Featured Posts

06/06/17 9:15am

Washington Warehouse’s Rainbow Retail Re-Doing Could Lie at the End of an Extended Edwards St.

Sawyer Heights, Washington Corridor

No Comments

Another potential future target in ~~striking~~ walking range of that 542-space parking lot Lovett Commercial looks to beÂ planning atÂ Center and Silver streets:Â the color-splashed warehouse redo sketched out above, as seen in another of the company’s current leasing fliers. This one is for a facelift of the 1970s building former occupied byÂ Mass Electric Construction CompanyÂ atÂ 1201 Oliver St., a few blocks west down the railroad tracks past Sawyer St. Clustered nearby are a fair number ofÂ other Lovett-affiliated developments (including some of the artsyÂ hubbub between Sawyer andÂ Silver).

Renderings and site plans suggestÂ a cidery could be taking over the west end of the building — the flier includes a north-is-down lookÂ at plans for splitting upÂ the space, including a cutout for a breezeway:

Wash Ave Sketch

77007, Development Patterns, Parking, Parking-Lots, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail, Washington Ave.

06/05/17 10:15am

Lucky 7 Block in Former Frenchtown To Be Cleared Out for Gated AirBnB-able Townhomes, Townhome Accessories

Fifth Ward, Townhouses

9 Comments

That cluster of demo workÂ alongÂ Liberty Rd. lately appears to be clearing the wayÂ for the boxy flock of yet-unbuilt townhomes drawn out above, one of which is now listed on HAR for a smidge below $270,000.Â The homesÂ are shownÂ as a set of 12 in the listing,Â with the development’s baker’s dozen rounded out by aÂ new retail structure filling the southwest quarter of the block. (Not shown: the former Lucky 7 supermarket building at the corner with Des Chaumes St., which went up for lease a couple of times over the past few years.) (Also not shown: the gate around the development, as mentioned in the listing.)

Both the proposed retail spot and the townhomes are shown with rooftop hangout spaces (or at least are described asÂ ableÂ toÂ have a rooftop patio added, for a price bump). The homes themselves,Â the listing also notes, can beÂ tweaked to include a downstairs kitchenette to give them that special Air-BNB flavor.

Popping Up in Fifth Ward

77026, Demolition, Development Patterns, Fifth Ward, Retail, Townhouses

06/02/17 2:45pm

Corner Lot Hidden Away for Decades Beneath 1904 Heights House Could Join the Commercial Crowd

Houston Heights, Proposed Developments

18 Comments

A commercial realty sign was spotted this week near the 110-plus-years-old house on W. 20th St. at the northeast corner with Ashland St., per the report of a reader on the prowl with a pet. The double-decker 1904 home is actually the only piece of land at the intersection that isn’t already involved in some sort of business dealings, whether by way of conversion to retail space (like the house across Ashland hosting the Heights Florist Shop), as simple logistical support (like the parking lot across W. 20th), or as part of higher commercial aspirations (as demonstrated by the St. Joseph medical midrise, diagonally across). CRBE, meanwhile, has its own tentative suggestions of what could be done with the .64-acre property, which is being marketedÂ for ground lease:

W. 20th, East of Waterworks

77008, Historic Homes, Houston Heights, Land for Lease

Demolitions

06/02/17 12:45pm

Fallen Jefferson Davis Nurses Quarters Face Death atop Old City Graveyard, Surrounded by Art and Emergency Response Vehicles

First Ward, Historic Preservation, Public Art

No Comments

The partially ruined former Jefferson Davis HospitalÂ nurses quarters at 1225 Elder St.Â — until very recentlyÂ in the running for a spotÂ on the National Register of Historic Places — was recommended for demolition at last week’s Harris County Commissioner’s Court meeting following a public hearingÂ the day before.Â The building, tucked west ofÂ the elevated freeway tangle where I-45 splits from I-10 near Downtown, would have joined the nextdoor former Jefferson Davis Hospital itself on the historicÂ registry — instead, it looks like the structure will finally meet meet the ‘dozers after its long slow decline, accelerated by damage from a fire inÂ 2013 that lead toÂ last year’s semi-collapse.

Next door, the 4-story hospital structure (built in 1924, and replaced by 1938 with another Jefferson Davis Hospital where the Federal Reserve building now stands onÂ Allen Pkwy.) cycled through variousÂ modes of use and disuse until its early 2000’s restoration into the Elder Street Artist Lofts, whichÂ serve as low-rentÂ apartmentsÂ and studios forÂ artsy types.Â That redevelopment, of course, involved carefully diggingÂ around theÂ dozens of unmarked gravesÂ turned up on the surrounding land, which beginning inÂ 1840Â had served as the second city cemetery (and as the final resting place forÂ a hodgepodge likely including Â Confederate soldiers,Â former slaves, victims of the 1860sÂ yellow fever epidemics, people who died in duels, Masons, and a variety of others). The hospital’s name is still carved above the lofts’ entrance:

First Ward Fire Damage by HFD

77007, Affordable Housing, Apartments, Art, Cemeteries, Churches, Collapses, Confederate History, Demolition, Fires, First Ward, Graveyards, Historic Preservation, National Register of Historic Places, Public Art, Restaurants, Restorations, Statues

06/01/17 2:00pm

How the 24-Sided Kinder Building’s Roof Swoops Will Fit In with the MFAH’s Expanding Building Collection

Museum District, Museums, New Construction

8 Comments

Construction started yesterday on the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building, going up in the Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s former parking lot north of Bissonnet St.Â at Main. That’s the curvy-roofed structure itself visible in the rendering above — the drawing shows the expectedÂ view of the building from the rooftop garden of the already-under-constructionÂ nearbyÂ replacementÂ forÂ the formerly glass-covered Glassell School (whose underground parking garage opened up when the surface lot closed last week).Â Both of the new buildings were designedÂ by Steven Holl Architects — here’s where they fall on the map, along some of the other big changes in the worksÂ for the Museum’sÂ campus:

Museum District Parking

77005, Architecture, Art, Gardens, Museum District, Museums, New Construction, Parks, Proposed Developments, Public Art

06/01/17 11:30am

What’s Sticking Up Near and Underneath 2929 Weslayan’s Frilly Skirt

Greenway Plaza, Highland Village, Restaurants, Retail

3 Comments

A couple of projects on the near and more distant horizons at the corner of Weslayan and W. Alabama turned a reader’s head this week as he passed by the short-skirted base of the 2929 Weslayan highrise. To the west, a sign posted alongsideÂ the parking lot of the half-moon-footedÂ 2900 Weslayan office midrise bears a rendering of a new retail building PMRG is planning for the site.Â A few more views of the 6,500-sq.-ft. projectÂ make a somewhat rosy appearanceÂ in the new leasing materials for the space:

Sneaking Some Peeks

77027, Greenway/Upper Kirby, Highland Village, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail

Bars and Clubs

05/31/17 11:15am

Tuscanized Former Dry Cleaning Spot on Brays Bayou Almost Ready for Its Restaurant Biz Re-Debut

Braeswood Place, Restaurants

7 Comments

The Bacco folks appear to beÂ moving right along with theÂ makeover of that little freestanding Shriner’s HospitalÂ clothing donation centerÂ building along Brays Bayou northwest of Stella Link Rd., a few readers note. The donation center signage (shown in the second photo) has now been fully swapped out for the wine bar’s logo and entryway stylings, and the bar says it’ll be working on an outdoor deck soon, now that internal rearrangements have mostly wrapped up. The new look has so far maintained the stone skin that the building picked up aroundÂ 2013,Â before the then-empty retail shell picked up senior care consultantÂ Care Locators as a tenant; before that, the Pilgrim Cleaners had opted for a more flat color scheme (shown below in an old listing photo without much in the way of windows, either):

Bar on the Bayou

77025, Adaptive Reuse, Braeswood Place, Brays-Bayou, Restaurants, Retail

05/30/17 2:15pm

The Bill To Force an Astrodome Garage-ification Election Is Dead, Again, For Now

Reliant Park

14 Comments

The state bill proposed by Houston-area senator John Whitmire (to require a vote on major county-funded upgrades to certain TexasÂ stadiums that happen to be the Astrodome) was killed in the Texas House by a different Houston-area legislator, Robert Arnold reports this week for KHOU. (That likely means the work on Harris County’s plan to fill in the bottom of the Dome with an underground parking garage can go ahead without a special election on the spending.) The bill actually passed the Senate at the end of March, but died in theÂ House’s County Affairs committee chaired by representative Garnet Coleman (whose own legislative district ever-so-slightly overlaps Whitmire’s around Fourth Ward:Â From there, Coleman’s District 147 stretches down through Third Ward toward the Beltway along the Gulf Freeway, while Whitmire’s Senate District 15 horseshoes up 290 to FMÂ 1960 and Humble before looping back down to the Ship Channel). Arnold says the bill made an unsuccessful comeback attempt as an amendment to anotherÂ measure, and looks to be dead for nowÂ as of yesterday’s end ofÂ theÂ normal legislative calendar.Â (Then again —Â who knows whatÂ mightÂ pop up duringÂ a special session?)

Schematic of county Astrodome parking garage plan: Harris County Engineering Dept.

Parking Plan Stop-and-Go

77054, Astrodome, Historic Preservation, NRG Park, Parking-Garages, Redevelopment, State Laws

Brunner

05/30/17 12:00pm

Bethel Church’s Entire Center St. Block Now Sending Mixed Use Messages

Mixed Use, Proposed Developments

7 Comments

Catty-corner to the southwestÂ of the area’s newest self-storage midrise,Â the block at N. Shepherd Dr. and Nett St. housing Bethel ChurchÂ is now broadcasting plans forÂ aÂ mixed-use developmentÂ from several large signs standing around on the property. A couple of readers reported the new decorÂ from various angles late onÂ FridayÂ (including the one above, which includes a glimpseÂ ofÂ finallyÂ settled, named, and openedÂ FM Kitchen + Bar on the former Alva Graphics lot across the street). The church’s 1.48-acre blockÂ (bounded by Durham Dr. and Center St. on the other 2 sides) hit the market last summer, and looks to be getting wrapped into the Hunington development fold.

The conversion of the church property would put a mixed-use developmentÂ right next to the Azure ApartmentsÂ midrise currently going up right across Durham:

N. Shepherd Conversions

77007, Brunner, Churches, Land Sales, Mixed-Use Developments, Proposed Developments, Washington Corridor

05/26/17 11:30am

Your Trusted Source for â€™Round-the-Clock Live Coverage of the Old KPRC Station Takedown

2 Comments

Perpetually hungeringÂ forÂ on-the-scene updates on the ongoing demolition of KPRC’sÂ old broadcast station south of Beechnut St. along the Southwest Freeway? Here’s one means of getting your fix: AÂ construction webcam set upÂ above and nearby is still posting updates on the siteÂ everyÂ 12-to-13 minutes at all hours of the day and night.Â The 1972 building is coming down right next door to the station’s newly opened replacement, designed to fit Tetris-style into a handy nook on the back of the original — that’s it wearing a protective blue tarp in the shot above, which was captured aroundÂ 10:15 this morning. You can even follow the actionÂ all the way back to December 2015,Â before the breakup ofÂ the surface parking lot where the new building now stands.

That drone view of the demo that Russell Hancock snaggedÂ last week shows a broader view ofÂ both building still (mostly) in place together (andÂ makes it marginally clearer whyÂ some station affiliatesÂ claim the seventies structure was meant to lookÂ like an old camera:)

24 Hour News Demo Cycle

77074, Braeburn, Demolition, New Construction, Openings and Closings, Sharpstown, Southwest Freeway

05/25/17 2:00pm

Latest Semi To Get Stuck in that N. Main Tunnel by Hardy Yards Gets Top Shredded Off, Too

Near Northside

14 Comments

Not to be outdone by last week’s midday plug-upÂ of the Alfred Hernandez Tunnel beneath the railroad tracks and the Burnett TCÂ Red Line stop, another semi making its way through the passage got lodged in the tunnelÂ late this morning — getting torn open end-to-end in the process. But that’s not even the first truck stuckage incident at the underpass in the last 24 hours, according to a reader who’s had both a camera and a Twitter account trained on the recently retooled intersection for at least the last few months.

The reader tells Swamplot that another truck got stuck briefly last night, and that it happens about 6 times a week:Â “Our camera system auto-wakes when it hears something beyond a certain threshold; most drive away, presumably nervous[ly] on their way to have a talk with the boss.” Some work on the tunnel has been on the city’s docket this spring, and was approved at a mid-April meeting; that’s likely to start aroundÂ the end of the month.Â

Here’s the scene from above as of early this afternoon:

Near-Daily Grind in Near Northside

77009, Accidents, Infrastructure, Near Northside, Streets, Traffic, Tunnels

05/25/17 10:45am

Raw Materials of Fourth Ward Refinery Restaurant Now Being Processed, Converted into Seafood Bar

Fourth Ward

5 Comments

The Refinery Burgers & WhiskeyÂ is currently in the process of moving past itsÂ oil theme dependencyÂ and rebranding to pay homage to a different set ofÂ Gulf Coast-al tropes: the new name of the joint at 702 W. Dallas St. will be South Bank Seafood Bar, and a menu including some Asian and Cajun-Creole nodsÂ is purportedly in the works.

TheÂ patio in front of the 2-spot retail strip (which the restaurant sharesÂ with barber and beardwrangler Shave) has been getting dressed up and expandedÂ as part of the remodel. And just this morning, a reader caught sight of what may be preparations to slice a service-window-shaped hole into theÂ shipping containerÂ now sitting out front:

Habitat Alteration at Downtown’s Edge

77019, Adaptive Reuse, Bars, Fourth Ward, Remodeling, Restaurants

05/24/17 3:30pm

Is the Ginger Man Poised To Take Over the W. Gray Junction’s Junction?

Fourth Ward, Midtown

2 Comments

It doesn’t take effect until August — but a new sales permitÂ looks to have been okayed last month for 160 W. Gray St., bearing the name The Ginger Man – West Gray. The Rice Village bar has previously established outposts in locales as far-flung as Austin, Dallas, and PlanoÂ (and claims a somewhat looser connection to a trio of spots in New York and Connecticut), butÂ a West Gray location would be the chain’s second spot inside the Loop(s). That spot, meanwhile, is still the home of Junction Bar & Grill, just north of the W. Gray Y with Webster St. — though the building itself (shown above) was listedÂ for lease on LoopNet earlier this spring.Â Prior to theÂ turn of the decade, the spaceÂ previously went by The Wet Spot.Â

A recent-ish photo from the lease listing (above) shows off the wrapping up of the Dolce Living apartments next door. Â Not pictured, just beyond the duo of homesÂ visible to the east below: the charred skeleton of Fuzzy’s Tacos, which wasÂ cleared out some time after its November flameout.Â

Midtown Fourth Ward Junction

77002, Bars, Commercial Buildings for Lease, Fourth Ward, Midtown, Permits

05/24/17 11:30am

Where 2 New Buildings and 542 New Surface Parking Spots Could Fit North of Washington Ave.

New Construction, Restaurants, Retail, Washingto Corridor, Washington Ave

11 Comments

The paved lot now being marketed asÂ 1818 Washington Ave. (across Silver St. from thatÂ recently recolonizedÂ cluster of ex-nightclub buildings, and bookended to theÂ east byÂ the former bakery now housingÂ B&B Butchers)Â appears to beÂ marked for some higher purposes, per recently released leasing materials for the property. Plans on Lovett Commercial’s flier for the site showÂ 2 structures (rendered above as things might look fromÂ Washington Ave., facing towardÂ Tacodeli) that pretty much fill up theÂ whole piece of landÂ — but fear not, parking-requirement hawks! The land directly north of the property, aÂ 2-block elongated space nestled mostly between Center St. andÂ aÂ stretch ofÂ Union Pacific railroad, is marked up to become a 4-plus-acreÂ surface lot, with room for 542 cars or so; that’d likely more than make up for the parking spaces that B&B would lose, too.

That’s the apparent plan for now, anyway — the flier does point outÂ that some kind of garage structure is probably on the table for later on. As for the yet-unbuilt spaces for lease:Â The site plans show an L-shapedÂ 2-storyÂ building,Â plus a smaller, squatterÂ freestanding restaurant spaceÂ tucked back along the corner of Silver and Center. The larger structure has spots marked off for a couple of upstairs patios,Â as well as office use:Â