lwood

It's in the Heights (bad sign), is a Cajun place that serves wine, is planning on hosting cooking lessons, offers "Pan-Asian" catering services, and will host a special Easter brunch; therefore it is most likely tainted by The Great White Culinary Plague, a voracious strain of suckage that affects WASPy communities in denial of their cultural identity and that lack taste buds.

"Our attitude toward life determines life's attitude towards us.” ~ John N. Mitchell

You're going to have to be more specific in terms of location and the size of the parcel.

But I feel like I have to point out that once the Wal-Mart is built, the entire neighborhood (and the Heights) will be locked into a veritable nuclear winter of traffic and carcinogenic auto fumes. Nobody will be able to get in or out, and when the next hurricane hits, the runoff from the parking lot will cause epic flooding. It'll be like Hurricane Katrina for white people; they will run amok, set everything ablaze, a firestorm shall ensue, and the whole of the concurrently-flooded neighborhood will burn. And when its all over, land prices in the area will have fallen precipitously (in spite of the high rate of inflation).

Try Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People.

wow condos already? will be interesting to see what happens to the businesses there longterm.

I am bringing an old topic to life. Does anyone live at Rise or have current knowledge of the building? Any comments on Rise are appreciated.

Your story changes more than my hypercolor shirt did in 1987.

Enjoy living next to walmart, I'll enjoy shopping there.

Dale Carnegie.

Hey Niche, back up a bit. Perhaps you ought to take a look in to the indoctrination mirror, especially from the "douchey" angle. Not everyone who lives in the Heights is a low-earning Mexican. There are quite a few high-earning Mexicans, as well as low-earning families from all the other categories you seem to be preinclined to reference, living in the Heights. Citing a stereotypical image of several generations of a Mexican family being packed in to a car is, dare I say it, douchey? Can I be just as tired of packing several generations of my anglo family in to a car to drive basically the same distance as the closest Wal-Mart to hit an H-E-B?

IMHO H-E-B has better quality products, wider selection, better customer service, and much better employee morale (due to Charles Butt actually caring about his employees)than Wal-Mart. H-E-B is a better neighbor than Wal-Mart. They care much more about the local community. Check out what they invest annually back in to the communities, not to mention their support of public schools. Don't believe me? Then you try to help out your local public school's annual Fall Festival, Spring Picnic or whatever. Ask your local H-E-B for a donation of food, water, gift cards, whatever, and you will be pleasantly surprised. Ask WalMart and you're lucky if you get a small, and I do mean small as in buy a couple of candy bars, gift card.

All I am saying is that I would much rather have someone who is vested in the prosperity of the local community, as H-E-B is, than a company like WalMart who is constantly in the press for all the new ways they have come up with to screw the little guys.

Thank you. Well said.

About six weeks ago, I rode the trail under 45 and continued on the stone path that ends at the UH parking lot by Main St. I'm curious if the plans call for finishing that section of the trail. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if I was supposed to be riding it, but I had to know where it stopped.

One of the guys with TxDot told me he knew of no immediate plans to complete the trail to downtown. It seems stupid to do all of that work and then stop short of the goal.

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=44631564&class=2

This is a listing that piqued my interest. Its seems like a very nice opportunity to escape renting, but I wonder if any others might have some other insight or issues.

Some potential drawbacks

1) Its pretty close to the bayou although it seems to built up high enough to avoid a significant flooding event

2) Adjacent to an older apartment community

Thanks

I have been in one of them. It's small but the floor plan was very nice. Some of them did flood during Allison. Ask for the Sellers Disclosure form. Ask what the maintenance fee covers.

You don't happen to have contact information for the person from TXDOT do you? On the 1400 block of Nicholson, they filled in one of the ditches that was in place for run off. There was a contractor who built a house that has a driveway that crosses the bike trail. He started the whole mess, but the construction company finished it up. I've met with COH a bunch of times to point out to them that water flows NORTH on this particular section of Nicholson, and so where the ditch was filled in, the water now just flows in to the middle of the street. They never believe me until I get out the garden hose and show them. I'm thinking that back when Nicholson was being built (it was called Railroad Street then) they engineered it to flow north. Any way, perhaps TXDOT might be more responsive than COH?

TXDOT's construction trailer is under Interstate 10 at Studewood. They have been very helpful in matters regarding the trail. I think the person I spoke with was Chris.

Some neighbors have noticed cars driving down the Nicholson bike trail.

Does anyone know if the trail plan calls for placing barricades to prevent that from happening?

TXDOT told us to call the cops if cars are on the bike trail. I leave them a note the first time and so far that has cured the problem on lower Nicholson.

TXDOT said that bollards (short posts) will be placed about 2.5-ft. in from the street, running parallel to the street. If there is a ditch adjacent to the street, no bollards would be installed. The ditch would serve to keep cars off of the trail. One steel bollard will be installed at the intersections.

I don't remember what the spacing was on these bollards but I think it was 6 or 8 feet.

TXDOT has been great on stopping by to get our comments AND following up on our problems.

I have seen a lot of activity at the warehouse on the north side of the Dowling-Polk intersection. They have replaced all of the windows and the upper level has been given a new stucco exterior finish with green-toned paint. Looks like it could be highrise lofts or something like that. Anyone know for sure?

That project started about 5 years ago. It's sure been open to the elements for a long time.

For a while, they were competition with Live Oak Lofts, nearby. I was told that Live Oak was marketed to investors from the east and west coasts but most of the units then went into foreclosure.

View

Snobbery and/or Exclusivity

Security (real or perceived)

Phallic Symbology

Some people like one thing while others like something else. No reason to put them down.

Down 7th st and Harvard/Columbia were some signs warning of a construction zone.. No construction as of yet.. but at least the signs are there! I would like to hope it's related to the hike/bike trail..

Cheers!

I am on Nicholson @ 9th. Two TXDOT representatives walked the path on Monday to let the homeowners know what was about to happen. Tuesday they removed my driveway and sidewalk that run perpendicular to the bike trail. They expect to reinstall the driveway and sidewalk next week at the same time the bike trail is being poured. Excellent communication with the neighborhood.

Has anyone heard if any future construction will be allowed to have a driveway crossing the path?

Better yet, get pics.

TxDOT representatives were walking Nicholson between 8th and 9th yesterday talking to the home owners. According to them the earth movers are to start working in that area today. It may slip a day or two because of one of my neighbor's complaints about the trail. TxDOT said they may work up to her property, skip her and then let the City work it out. They would then return and fill in that area.

Interesting points: Where there is a ditch immediately adjacent to and running parallel to Nicholson, there would be no ballards (short posts). Where the ditch is not adjacent to the street, ballards would be installed. Either the ditch or the ballards would keep cars off of the trail.

He said there would be no lighting added except at an underpass or next to the train trestle. I did not ask about landscaping. There was no mention of widening Nicholson.

Down 7th st and Harvard/Columbia were some signs warning of a construction zone.. No construction as of yet.. but at least the signs are there! I would like to hope it's related to the hike/bike trail..

Cheers!

It looks like construction has begun at the southwestern corner of Lawrence Park. The ground has been cleared and they have begun setting up the concrete frames. That section begins at Shepherd (just east of the overpass) and heads east.

The August 7 edition of The Leader says the contract has been awarded and construction is to start in 30 to 60 days. South on Nicholson from 26th to 7th and then east along 7th, southeast to Spring Street and White Oak Bayou under 45, connecting to the Heritage Corridor West Trail and provide a link to U of H and downtown.

Awesome.

Construction signs went up along Nicholson yesterday at 9th, 10th and 12th. They could be in other locations but those are the only ones I checked. I assume they are for the trail.

Has anybody seen this small plot of land right by 2222 Smith and Spec's? I drove by the other day and noticed a sign on it that said something like "Travis Lofts". It looks like it would be a pretty small building, but can anyone confirm? I was in a hurry so my eyes could be wrong.

Houston Business Journal of August 22 - 28, shows a building permit applied for "Travis Lofts LLC multi-family residence at 2510 Travis St. (condo/apartments) $2,500,000."

That's on page 31A of HBJ.

Really? How have I offended him? I haven't attacked his personal character, judgment, intelligence or anything. I just want him to get off my case.

You are entitled to your opinion of my believability and credibility and I respect that, but I'm positive that at least one person has read this thread and had second thoughts about going with Lovett. Just read some of the posts.

Oh, and I hope I never buy a home next door to you either. Sheesh, now the real characters are coming out of the woodwork.

I would buy a ticket to see these two in a room together.

Update.. sorta.. Bid accepted.. we'll see when construction actually begins..

http://blogs.chron.com/heights/2008/08/rai...ect_moveme.html

Several people are in the 800 block of Nicholson today taking measurements and marking areas with orange paint. They said theywere "taking points" for the bike trail. They did not know if construction is going to start on the north end or south end of Nicholson. Finally.

This is amazing. We've all seen slumlords forced to renovate decrepit apartments, but I've never seen a condo complex shut down, especially one where the residents have spent tens of thousands of dollars maintaining it. I know. I used to own one of these units.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/17226067/detail.html

There was an article in Houston Business Journal recently stating that a broker was trying to pull together a deal for every owner to sell to a developer. The complex would be completely torn down for the value of the land. Based on the relatively low market value of the units, each owner would probably come out better if everyone sold out.

Hi - I'm from Minnesota and planning to move to Houston in January -- I've noticed a bunch of listings for these units on har.com, but it's hard to tell from the photos the quality of the finishes in the units. The millwork in the kitchens/bathrooms all look like cheap veneers (can you confirm/deny?), and the drywall looks like it could use some sanding and repatching.

How is the sound attenuation between units? I noticed it was a loft, so my guess is the sound carries pretty readily through the concrete slab, unless they installed a good subfloor, which I doubt...and reading through the thread it appears it was formerly an apartment complex -- how good are the party walls? Can you even tell yet? Do you have enough neighbors that you could anyone making sound to judge against?

I'm really interested because of location (bums don't scare me too much if there is a locked main entry). How do the public spaces look compared to the photos on har.com?

No parking. Resale?

It is not possible for anyone's opinion to be wrong. That's like saying "someone's philosophy is wrong". Opinions are subjective by definition.

Thank you for stating that. The board sometimes gets a little...rude.

An update on the trail: http://blogs.chron.com/heights/2008/08/rai...ct_moveme.html

Still saying construction will begin "around September 2008."

The August 7 edition of The Leader says the contract has been awarded and construction is to start in 30 to 60 days. South on Nicholson from 26th to 7th and then east along 7th, southeast to Spring Street and White Oak Bayou under 45, connecting to the Heritage Corridor West Trail and provide a link to U of H and downtown.

Awesome.

Does anyone have any new opinions on the Spires?

It's a classy building. I don't live there but I wish I did. The maintenance fee good, especially when you consider all that it includes. I believe this bulding has a chilled water AC system for the AC. Great services. If you choose one of the units on HCAD, click on ownership record, you will see that they are relatively slow to change hands. There are typically only 7 or 8 on the market at any one time. That's less than 3% of the building.

The Realtor Shirley Sanders has a great high rise report on her web site. Units sold and units for sale, by building.

The Chronicle recently had a story that said that in 8 years the medical center will be larger than downtown. As long as the medical center is there, I think this building will do well.

Anyone have an update on the bike trail? Just curious - been a little while since the last update...

Update received today from the City:

Thank you for contacting our office in regards to the Nicholson Street Hike and Bike Trail. The community of Houston and myself would like to see this project started as soon as possible. I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know the status of this project and assure you that it is scheduled to be completed.

The Nicholson Hike and Bike Trail is a part of the MKT Rail to Trail project. The design of the trail has been completed. The City of Houston has completed acquisition of the MKT corridor. The design is currently under review at TxDot.

As of date following are the estimated letting and construction start dates:

Contract is expected to be let for bidding in July 2008

Estimated Construction Start Date: September 2008, project could last up to 12-18 months.

The entire MKT Rail to Rail project will be an added asset to the Houston community and will serve to encourage bicycling and alternative forms of transportation in our great city.

Thank you for your patience on this project, I am as anxious are the community to see this done. During the construction period, I will also need your continued patience as any construction project can create some degree of inconvenience.

Please feel free to contact my office at (832)393-3003, should you have any additional questions or concerns. You may also contact Rita Balchus with the Houston Bikeway Program at 713-837-0003.

Sincerely,

Adrian Garcia

There is a sign on the property immediately west of Onion Creek. The rendering of the building shows 4 levels of parking with 9 levels of apartments above. "For lease information call Ed Rizk Properties 281-531-0808".

Have I been missing it or is this sign new? Any info available?