Demolished City Code Enforcement Office Beats Houston Swimming Hole Boosters to the Punch

Former City of Houston Code Enforcement Building, 3300 Main St., Midtown, Houston, 77002

Those Swamplot commenters who’ve been taking particular and unabashed pleasure in the long, slow demise of the former city code enforcement office at 3300 Main St. may also enjoy the shot above of the flooded pit spotted recently where the Mod office building once stood. Reader Diaspora (who sent in the photo late last week) suggests the site as potential competition for the folks behind the Houston Needs a Swimming Hole campaign, which Kickstartered a feasibility study a few years ago (and also passed around an illustration of an optimistically blue-watered bayouside beachfront, shown below):

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houston needs a swimming hole

That study still doesn’t seem to have quite made its way to the public, though the campaign appears to have surpassed its $30,000 funding goal. But other gigantic swimming pool options in the area are floating around at the moment as well! There’s the one planned for the Balmoral subdivision in Humble, by the faux lake creators at Crystal Lagoon (who also developed the brochure-ready multi-acre pool shown below):

Crystal Lagoon marketing shots

The Crystal Lagoon people purportedly have at least one other such lake in the works elsewhere in the Houston suburban realm. There may also be potential for swimmin’-hole-development along White Oak Bayou north of Downtown, as demonstrated by that glitzy Air New Zealand tourism spread showing off the waterfront views resulting from near-flood-stage high water beneath the Height hike & bike bridge: 

Air New Zealand Houston Piece

Until such time as other projects take off, however, Houstonians can continue to look to the city’s strong tradition of post-rainstorm construction mudpits to satisfy any urban lake longings. Alan Ainsworth sends another shot (below) of an excavator taking the ever-so-slightly-higher ground at the former code building site, in the wake of the January flooding:

Former City of Houston Code Enforcement Building, 3300 Main St., Midtown, Houston, 77002

Images: Diaspora (flooded hole at 3300 Main St., top), Houston Needs a Swimming Hole (rendering of potential Buffalo Bayou beachfront), Kia Ora (flooded White Oak Bayou), Alan Ainsworth (3300 Main St., bottom)

Lakes of Main St.

3 Comment

  • If only the huge tank at the Shamrock Hilton had been preserved, none of these would be necessary.

  • How ironic that lax city codes let to flooding and now the permit office serves as a detention pond.

  • No one in their right mind would build a public swimming hole at that location …. but, given the intelligence of most politicians that seems to be a lot of people.