Neighborhood

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25815 Timber Lakes Dr. [HAR]

77380, Decks, Homes for Sale, Spring

Bars and Clubs

02/12/18 4:30pm

New Swimming Pool Bar Next to Navigation Cement Plant Now Holding Water, Waiting on Liquor

New Construction, Second Ward

9 Comments

Coming soon to the long-vacant lot next to the Cemex cement plant on Navigation east of Lockwood: El Segundo Swim Club, a swimming pool bar shown still under construction but already watered in the photos above. Work on the 1,350-sq.-ft. pool and its surroundings began last July, 2 months after an entity connected to developer Matthew Healey bought the property on the corner of Avenue L and N. Edgewood St. The photos above look over the barbed wire up on the corner of Avenue L to show the 15,000-sq.-ft. yard planted with umbrellas, chairs, a hammock, and a converted shipping container.

A view from N. Edgewood St. shows the freight container fronting the pool:

Adult Swim

77011, Bars and Clubs, New Construction, Second Ward

02/12/18 2:15pm

Mattress Stores Making a Sleepy Retreat from Shepherd

Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail

3 Comments

Landlord Kensinger Donnelly has replaced previous flyers claiming that the Mattress 1 One location on the corner of W. Alabama and Shepherd was shut down for “renovations” with the new one pictured above declaring it has locked the retailer out of its spot at the far north of the strip that includes Mega DJ and Jenni’s Noodle House, across from CVS. Just south at the corner of Shepherd and Richmond, Mattress Overstock is another casualty of the continuing mattress shrinkage trend — it shuttered toward the end of last year.

Now your best bet for bedding is to head north on Shepherd to Westheimer where a Mattress 1 One and competing Mattress Firm have been holding a standoff just south of the intersection since the former showed up on the west side of the street in 2014. It’s one of the 12 Mattress 1 One locations that exist within a 5 mile radius of the shuttered store off W. Alabama — down from 15 last October.

Previously on Swamplot: A Mattress Store Has Closed in Montrose

Photos: Swamplot inbox

Down for the Count

77098, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail

02/12/18 12:15pm

How the City Skipped Out on a Sunnyside Apartment Complex for the Past 9 Years

Quicklink, Sunnyside Place

8 Comments

HOW THE CITY SKIPPED OUT ON A SUNNYSIDE APARTMENT COMPLEX FOR THE PAST 9 YEARS How does a 24-unit apartment building — one of those 1,000-plus Houston complexes the University of Texas School of Law’s recent study identifies as missing a Certificate of Occupancy — go nearly a decade without having the document? In 2012, public works inspected the Bellfort Townhomes on Bellfort St. between Cullen and Scott and called it a “material risk to the physical safety or health of the buildingâ€™s tenants.” The building’s owner told an inspector that he’d apply for a Certificate — granted after landlords bring their buildings into compliance with city code — when the city contacted him the next year. But then, public works simply lost track of things. For 3 yearsÂ starting in 2014, the department had no contact with 4410 Bellfort until it came time for the building’s next inspection last January — which resulted in the same findings as the previous one. Why the lapse? “According to the head of Houstonâ€™s Multi-Family Habitability Division, after the Division identified properties without a Certificate in the first round of inspections, the Divisionâ€™s practice was to close the propertyâ€™s inspection file as long as the owner submitted an application for a Certificate of Occupancy,” write researchers Heather K. Way and Carol Fraser, “even if the owner never successfully obtained the Certificate.” At least one group made sure to stay in touch with the city, though: “During this three-year period, tenants and nearby residents called 311 at least eight times to report sewage overflow issues at the property.” [UT School of Law Entrepreneurship and Community Clinic; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Bellfort Townhomes: Swamplot inbox

77051, Apartments, Building Codes, Sunnyside

Homes for Sale

02/09/18 5:15pm

Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: Sleep Tight

Memorial

2 Comments

214 Sugarberry Cir. [HAR]

Bedrooms, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Memorial

Comments

02/09/18 4:00pm

Comment of the Day: Identifying the Wildlife on the Valentine Corner Law Office in Seabrook

Quicklink, Seabrook

1 Comment

COMMENT OF THE DAY: IDENTIFYING THE WILDLIFE ON THE VALENTINE CORNER LAW OFFICE IN SEABROOK “So those are dolphins along the sidewalk, made many years ago by Mr. Miller across the street. And there were sharks on the side of the building up high. I took them down a few years ago to have the sharks polished, and the guy I hired disappeared with my 2 sharks.” [Michael Valentine, commenting on TxDOT Wins Custody of Head-Turning Tiny Law Office in Seabrook Ahead of Planned Hwy. 146 Widening] Photo of Valentine Law Office, 1210 Bayport Blvd.: BFS Man [license]

77586, Comments, Highways, Seabrook, TXDOT

02/09/18 1:00pm

Poking Around H-E-B’s Future Spot on the Half-Vacant Block Across from the Kirby Whole Foods Market

Proposed Developments, Upper Kirby

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Here’s the block of land off Kirby between W. Alabama and Steel St. that H-E-B bought last month and plans to plant with a new store, across from the existing Upper Kirby Whole Foods. H-E-B’s idea, reports the Chronicleâ€™s Paul Takahashi, is to pair up with developer Midway to build a new mixed-use complex on the site — mapped out in the middle of the survey above, just south of the block that Stolz Partners and Hanover have already divvied up for their respective Giorgetti Houston and Hanover River Oaks residential buildings.Â Renderings of what the grocer has planned for the site haven’t been released yet, nor have any details of its where its entrances will be. But plans submitted to the city last year for the 3.8-acre parcel dub it Kirby Crossing.

The block’s northern frontage along Steel St. is lined with dual rows of oak trees that once provided cover for the Kirby Court Apartments, torn down on both sides of Steel in 2015. South of the tree lines and the vacant field in place of the former residences behind them, a retail strip runs along W. Alabama. The photo at top looks across W. Alabama from Bed Bath & Beyond’s parking lot to view J Sussan Interiors former furniture store now repurposed as Giorgetti’s leasing office on the corner of Kirby. East of the office, Allen Cleaners does its business in a smaller building:

Supermarket Corridor

77098, Propose Developments, Retail, Supermarkets, Upper Kirby

Homes for Sale

02/08/18 5:00pm

Pearland Home Listing Photo of the Day: The Mudroom

Pearland

3 Comments

2033 Kelly Dr. [HAR]

77581, Homes for Sale, Pearland, Sheds

02/07/18 4:30pm

TxDOT Wins Custody of Head-Turning Tiny Law Office in Seabrook Ahead of Planned Hwy. 146 Widening

Seabrook, Transportation

39 Comments

The 660-sq.-ft. law office marooned on a traffic island in Seabrook for 86 years might finally get ousted from its spot in local what-is-that-thing lore when TxDOTâ€™s planned road widening project gets underway along a 3-mile stretch of Hwy. 146. Attorney Michael Valentine bought the building on the corner of Bayport Blvd. and 2nd St. in 1989 and did it up with the leafy haircut andÂ ~~shark~~ dolphin-themed metal edging.Â (Bayport Blvd. is the segment of 146 that runs through Seabrook — shown to the left of building in the photo at top.) In its past lives, the 2-story wedge at 1210 Bayport had been at various points an ice house and a bait shop.

Documents filed with Harris County Clerk show that TxDOT agreed to snatch the building from Valentine for a sum of $114,356 last October after filing an eminent domain proceeding against the entity he uses to administer the property. At least 9 other businesses along Bayport, including Ryan’s Cleaners, Tookie’s Burgers, and Laredo’s Tex-Mex Cafe have already closed or relocated ahead of the roadwork that plans to turn 146 between Red Bluff Rd. and Clear Creek — currently 4 lanes — into 12.

Eminent Domain

77586, Highways, Seabrook, Transportation, TXDOT

Comments

02/07/18 1:45pm

Comment of the Day: Texas Central’s Parking Garage Isn’t Just a Side Gig

Proposed Developments, Public Transportation, Quicklink, Spring Branch

14 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: TEXAS CENTRAL’S PARKING GARAGE ISN’T JUST A SIDE GIG “Site plans of both stations (Houston and Dallas) make it clear that the revenue model for this project isnâ€™t selling train tickets — itâ€™s selling parking. This site is ideal for that purpose: there’s no where nearby (walking distance) to compete for parking revenue, and it has a much cheaper land cost than Downtown. If youâ€™re going to make the station 80 percent parking garage, why bother spending the extra money running it all the way to Downtown?” [Angostura, commenting on What Texas Centralâ€™s Proposed Houston Bullet Train Station Looks Like in Place of the Northwest Mall] Conceptual rendering of Houston bullet train station from W. 18th St.: Texas Central

77022, Bullet Train, Comments, Northwest Mall, Proposed Developments, Public Transportation, Spring Branch East

Apartments

02/07/18 1:00pm

Construction Nearly Rounded Out on the Kirby Collection of Buildings Between Colquitt and W. Main

New Construction, Office Buildings, Retail, Upper Kirby

2 Comments

Been a while since your last Kirby Dr. drive? Here’s a look over developer Thor Equities’s collected works — dubbed the Kirby Collection — now standing tall between Colquitt and W. Main. The complex just north of Richmond began rising back in 2015 on the site of Cafe Express and a set of bars carved out of the former Settegast Kopf funeral home. A few pioneers have already settled in the 25-story ribbed apartment tower, shown on the left in the photo above. A boxier 13-floor office building rises at the south end of the block, on the right.

On the complex’s Kirby-fronting side, you can see where street-level shops will move into the Collection’s 65,000 sq. ft. of retail space, north of its ringed entrance court:

In the Upper Kirby Air

77098, Apartments, New Construction, Office Buildings, Upper Kirby

Condos

02/06/18 5:15pm

Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: The Garden Path

Homes for Sale, Memorial

No Comments

781 Country Place Dr., Unit 1051 [HAR]

77079, Condominiums, Homes for Sale, Memorial

02/06/18 5:00pm

Where Les Ba’get Will Land in a Bigger, Brand-New Shopping Center Storefront Now That Its Montrose Home Has Closed

Oak Forest, Restaurants

2 Comments

The glassy storefront shown on the far right in the photo at top — on Ella Blvd. just south of W. 34th St. — is where Vietnamese restaurant Les Ba’get plans to move in once construction on the newÂ 33 1/3 @ Thirtyfourth shopping center is complete. The restaurant’s existing location on Montrose Blvd. closed down last Friday ahead of the planned move. In its new life inside the shopping center [which is — disclosure — a past Swamplot Sponsor], Les Ba’get will have double the space it did in its former 1717 Montrose location as well as 80 seats, according to Eater.

The new 2.5-acre development shown from the north in the aerial above has been in the works since last year on the site formerly shared between That Pizza Place on Ella, the Century Marking stamp company office, and an El Rey Taqueria. Les Ba’get’s spot is pictured on the right in that photo, at the end of the brick strip adjacent to Ella.

Here’s the site plan for the whole complex:

77018, Garden Oaks/Oak Forest, New Construction, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Shopping Centers

Montrose Moveout

02/06/18 2:00pm

Ralph Bivins: Bullet Train Developers Have the Northwest Mall Under Contract (But Itâ€™s All a Big Mistake)