Proposed Developments

Downtown, Historic Preservation, Land Sales, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Tourism

11 Comments

Yesterday was moving day for 2 unusual Downtown buildings: The 1905 Cohn and 1904 Foley (above) houses cattycorner from the George R. Brown Convention Center. Leftover single-family homes from an area once known as Quality Hill and now strangers in the land of skyscrapers and stadiums, they’d be notable Downtown residents even if they weren’t designated historic structures. The city is moving them across the street and a block closer to Minute Maid Park, where they’re intended to become add-ons to a mysterious Regional Tourism Center proposed for the 600 block of Avenida de las Americas. According to plans flashed at the last public meeting for the Downtown/EaDo Livable Centers Study, this new building dedicated to Upper Texas Gulf Coast vacationers would face the westbound light-rail line along Capitol St. and sit at the bottom of an unidentified residential tower:

77010, Discovery Green, Downtown, Historic Preservation, Housemoving, Land Sales, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Tourism

11/02/11 4:00pm

Dramatic Final Moments of the Houston Ballet on West Gray

Demolitions, North Montrose, Proposed Developments

2 Comments

A popular local dance move, caught on camera. Sent in from a reader who was shopping at the West Gray Kroger over the weekend: what looks like the final curtain call for the former Houston Ballet building a block to the west at 1916 West Gray. The Ballet’s new building opened Downtown earlier this year. Going up in place of its destroyed former home, which was previously a clothing factory: apartments.

Previously on Swamplot: The Apartments Taking the Place of the Houston Ballet on West Gray

Photo: Nate Frizzell

77019, Apartments, Demolitions, North Montrose, Proposed Developments

Bayous and Waterways

10/28/11 10:51am

More Pedestrian Bridges and Other Twists and Turns in the Plans for Buffalo Bayou Park

Parks, Proposed Developments

34 Comments

Part of the $50 million plan to turn the banks of Buffalo Bayou west of Downtown from Sabine St. to Shepherd Dr. into a single, continuous linear park: a new entry plaza on Sabine St. at the city waterworks station (near the skatepark, above), a small lake at the end of Dunlavy St., and 3 new pedestrian bridges. One of the bridges is planned for a site just east of Shepherd; another across from the police officer memorial; and the third at Jackson Hill St. Also: lighting, new water features, public art, renovated trails, and a dog park. A separate, $5 million project funded and run by the Harris County Flood Control District will attempt to return the bayou to a more “natural” configuration — by removing sediment and invasive plants and building in bluffs, sandbars, high and low banks, possibly some additional twists and turns, and other more genuinely bayou-ish features. Here’s a plan of the whole thing (turned sideways to fit):

77002, 77006, 77007, Bayous and Waterways, Buffalo Bayou, Parks, Proposed Developments

Development Strategies

10/26/11 10:55am

Studemont Kroger 380 Agreement Passes

First Ward, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Retail

22 Comments

STUDEMONT KROGER 380 AGREEMENT PASSES By a 10-5 vote this morning, city council approved the mayor’s plan for a so-called “380” development agreement between the city and Kroger. Under the agreement, the grocery company would receive up to $2.5 million in sales and property tax reimbursements from the city in return for job-creation guarantees connected to a new store and gas station at 1400 Studemont St., just south of I-10. Also in the deal: a land exchange with the city to allow Summer St. to connect to Studemont through the company’s property. [Previously on Swamplot]

380 Agreements, 77007, City Council, Development Strategies, First Ward, Grocery Stores, Proposed Developments, Retail

Adaptive Reuse

10/24/11 5:42pm

City Acre Owners Plan To Transform Their Eighties Victorian Home into an Eastex Freeway Brewpub

Epsom Downs Place, Nightlife, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Restaurants

6 Comments

More details about City Acre Brewing Co., the brewery the owners of this home adjacent to the Eastex Freeway just south of Parker Rd. plan to open late next year: Chron beer blogger Ronnie Crocker says Matt Schlabach and Meredith Borders had envisioned turning their 2,700-sq.-ft. home at 3421 Folger St. into a brewery when they bought it back in July 2009 for $210,000. The freeway-side oddity took 6 years to build and was completed way back in 1983. Schlabach’s vision: a bar taking over his foyer and guest bedroom in front; customers lounging on couches upstairs, sitting at tables on the front porch, or milling about the garden acreage.

77093, Adaptive Reuse, Breweries, Epsom Downs Place, Renovations, Restaurants

Proposed Developments

10/21/11 11:50pm

The Case for a Ghost Astrodome

Quicklink, Reliant Park

23 Comments

THE CASE FOR A GHOST ASTRODOME “Iâ€™d say letâ€™s be radical! Letâ€™s strip it bare back to its frame and have out-of-towners wonder why it is so. It will minimize maintenance costs while keeping the footprint of the building. Thus, by only making it useless it may be the only way to save it. That way, weâ€™ll buy some time to see how it can truly, purposely be reused AND donâ€™t lose it to circumstantial interests along the way. The ethereal nature of its bare structure will capture everyoneâ€™s attention. I imagined that for the people involved in its construction process, the shell in itself wouldnâ€™t mean much, just another day at work, putting together bolts and plates. But to us looking at it 50 years later, facing the prospect of demolition for lack of good options, this shell becomes both haunting and evocative, that memory of a brighter future and at the same time, the challenge of not forgetting.” [Archinect] Photo: Save the Astrodome

77054, Astrodome, Proposed Developments, Reliant Park

10/20/11 11:39pm

Funeral for a Funeral Home: Earthman Hits the Dirt on San Felipe

Demolitions, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments

5 Comments

A few memorial photos, from a reader who’s been marking the death and burial of the former J.B. Earthman funeral home at 5740 San Felipe at Bering, across from T.H. Rogers Elementary:

77057, Apartments, Demolitions, Funeral Homes, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Tanglewood

Commercial Real Estate

10/18/11 2:53pm

Studemont Kroger Would Break on Through to the Still Industrial Side

First Ward, Proposed Developments, Retail

24 Comments

The Heights Life passes on drawings and details of the new Kroger grocery store and gas station planned for the former industrial property between Arne’s Warehouse and Party Store and I-10 at 1400 Studemont St. — from notes taken by a Super Neighborhood 22 representative who met with Kroger reps and council member Ed Gonzalez. Though at a planned 79,087 sq. ft. the store would be about 10,000 sq. ft. smaller than the recently renovated Heights store on 11th St. and Shepherd, it’ll look quite similar. The most interesting part of the site plan is the proposed connection of Hicks St., which turns off of Studemont south of the new store, to Summer St., which dead-ends into a parking lot currently filled with the heads of ex-Presidents, just south of the Sawyer Heights Target:

77007, Commercial Real Estate, Drainage, First Ward, Grocery Stores, Industrial Areas, Proposed Developments, Retail, Sixth Ward

Adaptive Reuse

10/17/11 4:01pm

An Alamo Drafthouse at SculpturWorx? Not SoÂ Fast

Commercial Real Estate, First Ward, Proposed Developments

6 Comments

According to an unattributed report published today on Culturemap, beer-and-movie pioneer Alamo Drafthouse plans to open its ~~second~~ third Houston-area location at 2500 Summer St. off Sawyer in the First Ward, in David Adickes’s former SculpturWorx compound. But a spokesperson for the movie theater’s owners would neither confirm nor deny the plans either to Culturemap or the Chronicle. And Phil Arnett — who with partner L.E. “ Chap” Chapman announced plans last year to buy and redevelop the 3-building, 3-acre compound and convert portions of it into commercial space — tells Swamplot there’s “nothing definitive” about any Alamo Drafthouse plans. Representatives of Triple Tap Ventures, the theater’s parent company, did look at the space, but nothing’s come of it yet, Arnett says.

77007, Adaptive Reuse, Commercial Real Estate, David Adickes, First Ward, Movie-Theaters, Proposed Developments

Old Sixth Ward

10/17/11 10:41am

Studemont Kroger Aims for a City Tax Deal

Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Retail, Taxes

39 Comments

STUDEMONT KROGER AIMS FOR A CITY TAX DEAL A couple of news bits about the new grocery store Kroger is planning for an 8.5-acre site it purchased in February at 1400 Studemont, just south of I-10 and just north of the Arne’s Warehouse and Party Store: It’ll measure 79,000 sq. ft., and will have a gas station. Plus, Chris Moran reports, Houston’s city council will consider sales and property tax reimbursements to the company of as much as $2.5 million. The proposed deal would require the company to create 170 jobs at the location for 13 years and donate $40,000 for improvements to Olivewood Cemetery across the street. [Houston Politics; previously on Swamplot]

77007, City Council, Grocery Stores, Industrial Areas, Proposed Developments, Retail, Sixth Ward, Tax Incentives

10/12/11 1:56pm

New Midtown Apartment Building Hopes To Extend the Calais’ “Headlights on the Street” Safety Formula

Midtown, Parking, Proposed Developments

10 Comments

A new 6-story apartment building is being planned for the now-cleared Midtown block surrounded by Elgin, Smith, Rosalie, and Louisiana streets — one block north of the Calais at Courtland Square apartment complex and a block west of High Fashion Fabrics. A variance request for the 147-unit building doesn’t name the developer or show any renderings, but indicates that the bottom 2 stories of the building will consist of a parking garage, topped by 4 floors of apartments wrapped around an interior courtyard.

That’s similar to the configuration of some sections of the Calais — notably the dramatic arched streetfront along Smith St. (shown in the photo above), which contributes a dynamic tableau of headlights, bumpers, license plates, and the occasional hood ornament to passersby at street level. (The view changes daily.) The developers of this new apartment building are looking to recreate some of that Calais streetside magic, according to the variance:

77006, Apartments, Building Setbacks, Midtown, Parking-Garages, Pedestrians, Proposed Developments, Retail, Variances

Boulevard Oaks

10/11/11 12:00pm

Paying the Ashby Highrise Away

Development Restrictions, Highrises, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Southampton

24 Comments

PAYING THE ASHBY HIGHRISE AWAY Former apartment manager and accountant Randy Locke, who’s running for city council in the district that includes the site of the Ashby Highrise, has a plan to stop the proposed 23-story development at 1717 Bissonnet St. — but it’ll cost: “I don’t believe that the monies offered these builders were sufficient enough to get them to go away,” he tells reporter Chris Moran. “[Locke] did not identify the private interests he said offered the developers money, but pledged that, if elected, he would convene a meeting between the developers and those private interests within 30 days, and, “‘I’ll convince the other people that were chipping in the money to give them a little bit more and we’ll make the whole thing go away.’” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot; Ashby Highrise coverage]

77005, Ashby Highrise, Boulevard-Oaks, City Council, Development Restrictions, Highrises, Proposed Developments, Southampton

Attractions

10/04/11 10:55am

Space Center Houston Getting KSC Space Shuttle Mockup Hand-Me-Down, Compartment Trainer, New Building

Houston History, Johnson Space Center, Proposed Developments

8 Comments

Houston may have missed out on its opportunity to play host to one of the 4 retired orbiters doled out recently by NASA. But it will end up with a space-shuttle-related attraction that jibes well with the Johnson Space Center’s longtime role as a practice and simulation site for training astronauts. Space news website CollectSpace is reporting that Space Center Houston will soon receive the Space Shuttle Explorer, a full-size orbiter mockup currently on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.

One advantage of the Explorer over the 4 orbiters Houstonians wanted but couldn’t get (besides not having any layers of space dust to clean off): Visitors will be able to walk through it.

77058, Attractions, Houston History, Johnson Space Center, NASA, Proposed Developments, Space Center Houston

09/29/11 1:06pm

A West Alabama and Weslayan Kickoff to the Next Highrise Apartment Growing Season