Allyn West

05/30/13 11:30am

Skanska’s New Downtown Office Tower

Once the old 18-story Houston Club Building here at 811 Rusk is out of the way, and someone or something agrees to set up shop inside, this is the Gensler-designed office tower Skanska has said it will begin building Downtown. Tentatively named the Capitol Tower — since the main entrance will be moved from Rusk, on the south side of the block, to Capitol — the 700,000-sq.-ft., 34-story building (and a parking garage, too) will go along with a cavernous lobby designed to connect the recently vacated tunnels to the streets above.

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77002, Downtown, Highrises, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments

Boulevard Oaks

05/29/13 5:10pm

Demo Crews Take a Fence, Ashby Highrise Neighbors Take Offense

by Allyn West

50 Comments

“Nice!” says homeowner Scott Reamer in this video he shot today from his backyard, just 5 ft. away from the Ashby Highrise site, when a bunch of bricks from the Maryland Manor Apartments wall that demo workers were banging on to take down topples his fence.

Oops! Controversial Ashby high rise build accidently crushes a neighbor’s fence: Bricks are flying! [Culturemap]
Ashby Highrise coverage [Swamplot]

Video: Scott Reamer via Tyler Rudick

77005, Ashby Highrise, Boulevard-Oaks, Demolitions, Neighborhood Disputes, Southampton

East End

05/29/13 4:30pm

Chapter 2: The Little Gibson St. Bungalow Finds a New Home

by Allyn West

8 Comments

From Magnolia Grove to a previously vacant lot with a single sickly magnolia: What aÂ journeyÂ it’s been for this little bungalow! After being sold in 2012 and cleared for demo, then suddenly spared last week and trucked away from its home at 4414 Gibson St., the 1,200-sq.-ft., split-pea-soup-green bungalow has finally come to rest. Where? Almost 6 miles away on Hussion St. in the East End. It’s now behind the for-sale Finger Furniture on the I-45 feeder and catty-corner (well, almost) from the Houston Elbow & Nipple Company.

Previously on Swamplot: The Story of the Little Bungalow at 4414 Gibson St., Previously on Swamplot: Daily Demolition Report: How Houses Disappear, Finger Furniture Selling Showroom, Old Baseball Stadium Property Near UH

Photo: Allyn West

77003, East End, Homesites, Magnolia Grove, Relocations

Brookesmith

05/29/13 3:45pm

The Next Re:HAB Facility in Brooke Smith

by Allyn West

No Comments

An email sent out by the owners ofÂ re:HAB says that the bar will have to close and leave its Houston Ave. location by July. (A landlord issue, apparently.) But the email also says a new spot has been lined up — at 1658 Enid and Link Rd. in Brooke Smith — and that it could open as early as August “if everything goes according to plan (yeah right).”

So we’ll take things one day at a time, then. The barÂ first opened in the renovated (and repainted) former Houston Ave Bar spot along the Spring St. hike and bike trail. This new location is just a few blocks north of the renovated D&T Drive Inn on Enid and about a mile east of the proposed site of Town in City Brewing Co. on W. Cavalcade.Â The email goes on to describe this building as “nestled on the banks of ‘Little White Oak Bayou,’” explaining that you’ll be able to get to re:HAB this time “by car, bus, bike or kayak.”

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77007, 77009, Bars, Brooke Smith, First Ward, Openings and Closings, Relocations

Apartments

05/29/13 10:10am

Could This Be Downtown’s Next Residential Highrise?

by Allyn West

18 Comments

A plan on the website of Hnedak Bobo Group, ~~a developer~~ an architecture firm based in Memphis, showcases this rendering of a shinyÂ 38-story residential tower named (for now, anyway) “Houston Luxury Apartments,” standing behind the Texaco Building at 1111 Rusk St.

This view shows the lot bound by Capitol, Fannin, San Jacinto, and Rusk, where the 13-story Texas Company Building — said to be the first major oil company headquarters in Houston — and its add-ons has stood since 1915. The few details Hnedak Bobo mentions indicates that that building would be maintained and renovated into age-appropriateÂ apartments, as well.

And there’s more:

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77002, Apartments, Downtown, Highrises, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Retail

Public Transportation

05/28/13 5:15pm

A North Line Light Rail Test Run

by Allyn West

20 Comments

The very first train graced the tracks of theÂ North Line light rail extension earlier today — though this was only a test, says Metro’s Christof Spieler. That explains why you can’t see in this photo taken near theÂ Burnett Transit Center north of Downtown any overhead wires — the train was being towed by a diesel tractor. (Diesel tractor not pictured.) And it explains why you can see that foam bumper: That, says Spieler, was meant to catch anything built too close to the tracks. More test train should be running all by themselves this fall, he adds, and full service is scheduled to go inÂ December.

Previously on Swamplot: Whatâ€™s Left of the Burnett Transit Center, Main St. Intermodal Transit Center Kiss-Off, On the Shelf: That Grand North Main Intermodal Center

Photo: Christof Spieler via Swamplot inbox

Light-Rail, Metro, Metro Rail, North Line, Public Transportation, Transportation

Demolitions

05/28/13 2:00pm

Assisting the Living in the Heights

by Allyn West

20 Comments

Here’s a view of the senior living and memory care facilityÂ that will go up in place of the Heights Fiesta that’s now coming down at 14th and Studewood:Â Though what’s being called the Village of the Heights was initially described to the Leader by “boutique senior living developer” Bridgewood Properties as “Craftsman style” with 80 units, descriptions accompanying this rendering omit any mention of style — and add 23 units. Either way, it’s supposed to be up and runningÂ next summer; Real Estate Bisnow reports that money to get construction going is in place.

Meanwhile, the sacking of thatÂ long-standing Fiesta continues:

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77008, Demolitions, Houston Heights, Proposed Developments, Senior Living

East End

05/28/13 11:00am

Lawndale’s Strip Center Donuts

by Allyn West

7 Comments

It’s coming soon, the sign says, that international power trio of donuts, kolaches, and tacos. (In the suite beside El Greco, the Mediterranean restaurant, to boot.) West ofÂ Idylwood and Country Club Place at 5420 Lawndale St., this strip center is less than a mile east of the new Oak Leaf Smokehouse on Telephone andÂ that complementary retail activity recently opened inside theÂ Tlaquepaque Market.

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77023, East End, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

Notices

05/24/13 2:00pm

Remember the Long Weekend

by Allyn West

No Comments

REMEMBER THE LONG WEEKEND That’s all for this week; Swamplot will be back, as usual, afterÂ the long Memorial Day weekend. ButÂ that doesn’t mean our inbox will be taking a break: If you see something while you’re out and about that you think our readers need to see,Â snap a photo or three and send â€™em our way! See youÂ Tuesday. Photo: HAR

Notices

Demolitions

05/24/13 10:15am

The Story of the Little Bungalow at 4414 Gibson St.

by Allyn West

15 Comments

This 1940 bungalow in Magnolia Grove had been all set to be torn down, showing up in the Daily Demolition Report on Wednesday. But the previous owners, who bought the 1,200-sq.-ft. Gibson St. house in 2005 and sold it in 2012, say that it has been “spared.” Here’s their story:

After discovering that we were expecting our second child, we quickly realized that the 2 bed, 1-1/2 bath was not large enough for our growing family. We hoped that perhaps a single person or couple would purchase the property. We were naive, of course, as the only offers received were from builders planning to build the typical 3 story, 4K square foot beast near downtown.Â After much heartache and a few tears, we accepted an offer from Urban Living and fully expected the home to be demolished.

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77007, Buying and Selling, Demolitions, Magnolia Grove, Relocations

Headlines

05/24/13 8:30am

Headlines: Stockpiling Drinking Water; Experimenting with Houston’s Easements and Ditches

by Allyn West

9 Comments

Astrodome’s Future Likely To Be Decided at Ballot Box, Says Judge Emmett [KUHF]
$350 Million Project Would Divert More Drinking Water from Trinity River to Lake Houston [abc13]
Construction of Osteria Mazzantini in Galleria’s BBVA Compass Plaza Coming Along; Hugo’s Owner Plans Concept There, Too [Houston Business Journal]
No Rail Service This Weekend Between UHD Station and Downtown Transit Center [abc13]
Houston Area Saw 106 “Flash” Home Sales Last Month [Prime Property]
IAH Ranks As Third Most Expensive Airport in U.S. at End of 2012, Finds Report [Houston Business Journal]
UH Community Design Resource Center Imagines Better Uses for Transit Centers, Utility Easements, Ditches [OffCite]
DIY Craft Studio and Shop Opens on Main St. in Midtown [Culturemap]
1919 Steam Train Donated to Planned Nau Center for Texas Cultural Heritage Downtown [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
Zsa Zsa Gabor’s 1955 L.A. Home, On the Market for 2 Years, Finally Sells [Curbed L.A.]

Photo of construction work at Savoy Hotel Downtown: Swamplot inbox

Headlines

Demolitions

05/23/13 3:00pm

Rice Village Hungry’s To Replace Rice Village Hungry’s

by Allyn West

10 Comments

What’s this sandbox right beside the Hungry’s Cafe and Bistro in Rice Village going to be? A Hungry’s. An employee at the not-that-old one next door at 2356 Rice Blvd. says it will be demolished and turned intoÂ a parking lot for what a rendering on a sign at this construction site shows is a 2-story new one.

Hungry’s, you’ll remember, is owned by an entity controlled by Fred Sharifi, who earlier this year purchased and now appears to have plans to redevelop the Gramercy Place Apartments on the 200 block of Portland St. — just a few miles away on the east side of Montrose Blvd. — into townhomes.

A rendering of the new Hungry’s wasn’t made immediately available; what follows after the jump is a photo of what’s on that sign at the construction site:

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77005, Demolitions, New Construction, Relocations, Restaurants, Rice-Village

Medical Buildings

05/23/13 11:10am

The New Mixed-Use Building in the Museum District

by Allyn West

6 Comments

That excavator first rolled out here on La Branch and Binz last summer — and 11 months later this is how the site looks: Catty-corner from the Children’s Museum, the Museum Point Professional Building appears to be all but complete. The 4-story building at 1401 Binz was originally planned to be 30,000-sq.-ft., with retail on the first floor, a clinic and offices on the middle floors, and some kind of residence (“with a garden terrace”) up top. A 160-car parking garage was also planned.

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77004, Medical Buildings, Mixed Use, Museum District, Office Space, Retail

Montrose

05/23/13 10:15am

Moules-Frites to Macaroni in Montrose

by Allyn West

14 Comments

The next tenant in the former Jeannine’s Bistro space will be Jus’ Mac, the restaurant announced on its Facebook page last week. It would appear that this new location will be open by July.Â Jeannine’s closed here at 106 Westheimer just west of Midtown at the beginning of May. Jus’ Mac has other locations on Yale St. in the Heights and at First Colony Mall in Sugar Land — and a comment posted beneath the original Facebook announcement indicates that a 4th Jus’ Mac is in the works: “We have inside track,” it says, “on a location in heart of memorial.”