diverseworks Satellite Space

DiverseWorks gave graffiti collaborative Aerosol Warfare free reign to paint the arts organization’s satellite space at the corner of Alabama and Almeda in Midtown, and this is the result.

You remember this house, right? It’s the one that used to have giant Sesame Street characters airbrushed all over it.

â€œThis Old Houseâ€ [Houston Press]
The Official Unveiling of This Old House [DiverseWorks]

77004, Graffiti, Institutional Buildings, Midtown, Painting, Renovations

Historic Preservation

10/18/07 10:00am

Fifties Cool Revived: A Houston Case Study

Home Design, Houston Architects, Interiors, Memorial, Renovations

Sunken Play Area at the Frame-Harper House, Houston

Texas Architect magazine features a home that shows what the famous postwar Case Study program of modern steel houses might have looked like if it had landed on bayou banks in Houston instead of L.A. hillsides.

Of course, what was cool in the fifties wasn’t especially appreciated in the eighties. The home’s second owners

removed the terraced landscaping and painted the entire house white, including its darkstained walnut paneling and load-bearing walls of pink Mexican brick. They filled sunken terrazzo soaking bathtubs in children’s and parents’ bathrooms with concrete. They removed the lacy, cast-plaster screens separating the living and dining rooms designed by Gloria Frame’s father, Joseph Klein, and the unusual turquoise St. Charles steel kitchen cabinets with their little shiny stainless steel legs. In the main living areas they covered over a series of recessed light coves in the ceiling depicted in superb photographs by Ezra Stoller, which were published in House & Garden in September 1961. They also replaced the original copper roof flashing with galvanized steel flashing that had rusted to the point of failure by 2004 when the house’s third owner, Dana Harper, persuaded them to sell it.

After the jump, more swank pics from Harper’s expensive restoration of this cool modern home off Memorial Dr.

77024, Buffalo Bayou, Historic Preservation, Home Design, Houston Architects, Interiors, Memorial, Modern Design, Renovations, Restorations

Demolitions

10/05/07 9:16am

St. Luke’s: We’re Selling So We Can Renovate and Demolish

Highrises, Institutional Buildings, Medical Buildings, Office Buildings, Renovations, Texas Medical Center

The Oâ€™Quinn Medical Tower at St. Lukeâ€™s Why did St. Luke’s decide to sell the Texas Medical Center’s most recognizable building?

Once the tower sale goes through, St. Luke’s — which plans to lease back its current space on floors nine through 12 for continued hospital operations — plans to extensively renovate and update the 27-story patient tower, which opened in 1971. The original seven-story hospital building, built in 1954 and now used for administrative functions, will be torn down, and new facilities will be built on that space as well as possibly on other nearby undeveloped land owned by St. Luke’s, according to [St. Luke’s senior vice president David] Koontz.

“That is the ‘why’ behind the move to sell this medical building,” he says.

For sale: The Madonna tower. Designed by Cesar Pelli. Officially named only a couple of years ago for donor and breast-implant litigator John O’Quinn.

After the jump, a picture-postcard-perfect view of the original 1954 St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital building, not long for this world.

77030, Demolitions, Highrises, Leasebacks, Medical Buildings, Office Buildings, Office Space, Renovations, Texas Medical Center

Development Strategy

08/28/07 10:38am

Building Tissue Donated for New Organ Donation Facility

Institutional Buildings, Medical Buildings, New Construction, Proposed Developments, Reliant Park, Renovations, Texas Medical Center

New Headquarters Building for LifeGift, Viewed from Lantern Pt. Drive

How fitting: The former St. Catherine’s Montessori School across from a Reliant Stadium parking lot is gone, but its spirit will live on. The school itself now has a new location on the other side of the South Loop, but the concrete bones of the “castle-like” building it left behind at 2510 Westridge will be . . . reused!

That’s right, organ-donation organization LifeGift will be spending $7 million to graft new space onto the existing structure, which will be renovated and kept alive presumably with an infusion of stucco. The completed building will be the organization’s 26,000-square-foot headquarters. A new blue-glass prosthesis will connect it to a parking lot along Lantern Point Dr. and serve as the front entrance. Among the features inside: LifeGift offices, an organ-donation education center, and operating rooms for onsite tissue extraction and organ recovery.

Let’s hope the transplant is successful. But really, this is nothing new for the patient: Before it became a school, the building was a firearms museum.

After the jump, more views of the bionic building from m Architects and Burwell Architects.

77054, Building-Reuse, Development Strategy, Institutional Buildings, Medical Buildings, Reliant Park, Renovations, Texas Medical Center

Commercial Real Estate

07/26/07 8:05pm

The Beatles Slept Here

Downtown, Hotels, Proposed Developments, Renovations

Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel

And so, apparently, did Jack Ruby. The 28-story former Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel at 711 Polk downtown, vacant for more than 20 years and asbestos-free for almost nine, has a new suitor, reports the Houston Business Journal:

Omni [Hotels Corp.] said it and Atlanta-based Songy will transform the Houston hotel, near the George R. Brown Convention Center and what will be the new Houston Pavilions project, into an all-suites hotel featuring more than 400 suites, 30,000 square feet of meeting space and multiple culinary venues.

Other amenities will include a 13,000-square-foot wellness center with outside accessibility for nearby office workers, a fitness area with a Mokara Salon & Spa and personal trainers and nutritionists on staff to assist with creating customized wellness and fitness regimens.

After the jump, swank pix from the Sheraton-Lincoln’s sixties heyday.