Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the demolition.
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- 3330 Colonel Court Dr. [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW THE RUSTY RESTAURANT LOOK MADE ITS WAY TO HOUSTON 
“I blame Austin. Check out Uchi on Westheimer with its weathered metal patio screening. Or the late, unlamented Doc’s across the street, resplendent in the sort of patina that can be attained only through time (several hours’ worth of antiquing). Both had their roots in that fair city. If property owners want to transform their buildings into movie sets for Larry McMurtry stories, I suppose it’s their business (and businesses). Frankly, any change from the ubiquitous cheap stucco and warped sheet metal panels that clad Houston’s lesser buildings is welcome. There will be more attempts at false history; eventually, this trend will run its course.” [Big Tex, commenting on The Heavy Metal Taco Redo Now Taking Shape on N. Main off I-45] Photo of former El Taquito Rico, 3701 N. Main St.: Swamplot inbox
Here’s a drawing showing some of the potential new waterways now being considered for the 35-acre tract that sits east of Wet’n’Wild SplashTown’s aquatic amusement park on the North Fwy. The just-under-50-acre park opened just north of the Louetta Rd. exit off I-45 in 1984 as Hanna-Barbera Land. In 2014, Premier Parks took the place over from Six Flags and tapped New York-based Aquatic Development Group to renovate its attractions and infrastructure — including the entrance shown above. The same firm is now brainstorming designs for the adjacent parcel, which — when it’s hydrated — will nearly double the park’s size.
Here’s a look at some of the current waterworks from above:
Wet’n’Expanding
THE ARMY CORPS SAW ALL YOUR ADDICKS AND BARKER LAWSUITS COMING — 23 YEARS AGO 
A 1995 Army Corps of Engineers memo obtained by the Chronicle shows that the agency considered the possibility that dozens of lawsuits could be filed against it by flooded homeowners both upstream and downstream from the Addicks and Barker dams. “Given the nature of the expensive homes that would be flooded and the quality of legal representation these owners could afford, there is always the possibility of an adverse ruling,” but the likelihood of such an outcome would be low, it concluded. Those downstream from the reservoirs would have a weak case, the memo argued, because their home values benefit from the dams in the first place. And those upstream — inside the Addicks and Barker flood pools — would have to prove that flooding wasn’t just sporadic, but “frequent and inevitably recurring to amount to a taking of interest in property.” Regardless, says the document, “it would be prudent for Harris County to make sure owners, future developers, and future buyers are put on notice that they are in a reservoir.” That didn’t happen. [Houston Chronicle; memo] Photo of Barker Reservoir Near Addicks Clodine Rd. after Harvey: Kyle Steck
Today our thanks go to Just Buyers Houston, the Houston real estate firm that represents buyers only. Thanks for sponsoring Swamplot!
The market condition pages for townhouses and highrises have just been updated on the Just Buyers Houston website. Take a look. “If you are a highrise buyer you will find the most favorable market condition for buyers in the city,” notes Just Buyers Houston’s Judy Thompson. Demand for these units, she notes, is “not nearly as strong as it is for single-family and townhouses. Townhouses are easier to buy than single-family properties — there is more to choose from and these units generally do not sell immediately.â€
You’ll find plenty more arrays of perusable stats for 21 popular neighborhoods on the Just Buyers Houston website. If you’re looking for an experienced, data-minded agent to guide you through the buying process for a highrise condo, a townhome, or a single-family home, give Judy Thompson a call.
Swamplot sponsorships are also easier to buy than a single-family home. Learn more about them here.
Sponsor of the Day
SIGNS ARE ON THE DOOR TO WEWORK’S NEW DOWNTOWN BRANCH AT 708 MAIN 
The building on the corner of Main and Capitol — known since 2003 as the Great Jones building — is showing signs of the new WeWork office that’s heading into it. Last April, the workspace provider signed a lease for 86,000 sq. ft. in the building — originally billed as its first Houston location, although a smaller WeWork branch snuck in and opened on 3 floors of the Galleria I tower last December. 708 Main St. has been undergoing renovations since 2016 when its developers Midway and Lionstone Investments announced they planned to link the structure to its neighbor — the JP Morgan Chase building on the corner of Main and Rusk — via a first floor and mezzanine common area dubbed the Currency Lounge. The entire block between Capitol and Rusk is now being marketed as a single property termed The Jones on Main. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo of WeWork entrance: Swamplot inbox
- Multiyear Expansion Planned for Spring’s SplashTown [HBJ ($)]
- Coffee Shop Tout Suite Closing Memorial City Mall Location Today [Eater Houston]
- Nextdoor To Share Data with Residential Brokerage Keller Williams [HBJ ($)]
- Historic Bricks Reinstalled in Freedmen’s Town [AP; previously on Swamplot]
- City Council Approves $2M for Flood Rescue Equipment [Houston Public Media]
- So Far More Than 100K Cubic Yards of Harvey Debris Removed from Harris County Bayous [Click2Houston]
- You Have Until Monday To Weigh In on Mayor Turner’s Proposed Floodplain Development Rules [Houston Chronicle]
- Loop 610 Fournace Exit To Stay Closed Through 2020 [Houston Chronicle]
- How David Adickes’ Presidents’ Heads Ended Up in Disrepair on a Rural Virginia Farm [Daily Mail; previously on Swamplot]
Photo of Main St.: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Fight the war, demolish the norm!
Coming soon to the block on the Katy Fwy.’s westbound feeder just east of the Camden Heights Apartments: a new Courtyard by Marriott hotel. Work on the 8-story building began late last year after the hotel chain filed construction permits on the just-over-an-acre parcel at 3220 Katy Fwy. — which sits between Columbia and Oxford streets. The photo at top sent in by a Swamplot reader looks south from E. 4th St. toward I-10 to show a couple of beams now staking out the lot.
The hotel building will front Columbia on the west side of the parcel, where a First National Bank branch and its drive-thru once sat before they were demolished a few years ago. East of the hotel, a parking garage is planned along Oxford, behind the McBillboard shown in the photo above. That structure’s northeast corner will go in place of a single-family house on 4th St. that was town down before the bank disappeared.
Photos: Kepdogg
By the Katy
Facial adjustments to the building at 3701 N. Main have left it rustier than it was when El Taquito Rico shuttered in the same space last May. The former Woodland Heights Mexican restaurant’s yellow sign has been removed, as has the standing seam mansard roof-style awning that wrapped its frontage on N. Main. In their place, a headband of corrugated metal now hugs the top of the structure — which sits on a narrow 8,375-sq.-ft. lot at the end of Pecore St., just west of I-45 (and across the street from the O’Reilly Auto Parts building that Asia Market is moving into).
Floor-to-ceiling windows that lined the restaurant’s entryway have also been truncated:
Heights Wrap-Up
Cricket Wireless shuttered in the northwest corner of the building on N. Main at Pecore St. a few years ago, leaving O’Reilly Auto Parts alone in the structure. Now, signage for Asia Market Thai-Lao Food is up on the carrier’s former location. The aerial photo above views the building at 3600 N. Main adjacent to Whataburger from up over El Taquito Rico’s former spot (also undergoing a turnover) on the narrow corner across the street.
The original Asia Market included a store in addition to the restaurant. Here’s what it looked like in the strip on Cavalcade between Norhill Blvd. and Michaux St. it occupied since 1987:
Under the Hood
- Inside Dow Chemical’s Texas Innovation Center in Lake Jackson [HBJ ($)]
- Land Tejas Breaks Ground on 850-Acre Sierra Vista Development in Iowa Colony [Realty News Report]
- Yetter Coleman Taking Over Full Floor in 811 Main as Firm Relocates Downtown HQ from 2 Houston Center [Houston Chronicle]
- BHGRE Gary Greene To Open League City Office [Houston Chronicle]
- A Look at the New Shake Shack Debuting Today in Rice Village [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Pizza Motus Plans Summer Opening in Former Edloe Street Cafe Space [Houston Chronicle]
- Hopdoddy Burger Bar Opening Fourth Houston Location This Fall at CityCentre [Houston Press]
- Harris and Fort Bend Counties Have Seen a 60% Drop in Homelessness Since 2011, According to the Houston Coalition for the Homeless [abc13]
- City Council Honors 5 Harvey Heroes [KHOU]
Photo of Hobby Center: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is demolition.
