Quote:
Originally Posted by Urbannizer
1616 Post Oak
39-Story residential tower with two levels of retail by The Dinerstein Companies and Gensler. Subdivision plat for the project was filed today.
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Battle heats up over proposed tower in Uptown
By Nancy Sarnoff | Wednesday, March 23, 2016 | chron.com
A Houston developer has filed a pre-emptive strike against the owners of a luxury high-rise near the Galleria to head off an "inevitable lawsuit" over its plans to build a tower next door.
"We're a little bit in shock," said Karen Brown, president of the Cosmopolitan Condominium Association, which is now a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the developer this week in Harris County.
Brown said Wednesday that her group met with the developer, Dinerstein Co., several times to discuss homeowners' concerns over the size of the proposed tower, its proximity to their own 22-story building, and related traffic and safety issues. She said the association wants the building to be half as tall and 100 feet farther away.
"They want to build a 40-story building 10 feet from us," Brown said. "We think that's unreasonable."
But she said she was surprised to learn that the owner of the lot next door, an affiliate of Dinerstein Co., had filed suit against her group.
A sign is shown in a yard along the Wedgewood Golf Course, 5454 TX-105, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015, in Conroe. The course which has been around some 30 years, but is now about to close. Some residents of the area want to buy it and keep it as a golf course. Otherwise, the bank could sell it to developers and the homeowners worry that would cause them to lose value on their homes.
In its lawsuit, the developer is asking for a declaratory judgment prohibiting the homeowners association from asserting a nuisance claim for the construction of the tower. It also wants a judge to declare that the association does not have standing to assert an action "based on alleged violations of city ordinances." Attorney's fees are also being sought.
The developer claims in the lawsuit that it addressed concerns raised by the condo owners by modifying the proposed building's design. The changes included lowering the height of the parking garage, allowing it to line up with the Cosmopolitan's garage; moving the building's cooling systems to the roof; and designing the structure so views from the Cosmopolitan would be less obstructed.
The developer has not publicly announced the project.
Last month when it filed a plat with the city of Houston for the proposed tower, a residential building called Vantage, president Brian Dinerstein said the company was "still working through a variety of different concepts and designs."
The building would replace the Courtyard at Post Oak shopping center at 1616 Post Oak Blvd.
Another key point in the lawsuit is a construction agreement between both property owners that was put in place when the Cosmopolitan was being developed in 2006.
That developer obtained a "temporary use and aerial encroachment easement agreement" from the then-owner of the Post Oak property. The agreement allowed construction equipment to essentially swing above the neighboring property.
As part of that agreement, the Cosmopolitan developer granted a reciprocal easement, allowing the Post Oak property owner to build a high-rise on its land in the future with the same construction rights.
The lawsuit claims the Cosmopolitan homeowners group - "having taken the benefits of the agreement, and having constructed their own high-rise" - would now like to deny the easement agreement.
Bill Miller, a consultant hired by Dinerstein, said the company hopes to resolve the matter peacefully. He provided the Chronicle with a letter in which the company told the association, "the petition does not assert any wrongdoing, but rather seeks the court's declaration of the parties' rights and obligations" in regard to its right to build.
Brown said the homeowners understand the easement agreement is legally binding. Their concern, she said, is more the size and proximity of the proposed building to their homes.
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