COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE CASE FOR TAKING DOWN TIMBERGROVE “. . . The Timbergrove houses East of TC Jester are not particularly well built, and they don’t really lend themselves to expansion. The slabs are undersized as well, so building up is very difficult. I would love to update and add to our house, but by the time everything is done, we could almost build a modern house with more room, better infrastructure, and lower operating costs. And that’s after adding something that will really be just a tacked on space that’s not well integrated. Tear downs make a lot of sense under those conditions.” [Ross, commenting on New Timbergrove Manor Cottage Puts Some Skin in the Real Estate Game]
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HILLCROFT HOUSTON CELL PHONE SNATCHING THROUGH THE ROOF 
Here’s a view from earlier today of the ceiling inside Rizwan Siddiqi’s Cell Phone Wholesale shop at 3633 Hillcroft. Shortly before 4 this morning, a thief dropped into the store and grabbed as many as 80 smartphones before climbing back out the way he came, through the roof. Surveillance video shows the phoneburglar missing on his first attempt to jump back into the plenum space, hitting the display case before crashing back onto the floor. A tall stool placed on top of the case eventually allowed a gentler exit. The shop is carved out of one side of the Valero In-N-Out store at the corner of Windswept. [abc13] Photo: Phillip Mena/Click2Houston
HOTEL ROOM ART FAIR IMPRESARIO SELLS UNDERWEAR, LOSES SHIRT 
Wrapping up last weekend’s seat-of-the-pants Pan Art Fair, held in a third-floor hotel suite across the street from the massive Texas Contemporary Art Fair at the George R. Brown Convention Center, blogger and fair impresario Robert Boyd notes some successes. Among the sales: A piece from artist Jim Nolan’s drawers-in-a-drawer installation, the process of failure/it’s better to regret something you have done, also known as a pair of underwear displayed prominently in one of the bedside-table drawers. Also, Boyd sold out of the small run of T-shirts he had made to commemorate the event. And he’s glad a number of local artists helped push the exhibition space into some odd corners of the hotel room. But, he writes, “I lost money on this deal. Sales were meager. I had to take two vacation days from work to do it. So naturally, it is my intention to do it again next year — even bigger, if possible. See you then.” [The Great God Pan Is Dead; previously on Swamplot] Photos of Jim Nolan and artwork: Robert Boyd
FUNERAL BARS GET THEIR DAY IN COURT 
The long-simmering legal battle between 3 bars carved out of the remains of the former Settegast-Kopf funeral home on Kirby and 51 nearby residents is scheduled to go to trial next week. The residents and association of the David Crockett subdivision, which includes Roak, Hendricks Pub and Eatery, and OTC Patio Bar within its boundaries — as well as tony Ferndale, Virginia, and Lake streets west of Kirby — are seeking to enforce the neighborhood’s deed restrictions, which prohibit alcohol sales and activities considered a “nuisance.” In a countersuit, the bar owners are alleging racial discrimination, complaining that the neighborhood has not enforced the same restrictions on the Owl Bar and Cafe Express, both of which also serve alcohol. Bar attorney Paul Pilibosian tells reporter David Kaplan that the bars’ lease will expire in a year and a half. The bars do not currently have an option to renew, but Pilibosian says they are seeking ways to stay longer in their current locations. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Roak pool: Sarah Tressler
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE APARTMENT PAMPHLETEER “Everyone who is a renter or is a landlord should know and read this.” (PDF) [denise, commenting on How Quick To Kick ’Em Out and Tear It Down?]
SMALL COLD GALLERY SPACE GOING DOWNTOWN HOTEL SUITE MINI-BAR 
Having now sold out all remaining end-table and dresser drawer spaces in the hotel-room mini art fair he’s setting up in Room 307 of the Embassy Suites next to Discovery Green downtown, blogger Robert Boyd has found a tenant for one last untapped space in his Pan Art Fair, timed to coincide with this weekend’s Texas Contemporary Art Fair at the convention center down Dallas St. And that space would be: the hotel suite’s mini-bar. With only hours to go before tonight’s opening, Boyd has turned the space over to local experts with considerable experience running compact refrigerated galleries. Curators Emily Sloan and David McClain had been operating The Kenmore, a “cold self-run exhibition object” (which at approximately 3 ft. by 2 ft. by 2 ft. qualifies as one of Houston’s smallest art galleries) out of a few different local art spaces, including Skydive in Richwood Place. “I’m fairly certain I have no idea what [Sloan and McClain] will do,” Boyd is quoted as saying in a notice just added to the Pan Art Fair website, “but fuck-it, no one else wanted the fridge.” [Pan Art Fair; previously on Swamplot] Photo: The Kenmore
HOW QUICK TO KICK ’EM OUT AND TEAR IT DOWN? “Can a developer who buys an apartment building (or duplex, four-plex, etc.) simply ignore an existing lease’s terms and give 30 days notice before knocking it down to build something new? Half the real estate developer/lawyer types I know have told me ‘no way.’ They say a contract is a contract and the new owner has to abide by that and let you live out the lease or offer a buyout. But the other half say there’s a loophole in Houston permitting that says if the new owner plans to tear down the building, once they have their variance granted, they can ignore the lease terms and just give 30 days notice to move out. Help! Do you have the definitive answer?” [Swamplot inbox]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT IT TAKES TO BUILD AT THE UPPER END “You are right that you can build a very nice house for $150/sq. ft., but when you are in this stratospheric range, $150 is your starting point and you jump off from there. . . . Your roof will be slate and not composition. Goodness knows how much that costs, and how it impacts your structural engineering. Your floors will be stone and/or wide plank salvaged wood and not 2 1/2″ plain sawn oak. Your facade will be brick, not hardi plank, and bricks will cost $2-$3 each and not 50 cents. And on an 8,000 sq. ft. structure you may get 50,000, 100,000 bricks. Then you pay the mason. Your trim and doors will be custom manufactured and not stock. Your window package will be custom manufactured and not stock. Saw one house where custom fabricated metal windows cost $250,000. For the windows. Your light cans will cost 10x the cost of the cans you get in a builder spec house. You will have paid a lighting designer a fortune to tell you how to position those lights. Your HVAC, security, A/V systems will be state of the art, each of which will run tens and tens of thousands, if not more. You will insulate your house to an extreme level. And so on and so on. It all adds up . . . But yes, you can build a nice house for $150/sq. ft., but if you are building on a 50,000 sq. ft. lot on the corner of Kirby and Inwood, you just won’t.” [KG, commenting on Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: Out of the Closet]
STUDEMONT KROGER MATCHES WALMART’S OPENING DATE 
October 26th is gonna be a busy day for the once-industrial zone south of I-10 just west of Downtown. Sure, it’s Halloween candy-hoarding time. And you’ll have 2 large new venues for it. It’ll be opening day not only for the Walmart SuperCenter at 111 Yale St., but for the new 79,000-sq.-ft. Kroger less than a mile away at 1440 Studemont. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo of Kroger under construction: Swamplot inbox
COMMENT OF THE DAY: BUMPER CROP “I wish acorns could be sold. I would be a filthy rich millionaire. Unbelievable how many my 2 oak trees produced and they keep falling. this past weekend, I filled my black trash can 4x to dump in the back. There are still a lot more.” [robin varner, commenting on Headlines: Mall of the Mainland Discount; Houston Raining Acorns]
ART OF THE DOWNTOWN HOTEL SUITE FURNITURE 
Blogger Robert Boyd’s upstart Pan Art Fair — now touting itself as “Houston’s smallest art fair” — has been digging deep into the furniture of its Embassy Suites hotel room venue (Suite 307) to find space for more exhibitors. Added to the showing space for the fair, which runs at the same time as the much larger Texas Contemporary Art Fair across Discovery Green in the GRB beginning this Thursday: exhibits in the end-table and dresser drawers. Four of the six sliding spaces, dubbed “micro-booths,” have already been snatched up by artists and galleries, according to the fair’s website. Still available: the south end-table drawer, listed as the former location of “the installation Gideon Bible Piece.” [Pan Art Fair; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Embassy Suites
NEW METRO TRAINS GETTING BIKE RACKS 
Metro is showing off the first of 19 new California-made Siemens H2 S70 trains it’ll be adding to its light-rail fleet. The first new cars in 9 years are updated versions of the line’s original 18-member fleet, with one notable difference: Metro will be outfitting them with 2 bicycle racks each, at the front and rear doorways. Photo: Metro
HOUSTON’S FIRST-EVER INNER LOOP WALMART OPENS NEXT WEEK 
“Hundreds of blue shopping carts area already lined up in the parking lot” of the “Washington Heights” Walmart SuperCenter at 111 Yale St. and Koehler, reports Charlotte Aguilar. When will customers start lining up? Sometime in advance of the scheduled October 26th opening. That’s 2 Fridays from today. If you’re bringing the family in an SUV or pickup, though, you might want to avoid crossing the Yale St. bridge just south of I-10. It’s now restricted to vehicles under 6,000 pounds. Walmart says it’s routing all supply trucks elsewise as well. [The Leader; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Charlotte Aguilar
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE NORTH SHEPHERD EXPRESS “RE: DOT I-45 IMPROVEMENTS: I wonder why North Shepherd isn’t included as a ‘parallel route’ for development ‘to add capacity & alleviate congestion.’ It’s already a wide, straight corridor with a direct N-S orientation but (currently) too slow to be a viable alternative to I-45 (except under extreme crash/flooding conditions.) Many I-45 North drivers are headed to areas in The Heights, Galleria and points in-between, and, neither the Sam Houston/Beltway 8 Loop nor the Hardy Tollway are their paths of choice. Center lanes of Shepherd could be elevated as an express route. Below it, neighborhood traffic would be unaffected and the area could rejuvenate (or whatever developers call it these days) to a residential/light commercial area. There is currently a multi-unit project planned for the area, on Rittenhouse . . .” [movocelot, commenting on Headlines: The Push for Waterfront Homes; Unintended Light Show at the Rice Skyspace]
SPROUTS FAR OUT 
The Sprouts Farmers Market grocery chain’s long-awaited Houston-area landing will begin with 3 outside the Beltway locations next year. Sprouts scout Ed Page of UCR MoodyRambin Page says leases have already been signed for a 25,300-sq.-ft. spot at the southwest corner of Cinco Ranch Blvd. and Peek Rd.; for a 29,000-sq.-ft. store at FM 529 and Hwy. 6 in the Copperfield Village Shopping Center; and for a 28,000-sq.-ft. location off the Tomball Pkwy. at Spring Cypress Rd. in the Spring Cypress Village shopping center. Page tells reporter Shaina Zucker leases are being negotiated for several other sites. The southwest organic-friendly chain swallowed up competitor Sunflower Farmers Markets earlier this year. [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Colorado store: Sprouts
