WHERE SPACE IS CHILLY AND TIGHT 
From Swamplot’s (stuffed) inbox: “It’s not just housing that’s a tight real estate market. Take a look inside the average refrigerator about this time of holiday preparations as we all play another round of Turkey Day Tetris, jockeying ingredients and containers onto already full shelves. I don’t know about you, but I always forget to factor in a place for the bird to thaw! Am calling the work day done, heading to the grocery store, and wishing I were a guest instead of the host.” How about we all take another day off to recover, clean out more room in the fridge, or maybe shop for a few extra kitchen appliances? Swamplot will be back on the beat on Monday. A happy Thanksgiving holiday to you all. Photo: Debora Smail
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HEAVEN ON EARTH FIRE DRILL 
A reader figures all the Houston Fire Department units and ambulances gathered downtown around the long-vacant former Holiday Inn at 801 St. Joseph Pkwy. at Travis St. on Sunday morning were there for some training exercises: “There was no incident active on the HFD Active Incidents web site, which is just a dump from their dispatch system. I monitored their radio traffic related to it as well. . . . I assume they had permission from the owner. Interesting to see this building getting some attention. I don’t think they were setting it on fire, though.” The 31-story 1971 building was also, for a time, a Days Inn; it was last known as the Heaven on Earth Plaza Hotel, operated through most of the nineties by an organization affiliated with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, though many residents and neighbors referred to it more affectionately as the Beirut Hilton. [Swamplot inbox; previously on Swamplot] Photo: arch-ive.org
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SCRAPPING IT ALL — OR NOT — IN WESTBURY “So I have a home in Westbury that I purchased in the $190 range. It’s ok shape but I am living in another home inside the loop. As I am interested in a larger home and can’t find an affordable lot inside the loop, I am considering demoing my Westbury home and rebuilding on that lot. Does anyone have an opinion on this? I am only aware of one other Westbury new build from 2006. I love the neighborhood, I just need more space. Another option I am considering is building a second story to the existing home. Thoughts?” [Westbury Owner, commenting on A Londoners’ Guide to the Westbury Land Rush]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOUSTON FIRST SKIPS THE BULLY SALES BLOCK “Instead of ‘hoping’ to get residential/retail development on the site, why not REQUIRE such development on the site via deed restrictions or other contractual agreements with the buyer? This is how HISD screwed themselves on the sale of their old administration building. They sold to the highest bidder and ‘hoped’ they would build something like the fancy mixed use rendering they were passing around. Instead we got a Costco and an LA Fitness. When you consider that HISD pockets more than 50 percent of every tax dollar paid by the property, they might have made more money in the long run by GIVING AWAY their land to someone who would have developed it more intensely.” [Bernard, commenting on Headlines: Downtown Block for Sale; Accessing Remote Hermann Park]
WHY THE AISLES WERE EMPTY AT RICE EPICUREAN 
Would warehouse facilities have worked as well? Katherine Shilcutt explains: “A long-running joke with many Houstonians is that no one quite knew how Rice Epicurean Markets stayed in business. . . . While all kinds of wild rumors flew about how Rice Epicurean stores stayed open despite a lack of traffic, the truth is that most of its customers — which tend to be both older and wealthier — opted for grocery delivery service at home. And while this sustained Rice Epicurean for many years, it appears that this model wasn’t quite enough to keep its stores in business.” The chain’s lone surviving store, at 2020 Fountain View between San Felipe and Inwood, will continue home deliveries. [Eating Our Words; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Rice Epicurean, 3745 Westheimer at Weslayan: Wikimedia Commons
COMMENT OF THE DAY: LOOKING AT OUR SPREAD “It’s interesting when friends from back east visit, because they almost universally observe that Houston is ’empty’ (to quote directly). Given the amount of space in this city, the idea that we need to build things far from everything (and then build more roads to get people to them) is really kind of bizarre.” [John (another one), commenting on Comment of the Day: Heading for Points Greener]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HEADING FOR POINTS GREENER “Unless I’m missing something, the whole thing seems like an egregious example of waste. You build Greenspoint 30 years ago and then for various reasons it’s no longer ideal, so do you improve it? Revamp it? No, you abandon it all and clear a new forest ten miles north for your new office park. And all the smaller companies that clustered around you there do likewise. And Greenspoint with its hundreds of acres of concrete just sits there like damaged goods. So what happens in thirty years when Springwoods Village is no longer ideal, when the new wears off? Do you improve it and make it work, or do you jump another ten miles north where there’s another waiting forest and build your new campus there? The irony is that I’m sure these buildings will be LEED-whatever certified and Exxon will tout itself as a great steward, but any environmentalist will tell you that the real way to conserve is to adapt & reuse, not just wantonly abandon & throw away.” [Mike, commenting on The Next Springwoods Village Rumor]
SOUTHWESTERN ENERGY DEFINITELY MOVING INTO EXXONMOBIL’S ORBIT 
A report today confirms what a reader told Swamplot yesterday — that Southwestern Energy plans to build a 10-story office building in Springwoods Village, the new eco-themed community being carved out of a forested area just south of the new ExxonMobil corporate campus at the intersection of I-45 North and the future Grand Parkway. An additional lot for expansion is being preserved on an adjacent site. Reporter Emily Wilkinson guesses that Southwestern could be the mystery company that bought up 22 acres of Springwoods Village last year. [Houston Business Journal] Map: Springwoods Village
THE NEXT SPRINGWOODS VILLAGE RUMOR “Just got off the phone with a Southwestern Energy employee and they announced they are building a new building. The building will be located on 45 near the Exxon Mobil campus. I remember a previous article stating something about there being more office buildings built in the Springwoods development. This is where I surmise it will be. It will be 10-stories high with room for expansion on an adjacent site. Completion date is set for 2014.” [Swamplot inbox] Map: Springwoods Village
COMMENT OF THE DAY: BOOING A DEBAKEY HIGH SCHOOL FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONS MOVE TO THE OLD SHAMROCK HOTEL SITE “Any biomedical educational institution gains considerable strength by being closely associated with TMC. There’s a much higher credibility and visibility factor. And as a bonus, students may be visited by Glenn McCarthy’s ghost.” [Chef, commenting on Headlines: Houston Club Shacking Up with Plaza Club; Galveston’s Port of Call Dreams]
DEEP INSIDE MISSION CONTROL 
At last, that in-depth, exhaustive tour through the Johnson Space Center’s Building 30 that you’d been waiting for — coffee bars and tiny women’s rooms included: “The corridors look like they should exude the odor of decades of cigarette smoke,” space-travel fan Lee Hutchinson writes, “but the federal government’s ‘no smoking’ policy has been in place long enough that most smell faintly of stale coffee instead.” Bonus: Every console in Apollo-era Mission Control explained — or close enough. [Ars Technica] Photo: Steven Michael
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HIPSTER-YUPPIE CONFUSION “at some point a few years ago, long after the hipster refrain should’ve been dead, all the suburban folks started referring to yuppies as hipsters and i don’t think it’s ever gone back. hipsters don’t own homes and they’re certainly not up to speed on construction/real estate in houston.” [joel, commenting on Comment of the Day: Who Dare Oppose]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHO DARE OPPOSE “You have no right to fight it any longer. If they are not asking for a variance then they are within their rights to build it. . . . Because you opposed a reasonable building, I hope they build a 200 unit condo that towers 20 stories, instead of five. Its exactly what you NIMBYS deserve!” [Marksmu, commenting on An End-Around at Emes Place]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: PALE IN COMPARISON “Stephen Fox does a real disservice to drag queens, whose mummery and satire are rooted in fascinating questions about gender identity and the plights of powerless human beings. They have nothing to do with shoddily built, ostentatious and vulgar houses. Drag queens are necessary and even essential to a healthy civilization, they parody and mock for the forces of goodness, but shitty architecture benefits nobody.” [Scott Bodenheimer, commenting on Waving the Fronds on Palm Royale Blvd.]
A LITTLE ELECTION DAY MUD-SLINGING IN SPRING 
A $58 million bond measure to reimburse developer DR Horton for utility and road construction on 400 soon-to-be-developed acres just south of The Woodlands and east of Gosling Rd. is expected to pass in today’s election by a mere 2 votes. The couple expected to account for the winning margin just moved into the area in a trailer they’ve parked in a clearing. And, yeah, they’ll be the only people allowed to vote on the measure. Does this sound like a strange picture in an elective democracy? It’s the normal course of events for establishing municipal utility districts on empty land. 659 MUDs are currently active in the Houston area; since 2009, 88 new ones have been established statewide. [Houston Chronicle] Photo of Willow and Spring Creeks: Northampton MUD
