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If you touch museum interactive screens, wash your hands afterward. Thats what experts say in an era when museum visitors are increasingly encouraged to handle iPads and other interactives. Staffers tend to clean those daily at best, although researchers have found that digital screens may harbor more bacteria than toilet seats.

There are plenty of documented cases of infections likely being transmitted by objects, such as rails, phones and clothing, says Jonathan Eisen, a microbiology and immunology professor at the University of California at Davis School of Medicine.

Many overestimate the risk of contracting germs by touching pathogen-rich communal objects, but it is important to realize it is not zero, Eisen says. After swiping a screen, museum visitors should wash their hands with soap and water before touching their mouths, eyes or noses. They should also avoid touching their organs directly to the screens.

That is, dont lick the museum iPad or screen, Eisen says.

Parents might want to avoid having young children who cant help touching their eyes, noses or mouths touch germy objects. During flu season, maybe museums should wash shared objects more often than otherwise, Eisen says.

Christopher Mason, an associate professor at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York who has studied subways and high-trafficked public spaces in dozens of cities, is less concerned. You are effectively just shaking hands with more people, he says. And Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Healths National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, cautions about driving yourself a little bit to anxiety worrying about things like hotel door knobs.

You can get around all of this by just washing your hands as frequently as you can, Fauci says. Im sure theres a finite risk, probably extremely small.

But even slight risks are scary, notes Neal Johnson, chair of the American Alliance of Museums media and technology professional network and senior digital projects manager at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin.

Nobody wants to be responsible for spreading the next epidemic, he says.

At the Newseum in Washington, everything is wiped down especially the current virtual-reality Berlin Wall interactive display, says Scott Williams, the chief operating officer. Museums know most visitors arent going to want to put something on their ears unless its been insanely cleaned, he says. (Williams keeps wet wipes at his desk and cleans his phone constantly.)

During flu season, the Newseum washes devices that visitors handle on a daily basis, Williams says. Thats also the policy at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, the International Spy Museum and the National Building Museum. At the Smithsonians museums, there is nothing special about the way we wipe screens, spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas says. Its the same as you do at home.

Visitors to the National Museum of Natural History can handle about 50 interactive screens, says Elizabeth Musteen, chief of exhibit production. The museum uses screens where necessary to tell certain stories, as in the ocean chemistry display. If you say the words ocean chemistry visitors are like, Im on vacation! she says.

Musteen, who has worked at the museum for 21 years, often sees parents pull children away from interactives. People cant resist touching a screen, she says. And some are so conditioned to touch screens that she sees them touch non-interactive displays.

About 30percent of the museums 7million visitors each year tend to interact somewhat with touchable screens, she estimates, and about 10 percent use them for long enough to gain significantly meaningful experiences. Thats 700,000 people each year touching screens, which Musteen says are typically cleaned every morning.

We do try to mitigate the germ issue, she says. I think a lot of people dont think about it, like they dont think about trying on a pair of sunglasses at Target.

Musteen has asked her young children not to put their heads in those viewing stations at other museums. But when there was a flu outbreak and she and colleagues worried that theyd have to restock hand sanitizer dispensers regularly at the museum, that proved unfounded.

The cynics among us thought theyd be empty every 30 minutes, but they werent, Musteen says. When the museum opens its May 2018 exhibit Outbreak, there will be touch screens and hand sanitizer dispensers, she says.

At the National Gallery of Art, acoustiguides are cleaned after each use, and the media team cleans exhibition touch screens during daily rounds, with thorough cleanings weekly as needed, spokeswoman Anabeth Guthrie says.

Building Museum staffers clean iPads daily with wipes we get from Staples, spokeswoman Emma Filar says. Workers are directed to keep an eye on surfaces like iPads to clean as needed during the day and they talk to materials manufacturers about how to clean objects in exhibitions, such as its 2015 installation The Beach and its current Wright on the Walls show.

At the Capitol Visitor Center, the maintenance staff cleans screens every evening, and we have Purell stations around the building, says Laura Trivers, a spokeswoman.

The Spy Museum staff hasnt had great luck with iPads and recently retired a display, says youth education director Jacqueline Eyl. People want an experience thats unparalleled in everything they do today in their leisure time, especially with ticket prices, she says.

Eyl is skeptical of virtual reality interactives in museums due to germs. I dont want to have to clean the goggles, she says. The headphones are kind of use at your own [risk]. ... Theres a certain grodiness that you have to think about with high visitation and germs.

Changes in cleaning routines during flu season havent come up at the museum, which has an enclosed air vent through which visitors crawl. I suppose maybe they should, Eyl says.

Johnson, of the Austin museum, is less concerned about VR displays. When he goes to trade shows, Johnson often sees the people running virtual reality stations conspicuously wipe helmets after each use. Ive never heard anybody else worry about it until now, he says.

At this years South by Southwest conference, which was dominated by virtual reality, that wasnt the case. I didnt see a single wipe down in between uses, and I didnt see anybody who cared, he says.

But germs have the Newseums Williams wondering if museums should encourage visitors when possible to download extra content onto their phones. That way, theyre using their own devices, he says.

Several museums staffers questioned the practicality of cleaning screens after each use, but thats just what happens with bleach-free Lysol or Clorox wipes with the iPads that the Detroit Institute of Arts staffers hand out to visitors at the museums Rivera Court. And with other tools, spokeswoman Christine Kloostra says, attending staff is known to periodically clean those devices in the midmorning or afternoon downtime.

Read more:
Can high culture make you sick? - Washington Post

Signs are pointing toward an upcoming renovation of the long-vacant Loyal Order of the Moose Lodge building at 2115 Cass Ave. in downtown Detroit.

A document that the Ilitch family's Olympia Development of Michigan filed with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality last week shows some asbestos cleanup is scheduled to take place over a few days next week, with Detroit-based Qualified Abatement Services Inc. as the contractor.

In addition, there has been parking lot work around the building at Cass Avenue and Elizabeth Street across from Bookie's Bar and Grill recently, as well as some painting done on plywood on window coverings.

Seems to me that historic renovation is in the works. But Olympia is remaining mum to me about any details of a renovation.

I asked Ed Saenz, director of communications for the Detroit-based company, for information Thursday about what's in store for the property, but he only said Olympia has "not announced future plans yet."

The DEQ document lists Detroit-based Olympia as the owner and says the building is 30,000 square feet (although Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service CoStar Group Inc. says it's about 45,000 square feet).

Olympia is spearheading the 45- to 50-block District Detroit project anchored by Little Caesars Arena for the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons that is set to open next month.

In May, the company announced plans to renovate four other long-vacant buildings around the arena for residential use:

Historic Detroit, which tracks the city's buildings and architecture history, says the Moose Lodge building opened in 1922 and was designed by Baxter, O'Dell & Halpin. Curbed Detroit reported on some minor repair work taking place there in 2013.

There were plans as far back as 1994 to turn the vacant building into a nightclub, Crain's reported at the time.

Olympia paid $1.5 million for it in February 2007, according to city records.

Link:
Is long-vacant Moose Lodge building inching toward renovation? - Crain's Detroit Business (blog)

Photo: Richard Webner /Express-News

A $17 million parking garage next to the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts is expected to wrap up construction next month.

A $17 million parking garage next to the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts is expected to wrap up construction next month.

The garage will add 521 spaces to parking-starved downtown.

The garage will add 521 spaces to parking-starved downtown.

The garage includes a meeting area for First Baptist Church of San Antonio, which owns the land.

The garage includes a meeting area for First Baptist Church of San Antonio, which owns the land.

Parking has been a problem for the Tobin Center since it opened in 2014.

Parking has been a problem for the Tobin Center since it opened in 2014.

The parking garage will be open to the public when there are no events at the Tobin Center.

The parking garage will be open to the public when there are no events at the Tobin Center.

The Tobin Center contributed $7 million to the garages construction, while the city of San Antonio and Bexar County both chipped in $5 million.

The Tobin Center contributed $7 million to the garages construction, while the city of San Antonio and Bexar County both chipped in $5 million.

Parking will likely become even more scarce in the area after construction projects such as CPS Energys new headquarters and the Arts Residences hotel and condo tower are completed nearby.

Parking will likely become even more scarce in the area after construction projects such as CPS Energys new headquarters and the Arts Residences hotel and condo tower are completed nearby.

The garage also includes 5,600 square feet of retail space.

The garage also includes 5,600 square feet of retail space.

This rendering shows the appearance of Alamo Plaza under a master plan that would include an interpretation of the south wall and historic main gate of the mission and 1836 battle compound, made of structural glass. Other features include a 135,000-square-foot museum; historic footings of the historic walls displayed under structural glass; and interpretation of an acequia, or water canal, on the west end of the plaza.

This rendering shows the appearance of Alamo Plaza under a master plan that would include an interpretation

Mixed-Use Development at Hemisfair$200 million

Mixed-Use Development at Hemisfair$200 million

San Pedro Creek Rehabilitation$175 million

San Pedro Creek Rehabilitation$175 million

Essex Modern City mixed-use development$150 million

Frost Tower$142 million

Frost Tower$142 million

Federal Courthouse$142 million

Federal Courthouse$142 million

CPS Energys new headquarters $100 million

CPS Energys new headquarters$100 million

EPICenter innovation center$74 million

EPICenter innovation center$74 million

Encore River Walk apartment complex $60 million

Encore River Walk apartment complex$60 million

Hemisfairs Civic Park$58 million

Hemisfairs Civic Park$58 million

Broadway corridor infrastructure improvements$56 million

Broadway corridor infrastructure improvements$56 million

Canopy by Hilton hotel$39 million

Canopy by Hilton hotel$39 million

Alameda Theater renovations$26 million

Alameda Theater renovations$26 million

Tobin Center parking garage nearing end of construction

A $17 million parking garage next to the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts is expected to wrap up construction next month, adding 521 spaces to parking-starved downtown.

The garage, which broke ground in November, also includes 5,600 square feet of retail space and a meeting area for First Baptist Church of San Antonio, which owns the land. With a brick and tile exterior, it was designed by local architecture firm Marmon Mok Architects.

Parking has been a problem for the Tobin Center since it opened in 2014, said Jack Freeman, its vice president of facilities and operations. It will likely become even more scarce in the area after construction projects such as CPS Energys new headquarters and the Arts Residences hotel and condo tower are completed nearby.

That was the biggest question all the time where can I park? Freeman said.

Parking spots will cost $15 for regular spaces and $25 for reserved spaces, Tobin Center spokeswoman Kelley Kendall said.

The garage will be open to the public when there are no events at the Tobin Center, Freeman said. Those who are attending events at the venue will be able to reserve some spaces online.

The Tobin Center contributed $7 million to the garages construction, while the city of San Antonio and Bexar County both chipped in $5 million.

RWebner@express-news.net

@rwebner

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Tobin Center parking garage nearing end of construction - mySanAntonio.com

Dallas Business Journal

High-profile parcel in Plano's Legacy Business Park getting high-rise office, hotel Dallas Business Journal The plans for the 37-acre tract include three office buildings ranging from eight- to 10-stories, totaling up to 2 million square feet with a 200-room boutique hotel and up to 100,000 square feet of retail space. Construction on the initial phase is ...

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High-profile parcel in Plano's Legacy Business Park getting high-rise office, hotel - Dallas Business Journal

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -

The landscape of Youngstown State University continues to transform as University leaders joined city officials Friday for a ceremony to mark the start of construction on another major campus project.

The ground breaking wassymbolic as work is already underway on the Enclave, a first class student housing and retail project at Wick and Lincoln Avenues.

As construction begins on this new project,the first students are moving in at the Edge, another newly completed housing complex. Sharon Sanders says students like the idea of apartment style housing.

"My main thing was Iwas going to have my own bathroom and Ididn't have to share it with about 40 other girls on a floor. So that's what really attracted me to the Edge," Sanders said.

Both the Edge and Enclave are projects that YSU President Jim Tressel outlined in 2016 in a presentation called, Next YSU:A New Look for a New Era. Contracting with private developers for housing is a win win for the university.

"Itmakes a whole lot of sense, itshifts a lot of risk from the university to a private developer. So we still get the benefit of having a larger inventory of beds for our students on campus," Neal McNally, V.P. of Finance and Business Operations.

The state of the art housing units, coupled with on campus retail space are attractive to potential students.

"We're trying to make YSU more of a a destination campus for students. We want them to be able to stay on campus, to have a positive student experience and along with that comes a growing demand for those types of amenities, restaurants and so forth," said McNally.

The 2016 plan also called for a new bookstore, and Barnes & Nobel just recently opened its new stand-alone store. Renovations are underway at Jones Hall, where a new Student Success Center will be connected to the Maag Library.

President Tressel says an active and growing university attracts more students and benefits the entire community. "It's going to do nothing but create activity downtown, forMill Creek Park, the Butler, you name it.So it's all part of what we need to do to keep getting better every day, " Tressel said.

The Enclave project also represents a YSU success story. The private developer is LRC Realty, and it's President is Frank Licata, a Youngstown native, and Youngstown State graduate.

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YSU marks new housing construction - WFMJ

Rendering Credit: Marchetto Higgins Stieve

As reported recently, the area of Jersey Citys west side along the Hackensack River known as Bayfront has been mired in cleanup, controversy, and leadership quicksandno one has emerged as a front-runner to advance the development beyond the rendering stage. However, directly across Route 440, another development is well underwayand already bringing to this neighborhood what Bayfront up to now has only proposed.

University Place is a $400 million, 22-acre development with four mixed-use projects in the works as well as a new ShopRite, parking garage, and housing for New Jersey City University (NJCU) students.

The first mixed-use building, developed by Claremont Companies, is about to top out, bringing 163 rental units and 12,000 square feet of retail to market. Leasing is slated to begin next year for May 2018 move-ins. Claremont Companies second mixed-use building will break ground in April 2018.

GRID Real Estate was tapped to market the first phase of retail space at the project. Available is over 10,000 square feet of space including a restaurant opportunity that will sit at the gateway of University Place. With very little options to choose from on the west side of Jersey City, University Places restaurants will cater to the university along with the outside public who now have to hop in their car and head downtown to grab a bite to eat. Said Bobby Antonicello Jr. of GRID Real Estate.

KKF University Enterprises is developing the other two mixed-use buildings, set to break ground in August of this year and December 2018. The four buildings will total 630 luxury rental apartments and 30,000 square feet of retail space. The developments have been staggered to minimize leasing competition.

The new ShopRite will be 70,000 square feet and 1,000 vehicles will be able to park in the new parking garage. The new dorm for NJCU has been up and running since August 2016 and houses 430 students. And the entire development is built around a tree-lined, brick-paved boulevard, anchored by a public plaza with enough space to host outdoor performances. New Jersey City Universitys new Center for Music, Dance, and Theater also plans to build its home here, possibly opening as early as 2019.

Like Bayfront, University Places parcel of land on the east side of Route 440, bounded by West Side Avenue, was also owned by Honeywell whose predecessor contaminated the soil to the point of mandatory remediation which was completed years ago.

Unlike Bayfront, what was called the West Campus of New Jersey City University was reimagined, redeveloped, and rebranded as University Place at a breakneck pace. Mr. Anthony Bastardi, CEO of Strategic Development Group, calls this project his passion for the last three years, wanting to develop a place, in the urban planning sense, where people live, work, and play.

Involving the community, NJCU, Jersey City officials, and professional experts as key stakeholders from the very beginning certainly helped to drive the project forward. University Place was imagined, embraced, and contracted all in one year, said Mr. Bastardi. Incredibly, all development up to this point, from concept to construction, has taken only three years.

University Place Boulevard is nearly complete and landscaped while surrounding roads are also being built. Mr. Bastardi estimates that one year from now, in the summer of 2018, all the roads will be in, 160 families will have moved into the first building where there will be a restaurant for us to have lunch, and three more buildings will be under construction.

University Place will activate 1,080 permanent jobs and $12 million in state and local taxes annually. Plus the 30-year PILOT negotiated with Jersey City will result in $93 million in payments to Jersey City.

--

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University Place Moves Full Steam Ahead While Bayfront Languishes - Jersey Digs

By Dave Pasquantonio, Correspondent

Capes are the quintessential New England home style. Towns throughout Massachusetts, including Walpole, have neighborhoods peppered with capes, many springing up during the post-WWII housing boom. Theyre reassuringly familiar even in places where they werent built in large numbers. When kids learn to draw a house, they draw a cape. And those green Monopoly houses? Theyre capes, too, down to the customary center chimney.

Early traditional capes, designed with Yankee practicality to combat the regions harsh climate, shared several common design features. They were side gabled, with steep roofs to quickly shed water and snow, and had small roof overhangs. A center front door was flanked with either one or two pairs of windows, depending on the homes footprint. Center chimneys provided heat and light to the first floor, which often consisted of simply a cooking and gathering space and a bedroom separate spaces for the kitchen, dining room, living room and bedroom came later. The smaller second level was accessed by a steep, narrow staircase to maximize the first-floor living space, and was either unused or turned into two small (and often unheated) rooms for children or guests. The homes were finished with cedar shingles or clapboard.

Most modern-day cape owners need more space and function than those original homes could provide. Upgraded and more recently built capes feature gable dormer windows, shed dormers or Nantucket dormers (two gable dormer windows joined by a shed dormer) to increase living space vertically. Where theres room to expand horizontally, capes are outfitted with wing, extension or bump-out additions. Basements are easily finished due to the simplicity of the original foundation. Common exterior add-ons include sunrooms, porches, and garages, either attached directly to the home or accessed through a breezeway.

Though its rare to see a newly-built conventional cape in an age of ever-more-enormous homes, some recently-constructed houses take the essence of a traditional cape and add a larger footprint, multi-level flooring, dormers, and higher first-floor ceilings, giving the home the square footage and feel of a colonial, but with a unique style.

Here are a few examples of capes currently for sale in Walpole.

Built in 1942, the traditional cape at 82 Norfolk St. eschews a second floor in favor of a single level of living space, along with a walk-out basement ripe for finishing. A half-acre of land and a modern interior, coupled with the potential for vertical expansion, make this a great home for the buyer with an eye on the future. ($360,000; agent Thomas Blount; 781-417-5256).

At 324 Coney St. in East Walpole is a 1939 cape that received a two-story addition in 2009, and now boasts almost 2,200 square feet of living space. With three bedrooms and three baths, this 10-room beauty is a great example of an older home taken to new heights with smart improvements. ($499,900; agent Jen Conley; 508-265-3824).

The 1980s-built Gambrel cape at 7 Deerfield Drive retains traditional features while adding a shed dormer in the rear and three gable dormer windows and a gambrel roof in the front, along with an attached garage connected by additional living space. With over 2,500 square feet of living space, its an excellent example of a cape crossing into colonial-feel territory. ($635,000; agent Robin Wish; 508-944-1967).

The home at 7 Jessie Way also has three gable dormer windows and a shed dormer, and a front-gabled attached garage. It, too, was constructed in the 1980s, well after the initial wave of smaller capes, and thus has more pizzazz than its forebears. With about two acres of land and an 1,800 square-foot basement ready for finishing, this home provides living space on par with many homes found in executive developments, but without a cookie-cutter feel. ($719,900; agent Tony Ruggiero; 508-648-7393).

Its not difficult to spot capes during a drive through Walpole. Our town has plenty of these rugged little homes, which are easy to live in, easy to upgrade and easy to draw.

Original post:
Walpole Homefront: A primer on the quintessential cape - Wicked Local Walpole

FRISCO, Texas, Aug. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Dallas-based Snell Motor Companies was recently awarded the Jaguar Frisco franchise to add to their existing Land Rover Frisco dealership in Frisco, Texas. The addition makes it the second dual-brand location for Snell Motor Companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with their Jaguar Land Rover Dallas dealership 20 miles south of Frisco. "This is an extraordinary milestone for the luxury automotive sector in Frisco," stated Mike Mykeloff, General Manager of Jaguar Land Rover Frisco. "The addition of the Jaguar brand to our existing Land Rover franchise will allow Jaguar Land Rover Frisco to offer this rapidly growing community our elite fleet of vehicles while delivering the superior customer experience our patrons have come to expect," continued Mykeloff. The Jaguar brand has received many accolades over the last year, including the Jaguar F-PACE being deemed World Car of the Year and Jaguar being designated as one of the fastest growing automotive brands in 2017. "We couldn't have received this brand at a better time. The New Generation of Jaguar has completely revolutionized the Jaguar line-up. With the additions of the Jaguar XE, award-winning F-PACE and the highly anticipated electric Jaguar I-PACE, we are poised for instant growth at Jaguar Land Rover Frisco and are confident the brand will continue its radical progression," stated Mykeloff. While sales at Jaguar Land Rover Frisco are expected to grow, management is also committed to its continued philanthropic and civic efforts that support the Frisco community.Jaguar Land Rover Frisco is an active contributor to Frisco and Collin County communities through partnerships with nonprofit organizations such as Frisco Family Services, ManeGait Therapeutic Horsemanship, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of North Texas, The Family Place, Frisco Association for the Arts, and many others dedicated to arts, family and education. As a proud member of the Frisco Chamber of Commerce, Jaguar Land Rover Frisco participates year-round in their hosted events. Jaguar Land Rover Frisco is a leader among Jaguar Land Rover North America earning the coveted Pinnacle Award for outstanding sales and service. The dealership will officially offer Jaguar vehicles on August 14, 2017. Jaguar Land Rover Frisco will undergo a major renovation including a state-of-the-art facility with 38 service bays, a 14-vehicle showroom, expanded customer services and is expected to be completed in mid-2018. Currently, Jaguar Land Rover Frisco employs 54 team members and will create additional jobs as the brand expands. Jaguar Land Rover Frisco is located at: 5935 Preston Road and store information can be found at JaguarFrisco.com About Snell Motor Companies Snell Motor Companies is comprised of Land Rover Austin, Land Rover Dallas, Land Rover Frisco, Jaguar Austin , Jaguar Dallas , Jaguar Frisco, Snell Select Pre-Owned and Snell Collision Centre. Family owned and operated, the Snell family began serving the Dallas community in 1973 with Snell Buick. They were one of the first and continue to be one of the largest Land Rover dealerships in North America. Between Land Rover Austin, Land Rover Dallas and Land Rover Frisco , they have earned more than 17 Pinnacle Awards and countless accolades for sales and a commitment to excellence in customer service.

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Snell Motor Companies Awarded Second Jaguar Franchise In North Texas - TheStreet.com

Photo: Elizabeth Conley, Staff

Erin Patchell checks out a new light fixture in her Heights home with her sister, Holly Fedora on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, in Houston. ( Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle )

Erin Patchell checks out a new light fixture in her Heights home with her sister, Holly Fedora on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, in Houston. ( Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle )

Erin Patchell holds up a new light fixture in her Heights home as she seeks advice from her sister, Holly Fedora on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, in Houston. ( Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle )

Erin Patchell holds up a new light fixture in her Heights home as she seeks advice from her sister, Holly Fedora on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, in Houston. ( Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle )

Mark VanDoren, owner of APD Design, has designed homes and additions int he Heights area for 25 years

Mark VanDoren, owner of APD Design, has designed homes and additions int he Heights area for 25 years

Mark VanDoren, owner of APD Design, has designed homes and additions int he Heights area for 25 years

Mark VanDoren, owner of APD Design, has designed homes and additions int he Heights area for 25 years

A home on Arlington listing that it has been historically renovated in the Historic Heights neighborhood on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, in Houston. ( Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle )

A home on Arlington listing that it has been historically renovated in the Historic Heights neighborhood on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, in Houston. ( Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle )

Home on Arlington and 11th Street that needed approval for renovation in the Historic Heights neighborhood on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, in Houston. ( Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle )

Home on Arlington and 11th Street that needed approval for renovation in the Historic Heights neighborhood on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, in Houston. ( Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle )

Erin Patchell holds up a new light fixture in her Heights home as she seeks advice from her sister, Holly Fedora on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, in Houston. ( Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle )

Erin Patchell holds up a new light fixture in her Heights home as she seeks advice from her sister, Holly Fedora on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, in Houston. ( Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle )

Erin Patchell holds up a new light fixture in her Heights home as she seeks advice from her sister, Holly Fedora on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, in Houston. ( Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle )

Erin Patchell holds up a new light fixture in her Heights home as she seeks advice from her sister, Holly Fedora on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, in Houston. ( Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle )

Erin Patchell holds up a new light fixture in her Heights home as she seeks advice from her sister.

Erin Patchell holds up a new light fixture in her Heights home as she seeks advice from her sister.

Part of the motivation for the city's set of design guidelines and approval process is to keep larger homes from overwhelming smaller ones with different aesthetic features in the historic Heights.

Part of the motivation for the city's set of design guidelines and approval process is to keep larger homes from overwhelming smaller ones with different aesthetic features in the historic Heights.

Proposed Heights guidelines would restrict renovation, new construction

Tina Nelkin's friends urged her to get a home security system when she moved to the Houston Heights 30 years ago. The neighborhood, she says, was notable for sagging front porches on tiny old wooden homes with broken refrigerators and furniture strewn in overgrown front yards.

"It was like going to grandma's house," Nelkin recalled Monday. "That's what people move to the Heights for."

It's since become a sought-after inner-city neighborhood where home prices average about a half-million dollars. Most of the original small homes, most of them built around the turn of the century, were buried beneath super-sized additions or demolished and replaced. The activity drew the attention of city planners who designated the region a historic district and waged a yearslong struggle to regulate how homeowners there could alter their historic homes.

"You can't do anything here without a permit," Nelkin said. "And we love that."

Now, for the first time, the city is preparing to publish a 225-page set of guidelines for building and modifying homes in the historic Heights, listing in explicit detail what can and cannot, should and should not be done. Until now, officials say, the process for permit approval has been subjective and reliant on substantial guesswork.

"If you are altering or building something new, these are the criteria you must meet to do that," said Margaret Wallace Brown, deputy director of the city planning department. "It will eliminate the guesswork that everybody has been operating under for the past several years."

A final public meeting will be held Sept. 28 at the United Way Building on Waugh, and the draft of the new guidelines then will be sent to City Council.

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If approved, the new guidelines would specify regulations on the size, height and footprint of additions to the historic buildings, as well as detailed stylistic guidance on everything from window frames and doors and siding, chimneys and porches.

Some disillusioned by efforts

The document represents a major change in Houston's uneven push for historic preservation. Since the passage of Houston's original preservation ordinance in 1995, planners have worked to strengthen the rules and provide means of enforcement to prevent alteration of particular buildings.

The Heights would become by far the largest historic district brought under neighborhood-specific design guidelines. While the city considers it a major achievement, some designers and builders fear the rules infringe on property rights and could stifle development.

"How can we have this kind of control over someone's property rights? This is Texas," said Mark VanDoren, owner of Heights-based APD Design. "You don't tell us what to do with our property in Texas."

VanDoren has watched the preservation effort unfold for more than 25 years, as he designed new and remodeled homes in the Heights. Initially he took part in a citizens' land-use committee to protest construction of tall townhomes rising amid the squat bungalows.

Yet he grew disillusioned by the preservation effort by what he saw as politics and power play.

"Things have gotten way out of hand," he said. "They're going to make it more and more restrictive."

Any modifications to historic structures in the historic district currently require city approval and a "certificate of appropriateness."

Erin Patchell has confronted some of those restrictions. Two years ago, she and her husband bought a lot with two structures on it at 12th and Arlington. They drew up plans to adjoin the two structures, but the city historical commission denied them. The commission didn't like their use of brick siding, the planned height of the addition and the shape of the roof line, Patchell said. Months later, their amended plan was approved, but only after a tie-breaker vote.

"While I support historic preservation, I will never go through this process again," she said. "And this is before the new guidelines."

Her plan would not be approved under the proposed new guidelines, she said. She worried that the burdensome restrictions would discourage anyone from buying historic properties, leaving them to decay.

'Borderline insane'

Such experiences aren't particularly rare. Rob Hellyer, presidents of Heights-based Premier Remodeling and a member of the city historical commission, said he's seen homeowners brought to tears at commission meetings, frustrated by the slow and seemingly fickle process for design approval.

He said that "absolutely" the guidelines are needed.

"There just aren't real clear guidelines right now. A lot of it is based on subjective judgment," he said.

City approval in the district is required for replacing doors, windows, siding or any historical materials, adding new rooms, carports or awnings and any new construction. The new rules specify size and height restrictions for any add-ons.

That's a point that VanDoren fears could hurt development in the area, making additions not worth the investment. In one recent project, he said, a homeowner wanted a 1,000-square-foot addition to a $459,000 house. Restrictions allowed him to increase the size by only 40 percent to the home footprint. He bid that work out for $248,000, far more than the value the addition would add to the house.

So instead, VanDoren fast-tracked a much larger second-story addition, knowing it would be prohibited by the time the new guidelines passed.

Under the guidelines, he fears that additions will become cost-prohibitive for the smaller bungalows, which will be left to decay beside $1.5 million homes.

"What the city is doing is borderline insane," he said.

The Houston Heights Association said it had no opinion on the design guidelines.

'You have to protect it'

For others, the guidelines represent progress in Houston, which has a notoriously poor record on preservation. This city adopted its first preservation 32 years after Los Angeles did so, said David Bush, acting executive director of Preservation Houston.

He said the new Heights guidelines bring Houston one step closer to the standard practices in big U.S. cities.

He called the restrictions necessary to maintain a unique character, preventing historic neighborhoods from becoming strip malls.

"You can always build new," he said. "You can't build old. You have to protect it."

The Heights posed a particular challenge in crafting cohesive design guidelines, though, because the neighborhood grew in several phases, with large homes for wealthy people in the early days, followed by smaller bungalows as the area grew less affluent.

The city plans next to develop similar development documents for seven more historic districts: Woodland Heights, updates to the Old Sixth Ward, Norhill, Market Square, Freeland and Glennbrook Valley.

"You shouldn't just take a special place and turn it into Anywhere, USA," Nori Minster, who owns a home on Harvard Street, said. "Sometimes I worry."

Correction: This article has been update to note David Bush's title with Preservation Houston is acting executive director.

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Proposed Heights guidelines would restrict renovation, new construction - Houston Chronicle

Walking the halls of Poquoson Middle School was a trip down memory lane for many of the people who toured the building after a joint meeting between the School Board and City Council Tuesday night.

They had walked these halls as preteens or teenagers some when the building was still the high school.

City Attorney D. Wayne Moore pointed out the old band room and a space under the current music room risers that once contained locker room showers. He drew laughs when he said he drove the school bus in high school, making a handsome wage for a teenager in the late 1950s.

Despite the light feel around the tour, its subject was a pending decision that Mayor Gene Hunt said would shape the citys education for a generation. It might be the most important work that we as School Board members have ever accomplished on our term, added School Board Chair Steven Kast.

At Tuesdays meeting, the council and the board reopened discussions of school consolidation, going over the enrollment decline the schools have faced for years, the shrinking of state funding and some infrastructure challenges in the school buildings.

Hunt implored the council and the board to approach the consolidation discussions with an open mind. He said the primary driver of any decision should be doing whats best for students, adding that any money saved by consolidating would stay in the schools.

Since 2006, Poquoson school enrollment has dropped by 522 students. The enrollment in fall 2016 was 2,080, leaving the school 649 students short of its functional capacity. Superintendent Jennifer Parish noted that the enrollment and capacity gap is distributed across the citys four schools.

She also went over declining state funding and the city having to meet the schools funding gaps, increasing its contribution year to year. Kast said the state does not provide money for capital projects, leaving the burden of construction on the city.

In 2012, a consolidation committee appointed by the School Board decided against closing any of the citys four schools but said the city and schools should revisit the discussion in 2016 if enrollment decline continued. The committee said Poquoson Primary School made the most sense to close because it could be used for other purposes for some financial gain and made for the easiest instructional transition.

Parish outlined a 2012 facility study by school staff and a contractor that offered several possibilities for the middle school, ranging from fixing it up to demolishing it and building a new one.

The contractor listed the architectural and mechanical work the building needed. The contractor found the school had undergone 11 phases of work, leading to some disjointed operating systems, like running about a dozen different HVAC systems. The contractor said despite renovations and additions, much of the building was out of date, adding that the schools out-of-date systems were grandfathered due to age and were not up to current code.

Steve Pappas, the schools executive operations director, led the tour of the middle school, highlighting signs of age and patchwork repairs.

(Aileen Devlin/Daily Press) /

School Board, City Council and school division and city staff members look over an out dated music room during a tour of Poquoson Middle School on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017. Poquoson Middle is the oldest school in the city and is being considered for closing the school because of declining enrollment, down by about 500 in 10 year.

School Board, City Council and school division and city staff members look over an out dated music room during a tour of Poquoson Middle School on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017. Poquoson Middle is the oldest school in the city and is being considered for closing the school because of declining enrollment, down by about 500 in 10 year. ((Aileen Devlin/Daily Press) /)

In the auditorium, he stood by a pillar that was warped from moisture with paint bearing scars of water damage. He took the group upstairs to one of the biggest rooms in the school what Moore said was the old band room and said the room only had two electric outlets. Lack of connectivity in some places inhibits the use of new technology in classes, Parish said.

Down the hall, Pappas pointed out a window to the other second floor across the roof the two upstairs wings arent connected, but were different additions made over the years. And even though there are two second floors, the building has no elevators.

In one utility room of pipes and electrical panels, Pappas showed a line about four cinder blocks tall the high water mark from Hurricane Isabel. Some electrical panels in the room were lower than the water line. In an outdoor utility room, Pappas invited the group to look up at a gash in the roof through which you could clearly see the sky.

He pointed out a computer lab as one of the lowest rooms in building. He said they stack all the equipment any time a big storm is expected. The room was also cooled by a window air conditioning unit, a sign of the disparate HVAC systems.

The shop class area showed a different sort of HVAC a piece of machinery hanging from the ceiling that looked like some antique car part. Pappas said hot water runs through it, and a fan blows out the heated air.

Toward the end of the tour, as if on cue, a leak sprung as Pappas passed through a first-floor doorway.

Kast said the School Board hopes to make a consolidation recommendation to the City Council in November. Hunt said he hopes the council can make a final decision in December.

Reyes can be reached by phone at 757-247-4692. Follow him on Twitter @jdauzreyes.

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Will Poquoson's leaky middle school fall to consolidation - Daily Press