The Woodland Heights forum is talking about some buildings north of Arnes on Studemont being fenced off with heavy equipment seemingly prepping for some (demo?) work. Any nuggets of wisdom from haifers on what could be going on here, if anything?

tanith27, on Monday, August 13th, 2007 @ 9:26pm, said:

Aren't they planning on continuing the frontage road past Studemont? Maybe it's related to that.

Tiko, on Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 @ 9:56am, said:

No it's well back from where the frontage road will be - closer to Arnie's. It's all fenced in with a demolition company sign hanging on the gate. A while back there was a post on this board somewhere about this parcel being for sale. There are 2 other properties between this one and I-10 - CBS Outdoor and Johnson Controls.

the warehouses north of Arnes and south of I-10 (on the east side on studemont) are owned by "Lui Investments Studemont, LP" / "Lui Houston Studemont, LP"

at first i thought it was a misspelling of "Liu" but the Comptroller of Public Accounts lists this:

LUI HOUSTON STUDEMONT GP L L C (and Lui Houston Studemont II)
5 E GREENWAY PLZ STE 1300
HOUSTON, TX 77046-0503

directed by Daniel R. Dubrowski, Glenn Lowenstein, and Thomas G. Bacon

I wonder if it's Frank Liu with Lovett Homes?

Norhill Dennis, on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 @ 11:05pm, said:

the same thought occurred to me.

sevfiv, on Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 @ 2:29pm, said:

Norhill Dennis, on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 @ 11:05pm, said:

bachanon, on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 @ 11:10pm, said:

yep - my first thought, but the Lui spelling was consistent everywhere i saw it. and no mention of Frank or his office address
but who knows...

Just got back from a halloween trip to Arnes and heard a big crash as I was walking to my car. Looked over towards the parking lot and saw a big earth mover just started to wipe out another building. If they keep this up, I'll be able to see Target from Studemont before too much longer...

I go to chase bank all the time and have noticed all the demolition there. It is a huge empty flat land now and it looks that they are clearing more buildings towards the back of it. Somebody should know something. Any Info????????

just wanted to bump this up now that a lot of the buildings are actually down (and you can see the target center from studewood!).

any new info on what will be going up where those came down?

Sorry if this is not the right information - I don't know how to look these things up - but I found something titled a "Municipal Setting Designation Application" (prepared for LUI Houston Studemont, L.P.) for 1200 Givens (the street that runs to the west of Arne's), which appears to be the parcel just north of Arne's. I don't know that it borders Studemont, but it's probably related to what's going on in the immediate area. Maybe someone else can get more information from the document - but here's some language from it:

A map depicting the designated property and adjacent properties is presented in Appendix B, Figure 1 (Site Plan Map). The designated property is currently vacant and is not in use; two vacant warehouse buildings, concrete/asphalt drives, and parking areas were demolished in October 2007. The properties within 500 feet of the designated property are commercial/industrial and are described below.

• Arne's Distributing, located at 2830 Hicks adjacent to the subject property to the south in an upgradient direction.

• Domco Products and Azrock Industries, located at 1705 North Oliver Street approximately 50 feet northeast of the subject property in a crossgradient direction.

• Verde Development Group owns the property located at 1312 Studemont approximately 210 feet north of the subject property in a crossgradient direction. This property was demolished in September 2007, and the property is currently vacant. The anticipated future land use is residential.

• TSC Realty Holding, located at 1316 Studemont approximately 370 feet northwest of the subject property in a downgradient direction.

• Grocers Supply Company and Chevron, located at 3000 Hicks approximately 475 feet west of the subject property in a downgradient direction.

The future use of the property and surrounding property will most likely remain commercial/industrial and mixed residential. Future plans for the designated property will include sale and redevelopment with the potential for residential use.

I noticed, too the following language in the Executive Summary: "The Site is surrounded by predominately commercial and industrial property to the north, south, east, and west. The property is bordered to the east by Diesel Street and the Old Houston Stockyards, to the south by Arne's Distributing, and to the west (downgradient) by Givens Street and Arne's Distributing parking lot." Wonder what the "Old Houston Stockyards" are/were - I know the Port City Stockyards were to the south of downtown. All I found in a quick search was one 1954 article saying something along the lines of the following:

12/19/54 - Houston financier H.R. Cullen announced purchase of 100-acre site for huge new stockyards project, plus 300 acres for an industrial center, north of city limits. Houston Stockyards Co. will operate the yards, and another corporation the industrial center. The two projects will involve millions of dollars in investments in next few years. Cullen said Houston should be a major meat‑packing center.

These folks spent a lot of money for a 1.4 acre plot. If they plan a residential development, it will have to be apartments to make it worthwhile.

I was interested to see further down in the study the number of residential water wells in River Oaks and surrounding areas. Must be for watering those giant yards there.

The developer is Lionstone Group (www.lionstonegroup.com). They focus on developing mixed-use properties in urban areas. They have a good track record. The following is a link to an article in the Houston Business Journal about the group.

HBJ Article about Lionstone Group

HCAD lists entities controlled by Lionstone (LIU Houston Studemont, LIU Investments Studemont) as the owner of the following 4 tracts:

• 1500 Studemont
  
• 1400 Studemont
  
• 1200 Givens
  
• 1312 Studemont

The HBJ identified Jeff Lindenberger with McDade, Smith, Gould, Johnston, Mason + Company as the broker who helped them assemble the properties.

The MSD applies only to 1200 Givens.

According to the Harris County Clerk's office Lionsgate granted a Warranty Deed to Verde Real Estate Investment Group and Verde Student Apartments in May 2007. September 2007, the Planning Commission approved an application to replat a 7.2 acre tract of land submitted by Verde Studemont Apartments (I have requested a copy of the application). My guess is the tract does not include the property at 1200 Givens, which is the subject of the MSD application.

I think there is a missing .3 acre tract of land. According to the HBJ, Lionsgate owned an 8.6 acre tract of land along Studemont. The 4 tracts above total 8.25 acres. The total of the three Studemont tracts is 6.9 acres, .3 acres less than the replat application.

It looks to me like this will be a fairly large multi-unit residential property.

Lindsey

Wow! Thanks, Lindsay, and welcome to HAIF.

<yawn> More apartments. Oh joy. Anyone have a clue where, after they use up most all the available land around here building apts, condos and other assorted high density residential areas, everyone that buys/leases them is going to shop? It just seems that they keep bringing in more residents, which is fine, but there is not much new in the way of retail.

And yes, thanks for that detailed info! Welcome!!

well, unfortunately, residents support commerce; commerce doesn't support residents [this is something i learned when my early cities refused to thrive on SimCity :closedeyes: ]. when developers look at adding retail or other commercial sites to an area, isn't one of the things they look at is density? based on that, and the fact that they are not being built in the Heights, i actually welcome this development. perhaps after the 1st buildings go up, we'll get some mixed use? then it will be the best of both worlds (hands over ears going lalalalalala when my husband talks about the traffic in studewood)

I guess I can that point. But wouldn't that be more true in suburban areas where land is plentiful and available? It just seems to me that they come up with great pieces of lands, which are few and far between inside the loop anyway), and then up pop apartments and townhomes galore. I've seen a ton of apts and the like be built all over the place, up and down Washington, Studemont, I-10 feeder, and elsewhere, over the last few years, and the only new retail we've gotten is Target and a handful of of other stores.

At what point does it reach critical mass and then people stop moving in because they don't have the stores they want conveniently located? I've always figured people are creatures of habit and the majority would rather not drive all over the place to go grocery shopping or clothes shopping or whatever. Thankfully I've never been one of those. I don't mind driving to the good places. I get the best of both worlds, I work in the burbs, surrounded by retail galore (perhaps why I'm spoiled?) and then get to be one of the fortunate ones who lives in the Heights and gets that great old town feel.

Hmmmm....to quote Emily Litella, "nevermind"... :-)