nativehou

Where do I join the pro-developer protest?

I think they're held regularly at Tony's.

Are you trying to tell me real estate investing has no risk?

No. Where did that come from? I've lost money and made money on real estate.

Why do you seem to support the developer's rights 100% over the homeowners'? Have you ever invested your own hard-earned money into a piece of property? Not a car or anything that will lose value, but a home for you and your family? Have you worked for years at a job that you aren't passionate about because you need to pay the mortgage for a house in a decent neighborhood while your kids are growing up? If you have, you would expect to at least not lose money when you sold your home. That's a reasonable expectation, even for a "leftie."

Would your landlord be happy if a 24-hour self-storage facility, for example, went up next to the house you're living in? Would he shrug his shoulders, and say "oh, gee, that's the risk I took."? Would you try to get out of your lease if it happened, and then when your landlord said no, shrug your shoulders and say "oh, well, that's the risk I took."?

And have you driven down Bissonnet to see where this is? Can you honestly tell us you think it's a good thing to construct a 23-story tower in that particular location?

OK, so about 6pm this evening I rode down Bissonnet in front of what is now the Maryland Manor Apartments...

...and it's really gonna suck traffic-wise if this thing goes up.

It already does.

It's easy to see for anyone not blinded by dollar signs.

It is hard to feel bad for these people.

Not for me.

If this were happening to you, whether you were rich or poor, I'd feel bad for you. This isn't anything anybody expected on a two-lane stretch of Bissonnet.

24h Traffic count on Bissonet here was 17k+ in 2001.

250 units are going to cause the Apocalypse?

Wah wah wah... cry me a river. Protection of privilege...

It won't cause the Apocalypse, but it will make the traffic situation much worse, which will bring down property values in one of the most beautiful areas of Houston. When you own a house, and you've worked years to pay the mortgage and you're looking forward to the day you sell it so you can reap the rewards of your years of hard work, you'll understand.

Didn't Bill White Houston to live in the area? I think he might live in the Memorial area now but I could have sworn he used to live in/near Southampton. Also, Clutterbuck lives on Sunset Blvd. between Greenbriar and Shepherd.

And Lovell lives off of Woodhead between Alabama and Richmond -- only a mile or two from 1717 Bissonnet.

Does anyone else find this kitchen laughably hideous?

This could drag out a very, very long time.

Welcome to the forum, ousider.

This isn't terribly different from the towers in River Oaks. I think people are underestimating the traffic that Bissonet carries already... it's probably not going to be a major issue. There is already significant commercial development in the area, it's not quite as pastoral as people are claiming.

The commercial development on this stretch of Bissonnet is hardly significant. Most of it is mom-and-pop businesses in existing structures -- formerly single-family homes. An antique store, photo studio, a caterer, etc. These businesses don't get a lot of traffic. The only businesses that get a lot of traffic in the area are the restaurants Picnic and Raven Grill in the old Butera's grocery location near Hazard. And that's usually only during lunch hour Monday-Friday -- AND it causes jams on Bissonet because the street is too narrow to handle it. Just turning left off this stretch of Bissonnet can cause jams during rush hour because it's hard to pass on the right if the car turning left is a truck or SUV.

West of Greenbriar, Bissonnet is a different story -- with significant commercial development. But from Greenbriar to Montrose, it's mainly residential. A huge tower would, IMO, put too much stress on the area.

Wow, how cool is that? The light rail is in it also.

When they re-do that green building to add the restaurant and canoe rentals, it'll be even better.

What building are you in?

Thanks for sharing.

^^^^That's an old rendering of the two colleges that are being built basically at the same time -- McMurtry, which was the first one funded, and Duncan, which was just funded and will be the green building. I guess now they won't look so similar.

This article I found doesn't say anything about it being an environmentally friendly bank. This day and age, to label yourself "green" and not be environmentally friendly is misleading.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories.../27/story1.html

At about 2:30 this morning (Monday July 30th) a low-flying helicopter buzzed my neighborhood about 7 or 8 times.

A month or two ago this happened to me at home in Meyerland. It was around 6:30 in the morning and the helicopter stayed over my house for abut 10 minutes. I was scared to even go outside, thinking there was some convict on the loose. Tried to find out about it, but to no avail.

Edit: Oops, this was for the neighborhood association only! It appeared to be open to everyone...

St. Stephen's has bought up so much of that property, and they usually keep the old homes and renovate them into classrooms, which was great. They did tear down one for a parking lot several years ago, though. I used to have connections there, but not any more.

I may have fallen in love today. http://www.har.com/5882597 I am a bit concerned about the surrounding area. There were lots of people sort of wandering aimlessly in the streets.

Anyone want to weigh in?

Check out the photo of the realtor on that link. It's Super Realtor to the rescue!

If anything we should feel glad that the HAIF has played a role in helping to save the West mansion from demolition.

Way to go, HAIFers! Keep it up!

Hughes started a brewery in Houston, on the grounds of the Hughes Tool Company, called Gulf Brewing Company. Hughes opened the brewery at the end of Prohibition, and its profits helped the tool company survive the Depression.

Gulf Brewing Company produced Grand Prize beer, which for a time was the best-selling beer in Texas. It has been reported that a beer called Grand Prize beer was also produced prior to Prohibition, by the Houston Ice and Brewing Company. While that may be accurate, any confusion is likely connected to the fact that Hughes

One of the houses he lived in as a boy is part of the University of St. Thomas.

Here's a link to a pic: http://www.stthom.edu/Visitors_Community/M...ings/hughes.aqf

Hughes Tool had a big sale of office furniture in the early to mid 90s. Howard Hughes' office was still there, in tact. Supposedly he almost never used it. They were looking for a buyer to buy all of it together. Don't know what happened to it.

I heard he attended the old Montrose Elementary, where HSPVA stands now.

An article on the new owners was in the Chron on Saturday. It appears the structure will be preserved!

Sale to preserve famed mansion

The home built in 1929 by oil and cattle baron James Marion West will be retained, with apartments for seniors surrounding it

By NANCY SARNOFF

Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

The historic West mansion across from Clear Lake is being sold to a real estate development firm that plans to preserve the property and build apartments for seniors around it.

Opus West Corp., a division of the Minneapolis-based Opus Group, is under contract to buy about nine acres of land along NASA Parkway, including the 17,000-square-foot home built in 1929 by oil, lumber and cattle baron James Marion West.

"Our concept is to make the mansion a central gathering area and the architectural focal point for our development," said Robert Wheless, director of real estate development for Opus West.

See article: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/bay/news/4913998.html

We have two bowling alleys, a roller rink and a skating rink in Clear Lake.

I was racking my brain trying to figure out what the difference was between a roller rink and a skating rink before I realized you meant the ice skating rink off of the Gulf Freeway.

Does anyone remember when they started charging admission. I'm thinking it had to have been 10-12 years ago. And when they started, it was 50 cents for kids and I think $2 for adults. In that short period of time admission has skyrocketed to $5 for kids and $10 for adults.

That's a prohibitive amount for many families. Families could always turn to the zoo for a day of fun. Then you could go have a picnic in Hermann Park. Good, clean, CHEAP family fun.

The article says the zoo is trying to become one of the top 5 zoos in the nation. That's a tall order, especially in our climate. How much of the zoo is air conditioned?

With the price increases over the years for the Museum of Natural Science also (with separate fees for the butterfly room, IMAX, parking, etc), you'd have to have at least $150 bucks on hand if you want to take your family of 4 or 5 to that area.

For those who aren't familiar with Camp Logan, it was a WWI training site on what is now Memorial Park.

At one point, more than 30,000 men trained there. It was also the site of a riot in 1917 between police and black soldiers that resulted in the declaration of martial law in Houston.

Here's a couple of short articles I found:

http://www.hal-pc.org/~lfa/BB17.html

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online...s/CC/qcc26.html

Apparently, workers found bathtubs, two large boilers and ornamental ironwork.

Urban archaeology. I love it! There must be some other cool stuff down there, too. Let us know if you find out more.

Does anyone have a photo of the old hotel?

I would look at the new Camden City Centre. It's brand new and a great location if you work downtown. You could walk to work. I live in an Urban Loft right around the corner and love the proximity to downtown and midtown.

Here's a thread on the Camden City Centre...

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...?showtopic=4472