- 2810 Ellington St. [HAR]
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Acres Homes
Here’s a rendering of the 3-acre strip of property currently being rebranded as NoLo Studios. Per the drawings released earlier this month, the land (which touches the south side of Mansfield Rd. at the intersection with Midgeley St.) will be split up into lots for 14 new residences; that’s up a bit from the 9 mentioned in mid-2015 by Catherine Anspon (by which point 6 of the homes were reportedly already reserved.) The houses, marketed toward mid-career artists and priced between $300,000 and $450,000, are being designed and developed by Francois de Menil, the New-York-based architect son of Menil Collection founders Dominique and John. De Menil bought the land for the project in Acres Homes (which, after World War I, was reportedly the largest unincorporated African-American community in the South) back in April of 2015.
The view above appears to show the 4 houses planned closest to Mansfield, per the subdivision map:
Art House Review
YOUR UPGRADE FROM SHEPHERD DR. TO THE NORTH FWY. WILL BE MUCH SMOOTHER STARTING TODAY 
Today at noon TxDOT opened the brand new connector ramp pictured here, which has been under construction since December 2013. It links northbound traffic at the northern end of Shepherd Dr. to northbound I-45. Wasn’t there a way to get from Shepherd to I-45 already? Yes, but it brought cars into the freeway’s left lane. The new flyover crosses over the freeway to bring drivers onto I-45’s right lane; it hops over the Little York, Victory Blvd., and Veterans Memorial intersections on the way. A separate connector from I-45 south to Shepherd is scheduled to open later this summer. [TxDOT] Photo: TxDOT
Crews are hard at work converting the former hair salon (with 2-bedroom apartment upstairs, pictured above) at 6640 W. Montgomery Rd. in Highland Heights (aka the east side of Acres Homes) to an “edible garden center.” Farmstead is meant to become “the go-to spot for Houstonians wanting to grow their own food at home.” It’ll offer fruit trees, vegetable transplants, and herbs for purchase, along with seeds appropriate for this region. Plus gardening tools, supplies and DIY kits for raising your own garden bed above the gumbo line.
Grow House
- 6814 Covington Dr. [HAR]
Where was this week’s paneled palace?
Three of you guessed Champion Forest. There were 2 guesses each for Inwood Forest, Sharpstown, the FM 1960 area, and Tanglewood. The rest? Memorial near Dairy Ashford, Lakeside, “North or West Houston,” near Hobby Airport, Bellaire, Third Ward between North MacGregor and OST, Briarmeadow, Antoine and Little York, Kingwood, Champions “on the way to Tomball,” Oak Forest, Timber Grove, Shepherd Park Plaza, Inwood, Braeswood area, “off Braeswood,” Maplewood, Glenshire, Westchase, Willowbend, Fondren Southwest, and off 249 near Cypresswood.
There was no winner this week, unless you want to give credit to Chris for mentioning, in passing, “North or West Houston.” Instead, how about some honorable mentions to the folks who came closest? That’d be tcpIV and Dave, who guessed Inwood Forest; CK, who mentioned both Shepherd Park Plaza and Inwood, and Richard, who got stuck at Antoine and Little York.
Great work, everyone! But how about . . . Aldine? Acres Homes? You’re looking at the original Hidden Valley Ranch!
What makes this place so hard to find?
