Rise and Shine, Park Cities (8-2-11)

1. One of the oldest houses in the Park Cities, 4704 St. John’s Drive, came down into a pile of 100-year-old boards and bricks Monday. Word on the street is that the owner of the property, who also owns 4700 St. John’s, plans to make a bigger yard. A bigger, $2.5 million yard.

2.  Those hoping to catch a meal at Trece may have to wait a while. Seems like owner Robert Colombo decided to shut the restaurant down for August, and maybe permanently.

“Our lease is up in October or November, they’re going to bulldoze that building,” he said, according to Teresa Gubbins over at Pegasus News. “The plan is to bulldoze Little Katana and Sur La Table and build a Post/Gables type residential building — bad for Trece but good for [sibling restaurant] Villa-O.”

So maybe Little Katana will be gone, too? Thoughts?

3. Former Scots phenom Clayton Kershaw went for his 13th win of the season last night against division rival San Diego. If Kershaw won (note to self: check in morning and see if Kershaw won) He won!  His 13th victory of the season matches a career high, and it’s only August 2.

Sports editor Chuck Cox spoke to Kershaw while he was on vacation in San Francisco last week (Chuck’s vacations always seems to be of the working/sports variety); check out the story in Friday’s Park Cities People.

By Bradford Pearson Aug. 2, 2011 | 6:00 am | 11 Comments | Comments RSS
11 comments to "Rise and Shine, Park Cities (8-2-11)"
  1. Gringo Bling @ August 2, 2011 at 2:40 pm
    Couldn’t care less about Trece- that place was incredibly average. But Little Katana, is one of our go-to spots for sushi.

  2. Patsy Ann @ August 2, 2011 at 5:11 pm
    I want to out the owner of this double lot on St. John’s. His name is David F. Kozel, and he is listed on DCAD as living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His money appears to come from corporate oil and gas which has enabled him to destroy a total of 2 older homes to create a large space for his ________ and a monument to his _________.

    FYI: His new home at the corner is listed as the Consulate General of Monaco. Are there perks with that appointment?

    Another FYI: It’s hard for me to find something nice to say about this kind of guy, when it’s 110 degrees outside. My blood has been boiling all day.

  3. Neal @ August 2, 2011 at 6:12 pm
    Is 4700 St. Johns that hideous “Venetian” “palazzo” that looks like it’s clad in plasticy synthetic marble? Maybe it will get better once they put in all the landscaping.

    4704 – the one that’s being torn down – was the house that had the “Consulate General of Monaco” sign out front for so many years.

  4. Anon @ August 2, 2011 at 9:51 pm
    The former owners of 4700 St. Johns lived there at least 30-40 years and were honorary consulates to Monaco. Not the new owners.

  5. Anon @ August 2, 2011 at 9:54 pm
    Here’s a link to pics of 4704 – the one just knocked down: http://bfecard.com/4704-St-Johns.html

  6. Blair @ August 3, 2011 at 8:17 am
    Very sad. We put a contract in on 4704 but couldn’t compete with no inspection period.

  7. anon @ August 3, 2011 at 8:21 am
    @Patsy Ann. What about the mansion at Crescent and Byron? A beautiful 1915-ish home that had been recently restored was demolished to build a fortress that no one seems to live in. I’ve heard the owner prefers his penthouse. Well, I preferred the original house. The demolition was pointless if the new house wasn’t even meant to be a home.

  8. Patsy Ann @ August 3, 2011 at 2:09 pm
    Anon, I don’t know anything about that house. At first I thought you might be thinking of the Romanesque pile on the south east quadrant of Crescent and Cowper, but that’s not a recent teardown–the old home was demolished around 2000 by Donald Huffines, a residential developer with Huffines Communities. I’ll have to do a drive-by for the Byron corner. Unfortunately, I rarely have an excuse to be in that neck of the woods. Most of my friends and relatives live outside the bubble.

    When I brought up that consulate thing, I was just repeating what Google maps indicated.

  9. Rico @ August 3, 2011 at 2:46 pm
    Patsy Ann,

    I find your post incredibly offensive. I don’t know the owner of 4700 St. Johns and suspect you don’t either. I also suspect that you don’t have any credible basis for your opinion of his reasons for building a big opulent house. Who cares where his money came from? Of what possible relevance is that?

    You don’t like the owner’s style? Fine. You’re entitled to your opinion. You don’t like the fact that he tore down a roughly 100 year old home that he owned, even though he was entirely within his right to do so? Fine. Outing him in a blog for doing what he did (again, completely within the law) when the writer of the original post chose not to and then casting baseless personal aspersions? Despicable.

    And Mr. Pearson, allowing Patsy Ann’s comment to remain up is a very poor reflection on PCP.

  10. Bradford Pearson @ August 3, 2011 at 2:52 pm
    Rico-

    We chose not to post the owner’s name originally because we could not get him on the phone, but this information is readily available online, as Patsy Ann found.

    Thanks for reading.

  11. Patsy Ann @ August 3, 2011 at 3:41 pm
    Sheeze, Rico, and I thought I was the one in a bad mood when I wrote my comment.

    Peace and love, Patsy Ann

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