Tag: Wilshire Village

Development Strategies
10/26/09 1:42pm

Dilick: How About We Throw Up Some Townhomes Where Wilshire Village Was?

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Lancaster Place, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Townhomes
3 Comments

The purported owner of the Wilshire Village complex at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy, who managed to stay out of the media spotlight while the 69-year-old 8-acre complex was emptied and then torn down after a sequence of peculiar events earlier this year, appears at the end of Nancy Sarnoff’s phone line to make a few pronouncements about the property.

First, that big Commerce Equities sign on the property that says “Available”? Well, here’s what it really means:

“We would consider an outright sale if the appropriate user was identified,” owner Matt Dilick of Commerce Equities said.

That’s right: Dilick might wanna do a little creatin’ there himself!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Buying and Selling
09/16/09 2:18pm

Comment of the Day: Wilshire Village Logic

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Comments, Commercial Real Estate, Lancaster Place, Land Sales, Quicklink
12 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILSHIRE VILLAGE LOGIC “I am really amazed at this debate. The principle is very simple. The land is too valuable for the revenue generating capacity of existing structures. You can’t rent those spaces for enough money, no matter how you remodel. This is definately a high density project and could be high-rise site in a better market, where are you going to find north of 7 acres in an area like this? The Fiesta across the street is in the Cohen family, so that could be in play. The Cohen family is surrounded by real estate guys. The real shame here, is that you have complicated personalities that probably prevented any new construction during a time in which it would have been viable, so now they are trying to market a property in a climate that almost no one can get financing that would make a deal work. A new project would have provided comfortable living space in a convenient and desirable location, with maybe even a mixed use component. You tear down 40+ year old properties, that have a great deal of deferred maintanence, for marketing purposes, and now they can showcase those beautiful magnolia trees, which I hope they can preserve as many as possible, but it has to make economic sense. I am sure that if someone will make a fair market value offer, and they are a credible buyer, they would sell. Death to rumors. The dirt could be as much as $100 a foot, if you turned back the clock 2 years. It is special so may still demand it.” [Alexander, commenting on All Cleaned Up and Ready for Sale: What Can We Get for Wilshire Village?]

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Demolitions
09/14/09 1:13pm

All Cleaned Up and Ready for Sale: What Can We Get for Wilshire Village?

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Lancaster Place, Land for Sale, Real Estate Marketing
45 Comments

Here’s a view of the new sign up at the now-scrubbed site of the former Wilshire Village Apartments at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy. It’s . . . for sale! Apparently, all that demolition work was just for staging.

Can we get a closeup on that sign?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Comments
08/31/09 2:45pm

Comment of the Day: Cue the Wilshire Village Sale and Redevelopment Rumors

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Home Design, Homebuilders, Lancaster Place, Quicklink, Redevelopment
35 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: CUE THE WILSHIRE VILLAGE SALE AND REDEVELOPMENT RUMORS “I heard (not joking) that KB homes (I think, or another home builder) was looking at this site for a new style of very small and relatively inexpensive 1,000 sf-ish single family hyomes on very small lots. The [target] pricepoint was about $150k I believe.” [Charlie, commenting on Boyd’s Wilshire Village Prayer, with Photos]

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Demolitions
08/26/09 1:25pm

Boyd’s Wilshire Village Prayer, with Photos

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Lancaster Place, Redevelopment
33 Comments

From Robert Boyd’s blog, Wha’ Happen?:

Wilshire Village is officially no more. . . .

I am interested in what happens next. Certainly something new will be built there, but in today’s economic environment, getting loans for development is hard. So it may sit for a while. But I will be watching and taking photos whenever I notice a change in status.

Here’s what I hope. I hope that the new development there, whatever it is, is a reasonably high density development, like the one it replaces. I hope that the new development preserves the beautiful trees on the site.

I hope the new development is people-oriented and community-oriented. I hope that it engages the street and is pedestrian-friendly. I hope that it is architecturally interesting. I hope it has no fake stucco, no faux-Tuscan features. I hope it has no turrets or oversized, penis-shaped entryways. I hope it doesn’t have big garages that face the streets.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Demolitions
08/21/09 6:48pm

The Wilshire Village Apartments, All Gone

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Lancaster Place, Quicklink
6 Comments

THE WILSHIRE VILLAGE APARTMENTS, ALL GONE The demolition of the Wilshire Village Apartments across from the Fiesta Market on Dunlavy is now pretty much complete, readers tell Swamplot. The last buildings to come down were the ones on West Alabama. “The smell of crushed, still-good lumber was very sharp, and very poignant,” writes one correspondent who drove by late yesterday. Reader OkieEric comments: “The good news is that most of the trees are still there.” [Swamplot inbox; previously on Swamplot]

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Apartments
08/04/09 4:24pm

At Home in Houston’s Wilshire Village Apartments, Back in the Day

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Demolitions, Home Decor, Houston History, Interiors, Lancaster Place
21 Comments

Note: Updated below.

So tell me, whatever happened to . . . those Wilshire Village Apartments? Houston photographer Sarah Lipscomb stumbled across a couple of classic interior shots of the then-new apartment complex while poking through old photos a few months ago with her aunt, Johnna Lee Muller.

Writes Lipscomb:

They didn’t have internet in those days but they got to smoke, read magazines and look at globes.

Another view of home entertainment in the early 1940s, Wilshire Village-style:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Apartments
07/31/09 1:47pm

It’s Sure Looking Like Demolition at Wilshire Village Now

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Demolitions, Lancaster Place
11 Comments

The West University Examiner‘s Mike Reed reports that portions of the brick walls of at least two buildings on the 8-acre site of the Wilshire Village Apartments at Dunlavy and West Alabama have been hauled away. (Yes, Swamplot commenter OkieEric made similar observations earlier this week.)

And then there’s that sign that’s gone up on Dunlavy, which kinda takes all the guesswork out of it.

Photo of Wilshire Village Apartments: Mike Reed, West University Examiner

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Comments
07/27/09 2:09pm

Comment of the Day: The Trees of Wilshire Village

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Demolitions, Lancaster Place, Quicklink, Trees
5 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE TREES OF WILSHIRE VILLAGE “Actually, it seems that efforts *may* be taken to spare at least some of the trees on the Wilshire Village property. From my vantage point across the street, I can see orange plastic fencing surrounding a number of trees…I can also see at least two bulldozers on the property, as well as a lot of broken-up pavement in the parking lots behind the apartments. I fear that the end is near and that I am soon bidding farewell to an old friend–but if we *do* see some of trees spared, that is at least some solace.” [M. Martin, commenting on Wilshire Village Apartments: Actual Tenants Actually Being Evicted]

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Construction Materials
07/23/09 12:37pm

Wilshire Village Apartments Demo: Maybe Not Quite Yet

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Demolitions, Lancaster Place, Utilities
4 Comments

Here’s a little video sent to Swamplot from this morning, showing what appeared to a reader to be the beginning of the end for the Wilshire Village apartments. But in a comment to that post, Lynn Edmundson from Historic Houston reports this demo work isn’t really all it’s been cracked up to be:

I just returned from the site…and it looks like they are just breaking up the surface concrete. The contractors on the site are installing plumbing/water lines…and are not with the demolition company.

New plumbing lines? What for?

Meanwhile, Historic Houston Salvage to the . . . rescue? Edmundson adds:

With the permission of the contractors on the site, someone with me was able to look into one of the apartments and there is beautiful oak flooring still inside the apartments waiting to be reclaimed!

Video: Swamplot inbox

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Apartments
07/23/09 9:08am

Breaking Apartments News: Demolition Begins at Wilshire Village

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Demolitions, Lancaster Place, Quicklink
3 Comments

BREAKING APARTMENTS NEWS: DEMOLITION BEGINS AT WILSHIRE VILLAGE A reader reports the long-anticipated demolition of the Wilshire Village apartments at the corner of Dunlavy and W. Alabama has begun: “At 7:19 AM this morning demolition started. It is one single piece of equipment.” [Swamplot inbox; previously on Swamplot]

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Apartments
06/24/09 9:58am

The Wilshire Village Apartments Have Permission for Demolition

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Demolitions, Lancaster Place
27 Comments

As noted in today’s Daily Demolition Report below, 20 structures of the Wilshire Village garden apartments at the corner of Alabama and Dunlavy received demolition permits yesterday.

Aren’t there only 17 buildings in the complex? Maybe everyone’s just trying to be extra sure to get them all.

If you’re coming late to this story — or if you just feel the need to relive all the excitement, mystery, and wackiness surrounding the long decline, eventual abandonment, and destruction of a 69-year-old Montrose icon — you can read all of Swamplot’s posts on the topic here. For full effect, start at the earliest story, at the bottom of the last page, and work your way backwards. And don’t miss the many entertaining and informative comments contributed by Swamplot readers along the way.

Photo of Wilshire Village Apartments, 1701 W. Alabama St.: Jim Parsons, from GHPA’s Houston Deco

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Apartments
06/15/09 2:13pm

Comment of the Day: Which Will Roll First?

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Comments, Demolitions, Lancaster Place, Lanier Place, Quicklink
1 Comment

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHICH WILL ROLL FIRST? “Speaking of demolition, the Chicken ‘n’ Egg Roll building is still standing. On the day of the supposed demo, there was a little Bobcat or mini-dozer in the parking lot. A couple days later I noticed a CoH red tag in the window. But the building is still there. Wilshire Village is still standing, too, for the most part. The windows are gone, gaping, and empty, meaning that the interiors have been exposed to the weather (such as it is these days). Some of the buildings have been tagged. The complex used to just look old, but inhabited. Now it looks vacant and sad, very sad.” [GoogleMaster, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Meat Beater]

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