‘I really did want to build something beautiful there’
That unfinished 60,000-square-foot mansion in Manvel won’t house veterans after all, after the project hit zoning roadblocks
Remember that 60,000square-foot mansion in Manvel, near Pearland?
Construction started in 2001, according to property records, and the unfinished space could have held up to 55 bedrooms and at least 30 bathrooms. It was listed for $3.6 million at one point, but it never sold.
Earlier this year, the owner agreed to partner with a U.S. Navy veteran who wanted to turn the mansion into a residential facility for at-risk military veterans.
“I want to reach them before they have to lose everything and become a homeless vet,” said the eight-year Navy veteran, Christa Mode, 40. “I want to reach them before they ever consider suicide as an option.”
The U.S. Defense Department closely tracks suicides by active and former service members, and it has started many nationwide programs aimed at preventing such deaths. The department counted more than 475 suicides in 2015 just among active-duty and reserve service members. While veterans made up 8.5 percent of all U.S. adults, they accounted for 18 percent of adult suicides.
Mode moved to Texas this January and laid plans for The Bailey House, named after the WWII veteran in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which Mode encourages people to watch from a suicide-prevention perspective.
That dream ran into a roadblock last month when the city of Manvel declined to grant the necessary zoning permits.
“I really did want to build something beautiful there … but it’s OK,” Mode told the Houston Chronicle.
Mode and the property owner, Houston real estate investor
Jim Youngblood, figured out a Plan B. Youngblood will vacate his current office building near the Texas Medical Center at 4702 Old Spanish Trail. He’ll move his offices to the Manvel mansion, at 2354 County Road 59, and open retail space there
as well.
Mode said she will open a drop-in peer-support facility at the Old Spanish Trail building. Youngblood said the location is better-suited to the purpose — it’s just down the road from the Veterans Affairs hospital complex and accessible by bus routes.
“I will have living space available, but for the most part it’s going to be peer-to-peer mentorship,” Mode said. She wants to offer a variety of programs — some Christian, some non-religious, some aimed at survivors of sexual trauma.
“Rape happens in the military more than anybody cares to admit,” she added.
Mode said she was inspired to support other veterans partly because of her own experience serving as a Navy Seabee equipment operator in both Iraq and Afghanistan, working in convoys targeted by roadside bombs, also known as improvised explosive devices.
“I had a few bad days, and they haunt me,” she said. “I experienced IEDs. I had the unfortunate experience of watching a very young Marine die right in front of me.”
After leaving the military in December 2014, Mode said she found a new purpose after going through the faith-based Branches of Valor program. Now she wants to use her experience to help other veterans.
She recently founded a nonprofit, the Bailey Organization, and organizes volunteers and interested parties through a Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pg/TheBaileyHouseVet Facility.
Youngblood said he hopes to move his offices into the Manvel mansion early next year, after six to nine months of work. He also hopes to attract other businesses or retail stores to occupy part of the massive house. Then, the 7,700-square-foot building on OST would be ready for The Bailey House.