Marray

I am not sure why the animosity towards people who ACTUALLY LIVE in the Rice Village area. Many have worked hard and have invested their lives and money into the neighborhood that they call their HOME. It has been for a CENTURY a VILLAGE of small shops of unique nature which lent charm and the feeling of community to its RESIDENTIAL surroundings. I am surprised to see that someone has indicated that Randall Davis is about to close with THE OXBERRY GROUP as owners of the property when the Harris County Appraisal District still shows it as owned by a small company and the ground is still classified as a SINGLE FAMILY DWELLING within the Chaucer STREET neighborhood restrictions. As far as I am aware, unless that property gets a replat on its neighborhood which requires a public notice and hearing any building of a 13 story building is a fantasy. Mind you, the square footage of this lot is 17,500 sqft which is basically two lots wide and is by HCAD records 100x175 feet. There are in this area HEIGHT limitations and sewer usage additions that would have to be approved long before any building permits and of course, anyone who chooses can find that the only permit for this property approved as of ten days ago was one for a three story office building to have been completed in 2022 which obviously did not happen. Further to that, upon asking the Davis company rep what the intended to do about garbage pickup as the plat rendered for the building indicated that it would be wider than possible to allow access for a garbage truck to pickup a dumpster. The rep said, and I quote " the houses behind here have their garbage picked up on the street". Yes, that is absolutely true, one black wheeled bin on Tuesdays and Green recycled every other. Does Randall Davis expect the neighborhood to deal with thirty black bins sitting on the curb every Tuesday? And what about traffic? Rice Boulevard is basically two lanes with a center turning lane to help traffic for the SHOPS and the RESTAURANTS and the CHURCH AND ITS DAY SCHOOL access their very limited parking and drop off. Rice is also a main artery for Medical Center due to the confirguration of Greenbriar and Shepherd. A real estate broker I spoker with told me that when Davis built the LONDON HOUSE they blocked off San Felipe and took it to one lane. What damage would that do to the retail in the Village if their parking and access are blocked? They are already operating with very limited parking- it is a VILLAGE. When viewing the Chaucer's plans they had only reserved 8 guest parking places so where will housekeepers, repair people, friends, healthcare workers, decorators, park? In the shops parking? And what about during construction that will have to involve cranes? Chaucer Street itself is constantly used for parking both sides and is too narrow for cranes so what RICE Boulevard will be blocked off and people going to the Medical Center will be rerouted through the Rice Campus? I think not. And what of the MILLION dollar plus homes behind this approximately 175 foot tower? How would you like that looming over your HOME? And, yes, the people who bought there knew they were up against commercial but those commercial lots had HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS why do you think Hungry's new building is as tall as it is? This height based on the fact they are offering 11 foot ceilings in 2 bedrooms and 13 foot in Penthouses and four floors of parking and the obligatory build up Harris County requires for flooding- OH DID I MENTION FLOODING????? YES, this area floods. The corner of Rice and Morningside has flooded a number of times. The vet office on the corner up to the office, the shops along Rice up to their doors several times. And while this would be a high rise, getting in and out in a flood is impossible. I personally watched a man kayak down Bolsover. Has drainage improved? Of course but what do you think will happen to the system when 30 more kitchens and at least 50 more bathrooms are added? And, for you all that say oh it is progress. Yes, Houston is a growing city. One must only drive out to Fulshear and see what used to be beautiful ranches with horses now cookie cutter houses all basically the same house every fifth one. And before you shred me, I am a NATIVE HOUSTONIAN, born in Hermann Hospital, raised in Oak Forest in a middle class post WWII GI LOAN house. My Daddy, a Yankee, used to drive us down Sunset to look at the trees on Sundays and then spend a day in Hermann Park. I am glad he got to know I lived in Southampton , NOT WEST U but part of THE RICE VILLAGE for THIRTY YEARS. I have seen progress when the largest building was 20 stories went to 49 and was called the Humble Building and the observation tower had a machine that made plastic models of it. I was around when they converted the cow pasture at Post Oak and Westheimer into the Galleria and that was 1968! I have been here when Highway 59 stopped at about Voss and they were widening Highway 45 to Galveston. WAIT!!!!!! They still are widening Highway 45!!!!! The point I am trying to make is the residents, NOTE I SAY RESIDENTS, of the RICE VILLAGE, which includes RICE University, Southampton,Broadoaks, Southside, Pemberton, and the West U care about our VILLAGE. We are not afraid of RICH PEOPLE, you are correct in saying most people there are THE RICH PEOPLE and they pay A BOATLOAD of taxes to Houston, Harris County, HISD, and to their individual city entities to have the homes they do. What they don't need or want is a bunch of entitled out-of-towners who don't really want to be part of a VILLAGE to trash, overpopulate, clog up with traffic, or disrespect our century year old community. By essence the very construction of this monstrosity will kill the retail , the shops, the economy, the ECO SYSTEM as a building of that size will do nothing to help the 100 year old oaks on Bolsover. This building is not appropriate for this sized lot, the community, or our village and will only serve the line the pockets of egotistical developers. We are a diverse community of many backgrounds, cultures, religions, and age groups not forgetting it is RICE Village and is part of the UNIVERSITY - students and their interests. PLEASE, I invite you to do your homework and read about how the Hanover Rice Village got built and HOW Randall Davis promised the same sort of product and got the city of Houston to sell Bolsover to him with promises of a RESIDENTIAL parklike strolling lane which became a COMMERCIAL GARAGE,with loud, rowdy, drunken brawling street level restaurant clients and apartments above it when he backed out, sold out the community by making the OWNED CONDOS into rental units. We remember it well and all the lovely oak trees sacrificed as well. Also read about the Randall Davis Diamond Beach development that the Sales office at Chaucer touts perhaps read about how that business unfolded. Maybe talk to owners at Chateau Ten on Sunset and ask did they get what they were promised . The Sales Office at The Chaucer has a huge disclaimer that says what you are looking at subject to change or cancellation hmmm and they are taking contracts on property they do not yet own and have no permits for? Taking 10% deposits with 2% back if the deal folds when they can get 5% on YOUR MONEY and do nothing. What kind of cancellation fee DO YOU PAY? Back to the disclaimer...the groundplat for the building shows a thirty foot residential rear buffer yet the building if one adds the size of the drawings of the apartments makes the building longer than the 22 foot and the 8foot alleyway behind. The 8 foot alleyway along three properties behind has been enclosed and fenced since before 1995 so their drawing is inaccurate and would not allow for either garbage pickup or the "over sized dog park" they advertize. So BUYER BEWARE . DO YOUR HOMEWORK . This property has NOT according to HCAD RECORDS been replatted and is still a residential SINGLE FAMILY HOME subject to the same restrictions as the CHAUCER STREET properties which run perpendicular to this lot owned by Rice University and the Christ the King Church and ALL three stories or less. Why do I care? I lived for thirty years EXACTLY behind this location. I made friends and neighbors here. I have done business and still do business with many of the shops even though I must drive to them and hassle with the parking. I feed my former neighbor's cat when he goes out of town. I buy doggie treats , get my cleaning done, fill my prescriptions, have a coffee, and say hello to those faces I have known for DECADES. It is still my VILLAGE and I care that the people that live there with their FAMILIES, their cats, their doggies, have a place that they can call their community . You cannot allow this building to further destroy the Village .