- 10803 Moonlight Dr. [HAR]
Sign up for the Newsletter
Tag: Westbury
Royce White might never have suited up for the Houston Rockets, spending most of his rookie season toiling in the D-League with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and — umm, tweeting, but it appears he has found a way to contribute to the city. Last week, White — who suffers from generalized anxiety disorder — announced that his foundation, Anxious Mind’s, which he started when he was playing college ball at Iowa State, will partner with Bee Busy Wellness Clinic to open a free mental health facility on W. Bellfort. The clinic will also provide dental services and primary care and will open this January inside the Rubik’s Cube-like former Frank Neighborhood Library at 6440 W. Bellfort, shown here, just west of Westbury and Meyerland. White played in only 16 games last season; he was caught up in disputes with Rockets management about travel arrangements — he hates to fly — and team doctors. In July, he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers.
- Royce White to open mental health center in Houston [Ultimate Rockets]
- Royce White (@Highway_30) Is Saying Weird Things On Twitter Again [Hair Balls]
Photo: Allyn West
It’s a square route through the entry of a modified 1960 Westbury mod, described in its listing on Tuesday as a giveaway prize from a bygone Parade of Homes. The interior plays up its remaining original elements, such as the tile mural found in the front-and-central entry (top) — which the listing claims was featured in the old Arts & Architecture magazine. Another exercise in symmetry comes from the 2 garages sandwiching the recessed front door (above).
In Westbury, a 1965 home overlooking the medianed roadway out front punches up its mostly bloom-free elevation with a little hydrangea-tinted trim. For the property’s real color explosion, however, head inside, where in place of a stagnant, unifying hue, (most) rooms go boldly into the spectrum.
- 5510 W. Bellfort St. [HAR]
NEIGHBORS GLAD TO SEE WESTBURY ‘EYESORE’ GO 
Appearing in the Daily Demolition Report a week ago, this house at 5822 Cartagena St. met its unmaker yesterday. Teevee reporter Erik Barajas reports that the 2,500-sq.-ft. Westbury home located between Hillcroft and Chimney Rock in Southwest Houston had allowed “drinkers and critters to roam free inside” and annoyed neighbors, who gathered to document the destruction with cell phones: “[I’m] really happy,” Becky Edmondson tells Barajas. “The home has been in disrepair for years. It was stalled in court with a tax sale. . . . [It had] rodents, it was open, it wasn’t secured, the roof was caving in. It was just really a bad eyesore.” Barajas adds that the property has sold and a new home is planned. [abc13; previously on Swamplot] Photo: abc13
- 10822 Moonlight Dr. [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HAVE I GOT TREES FOR YOU “One miserable tree in the entire 10,500 sq. ft. yard. I’ve heard that home buyers hate landscaping, but this is ridiculous. How ’bout a few bald cypress on the west side to cut down utility bills? A few live oaks in the front would be nice. A few water oaks in the back would be interesting, or go crazy and make it Shumard oaks. Even a mass planting of pink muhly could go somewhere; to hell with the neighbors put ‘em in the front! I’ll stop now.” [Chef, commenting on Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: Glacier Bay]
- 10603 Carlota Ct. [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SCRAPPING IT ALL — OR NOT — IN WESTBURY “So I have a home in Westbury that I purchased in the $190 range. It’s ok shape but I am living in another home inside the loop. As I am interested in a larger home and can’t find an affordable lot inside the loop, I am considering demoing my Westbury home and rebuilding on that lot. Does anyone have an opinion on this? I am only aware of one other Westbury new build from 2006. I love the neighborhood, I just need more space. Another option I am considering is building a second story to the existing home. Thoughts?” [Westbury Owner, commenting on A Londoners’ Guide to the Westbury Land Rush]
FORT BEND PARKWAY WILL GROW SOUTH, STAY AWAY FROM THE LOOP 
The Fort Bend County Toll Road Association plans to start construction of a $20 million, 2.3-mile southern extension of the Fort Bend Parkway from Hwy. 6 to the Sienna Parkway later this year. (The Hwy. 6 underpass will cost an additional $20 million). Plans to to build a 3-mile-long northern extension the Fort Bend Parkway — from Rte. 90A through Westbury, so it connects to the southwest corner of the 610 Loop — have been on the books for more than a decade, but Harris County officials aren’t interested in building it. [Houston Chronicle] Map: HCTRA
MORE RIDES TO GYM 
The Westbury Christian School is buying the Westland Family YMCA at 10402 Fondren, south of South Braeswood, with plans to turn the building, its pool, and large playing field into a remote athletic campus. The 31-year-old Y is a little more than a mile west of the K-12 school’s main campus at 10402 Hillcroft. The property wasn’t up for sale, but “declining membership and increasing operating costs” convinced the organization to shut the facility. Members will be transferred automatically to the Y at 5801 W. Orem Dr. when the Westland location closes at the end of the month. [Hair Balls; previously on Swamplot] Photo: YMCA of Greater Houston
- 5202 Kinglet St. [HAR]
“The key to buying a home in Houston is to figure out the next up-and-coming neighbourhood before it arrives,” declares Sheila McNulty, the Houston and energy-business correspondent for London’s Financial Times. Then you can knock down a home there — or fix it up! And that next hot new neighborhood would be . . . ?
Momentum is building in Westbury, a 20-minute drive from downtown. Here the tree-lined streets sell suburbia: they are quiet, close to good schools (both public and private), the Medical Center – a key employer in Houston – and the Galleria shopping mall that anchors Houston. Yet they are set back from the highways and urban sprawl that characterise any big US city.
Before Westbury hit the radar of local estate agents it was Meyerland, which followed Bellaire, which followed West University, as the circle of sought-after areas around downtown Houston steadily widened.
McNulty tours a few listings in the neighborhood with Keller Williams agent Peggie Kohnert — including this “needs TLC” special at 5842 Dryad Dr., just 6 houses in from Hillcroft:
AUTOMATED CURBSIDE RECYCLING: THIS IS ONLY A TEST Now the proud caretaker of a new 96-gallon bin-on-wheels that will apparently welcome even glass, Richard Connelly spills the beans about the city’s soon-to-be announced one-year pilot recycling project: “About 10,000 homes in Meyerland, Old Sixth Ward, Pine Loch in Clear Lake and other areas will take part in the program. They will be serviced by the same kind of trash trucks with grappling arms that take the regular bins, as opposed to having workers jump off trucks, pick up the small bins and sort out plastic from paper.” [Hair Balls]