St. George Place, Houston
[2] In 1982 the front companies of the Saudi citizen Adnan Khashoggi began buying houses in Lamar Terrace.
Triad America, a Utah-based company owned by the Khashoggi family, had plans to build a complex including a skyscraper and a 1,000 room hotel on a 21-acre (8.5 ha) strip of land east of Lamar Terrace.
[1] In 1989 Ralph Bivins of the Houston Chronicle said that some houses of the Lamar Terrace area "are dilapidated rental properties with trash, tires and old cars littering the lawns.
Cindy Gabriel of the Houston Chronicle said that Lamar Terrace "stood in sharp contrast to its Galleria neighbor with dilapidated post World War II-era homes, abandoned cars, stray animals and high crime.
"[9] Because residents expected The Galleria to expand westward and create a powerful commercial property market, they had voted out the Lamar Terrace deed restrictions.
[1] He finalized a purchase of 50 Lamar Terrace lots formerly owned by Adnan Khashoggi on Tuesday November 10, 1989.
[10] Silvers eventually had purchased in total 107 lots, all from the Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corporation.
Patricia Knudsen, the city's acting planning director at the time, told Silvers to consider establishing a public improvement district.
[7] A "base year" assessed values is placed on the properties owned by the taxing entities that participate in the TIRZ.
[7] The lawyer also told Silvers that the State of Texas permitted TIRZs to petition to establish zoning ordinances.
Silvers had asked the Houston City Council for twenty years of future property tax revenues so he could rebuild Lamar Terrace.
[12] In August 1999 the St. George Place Civic Association incorporated, allowing for residents to more easily interact with the TIRZ board.
During that year, Mike Snyder of the Houston Chronicle said that St. George Place residents "enjoy mostly new, upscale homes, well-maintained streets and easy access to shopping, entertainment and major employment centers.
Mike Snyder of the Houston Chronicle said "Zoning, however, has not insulated St. George Place from the kind of land-use battles that are common in a city where neighborhood leaders often feel powerless to influence the form of development springing up all around them.
The juxtaposition of low-slung ranch houses interspersed with towering multistory brick manses gives St. George Place the look of a bad haircut.
"[12] Prior to Silvers's investment and redevelopment, Lamar Terrace had a lot of front-yard mechanics and neglected houses.
[21] Map of St. George Place Management District with original & revised TIRZ 1 boundaries: St. Geo.
[28] It serves areas east and west of the 610 Loop; the bulk of its boundary is south of Westheimer Road, north of Westpark Drive, east of Fountainview, and west of Weslayan; there is also a section bounded by Westheimer, the 610 Loop, the Buffalo Bayou, and a set of railroad tracks.
The building has various color-coded "pods" in which classes are concentrated; the color scheme was used to assist young children.
[29] Molina Walker Architects Inc. designed the facility while Heery International Inc. constructed it for a cost of $14 million.
Several Lamar Terrace area residents opposed a plan to place an HISD middle school in the neighborhood.
[22] Ultimately HISD had acquired 94 lots for a site for the new school,[31] using its eminent domain powers, and all of the houses were demolished.
A public relations employee of HISD stated that the district acquires parcels of land just in case that a school may be needed there.
