Featured Posts

06/04/18 4:30pm

Your Guide to East River Candyland

Fifth Ward, Maps, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments

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The map above — taken from this week’s city planning agenda — provides a candy-colored indication of how Midway plans to divvy up the 136-acre former KBR site along Buffalo Bayou, east of downtown, that it’s redeveloping into an office, retail, and residential neighborhood dubbed East River. Among the more colorful land uses revealed for the site: a park-fronting hotel slated for the semi-circular red parcel to the east, as well as a nameless museum — shown in grape — that’s planned along Buffalo Bayou near the neighborhood’s western edge.

Sprinkled along the water is an extension of the existing trail that runs along Buffalo Bayou’s north bank. It would traverse the entire development, from its western edge to the boat dock planned at its eastern boundary. Along the way, “Pedestrian bridges are being discussed with Buffalo Bayou Partnership to connect the two sides of the bayou,” according to the plans Midway submitted to the city.

Those 7 consecutive yellow blocks at the north end of the site along Clinton St. represent the citadel of townhomes that’ll look out onto the surrounding Fifth Ward. It’s bookended by 3 blocks of retail to the east along Hirsch Rd. and one to the west on Jensen Dr.

As heralded by the sign — pictured below — now hanging the site’s construction fencing, Houston’s city planning commission will take up the special exemption request that Midway submitted for the development later this week:

Sweet Deal

77020, Fifth Ward, KBR Site, Mixed-Use, Redevelopment

Apartments

06/04/18 1:00pm

Here’s an 8-Story Office and Apartment Complex for Heights’ Studewood Low Point on White Oak Bayou

Houston Heights, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Retail

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Engineering firm The Interfield Group is hoping to score a trio of variances that will allow it to swap out its existing dingbat office building (above) at the Heights landing point of the Studemont St. bridge for a much larger mixed-use development (depicted at top) dubbed Heights Gateway. The new 8-story complex rests on the stealth-bomber-shaped parcel at 401 Studewood outlined in the aerial above. It’s split between a residential portion (shown beneath the lettering in the rendering) and a glass curtain-walled office section to the north — all of which rests atop a floodable 2-story parking garage plinth.

Its lowest parking level — indicated in the site plan below — includes a main entrance off Studewood that runs between the work and live sections of the complex:

Heights Gateway

77007, Houston Heights, Office Buildings, Residential, Retail

06/01/18 1:00pm

No Houston Sears Axed Today

Quicklink, Retail

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NO HOUSTON SEARS AXED TODAY Each and every Houston Sears location has survived this year’s second round of cuts — announced by the retailer’s parent company yesterday. 48 locations total will shutter, as well as 15 Kmarts — which are no longer native to Houston. Over the past 15 months, Sears Holding Company has closed 530 stores between both brands. In that same time frame, Houston lost 4 Sears: at 9570 Southwest Fwy., West Oaks Mall, Friendswood’s Baybrook Mall — and the oldest of the bunch — in Midtown. Three locations beyond Beltway 8 — in Baytown’s San Jacinto Mall and Humble’s Deebrook Mall, and the Pasadena Town Square — went up for auction in April, but all remain open for business. [USA Today; closures; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Sears at 4000 N. Shepherd Dr.: Eric B.

Retail

05/31/18 1:30pm

What’s Next for Coca-Cola’s 6 Soon-to-Close Houston Facilities?

Openings and Closings, Pecan Park, Quicklink, Upper Kirby

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WHAT’S NEXT FOR COCA-COLA’S 6 SOON-TO-CLOSE HOUSTON FACILITIES? Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages’ new million-sq.-ft. facility in Hines’ Pinto Business Park at I-45 and Beltway 8 won’t be complete for another 2 years — reports theÂ Chronicleâ€™s Paul Takahashi — giving the franchisee time to make plans for the 6 existing locations it’s looking to close as part of the consolidation. Among them: the 343,118-sq.-ft. bottling plant pictured above that’s stood at 2800 Bissonnet, 2 blocks west of Kirby, since 1950. Less than half its size is the bottler’s Pecan Park plant off the South Loop at Berkley St. Three smaller outer-Loop warehouse and distribution centers — in Conroe, Brittmoore, and Channelview — are also set to expire, as well as one off I-45 in Glenbrook.Â [Houston Chronicle] Photo of 2800 Bissonnet St.: RoadArchitecture

77005, Manufacturing, Openings and Closings, Pecan-Park, Quicklink, Upper Kirby

Apartments

05/31/18 11:00am

HHA’s First New Mixed-Income Complex in a Decade Debuts at Crosstimbers and N. Main

New Construction, Quicklink

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HHA’S FIRST NEW MIXED-INCOME COMPLEX IN A DECADE DEBUTS AT CROSSTIMBERS AND N. MAIN The Houston Housing Authority has finished building its first development in 10 years: theÂ 154-unit Independence Heights Apartments. Situated at the southeast corner of Crosstimbers and N. Main St., the garden-style complex has units available to tenants who earn less than $41,500 per year and have qualified for public housing vouchers. (The median household income in Independence Heights is around $25,000.) Mayor Turner okayed the project back in November, 2016 — 2 months after he killed a similar mixed-income complex that had been proposed for Briargrove, in place of one of the housing authority’s own office buildings on Fountain View Dr. That decision prompted a federal investigation in which HUD eventually found that the city’s rejection “was motivated either in whole or in part by the race, color or national origin of the likely tenants.” Of the $45 million Houston has received from HUD since 2011 (in response to Hurricane Ike) only $12 million has been spent — all of it on this just-built project. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo of Independence Heights Apartments under construction: Apartments.com

Apartments, New Construction, Quicklink

East Downtown

05/30/18 1:00pm

A Peek at East Downtown’s Hotel RL and Its Texas-Sized Inner Circle

Hotels, Proposed Developments

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Here’s the latest rendering of the Hotel RL that’s planned for the block of St. Emanuel St. just north of recently-opened bars Rodeo Goat and Truck Yard. Complete with a roughly 6-story high Texas flag dangling from its hamster-wheel-like facade, the building itself — designed by STOA Architets — stands at 27 floors. It’s planned in place of the 2-story Kim Hung Market building at 1005 St. Emanuel, pictured above outside its entrance. That structure currently backs up to Hutchins St., at the edge of a block-long parking lot to its west.

Hotel RL & Residences @ 1005 St Emanuel Street [HAIF]

Rendering: STOA Architects. Photo: Greg D.

Deep in the Heart

77003, East Downtown, Hotels, Proposed Development

05/29/18 4:00pm

Let Next Level’s Video Game Venue Begin in Fast Traffic’s Midtown Garage and Apartment on Austin St.

Midtown, Renovations, Retail

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Now gunning for Fast Traffic Auto Workshopâ€™s garage and adjoining apartment on Austin St.: Next Level, Houston’s second planned but not-yet-open eSports venue. Following the auto shop owner’s retirement, the competitive videogaming hub has plans to stock the place with virtual reality gaming rigs, 40 PC setups, and a dozen or more gaming consoles — all of which will plug in somewhere between a planned competition stage, full bar, and “custom tabletop gaming tables” for lower-tech games.

The photo at top views the corner of the garage from McIlhenny St. It occupies the northeast spot on the Austin St. block where a foursome of bars plans to move in, next to the strip building at 2404 that CORE Church Midtown recently departed:

Press Start

77004, Midtown, Renovations, Retail

05/29/18 12:00pm

How New Harris County Developments Are Hugging the Grand Pkwy.

Maps

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Within 3 miles of the Grand Pkwy.â€™s completed sections, more than 50,000 acres of development have sprung up in the past 5 years; they’re indicated by the pink patchwork in the map above, put out by Houston’s planning department. In following the highway, construction activity passes through 5 watersheds — Spring Creek, Cypress Creek, Addicks, Barker, and Brays Bayou — that aren’t seeing nearly as much concentrated development in non-roadside areas.

In order to plot out development across all of Harris County between 2013 and 2018, the map takes into account activity concerning “platting and general plans” over those years. That means the highlighted sections include parcels on which developers requested changes (for example, to merge adjacent properties or gain permission to build new types of structures), that often precede building.

Development Activity in Houston and Watersheds [Houston Planning Department (PDF)]

Map: Houston Planning Department

Development Birdseye

Grand Parkway, Maps, Watersheds

Bars and Clubs

05/25/18 3:00pm

Pitch 25’s Indoor Soccer Field Nearly Ready for Bar Games at Former Dynamo Brian Ching’s New East Downtown Drinking Hub

East Downtown, Renovations

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Although not yet open to the public, the grounds of new soccer bar Pitch 25 have come a long way from their earthy beginnings (second photo) along Walker St., catty-corner to BBVA Compass Stadium. The indoor soccer field that bar owner and former Houston Dynamo Brian Ching pitched to prospective investors on NextSeed last fall as the venue’s centerpiece has germinated inside the 25,000-sq.-ft. warehouse that’s being redone.

Also realized as part of the renovations — plans to tear a hole in the building’s roof in order to ensure a bright future for these semi-outdoor trees:

Walker St. Redo

77003, Bars and Restaurants, East Downtown, Renovations

Demolitions

05/25/18 12:45pm

Breaking Down the Backside of Stephen F. Austin High School Where a New Western Half of Campus Will Rise

Eastwood, New Construction, Schools

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The back portion of Eastwood’s Stephen F. Austin Senior High School off Telephone Rd. is in the process of being pulverized to make room for a new western section of the campus that’ll go in its place. Like the demolished section, the soon-to-be built 184,000-sq.-ft. portion will back up to S. Lockwood Dr. along Jefferson St. Asbestos cleanup preceded the current demo.

Workers’ next job will be to gut the interior of the school’s original 1936 front section along Dumble St. — but not until it achieves an all-clear from asbestos as well:

Eastwood Redo

77023, Demolitions, New Construction, Renovations, Schools

Demolitions

05/24/18 3:30pm

KHOU’s Abandoned Allen Pkwy. Studio Has Been Reduced to Rubble

Montrose, North Montrose

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This just in: Photos from a Swamplot reader show the wreckage at KHOUâ€™s 58-year-old Buffalo Bayou–side headquarters, abandoned since staff fled it for Houston Public Media’s less flood-prone Elgin St. newsroom shortly after Harvey. Following a few days of demolition, theÂ building at 1945 Allen Pkwy has been almost entirely leveled.

The second photo above shows the Service Corporation International building looming over the dead news building. An entity connected to SCI — a national funeral home business — recently acquired KHOU’s former 3.2-acre spot.

KHOU’s antenna — stripped of its lettering since February — is now the only thing that fronts the neighboring tower’s west side:

Breaking News

77019, Demolition, Montrose, North Montrose

05/24/18 11:00am

Your Map of Where Walkers and Bikers Have Been Run Over by Cars in Houston Over the Past 2 Years

Maps

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Here’s the rundown of all the locations where vehicles injured (purple) or killed (black) cyclists and pedestrians in 2016 and 2017. Transit-focused organization LINK Houston used TxDOT reports to create the map, which plots out 85 percent of all the 641 major walk-and-bike crashes that occurred within city limits during those 2 years. (Locations for 15 percent couldn’t be nailed down.) Of all those collisions, just under a fifth involved bikers; the rest impacted pedestrians. Click on a dot to reveal more about the specific accident that happened at that location.

Even more data shows up here on the full-screen map, which tallies up demographics like the ages, races, and genders of those hit as you move around different neighborhoods.Â Citywide, one of the brightest constellations is an elbow-shaped one that stretches from Montrose through Midtown and intoÂ DowntownÂ — where 22 crashes occurred over the last 2 years. But despite its dimmer glow, Sharpstown had the highest hit rate of any Houston neighborhood: 29. Throughout the entire city, 158 people were killed and 389 were injured.

Ped/Bike Safety in Houston 2016-2017 [LINK Houston]

Map: LINK Houston

Hit Count

Accidents, Bike Trails, Maps, Pedestrians

05/23/18 4:00pm

Gulfton Salvation Army Thrift Store Will Soon Be Surrounded by Murals

Gulfton, Public Art, Retail

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Longtime Gulfton activist Tammy Rodriguez’s likeness is now fully rendered in the mural above, as well as that of Pastor Alejandro Montes, to her right. The pair makes up one third of the population now flanking the Salvation Army storeâ€™s west side along Ashcroft Dr. off Bissonnet, a block east of Hillcroft Ave. Chicago-based artistÂ Rahmaan Statik (who got some design inspiration from students atÂ Braeburn Elementary School) plans to have the work complete for an unveiling ceremony this Saturday.

It’s one in a set of 3 muralsÂ that public art organization UP Art Studio has planned for each side of the thrift store building — except for the south face, pictured above — as part of a project dubbed “Growing a Brighter Tomorrow in Gulfton.”

Work on the east side began with this preparatory whitewashing:

Bissonnet and Ashcroft

77081, Gulfton, Murals, Public Art, Retail

05/23/18 11:45am

What It Would Take To Bring Security Checkpoints to Your Neighborhood School