Jump to content

jdbaker

Full Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    258

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by jdbaker

  1. jdbaker
    I live nearby and am also interested in the status of this project. It seems like the project is dead as there has been no activity is many months.
  2. jdbaker
    I agree that a highrise is not a better deal. My point is that when you compare the true cost of a highrise to the true cost of owning a single family home, it's closer than it looks like it is if you were to just focus on the maintenance fee. Many, but not all, of the same costs (e.g. insurance, periodic capital repairs) are duplicated with a single single family home it's just that they are not as visible as a maintenance fee.
  3. jdbaker
    The higher maintenance figure is correct, however, it includes more than the things that you have listed. It also includes insurance, capital repairs (e.g. roof, plumbing, elevators), a reserve fund, and perhaps a doorman. It's a lot of money, but owning a single family home carries a number of hidden monthly costs as well.
  4. jdbaker
    It is way expensive as compared to a conventional bowling alley.
  5. jdbaker
    The visitor parking situation around the Houston House is actually not bad relative to the rest of the downtown area. There is ample street parking in the immediate vicinity and there are several surface lots nearby that offer inexpensive parking.
  6. jdbaker
    Do you have any other info to share (or info that you cannot share)?
  7. jdbaker
    I think the previous poster is referring to a different article than the Niche is referring to. There was an article in the Chronicle near the end of last year stating that the Houston House had been sold and would remain a rental building, but it would be remodeled with new windows, exterior paint, and upgraded common areas. Update: the article is here: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/busine...ff/5270371.html
  8. jdbaker
    It looks like someone finally bought this building. When I walked by today, scaffolding was going up around the awning and there were construction workers going in and out of the building. Has anyone heard what is planned for this space?
  9. jdbaker
    Why? The tunnels are closed after 5 pm and are also closed on weekends. Since most downtown residents are at work during the hours in which the tunnels are open, tunnel access from your apartment is essentially useless.
  10. jdbaker
    The original Savoy is a virtual twin to the Beacsonfield, which is next door. Like the Beaconsfield, it was a high-end apartment building built in or around 1908, a few years before the Beaconsfield. The front facade of the original Savoy faces the newer Savoy building, which means that you can't really see the facade from the street. I assume that this contributes to the lack of interest in this building, which is, or was, one of the more significant residential buildings in Houston before it was allowed to decay so badly. As for what will happen to the original Savoy, my best guess is that the western most portion will finally collapse sometime in the next few years. The roof is completely gone over a large portion of the building as are many of the floors. I'm not a structural engineer, but it looks very, very bad. I think someone here mentioned that the Newer building has extensive asbestos problems, so I would not look for much action there anytime soon.
  11. jdbaker
    Yesterday, it looked like they were doing something with the electrical service panels on the western most side of the parking garage portion of the building. There were several workers wandering around when I drove by.
  12. jdbaker
    There was definitely more work going on this afternoon at the Holiday Inn. Has anyone figured who bought it yet?
  13. jdbaker
    The parking garage in question belongs to Christ Church Cathedral. I think the daily rate is $6. I'm not sure about overnight parking.
  14. jdbaker
    I saw a large red construction dumpster in the parking garage level last week, which would seem to lend some credibility to this thread.
  15. jdbaker
    I've heard rumblings that the Greyhound Station may be moving to North Main near Metro's planned intermodal terminal at some point in the foreseeable future.
  16. jdbaker
    Apartments listed in the Huntington are currently priced in the $500 psf range, finished. Thus, even if one wanted to start from scratch, it would be much cheaper to buy something in the Huntington at $500 psf and gut it than it would to spend the $900 psf that Trunberry is asking.
  17. jdbaker
    It's difficult to understand why anyone would pay Turnberry's asking price when one could buy in an existing ultra-luxury building, such as the Huntington, for a fraction of that price.
  18. jdbaker
    According to the Chronicle article the Houston House is at 90% occupancy. I live across the street in the Beaconsfield, and judging by the apartments in the Houston House, which are lit in the evening I think 90% is a credible number.
  19. jdbaker
    The Historic tax exemption only exempts you from city taxes. This means that you still pay taxes to Harris County, HISD, and various other taxing entities. In other words, the Historic exemption will reduce your taxes by approximately 20%.
  20. jdbaker
    It's a quality building, however, my understanding is that a significant portion of the units are owned a by a single investment group (e.g. not the developer), or possibly a bank at this point as I've heard rumors that this group was in foreclosure.
  21. jdbaker
    That's fairly standard. In fact, for a full service (e.g. doorman) building, it's on the low side. However, it's not unheard of for a developer to keep maintenance fees artificially low while they're trying to market their units.
  22. jdbaker
    Howard Hughes' family lived in the Beaconsfield for at least a portion of his childhood. It's still standing and is located at 1700 Main St.
  23. jdbaker
    This happened almost weekly when I lived in DC. It's probably safe to assume the police were looking for someone.
  24. jdbaker
    My understanding is that this building does not have parking.
  25. jdbaker
    It's overwhelmingly construction costs. A prime CBD block in Houston would only cost 10-15 Million.
×
×
  • Create New...