Redevelopment

CityCentre
08/08/17 1:45pm

How To Pull Down an I-10 Office Building, Town & Country Style

by
Demolitions, Office Buildings, Redevelopment
2 Comments

Wrecking balls may have gone out of style, but cable hookups still put on a good Houston show. A reader with a front-row view of the soon-to-be north end of CityCentre shows us how, in videos and a photo showing the continuing section-by-section disappearance of the 1977 office building at 908 Town & Country Blvd. known as Town & Country V.

First, demolition workers weaken some of the building’s steel support beams by heating them with torches and making a few strategic snips. Then they attach one end of a cable to the beam:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Cable Hookups and Yanks
, , , ,
Demolitions
08/07/17 3:00pm

How Old Montrose Came Apart, One Swamplot Story at a Time

by
Houston History, Montrose, Redevelopment
8 Comments

A section of John Nova Lomax’s new Texas Monthly essay on Montrose’s continuing “it was better in the old days” rap chronicles a sequence of prominent changes to the neighborhood from the last decade. That it’s possible to find at least one Swamplot story corresponding to each noted example speaks to the longterm vigilance of this site’s tipsters — if not the author’s research methods. (Lomax in fact wrote a few of our stories himself; he’s a former Swamplot contributor and editor.)

Here’s the passage, altered by a peppering with Swamplot links to provide an annotated and illustrated version of Montrose’s recent journey from former counterculture haven to . . . uh, former counterculture haven:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

You Were There
, , , ,
Comments
08/04/17 2:00pm

Comment of the Day: What’s In Store for Houston’s Remaining Mansards

by
Demolitions, Quicklink, Redevelopment
3 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT’S IN STORE FOR HOUSTON’S REMAINING MANSARDS “These clusters of mansard-roofed ’70s apartments and townhouses dot the mid loop area and will be getting dozed by the dozens during these decades for those wanting large wads of land.” [Dana-X, commenting on The Ripple Creek Townhomes Are Now Being Ripped to Shreds] Photo of Ripple Creek Townhomes at 1015 S. Ripple Creek Dr.: Swamplot inbox

, , ,
Demolitions
08/02/17 3:45pm

Midcentury Mod Former Exxon Office on Buffalo Spdwy. Slowly Disappearing from Behind

by
Greenway Plaza, Redevelopment
1 Comment

Here’s a view from late last week of the back of former Exxon Upstream Research facility at 3120 Buffalo Spdwy., as crews continue their demolition magic. Transwestern Development and Spear Street Capital purchased the 16.9-acre site from the oil giant in March, and shortly thereafter began removing structures from the property, including the 550,000-sq.-ft. 1962 building by MacKie and Kamrath Architects — shown here in half-gone mode — and its attached auditorium, which was added in 2003. The eastern wall of the attached parking garage is still visible in the photo.

And here’s a view from yesterday, as demolition advances toward the structure’s Buffalo Spdwy. façade:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Slice by Slice
, , , ,
CityCentre
08/01/17 1:15pm

Taking the Edge off Town & Country V

by
Demolitions, Redevelopment
3 Comments

Here’s an interrupted last look at the Town & Country V office building at 908 Town & Country Blvd., which is clearly in the way of the CityCentre expansion.

The 6-story building is the last of a group of 4 being removed from the growing mixed-use district’s northern border. Earlier last month, crews were eating at the structure from the I-10 side:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Now You See It
, , , ,
Featured Posts
08/01/17 12:00pm

Construction on the MFAH’s New Glassell School Is Ramping Up

by
Museum District, Museums, New Construction, Redevelopment
5 Comments

From the skies above Montrose Blvd. just north of Bissonnet, here’s a view from late last week of progress on the Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s new Glassell School of Art. The new building, designed by Steven Holl Architects, is under construction across the street from the Glassell Junior School building (in the foreground, with the curved roof) — and on the same site where the original Glassell School, designed by Houston architect S.I. Morris, was demolished in 2015. Morris’s Glassell School featured exterior walls of glass block; the primary exterior materials of Holl’s replacement building are sandblasted panels of precast concrete, assembled to shape an inclined plane along the long edge of the building’s L shape.

If that part of the building is starting to look like it’ll form a giant ramp, it’s because it will: Models of the structure show an outdoor amphitheater at the ramp’s base; a rooftop public path will ascend beyond it to a sculpture garden on the roof of the building’s northern leg. An addition to the existing sculpture garden to the south will extend into the courtyard shaped by the building’s two wings, fronting Montrose Blvd. The space designated for the garden is filled with construction materials in the center of the photo above; it’s pictured in a more completed state in this rendering by the architect:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

A View from Above
, , , , ,
Demolitions
07/28/17 10:00am

The Heights Post Office Has Been Disappeared

by
Houston Heights, Redevelopment
4 Comments

Here’s the scene from Heights Blvd. this morning, where the former Heights Finance Station — that was the fancy name for the neighborhood’s main post office — lies in trucked-off ruins. The construction fence along the right side of the image lines 11th St. The view from Brie Kelman’s camera faces west, toward Yale St.; the former Citgo gas station now known as whiskey bar Eight Row Flint, on the opposite side of Yale, is visible just to the left of center in the distance (if you look closely).

Here’s a different view of the site from just a few days ago:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , ,
Demolitions
07/25/17 1:45pm

How the Heights Post Office Is Coming Down Today, and What’s Going Up in Its Place

by
Houston Heights, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail
8 Comments

The former Heights Finance Station post office at the corner of Heights Blvd. and 11th St. — its parking lot and front door face Yale St. — is coming down in a hail of lovingly painted bricks today. The post office was closed at the end of 2015 and subsequently purchased by developer MFT Interests. The single-story building was later festooned with an assortment of romance– and ZIP-code-themed murals.

MFT is calling the new development it has planned for the 1050 Yale St. site Heights Central Station. It’ll consist of two 2-story painted-brick buildings fronting 11th St.:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Heights Central Station
, , , , , , , ,
Demolitions
07/24/17 2:30pm

How We Know Destiny’s Child Was Gone from the House of Déreon Before Its Demo

by
Midtown, Redevelopment
1 Comment

It appears demolition contractors — or the site’s new owners — saw fit to remove the mural of Destiny’s Child from the House of Deréon Media Center building in Midtown before beginning to break it down last week. The time-lapse video above shows an excavator tearing apart the 2-story structure at 2204 Crawford St. piece by piece on Friday. But the southern façade of the building, which faces Hadley St., looks a little different than it did just a week earlier. Where once hung giant images of Kelly Rowland, Beyoncé Knowles, and Michelle Williams, a plain white panel appears — the mural evidently having either been removed or painted over before demolition began.

Strangely, this is not the first sign of deference the demo contractors on site have shown the Bootylicious trio, before the building touted for many years as “The Home of Destiny’s Child” was given the boot. Last week an excavator appeared in front of the mural — only to sneak away a few days later:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Didn’t Think They Could Handle This
, , , , ,
Demolitions
07/11/17 11:30am

Destiny’s Child Mural on House of Deréon Media Center Wins Midtown Demolition Staredown

by
Midtown, Redevelopment
1 Comment

A reader who visited the site of the House of Deréon Media Center last night notes an unusual outcome to the demolition standoff that began on the Midtown block late last week. The excavator parked outside the former event and wedding venue at 2204 Crawford St. marketed as “The Home of Destiny’s Child” has apparently been removed — and the building, along with other structures that until last year belonged to former Destiny’s Child manager Mathew Knowles‘s Music World Entertainment complex, is still standing. There will be no, no, no demolition, it appears — for now.

A reader’s photo and video of the scene (above) show only a few mudtracks from the excavator remaining — and Kelly Rowland, Beyoncé Knowles, and Michelle Williams still staring it down, unmoved.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Say My Name
, , , ,
Demolitions
07/10/17 9:45am

Demo Equipment Is Now Waiting Patiently Outside the House of Deréon Media Center in Midtown

by
Midtown, Redevelopment
3 Comments

It appears that what’s left of Mathew Knowles’s Music World Entertainment compound in Midtown is Destiny’s Child now. “Ever since I read that Advantage BMW bought the block,” writes the reader who snapped this photo of the excavator now parked next to the House of Deréon Media Center at 2204 Crawford St., “I have been expecting something to come down.”

The pictured building, designated the “Home of Destiny’s Child” — later an event and wedding venue operated by Knowles, the group’s former manager — sits on the 1.43-acre block bounded by Crawford, Webster, LaBranch, and Hadley that Knowles sold to the corporate owners of the neighboring Midtown Advantage BMW dealership late last year, after (as he later told Nancy Sarnoff) “someone knocked on my door and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

Also on the block: the Music World Studios building, where (among others) Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Mario, and Chris Brown recorded — as well as Knowles’s daughters, Beyoncé and Solange. And at 1515 Hadley St., next door to the House of Deréon Media Center, is the 3-story former Rice Mansion, which Knowles had made his company’s headquarters:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Child of Destiny
, , , ,
Demolitions
07/07/17 11:30am

A Greenway Plaza Lot Clearing, as Told in Pictures

by
Redevelopment, Weslayan Plaza
5 Comments

There’s now nothing left of the 1952 2-bedroom house or its 3 accompanying oak trees that until late last month stood at 4027 Portsmouth St. in Weslayan Plaza, a tiny neighborhood just west of Greenway Plaza and just north of the Southwest Fwy.

Here’s a quick photo recap of recent activity on the site:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Now You See It
, , ,
Condos
07/06/17 12:30pm

The Extended Last Days of River Oaks Manor, Nest Cam Time-Lapse Edition

by
Demolitions, Redevelopment, River Oaks
1 Comment

Neighbor-with-a-security-cam Bill Curry has now posted to YouTube 6 additional time-lapse videos covering days 2 through 8 of the demo of the Googie-style River Oaks Manor condo complex at 2325 Welch St. The structure went down at the end of last month across from his home just east of Revere St., in an unnamed neighborhood real close to River Oaks.

If you thrilled to the jumpy frames from Curry’s Nest camera chronicling the removal of a 26-unit, 2-story structure dating from 1950 (in favor of a 32-unit, 9-story structure dating from 2018) but wanted to see what more it took to remove the row of Welch St.-facing carports left standing in the first video, follow the rest of the sequence, beginning with Day 2 (above) and continuing with the third day (June 27th) below:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Clearing Out in River Oaks Adjacent
, , , , ,
Demolitions
07/05/17 11:00am

Now There’s Nothing Standing in the Way of a 365 by Whole Foods Market at Yale and 610

by
Independence Heights, New Construction, Redevelopment, Retail
1 Comment

The metal garage-and-office structure that once housed the Neff Rental location at the southwestern corner of Independence Heights has now been obliterated, a reader notes — sending the above photograph to serve as evidence of the building’s absence. Site work began at the property last month.

When construction is complete next year, a 30,000-sq.-ft. 365 by Whole Foods Market will face the North Loop feeder road, in front of an attached tilt-wall 12,000-sq.-ft. structure slated for a Houston Heights ER. A parking lot of 242 spaces will front Yale St. Immediately to the north on Yale, a 19,200-sq.-ft. strip center will be surrounded by additional parking.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

Enough for Neff
, , , , , , ,
Demolitions
06/27/17 3:30pm

What Went Down This Morning on the Corner of Harold and Mulberry

by
Montrose, Redevelopment
9 Comments

Courtesy of a smartphone-bearing reader, here’s the scene from this morning on the often-quiet Montrose corner of Harold and Mulberry, directly across the street from the Bering Memorial United Methodist Church. The single-story brick bungalow dating from 1938 at 1502 Harold St. is a goner. Croix Homes has a permit to build a new house on the site.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

Crushed in Montrose
, , ,
« Previous Page Next Page »