Melwood

So is the brutalist office building going to be kept or bulldozed?  I've always wondered what the story is with that building - it seems so out of place.

Well it certainly can't be good for Fuller's, but they do a lot of internet sales and ship guitars all over the world too.  They have some acoustic guitars that Guitar Center doesn't sell either.   GC has had plenty of Houston locations for a long time and Fuller's has done fine, so I expect that to continue.  If anything, I question whether GC needs another location. 

You really need to learn to speak less in absolutes...

...the Heights is appreciating rapidly not because it is "historic" but because its become a nice, safe area of town that is also an easy commute. It has nothing to do with the "historic" aspect at all.

Hey, I thought we weren't supposed to speak in absolutes. I have a problem with this assertion - I understand that it takes a lot more than "historic" buildings to create a massive run-up in prices - case in point the fifth ward - but to say it has "nothing" to do with the Height's appreciation is outlandish. I guess all those people who did buy and restore bungalows had no idea why they liked their houses. I can say for certain that my wife and I, and various other friends of ours in the Heights, made a point of buying houses here over the last 10 years because of the historic aspect (among the usual other reasons to be sure). I understand not everyone feels this way when they buy in the Heights. I'm OK with that. I'm just saying that the "historic" aspect is indeed important to a lot of people.

I fear this thread has become the equivalent of a red state/blue state knock-down drag out argument where one must take sides - radical preservationist or realtor-tool opportunist. It seems to be bringing out the worst in otherwise knowledgable and engaging people.

And while I have the soapbox, Heights Homeowner, I invite you to stop by Proctor Park in Norhill on a warm sunny afternoon after school and see all the kids and families there. You might be surprised how many families can and do raise kids in these small homes.

I don't know much about Fields and Love, but I can say that Helms does have a lot of students with parents who care very much about the school. Several years ago Helms started a dual language elementary program that a number of parents signed up their kids for and transferred in. However, these changes probably take time to become noticeable unless you know someone there.

We liked Travis and Harvard, but decided to transfer our kids to Wilson Montessori in Montrose. But tranferring is not as easy as it was even 3 years ago, the "good" schools are filling up. Fields and Love (and Browning, where our kids - we live in Norhill - are zoned to) are going to become the only choices for a lot of parents unless they want to move or enroll in private school. I can only hope that HISD is looking at the 2010 census data and seeing an influx of elementary aged children zoned to these schools before hastily closing them down.

Having said all that, it must be tough to run a large number of "small" schools, the overhead on keeping each one open can be spread out over a relatively small body of students, even when filled, compared to large, centralized suburban schools.

I had some trouble visualizing just how this will link to the MKT from Stude park and go under I-45 etc. It took a little digging around to find the map of the whole system, here is the link in case anyone else needs it -

http://documents.publicworks.houstontx.gov/document-center/houston-bikeway-program/bikeway-network-map/details.htm

Don't forget their wings, which are excellent. Especially the dry kind - a little spicy, and very tasty. This is good news.

EDIT: I can't help but notice that Heights Yankee went silent, probably dodging the simple yes/no question.

With all due respect Niche, she already gave your question a thoughtful answer, and surely has other important things to attend to today besides endlessly debating this topic that has captured all of our attention - ease up on snark already.

whomover can confirm my new avatar will get free drinks at next happy hour.

It's a picture of Perry Como?

OK, so it's kind of like I-45 South at 610, where going from Southbound I-45 to westbound 610 or from eastbound 610 to northbound I-45 requires use of feeder roads. That's not terrible.

I haven't seen them building the appropriate feeder roads on the new Crosby freeway, it looks feeder-less, at least right now. The present feeders at the east loop/I-10 are not continuous in that if you're on the feeders approaching the interchange, you cannot pass under/over the interchange - this makes navigating around the roads surrounding the interchange a pain. I'm still scratching my head regarding the apparent limitations regarding the directions you can approach and depart the Crosby freeway. In short, it looks to me like people who don't know the interchange are going to find themselves heading in directions they didn't intend, with no obvious way to correct course.

By the way, as a correction to my previous post, you cannot go from the east loop heading south over to the crosby freeway outbound. It looks to me like they could have incorporated that ramp, but didn't.(?)

I was going to post a recap but I was beaten to the punch. Glad to see good comments about last night's meeting. That was the goal. I have to applaud the city in this instance. They took to heart the neighborhood's concerns and came back with a workable alternative that will save the majority of the trees. Yea!

If you want to express an opinion about the alternative or have questions, please direct them to Laura Thorp in CM Gonzalez' office. Her email is: laura.thorp@cityofhouston.net

Thanks, I'll be expressing my opinion on the city's dismissal of concerns regarding safety and crossings. What a load of bullflurf. To get to the bike path, a lot of Heights residents (like me)have to cross Yale at some point, and there is no really good way to do it (at least with small kids) when there is a lot of traffic. Like it not COH, the Heights is a RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD and deserves the things that go with it. I will end my rant now.

I work at the intersection of 610/10E, and have been watching the interchange construction from my window for some time now. I am quite sure that the original 610/10 interchange was built from the start to accommodate this crosby freeway.

It will not be a true five-way interchange. Access to the new crosby fwy will be from I-10E, East loop heading north, and possibly east loop heading south. Not sure about that last part, it's hard to tell with the mess. For sure, you can't be heading west on I-10 and U-turn to the new freeway. Also, coming in from Crosby, you can keep going E on 10, or go S on 610. I don't see a ramp letting incoming traffic up over to the east loop heading north, and you definitely won't be able to turn back out to I-10E.

I can also say there is a LOT of space up in this quadrant, some of it quite wooded and pretty, it's hard to believe so much emptiness still exists inside the beltway. As for the comment about the road stopping at 610, I ask which neighborhoods should be demolished to make way. I think enough land inside the loop has been taken away and paved over to help people move in and out of the metro area by now.

Nah, the neighborhoods zoned to Bellaire HS already claim that title. Large single-family homes, manicured lawns, good schools, low crime, vicious police enforcement and low taxes in the City of Bellaire, and prices high enough to chase off the riff raff. That's not to say that Reagan HS couldn't one day also be appealing for families, but it's got a long ways to go. By the time it is, you may not recognize the Heights for what it was.

No argument about the large homes, which frankly puts our old bungalow at a disadvantage. As far as recognizing the Heights in about 10 yrs, I guess only time will tell, I'm hoping it doesn't follow Bellaire in that respect.

If that's the case, then schools would be zero obstacle in moving wherever you wanted. Even if the only obstacle were having to drive your kids out of zone to the better school, it seems the top 2-3 high schools in HISD would be overwhelmed with transfer requests.

And perhaps they are... but there has to be a max capacity.

So no, i find it hard to believe that its just that easy for any parents in a less than stellar school can drive their kids to bellaire or lamar every day and problem is solved...."

I live in Norhill, and our two kids go to Wilson Elementary which is in Montrose. We are zoned for Browning (in Brookesmith), with which we were not impressed. We chose Wilson because of its Montessori program, but there are other good choices closer to the Heights.

It really is not hard to apply for your kids to go somewhere else. That's the easy part. But there are other factors, such as driving your kids across town during the morning rush hour EVERY morning instead of them walking or even driving them only 1/2 mile down the street. And they may or may not have friends already at that school, it's not like their neighborhood friends are all there. Wilson is an older city school which has a lack of space and some old facilities/issues that new suburban schools don't have to deal with. These and other nuisances add up over the course of years, and I sympathize with people who move to the burbs for good, modern schools and an easier morning routine.

And yes, there are schools in HISD which are overwhelmed with transfer requests - Travis Ele in Woodland Heights, and Wilson is now also overwhelmed. Helms and Harvard Elementaries get plenty of transfer requests too. Eventually these kids are going to end up at Hamilton or Hogg middle schools, there will be too many to transfer elsewhere.

And now, some rampant speculation - Once the Heights gets a reputation for good schools all the way thru grade 12 - which should be in about 10 years or so I hope - it is going to be THE area for families inside the Loop.

Country is too niche, they should go polka.

For both country and polka, visit the Rose Garden on Link Rd - the jukebox there is loaded with the stuff.

Here are a few that are located on Cottage. It looks like the first one already has an offer and is outside your price range, but it's good for comparison. Go to HAR and enter the MLS #'s.

25720334

10881743

Here are others in the vicinity.

49421945

36593314

68339321

Like you mentioned, if you find a decent realtor, he/she can pull up a complete set of listings for your criteria...

I live on Melwood, as my username implies. Melwood is 2 streets away from Cottage, so I know the neighborhood pretty well - most of these houses that the links show are on/near busy streets and should be avoided in my opinion. In particular, avoid the one on Studewood. If possible, avoid anything on Michaux which is a north/south street that gets some traffic, though nothing like Studewood.

Having said that, the link to HAR # 10881743 (915 Cottage) looks like a solid candidate - it is several houses in off of Michaux, and a short walk to Proctor Plaza - should you lose your sanity and have children at some point, this is an invaluable resource and a nice park - our kids play there all the time.

You may have to shop a little bit, but I think your price range is realistic.

And then became a bunch of townhomes.

Both Bavarian Gardens & Garden in the Heights were lovely places for shows. I'm sure I saw Brave Combo at an Oktoberfest or two. After the Germans sold it, some Irish folks ran it for a while; pretty good folk & Celtic rock shows, with lovely live oaks to shade the pale folk. And beer!

And I seem to remember a Pacifica benefit, at which a full grown billy goat was auctioned off to some fool....

Wait! Garden in the Heights isn't there anymore? Who is responsible for this? That's just wrong.

Noooooooo! Not Beaucoup! The fried hamburgers were awesome!

We added 400 sq ft on the back of our bungalow 3 years ago. We updated electrical service, replaced entire HVAC for the house, and re-roofed the whole thing while we were at it. Total cost = $60k, or $150/sq ft. We did not mess around with any plumbing.

We used old doors where we could and I agree it helps the new part blend in. We also put in a 10 ft ceiling in the one room (den/family room) and it was a great decision. Cwrm4 is right, the higher ceiling didn't cost more but it really makes the room bigger, and we put in as many windows as we could. Vintage ceiling light fixtures is another inexpensive way to minimize the "newness".

Hope this helps, if you have any questions about our experience I would be happy to answer.

What's the cost of a po boy at Caliope's? I may make the trek downtown for lunch if it's not too expensive.

Isn't there a law that a bar has to be a certain distance from schools and churches? It's only a few hundred feet from Hogg MS and the Vineyard. Or am I imagining things?

We added on to the back of our bungalow in Norhill Heights in 2006. The deal with the setback, at least the sides of the property, is you have to be at least 3 feet from the property line for a "normal" wall, but you can make it 2 feet if you build the addition with some extra fire resisting materials. This is not very expensive or difficult, but the catch is you can't put in a regular window - not fireproof enough I guess - but glass block is OK. Also, you can't have any roof overhang, which changes the construction a little bit, but it's not a big deal. I can't see your proposed drawing due to my crappy work computer, but if the addition is in the back, no one will ever see the odd-looking roof. This is what we did and it worked out great for us.

Also - regarding the return on your investment if you sell in 5 years - it can depend on what the addition entails. We added on a 3rd bedroom and a den, which brought us up to 1450 sq ft from 1050 sq ft. We refinanced our mortgage this year and were appraised - on paper anyway, our value increased in proportion to the cost of the addition. There just aren't many 3 bedroom bungalows in the Heights which makes the supply small. People don't buy bungalows because they wanted a big house and yard, but these days 1000 sq ft is not much space - it seems to me that people paying over $200,000 for a house will readily pay a little more for a house that's truly useful for having company over or setting up a home office etc.

And finally...our 3rd bedroom (the master bedroom) is 12x13. It's all we could squish into our little lot. It's not big but if you put in a decent sized closet (we did), it works fine. As far as bedrooms in the front...check out the new house section of the sunday paper...a lot of new suburban houses do just that, so the living area at the back of the house is huge and overlooks a backyard. Seems to me this would work on a smaller scale OK too.

thanks - I found the HSTE form and will contact Randy Pace. He helped me get the COA when we had the work on the house done. No rush on this, I didn't even know it existed so it's not like I've been missing the money. On the other hand, I welcome even a modest savings in taxes where I can get it.

I read the link on the city website, but just to make sure I have this straight -

I live in Norhill Heights, which is an Historic District. At least that's what my street sign says. 3 years ago I spent a bunch of money on a house addition, and I got the Certificate of Appropriateness from the City before I started. I've kept records of what was spent. So I can get a tax break?

If so, then I should notify HCAD during tax protest time to get the break? Or is there a better way?

thanks.

...Feel free to knock down Fitz's as well, while they're at it.

Why would you want to knock down Fitzgerald's? It's a good place to see a show.

We dropped RoadRunner last summer when I was paying $56/mo for internet only. AT&T DSL was only $25 since we already had phone service with them. We can still watch TV shows online or download music just fine. Reliability has been generally good. I don't miss the cable modem at all.

When I called to cancel the cable internet, Roadrunner offered to lower my rate to $29/mo. Gee, they must really value their customers to charge the people who don't complain twice as much as the irate customers.