In 2005, I bought a vacant lot on the courthouse steps for back taxes. It was part of the old Rosedale Streetcar Pavilion which eventually became Gruenwald's Pavilion. I was planning to build a house to replace the one that burned down. A few years later, I bought the house next door which was built in 1910 using some of the wood from the old pavilion. After my mom passed, my family has been divesting our property on Eagle Mountain Lake. The tax value on the vacant lot has grown substantially and I decided to put a rental house on it so it was at least paying the tax burden. I had a house designed that reflects the style of the houses in the neighborhood.
When the pavilion closed, the property was developed as rental properties. After Mr. Gruenwald passed, his wife and son started selling the houses off by metes and bounds descriptions, never having a proper subdivision plat. The city is requiring me to submit a plat before I can get a building permit. I am going to offer to include my neighbors who are also unplatted. It will be a low cost thing for me because I am a registered professional land surveyor and already paid for an exhaustive survey of the block to determine my boundaries. One of the matching houses at 1105 Pavillion was demolished because of substandard conditions and the owner has declared the intent to rebuild. They will also need a plat to get the building permit.
There is development pressure on the neighborhood and we are located in the Downtown Design District. The townhome(?) development at 1101 Poindexter seems to foreshadow the future of the neighborhood as land values go up along with demand for new housing in proximity to downtown and Panther Island. I am beginning to think that a better use of the property would be Townhomes or Manor House. And if I do that, I would probably demolish my existing house at 1017 Pavillion to have more space. Perhaps use the 1928 streetcar as a poolhouse? The two lots are just over 217 feet deep and 97 feet wide at the front and 91 at the back.
So my idea for this post is to have a charrette to put the forum's collective knowledge together to see what might be possible. I can go up to three stories and probably 4 to 6 units. I am thinking to include 2 smaller units thatt would serve as an affordable option.
I will share some ideas over the coming days and look forward to feedback.