Fire-damaged apartment units remain exposed on both sides of a building at Westhollow Place Apartments in West Houston. Neighbors near the complex in the 13700 block of Richmond Avenue at Panagard Drive are asking the city to condemn the structure, saying the visible damage could endanger people who live nearby or pass the property, including children who wait at a nearby school bus stop.
John Rouse, who lives in the area, described the condition as “a pretty sketchy situation” in comments to ABC13 Houston. The station reported that Rouse showed images of Alief ISD students leaving a school bus near the damaged units along Richmond Avenue. Some residents continue to pay for undamaged units in the complex while the burned sections remain visible nearby.
A History of Fires at the Same Complex
Westhollow Place has sustained at least two reported fires. A three-alarm blaze on March 3, 2018, damaged as many as nine units and displaced seven families, according to KHOU 11. The displaced residents received emergency housing assistance from the Red Cross.
A two-alarm fire on October 21, 2024, injured two Houston firefighters during emergency search operations. As Hoodline reported in its account of the firefighter injuries, one firefighter fell through a floor and another was hurt when a balcony collapsed. Apartment Finder lists Westhollow Place as a two-story, 36-unit complex built in 1981 in West Houston's Eldridge/West Oaks neighborhood, near Highway 6 and George Bush Park.
Bus-stop safety near the damaged building
Alief ISD's school-bus safety guidance says students should remain outside the bus's 15-foot danger zone when the bus is in motion. That guidance is a consideration for students waiting or walking near the property, although it does not specifically assess the damaged building.
City Investigating Code Violations
The Houston Public Works Department, which oversees the city's building-code enforcement, is reviewing whether Westhollow Place has code violations, according to the City of Houston. Rouse has asked the city to condemn the building, while some neighbors have raised concerns that the damaged areas could attract crime. HPD said recent calls at the property involved current tenants, rather than identifying a pattern tied to the vacant units.
If the city determines that the property qualifies as a dangerous structure, action would proceed through Houston's nuisance-abatement process. Under Department of Neighborhoods rules, the city can hold administrative hearings and, if an owner does not repair or secure a dangerous property after warnings, arrange emergency securing or demolition and place a legal lien on the property. The process has faced a citywide backlog: Houston City Council approved $30 million in stormwater funds in February for demolishing dangerous structures, while Houston Public Works had 2,849 dangerous-building cases in various enforcement stages, according to KHOU 11's reporting.
Management Points to Ongoing Litigation
The building's management company told ABC13 that it is trying to repair the damaged units but that work is on hold because of a lawsuit with a construction company. ABC13 said it was seeking a copy of the lawsuit. Texas Property Code §§ 92.052 and 92.056 generally require landlords to address conditions that materially affect an ordinary tenant's physical health or safety after proper written notice, according to the Texas State Law Library. Section 92.055 separately allows a landlord to close a damaged rental unit instead of repairing it, but bars reoccupancy or reconnection of separate utility meters for six months after tenants move out.
The scale of the problem extends beyond Westhollow Place. Hoodline previously reported that an August 2025 fire in northwest Houston damaged 100 units and displaced more than 300 residents, illustrating the demands large apartment fires can place on emergency services and Red Cross shelter resources. At Westhollow Place, residents say they want the visible damage addressed before it becomes a larger hazard for people living near or passing the property.
