fwki

Our three kids went to St. Martin’s Episcopal Children’s Center on Sage/Woodway from 1996-2008, starting at 18 months up until K. Obviously not in the Heights but an excellent pre-k, 6 hours/day, 2-5 days per week. Last year we had to send our youngest to his elementary school for his final year of pre-k to ensure a spot in Kindergaten. Good private schools like the Vanguard Magnet HISD schools are getting very selective.

Bill Marks at All Texas Foundation Repair did my 3/2 four years ago....great job, fair price, on time.

Wow! I completely missed that stat. Dallas is almost as bad as Detroit with the bottom not yet in sight. I'm guessing the Heights will remain "quaint" for a while. That is unless half-done, abandoned real estate projects begin to pile up.

Thanks for the info skamper. For commercial real estate developers, 2009 is going to be a tough year...far tougher than any neighborhood association. See this commercial real estate outlook... http://www.realtor.org/wps/wcm/connect/cc9...3bab778e322d571 . Houston's been above the fray nationally, but the oil price chickens are coming home to roost. It may a good time for recent UT real estate grads to study up on the 1980's... http://www.wtrg.com/oil_graphs/oilprice1869.gif .

I have 3 boys at St. Anne. If you want to get a feel for the St. Anne community, head over the the school's annual Fiesta on Sunday 10/19 for a good dose of family fun. You'll also get a good look at the beautiful campus. My eighth grader graduates this year with a class of about 50 students, and I have a fifth grader and a first year student in PK3.

The sale of the Burroughs property I referred to above has closed, according to a friend who discussed the transaction with Alice Burroughs. I checked the County Clerk's Office and it looks like the transaction took place on July 28th under a warranty deed. The Grantee is an entity called "DC Heights LP". For more details and to determine the exact lots, one would have to visit the Clerk's office on Caroline St. or have access to an associated database.

I read in the Chronicle that they're adding a big arugula section.

Additional details: The Burroughs property is under contract until expiry sometime this July without positive action, e.g. extension, etc. The seller understands that the buyer is having issues with the city on the southern parcel which encompasses "the ditch", and that is holding up the deal. It's not clear what those issues are (wetlands?). As an aside, 6-7 years ago I witnessed some U of H students clearing and excavating the west side of "the ditch" over a period of several weeks (across from Jimmies). They came up with what looked like cement steps leading down to a mooring area. I spoke with one student and she said that they were investigating the site which was used to bring supplies and ice to the area, and naturally it became a social gathering place. Apparently "the ditch" was once navigable when White Oak Bayou was controlled at a higher level than today.

First post..I came across this thread while trying to confirm a story I heard this week about a planned development on White Oak, and I thought this was it. However I realized that this group is discussing development to the west of OC and what I heard from a White Oak business owner was very specific about a similar development to the east of OC. More specifically, the lady that owns the strip center east of Charlies Liquor (White Oak Bakery etc), the Camphouse BBQ property, and the adjacent commercial building (with the black iron fence) along with the empty lot across the street next to the ditch...has signed a contract to sell it all to a single developer. Additionally, the developer has plans similar to the Rizk project on the west (mixed use high rise) but that the empty lot on the south side of White Oak is planned to be a parking garage. The business owner I talked to spoke directly to the seller, so this is all third-hand information. I'll ask for more specifics, but in the meantime, I suggest we get independent corroboration before the hand-wringing starts.