Articles by

Christine Gerbode

Notices
12/01/16 11:45am

Fifth Category: The Swamplot Award for Special Achievement in Parking

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Yesterday we opened up 2 more categories for the  Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. So far we’ve got Favorite Houston Design Cliché, Best Demolition, the “Where Are They Now?” Award, and Best Industrial Incident. Category number 5, opening this morning for nominations, is the Swamplot Award for Special Achievement in Parking. 

What has advanced the culture of parking in Houston? Has a game-changing garage or surface lot made waves on the scene? Or maybe you’ve noticed some less tangible contributions — perhaps serving to inspire new approaches to vehicle accommodation, or encapsulating a particular Houston parking zeitgeist.  Feel free to give this category any twists you think it deserves — just be sure to explain yourself when you send your picks our way.

To submit your nominees for this category, give us the what and why in the comments below. Or you can email us, instead— just do it by midnight this Thursday, December 8. More guidance on how to nominate can be found here.

The 2016 Swampies
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Featured Posts
12/01/16 11:00am

Montrose Management District Loses in Court, Ordered To Pay Back That $6.6 Million It Collected

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Montrose Management District boundaries

Montrose District Bike Houston Bike Rack, Montrose, HoustonA judge in Texas’s 333rd district court signed off on a finding this week siding with the plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging that the Montrose Management District has been illegally levying taxes within its boundaries (shaded in blue above). Per state law the district only needed 25 signatures from would-be affected property owners to form in 2011; the case went to court back in 2012 after around 988 other property owners within those boundaries signed petitions to shut the district down.

The court’s freshly filed judgement document says that the formation of the district required the initial sign-on of 25 property owners who would be subject to the taxation by the new district; the court ruled that although the district did have 26 signatures, 3 of those folks weren’t actually taxed for all of the years the district has been in operation — dropping the number of valid signatures down to 23, and rendering the basis for the district’s authority moot. The judge also says the district must now pay back the money collected so far — around $6.59 million.

Map and photo: Montrose Management District

Taxing Outcome
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Meanwhile
11/30/16 5:30pm

License Suspension Recommended over Fatal Californian Balcony Collapse

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LICENSE SUSPENSION RECOMMENDED OVER FATAL CALIFORNIAN BALCONY COLLAPSE Meanwhile, in Berkeley: The California Contractors State License Board filed a formal complaint yesterday against the company that worked on the Liberty Gardens Apartments — where a cantilevered balcony in unit 405 collapsed last year, killing 6 of the 13 people standing on it. The board says that Segue Construction (which hired contractors to frame the faulty balcony) deviated from the specified building plan for the balcony, including swapping the plywood called for in the design for multiple sheets of specifically-not-OK oriented strand board. The agency also says the balcony collapsed when it did because of water-intrusion-related dry rot, potentially related to the balcony’s questionable waterproofing — not done in the way the design called for, and completed on “unknown dates” between May 2005 and August 2006 by another contractor. No charges are being filed by the Alameda County district attorney’s office, but the regulatory board is asking that Segue’s license be suspended or revoked. [California Contractors State License Board via KCBS]

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Notices
11/30/16 2:30pm

And Now, This Year’s Fourth Swamplot Awards Category: Best Industrial Incident

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Earlier today we introduced a new category for this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. There are a total of 3 so far: Favorite Houston Design Cliché, Best Demolition and a newbie: the “Where Are They Now?” Award. Now we’ll open up nominations for another category making its debut this year: Best Industrial Incident.

Time for some flash and bang! Houston’s lack of zoning and particular economic mish-mash make for some interesting neighbors; sometimes those neighborly relationships heat up, or get a little smelly. What was the best chemicals-meet-the-cute-little-neighborhood-next-door story this year? Most interesting unintentional send-off by land, sea, or air? Most dramatic accidental fireworks display? Feel free to creatively misinterpret this category — just be sure to sell your vision as you describe your nominee.

To submit your nominations for the official ballot, tell us about your top choices in the comments section below (along with as good a description as you can muster). You can always email it to us, too — just get it in by midnight this Wednesday, December 7. More guidelines can be found here.

The 2016 Swampies
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Downtown
11/30/16 1:15pm

A Downtown Height Check on Alessandra and Marlowe

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Construction of Hotel Alessandra, Fannin St. at Dallas St., GreenStreet, Houston, 77002

Second Proposed Design for Hotel Alessandra, GreenStreet, Downtown HoustonToday’s look at up-and-coming personified downtown highrises includes a reader’s fresh snap of Hotel Alessandra, which reached full height in August and has been filling out a bit since then. The latest rendering (released after the original question mark design was scrapped) depicts mostly the buildin’s glassier Dallas-St.-facing side; the shot up top is facing the structure’s beige-er south corner. Midway announced a few weeks after the Tax Day flood that the hotel wouldn’t be open in time for the Super Bowl after all, citing weather-related logistical issues. The developers are now planning to open up later on in 2017.

Meanwhile, at the opposite corner of the GreenStreet complex — where Polk and Caroline streets meet — Randall Davis’s Marlowe condo tower is getting off the ground behind The Dirt Bar and Reserve, at the edge of a sea of parked cars:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Up and Out Around GreenStreet
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Notices
11/30/16 12:00pm

Introducing the Third Swamplot Awards Category: The ‘Where Are They Now?’ Award

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This next category for the 2016 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate is a brand new one. Yesterday we opened up nominations the first 2: Favorite Houston Design Cliché and Best Demolition. Here’s number three: the “Where Are They Now?” Award.

This category is meant to honor transformations. Places with a truly Houston-ish story to tell — whether that story’s a comeback, a midlife crisis, or a fall from grace — are all around us. Maybe there’s a particularly award-worthy contrast between your nominee’s humble or high-falutin’ origins and whatever it became down the line, after the crowds faded away (. . . or the oil market crashed, or the surrounding neighborhood went full Tuscan). Which places have fallen on hard times — or made the best of them? What spots around town are employed now in a way their creators (or previous owners) might never have expected? 

To launch your nominees on their way toward the official ballot, submit your suggestion — along with a clever explanation for why it’s a good fit — in the comments section below. You can also email your nominations to us — just make sure, either way, to do so no later than midnight this Wednesday, December 7. More guidance can be found here.

The 2016 Swampies
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Featured Posts
11/30/16 11:00am

Temporary 1.4-Acre Super Bowl Nightclub Building Now Under Construction in Sawyer Yards

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Rendering of Club Nomadic at 2121 Edwards St., First Ward, Houston, 77007

A 62,500-sq.-ft. structure going by the name Club Nomadic is now being put in place in the empty lot next to the Shops at Sawyer Yards, for 3 days of concert use during the week leading up to the Super Bowl. As for what happens to the site after the planned Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift shows wrap up: Permits for foundation and site work at the Edwards St. address issued earlier this month refer to the building as temporary, and Corey Garcia says the building will be packed up and taken elsewhere at the end of the short Houston run. The folks at Connecticut-based Nomadic Entertainment plan to set the building up at a series of future events elsewhere — but the Super Bowl lead-up week will be the club’s first gig.

Renderings released yesterday by Nomadic show 3 tiers of stage-gawking space:

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Swift Setup in Sixth Ward
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Highrises
11/29/16 5:00pm

ConocoPhillips To Leave 62-Acre Energy Corridor Campus for Something More Cozy Across I-10

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CONOCOPHILLIPS TO LEAVE 62-ACRE ENERGY CORRIDOR CAMPUS FOR SOMETHING MORE COZY ACROSS I-10 Leasing Flier for Energy Center 4, 925 N. Eldridge Pkwy., Energy Corridor, Houston, 77079ConocoPhillips told its employees at the 62-acre complex at 600 N. Dairy Ashford Rd. today that the energy giant will be pulling them out of its 1980’s campus and moving them across I-10 into that empty 22-story Energy Center 4 highrise the company has been trying to sublet since earlier this year. Nancy Sarnoff says that the move is planned for mid-2018 after the highrise gets built out, noting that so far, the new building “has remained an empty shell as ConocoPhillips has tried to sublease the space.” Before then, the campus will be getting some new nextdoor neighbors, as Shell’s nearby Woodcreek campus takes on some of the employees being moved out of One Shell Plaza downtown. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Energy Center 4 at 925 N. Eldridge Pkwy.: CBRE

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Awards
11/29/16 3:00pm

The Second Swamplot Awards Category Is Now Open for Your Nominations: Best Demolition of 2016

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We’ve already opened the first category for this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate, celebrating the Houston area’s best design clichés. Let’s get started this afternoon on the second category: the year’s Best Demolition.

Teardowns are plentiful in Houston — just take a peek back through Swamplot’s archive of daily demo reports. But for Swampies season, we’re looking for that special award-worthy demo that really goes above and beyond (or below, perhaps). Did a teardown this year have a certain historic weight to it? Did something go down with a bang, or with some extra flair and panache? What property should be honored this time around, and why?

Send us your well-argued nominations to the comments section below — or send them in a private message to our tips line. For more on the nomination process, head here.

Nominations for both categories announced today will remain open until midnight next Tuesday, December 6. We’ll be introducing more fun categories as the week goes on, so be sure to get your nominations in now for the first 2!

The 2016 Swampies
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Featured Posts
11/29/16 1:45pm

Otilia’s Spot in Spring Branch Leased to Hay Merchant Bartender, Converted Coors Rep

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7710 Long Point Rd., Spring Branch, Houston, 77055

7710 Long Point Rd., Spring Branch, Houston, 77055The new lessees of 7710 Long Point Rd. — formerly home to all-Mex-no-Tex Otilia’s Mexican Restaurant — announced last week that they’ll be filling the spot with a craft beer bar and restaurant called The Branch. The folks in charge appear to be former Hay Merchant-slash-Underbelly catering head Madeline Cabezut, current Hay Merchant bar manager Kyle Pierson (though Hay Merchant itself is not involved in the project), and former Miller/Coors spokesmodel Amanda Mixon. An entity linked to serial redeveloper Braun Enterprises bought the place last year, after Otilia’s 2014 for-real-this-time shutdown. The trio formally leased the space around the end of September, and plan to have the place open early next year.

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Branching Out to Long Point Rd.
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Awards
11/29/16 12:00pm

The First Category in the Swamplot Awards, Now Open For Your Nominations: Favorite Houston Design Cliché

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We’re kicking off this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate with a category that’s been a strong part of the program since the very first Swampies (back in aught-8): Favorite Houston Design Cliché.

What Houston building, shopping center, streetscape, home, interior, neighborhood, or yard cliché deserves recognition?

In 2014, the top honoree in this category was The Midrise Woodframe Apartment Building, AKA The Texas Donut; The Townhome Farm came in as the runner-up, trailed by strong contenders like The Oak Tree Stump. Winners in years gone by have included  The Typical Inner Loop Townhouse Plan,  Humping Bungalows, aka Humper Houses, “Lick ’n’ stick” fake-rock siding, Lone Stars, “Lakes of” subdivisions, and “Tuscanization.”

Who’s turn will it be this year — a jilted also-ran, or a newcomer to the scene? Well, that’s up to you. Your suggestions for this award may be inspired from stories you’ve read on Swamplot or from your own keen eye for overused detail.

Enter your choice in a comment to this post — or in an email to the Swamplot tip line, with the subject line “Nomination: Favorite Houston Design Cliche.” Nominations for this category will be accepted until midnight next Tuesday, December 6, after which the best-presented choices will be put on the official ballot and opened for voting.

You can submit as many nominations as you like, but your suggestions will have a better chance of making it to the ballot (and garnering votes once they’re there) if you make your point in a clever and convincing way. Photos help, too! Send images to the Swamplot tip line, but be sure to identify them and indicate what they’re for. If you need some guidance, here’s more information on how to make a nomination. And if you like a particular nomination someone else has submitted, feel free to second, expand, or improve upon it in the comments to help it find a place on the actual ballot.

Got it? Good. Send us your favorite clichés now!

The 2016 Swampies
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Channelview
11/29/16 11:00am

More Rocks To Be Stacked Around the Toxic Waste Pits under the San Jacinto I-10 Bridge

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San Jacinto River at I-10 Crossing, Channelview, TX 77530

Weather permitting, an area along the edge of the San Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund site under the I-10 East bridge should be getting around 800 cubic feet of new rocks piled onto it this week and next, according to this month’s EPA update on the project. The agency asked International Paper and McGinnis (which might be on the hook financially for much of the final cleanup) to cover up some recently-discovered areas of the nearby riverbed that were scoured as deep as 8 feet in some places by this spring‘s torrential flooding; the tarp-with-rocks-on-it armored cap itself doesn’t appear to have been damaged, but the EPA says the extra rocks will help ensure its continued protectiveness.

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Armor Under I-10
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Awards
11/29/16 9:15am

How To Make a Nomination for the 2016 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate

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Welcome to the 2016 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate, where you get to choose the nominees! Here’s how the system works:

Nominations are opened in each award category as that category is announced. You can enter your nomination for a category as a comment to the post announcing that award category. Or you can submit a nomination in a private email to the Swamplot tip line (be sure to put the name of the category in the subject line).

Nominations for each category will be accepted for one week after the category opens. After that week, the best-presented choices will be opened for voting.

Here’s a list of all the award-category announcements that have been made so far; new ones will show up there as they’re announced this week.

You may submit as many nominations as you like in each category. But your choices will have a better chance of making it to the official ballot if you use the opportunity to make your point in a clever and convincing way. When the actual awards open for voting, each selected nomination will be introduced with some edited bastardization of the arguments readers made in the nomination. So be eloquent and persuasive! If you can send your own photos in support of your nomination, that will help a lot — and help you make your case to voters. Send images to the Swamplot tip line too (but be sure to identify them, and indicate what they’re for).

Comments to nomination posts will be counted as nominations only — not as votes in the final tabulation. Nominations may be seconded, expanded, or improved, and even simple “me too” comments might help an entry find a place on the actual ballot, but they won’t be counted as votes for the winner. The actual voting begins in the second week — stay tuned for more details!

The 2016 Swampies
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