Swamplot Archives by Category: Pearland

Popular Stories in This Category:

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Pearland Mansion Mystery — Unrevealed!

August 19, 2009 – 5:02 pm
   

Having been indoctrinated into the bizarre cult of the 64,000-sq.-ft. unfinished residence-like warehouse she calls the Pearland Mystery Mansion, Katharine Shilcutt appears dedicated to keeping its secret: “What became of the house after Dr. Watkins abandoned it and went on to build the halfling mansion next door isn’t a matter of public record, suffice to say it’s a bizarre story of its own that deserves to be told one day. What will happen to the houses is anyone’s guess. The bank that owns both houses has had a feasibility study performed to determine whether or not they would be appropriate for group homes or assisted living facilities. Having been inside, it seems like the most fitting application for at least the larger of the two, if not both. It’s difficult to imagine why someone in their right mind would build what is — essentially — the world’s largest shotgun shack (or, more to the point, what architect conceived of this monstrosity as a residence). But it’s not at all difficult to picture these two buildings on this serene piece of land housing elderly or assisted care patients one day.” [Hair Balls; the house next door, featured on the Neighborhood Guessing Game]

5:02 pm | 1 Comment | Read more about Attractions, Brazoria County, Foreclosures, Neighborhoods: Manvel, Neighborhoods: SouthFork, Pearland, Quicklink
Read more about: , , , , , ,
Monday, June 1, 2009

The Pleasure Mounds of Shadow Creek Ranch: More Landscaping Fun at the Blue Ridge Landfill

June 1, 2009 – 12:03 pm

You saw the video. Now comes the detail: OffCite has more on recent Rice University architecture grad Lysle Oliveros’s proposal for turning that putrid pile of garbage next door to Shadow Creek Ranch into an exciting outdoor playplace! The fun comes in 3 phases.

In phase 1, trash haulers would start a new pile with each year’s take, completing a mound every 12 months:

Each monument compared to the next would create an awareness of the massive amount of disposed consumer goods. For example, the 2008 “index” created by Hurricane Ike debris would have been 400 feet tall.

Too bad about the City of Pearland’s recent agreement with Republic Services limiting those piles to a mere 130 ft. Oh, well — just wait until 2029!

Continue Reading This Story >

12:03 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Fort Bend County, Neighborhoods: Fresno, Neighborhoods: Shadow Creek Ranch, Pearland, Proposed Developments, Toxic Sites
Read more about: , , , , , , ,
Wednesday, April 22, 2009

A Better Way To Search Houston Home Listings

April 22, 2009 – 7:50 am

Here’s a brand-new home-search tool that will likely change the way you hunt for residential properties in Houston. And you can find it on the website of . . . a real estate agent working out of this Pearland strip center??

Actually, the new search tool is just a branded implementation of Diverse Solutions’ dsSearchAgent, which has been around for a few years in other markets, and received a major makeover late last fall. The same system might be hiding on some other area broker’s website, but this is the first we’ve seen it working with Houston MLS data.

What’s so special about dsSearchAgent?

Continue Reading This Story >

7:50 am | 17 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Silverlake, Online Resources, Pearland, Real Estate Agents
Read more about: , , , ,
Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Regrets, More Than a Few: Cole’s Did It Their Way

February 17, 2009 – 10:26 am

On the City of Pearland website, the fire marshal has posted a photo presentation highlighting a few of the more than 2,800 safety violations found this past weekend at Cole’s Antique Village & Flea Market. And on the Cole’s Antique Village website, the owners have put up an MP3 recording of Elvis Presley singing “My Way,” which plays automatically for visitors.

Cole’s had more than 900 permanent vendors on its extensive campus at 1014 N. Main St., at the southwest corner of Beltway 8 and Telephone Road. But the flea market’s likely regrets are clearly not too few to mention: The fire marshal’s photos show personal padlocks on emergency access gates, mounds of stacked tires and mattresses, insufficient and improperly marked exits, bypassed circuit breakers, Gordian tangles of extension cords, propane tanks stored indoors next to generators, and a broad range of other problems.

Continue Reading This Story >

10:26 am | 13 Comments | Read more about Hazards, Openings and Closings, Pearland, Retail
Read more about: , , , , ,
Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Tank Farming Harvest from Pearland’s New Superfund Site

February 11, 2009 – 5:29 pm

State agencies have finally caught up with the chemical soup left to seep into the soil for two decades at a 3.5-acre abandoned tank farm in south Pearland, poisoning the wells of nearby residents with high levels of lead and other contaminants. Now the Camtraco Enterprises site, at 18823 Amoco Dr. — along a rail line running west of Highway 35 — is poised to become the latest addition to Texas’s Superfund registry.

Camtraco, which operated the fuel storage, blending, and distillation facility under a series of assumed names (Beaumont Chemicals, Camtraco Chemical Corp., Glycols Inc., Mondobello Chemical Services, Picos Chemical Plant, Okemah Hydrocarbons, and Southeastern Oil Company), halted work at the site in 1992. A sampling of the chemical bouquet discovered both on- and off-site from recent TCEQ efforts: arsenic, barium, chromium, lead, mercury, bis(2-ethylhexyl)adipate, bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, diethyl phthalate, di-n-butyl phthalate, methylene chloride, 1,4 dicholorobenzene, toluene, and tricholoroethene (TCE).

Map showing the Camtraco Enterprises site’s former features: TCEQ

5:29 pm | Add a Comment | Read more about Hazards, Pearland, Toxic Sites, Water Quality
Read more about: , , , , ,
Thursday, August 28, 2008

Is Shadow Creek Ranch Ready for the Bush Leagues?

August 28, 2008 – 9:50 am
   

“JD Daniel, USA Partners’ managing principal, said the firm has received approval from former President George Bush and wife, Barbara, to name the proposed complex in their honor. The facility, to be located on a 30-acre site west of Kingsley and north of Shadow Creek Parkway, would be called the George and Barbara Bush Sports Complex.” The Pearland City Council will vote on the proposal the Monday after Labor Day. [Houston Chronicle]

9:50 am | 2 Comments | Read more about Attractions, Neighborhoods: Shadow Creek Ranch, Pearland, Proposed Developments, Quicklink
Read more about: , , ,
Friday, August 1, 2008

Weekend Open House Tour: Silvercreek

August 1, 2008 – 6:45 pm

Thinking of taking a test drive on those Pearland Town Center parking lots this weekend? Why not stop by these Silvercreek open houses nearby? Silvercreek is “the community that feels like a neighborhood”!

2618 Misty Grove Dr., Manvel, Texas

Location: 2618 Misty Grove Dr., Manvel
Details: 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths; 2,923 sq. ft.
Price: $235,000
The Scoop: Trendmaker Homes doubled down on crown molding in this 2002 one-story. Large Kitchen with granite countertops and tall maple cabinets. Tile and carpet downstairs; carpet up. Large Master Bath has several slender columns, large mirrors, space for TV. Owners are VERY!!! interested in selling this house to you.
Open House: Saturday, 2-4 pm

More brick-faced sprawlers — after the jump!

Continue Reading This Story >

6:45 pm | 1 Comment | Read more about Neighborhoods: Manvel, Neighborhoods: Silvercreek, Open Houses, Pearland
Read more about: , , , , ,
Monday, July 28, 2008

Pearland Town Center Ready To Open: Pull on Up!

July 28, 2008 – 3:42 pm

Plan of Pearland Town Center, Pearland, Texas

The drive-thru mall with extras known as Pearland Town Center opens this Wednesday, at the intersection of 288 and FM 518! But it’ll be so much more than just a collection of chain stores arranged neatly in a giant parking lot:

Sixty-two apartments rest on top of retail stores, giving residents a downtown feel without the hassle of daily traffic. Granite countertops complement the kitchen of each unit along with stainless-steel appliances.

The above-retail units will be available for leasing July 30 while another set of 238 freestanding residential units will be accessible in late 2009. One-bedroom apartments will lease for $1,300 per month, and two-bedroom loft apartments will lease for $1,900 per month.

75-percent of the 85-percent-leased mall will be open Wednesday, reports David Kaplan in the Chronicle.

Plan of Pearland Town Center: CBL & Associates

3:42 pm | 10 Comments | Read more about Malls, New Construction, Openings and Closings, Pearland, Retail, Shopping Centers
Read more about: , , , , , , ,
Monday, July 21, 2008

Raising a Bigger Stink: Shadow Creek Ranch Residents Still Fighting 170-Foot Uphill Battle

July 21, 2008 – 1:03 pm

Rooftops and Sidewalk in Shadow Creek Ranch, Pearland, Texas

The contested case hearing for the proposed expansion of the Blue Ridge Landfill on the western edge of Shadow Creek Ranch has been postponed — to October or November at the earliest — reports Natalie Torentinos in the Journal of Pearland. But the the buzzards are already circling:

Like passing dark clouds, incomparable and scary odors have traveled through Jamie Lee’s neighborhood in Shadow Creek Ranch, the smell seeping through the garage, laundry, even the water faucet. “This morning at 8 a.m. I left to take my daughters to school, and I could barely breathe outside,” Lee said. “It was nauseating.” . . .

Additional issues are geology and drainage –regarding contaminated groundwater and increased flooding, respectively. The landfill is attracting scavenger animals such as vultures, seagulls and rodents. [Attorney Richard] Morrison showed pictures taken of buzzards perching on the roofs of several homes, located in Green Valley Estates north of the landfill.

Allied Waste wants its pile of trash to expand to 784 acres and reach a height of 170 feet. Current restrictions limit the landfill to 302 acres and 60 feet.

Photo of Shadow Creek Ranch: Flickr user Sean Brady [license]

1:03 pm | Add a Comment | Read more about Fort Bend County, Fresno, Hazards, Neighborhoods: Shadow Creek Ranch, Pearland, Toxic Sites
Read more about: , , , , , , ,
Thursday, May 8, 2008

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Lake Escape

May 8, 2008 – 4:35 pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 6: Built-in Shelving

Is there a limit to the kinds of neighborhoods that work in this game? Again, we had great guesses — and a winner — but some readers expressed frustration that the home we pictured might have been . . . anywhere.

That kinda comes with our territory, doesn’t it?

Here’s where y’all guessed the house was: Katy (2 votes), Pearland, Sugar Land, Missouri City, Spring, The Woodlands, Hyde Park, Camp Logan, Galleria “west of Chimney Rock”(!), the West End, Rice Military, First Colony, and Bellaire.

This week’s winner is HoustonAreaGuy, whose scattershot list of possible locations managed to include . . . Pearland! He also got a few details right (well . . . close enough):

I’m guessing it’s $400k or more (MAYBE $300k+, but I doubt it), easily over 3,000 s.f. and built in the last 4 years.

It’s his second win!

The actual subdivision of the home is The Lakes of Highland Glen. And the house is next to one of those lakes! Could anyone have guessed that subdivision? What do you say, Pearland readers?

The honorable mention this week goes to the eagle-eyed ERM — not for this comment:

I don’t know who to trust anymore. Are HAG and Joni trying to throw me off the scent? Can any of my fellow game players even trust me for that matter? I haven’t a clue as to where it is although Katy would be my guess.

. . . but for some sharp observations that helped pin down an evasive Master Bedroom:

I do believe this home is more of your basic burbs house but it does have some interesting appointments, slate tiles, granite counters, a butler’s pantry, your basic Evita balcony, Grecian type columns, etc. The small LR and DR say 90s although I can’t say I can give up on this century just yet. I do think, though, the master is on the first floor because if you look at the great room pic you see a door and two small pictures on a wall. The same two pictures show up in the master shot. So, that would suggest to me a single family home and not a townhouse since you don’t find too many first floor masters in those.

After the jump: Escape . . . to the Lakes!

Continue Reading This Story >

4:35 pm | 6 Comments | Read more about Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Neighborhoods: The Lakes of Highland Glen, Pearland
Read more about: , , , , ,
Monday, March 3, 2008

Ex-Presidents in Pearland: Heads Above the Muck

March 3, 2008 – 10:02 am

President Heads above Mud at Presidential Park and Gardens, Waterlights District, Pearland, Texas

A reader sent in a larger version of the above photo to the Brazosport News. It shows the first giant presidential heads in place at Pearland’s new Presidential Park. Eventually, the remaining 37-member contingent of very-white sculpted U.S. presidents will join them, and the surrounding swampland will be transformed into a lovely green space, separated from a new shopping, retail, office, and hotel development by . . . a watergate! For now, though, the scene sure does look like only a few presidential giants have managed to keep their heads out of the mud.

The winners of an online vote to select which five of sculptor David Adickes’s giant busts should be the first to move to the park were Washington, Franklin Roosevelt, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Kennedy — even though more recent Oval Office residents had far better ballot position. But democracy has its limits: Richard Browne, developer of the adjacent Waterlights District, decided to include the statue of former president George H.W. Bush in the first group anyway. All six made their head-turning trip down 288 from Adickes’s First Ward studio on Presidents’ Day.

Missed your chance to participate in the online presidential headcount? A separate ballot asks you to select which chain restaurants you want to appear in the Waterlights District, though its unclear if polling has already been closed.

Read on for a sketch of the Waterlights District, and another view of ex-presidents keeping their noses clean. Plus: a dated image of President John F. Kennedy, cut out of our version of the photo above . . . because he was too far to the right.

Continue Reading This Story >

10:02 am | Read more about Art, Mixed Use, Parks, Pearland, Proposed Developments, Public Art
Read more about: , , , , , , ,
Monday, May 14, 2007

Pearland’s New Drive-Thru Mall

May 14, 2007 – 11:35 am

Pearland Town Center Street View

Pearlanders excited about the Dillards, Macy’s, Barnes & Noble, and other typical mall fare that will become available to them when the new Pearland Town Center opens next summer will likely find even more excitement when they learn they’ll be able to drive right up to their favorite stores!

And no, it won’t be a Big Box center. (At least . . . not at first.) It’ll be just like a mall, except it’ll be open-air. It’ll be just like an outlet mall, except the streets will be tighter and more “urban.” It’ll be just like a downtown shopping district, except . . . it’ll be surrounded by a sea of parking!

And just what premium will shoppers be willing to pay for the chance they might be able to grab one of the few head-in spaces right in front of the Great American Cookie Co.? Once they’re in the outer parking areas, will they take a chance and wait patiently in traffic for the possibility there might just be a head-in space available there, or maybe in front of Victoria’s Secret?

Or . . . will all those premium close-in spaces go valet?

How much of a traffic backup will this new mall design cause? More on that, plus more artist renderings of the new mall, after the jump.

Continue Reading This Story >

11:35 am | Read more about Malls, New Construction, Pearland, Retail, Shopping Centers
Read more about: , , , , , , , ,
Friday, April 20, 2007

Hurricane Detection System To Be Blocked by 170-Foot-High Pile of Garbage

April 20, 2007 – 9:59 am

Some Other Landfill

Residents of Shadow Creek Ranch now have some unlikely allies in their fight to prevent an adjacent landfill from expanding into their, uh . . . airspace: TV weathermen.

That’s right: the real problem with Allied Waste wanting to expand its Blue Ridge landfill in Fresno from 302 to 784 acres—and increase its allowable maximum height from 58 to 170 feet—isn’t any toxic stench that might upset nearby residents, but the fact that it will block your TV newspeople from scaring you to death with alarming reports of giant hurricanes sneaking up on Houston from the Gulf.

That one-and-a-quarter-square-mile, 16-story tower of waste will block the Doppler radar installations of Channels 11, 13, and 26, which are located a few miles to the northwest. Sounds kinda picky, huh?

It may be too late for the weathermen to help new residents of the “#1 selling master-planned community in the Houston-Pearland Metroplex” stop their already smelly neighbor, since Fort Bend County and Missouri City have signed agreements not to oppose landfill-expansion plans. And TCEQ has already given its go-ahead to the giant heap of trash.

Seems it’s a little easier for developers to build towers outside Beltway 8—and you can build with cheaper materials, too.

Many residents of neighborhoods surrounding the landfill, such as Shadow Creek Ranch and Fresno, say what’s at stake for them is maintaining the value of their homes or their ability to obtain clean drinking water, and to maintain an acceptable quality of life in the face of what some believe will become at best a stinking nuisance.

. . . Allied has acknowledged, that in November 2005 a “statistically significant exceedance of barium was detected at the landfill.” The metallic element can act as a powerful nerve poison.

Detection of barium amounts to evidence the landfill already is leaking, [Environmental Attorney Richard] Morrison said in comments to TCEQ, and may threaten the drinking water supply in Fresno. He said more than 80 water wells are located within a mile of the proposed landfill expansion.

Allied Project Development Manager Gary McCuistion has stated that the company is “very confident” the increased presence of barium represents a naturally occurring event. [emphasis added]

After the jump, an aerial photo from the Shadow Creek Ranch website showing that pinkish, naturally occurring growth just across Almeda.

Continue Reading This Story >

9:59 am | Read more about Fort Bend County, Fresno, Neighborhoods: Shadow Creek Ranch, Pearland, Toxic Sites
Read more about: , , , , , ,