Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Every exit is an entrance somewhere else.
Sign up for the Newsletter
- 1304 S. Johnson St. [HAR]
The first illustrations of what Rice University wants to do with the Midtown Sears building it bought 2 years ago and has since stripped down emerged yesterday, casting a glance across Fannin St. to show what the northeast corner of the building — to be renamed The Ion — could look like once it’s been reworked into a nexus for tech entrepreneurs and students of various academic institutions who want to be like them. Among the Art-Deco-era bells and whistles shown intact are the sets of vertical mosaic tilework that flank the building’s corner entrance; they’ve got some new shine going on courtesy of light fixtures that appear to be installed directly above and below them. Up above the original late 1930s structure, the 4 architecture firms at work on the building (Gensler, James Carpenter Design Associates, James Corner Field Operations, and SHoP Architects) propose adding a 2-story glass-curtain-walled topping that’d help funnel sunlight into a whole bunch of empty space they’re calling a “central light well.” It would run vertically through the building’s interior, from the roof down to the lobby.
Work and meeting areas would go along the perimeter of the abyss:
Midtown Growth Spurt
TRANSPORTATION BUFFS ARE STAKING OUT HOUSTON’S MOST DANGEROUS INTERSECTIONS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND WHAT’S WRONG WITH THEM 
A handful of intersection inspection personnel were out at Long Point Rd. and Gessner on Tuesday for their second round of roadside surveillance at what they’ve deemed one of the city’s most dangerous crossroads for pedestrians. The team — made up of an engineer from Houston’s public works department, a Federal Highway Administration rep, and members of local advocacy groups LINK Houston and Bike Houston, reports News 88.7’s Gail DeLaughter — has been scrutinizing what goes on out there and at 5 other intersections where a 2017 map showed pedestrians take a beating from cars: Fondren and West Bellfort, Bissonnet and Wilcrest, Shepherd and Allen Pkwy, Taylor and Spring St., and Spur 527 and Holman St. What they’re paying attention to: traffic counts, the times of day that crashes occur, the usefulness of pedestrian traffic signals as well as “how long it takes to safely cross the street, and how cyclists use the roadway,” reports DeLaughter. After wrapping up observations at the end of this week, the group will submit a report to the city recommending changes that’d make each intersection safer. [Houston Public Media] Photo: LINK Houston
- $400M of Harvey Relief Funds Held Up by the Shutdown Will Now Be Disbursed To Help Repair Homes of Senior, Disabled, and Low-Income Houstonians [Houston Public Media]
- A $9.75M River Oaks Foreclosure with an Indoor Pool, Sauna, and Stained-Glass Skylight [Houston Chronicle]
- Hines Eyes 5-Acre Tract on 34th St. in Garden Oaks for Midrise Apartment Building [HBJ ($)]
- New Multilevel H-E-B Debuts Its Food and Booze Selection in Former Heights Dry Zone [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
Photo of I-10: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Soon to be out of sight, but not necessarily out of mind.
- 15701 Oleta Ln. [HAR]
And that’s a wrap over at the 18th St. H-E-B, closed since yesterday so as not to distract from the new, double-decker H-E-B that opened today at 2300 N. Shepherd Dr. between 23rd and 24th streets. The photos above show the old store’s front entrance stripped of all red, hyphenated signage, blockaded by shopping carts, plastered with closure notices, and — in case that wasn’t enough — fronted by stack of wooden pallets with a blaze yellow flyer addressing anyone who’d still hoped to get inside. A few weeks ago, workers inside stopped restocking the aisles, slapped a few discounts on what they had left, and watched as the store’s inventory dwindled up until it shut down.
By 5 p.m. yesterday, reports a Swamplot reader, the parking lot was mostly empty:
1511 W. 18th St.
- UH Planning New 5-Story Law Building To Replace Partially Underground 1969 Building [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Chevron Reportedly Plans To Acquire Former Petrobas Refinery in Pasadena on Houston Ship Channel [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- Jersey Village City Council Decides To Spend $100K for an Extra 500 SF in New Golf Course Convention Center [Community Impact]
- New 48-Story Med Center Mixed-Use Development Innovation Tower To Feature Penthouse-Level Restaurant and Lounge [Bisnow]
- Harris County General Store Barbecue Co. Eyes New East End Building After Shuttering, Hosting Pop Ups in the Meantime on Navigation [Houstonia]
- Exxon’s Beaumont Refinery Expansion Could Make it the Largest in the Country [HBJ]
- “Work in Progress†Grand Parkway Rebranded to Honor Bob Lanier [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of The Silo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
A bungalow here, a bungalow there, but each faces a similar fate.
- 68 Heathrow Ln. [HAR]
Note: A previous version of this story misstated the planned location of the new building as that currently occupied by Momentum Volkswagen. The building is planned across the street from Momentum Volkswagen, at the southeast corner of Richmond Ave and Revere St. formerly home to a different dealership, Momentum Audi.
Here are a few views of the new senior living apartment building that’s making an appearance in this week’s Houston city planning agenda, on the spot occupied by Momentum Audi at the southeast corner of Richmond Ave and Revere St. (That’s right across the street from the currently open Moment Volkswagen of Upper Kirby dealership at 2405 Richmond.) Architecture firm Munoz Albin’s design for the building appears to be a 7-story setup, with some new landscaping planted along the sidewalks that encircle the structure.
Here’s what the site looks like now:
Upper Kirby Swap
- New Alexan Apartments with First Floor Retail on Former Tarkett Site [HBJ ($); previously on Swamplot]
- Galveston Seawall Beach To Be Widened by 800K Cubic Yards of Sand [Houston Chronicle]
- Judge Hidalgo Plans “Transparency Project†To Keep Public Informed and Engaged on County Business [Houston Public Media]
- Public Meeting Planned for Proposed Cy-Fair Area Drainage Improvements Using Flood Bond Funds [Community Impact]
- HPD’s New Training Facility Housing Faux Villages with Offices, Schools, and Banks for Active Shooter Training Named After Fertitta [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of 412 Main St.: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Just a few houses, soon to be torn apart:
- 810 Andrews St. [HAR]
