Tag: Wilshire Village

Apartments
02/19/09 3:28pm

Wilshire Village Apartments: Condemned?

by
Lancaster Place, Neighborhood Disputes
9 Comments

Update, 4:30 pm: The West University Examiner‘s Michael Reed confirms the report:

The order from Senior Inspector Mike Thomas said “occupancy is dangerous to human life” and told those living there they were “directed by law to communicate in person or by phone immediately with the fire marshal.”

A semi-anonymous reader just leaned hard on the caps lock key to post this comment about the Wilshire Village Apartments across from the Fiesta at Dunlavy and W. Alabama:

FIRE MARSHALL HAS SLAPPED “CONDEMNED” NOTICES ON ALL BUILDINGS!!!!

Might want to take some blankets over there – looks like a lot of elderly people will be sleeping under bridges pretty soon! Does this mean the Houston Housing Authority will now get involved??

Are any Swamplot readers nearby? Wanna give us the scoop?

Photo: Jim Parsons, from GHPA’s Houston Deco

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Apartments
02/12/09 12:08pm

Wilshire Village Apartments: Okay To Stay?

by
Lancaster Place, Neighborhood Disputes
23 Comments

Michael Reed from the River Oaks Examiner documents a rumor floating around the Wilshire Village Apartments on W. Alabama at Dunlavy — that former-and-maybe-still-current owner Jay Cohen has been telling tenants they don’t need to leave after all:

Monday afternoon, there was confusion about the order to vacate on the part of another tenant, who would only talk to the Examiner if he were not identified.

The tenant said he and another resident had been told by Cohen shortly after the notices were issued that they did not have to move.

He added he was under the impression Cohen still had the controlling interest in the property.

Cohen could not be located for comment.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, the property’s owner is Alabama & Dunlavy, a limited partnership. The general partner — or manager — is listed as General Commerce Equities II. Limited partners are not a matter of public record.

Photo of Wilshire Village Apartments: Katharine Shilcutt Gleave

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Apartments
02/11/09 3:43pm

Wilshire Village Utility Work

by
Lancaster Place, Neighborhood Disputes, Redevelopment, Utilities
4 Comments

A reader sends in this photo of the corner of Sul Ross and Woodhead, just west of the Wilshire Village Apartments, showing what appears to be work on wastewater lines connecting to the complex. Sul Ross dead-ends into a parking lot at the garden apartments at the end of the block.

The utility work was mentioned in this reader comment on Swamplot’s original story on Wilshire Village. Two weeks ago, tenants at the 70-year-old complex received mysterious notices demanding they vacate the property by the end of this month.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Apartments
02/10/09 9:50am

Wilshire Village Update: “A Nice Mess”

by
Lancaster Place, Neighborhood Disputes, Redevelopment
40 Comments

What’s really going on at Wilshire Village? Are tenants of the aging garden apartments at the corner of W. Alabama and Dunlavy actually being evicted?

Houston City Council Member Sue Lovell — and separately, at least one attorney — has reportedly told tenants of the complex that the eviction letter they received is not legally binding, since it was not signed by all owners of the property. Here’s the original report Swamplot received about the eviction notices last week:

We received information from two tenants at the site. Each received letters and/or cards from Alabama & Dunlavy, Ltd., 11144 Fuqua St., Suite 200, Houston, TX 77089 . The letters told them to vacate by the end of the month and that the electricty will be shut off on that date. The cards were signed by Matthew Dillick [sic], and the letters were cc’d to Mr. Jay Cohen, Mr. Clifton Hebert, and Mr. Howard Hebert (we don’t know who the Heberts are).

Matthew Dillick [sic] has had some interest in the property for several years. We had always been led to believe that Mr. Cohen continued to own the majority of the property, but when the tenant talked to Doug Anders in the Public Works Department, he implied that perhaps Mr. Cohen no longer maintained the majority interest in the property and that the majority has made other plans for the site.

So . . . who owns Wilshire Village?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Apartments
02/04/09 6:17pm

Wilshire Village Apartments: Actual Tenants Actually Being Evicted

by
Demolitions, Houston Architects, Lancaster Place, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment
62 Comments

At least 2 tenants of the Wilshire Village garden apartments have received eviction notices from the owner, demanding that they vacate the property by the end of February, a source tells Swamplot. The notices, which were signed by Commerce Equities president Matthew Dilick, say that electricity at the property will be turned off after that date. Swamplot’s source also says that the city’s Public Works department is aware of plans for the site.

Wilshire Village is the classically modern but now classically decrepit yellow-brick complex at the southwest corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy, across from Fiesta. The 17 buildings were designed by local architect Eugene Werlin and completed in 1940. Wilshire Village hit a downward spiral in more recent years under the peculiar supervision of its previous owner, who reportedly fought off throngs of eager potential tenants in order to keep the 144-unit complex largely vacant — then declared bankruptcy in 2002 when he was unable to pay the taxes on the property.

Although reports that the 8-acre complex would be demolished have circulated for years, the timing of these eviction notices is a bit of a surprise, given problems other developers are currently having securing construction loans. Equally surprising to many others who have driven past the run-down apartments recently is news that actual tenants are still living there.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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