Neighborhood

Featured Posts
07/10/18 3:30pm

Vacant Second Ward Lot Now Embarks on Second Life as El Segundo Swim Club

by
Openings and Closings, Second Ward
2 Comments

Surf’s up at El Segundo Swim Club, the Second Ward swimming pool bar that’s now soaking up the sun on the formerly vacant lot at 5180 Avenue L, north of Navigation Blvd. The watering hole has been inviting swimmers in to take a dip over the past few days through a series of ticketed preview events that are planned to continue through this weekend.

Shade comes courtesy of the bright orange umbrellas now surrounding the pool deck — in place of the folded-up, gray ones shown above during the site’s transition phase back in February. A few modified shipping containers give visitors room to get out of the sun, too — except for the one on the left in the photo at top; it houses the bar.

The 15,000-sq.-ft. lot didn’t have much flora before the redo, but that’s changed thanks to these transplants:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Wet Bar
, , ,
Featured Posts
07/10/18 10:00am

Bobcat Teddy’s New BCycle Station Is Ready To Roll

by
Houston Heights, Public Transportation, Quicklink
11 Comments

BOBCAT TEDDY’S NEW BCYCLE STATION IS READY TO ROLL The recent docking of a new BCycle station outside the former Jimmy’s turned Bobcat Teddy’s Ice House on the corner of White Oak Dr. and Threlkeld St. brings the total number of bike hubs in the system to around 60. Its installation was supported in part by a fundraiser held at the bar last month during which representatives from Texas Gold Sprint’em — an operator that hosts stationary bike races complete with emcees and accompanying AV equipment — were on hand to organize competition. Now that road-ready vehicles are on-site at the venue, they fill in a gap along White Oak Dr., where no other BCycle station currently exists. [Houston City Planning Department; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Houston City Planning Department

, , , ,
Featured Posts
07/09/18 3:00pm

ArtMix Studio Debuts in Times Blvd. Storefront That a Part of G&G Model Shop Still Won’t Let Go Of

by
Openings and Closings, Renovations, Retail, Rice Village, Signs
2 Comments

Since longtime Times Blvd. tenant G&G Model Shop left its storefront last August, the space has been whitened, renovated and snapped up by ArtMix Creative Learning Center — a children’s art school that relocated from 3701 W. Alabama St. earlier this year. But the model shop — located at 2522 Times for over 60 years — remains attached to the space. A G&G representative told Swamplot previously that the metal sign would follow the business over to its new spot in the strip center at the corner of 59 and Shepherd (home to a few more elderly Rice Village expats as well).

But just last Thursday, a poster on HAIF noted that address is still crowned by a temporary vinyl banner:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Rice Village Relics
, , , , ,
Featured Posts
07/06/18 5:00pm

AT&T Wants New Zoning Coverage for Its Back Parking Lot To Allow Unlimited Service Van Usage

by
West University
6 Comments

Signs are up outside AT&T’s West U. building on Bellaire Blvd. announcing the changes the carrier wants to make to allow service vehicles to load and unload gear in its backyard. Laid down on a row of 4 former residential lots in 1970, the parking lot was expanded by 2 parcels in 1975 and now backs both the telecom building and the Whole Foods–anchored shopping center adjacent to it. Service vehicles and their associated personnel have used the lot since it was first paved, according to the company’s rezoning application.

West U. officials signed off on the land’s new use for parking back when it was first paved. The question now is what is what sort of backyard activities are permitted within that area — an issue on which the city has flip-flopped. In 2016, it gave AT&T the all-clear to keep conducting service activities in the lot. But following a challenge from a neighboring resident that same year, officials changed their minds. AT&T filed a lawsuit in response, but just this January agreed to work toward a settlement with the city.

A public hearing on the zoning request was originally scheduled for June 11 but was postponed to a date TBD — prompting some timely yard sign edits like the one shown below

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

West U.
, ,
Bars and Clubs
07/06/18 10:00am

How Saint Arnold’s Beer Cathedral Complex Is Shaping Up Across the Street from Its Brewery

by
Fifth Ward, New Construction
No Comments

Despite the bare-bones look, construction on Saint Arnold’s drinking and entertainment complex across Semmes St. from its existing brewery is nearly complete. Renderings put out earlier by the brewery called for the steel beams supporting the roof over its back patio to extend beyond the covering, leaving the southernmost portion of the seating area unshaded. New landscaping now adds to the decor below it all.

But the big thing still missing is the lettering that’s planned to spell out the brewery’s name along the extended cupola, as shown at the top of the rendering below:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Fifth Ward
, , ,
Bayous and Waterways
07/05/18 4:00pm

What Johnny Steele Dog Park Looks Like Completely Submerged Again

by
Flooding, Montrose, North Montrose, Parks
15 Comments

On-the-ground footage from KHOU reporter David Gonzalez shows just how much water the Johnny Steele Dog Park — redone and reopened 3 weeks ago following its last flood — took on yesterday. By the end of the downpour, floodwaters had risen up a few steps from where the park begins at the foot of the staircase leading to Allen Pkwy., as shown in the photo above.

That left these 2 out of luck:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Bayou Spillover
, , , ,
Bars and Clubs
07/05/18 2:00pm

Hops Meet Barley Meets Its End on W. Alabama

by
Openings and Closings, Upper Kirby
4 Comments

Permanent closing time has arrived at Upper Kirby bar Hops Meet Barley — which is now sporting leasing signage from Parkway Partners next to its own grains-themed marquee at 2245 W. Alabama St., between Revere and Greenbriar. The venue checked out just shy of a 2-year run in the space formerly home to Ãœberrito and more formerly Mission Burrito — both of which fronted a playground that once stood in the patio pictured above.

West of the building’s entrance, a parking lot wraps around and behind the structure as part of the 19,036-sq.-ft. lot it sits on: CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Tapping Out
, , ,
Condos
07/05/18 12:00pm

Mandell Montrose Leasing Office Shutters Next to Vacant Lot Where Midrise Hasn’t Risen

by
Hyde Park, Montrose, Openings and Closings
4 Comments

The sales center for the not-yet-built Mandell Montrose condo slated for Fairview St. is now closed, and a representative of its sales team tells Swamplot that the developer has no plans to reopen it. Since the building’s abandonment, signage outside the converted Hyde Park residence taken over by the agents has adopted a lower position than it previously held on the structure, pictured above.

And in the neighboring 12,493-sq.-ft. lot on the corner of Fairview and Commonwealth streets — where Midtown Uptown Development Partners planned a 7-story, 24-unit midrise to overtop the surrounding neighborhood — the tallest structures are still the signs stuck up there just over a year ago:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Fairview and Commonwealth
, , , , ,
Bayous and Waterways
07/05/18 10:00am

Impromptu July 4th Float Stars in Cancelled Freedom Over Texas Festivities

by
Flooding, Fourth Ward, Parks
13 Comments

Mayor Turner had already cancelled all Freedom Over Texas events yesterday — save for the fireworks — by the time the HOUSTON sign planted in Eleanor Tinsley Park got caught up in the flow of things and began drifting downstream, away from the Bud Light Beer Garden that it originally fronted. Despite the disorder, the letters managed to stay afloat during their time on the water, captured by Chronicle photographer Yi-Chin Lee.

They ended up making landfall in the middle of the lawn:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Rainy Spell
, , , , , ,
Featured Posts
07/03/18 5:00pm

Awesome Bites Will Take a Chunk Out of Shops at Sawyer Yards’ West Side

by
First Ward, Restaurants, Sawyer Yards
No Comments

Coming soon to the west side of the warehouse-turned-Shops at Sawyer Yards building on the corner of Sawyer and Edwards streets: Awesome Bites, a health-minded bakery specializing in fruit- and vegetable-based muffins made without eggs, butter, or milk. A building permit filed last Friday for the strip at 2313 Edwards — the nearer building in the photo above — has the new 1,600-sq.-ft. venue slotted into suite 185. That puts it west of Pokeology in either the box labelled B above (where B&B Butchers once left its mark but never materialized) or potentially right next door to the raw fishery — if the adjacent, yet-to-be announced taco shop’s plans fall through.

Images: Lovett Commercial

First Ward
, , , ,
Featured Posts
07/03/18 4:00pm

Stanley Park Soil-Shufflers Tagged for Jumping the Gun After Mayor Puts Floodplain Neighborhood Construction on Hold

by
New Construction, Timbergrove Manor
7 Comments

At last week’s city council meeting, Mayor Turner told residents that the Stanley Park subdivision now on the rise in the 100-year floodplain south of Timbergrove Manor “is currently on hold. I know Harris County Flood Control has put a hold on it. We have also put a hold on it to take a look at it.” But as of Monday morning, site work was still continuing on the 12-acre parcel — according to StopStanleyPark, an organization nearby residents set up to oppose the project — until the red tag pictured above was issued for it in the afternoon.

A pair of dump trucks, along with an excavator were the latest visitors to the job site at the end of Shirkmere Dr.:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Splash of Color
, , ,
« Previous Page Next Page »