MikeRichardson

I think you are in the majority. Since there are no towers anymore, interest has waned.

At least to me, it would have been otherwise acceptable if they had planned to build at least the same number of apartments that they demolished. The project as it is now, is actually a reduction in residential density for the acreage. The old plans, with the 20 story towers, seemed a lot more interesting just at face value, and probably had a lot more apartments too. That would have been great. I'd be all for that.

The whole thing as it is now though, just seems "moo". More handbag shops, an overpriced movie theater. Fewer apartments. Nothing taller than what, 5 or 6 stories? It's just not a *substantial* project anymore - it just seems like they're going through the motions, because OMB bought that property for the sole purpose of tearing down those buildings - so they must be torn down, and something different must be built there.

The intolerable neighbors are now in the process of being evicted. This is about a 180 degree turn from last week, when I was told by the actual manager they had a lease until March 2014, after having being lied to by the crappy front office staff who claimed that the neighbors had just a "short term lease" for a "summer internship".

A day after I got that news, land surveyors were seen. They seemed to be determining a line exactly between my building and the adjacent building.

Somehow I feel that my douchebag neighbors' eviction has less to do with their behavior, and more to do with a convenient and adequate excuse to get them out of the building sooner. People have been moving out, slowly - I can verify that there are several empty 1 bedroom apartments, yet no one has moved in to any of them.

My hypothesis is that there may be some significant interest in the building, since it has frontage on San Felipe. I pay my rent on time every month and I don't cause my neighbors' walls to vibrate, so I don't think they have any solid grounds on which to evict me. The lease I signed lacks a "redevelopment clause" which was apparently included in all of the 4444 Westheimer leases.

Without the clause, or grounds to evict me for a legitimate reason, I'm not sure how they could get me out of the lease before the term ends in May 2014, other than some kind of mutually agreeable financial incentive. I guess I was one of the last ones to sign a 1 year lease here.

Might be kind of cool to live in a building like this, right up until the end, kind of abandoned, as time goes on and it empties out. Maybe I'd get to know the (non-douchebag) neighbors a little better. Probably the last chance I'll ever get to have a southern/western exposure corner top floor apartment with a great view of Uptown for less than $1/sq ft. The utility bill sucks in the summer, but the amazing breeze you could get going those few months from November to March made up for it. I'd just leave the windows open 24/7, except on those few really cold nights. I ran the heat maybe 10 days out of the year - otherwise, the sun took care of it. The fresh air for those months, except on a bad smog day or something, it was great. You get tired of the same recycled AC air day in and day out.

I just think it was -- it is, a neat apartment. I'll take one last winter here, I'll settle for a financial incentive, but my next place just won't be the same. I'll find another place, but it won't have a view of uptown, it probably won't be as big, or have such an interesting history. It'll just be some place to live for now, until I can buy a house, or move out of town.

I guess the whole lot (Savannah Club and Westcreek Apartments) were at one time owned by Pennzoil.  http://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/03/business/real-estate-pennzoil-s-big-ventures-in-houston.html

They are no longer signing any long term leases at Westcreek at River Oaks. Any resident renewing right now can only get a 2 month extension with no guarantee of being able to get another extension or a future term lease. Unlike 4444 Westheimer, however, there is no special redevelopment clause in the existing leases. My lease isn't up until May 2014, although I might ditch before then due to intolerable neighbors. (Someone suggested to me that perhaps these "neighbors" have been placed there - a 2nd floor unit surrounded by half a dozen other apartments - to drive people out early)

According to what I've heard, the feeder side buildings are of particular interest, and at least one building has been "practically sold". It looks like they are going to carve that side up building by building. They're probably going to wait for construction to finish on 4444 Westheimer before selling the other side.

Gotta make room for more "couture handbag" store and "gourmet yoghurt" and whatever other vapid nonsense they'll be selling in the shops.

Some updates.

The firemen and such are using some of the abandoned buildings for training. I finally just asked them one day as they were leaving for the day. They had punched holes in some of the walls and were using the ladder to bust holes into the roof and doing other things which would seem like the perfect training to do on buildings that were going to be demolished. All of this was going on in the 1968 era buildings (of which 3 are being demolished, and 6 will remain as Westcreek at River Oaks).

All of the 1971 era buildings are literally *rubble*. They are gone. It looks very eerie and weird. At least 25 dump trucks of rubble are being carted off every day. They will probably have all of the 1971 rubble gone very soon. I assume they will then proceed to demolish the 1968 buildings.

It is really weird to live in a building, knowing that just 2 buildings away, they are demolishing a duplicate of the same building, but not mine, at least not yet. Actually, there have been workmen here all week, replacing bits of rotten wood and repainting stuff. Does that mean they plan to keep these buildings up for a time - or does it mean that they're trying to make them look nice, so they can raise the rent in an attempt to extract as much money as possible before knocking them down in order to build more "couture" purse shops and overpriced retarded movie theaters?

There was a Safeway at Jones Rd at FM 1960 in the Steeplechase shopping center. I don't recall it ever being an AppleTree. It's now either a Palais Royal or a 99 cent store. Those stores have changed over the years.

I can confirm that one. To this day, I believe, you can still make out one of the old Safeway signs. It's the one next to the little street that is next to the former Target. You can make out the individual letters of "Safeway" in the sign. On the other side of the little street, is what I believe to be a former Albertson's.

On the other side of Jones, the same side of FM 1960 is a Big Lots that kind of reminds me of a Kroger greenhouse store.

You now have to drive at least a few miles to get to any grocery store from that intersection.

I don't really want to bump the thread but I can't edit the post because it's too old. I saw the same number of emergency vehicles out there yesterday, this time they were parked on Westcreek Ln at the intersection of Westheimer. Is it some kind of pre-emptive thing?

Saw two fire trucks and two ambulances in the parking lot when I was taking a walk, but there didn't seem to be any sense of urgency.

So now there's a backhoe in the parking lot, along with hundreds of 80s model refrigerators. Some of the shaded parking has been torn down, but other shaded parking has been left up (ostensibly) to shield the fridges from rain. I predict nothing really interesting will happen until August.

I finally saw men working out there... on July 4th. The next day as well. It's hard to tell what they were doing. Based on the lack of heavy equipment I'd say they were going into the units and scrapping out the appliances and other things of value.

Nothing obvious going on when I drove by at 11 AM and 7 PM.

I noticed all of the new yellow signs yesterday. Only took them 6 months to get their crap together - notice how the date has been pushed out to 2015, when I'm pretty sure it used to be 2014. 

I don't know about Handy Andy, but there is another Randalls store at 5219 FM 1960 West that (used to have) the exact same architecture as 1407 S Voss. They remodeled the FM 1960 store so extensively that you can only tell it was almost the same as the Voss store by going inside and looking at the ceiling.

The Voss store has not been remodeled since the 90's. Knowing Safeway they will just shut it down (like every other unremodeled store in the past few years) when the lease is up and claim the landlord wanted an extra $1 per month and there's too many other stores nearby and oh by the way our executives have no balls

My prediction came true.

http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2013/05/randalls-flagship-to-close-after-lease-impasse/

Oliver McMillan... plans to begin excavation work on the project in early 2013. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2013, and a grand opening is slated for the fall of 2014.

They haven't excavated anything. Do they intend to build on top of the existing buildings? No. Something is holding them up.

Yes, there is a demo permit required. Water and sewer must be disconnected from the system, as does electrical. Once that is confirmed, permits issue.

Electrical is still connected - all of the building lighting still comes on every night. As recently as March, one apartment still had lights on inside (you could see right in at night - someone had stolen the mini-blinds when moving out).

The whole thing just seems "on hold" to me. Even the security patrols have been decreased.

They posted a "SWPPP" a few days ago. I have no idea what that is, but usually after they post that up, something happens.

Is there some kind of permit or something they have to obtain before demolishing these buildings? They have literally done nothing for two months except put up a fence with green cloth over it and those big signs. They've been paying for a guard 24/7 to keep out squatters. They have literally done nothing else. The lights are still on and everything. There are still air conditioners on the roofs (I'd think those would have to be removed properly first due to the refrigerant). I haven't seen anyone removing appliances or anything. I think the fitness equipment is still there too.

Is this typical?

They've put a green cloth on the chain link fence now. Nothing else visible seems to be going on. You can still see into a few apartments with their lights still on and everything.

Interesting opinion about this development. http://www.austincontrarian.com/austincontrarian/2012/08/bad-economic-development-in-houston.html

I'm particularly flummoxed by Icken's insinuation that the city is better off without "1960s era apartments for years to come." Old apartment buildings are the main source of moderately priced housing. That's how housing markets work. I don't know what the rents are there today, but I'm sure they're no more expensive today, relatively, than they were in 1992. I'd be the last person to defend rigging the zoning or development rules to protect old apartment buildings, but at the same time I'm stunned that the city believes it needs to actively incentivize their removal.

Also, a chain link fence was erected around most of the property today, including all of the parking accessible from Westcreek Ln and any parts accessible from inside the gate of the existing apartments. Should be an interesting next few months.

Additionally, I believe that the Randalls store nearby, at 1407 S Voss was also originally a Handy Andy since it has the same exact peaked roofline, footprint and stone facade that the old Westheimer/Gessner store had.

I don't know about Handy Andy, but there is another Randalls store at 5219 FM 1960 West that (used to have) the exact same architecture as 1407 S Voss. They remodeled the FM 1960 store so extensively that you can only tell it was almost the same as the Voss store by going inside and looking at the ceiling.

The Voss store has not been remodeled since the 90's. Knowing Safeway they will just shut it down (like every other unremodeled store in the past few years) when the lease is up and claim the landlord wanted an extra $1 per month and there's too many other stores nearby and oh by the way our executives have no balls

"Those people" had leases that had passed their expiration date. Upon the expiration of a lease, it becomes a month-to-month tenancy.

They were still signing new leases as of this year - leases that (assuming a one year term) expired well into 2013. An addendum to these leases provided for their termination (which is why some seem to be 30 days, maybe the month-to-month tenants, and others are 60 days, probably specified in the addendum).

HEY! You can't please everyone and you have to take advantage of the opportunities when they present themselves. This is why some actually invest money and take all the risks in projects and some just sit in a hole somewhere b*tching on the internet all day about how the do-ers are not doing it the way they would do it if only they could do it. It's always easier spending someone else's money and whining about how others see fit to risk their own capital, reputation and a good chunk of their time on this planet while actually sitting back and doing nothing (and yes it's even easier whining about the whiners - so sue me).

I'm not sure how to reply to this. I disagree with the developer's timing of the evictions (during the holidays), as well as their decision to still sign leases up until right before the closure notice, and I lament the net loss of total housing and affordable housing. Your remarks seem to imply that by merely holding these views I am some kind of "non-doer", that perhaps I spend a majority of my time "b*tching" on the Internet about how to spend other people's money. I don't know if that was your intention or not.

No. Especially not when they are being given rebate checks for up to one month of rent and guaranteed the return of their full security deposits. If you live on a month-to-month tenancy, you are subject to your tenancy being terminated with 30 days' notice (or apparently 60 days for some of these tenants). Nothing to be appalled about.

Those people had leases, not "month to month tenancies". A "rebate check" is gone after a few months when you have to move into another apartment that costs significantly more.

Does no one else find it appalling that over 600 families are being thrown out of their homes during the holidays? That almost 700 affordable apartments are being replaced with what will almost certainly be fewer than 300 much less affordable apartments?

As a current resident of Westcreek at River Oaks (spared from the bulldozer... for now) I appreciate the almost entirely residential nature of Westcreek Lane and some of the most affordable housing in the area. Now I get worry about when they might to decide to tear my building down too so they can build fewer, more expensive residences and useless vanity shops of no appeal to me whatsoever.

Note: My name should be MikeRichardson, not MikeRichardsob.