Bayous and Waterways

Bayous and Waterways
06/12/13 10:00am

Woodland Heights Neighbors Accuse Townhomes Developer of Clear-Cutting Parkland

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Neighborhood Disputes, Parks, Woodland Heights
43 Comments

Note: Read more on this story here.

Some neighbors seem pretty darn upset with the developer of these Woodland Heights townhomes for “egregious clear-cutting” of about an acre of vegetation from nearby Woodland Park, reports the blog Nonsequiteuse. The report, posted yesterday, claims that the developer acted in order to improve the townhomes’ view of Little White Oak Bayou. Bill Workman, the owner of the property and developer of these City Homes of Woodland Park, wasn’t immediately available to give a different side of the story that the photos taken at the site suggest.

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Bayous and Waterways
05/31/13 11:00am

Fighting the Invaders of Buffalo Bayou

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Environmental, Landscape, Parks, Proposed Developments, Quicklink
17 Comments

FIGHTING THE INVADERS OF BUFFALO BAYOU Though much of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s (BBP) plans for that eponymous waterway involve adding things — kayak rental shops, pedestrian bridges, etc. — there seems to be the need for subtraction, too: “‘People look at the park and see that it’s filled with trees and grass, what most people don’t realize is that most of those plants shouldn’t be there,'” BBP’s prez Anne Olson tells Alex Wukman of Free Press Houston. “A study of the park’s vegetation, which the Partnership filed with the Texas Forest Service, found Buffalo Bayou to be overrun with invasive species — primarily White Cedar and Chinese Tallow. . . . Olson explained that the Partnership plans to combat the invasive species problem by removing 50 percent of the park’s lawn, which is mostly made up of easily-maintained but non-native Bermuda grass, and replacing it with native grasses.” Adds Olson: “‘We’re going to create an 11 acre urban prairie.'” [Free Press Houston; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Flickr user barryDphotography

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Art
05/13/13 11:00am

The Art Guys To Start Unraveling

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Bayous and Waterways, Garden Oaks, Oak Forest, Quicklink
12 Comments

THE ART GUYS TO START UNRAVELING This is the route the Art Guys say they will be taking tomorrow morning when they stage the 5th of the yearlong series of monthly celebratory stunts they’re calling “12 Events:” Titling this one “A Length of String,” Jack Massing and Michael Galbreth will unwind a spool of thread they’ve had sitting around since 1983 while walking along White Oak Bayou between W. Tidwell and T.C. Jester, just north of the Loop, and then they’ll turn around . . . and wind it back up. Last month, you’ll remember, they donned tuxedos and conducted the sounds of the Ship Channel from the Santa Anna Capture Site in Pasadena. [Art Guys; previously on Swamplot] Map: Art Guys

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Bayous and Waterways
05/08/13 12:30pm

The Next New Bridge Going over the Bayou

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New Construction, Parks, River Oaks
28 Comments

This photo, courtesy of a reader, shows what will eventually hold up the new pedestrian bridge spanning Buffalo Bayou. This view looks south across the muddy water from the Sandy Reed Memorial Trail near Jackson Hill St. and Memorial Dr. toward the Royalton condo tower on Allen Pkwy. Crews have also begun clearing away more trees and brush between this spot and the Adath Yeshurun Cemetery, where the bayou’s master plan shows the Lost Lake will be.

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Art
04/18/13 3:40pm

Art Guys Working with Ship Channel in Next ‘Event’

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Bayous and Waterways, Houston History, Pasadena, Quicklink
6 Comments

ART GUYS WORKING WITH SHIP CHANNEL IN NEXT ‘EVENT’ At the site shown here in Pasadena near the old Paper Mill and Washburn Tunnel, where General Antonio López de Santa Anna is said to have been captured during that historically succinct Battle of San Jacinto, the Art Guys are planning their next performance: They’ve announced they’ll crack out their batons and “conduct the sounds of the Houston Ship Channel.” (Not sure what that could look like? Go see it for yourself.) Jack Massing and Michael Galbreth, the helmsmen of “12 Events,” a yearlong series of monthly head-scratchers that commemorate their 30 years of Houston mischief, have so far in 2013 shrugged off their divorce from the Menil, signed their names for 8 hours at the Julia Ideson Library on National Handwriting Day, and walked all 29.6 miles of Little York Rd., the longest in Houston. Next up, once they’ve conducted the Ship Channel waters? The Art Guys unwind a spool of thread, and then — wait for it — wind it back up again. [The Art Guys; Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: JimmyEv via Waymarking

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Bayous and Waterways
04/05/13 2:00pm

That Naked Spot on White Oak Bayou

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Condos, Houston Heights, Landscape
17 Comments

A reader sends this stitched-together panorama of the Heights bike trail spanning White Oak Bayou and wonders what’s going on with all the denuding: “This is kitty corner from where the proposed Emes Place condos will go. Mother nature swamped their work in the bayou with the recent rains. They appear to be taking revenge by bulldozing the nearby clump of forest. This is a larger piece of bird/homeless person sanctuary than the tract Emes Place is to be on, so I wonder what the story is. Harris County Flood Control comes by the site all the time, but I can’t find any mention of it on their website, or anywhere.”

Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Adaptive Reuse
02/20/13 11:00am

Historic International Coffee Company Building Downtown To Begin Serving Kayaks

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Bayous and Waterways, Downtown, Houston History, Houston Landmarks, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Tourism
20 Comments

The same architecture firm that transformed Wilshire Village into the H-E-B Montrose Market across town has been pegged to redo 1910 International Coffee Company Building (aka Sunset Coffee Building), resuscitating the derelict shell on Allen’s Landing into use as a Downtown tourist attraction and kayak rental shop. San Antonio firm Lake Flato submitted this drawing of the building at the coffee-with-cream-colored confluence of White Oak and Buffalo Bayou underneath Main and Fannin to Buffalo Bayou Partnership, which plans to begin the project in April.

Rendering: Buffalo Bayou Partnership

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Bayous and Waterways
02/05/13 3:00pm

Downtown Parking Lot Beside Buffalo Bayou Coming Up for Grabs

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Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Downtown, Land for Sale
12 Comments

This Commerce St. parcel of property will be up for auction on February 14, reports Real Estate Bisnow‘s Catie Dixon. Owned by Cushman & Wakefield, says Dixon, the Downtown lot bound by Elysian and Austin is almost 29,000 sq. ft. of surface parking — for now, anyway — that stares at Minute Maid Park. Maybe the most important detail is that the lot backs up to Buffalo Bayou . . .

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Bayous and Waterways
01/18/13 3:00pm

Michael Jordan’s All-Star Birthday Bash in Mansion Beyoncé Likes for Her Mom?

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Piney Point Village, Quicklink, Renting
3 Comments

MICHAEL JORDAN’S ALL-STAR BIRTHDAY BASH IN MANSION BEYONCé LIKES FOR HER MOM? Though rumors suggest that Beyoncé might soon snap it up for her mother, Tina, this steeply discounted Piney Point Village mansion near Buffalo Bayou has been the getaway destination for luxury-seeking out-of-towners like rapper Wiz Khalifa, reports CultureMap’s Shelby Hodge. According to its Vacation Rentals By Owner listing, the 21,640-sq.-ft. lodging goes for $25,000 a week from September to April — chump change for an NBA demigod like Michael Jordan, who, reports Hodge, might be renting the mansion to get his 50th birthday on while he’s in town during NBA All-Star Weekend in February. The VRBO listing doesn’t mention a security deposit; let’s hope Jordan hires someone to clean up before Beyoncé’s mom moves in. [Houston Chronicle; CultureMap; previously on Swamplot] Photos: HAR

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Bayous and Waterways
10/18/12 4:18pm

That New Bridge Going in Under the Bridge Over the Bayou

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New Construction, Parks, River Oaks
33 Comments

Courtesy of Swamplot reader James Glassman, here’s a shot of what’s been connected so far under the Shepherd Dr. overpass as it crosses the end of Allen Pkwy. at Buffalo Bayou. Suspended ’neath the cars at this gateway to River Oaks: a new pedestrian bridge, which will link the aptly named Sandy Reed Memorial Trail along the bayou’s South bank with Memorial Dr. to the north. Here’s how it’s drawn out in the Buffalo Bayou master plan:

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Bayous and Waterways
10/12/12 3:41pm

A 100-Acre, 100-Year Cypress Creek Preserve

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Buying and Selling, Cypress, Development Restrictions
4 Comments

The director of the Bayou Land Conservancy announced yesterday that a 100-acre tract of flood-prone land surrounding Cypress Creek just south of the Hewlett-Packard campus between Hwy. 249 and Jones Rd. will now become a permanent conservation easement. (Segments of the waterway marked in dark and light blue in the map at right indicate the 100-year floodway and 100-year floodplain, respectively.) The land trust purchased the property with help from a $500,000 Houston Endowment grant; plans are to incorporate the tract into the planned Cypress Creek Greenway, extending the full length of the bayou from Spring Creek to the Katy Prairie:

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Bayous and Waterways
10/04/12 7:05pm

Comment of the Day: Buffalo Bayou Wildlife

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Comments, Critters, Quicklink
No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: BUFFALO BAYOU WILDLIFE “Years ago I saw someone pull a snapping turtle out of that bayou, near the Shepherd bridge. Vicious-looking brute; the snapper was mean, too.” [Brian, commenting on Headlines: Americana Remodeling Plans; a Place for the Houston Blues Museum]

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Attractions
09/07/12 10:16am

Mud Bridge Over Buffalo Bayou

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Bayous and Waterways, New Construction
14 Comments

Reader Jeromy Murphy sends a couple pics of a temporary ford of Buffalo Bayou seen last week near the site of the Police Officers Memorial off Memorial Dr. just west of Downtown. Planned nearby: a new permanent pedestrian bridge that will make the memorial accessible to soulmates hanging about in Glenwood Cemetery to the north. The bridge will also open the memorial to visits from bikers on the recently updated trail on the bayou’s north side.

This map shows the plan:

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Bayous and Waterways
08/14/12 1:48pm

What’s the Story with Rutland Pond?

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Houston Heights, New Construction
10 Comments

A Swamplot reader offers a trade: A few photos of the retention ponds going in north of White Oak Bayou where 6th St. was blocked between Yale and Shepherd (above and below) — in exchange for more details on the park that’s apparently planned for that location, including a scheduled completion date for the construction. “I have no ‘official’ information, only old data and hearsay,” reports the reader. Which includes this map dating from 2010:

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Bayous and Waterways
08/06/12 12:39pm

Parks By You’s Feel-Good Campaign To Build More Bayou Parks by You

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Parks, Proposed Developments
26 Comments

Yep, that’s a bike-gear-sporting State Sen. Rodney Ellis, 2 city council members, and both bearded and cleanshaven versions of model Lauren Bush’s brother — Pierce Bush — talking up the idea of building more parks by more Houston bayous in this promotional video for an organization called Parks By You. What are they and their smiling costars so earnestly upbeat about? A $160 million bond initiative on the November ballot that would take a big step toward implementing the Houston Parks Board’s Bayou Greenways Project — a proposal to add green spaces and linear parks with concrete hike-and-bike trails along 100 miles of Houston bayous. The bond issue would help pay for improvements to more than a dozen existing parks and connect trails along 7 bayous in the city.

The overall vision (not all of which, apparently, is included in the bond measure) would transform Houston’s park map from this:

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