Here’s a little handy graphic from Mayor Parker’s Metro transition task force, identifying what the team considers “major unresolved design issues” in the planned East End, Southeast, University, and Uptown light-rail lines. Attempts to resolve all 6 of them appear to be “bogged down” at the Metro staff level, according to the task force committee. Each problem might delay construction or increase cost, and each has already been “actively discussed” for at least a year.
What are they?
- the Downtown alignments of the East End Line and Southeast Line on Capital and Rusk streets as they cross the Main Street Line;
- how the East End and Southeast Lines and car traffic will flow around the proposed Dynamo Stadium site in East Downtown;
- how grade separation will work with a freight-rail crossing on the East End Line on Harrisburg near Hughes St.;
- details of the Southeast and University Lines near the University of Houston along Scott St.;
- how the University Line will cross and interact with Main Street Line at the Wheeler station in Midtown; and
- the design of the Uptown Line north of San Felipe, along the 610 West Loop.
Oh, and then there’s this little bit about finding the money to build it all:
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Read more about: Light-Rail, Metro, Metro Rail, Proposed Developments, Public Transportation
“I wish someone would get all of the presidents back together! They are very sad now. A kind donor, say perhaps the magnanimous Landed Gent who always boasts of his splendor here on Swamplot, should cut a deal for the Wilshire Village property and foster the development of a Presidential Park.
I’m sure it’s like a buy 20 get one free sort of deal, so maybe we could get that nifty telephone too.” [Bobby Hadley, commenting on Pearland Heads Cut Off: The WaterLight District’s Giant Presidential Bust]
Read more about: 77098, 77583, Art, Cancellations and Delays, Comments, Lancaster Place, Parks, Pearland, Public Art
March 19, 2010 – 12:24 pm
Yes, there’s a straight shot from that outdoor fireplace in the back of this house all the way to a walled-off courtyard in the front. And it’s all lined up for you from the back patio: Kitchen, Dining Area, Living Room, and front yard beyond. If you took down that front wall you’d have a better view — past a row of oaks and some bushes — of the Rice Stadium parking lot across the street. The address is 2239 University Blvd. in Southgate.
The home was designed by Strasser Ragni Architecture’s Erick Ragni and his wife, Emily Sing. It’s theirs.
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Read more about: 77030, Home Design, Houston Architects, Interiors, Modern Design, Southgate
March 19, 2010 – 10:51 am
Metro’s lame-duck board gave its staff a half-million-dollar go-ahead yesterday to figure alignments, hold public meetings, and begin environmental studies on an 8.2-mile commuter rail line along U.S. 90A. The hunt for federal funding comes next: “It was the second development this month in efforts to bring commuter rail to the Houston region. The Gulf Coast Rail District recently hired a Houston engineering firm to study a line along U.S. 290 to Hempstead. A key advantage of Metro’s [Fort Bend] plan, [Chairman David] Wolff said, is that it would use trains Metro already owns on tracks that would parallel Union Pacific freight tracks in the same corridor, tying into the existing Main Street light rail line to create a seamless experience for passengers. The commuter line would begin at Fannin South, the southern end of the Main Street line, and continue to the Fort Bend County Line at Beltway 8.” [Houston Chronicle]
Read more about: Commuter Rail, Fort Bend County, Light-Rail, Metro Rail, Proposed Developments, Public Transportation
Antique buildings go down in today’s report. And here they are:
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Read more about: Daily Demolition Report, Demolitions
March 18, 2010 – 11:44 pm
So who gets a pair of tickets to the Rice Design Alliance’s annual home tour this weekend? Why, the winner of this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game, of course! And that would be the player our judges deemed “close enough” for the win: Congratulations, JKL! You’re going to . . . Southgate!
A very close second place goes to Brian, and an honorable mention to movocelot, who just ended up on the wrong side of I-45.
How far off were you?
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Read more about: 77090, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Ponderosa Forest
Yeah, there are lots of very large homes in Houston that kinda look like some drug lord’s mansion. But how can you find one that’s truly authentic? Here’s one way: Look for a property that’s been put on the market by actual U.S. marshals!
Like this 5-bedroom, 4-bath pinkish-brownish stucco crib at 17907 Elk Valley Circle in Ponderosa Trails. It sits on a 2.54-acre lot on a quiet cul-de-sac just south of Cypress Creek near Kuykendahl, and comes complete with the requisite pool and patio, hot tub, double-height porte-cochere, and 4-car garage.
Sure, it sorta looks like it might be the home of a drug kingpin, but so do a lot of other big homes in town built since, say, 2000. What’s this one’s pedigree?
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Read more about: 77090, Auctions, Crime, Foreclosures, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Ponderosa Trails
“wow. in 2007 lenders doing 66% debt on raw land. raw land that looks flood prone. wow.” [JPSivco, commenting on Pearland Heads Cut Off: The WaterLight District’s Giant Presidential Bust]
Read more about: 77583, Comments, Financing, Flooding, Pearland
How best to describe this unique home? We’ll give it a stab: Elegant, modern, cathedral-like little 6-bedroom, 8-1/2-bath getaway on the right bank of the sometime-fiery San Jacinto River in Highlands. Interior rock waterfall at entry, park-like 2.3-acre setting bounded by small creek. Floor-to-ceiling windows bring in plenty of light and refined air. Pink Kitchen with circular island. Just Minutes north of the Lynchburg Ferry. Built in 1972.
And the price for all this fabulousness?
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Read more about: 77562, Highlands, Homes for Sale, Interiors, San Jacinto River
March 18, 2010 – 12:50 pm
The property intended to be home to the Waterlights District — the proposed mixed-use shopping and eating extravaganzorama in Pearland — has been posted for foreclosure by its main creditor, Amegy Bank. The 1.9 million-sq.-ft. development was to feature condos, luxury apartments, office buildings, retail space, restaurants, 2 hotels, a conference facility, a “water wall,” and a Venice-like “Grand Canal.”
The site, off the Shadow Creek Pkwy. exit on the west side of Hwy. 288, has been marked for more than 2 years now by a curious semicircle of David Adickes sculptures, a preview of the development’s Presidential Park and Gardens. That park was to feature giant white busts of all 38 U.S. Presidents. But unlike Adickes other presidential suite, I-45’s Mount Rush Hour just north of Downtown Houston — in which each of the sculptor’s busts rests on its own podium — in the Waterlights grouping the 7 Presidents moved to the site appear from the freeway to be buried in the earth up to their chests, somehow managing to keep their heads above the often-times-soggy land around them. Yes, it was the perfect marker for a freeway-side development buried in debt and treading quicksand just to keep itself afloat:
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Read more about: 77583, Art, Cancellations and Delays, Financing, Foreclosures, Mixed Use, Parks, Pearland, Proposed Developments, Public Art, Sculpture
March 18, 2010 – 10:49 am
Down with buildings! Up with . . . uh, people!
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Read more about: Daily Demolition Report, Demolitions
Never mind that wine bars the Wine Bucket, the Corkscrew, and the Tasting Room in Midtown have all been poured down the drain since January. Krutar Patel says he’s planning to open his brand new wine bar, Winetopia, this May. He’s already added his placard to the giant brick sign in front of the Fairmont on San Felipe at 6363 San Felipe.
The midrise apartment complex with a retail center on its ground level is already home to a martial-arts studio and a Subway. Winetopia will sandwich itself between the two businesses. Patrons will be able to stumble upstairs to their apartments or, if necessary, to the 24-hour St. Luke’s Community Emergency Center in the same center, conveniently located just yards away.
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Read more about: 77057, Briargrove, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Retail, Strip Centers
Some smart local organizations and businesses, that’s who. This week we add to the list:
- The Rice Design Alliance, presenting the organization’s 34th annual Home Tour, “Southgate: An Urban Oasis,” featuring 8 recent and not-so-recent homes planted just south of Rice University. The tour is this Saturday and Sunday, March 20 and 21!
Who else?
Thank you, continuing advertisers, for your continuing support!
If you’d like to support Swamplot — and reach Swamplot’s growing audience of Houston real estate and design fans — have a little chat with our advertising folks. (You can find a rate sheet here [PDF].)
Read more about: Notices
Swamplot makes a cameo appearance in a feature about Houston blogs published this week, subtitled “Ten Local Sites That Rock Our World,” by Cathy Matusow: “Swamplot has been lovingly tapping into Houston’s ridiculousness since 2007.” Thanks — and thanks to all you tipsters who’ve been doing so much of the tapping! [Houston Press]
Read more about: Swamplot
Comment of the Day: Inner Loop Reunion of the Ex-Presidents’ Heads
“I wish someone would get all of the presidents back together! They are very sad now. A kind donor, say perhaps the magnanimous Landed Gent who always boasts of his splendor here on Swamplot, should cut a deal for the Wilshire Village property and foster the development of a Presidential Park.
I’m sure it’s like a buy 20 get one free sort of deal, so maybe we could get that nifty telephone too.” [Bobby Hadley, commenting on Pearland Heads Cut Off: The WaterLight District’s Giant Presidential Bust]