Naked City

Some residents of the campus-area Heritage neighborhood are "heartbroken" by a developer's plans to demolish four cottages on Washington Square to make way for a three-story apartment complex with gated-community-esque retaining wall. According to concerned Heritage resident Lindsey Crow, the cottages on the short street (north of 30th, parallel to Guadalupe) were built in the Thirties by UT's first athletic director, L. Theo Bellmont. The developers -- former Texas Dept. of Housing and Community Affairs Director Larry Paul Manley and his family -- face no zoning issues and can proceed with their project unhindered.

Though as a historic neighborhood Heritage is fairly intact, according to Mark Walters of the city's Neighborhood Planning and Zoning Dept., the area includes several lots that years ago were speculatively zoned multifamily -- including those the Manleys plan to develop. The city expects that the area's neighborhood plan will rezone similar MF properties to single-family -- but that won't happen until late summer or fall, too late to save the cottages.

"The developers are moving in on us like lions on a wounded wildebeest," says Crow, adding that the Manleys have inquired about buying another property adjacent to their planned development. Crow says Manley's daughter and son recently met with the neighborhood steering committee to discuss the project, which will include "high end" one-bedroom apartments ranging from 1,400 to 2,500 square feet. "Our neighborhood doesn't want to end up like poor West Campus" immediately south, Crow said. The Manleys couldn't be reached for comment.