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rps324

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    River Oaks/Upper Kirby Real Estate

    in River Oaks/Upper Kirby/Greenway Plaza/Bissonnet

    Posted

    River Oaks, along with most subdivisions developed from the 50's and back, had discriminatory restrictions along racial lines, and the restrictions sometimes included Jews. Unfortunately it was an ugly practice that was not limited to River Oaks. Fair Housing ruled that out in 1968.

    As for Muhammed Ali trying to buy in River Oaks and being turned away, I somehow doubt it. I would think that if he didn't buy in there, it was ultimately his choice. I can't imagine that he would be intimidated out of it if it was something he wanted to do. I don't think he would be easy to intimidate. I remember when it was going on because there was something on the news about him being the first African American to buy in River Oaks at the time. Apparently that classified as news at the time. If I remember right, it was the mid-century modern style house on Willowick that was eventually demolished in later years, or stripped down to a few beams & redone by Tilman and turned into another stucco villa affair.

    Back to Riverside, it has some incredible homes by architects like Joseph Finger, Birdsall Briscoe, John Staub, Katherine Mott & Bailey Swenson. Many of whom designed the largest homes in River Oaks and the Museum district. The danger to these homes seems to come from remodelers. Heavy handed remodeling that is not sympathetic to the original designs are rampant. The John Staub hill country style house at MacGregor and Roseneath has been "remodeled" into a poorly proportioned nightmare version of a suburban builder special.

    I am sure African American buyers looking in places like River Oaks still experience more subtle forms of discrimination, but Riverside Terrace has it's own spin on the exclusionary practices as well. Depending upon who has the listing, (and who is trying to show), I have found houses that were supposed to have a lock box suddenly don't, & when you try to pick up a key it doesn't work. People who have to meet you at houses to open them suddenly don't show up, etc. The "issues" I have showing in Riverside are disproportionate to other neighborhoods. Could be coincidence but I am of the opinion it is no accident when dealing with some real estate companies and/or agents.

    The Galleria Mall At 5085 Westheimer Rd.

    in Uptown and Galleria Area

    Posted

    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?

    Mews By The Park Townhomes At 1893 Ewing St.

    in Museum District/Hermann Park/Rice University area

    Posted

    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.

    Meyerland/Willowbend/Westbury Real Estate

    in Other Houston Neighborhoods

    Posted

    I find it amazing how quickly neighborhoods in Houston turn "rough."  Granted, this is the largest city I've ever lived in, but everywhere else I've lived (Pensacola/Gainesville/Tallahassee, Florida - all cities of a couple hundred thousand) neighborhoods like Briarmeadow, Sharpstown, Riverside Terrace, and countless other Houston neighborhoods that "should" be nice really would still be nice.  Wow, sorry for that run-on sentence.  Either way, it blows my mind.  I guess we can blame the rapid turnover of these neighborhoods on the abundance of flat, cheap land in the metro area; there's always a newer house to be had for not much more money.  Or maybe it's the lack of zoning.  Still, I think it is ridiculous the level to which people treat houses and neighborhoods in Houston as disposable.  Some neighborhoods that people around here would never even consider would be running $500,000 in L.A. or D.C. these days.

    Count on us to be behind the curve though, right?

    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.

    Sawyer Heights Village Developments

    in The Heights

    Posted

    This being a very old part of Houston, it seems likely that a least a few of these houses would contribute to the 6th Ward or some of the older parts of the Heights as infill. Perhaps they could be moved rather than demolished.

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

    Home At 10920 Willowisp Dr.

    in Houston Mod

    Posted

    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?)

    :)

    Northline Commons Shopping Center Developments

    in Points North

    Posted

    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 <_<

    Northline Commons Shopping Center Developments

    in Points North

    Posted

    Hi. I'm new.

    I don't think that the CityView project flopped because it was too far out. I don't think there was any follow-through with the project to develop retail, entertainment or any other fill.

    In fact I don't know if I would really call it a flop at all. It has succeeded in a comprehensive rennovation of 15 properties, all of which were in need of major help. I haven't seen the financials, but I would think that central administration of these properties has proven to be a pretty efficient model.

    The problem with developing a pedestrian community in that area is that the existing retail market nearby is so saturated that it isn't cost effective to build new retail among the existing residential.

    I think a major repurposing of Greenspoint Mall would make great synergy with the properties at CityView (none of which, by the way, have a city view), but it's not going to happen for another decade or two, until the train gets there.

    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.

    Park At Voss: Multifamily At 2424 S. Voss Rd.

    in Uptown and Galleria Area

    Posted

    that place is a pit. my mother has been there since 1999 and until a few months ago, she had drug dealers downstairs right from her. they didn't get evicted but were shipped off to iraq becuase the leasing office didn't give a ____, as long as they got a rent check.

    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.

    Historic Houston Images

    in Historic Houston

    Posted

    Thanks for the information. Unfortuantely, most of the old timers moved out and the homes went with them. Out of the 30 homes, only 12 original homes survive. The others have been torn down and the typical McMansion has taken there place.

    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.

    Uptown Apartment Market

    in Uptown and Galleria Area

    Posted

    The market is not absorbing those new units overall. In many threads they talk about any old, deferred maintenance apartment complex as being poorly managed. This can be a result of market conditions, not just poor management.

    I did a contract job last year for a friend trying to fill up an older Galleria area property near Winrock. I pushed out people like the cross-dressing heroin dealer who parked his Harley in the breezeway, the young blonde dancer who was a white slave to the Ayrian brotherhood, (did I mispell that?), primarily because the brotherhood member who came to live with her had a murder conviction. the homeless yuppie that looked clean cut, probably because he would alternate between living in a vacant and shacking up behind the panel by the dryers in the laundry room,I could go on & on. In addition to cleaning out that, you had an exodus of good, stable, quiet residents who were always leaving for either a home/condo purchase, or a newer property with more amenities. You have owners running the property in the red and barely able to make the note and payroll, so forget any rehabs. The money has to come from somewhere. then you might turn around and lease 10 apartments, but one would cancel, three would turn out to have felony convictions, another was being evicted from where they are living now, and the rest have terrible credit, maybe one or two with broken leases from 3 or 4 years ago.

    Mid 90's you wouldn't have taken the last 5. Now, they look pretty good on the bell curve. I had this problem in the middle of the Galleria area. Can you imagine what apartment managers in places like Sharpstown & Fondren Southwest have to deal with?

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