Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.life From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Bushes' lot: No room for real estate Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 15:23:03 EST Message-ID: \SE E;LIFE \HD Bushes' lot: No room for real estate \BY Elisabeth Hickey \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES In April 1985, George Bush signed an an affidavit promising to build his retirement home at 9 W. Oak Lane South. The 33-foot-wide grassy plot of land he and Barbara own in West Houston, valued at about $80,000, is shoehorned between two elegant homes on a quiet street in their old Tanglewood neighborhood. It is about the size of two tennis courts. After the Bushes agreed to settle there eventually, Texas allowed Mr. Bush to call the state home, while he claimed Suite 271 at the Houstonian Hotel as his official voting residence and spent his vacations in Maine. Those who saw the lot could hardly believe the Bushes were serious about building their dream house on this sliver of land. There is room for a trailer, perhaps, maybe even a Winnebago, but not a horseshoe pit, doghouse for Millie or a wide lawn for grandchildren. So it came as no surprise when Mrs. Bush flew down to Houston last week to start house hunting. She was expected to keep looking until last night , then return to show Hillary Clinton around the White House today. Longtime Bush friend and GOP pundit Jack Steel, who has been narrowing down the number of prospective homes for the Bushes to tour, tells the Associated Press they are looking for something nice but unassuming. "They're not looking for a mansion . . . because it's very doubtful the whole family will ever be there at one time," he says. No columned fortress in River Oaks, a tony Houston enclave, for the down-to-earth Bushes. But perhaps a $715,000 Tanglewood home, with a swimming pool, four bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms, might suit them. It features an open floor plan that real estate agent John Daugherty says "provides a great flow for entertaining" and sits on a quiet cul-de-sac. The Bushes owned a house in Tanglewood until 1981, when Mr. Bush became vice president. He represented the neighborhood as a congressman in the 1960s and still attends nearby St. Martin's Episcopal Church. Only minutes from downtown Houston, the neighborhood has about 1,800 rambling ranch homes and Tudor mansions on large, green lots with tall oak trees. "He's a member of our church over here so I think he would want to be within a reasonable distance from there," longtime Tanglewood resident Carl Illig, 83, tells the Associated Press. "We're glad to have him." "It's a very low-key, unassuming neighborhood. A lot of CEOs and top management officials would live there," Mr. Daugherty says. He says there are 174 properties for sale in Tanglewood, ranging in price from about $400,000 to more than $1 million. Houston is the nation's largest city without zoning, but the Tanglewood subdivision, begun in 1948, has been protected from commercial encroachment by stringent deed restrictions. There are several new homes under construction on Tanglewood lots, Mr. Daugherty says. Real estate agent Evelyn Howell says the Bushes are considering existing as well as new construction. "They have looked some on past trips to Houston," says Ms. Howell, who specializes in upscale properties and is working with Mr. Steel. "But it's not like someone coming into a perfectly new area. They have lived here and their families have been here and their friends are here." No word yet on what will happen to 9 W. Oak Lane South. Meanwhile, journalists are descending on Summerland, a California seaside community of 2,000 just south of Santa Barbara, after word came that Hollywood friends of President-elect Bill Clinton's had acquired a beachfront estate that he could use as a Western retreat. "I hope we won't have to dress up," 35-year resident Doris McCloskey, 63, told AP as she drove along the town's main thoroughfare, which was jammed with news vans and reporters. A quarter-mile away, media helicopters hovered over the $4 million-plus estate and Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies chased photographers away from bushes and the compound's imposing wooden gate. Harry Thomason and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, producers of TV's "Designing Women" and "Evening Shade," a comedy about life in an Arkansas community, acquired the two-story home for use by the Clintons. Jane Russell, Robert Mitchum, Michael Douglas, Kevin Costner and Clinton White House transition director Warren Christopher live nearby. Former President Reagan's 680-acre ranch sits on a mountain 20 miles up the coast. "We have tons of celebrities here. It's just another famous person to take care of," Deputy Darrin Stern says. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM