Swamplot Archives by Category: Uncategorized

Friday, September 25, 2009

Galveston’s Flagship Hotel: No Sale

Those rumors earlier this summer that Galveston’s Flagship Hotel would soon be sold to an unnamed buyer didn’t pan out. And now it looks like Landry’s Restaurants may also be backing away from its earlier backup plan to tear down the hotel and build a “pleasure pier” in its place. A Landry’s official tells the Galveston County Daily News’s Laura Elder the company now plans to repair and reopen the hurricane-ravaged hulk-on-a-pier at 25th Street and Seawall Blvd.:

The city built the Flagship in 1965 as a show of confidence after Hurricane Carla struck the coast.

If Landry’s developed an entertainment complex, it would return the 25th Street pier to its roots. In 1943, the city built the Galveston Municipal Pleasure Pier.

At 1,130 feet long, the pier held a dance hall, a 2,000-seat open air arena, restaurants and concessions, according to the “Galveston Architecture Guidebook.”

Landry’s officials declined to divulge what their specific plans were.

The company is assessing the price of repairs, [Landry’s VP Steve] Greenberg said.

Photo: Ellen Yeates

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Thursday, August 13, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Party on Papalote!

Do we have a winner of that free one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance?

Oh, yes we do!

Your guesses in this week’s game were all over the place: “south of Rice University between Holcombe and University, either side of Greenbriar,” Montrose, Fondren Southwest, Briargrove, “outer Memorial toward the Energy Corridor,” Nottingham Forest, Westchester, Meyerland, “along Long Point,” “off Navigation,” the neighborhoods north of Channelview,” Flintstone, Jersey Village, greater Champions, Clear Lake, “around Westpark, just outside the Loop,” “HBU/Chimney Rock vicinity,” Southwest Houston, Alief, Sharpstown, Bellaire, Deer Park, Richmond, near Pecan Grove, “290 and Beltway-ish,” Spring, Tomball, Conroe, “Spring Branch West, in the area bordered by Hammerly, I-10, Gessner, and the Beltway,” Magnolia Park, Baytown, Galena Park, “off Hempstead Highway,” Montgomery, Hempstead, “around Stuebner Airline,” “the near Southeast side,” Champions/1960, Hobby Airport area, and Pasadena.

The winner — for the second time this year — is MariaO, for this entry:

Definitely this monstrosity must be on a busy street, in an area that saw some building in the early 60s and then they kept on adding “features” throughout the decades. And it is not in an expensive area, or they would have redone the metal staircase in the entry. And several other things.
I’ll guess the northwest side, perhaps off Hempstead Highway?

Got a friend or family member you’d like to have join you as an RDA member, MariaO?

So many colorful guesses this week! This remarkably accurate one from elnina earns a close second place:

I think this is modern two story residential building from the 60’s. The house is large, and the owner, maybe in construction/remodeling business converted part of it to office space, maybe with a separate apartment and rented out.
Upstairs area looks definitely more contemporary, with updated windows and new floors, light and bright. But the remodeling is still in progress - the big room has new pergo floors but still old wood paneled walls in different color.
The sliding door from the living room upstairs leads to big terrace, and maybe to the partially enclosed whirlpool.
The other part of the house is more traditional, with lots of paneling and mirrors, brick wall accents, stone fireplace, old fashion wet bar and tile/terrazzo floors. The bathroom is a headache – he can’t decide which direction he wants to go (lol)
Definitely outside the loop but inside the Beltway, probably in semi-residential area.
It could be around Montgomery, Hempstead or Stuebner Airline – just a wild guess.

Also very close: Jeff, who went with “290 and Beltway-ish,” then added:

I think they pieced together remnants of several homes left in their yard after Hurricane Ike.

A special commendation goes to Porchman, who wrote to Swamplot with the actual listing, then threw out only this note of encouragement to fellow players:

Hard to believe it’s one house!

But it is! Well, sorta . . . kinda . . . maybe . . .

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Thursday, July 2, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Horses Okay!

Now who won that box of Crave Cupcakes?

Someone who played this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game — and made one of these guesses: The Woodlands (there were 5), Kingwood (also 5), Tanglewood (3), “somewhere along Buffalo Bayou” (3), Tomball (3), Champion Forest (2), Conroe (2), Magnolia (2), Cypress (2), near Kingwood Country Club (2), Spring, Sherwood Forest, Hunter’s Creek Village, “the area around Briar Forest and Gessner somewhere along Buffalo Bayou,” near Memorial and Voss, “the Wirt/Westview area,” “north of The Woodlands, maybe on the east side of I-45 near the Crighton Ridge neighborhood off Crighton Road, south of Conroe,” Bayou Woods, Memorial “just off one of those small streets east of Gessner,” “between Kirby where it veers east into Allen Parkway and Shepherd,” near the Raveneaux Country Club, near Lake Houston, near Briar Forest and the Beltway, “inside the Beltway along Memorial Dr. between Voss and Gessner,” Lakeside Forest, Ponderosa Forest, “somewhere off Cypress Creek,” Clear Lake, Brook Forest, Lakewood, Friendswood, Broad Oaks, Briar Manor, Crestwood, Glen Cove, “around a bayou,” “on Saddlebrook, right off Memorial east of Chimney Rock,” “Waller/Tomball somewhere nestled along Spring Creek,” “the Hudson area off Memorial,” Lake Livingston, Panorama Village, Hunterwood, Splendora, “in them thar hills to the north and west of Tomball proper,” “in the Hirsch-Little York-Homestead-Tidwell box near Tidwell Park,” Saddlewood, Sandalwood, “down Baytownish,” “in the back of The Woodlands,” Spring Branch, Hilshire Village, near Memorial and Piney Point, Rivercrest north of Briar Forest, Briargrove Park, near the Lakeside Country Club, off Briar Drive next to Tanglewood.

Whew! That’s a lot of househunting. This week’s winner is the mysterious IHeartSwampLot — for this entry:

This sucker is on a MONSTROUS lot with tons of pine trees. That could be just about anywhere in the northern fringes of the metro area. How we gonna narrow this down? Well, the furniture and kitchen just SCREAM 80s and the windows, they lead me to believe there’s quite a sight to behold out in the backyard, such as a lake but the trees are too close for that. Creek? Big hill? It also would appear that it is either a two story or the back of the house is raised. Maybe it is just a hill. Can’t be the Woodlands…the setting feels to secluded. Magnolia probably was still waaaaay too far out back in the 80s. Conroe area is kinda trashy, and this is a nice house. Could be non-lakefront property near Lake Conroe, but again, the seclusion would indicate otherwise. Tomball doesn’t seem right either, flat as a pancake out there. Time for the maps…where do we have hills and pine trees, and possibly a water feature on the fringes of 1980s Houston civlization? Kingwood comes to mind, but it isn’t terribly hilly. Further up the road we have Splendora but that seems kinda far out. Panning back to the west it would appear that there’s creeks in them thar hills to the north and west of Tomball proper.

Congratulations! A dozen cupcakes from Crave Cupcakes in Uptown Park will soon be on their way to you! (Thanks to Crave Cupcakes for sponsoring the prize this week.)

Also in the neighborhood: runners-up elnina, CK, and Jessica1. Great work!

A special commendation goes to Cynthia, who knew the home, wrote in with the listing, and then posted this deceptive guess:

Oh, I love it! It reminds me of my grandparents’ patio home built in the 80s out near Briar Forest and the Beltway…all that modernism mixed with wood and stone but more traditional, yet stylish, furniture.

BUT this is what they dreamed of owning. It’s definitely bigger than a townhome, with more greenery, and requires much more $$$.

I’m guessing my grandparents’ dream house is more inside the beltway along Memorial Dr between Voss and Gessner.

Did that knock you off track?

And where is this place?

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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Dishwasher Island

Wondering what the prize is for the Neighborhood Guessing Game this week? It’s an overnight stay for two at the Hotel Sorella!

The Hotel Sorella is a brand-new 244-room luxury hotel from Houston’s Valencia Group, set to open in July in the new mixed-use CityCentre development at I-10 and Beltway 8 — on the former site of the Town & Country Mall. The winner of this week’s game will receive overnight accommodations at the Hotel Sorella and two welcome cocktails at monnalisa, the property’s European-style bar and lounge.

Does that sound like something you’d like to win? Here’s how you do it: Study the photos in this post. Then guess what neighborhood the pictured home is in. If you guess correctly, you get the prize! If more than one person guesses the right neighborhood, the player who gives the best explanation for the guess wins.

Except: If you already know this property, or if you come across it while we’re playing, don’t just post the answer — you’ll disqualify yourself, and make a lot of other players very upset. Instead, send Swamplot an email with a link to the listing, so we know what you’re doing. Then post an incorrect guess, but make a case for it — to try to throw the other players off track. If you do this well, you’ll win special recognition when we post the answer. And if nobody guesses the actual neighborhood, you could win the prize!

More photos, please . . .

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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The President and the Mobile Moon Bubble

“The LER performed flawlessly in front of the President,” tweets NASA. And so it did, at the very end of the inaugural parade: dropping off a passenger dressed appropriately for the weather — who then walked off with the flag.

Here’s video of the Johnson Space Center’s new Lunar Electric Rover in action yesterday:

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Monday, December 29, 2008

Swamplot Runs on Tips

The winners of the Swampies will be announced . . . soon! While you’re waiting for the results, here’s a quick reminder: Swamplot wants you to send in tips!

What makes a good Swamplot tip? Information you have that other Houston real-estate- or design-crazed readers would love to hear about! See something unusual in your neighborhood? Snap a photo and send it in! Got the scoop on a super-secret project? Drop us an email.

Swamplot has a strict policy: We never identify our sources — unless a tipster specifically requests otherwise. Your secrets won’t be safe with us, but your identity will!

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Monday, December 22, 2008

Campaign Week for the Swamplot Awards

Nominees for all 10 categories of the Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate have been announced, and voting has begun!

Where can you find them? Where can you vote? They’re all on this page. Or you can get to them individually from this handy list of links:

Already, more than 200 votes have come in. And yes, it’s a slow week. But there’s still time for come-from-behind candidates to win their categories! All it takes is a little campaigning. The deadline for the votes you bring in: midnight this coming Sunday, December 28th.

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Monday, November 17, 2008

Katy Does Contemporary Country: More Pix of that House on Woods Lane

Readers obsessed with the Katy house designed by Wylie W. Vale that was featured in last week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game will be interested to see these additional views of the 1952 home — in all its original “little bit country, little bit Mod” glory. They were taken by architectural photographer (and yes, game winner) Ben Hill on a quick visit early last year.

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Friday, October 31, 2008

Heights Hike and Bike Trail: Actual Construction Spotted

Hike-and-Bike Trail Construction Along Nicholson St. Between 21st and 22nd Sts., Houston Heights

Martin Hajovsky notes progress on the long-promised hike-and-bike trail along Nicholson in the Heights. The path: South from W. 27th to W. 7th, then east to Downtown along the former Katy/MKT railway.

Photo of construction on Nicholson St. between 21st and 22nd Sts.: Martin Hajovsky

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Monday, June 23, 2008

More Discovery Tower Drawings Discovered

Discovery Tower, Downtown Houston

New drawings and details appear of Discovery Tower, the 30-story office building now under construction at the northwest corner of Discovery Green Downtown.

The wind turbines at the top of the building are still there. The brochure also mentions solar panels on the south face of the building, a green roof on top of the entrance pavilion, 2 stories of retail, as well as some old Houston favorites: 2 floors of underground parking (151 cars), and a 10-story, 1,350-space parking garage one block north, connected by . . . . an air-conditioned (phew!) skybridge!

After the jump, more green-hot Downtown tower architectural rendering porn!

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Tuesday, February 5, 2008

My Houston: Like MySpace, only Meaner

My Houston Home Page, from visithoustontexas.com

The Greater Houston Convention and Visitor Bureau’s celebrity-laden “My Houston” campaign hits the web!!! And it sure looks a lot like Facebook or MySpace, doesn’t it? All the kewl kids are on it, like Beyonce, and Yao, and AJ, and George and Barbara, and Chloe, and Yolanda. And they’re all saying great things about your city!!!

Only . . . there doesn’t seem to be a way to post your own page. Or add your comments to theirs. Or participate in any way.

All those local celebrities? They are not your friends. Clay and Brian and Hilary are not in your extended network.

Loser.

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Friday, November 16, 2007

Sugar Land Whole Foods: Water on the Roof, Sweet Peas Inside

Whole Foods in First Colony, Sugar Land, Texas

Is all that blue stuff that looks like it’s on the roof of this drawing of the new Whole Foods Market in Sugarland supposed to be water, or are those architects just coloring outside the lines again? The giant leaf-shaped structure in front is part of a rooftop rainwater-collection system, but with gravity and all, you’d expect the water to spill into that non-blue-colored round area of the roof to the left.

Oh, but maybe we’re looking at this picture the wrong way . . . that’s right, the blue stuff isn’t water on the roof, it’s the water in Brooks Lake, right behind the store. D’oh! That’s where rain that misses the roof will go. Brooks Lake is shaped a lot more like a river than a lake, but that sure comes in handy when you’re hawking waterfront property.

The 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods will anchor Planned Community Developers’s Lake Pointe Town Center at the intersection of Highway 59 and Highway 6 in First Colony. The store opens December 5th.

The rain collected from the roof will be used for watering the extensive parking lot and plaza landscaping. The store’s Sweet Peas Clubhouse will take children aged 3 to 7 off your hands while you shop.

Update, 12/5/07: It’s open. Anyone wanna send us a report?

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Friday, July 7, 2006

Music Festival Planners Offer Gentle Critique of Houston: How Do You Navigate This Thing?

Some visitors to last weekend’s blockbuster Essence Music Festival at Reliant Park had a hard time getting around Houston:

“It was a difficult city to navigate and that can’t be ignored,” said Michelle Ebanks, president of Essence Communications Inc. “The end result was a general lack of systems to manage the sprawl. Houston underestimated the enormity and significance of this event.”

Festival organizers said they heard numerous complaints from attendees related to the distance between hotels, shopping, downtown entertainment and Reliant Park, where the Essence Festival was held.

But Houston officials said the transportation hiccups that occurred during the three-day festival were the result of taking on the challenge of hosting the national event with less than a year to prepare.

Ebanks said organizers had suggested that free or subsidized shuttles be available to ferry attendees about town but that did not occur.

Don’t these people have cars? That’s our “system to manage sprawl.” Sheesh. Next thing you know, these folks will be complaining about a lack of nightlife.

Oh . . .

While transportation was a major issue for attendees, Ebanks said many also complained that after the late night concerts ended there was nothing for them to do.

Who are these people? Event planners or city planners? Remind us what the difference is, again?

Councilman Ronald Green sets the tourists straight, though:

Green, who has attended the event in past years, said the community did “just the minimum” in hosting the event.

He said Houston’s layout is different from that of New Orleans, and event attendees will have to deal with sprawl. But he said the city could do more to appear hospitable.

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