04/08/11 5:12pm

In an email to the West University city council, public works director Chris Peifer sounds the alarm about the steel-frame home with metal siding currently under construction at 2723 Centenary St., a couple blocks west of Kirby: “As the street view of this structure will deviate greatly from the typical street view/appearance of the neighborhood I wanted to give you notification,” Peifer writes, after noting that the city doesn’t prohibit the use of the materials on the home or regulate “personal taste or esthetics.” And then he adds this: “FYI…Heads up. There are high value properties directly adjacent to this property that may take exception.”

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04/01/11 1:35pm

Before she moved on to greater fame in Arkansas — and designed a home featured in Sarah Susanka’s Not So Big House book series — architect Sharon Tyler Hoover built this Rather Big House for herself in West U. She was known as Sharon Tyler then. This Ranch Romanesque entry fronts 4,792 sq.-ft. of space on a 11,250-sq.-ft. hunk of land: 3 or 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms decked with floor-to-ceiling tile, a library with blueprint-friendly storage, and a black-and-white checkerboard living area where she planned out her next career moves.

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08/27/10 1:23pm

NO MONEY DOWN — FOR DOCTORS Who’s still able to get jumbo mortgages from banks with no down payment required? Why, borrowers in “lucrative professions” of course, explains Nancy Sarnoff. She profiles a CPA and a tax attorney who were recently offered a million-dollar loan with no money down and no mortgage insurance requirement — from BBVA Compass — to help them purchase their West University home. Among the more prized groups for such “professional mortgages”: doctors and dentists. Such programs are often targeted toward cash-poor graduates just out of medical school, and don’t take student loan payments into account.” [Houston Chronicle]

08/23/10 2:03pm

The original Buffalo Grille has at last identified a fallow shopping-center slot to migrate to, about a mile southwest of its current location. The new brunch spot will be at 4080 Bissonnet, on the far western end of West U’s Montclair Shopping Center (the one with the Randalls) at Weslayan. Last seen in this location: The Candle House, next to one of those old retail storefronts for Countrywide Home Loans.

Buffalo Grille’s current building on Bissonnet at Buffalo Speedway — where it’s been for 26 years — is the only section remaining of the shopping center torn down on that site to build H-E-B’s Buffalo Market. The Buffalo Pharmacy next door to it was demolished in 2008. The following year, an H-E-B representative told West U’s city council that Buffalo Grille would stay where it was, but by this April, the grocery company politely announced that its neighbor would be looking for a new home — to open up more spaces for parking.

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06/14/10 10:24am

Those of you who feared the appearance in Swamplot comments of a second warning sign might be the signal of an escalating fruit-tree security threat in West U need not be alarmed: It’s apparently nothing new. The reader who first sent in a photo of the best-protected fruit tree in town — on Tangley Rd. west of Buffalo Speedway — claims not to have even noticed that the second sign a few steps away was any different from the first. And yet it is! The uh, somewhat enhanced wording on the second sign is en Español.

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06/09/10 2:36pm

And here we have perhaps the best-monitored fig tree on Tangley, west of Buffalo Speedway in West University. Practicing for the thorough investigation that is sure to follow, the reader who sent us the tip claims to have been “in the middle of a public street when I took the photo.” Fig poachers, you have been warned! Says our reader:

who knew these figs were so valuable they’re worth the sign, netting, security camera, and wiring installed to protect them?

Oh, but have you ever tasted a West U fig?

Late Update: The fig tree has been outed by several commenters. C’mon — fess up! You’re really a peach, aren’t you?

Photo: Swamplot inbox

05/27/10 2:57pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: PUMPING THE HEIGHTS “I grew up in West University in the 1980s and watched it change from a shabby lower middle class neighborhood to what it is today. I now live in the Heights, and the area is remarkably similar to the way West University was during my childhood. The similarities include everything from housing stock, neighborhood amenities, and eclectic mixture of residents. The location is also similar to West University, in that it is convenient to all of Houston’s major destinations. Mr Kelley’s prediction that the Heights will follow the same upward trend as West University is probably correct, and I think investing in the Heights is a wise move. As the Heights continues to improve, the demand to live in the area will continue to increase and real estate prices will reflect that. If I had more cash right now, I’d buy another house in the area and hold on to it.” [Obsolete, commenting on Comment of the Day: Priced Out of the Conversation]

05/25/10 12:38pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: PRICED OUT OF THE CONVERSATION “The fact that ‘many’ people think the Heights is overpriced is meaningless – if other people besides yourself think that home prices in the Heights are spot on and actually buy the homes, it doesn’t matter what everyone else thinks. For the record, the way you feel about the Heights is how I feel about West U. I think the neighborhood is completely overpriced and I would never pay the going rate for West U. But – clearly, many people disagree with me, as those houses continue to fetch what I consider to be ridiculous prices. I can argue as long as I want that West U is overpriced and I can take my money elsewhere, but all that means is that I’m clearly out of step with hundreds of people who feel differently.” [LT, commenting on Swamplot Price Adjuster: The Heights of 2-2ness]

04/05/10 11:17am

A spokesperson for Buffalo Grille parking-lot tenant H-E-B confirms that the popular West U brunch-and-lunch spot will be moving from its current location on Bissonnet at Buffalo Speedway after its lease expires next year, “to a new location yet to be determined.” But one possible new location for the Buffalo Grille — a portion of the former JMH Market on Rice Blvd. — was just snapped up by the owners of Thompson + Hansen Nursery and Tiny Boxwood’s. The Buffalo Grille’s John McAleer tells the West University Examiner

“Right now…pickings are very slim. Any vacant space in the West U area, or the closest you can get to it, we’re looking at it. We have a year left, and we’re looking at that perfect location to find.”

How awkward: McAleer’s parents, Mac and Betty McAleer, “are part of the management team that owns the land on which the Buffalo Grille and H-E-B are situated,” the Examiner‘s Charlotte Aguilar and Steve Mark explain. And Molina’s Restaurant — displaced from the shopping center a few years ago when H-E-B redeveloped it — is still looking for its own replacement West U location.

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03/31/10 11:01am

The West University Examiner‘s Steve Mark reports that the owners of the Thompson + Hanson Nursery and the adjacent Tiny Boxwood’s cafe on West Alabama are expected to buy the former JMH Market building at the corner of Rice Blvd. and Edloe. The company’s new West U retail location might include a café and nursery:

Gregg Thompson of Thompson + Hanson, says upon completion of financial arrangements, he hopes to open doors at the JMH location within six months. Thompson is mulling over varied plans for the available 7,000 available square feet of the property. Texas Citizens Bank occupies a portion and has use of parking. . . .

Thompson is inclined to open a variation of his Tiny Boxwood’s theme. The current structure on Edloe would remain the same, he said.

Photo of former JMH Market, 3636 Rice Blvd.: West University Examiner

03/22/10 1:19pm

HAZARDS OF THE WEST LOOP Except for a memorable afternoon of standstill traffic — and the maybe 1,500 gallons of gasoline that made their way through storm sewers to Galveston Bay — no major disaster resulted from that tanker spill 2 Fridays ago on Bellaire Blvd. below the West Loop. That’s better than the last time: “[L]ongtime residents of the area remember an incident in May 1976 when a truck carrying anhydrous ammonia slammed into a bridge railing on the connector from the West Loop to the southbound Southwest Freeway and fell onto the freeway below. Of those within 1,000 feet of the spill, six people died, 78 suffered serious injuries and 100 more were treated for their exposure. That tragedy played out only about a mile from the site of Friday’s accident. Thirty-four years after that terrible day, nothing has changed. The poorly engineered West Loop, as it approaches the 59, is one of the worst sites for accidents in the U.S. — yet it is also designated pathway for some of the most hazardous cargo in the world. More is transported on the vulnerable tracks that run through southwest Houston, divide West University and Bellaire, skirt along Afton Oaks, River Oaks and Memorial Park.” [West University Examiner]

03/16/10 11:15am

THE OLD REDS OF WEST UNIVERSITY A little seagrass, a few new slipcovers, a plate on the wall — Joni Webb brings a house on Albans Rd. up to date: The dining room was formerly painted a deep red – typical of most West U homes decorated in the 90s. We repainted the upper half a deeper aqua found in the family room, leaving the wainscot painted white. The owner waited to use her table, chairs and buffet – which were a dated dark reddish brown stained wood. We had these pieces painted a distressed gray to be more in keeping with the lighter wall color.” [Cote de Texas]

03/11/10 10:05am

Must be tough out there for a little old 1940 cottage in a rough-and-tumble teardown town like West University Place. And so we have this elective-surgery survivor, which showed up on the MLS just yesterday. The listing mentions a 2002 Kitchen update, a roof dating from 2007, and new bathrooms in 2009. HCAD lists a renovation in 2001. Would never have guessed you had work done, really! You look fabulous!

Okay, we’ll show you a few pics of the inside. But really, you’ve already seen the best photo.

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