Featured Posts

Buildings for Sale
04/25/18 2:45pm

Downtown Houston’s Foremost Abandoned Building Now Listed for Sale

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Downtown, Hotels
18 Comments

The Holiday-Inn-turned-Days-Inn-turned-Heaven-on-Earth-Hotel at 801 St. Joseph Pkwy. has now been posted to CoStar by commercial broker CBRE following a 2-week period of higher-than-usual on-site cleanup activity. Crews removed debris from its garage and pool late last week; and just yesterday, 2 workers scaled nearly all 31 stories of its western face to take down the semicircular light box of the Days Inn sign that once hung near the top of it (see photo above).

The seller, SFK Development, bought the property in 2012 — becoming the building’s third owner in its post-Maharishi era. (The building — which for a time was home to a Vedic school run by the former Beatles spiritual advisor — was shut down by the city in 1998.) Since then, it has been fertile ground for numerous urban explorers, as well as the imagination of several would-be redevelopers.

The sale listing includes images of possible makeovers:

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Heaven On Earth Up for Grabs
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Featured Posts
04/25/18 12:00pm

City Council Approves MUD for 800 New Homes on Pine Crest Golf Course

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Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Spring Branch
5 Comments

CITY COUNCIL APPROVES MUD FOR 800 NEW HOMES ON PINE CREST GOLF COURSE Houston’s city council voted today to approve a proposal to create a municipal utility district for an 800-house development Meritage Homes wants to build on the former Pine Crest Golf Course. The golf course, which lies within the 100-year floodplain, is located at the corner of Gessner and Clay in the Brickhouse Gully watershed — where 2,300 residential structures flooded during Harvey. Today’s vote was on a proposal identical to one that was considered by the council last October but instead referred to the mayor’s office for further review. A representative of Meritage Homes told the Chronicle following the initial proposal that it would publish an analysis of “where or how floodwaters would flow across the surrounding land” after construction. But it later decided not to — reported the Chronicle’s Mike Morris — claiming that such a study would have been “irrelevant” in light of the city’s new standards for building in floodplains. A no vote by city council today would not have necessarily killed the project, council member Brenda Stardig noted to Morris — although it would have forced Meritage to find an alternate source of funding for the neighborhood’s infrastructure. The developer bought the 150-acre former golf course from MetroNational last year. [Houston Chronicle; more; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Meritage Homes

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Featured Posts
04/24/18 2:15pm

Two Second Ward Rowhouse Transplants Now Ready for Their Latest Change-Up

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Homes for Sale, Second Ward
27 Comments

After hauling all 6 of their endangered Victorian cottages 8 blocks and arranging them neatly off Sampson St. 4 years ago, Michael Skelly and Anne Whitlock are now ready to part with the 2 pictured at top. $700,000 is the asking price for both structures — which occupy a single 5,000-sq.-ft. lot at 3408 Garrow St. They’ve been on the market for a week.

Since relocating them, Skelly and Whitlock have also redone the interiors of the 2 cottages:

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Firehouse Backyard
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Featured Posts
04/24/18 10:15am

5-Story Striped Condo Row Plotting Takeover of 15th St.’s Car Cafe Garage

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Proposed Developments, Shady Acres
9 Comments

A wide spectrum of paint shades and window shapes fronts W. 15th St. in the rendering above of Hampton Heights — the 5-story residential row Surge Homes has planned just west of Dian St. in Shady Acres. Its 2-story parking podium is about the same height and length as the site’s current resident: Car Cafe, a 37,341-sq.-ft. used-car dealership headquartered in a windowless warehouse. Just under two thirds of an acre — shaded red in the aerial above — comprise the lot at 1800 W. 15th where the garage sits now.

Rendering and aerial: Surge Homes

Shades of Shady Acres
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Demolitions
04/23/18 1:45pm

Low Bridge, Comin’ Down: The Southmore Blvd. Overpass Across 288 Is No More

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Museum District
5 Comments

The Southmore bridge — known to get real cozy with floodwaters as they course down 288 — made its last stand this weekend as crews cleared the way for a new, presumably higher roadway that’ll be built in its place. Lanes of 288 — pictured above from the northbound side — shut down to accommodate the demolition. The bridge itself had been closed since earlier this month closed on Friday. Now, thru-traffic is being detoured to the Blodgett and Binz St. bridges across the highway via its north- and southbound feeder roads. The estimated opening date for the new structure: mid-to-late next year.

Photos: Swamplox inbox (from Southmore); Drive288 (from 288)

High-Speed Demolition
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Downtown
04/23/18 12:00pm

Here Are Houston’s Orphan Storm Drains Not Yet Claimed by Adopters

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Drainage
18 Comments

Mayor Turner announced last Thursday that 115,000 storm drains would be put up for adoption as part of the city’s new Adopt-A-Drain program — already 5 have been claimed downtown by members of the public. (One of them — dubbed the “Director’s Drain” — is cared for by public works director Carol Haddock, reports the Chronicle’s Mike Morris.) The custodians Houston really wants to engage? “Schools,” as well as, “individuals, families, youth organizations, businesses (large and small), civic and non-profit organizations, fraternities, [and] sororities,” according to the website set up for the program. There, prospective adopters can view an interactive version of the map above showing what drains are and aren’t yet spoken for, as well as claim their own.

Then comes the responsibility: “Turner wants Houstonians to clear their drains at least four times a year, particularly when rain is in the forecast,” writes Morris. Although, the city adds, they should: “stop working and call the city’s 311 helpline if they encounter needles, construction debris, animals, firearms or chemicals.”

Map: Adopt-A-Drain Houston

Adopt-A-Drain
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Featured Posts
04/20/18 5:00pm

What First Presbyterian’s New 4-Story School Building off Montrose Blvd. Will Look Like

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Museum District, Proposed Developments, Schools
1 Comment

During- and after-school views east across Oakdale St. show the 4-story, Gensler-designed school building that First Presbyterian Church plans to build adjacent to its current one in the Museum District. The new building is tucked into the pie slice of streets and parking lots north of the MFAH between Montrose Blvd. and Main. It sits on 2 vacant lots totaling just under one fifth of an acre in the loop formed by Oakdale and Pinedale streets. Catty-corner to it is the existing First Presbyterian School’s driveway — visible at the bottom of the daytime view above.

A sliced-open view from the building’s backside shows its lobby fronting the existing pre-K-through-8 school:

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Museum District
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Demolitions
04/20/18 3:45pm

All Remnants of Mr. Santos Fashion Design Have Now Been Removed from the Corner of Westheimer and Kingston

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Glendower Court
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The knockdown of Mr. Santos Fashion Design‘s single-story structure at 2150 Westheimer is complete — as is that of a few trees that shaded it. Before the dress design and tailor business relocated last year to a house on Welch St. — a block south of San Felipe — it had been on the less-than-a-quarter-acre corner in Glendower Court for 34 years. (Its former dwelling is pictured above adjacent to construction fencing put up by the neighboring St. Anne Parish — a church-and-school complex that expanded its parking lot 2 years ago in place of a house demolished behind Mr. Santos’s structure in 2013.)

The new owner of the dress shop’s former lot: Franco Valobra of Valobra Master Jewelers, the rock shop located 2 miles to the west in the northern portion of the Highland Village Shopping Center. An entity connected to Valobra bought the Mr. Santos building last year, a few months after the proprietor took off from it.

Photos: Swamplox inbox

Valobra Master Jewelers
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Downtown
04/20/18 11:00am

Shuttered Lancaster Hotel’s Post-Harvey Redo Has Begun

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Hotels, Quicklink, Renovations
7 Comments

SHUTTERED LANCASTER HOTEL’S POST-HARVEY REDO HAS BEGUN The latest purchasers of the recently-renovated Lancaster Hotel hotel at 701 Texas Ave. had only owned it for about 2 months before 2 ft. of water entered its lobby — and 12 its basement — during Harvey, reports the HBJ’s Cara Smith. Its last redo in 2013 was along the same lines (“significant alterations to the lobby, guest rooms, suites and meeting spaces,” the HBJ wrote then) as what Magnolia Lodging has planned for it now: “a redesigned lobby, guest rooms, a new restaurant and bar, an indoor mezzanine, an espresso bar and a new cardio fitness studio.” The 92-year-old structure has been shuttered since the storm, leaving its 12 stories and adjacent parking lot (where 2 buildings were demolished on Louisiana in 2016) unoccupied. [HBJ ($); previously on Swamplot] Photo: Jay H.

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Featured Posts
04/19/18 3:45pm

METRO Now Testing Out Self-Driving Buses for Houston

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Public Transportation, Quicklink
20 Comments

METRO NOW TESTING OUT SELF-DRIVING BUSES FOR HOUSTON Preliminary tests of the new autonomous buses METRO is studying for potential use in Houston have gone well so far, agency board member Sanhjay Ramabhadran said at a luncheon in Cy-Fair on Tuesday — “although,” he added, “they tend to overheat in the Texas weather.” The next test phase, METRO spokesperson Jerome Gray tells abc13, “will be on the campus of Texas Southern University with a small bus at slow speeds.” If it goes well, a prototype could then graduate to real traffic. Last January, the U.S. Department of Transportation named Houston one of 10 official proving grounds for driverless buses “in part for its miles of HOV lanes that could easily work as testing lanes.” [abc13] Photo: METRO

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Apartments
04/19/18 1:00pm

Everyone Ousted from The Georgian Apartments on Willowick, New Apartments Set To Rise in Its Place

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Highland Village
14 Comments

Crescent Communities sent a letter last week to all residents of The Georgian apartments at 2511 Willowick, just north of Westheimer, letting them know that they’ll be kicked out of the complex in 6 months. The existing 114 units — home to residents over 55 — will be torn down and replaced with what the letter describes as “a new apartment building with integrated retail.” Crescent closed on the 53-year-old complex in 2015 after the purchase stalled the previous year.

“Obviously, the redevelopment of this site will require you to find a new home, and we are dedicated to assisting in this transition,” reads the letter. To that end, the owner is letting people out of their leases early, offering some financial assistance to relocate, and “engaging a relocation specialist to assist residents.” The final move out date is October 15.

At the northern end of the 3.4-acre property, townhouses line Wickersham Ln.:

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Aged Out of Highland Village
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Downtown
04/19/18 11:30am

Cleanup Crews Now Polishing Downtown Houston’s Most Famous Abandoned Building

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Hotels, Quicklink, Renovations
4 Comments

CLEANUP CREWS NOW POLISHING DOWNTOWN HOUSTON’S MOST FAMOUS ABANDONED BUILDING A reader in the KBR Tower 2 blocks east of the former Days Inn at 801 St. Joseph Pkwy. reports sightings of several different crews that have appeared outside the north face of the hotel within the past week. A pair of crane trucks have been parked at the foot of the hotel’s garage, and a swing-stage scaffold is hanging near the top of the podium. Also noted: Workers have cleared out debris from inside the garage, and accumulated trash has been removed from the pool of the 31-story hotel-turned-Vedic-school. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Kimberly Knight

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Adaptive Reuse
04/18/18 4:30pm

Surefire Warehouse Transformation Has Soon-to-Be Workspace Down to Its Skeleton on Brittmoore Rd.

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Renovations, Spring Branch
No Comments

One week oil and gas equipment warehouse just north of the Katy that Work America Capital is converting into a place of business has been partially skinned. Its street-fronting side is now open and the illuminated sign that spelled out the Surefire Industries name atop the front entrance has been replaced with Burton Construction’s unlit banner.

Work America says the structure at 1336 Brittmoore will anchor a 25-acre business campus it’s developing, dubbed The Cannon. It’s slated to include co-working offices, as well as an event center, athletic facility, restaurants, retail and some sort of living space.

Here’s a view of what the barn-like structure will look like re-sided and with new windows:

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The Cannon
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Featured Posts
04/18/18 3:00pm

NASA To Study How Loud Supersonic Jet Gets by Flying Over Galveston

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Galveston, Quicklink
11 Comments

NASA TO STUDY HOW LOUD SUPERSONIC JET GETS BY FLYING OVER GALVESTON Lockheed Martin is pitching its planned supersonic passenger plane as the quietest yet — despite its top speed of 940 mph. The company says a prototype will be ready within the next few years. But NASA won’t wait that long to find out how loud it’ll be: “the government agency will use an F/A-18 Hornet aircraft to replicate the softer sonic boom and measure how receptive Galvestonians will be,” reports the Chronicle‘s Andrea Rumbaugh. After lifting off from Ellington Airport, the plane will dive down at a 53-degree angle off the Galveston coast, breaking the sound barrier as it does. “Most of that sound will go toward the water,” writes Rumbaugh. But when it pulls up, “some of the sound will travel toward Galveston. By the time it reaches the island, it will be at the sound level expected from NASA’s X-plane.” Five hundred chosen residents and a handful of sound monitors will listen up for 10 non-consecutive days in November and provide feedback on the noise level — which NASA’s project manager says shouldn’t be that bad: “If a traditional sonic boom is hearing a thunderstorm directly overhead,” he explains “then the new reduced sonic boom will be like hearing a storm rumble far in the distance.” [Houston Chronicle ($)] Rendering of Low Boom Flight Demonstration X-plane: NASA

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Clear Lake City
04/18/18 11:45am

Surveying the Former Clear Lake City Golf Club Now That the Hazards Have Taken Over the Course

by
Parks
7 Comments

An official aerial video shows off the golf-course-to-retention transformation that’s taken place across a few holes of the former Clear Lake City course north of where Diana Ln. and Ramada Dr. converge. The first all-inclusive shot comes at about 30 seconds. In it, paved and unpaved trails wrap the new pond, which is surrounding by just a few saplings — although plans note it will eventually be an “abundant natural habitat” filled with native vegetation. Some of those incoming species may reside on the so-called “habitat island” that shows up clearly at the 40 second mark.

A parking lot neighbors the southwestern waterfront, adjacent to a pair of new sports fields:

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Exploration Green
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