Blogging machine Charles Kuffner returns to the scene of a Memorial Heights sidewalk he photographed 2 years ago, and finds it’s grown. The Ed Sacks Waste Paper Company building that stood at the non-intersection of Memorial and Studemont has been replaced by the 25-story Legacy at Memorial. That apartment tower opened recently, but the set of sidewalks that wraps around it is still under construction:
WHY YOU MIGHT WANT TO SIGN THAT CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT BY WEDNESDAY Still trying to decide if you should go ahead with that historic district new-construction project you’ve been considering? Here’s some info that might help you decide to get on with it: If you sign and at least partially pay for a contract with an architect or builder before the proposed temporary ban on historic-district end-arounds passes city council (which might happen as early as Wednesday), you’ll still be able to qualify for Houston’s famous okay-go-ahead-anyway “90-day waiver” if your plans are rejected by the historical commission. The proposed ordinance makes no similar provision for demolitions, says planning department spokesperson Suzy Hartgrove. [Previously on Swamplot]
BEER CHALLENGER WILL LAUNCH FROM STEALTH LOCATION The launch crew reports it has been “keeping things quiet” while building a brew house and obtaining licenses: “Construction is under way on the Galactic Coast Brewing Co.’s brewery, which will be located in Galveston County where League City and Dickinson meet, just outside the city limits. John Ennis, Galactic Coast spokesman, says that location was chosen because it will allow the brewery to get Phase I of its plans up and running as quickly and efficiently as possible. The location was chosen for its proximity to top attractions such as NASA and the Clear Lake-Kemah waterfront. ‘This is going to be a true beer odyssey and there is a reason we chose to launch our brewery just down the street from the home of U.S. manned space flight,’ he says.” [Houston Business Journal]
Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:
Some fine sleuthing and rumor-mongering by Swamplot readers this week! Here’s what you dug up about the 2 properties in question:
The location currently going up on the CostCo pad site is an Iberia Bank ground lease. The property located at Richmond and Weslayan is owned by BBVA Compass, which operates the drive thru behind it and will eventually build a location there.
What about that Heights church building?
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOUSTON PAD SITE JUNKIES, JONESING FOR ANOTHER FIX “Woo hoo! Hopefully the other site will be a Chase. I’m in desperate need of more banking solutions. If not I can settle for an Arby’s.” [jb3, commenting on Swamplot Street Sleuths: Nestled ’Neath the Costco Oaks]
At last! An answer to a question posted on Swamplot just last October. (Note to potential tipsters: You’ll generally get a much quicker response to questions you submit here if you include a photo or 2 or 3.) But better late than never. That curvy-swervy structure going up near the 59 exit ramp on Main St. south of Midtown, across from the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft is now available, reports Vincent Biondillo of Norhill Realty, who’s marketing the property:
This building is being developed by Dr. Anna Munne to house her periodontal practice. The first floor space with the curved wall up front will be leased retail space, which would be great for a salon or bar. The 2nd floor space will house Dr. Munne’s practice and will also offer 2768 SF of leasable office space.
Funny, our original tipster did note that the building appeared to be rooted into the ground with rather substantial columns.
Got an answer to any of these reader questions? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Here’s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.
I assumed it was a bank – there’s only one in that parking lot now which falls woefully short of standard Houston bank-to-block ratios. But the odd, football shaped structure in the background that they’re rigging appears to be for signage. Can’t find anything online.
The Triyar Cannon Group has been threatening to give shopworn Greenspoint Mall a $32 million makeover since 2006. Most of what appears to be planned shows up in this knock-’em-down video: a new outdoor plaza at the mall’s east entrance, and a connected 22-story office building off Greenspoint Dr., designed by Ziegler Cooper. Just last week, demolition began on the vacant JCPenney building, site of a proposed Premiere Cinema multiplex that’s supposed to share a new parking garage with the tower. Not in the plans, but already happened anyway: the closing of Sears.
When will the rest of this happen?
First it was up, then it sat unfinished for a good long time, then it was down, and now it’s been . . . resurrected! Viula from the Heights Life blog sends in the latest photo of the corner townhouse unit in the former Waterhill Homes development at 8th St. and Nicholson in the Heights (where 8th Avenue Elementary School used to be):
Remember the one they were breaking down on the end? Well, they built it back up again. My husband thinks the ground floor (garage) is the same but I disagree.
Real progress doesn’t always follow a straight-line path, no? Last time we studied this well-weathered unit, you’ll remember, it was indeed on its way down:
A new Premiere Cinemas multiplex is now under construction at Greenspoint Mall — if, that is, you count demolition as part of the construction process. Early this morning, demolition crews began their assault on the long-vacant JCPenney building standing rudely in the way of the new theater.
The new theater is expected to be part of a $32 million facelift for the mall. The Greenspoint District Facebook page reports that the original plans for the theater called for a total of 20 screens.
Photo: Greenspoint District
H-E-B is testing a new no-frills warehouse-style grocery concept with a new store set to open early next month at 12035 Antoine, about a mile and a half north of the Beltway at the corner of Veterans Memorial. The prototype Joe V’s Smart Shop will be nearly twice the size of the typical H-E-B Pantry, reports the Chronicle‘s David Kaplan:
Smaller than a full-size H-E-B, Joe V’s will carry about 9,000 items, compared with a traditional supermarket, which has about 37,000.
Joe V’s might have five ketchups, while a full-size H-E-B would have 25, [Houston VP Armando] Perez said. The Joe V’s ketchups will include well-known brands and H-E-B private labels.
Joe V’s will have produce and self-serve meat, seafood and bakery departments. The biggest savings will often be in the grocery and general merchandise sections, Perez said.
A number of readers have been asking what’s up with the new construction office set up on the former site of the Robinson’s Warehouse at the southeast corner of Montrose and Allen Parkway. The Aga Khan Foundation bought the low-lying property in 2006 with plans to build another of its Ismaili Centers on it — featuring lecture, conference, and recital facilities, a prayer hall and a social hall, and offices and gardens. Is that building ready to go up?
It doesn’t look like it. In the meantime, the construction office was parked on the property for a different project entirely, across the street: The new Rosemont Bridge, meant to connect the north and south sides of Buffalo Bayou Park. When Mayor White first announced the bridge project in late 2008, it had a different name and a different design. Called Tolerance Bridge, it a featured Moebius-strip-like superstructure that was meant to appear impassable from a distance:
Checking in from a center lane of I-10 heading east, a longtime Swamplot correspondent has a few questions for informed readers:
This ginormous new billboard structure went up last week at the CBS Outdoor HQ on Studemont at I-10. Is it legal? Was there a similar steel mega-billboard there before the remodeling of I-10, which obliged CBS (then Clear Channel Outdoor) to demolish part of the north end of its building? And what will become of this monstrous two-legged wedge-shaped structure when the feeder road will eventually be extended from Studewood to Taylor — will it be taken down, moved 100 feet and set up again?
Update: As noted in the comments, Off the Kuff has a slightly earlier photo of the naked billboard.
Photo: Swamplot inbox
How cheaply did the Ponderosa Land Development Co. pick up the 1.3 acres of land under Otto’s Bar B Que on Memorial Dr.?
“I won’t be able to ride off into the sunset with what I’m getting,†Otto’s co-owner June Sofka tells Jennifer Dawson of the Houston Business Journal. And that’s our only clue. Well, that and the fact that the shopping-center developers still had enough money left over to buy the property next door.
A new 2-story building on the 1.8-acre site between Asbury and Reinicke, on the southern border of Rice Military, is being designed by Kirksey.
The portion with Memorial frontage that will also be torn down to make way for the new project is owned by two sisters, one of whom is Wanda Greb. Their property contains Bibas Greek Pizza, M-T Nails, Memorial Barber Shop, Rich Cleaners and the hamburger restaurant segment of Otto’s, which is leased by the Sofkas.
Ponderosa intends to scrape the entire site and develop a 22,000-square-foot center with retail, restaurant and possibly some boutique office space. The project is expected to cost $6 million to $8 million, not including the land cost.
But wait, maybe not all of those businesses are disappearing from that location!
Okay, tell us what was the plan for that block south of W. 8th St. along the new Heights Hike-and-Bike Trail, between Nicholson and Waverly?
This large, open space will be available for community gardens, both cultivated and natural, think edible weeds. Small animal husbandry, such as goats, chickens and rats could also be sustained. Compost houses flank the development to show clientele how their homes will indeed return to their natural state a lá the second law of thermodynamics, or something like that. Between the back row of Compost Homes are the E-condos. These models reflect real world living as they do not have plumbing or electricity.
Huh? Well, it’s not even a year since Houston Indymedia reporter Keefski tried to explain it all . . . but the Waterhill Homes at the Heights development is at last seeing some action!
What kind of action?
