It’s one thing to see Houston’s demolitions cleaned up and presented in a tidy list every morning; it’s another to gawk at the raw carnage — or sit through a video of it, at least. Swamplot reader Kevin Jackson posts this 10-minute chronicle of destruction of 332 E. 25th St. in the Heights, doomed in the Daily Demolition Report on Friday.
Video: theoriginalkj
The former menswear mod on W. 19th St. and Ashland is being outfitted with some contemporary effects, it appears: Purchased back in 2011 by Braun Enterprises — which also recently snapped up and plans to knock down 2 Baptist Temple Church buildings to make way for retail just north of here — the building has got the signage for what will be Houston’s 3rd Torchy’s Tacos and some fake graffiti advertising a September opening. In the back, the buildout is a bit more substantial: The roof has been popped out rather jauntily for the Heights General Store, a small market and restaurant that will have a terrace, and women’s clothier Emerson Rose.
You can see more photos, going around the corner spot, after the jump:
ALLSTON OR NOTHING: SIDE STREET NOW AT CENTER OF ALEXAN YALE APARTMENT DISPUTE 
About 290 ft. of Allston St. have become the latest point of contention between developer Trammell Crow and Heights opponents to the proposed 5-story Alexan Yale apartment complex. This complex, planned immediately south of the other one, would sit on the block bound by 5th, 6th, Yale, and Rutland, with Allston running through it. The Leader reports that Trammell Crow has requested that the city abandon Allston, which dead-ends just before 5th St., so the complex doesn’t have to be discontiguous; opponents, of course, want Allston to be opened up, to help with traffic and ensure connectivity to the nearby detention basin that’s been proposed as a recreation site. The abandonment request is going to be decided upon soon by a city committee of reps from public works, planning, and the fire department — though Trammell Crow appears to have some leverage, reports Cynthia Lescalleet: “The structure could go even higher, the developer says, if it doesn’t get what it’s seeking. . . . [Trammell Crow] has ‘alternate plans’ that would add two or three floors to the building. There’s also speculation about a possible sky bridge connecting sections on either side of the still-open street.” [The Leader; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Allston St.: Allyn West
There has been a clean up on Aisle 9 in an ivy-covered Houston Heights landmark. Previously converted into a home, the former Morton Brothers Grocery Store appeared on the market Wednesday with a $564,900 asking price. The ribs inside (above) aren’t for eating, though. They’re holding up the roof above the all-in-one living area at the front of the 1928 property, which has held a spot in the National Register of Historic Places — as a domicile — since 1988.
Across town from the new “Stop the San Felipe Skyscraper” signs popping up in River Oaks and Vermont Commons to oppose the proposed 17-story Hines office building, another crop of anti-development placards is objecting in free verse to the Morrison Heights complex of apartments and condos that’s currently under construction near Houston Ave. and White Oak. Eschewing both the bold imperative of the San Felipe signage and the cartoon menace of the Ashby Highrise hatred, these seem to prefer the rhetorical oomph of puns and wordplay and rhyme. And what, exactly, is the development that has received this poetic ire?
Firefighters are battling a smoky blaze this afternoon near the corner of 11th St. and Heights Blvd., next to the post office. A Swamplot reader writes in with this report:
Billowing flames and smoke are rising from the roof of a house at
10131015 Heights Blvd. Neighbors report that it is a two-story stucco historic home that was converted into apartments. A few years back, a porch was added but then exterior work on the remodel stopped. I couldn’t get close enough to take photos. Heights Blvd. is blocked off between 11th St. and 10th St.
Another reader sends in pix:
Construction is well underway at the site of the torn-down Studewood Fiesta on the Village of the Heights. This updated (and softer) rendering shows the 4-story, 103-unit senior living facility as seen from near the intersection of 14th and Studewood; it will be bordered on the north by Algregg. A rep from developer Bridgewood Properties — which operates 3 similar facilities in Houston — says that the 1st floor will be devoted to a clinic for “memory care,” and the 2nd floor will include a fitness center, library, beauty salon, and assisted-living suites; the top 2 floors will be reserved for apartments, ranging from 1-bedroom, 524-sq.-ft. spaces to 2-bedroom, 753-sq.-ft. ones.
Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that the city would relocate its traffic operations to this building; that assertion is in error. The new Patterson St. building is replacing an older structure, and it will serve in addition to the primary traffic operation offices in the Public Works Building Downtown. The story has been corrected. Swamplot regrets the error.
Going up: This building at 2001 Patterson St. On the north side of I-10, the 40,000-sq.-ft. building designed by Kirksey will house the city’s traffic operations offices, warehouses, and sign- and signal-making shops. A smaller pavement-marking shop will be built here too. Fittingly, the buildings will stare across the freeway at David Adickes’s recently installed spelled-out declaration of Houston love.
This photo shows 6th St. between Allston and Yale, the street that would more than likely be pressed into service for the 2 Alexan-brand apartment midrises that Trammell Crow has said it plans to build here. Alexan Heights, the first of the 5-story, 300-odd-unit complexes to be announced, would take up much of the lot to the north to the hike and bike trail near 7th; Alexan Yale, the second, which neighbors seem to have found out about just last week, would take up much of the lot to the south to 5th. The photos below walk you around the lots in question:
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: HOW AND WHERE HOUSTON’S GONNA FIT ALL THOSE NEWCOMERS 
“More density is coming to the Heights and every other Inner Loop neighborhood, because the economic factors at work are unstoppable. Barring a disaster wrecking Houston (natural or otherwise) or an economic crash, more people are coming, and lots of them will want to live near the central parts of the city. All we’re debating is how that will happen. Will needed infrastructure improvements happen? Will there be better transit? Will the density be added in a way to preserves the original neighborhood, and what does that look like?
I have no problem with this kind of development along Yale or Studewood. I think an ideal outcome is main streets with good transit access and dense housing, retail, etc. with historically significant neighborhoods preserved nearby. I think what Arlington County, VA has done along these lines stands as an excellent example.
And the idea that renters bring a neighborhood down is just stupid. unless your idea of a dynamic Heights is one where the average age is 50.” [John (another one), commenting on A Second Midrise Alexan Planned Right Beside the First One on Yale] Illustration: Lulu
It looks like these 4-story townhouses are filling out a bit here on the corner of E. 2nd and Heights Blvd., where in late April their stick-frame precursors fell over in a wind-aided collapse. Fortunately, no one was hurt, though the garage doors of several finished and already occupied neighboring units were damaged. Keystone Classic Homes is the builder of this 8-pack located just south of White Oak Bayou.
A SECOND MIDRISE ALEXAN PLANNED RIGHT BESIDE THE FIRST ONE ON YALE 
The Leader reports that notices have gone out to Heights neighborhood groups indicating that Trammell Crow is planning a second Alexan-brand apartment complex on Yale. This one, writes Cynthia Lescalleet, would also be 4 stories set atop 2 levels of parking. It would sit on a 4.9-acre lot on Yale between 5th and 6th, immediately south of the 3.5-acre lot targeted for the proposed Alexan Heights — the rendering for which is shown here — bound by 6th, Allston, Yale, and the Heights hike and bike trail. Lescalleet quotes from the notice sent around by city council member Ellen Cohen: “TCR has the site under contract and is currently performing preliminary due diligence, and they expect to close the purchase of the property by the end of the year. Once TCR establishes a site plan and unit count, they will perform a new traffic study that will include roadways and intersections included in their previous TIA, while also including new intersections on Yale St., Heights Boulevard, and I-10, as well as pedestrian counts.†[The Leader; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Trammell Crow Residential
COMMENT OF THE DAY: ODE TO THE FAMILY GAS STATION, RECENTLY DEPARTED 
“Yes, it was a sad day. I’ll have a hard time driving down 14th street from now on. I shed a few tears seeing it knocked down. To the [commenter] who suggested it be moved to the park –– it was offered but no takers.
Grandpa’s dad owned the property and grandpa Fred Schauer began running the station when he was a kid (before he was 16 I think). I remember when he got his 50 years Gulf pin. He ran the station from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. six days a week. But then Gulf stopped delivering to independents who couldn’t support giant tankers and giant loads of gas. That was the beginning of the end. My uncle ran it with some generic gas for a few years after that but the gas market had irrevocably changed.
That station has been closed for many years now and despite the quaint ideas how it might be used (I’ve had a few myself), the business realities today are different. (Just ask the MAM’s ladies what renovations are required for a permanent location for a snowcone shop and you’ll soon understand.)
Both Fred and Hazel have been gone for many years now and the property passed on. This isn’t about greedy real estate developers just realities. Property values soar, taxes soar, maintenance soars, and land use changes. People don’t buy an expensive piece of land to live in a 1100 sf house. The two small adjoining houses will be demolished as well and I’m sure I’ll morbidly drive over to see.
I’m sure the new owners will build a lovely home, and I sincerely hope they’re happy there.” [twyla davis, commenting on The End for the Historic Heights Schauer Filling Station?] Illustration: Lulu
Just a little after 5 p.m. on Friday, according to one reader, the Schauer Filling Station was bitten into by this burly chomper and brought down. (Apparently, a demo permit had been received earlier that day.) The vacant 1929 station on the corner of Oxford and 14th St. in the Heights had been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983. And some readers seem to have had grand plans for the ol’ property. Bill writes: “I was wanting to open an outdoor coffee/ice cream shop there but last I looked (when it was publicly advertised) those 3 houses were for sale together for some crazy stupid amount of money. Nothing a coffee/ice cream shop could pay for.”
Despite its spot on National Register of Historic Places, the 1929 Schauer Filling Station doesn’t seem to be much longer for this world — nor the equally old, if not equally historic homes on the property at the corner of Oxford and 14th St. in the Heights. At least that’s what a few readers have been hearing: “All of the folks that were living in these houses,” writes one, “have been moved out (I think they were relatives of the previous owners) and the neighborhood chatter is that the new owners will be leveling everything on the property.”
Besides the filling station, that would include the 676-sq.-ft. house at 1408 Oxford that dates to 1899, and the 1,104-sq.-ft. blue bungalow, also dating to 1929, visible in the photo above that was taken earlier this June. County records do show that the properties at 1404 and 1408 Oxford had been owned recently by one Hazel C. Schauer.
