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Developments that captured attention in 2008
  
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By MICHAEL REED
Editor’s note: Obviously, we could never do justice to a week of local development-related news in this space, let alone an entire year’s worth. That said, here are some of the year’s high or low lights — depending on how close you live to the projects.
A look at the Examiner’s list of Top 10 stories for 2007 revealed most of them involved something being built, torn down or moved.
What made these top stories, of course, was not the actual demolition, but that it angered and inconvenienced so many people, while making money for so many others — at least that was pre-recession plan.
While these projects share some traits, the largest common denominator among them is their high profile either caused by community outcry or, in a couple of cases, ill-advised publicity seeking.
Costco Warehouse megastore, Shepherd at Weslayan
Way back in February 2007, the Examiner reported at least 16 high-density residential properties were planned within a few miles of each in the Upper Kirby Greenway Plaza area.
That was three years after the prime 24-acre inner loop parcel in the 3800 block of Richmond Avenue was sold for $38 million by the Houston Independent School District. The vision, at the time, was of a European-style retail, residential and office complex.
Soon, however, economic realities brought with them the news that the 15.4-acre site would instead contain a Costco Warehouse discount megastore a fitness center and other businesses.
Adding to the potential this project would come under fire from neighboring residents was a successful complaint in June by Weslayan Street resident Majorie Hallam, who pointed out to the city that trees were about to removed to make way for left-turns lanes.
It turned out the trees were not only about to be felled without the required permission of the Parks and Recreation Department, but the nine bald cypress and three other trees had not been included on submitted drawings.
“We assumed incorrectly this developer had pursued properly the channels under Chapter 33,” Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck said during the June 24 session. “They had not, and these plans are now put on hold.”
By August, the request permission had been give with the trees to be replanted. The Costco opened in October.
River Oaks Shopping Center, Shepherd at West Gray
As a rule of thumb, tearing down a building that has just been named a historic landmark is probably not the best way to garner public acceptance and trust.
In fairness, however, Weingarten Realty Investors had planned to demolish the old shopping center to make way for a Barnes & Noble Bookstore and a four-story parking garage before it gained the designation.
What the developer had not planned was that in April a Brentwood Circle homeowner, Tom Horan, would hold a news conference from his back yard where he could barely be heard above the din of construction that took place, literally, inches from his property line.
“This around you is a death trap waiting to happen,” Tom Horan told a group consisting primarily of family and friends.
Several in attendance wore face masks, including Horan’s grandchildren, who he said “love coming over to play in this yard.” The longer the proceedings lasted, the more obvious it became that the protective gear was not intended as a symbolic protest.
Shortly after the sparsely attended event, The Examiner received a copy of an Oct. 24, 2006 contract, written on a Weingarten letterhead, that asked abutting property owners to give up their right to speak against the project in exchange for the developer’s $27,000 financial contribution toward keeping a neighboring property residential.
“I definitely confirm the authenticity of it,” resident Cynthia Rice said. “I saw it as the kind of letter no one in their right mind would sign, but I believe some of them (neighbors) did.”
The garage has since been opened, but recently work on an open-air bistro at the site has been halted because an overhanging structure extends 10.7 feet into the Shepherd Drive easement.
“It (the violating area) appears to contain only ground-level brick pavers,” a spokesman with the Planning and Development Department said of the architect’s drawing.
The developer is now pursuing “a retro-variance” as it has been termed by some with the city. Action by the Planning Commission is expected Jan. 8.
Ashby high-rise, Bissonnet at Ashby
The developers of the project sought their final permit, this one concerning traffic volume, a few times during 2008.
And, perhaps symbolically, the rejection total reaching seven only days after the Public Works Department resumed operations in the wake of Hurricane Ike.
Dated Sept. 11 (also a little ominous), the request was denied because plans for a driveway contained no revisions, and there was “no current justification” for restriping plans on Bissonnet Boulevard at Ashby Drive.
The city’s comments closely mirrored those from its previous denials, but prompted the Buckhead Investment Partners to release a timeline of their year-and-a-half quest that concluded the developer is “exhausting its administrative options.” (Read as “looking closely at suing someone.”)
The timeline characterized Houston’s driveway permitting regulations (Sec. 40-86) as “ambiguous (rules that have) been unilaterally expanded in scope by mayoral fiat,” providing for “subjective interpretation” by the city engineer, “who traditionally has not been responsible for traffic.”
The developers also claimed the city has “changed its position … due to political pressure.”
An eighth attempt to secure the final permit has not been filed — at least, not yet.
Sonoma, Kirby at the street formerly known as Bolsover
In a sign of the times, following a series of delays in groundbreaking plans, the developers of the Sonoma property announced in November the project would be placed on hold due to a lack of financing.
As recently as Oct. 18, developers claimed to have had financing in place, sending an e-mail to those who had expressed in buying units saying groundbreaking could be expected in February.
Julie Tysor, president of the Appelt Companies, said in an e-mail to Examiner, “We had secured a substantial majority of the financing for the south building through the cooperation of some local lenders who have also supported this project since its inception.”
The south building would have stood at the site occupied by the soon-to-depart Walgreens, 5313 Kelvin St. Formerly referred to as Phase 2, it would have been comprised of 85 residential units. It would have been built before what was once Phase 1, a 125-residential unit and high-end structure planned for the north side of Bolsover Street.
The City Council voted to sell the 2400 block of Bolsover to the developers for $1.74 million, or about $60 a square foot in August 2007, to accommodate the project.
Under terms of the sale, the street will not revert to the city until Aug. 21 2012, and then only if a project “as substantially presented to the community” and left-turn bays approaching Kelvin and Morningside at the Rice Boulevard intersections are not in place.
Even at that point, the agreement could receive a three-year extension at the discretion of the Public Works director, who would not need City Council approval.
Got a choice of your own?
Have your own choices that you’d like to discuss? Feel free to send letters to the editor at riveroakseditor@hcononline.com or comment online by clicking on this story at examinernews.com and scrolling to the bottom.
A look at the Examiner’s list of Top 10 stories for 2007 revealed most of them involved something being built, torn down or moved.
What made these top stories, of course, was not the actual demolition, but that it angered and inconvenienced so many people, while making money for so many others — at least that was pre-recession plan.
While these projects share some traits, the largest common denominator among them is their high profile either caused by community outcry or, in a couple of cases, ill-advised publicity seeking.
Costco Warehouse megastore, Shepherd at Weslayan
Way back in February 2007, the Examiner reported at least 16 high-density residential properties were planned within a few miles of each in the Upper Kirby Greenway Plaza area.
That was three years after the prime 24-acre inner loop parcel in the 3800 block of Richmond Avenue was sold for $38 million by the Houston Independent School District. The vision, at the time, was of a European-style retail, residential and office complex.
Soon, however, economic realities brought with them the news that the 15.4-acre site would instead contain a Costco Warehouse discount megastore a fitness center and other businesses.
Adding to the potential this project would come under fire from neighboring residents was a successful complaint in June by Weslayan Street resident Majorie Hallam, who pointed out to the city that trees were about to removed to make way for left-turns lanes.
It turned out the trees were not only about to be felled without the required permission of the Parks and Recreation Department, but the nine bald cypress and three other trees had not been included on submitted drawings.
“We assumed incorrectly this developer had pursued properly the channels under Chapter 33,” Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck said during the June 24 session. “They had not, and these plans are now put on hold.”
By August, the request permission had been give with the trees to be replanted. The Costco opened in October.
River Oaks Shopping Center, Shepherd at West Gray
As a rule of thumb, tearing down a building that has just been named a historic landmark is probably not the best way to garner public acceptance and trust.
In fairness, however, Weingarten Realty Investors had planned to demolish the old shopping center to make way for a Barnes & Noble Bookstore and a four-story parking garage before it gained the designation.
What the developer had not planned was that in April a Brentwood Circle homeowner, Tom Horan, would hold a news conference from his back yard where he could barely be heard above the din of construction that took place, literally, inches from his property line.
“This around you is a death trap waiting to happen,” Tom Horan told a group consisting primarily of family and friends.
Several in attendance wore face masks, including Horan’s grandchildren, who he said “love coming over to play in this yard.” The longer the proceedings lasted, the more obvious it became that the protective gear was not intended as a symbolic protest.
Shortly after the sparsely attended event, The Examiner received a copy of an Oct. 24, 2006 contract, written on a Weingarten letterhead, that asked abutting property owners to give up their right to speak against the project in exchange for the developer’s $27,000 financial contribution toward keeping a neighboring property residential.
“I definitely confirm the authenticity of it,” resident Cynthia Rice said. “I saw it as the kind of letter no one in their right mind would sign, but I believe some of them (neighbors) did.”
The garage has since been opened, but recently work on an open-air bistro at the site has been halted because an overhanging structure extends 10.7 feet into the Shepherd Drive easement.
“It (the violating area) appears to contain only ground-level brick pavers,” a spokesman with the Planning and Development Department said of the architect’s drawing.
The developer is now pursuing “a retro-variance” as it has been termed by some with the city. Action by the Planning Commission is expected Jan. 8.
Ashby high-rise, Bissonnet at Ashby
The developers of the project sought their final permit, this one concerning traffic volume, a few times during 2008.
And, perhaps symbolically, the rejection total reaching seven only days after the Public Works Department resumed operations in the wake of Hurricane Ike.
Dated Sept. 11 (also a little ominous), the request was denied because plans for a driveway contained no revisions, and there was “no current justification” for restriping plans on Bissonnet Boulevard at Ashby Drive.
The city’s comments closely mirrored those from its previous denials, but prompted the Buckhead Investment Partners to release a timeline of their year-and-a-half quest that concluded the developer is “exhausting its administrative options.” (Read as “looking closely at suing someone.”)
The timeline characterized Houston’s driveway permitting regulations (Sec. 40-86) as “ambiguous (rules that have) been unilaterally expanded in scope by mayoral fiat,” providing for “subjective interpretation” by the city engineer, “who traditionally has not been responsible for traffic.”
The developers also claimed the city has “changed its position … due to political pressure.”
An eighth attempt to secure the final permit has not been filed — at least, not yet.
Sonoma, Kirby at the street formerly known as Bolsover
In a sign of the times, following a series of delays in groundbreaking plans, the developers of the Sonoma property announced in November the project would be placed on hold due to a lack of financing.
As recently as Oct. 18, developers claimed to have had financing in place, sending an e-mail to those who had expressed in buying units saying groundbreaking could be expected in February.
Julie Tysor, president of the Appelt Companies, said in an e-mail to Examiner, “We had secured a substantial majority of the financing for the south building through the cooperation of some local lenders who have also supported this project since its inception.”
The south building would have stood at the site occupied by the soon-to-depart Walgreens, 5313 Kelvin St. Formerly referred to as Phase 2, it would have been comprised of 85 residential units. It would have been built before what was once Phase 1, a 125-residential unit and high-end structure planned for the north side of Bolsover Street.
The City Council voted to sell the 2400 block of Bolsover to the developers for $1.74 million, or about $60 a square foot in August 2007, to accommodate the project.
Under terms of the sale, the street will not revert to the city until Aug. 21 2012, and then only if a project “as substantially presented to the community” and left-turn bays approaching Kelvin and Morningside at the Rice Boulevard intersections are not in place.
Even at that point, the agreement could receive a three-year extension at the discretion of the Public Works director, who would not need City Council approval.
Got a choice of your own?
Have your own choices that you’d like to discuss? Feel free to send letters to the editor at riveroakseditor@hcononline.com or comment online by clicking on this story at examinernews.com and scrolling to the bottom.
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