Historic Houston Developers

[Lowbrow]

I have been trying to drum up any info on a developer in Galveston in the 70's and 80's (more '80s I'm thinking) that was building those high rises out on East Beach, was incarcerated for some reason (tax evasion?? Investor Fraud??) and ended up commiting suicide via electricution in his cell.

Any info?? or is this another urban myth?

Thanks.

[tomv]

His name was McConnell. He died in 1988. Do an archive search on HoustonChronicle.com for more info.

[dbigtex56]

I briefly knew McConnell's secretary; she was kind of, um, shady, too.

The 500 block of Westheimer (between Whitney and Stanford, south side of the road) was supposed to be one of his developments. One of the more bizarre photo ops at that time was a hard-hatted Mayor Kathy Whitmire at the controls of a bulldozer, knocking down the imfamous Chicken Coop (which was at the corner of Stanford). The scandal broke before construction began, and the block remained vacant for the next 15 years.

Seems like it was some sort of title fraud scam that he was running - financing new projects by using existing ones to which he didn't really hold clear title.

Yes, he was found electricuted in his cell; seems like there was some suspicion about his brother, although the details escape me...sordid business.

[MidtownCoog]

tell me more about the imfamous Chicken Coop

it sounds vaguely familar, but I was in High School at the time

[WestGrayGuy]

I am interested in all the developments along lower Westheimer (Montrose to Mason) in the early 80's.

I have heard there were fires that took out most of the buildings.

[dbigtex56]

Coog, the Chicken Coop (like the Midnight Sun across the street) was an overtly 'hustler' (male prostitution) bar. It was a real dump - even John Waters would have been appalled. Part of the Midnight Sun still stands - they tore down the front portion of the building for parking, and what used to be the dance floor/stage area is now a veterinary clinic.

There were about four other buildings on the south side of Westheimer on that block - seems like maybe three of them were antique shops, and a private home occupied by a very sweet old lady who'd lived there since it was built circa 1920. If I recall correctly, none of these buildings burned - they were demolished for McConnell's failed development.

Across the street was the Happy Budda restaurant, which had a giant gold-painted concrete Budda in front of it. It burned, as did the Westheimer Mini-Mall next door (which used to house the Wilde-n-Stein bookstore).

Yes, WGG, there were several fires which took out buildings in that part of Westheimer. In the early 80's this was a haven for runaways, and whether they or irate neighbors were responsible for the fires is unknown.

The fires which made the biggest impression on me were in the Whitney/W Drew/Fargo area. There were maybe 7-8 on that block in one summer (1982?), and a large townhome development promptly sprang up. We used to sardonically refer to it as "Arson Acres".

[WestGrayGuy]

Let's not forget the "fire" that cosumed the old La Strada.

That place has never been the same.

[MidtownCoog]

Yep, that "fire" was a scam. For sure.

Just like Liebmans' Deli on Memorial.

[J.A.S.O.N.]

Thats interesting, Galveston still has a Happy Budda with the large gold Budda in front of the restaurant. I wonder if that is just a local chain?

[texasdago]

It is... a local Chinese family opened the one in Galveston. It was the first Chinese restaurant on the island.

[tony]

I lived in Lower Westheimer in the early 70s. I rented a house one lot from the corner where Numbers is now. It was large, pier and beam, two-story and made of white clapboard. It had a wide front porch painted gray with a porch swing. It was not substandard, as some of the houses in this street had become by then. At that time, Lower Westheimer was home to four or five restaurants that featured what we thought of then as Euro-style dining. Very kool. One was called Lillian's and one, Michaelangelo's, is still there. The old LaStrada was called Il Padrido's and had great pizza, which was still, in this era, somewhat of a novelty and an alternative to Shakey's. It had French doors that opened directly onto the sidewalk, as most of the restaurants there did. On weekend nights all manner of folk crowded the crumbling little sidewalks going to these restaurants. Gays, slumming surburbanites, River Oaks mavens, drag queens, hiippies. The traffic was bumper to bumper and most people would talk to us as we sat on our swing. This was long before teenagers discovered it and made a mess of things. The adult bookstore was a U Totem on its last legs. The area on either side of Westhiemer was and still is a nice neighborhood but walking it at night was always a little edgy because of the foot traffic off the Strip, as it was sometimes called. A resident of very tony Cortlandt Place, one block south of the strip, bought out several condemned properties and bulldozed them in the mid 80s, before Mr. McConnell arrived or maybe it was around the same time. I, too, miss the old LaStrada and its forerunner.

[CE_ugh]

That guy bulit the old galveston square on the strand. Also he had plans to develop the entire east end marshes into a community of condos. He half-built two sections before the scandal broke and it stood there vacant for about 5 years. One section burned to the ground in the early 90's and the other part was torn down soon afterwards.

I used to live on the East End when I was a kid. My older brother used to vandalize that place because all the windows had been put in but they had no doors. The place itself was constructed pretty shoddly he said. Concrete had begun to crumble off after a couple of years and the wooden siding had begun to warp and splinter.

[Lowbrow]

We used to party in those skeletal buildings over looking the gulf. I have a few fond memories from those incursions.

[foxfire]

Edited October 7, 2007 by foxfire

[plumber2]

That guy bulit the old galveston square on the strand. Also he had plans to develop the entire east end marshes into a community of condos. He half-built two sections before the scandal broke and it stood there vacant for about 5 years. One section burned to the ground in the early 90's and the other part was torn down soon afterwards.

I used to live on the East End when I was a kid. My older brother used to vandalize that place because all the windows had been put in but they had no doors. The place itself was constructed pretty shoddly he said. Concrete had begun to crumble off after a couple of years and the wooden siding had begun to warp and splinter.

There was a movie filmed on location in Galveston that used these abandoned condos on the East End as a murder scene. It stared Roy Schieder (Jaws) as the sherriff. The script was lame, based on some ex-Astros catcher or pitcher murdering people each time the team won a game or something like that.

[dbigtex56]

You are confusing the Midnight Sun with something else as it wasn't across the street from the Chicken Coop.

Reqpectfully disagree.

[RedScare]

The script was lame, based on some ex-Astros catcher or pitcher murdering people each time the team won a game or something like that.

That would explain Houston's lower murder rate this year.

[foxfire]

Edited October 7, 2007 by foxfire

[brucesw]

I lived in Lower Westheimer in the early 70s. I rented a house one lot from the corner where Numbers is now. It was large, pier and beam, two-story and made of white clapboard. It had a wide front porch painted gray with a porch swing. It was not substandard, as some of the houses in this street had become by then. At that time, Lower Westheimer was home to four or five restaurants that featured what we thought of then as Euro-style dining. Very kool. One was called Lillian's and one, Michaelangelo's, is still there. The old LaStrada was called Il Padrido's and had great pizza, which was still, in this era, somewhat of a novelty and an alternative to Shakey's. It had French doors that opened directly onto the sidewalk, as most of the restaurants there did. On weekend nights all manner of folk crowded the crumbling little sidewalks going to these restaurants. Gays, slumming surburbanites, River Oaks mavens, drag queens, hiippies. The traffic was bumper to bumper and most people would talk to us as we sat on our swing. This was long before teenagers discovered it and made a mess of things. The adult bookstore was a U Totem on its last legs. The area on either side of Westhiemer was and still is a nice neighborhood but walking it at night was always a little edgy because of the foot traffic off the Strip, as it was sometimes called. A resident of very tony Cortlandt Place, one block south of the strip, bought out several condemned properties and bulldozed them in the mid 80s, before Mr. McConnell arrived or maybe it was around the same time. I, too, miss the old LaStrada and its forerunner.

Yes, lower Westheimer was Restaurant Row in the early 70s and was reminiscent of Bourbon Street on Friday and Saturday nights with the traffic crawling by and lots of people strolling. I remember a restaurant that I think was in the block between Numbers and Spur 527, north side, 'Continental,' we always ate upstairs, the first place I ever heard the term 'portion control.' None of the names you've mentioned ring a bell -- do you remember any others? It might have been on your block but I think it was just a little further east.

[aggieengineer]

There is a neighborhood in Denton with some curiously familiar street names from my youth: Dunlavy, Gessner, Fondren, Westheimer, San Felipe, Chimney Rock, Kirby, Bissonet, Hillcroft, and Weslayan. Ahhh, must be a coincidence. 

[SpaceGhost]

I mean it's not really historic, or about Houston.. but here it is

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kirby+Dr,+Denton,+TX+76210/@33.1649455,-97.1036562,16.69z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x864dcb48ee861c6b:0x2069921d1912bf02

 

Kinda wonder who did it.. and more so, why?

[IronTiger]

The names are slightly different (Drive instead of Road, "Hilcroft", "Bissonet") but it's definitely a shout out.

[aggieengineer]

I mean it's not really historic, or about Houston.. but here it is

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kirby+Dr,+Denton,+TX+76210/@33.1649455,-97.1036562,16.69z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x864dcb48ee861c6b:0x2069921d1912bf02

 

Kinda wonder who did it.. and more so, why?

 

I suspect it may have been nostalgia. Those roads were being constructed when I was a kid, and that was pretty much the southwest edge of Houston. Perhaps the developer grew up about the same time and place. Pure speculation, however. 

[FilioScotia]

Some street names do travel around. Take a drive through downtown Shreveport Louisiana and you'll think you're in downtown Houston. In the oldest area along the Red River they have streets named Texas, Fannin, Crockett, Milam, Travis, Austin, and some others.

 

Shreveport was founded in 1836, the year Texas won independence from Mexico, and people there at that time thought they had more in common with Texas than with Louisiana, hence all the streets named for Texas heroes. Even today many people in that NW corner of Louisiana will tell you they would rather be part of Texas. Which makes me wonder why they don't move here.

 

Louisiana has a state income tax and Texas doesn't. That alone would give me the incentive to move to Texas.

 

Edited February 7, 2016 by FilioScotia

[technoevil]

Funny, I lived in Denton for 4 years (take a wild guess why) and never noticed that!  There is also a Houston St., Fannin, Memorial Dr., and Willowick. 

Edited February 1, 2016 by technoevil

[sevfiv]

Wow, I love it! So strange!

[Gurgis]

This is very interesting, because - like technoevil - I also lived for awhile in Denton (3 1/2 years for me), and also never noticed those streets. I even lived in apartments at one point off of Teasley Lane, not far from that area (maybe less than a 1/2 mile away).

 

The naming of those streets must have been tied to someone from Houston. There's just too much of a coincidence with the similarity of names in SW Houston.

[technoevil]

On 6/9/2016 at 5:16 PM, Gurgis said:

This is very interesting, because - like technoevil - I also lived for awhile in Denton (3 1/2 years for me), and also never noticed those streets. I even lived in apartments at one point off of Teasley Lane, not far from that area (maybe less than a 1/2 mile away).

 

The naming of those streets must have been tied to someone from Houston. There's just too much of a coincidence with the similarity of names in SW Houston.

 

Thats funny.  I was in the apartments off Teasley also, just north of 35 behind the Pizza Hut and KFC for a while.

Edited June 11, 2016 by technoevil

[sevfiv]

I went through there - a pretty boring neighborhood but fun to see the streets!