rps324

Hobby Master Plan Has anybody seen these proposed changes to the Hobby airport area, especially up and down Broadway from the freeway to the terminal? Does anybody have any more info on this? There is some interesting sketches under the "framework plan" section.

Did we mention Wilson's, that was bought up by Service merchandise? There was one in Champions Village 3, along with the now defunct Sakowitz chain. Is Gerlands grocery store stilll around anywhere?

Any more word on what will happen with the current Galleria 3 Macy's once it moves to the current Foleys in Galleria 4? The whole 3 part seems pretty weak. Lots of empty spaces, a couple of no-name stores that look like they would be better suited at Northwest Mall than the Galleria, and of course still Sharper Image. The Fox Sports Bar looks like a thinly-veiled attempt by the mall management to eat up as much of the space as possible. Not that it isn't finished out nice enough, but every time I have been by there it doens't look that busy. Any new news on this wing?

At least it is just landscaping that got an 80's update, if you have done any mod house shopping you have seen what other areas of a house can get bad 80's updates! The results can be absolutely frightening.

There are more photos on the listing. It is included in folder 2 on the Houstonmod.org site, under the available mod properties. that folder was just updated.

This one just came up for sale in Meyerland, listed with someone across town. Mid $300's. One owner.

That area is transitioning fast. On the up side, even if the economy doesn't give us much appreciation over the next 5 years, you should still gain some value from the area continuing to gentrify. Assuming it continues to do so. On the down side, I think the biggest obstacle you may face is a potential saturation in the townhome market. We are already seeing some of that now. There will probably still be people building new product in there 5 years from now. So when your townhome, with several year old everything, goes up for sale and competes against brand new ones, well you see the problem. You might consider single family as well, but that is a personal lifestyle decision.

The status of some of these neighborhoods is kind of like the weather, if you don't like it, just wait a little while it will change.

I am not sure of the boundaries, but I don't think there are any houses over where they are putting this, just warehouses.

Had the seller taken the home off the market in another month or so when the listing expired, like she planned, and kept living in it in that state then I think eventually the house would have been lost. tear downs are flooding into Meyerland now, and it won't be too long before it spills over into Willowbend. There is already one on that street. Had she continued to live there a few more years without doing anything to the house, I think it may have deteriorated to the point that no one would have saved it. Everyone that saw it packed to the gills will sure be surprised at how it looks when you get it done! Can't wait for that photo spread! ( Atomic Ranch? Dwell?)

That is exciting news! Now talk about before pictures... What you had to see past just to see some possibility.

I guess I am the lone naysayer, and I hope I am proven wrong because I think it would be good for the whole north/northwest area for Greenspoint to turn around, but I don't forsee that turnaround in greater Greenspoint unless they actually demolish a number of the complexes and replace them with office space or something. It is going to be several years before light rail ever makes it out there, and a lot will depend on what happens and how well it holds up between now and then. The Cityview stuff is being sold to a company called GFI I believe, which will pull the current management away from Lincoln Property Company. Personally I don't have as much faith in GFI as I do Lincoln, so I don't see any positive changes on the horizon. While Cityview looks considerably better than pre-renovation, I don't think demographically it has moved up that much. With Lincoln's pending departure & a continuing soft market in the B & C class apartment market, IMHO it will stagnate or even slide back down some as the newness of the renovations wear off. Once rail comes into the area, if the area has slid at all, then who is going to move into an area of 5000+ lower income units just to be near the rail? Will there the mass influx of people with more disposable income to support increased retail in the area? To support an overall "turn-around" in general? How many people would you need to turn around an area with so many units in such a small area? There are apartments west of the astrodome area that are near rail, but I don't see the rail dramatically improving that area. Even if you had new owners that wanted to renovate a complex in Greenspoint post-rail installation, it is stilll very hard to impossible to pull up one complex in a sea of bad ones. I would love to agree with those who see a rosier future for Greenspoint, I hope you are right, but I'm not seeing it

I hate to sound negative, but I would definitely call Cityview a flop. Actually, apartment industry insiders pretty much considered it a flop as well. Cityview had two things going against it. One was the Gunspoint stigma. No amount of marketing could erase it effectively. the other was the timing. It is next to impossible to reposition and upgrade apartments, especially on such a massive scale, when you are in such a soft apartment market. They tried to be real strict with qualifying criteria but in this market you just can't be. I have repositioned a number of apartments in my day by tightening criteria and raising rents. Those were things that were not real feasible in this market. Then you would have the flooding issue at some of the properties. What they envisioned for that area was not what they ended up with.

...and the lack of a good Prada store has always been on the top of my complaint list!

Why just the other day I was thinking how tiring it is to have to fly to Paris or New York to get some new clothes..

They have great views, but aren't there train tracks right there by them? I am pretty brave on the urban pioneer front, but I am not just in love with this one because of the area.

Big date night, good excuse to break out the blue hair...

It may not have been the leasing office, it may be ownership. When I was cleaning out the absolute crap people at one complex, they told me to stop. To which I replied "who do you want me to save? The heroin dealer or the gypsy's that throw dirty diapers on other people's car or the prostitute? Pick and let me know" to which they told me, "save anybody who is paying" Of course I got rid of them anyway. It was just a short term contract gig for me at the time so I pretty much nodded politely and then went off and did as I pleased. A lot of the on-site people though have families and really need their jobs, so they have to keep their "numbers" up regardless. Too many times upper management thinks the answer is to put their foot on the back of these on-site managers necks just a little harder, and that will make it all better.

Somebody help me out here, my memory is failing! What is the name of that Asian Antique store on 19th in the Heights? Is it Windwater Gallery or something like that?

OMG! It's all about the El Juan plate! With the exception of the flautas, most of the chicken dishes seem to pale to their beef fajita creations.

If you can track down old owners of the house, they might have some. The only other source might be old ads from when the house was new on film at the library.

I'm not sure, but I think they (Hare & Hare) did a lot of other neighborhood layouts including Garden Oaks & Glenbrook Valley.

I did find out the owners live in a house now that is on Milwaukee and Fulton. A newer construction red brick faux Georgian. Apparently it is not grand enough. Apparently this is UPPER Fulton now

Has anyone else seen that McMansion going in on the edge of Lindale Park facing Fulton? It is a huge house, it looks about 7000 square feet on a track that runs the full length of the block, facing Fulton. What's up with that? Has anyone else seen this? It is between Cavalcade and 610.

There are some great bargains still in the East end. I know there are one or two in Idylwood that can be bought right now for under $150,000. There are two on North Dover( a good block) in Glenbrook that are 2500 sf range that can also be bought for under $150k. Idylwood: 6621 Fairfield $149,900 6602 Meadowlawn $149,000 Houston Country Club Estates 1019 Villa De Matel $139,900 6503 Pinehurst $149,000 6402 Jefferson $155,000 Glenbrook Valley 8110 Dover $149,900 8224 Dover $149,900 7742 Morley $137,500