Beyonce's mom's Galveston beach house being called 'nuisance'
GALVESTON, Texas - Beyoncé's mom, Tina Knowles, is said to be the owner of a beach house in Galveston, which neighbors say is now a nuisance. Why? We'll get to that.
The superstar's mom is from Galveston Island and Galveston County Appraisal District lists Beyoncé's mom as an owner of the beach house with a market value of $1.4 million, but it was hit hard by Hurricane Ike nearly 16 years ago.
Since then, the storm-ravaged residence went from beachfront to being located smack-dab on the beach, and I'm told it's been patched up. Still, Pirates Beach residents and the City of Galveston say the house is continuing to deteriorate.
"All the front row houses that were originally put in the development are all gone except for this one," says Pirate's Beach Resident Richard D'Antoni, who's lived here since 1983.
SUGGESTED: FEMA flood insurance: Comparing the pros and cons of flood insurance options
"The home has been an issue for a long time, and it's been in disrepair since Hurricane Ike. The city is moving forward with a demolition order," explains Galveston City Council member Marie Robb, who's also a resident in the neighborhood.
"On the other side there's pilings you can actually see through. The slab has fallen. It's fallen worse just from last week's storm," says Pirates Beach Resident James Munoz.
"I mean obviously, it's a little bit of an eyesore. Depending upon your perspective, a lot of an eyesore," adds D'Antoni.
"It is a public safety and health issue. We're afraid it just may fall into the sea," says Robb.
"Right now, tide is low so you're not going to see the worst of it but normally the tide comes up high enough where the bottom of the house is covered," Munoz adds.
Do residents fear their homes will someday be in the same shape?
"Yes, but we've been here since '83, and we've been blessed to be here, and we've gotten good family time out of it," D'Antoni explains and Munoz adds, "It's sad, but we all know it can happen in the future. That's a risk you take."
So, what can homeowners do once their beachfront property is actually in the water?
"If it's a state of emergency such as Hurricane Ike, in this particular case they were offered a buyout. The buyout, I believe, was somewhere around $450,000, but they chose not to take it," says Robb.
Before this lingered and dragged on this long, residents thought it was cool to have Beyoncé's mom as a neighbor. "Oh of course, yes, yes. I mean who wouldn't? It's Beyoncé. I mean come on," Munoz smiles. He says he saw the recent online exchange between Charles Barkley, saying not-so-nice things about Galveston and Knowles defending the island where she's from.
"Yeah, I saw Tina's response, and we love her for that response because we love Galveston, but Barkley probably wouldn't have any nice words to say about the condition of this house," says Munoz.
"I'm concerned at least the deck, or a good portion of the house could collapse, which is why we're moving forward with the demolition...considering it's 2024 and Hurricane Ike was in 2008, I'd say we've given them more than ample time to respond," Robb explains and the Galveston City Councilmember says Knowles is still being offered $150,000 by the state of Texas General Land Office to move the property if she chooses.
However, the demolition order could come as soon as 60 days from now, so she has a limited amount of time to put plans in place to move the house.
I spoke with a publicist for Tina Knowles yesterday and this morning, and she says Knowles may be traveling because she hasn't been able to reach her for comment.