02/06/13 9:30am

LBJ wuz here: Built in 1904, this 3,161-sq.-ft. home on the corner of Hawthorne and Garrott in the Westmoreland Historic District gave the future president a place to crash in 1931 when he was teaching public speaking and coaching the debate team at Sam Houston High School.

In March 2011, the house was put on the market for the first time in 90 years; the price climbed to almost $619,000 that June. It sat for a year, going for just under $285,000. Renovations began that summer. And the house returned 9 days ago with a new MLS number, new photos, and a new historically low — for this place, anyway — price: $569,900.

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02/04/13 4:30pm

Don’t ever say sluggers don’t need their creature comforts: This 16,000-sq.-ft., 5-bedroom, 9-bathroom mansion at 405 Timberwilde was home to former Houston Astro and 1994 NL MVP Jeff Bagwell, who retired with 449 homers after 15 seasons. Oh, and his mansion? It’s for sale for $15 million.

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02/04/13 2:30pm

A few slivers of window peek above the front-of-lot wall of this mostly single-story 1967 Southampton home by Charles Tapley Associates. The new listing, centered between newer, more substantial neighbors and located a few lots from the Ashby Highrise site, has a $1,099,000 initial asking price.

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02/04/13 1:30pm

If Beyoncé still wants this deeply discounted Piney Point Village mansion for her mother, she might have to bring back Sasha Fierce and grab a paddle: It’s going up on February 19 for auction. The 21,640-sq.-ft., 4-kitchen rental property near Briar Forest was listed as recently as January 3 at $5.9 million — and, says the website of California-based auction house Premier Estates, that’s just where bids will start.

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01/31/13 2:00pm

The update on this 1970 home in Lakeside Estates wasn’t too radical; the main living spaces kept their room-to-room flow. But the finishes have been tweaked. The home is back on the market after a 3-month break, still asking $323,827. Its earlier run straddled summer 2012 before ending in October. A bit technicolor in some of its glowing listing photos, the freshened-up home features a bunch of built-ins and beams.

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01/31/13 10:30am

One-stop shopping: you can see the signage and new (and presumably sterile) cabinetry through the second-floor windows of The Centre at River Oaks (in Upper Kirby, in fact), where a 25,000-sq.-ft. branch of Texas Children’s Hospital and Pediatric Associates is expected to open in March; the makeover of the shopping center at West Alabama and Kirby began last summer; Ainbinder announced that Ulta Beauty would be operating out of the first floor of the bankrupt Borders; Texas Children’s will sit atop both Ulta Beauty and Brio Tuscan Grille.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

01/30/13 4:07pm

Shadow-hued through and through, an updated Garden Oaks home has a floor plan that’s a bit like a slice of Neapolitan ice cream. Room functions — sleeping quarters, living areas, and food-related spaces — stripe the home in thirds. Compact but fully loaded, the property listed earlier this week at an even $249,000. It last sold in 2009, for $198,500.

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01/30/13 12:00pm

A Swamplot reader sends in this photo of the shuttered Rice Epicurean on Memorial, 1 of 4 stores (of 5) that the longtime Houston grocer said it would close and lease to North Carolina-based The Fresh Market this year. (The location on Fountain View at Inwood will remain open.) Those splashy signs say that the store’s liquidating its fixtures and “supermarket equipment.” So, you know, act fast! While supplies last!

Photo: Swamplot inbox

01/29/13 1:00pm

A fireplace-turned-fish-tank (top) lends an unusual element to this Sharptown Country Club Terrrace property. It’s another by-the-barrier home, this one on a corner lot hidden behind bushes and trees (above) at the head of one of the neighborhood’s access streets from the Southwest Fwy. feeder. Asking $170,000, the new listing includes the aquarium. With hearth.

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