Going out, coming in: It looks like the work to update this former Rice Epicurean Market at 2617 W. Holcombe into The Fresh Market is well underway. Set back in that shopping center on the southwest corner of W. Holcombe and Kirby Dr. in West University, this will be one of the 4 Rice Epicurean spots that the North Carolina chain said it would be freshening up this year; the others are on Weslayan, Tanglewood, and Memorial.
Photo: Allyn West
Read more about: 77025, Buildouts, Grocery Stores, Retail, West University
The only difference between this 1981 West University property’s new listing and a previous one in mid-March appears to be the $110,000 escalation in price since its sale in mid-April, for $525,000. The current photos are a bit grainy and bleak, but they document how the unoccupied interior and lot-filling pool and deck have been faring as prices rise:
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Read more about: 77005, Flipping, Homes for Sale, Housing Prices, Interiors, Rice-Village, Swimming Pools, West University
This expanded-since-1938 home in West U has a 2-story front facade, but 3 stories of living space. Its last redo was in 2000. Listed in mid-June at $1,091,000, the home is located west of Buffalo Speedway in a section of the small city where lots run 50 ft. by 150 ft. Unlike many newer properties, this 5-bedroom home has no brick or stucco and doesn’t fill the lot. Behind the house there’s a deck with an outdoor kitchen and a bit of a yard – or is that a garden?
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Read more about: 77005, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Renovations, West University
If this West U mansion on Buffalo Speedway brings to mind a game of Clue, chalk it up to its interior layout — and its inadvertent role in a jewelry pilfering attempt by a house-hunting poseur earlier this year.
As with the classic board game, the listing identifies each room by its function. There’s a Music Room. A Loggia. Even a Billiards Room. It was in a Bedroom back in January, however, that an unassuming early guest at an open house allegedly rummaged through a jewelry drawer. He left quickly and empty-handed, but first “body-slammed” the sales agent who had interrupted him. An account of the incident that appeared in the Village News at the time (no longer online, unfortunately) said the perp, believed to have been working high-end open houses in 2 cities, was quickly ID’d, due in part to a fast-and-furious word-of-mouth campaign among Houston-area Realtors to name him and flush-out his whereabouts — and to remind fellow agents to be careful when showing properties.
The upshot? Don’t be surprised one of these days if you’re asked to show an ID and pose for a cell phone photo at a slightly less open open house. No ID required for this tour, though:
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Read more about: 77005, Crime, Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, West University
A group of 25 or so cats still hanging around the 2-and-a-half-acre grounds of the recently vacated Courts at West University apartments at 3810 Law St. have apparently not been informed of the 5-story Alexan West University complex set to go up on their old stomping grounds. An animal advocacy group concerned that the cats may get in the way when the existing buildings are demolished early next month has sounded the alarm, requesting donations and assistance in setting up a feeding station away from the demo site, as well as finding adoptive and foster homes for the uninformed animals. [West University Examiner; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Elmo at Courts of West University: Kathy Golding
Read more about: 77005, Apartments, Critters, Demolitions, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Sunset Terrace, West University
West U design blogger Joni Webb confesses to the plan she had been pursuing all along: “How do you redecorate without your husband really noticing? If I had told Ben I was going to redo the entire downstairs, he would have had a heart attack. In order to save his life, I never told him. Instead, the changes were done a little bit at a time over the course of a few years. Slowly, slowly, and quietly. Once the countertops had been paid for and forgotten about, I had the walls painted. Well, they needed it anyway!! Once the walls were gray, I lived with the old yellow silk ticking curtains for a while before I changed them out for the grayish taffeta. And who would ever notice a few new slipcovers anyway? Certainly Ben didn’t. He pays so little attention to what I’m doing around the house, he is still oblivious that I have been redecorating for the past couple of years all with a grand scheme in mind.” [Cote de Texas] Photo: Joni Webb
Read more about: Furniture, Home Decor, Interiors, West University
November 30, 2011 – 9:58 am
Houston’s Sunset Terrace subdivision could be getting a new neighbor. A five-story one. Trammell Crow Residential is floating plans for its proposed Alexan West University apartment project. The intended 2.5-acre site is bordered by Bissonnet, Law and Auden streets. Currently, that location is home to the Courts at West University, a 1973-vintage two-story garden style apartment complex at 3810 Law St., complete with its own bark park:
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Read more about: 77005, Apartments, Demolitions, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Sunset Terrace, West University
September 15, 2011 – 9:06 am
How design blogger Joni Webb’s Calacatta slabs have been acclimating themselves to West U.: “Is white marble really practical in a kitchen? Yes, that age old question. Doesn’t white marble stain? I’ve had my marble countertops for almost three years now and I have to say, I don’t have any stains at all. But, what I do have are a few smudges. You can’t really see them unless you look sideways in the sunlight – and then you might notice that there are – for lack of a better word – smudges. These spots look like clear water dried on the marble. I know that all I need to do is get the marble cleaned and resealed again, but truthfully, these few marks don’t bother me at all.”
Photo: Cote de Texas
Read more about: 77005, Construction Materials, Countertops, Interiors, Kitchens, West University
Comment of the Day: The Teardown Chase
“Nice house. I remember back in the mid 80′s when places like that were available in West U for about the same price. My wife and I would see an ad for one in the paper, go rushing down to West U to look at it and find a bare patch of brown earth where the house stood a few days prior. We never could get to a house before the builders.” [Bubba, commenting on Bus or Bike Now, Ride Rail Later from Eastwood-Area Bungalow]