THE CASE AGAINST GOING PAPERLESS At least 72 safety-violation cases against the owner of a run-down apartment complex just outside South Houston were dropped last year because the paperwork was lost, say city officials. A toddler drowned in the apartment’s pool earlier this week. “Randy Zamora, the city’s chief prosecutor, said an outside company hired to digitally scan some 7 million archived and pending tickets might have misplaced the documents. The error allowed [Nanik] Bhagia, who did not return telephone and e-mail requests for comment on Wednesday, to delay for a year facing a jury or making repairs to the Vista Bonita Apartments, 9313 Tallyho. . . . Police investigators said the boy may have reached the murky pool by stepping through a damaged fence or a faulty gate, both of which are violations of city code.” [Houston Chronicle]
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A red sheet now covers the more lurid portions of the shocking window display including naked mannequins that had apparently distressed some passersby of Jim Pirtle’s Notsuoh on Main St., John Nova Lomax reports:
The work, by local artists Shawna Mouser and Jennifer Pod, is called VaginArt. One half of the piece consists of the lower torsos of two shop mannequins with flowers between their legs, along with a pizza-sized paper wall-hanging with a suggestive slit in it.
The other half, and the one far more likely to have caused a ruckus, consists of a blow-up doll backlit by a sleazy strobe light, parading before a background of medium-raunchy centerfolds with black electrical tape concealing their naughty bits.
In today’s edition, 3 houses give a few hungry excavators something to chew on.
A reader wants to know about the 4-story office building Stream Realty is claiming it can fit on a couple of recently demo’ed lots on W. Gray near Waugh:
Hadn’t driven by this part of town in a while. Is this the sort of thing that went out the window when all the credit froze up, or did this sign just go up?
A listing on the Stream Realty website indicates that 1335 West Gray is supposed to contain 22,392 sq. ft. of space, with a third of it (on the top floor) apparently already spoken for. The first floor looks open for parking.
Let the Great Katy Freeway Lane Rush begin! More than 5 years and $2.8 billion in the making, West Houston’s new 18-car-wide and rail-free Main Street is at last officially complete — and open for more traffic than ever! The tollway on the four inside “managed lanes” won’t be instituted until April. Until then, those lanes are meant for cars with more than one passenger.
- The Katy’s Grand Re-Opening [Off the Kuff]
- New Katy Fwy. HOV lanes open to drivers [11 News]
- Katy Freeway expansion declared done [Houston Chronicle]
- How to navigate the new Katy [Houston Chronicle]
- Interested in riding the Katy Freeway Managed Lanes? Here’s what you need to know. [HCTRA]
- Katy Freeway Finished As Of Tomorrow [Hair Balls]
- Previously in Swamplot: Katy Freeway Construction: End in Sight
Photo of I-10 West and Sam Houston Tollway interchange: Flickr user Rustypicstx
BIG AND GREEN Houston Architect Donna Kacmar rightsizes her client base: “What is our goal here? I once had a client interview me. She wanted to do a green house. I suggested they could combine some of their (rooms). She said, ‘Oh, no, I need 9,000 square feet; I just want it to be very green.’ (Kacmar laughs.) I didn’t get the job.” [Houston Chronicle]
Outside-the-Loop demos only in today’s edition. Spread the joy around!
MORE SHOPPING CENTERS LIE IN WAIT FOR THE GRAND PARKWAY Under previous owners it was going to go residential, but now all the site at the southeast corner of Kuykendahl and Spring Stuebner in Spring needs is an offramp: “Steve Gregory, president of Hopkins Commercial, said the site is a long-term investment for a retail center that will be built, possibly in one to three years. The site is attractive to the company because a leg of the Grand Parkway that will start construction in late 2010 will go by the 56 acres. The site is just north of a big collection of retailers at FM 2920 and Kuykendahl, including Wal-Mart SuperCenter, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Kroger, Palais Royal and 24 Hour Fitness.” [Houston Business Journal]
Redemption Community Development Corp. has raised $10,000 out of $75,000 it needs to turn a 16-acre site at 822 West Greens Road from a gang hangout to a park: “The corporation selected the site just [west] of Interstate 45 because it is surrounding by low- to moderate-income apartment and mobile home communities that do not have easy access to recreational facilities, said [RCDC executive director Evelyn] Ogletree. To take a property utilized for less-than-positive purposes and transform it into a park has been a long-standing dream. The ‘phase one’ park plan includes a covered basketball pavilion, playground, nature gardens, walking/jogging trail, benches and picnic tables.” The remainder of the funds will likely come from grants. [Houston Chronicle]
Step inside this lovely home and look around. Where are you?
Time to guess! If you’re just joining us, poke your nose into the rules for a bit before you start playing the game.
When you’re ready, look carefully at the rest of the photos below. Just where do you think this place might be?
Where can you go to see the housing collapse, for real? Try these 9 in-town addresses:
The rumor Swamplot reported late last week has now been confirmed from multiple sources: The 34-story Turnberry Tower luxury condo palace planned for the Galleria area — yeah, the one with the tombstone-shaped silhouette — is officially dead.
- Turnberry Tower: Turning Away? [Swamplot]
- Nine and a Half Bathrooms: The Turnberry Tower Penthouse Evacuation Plan [Swamplot]
- The Turnberry: More Wiping, in More Places, than at Any Other Condo Tower [Swamplot]
- Tune In to the Turnberry Tower [Swamplot]
Rendering of Turnberry Tower Galleria: Robert M. Swedroe Architects and Planners
A reader sends along this photo of the very brightly painted new structure now up at the corner of Montrose and W. Clay, where the much-tamer red-and-yellow Golden Room Thai restaurant used to be.
According to the Golden Room website, when the restaurant reopens it will have the same ownership and food but a new name: Khun Kay Thai-American Café.
The wise folks behind Greenway Commons — the new shopping center replacing the old HISD headquarters building at the corner of Richmond and Weslayan — have apparently taken some extra-special steps to make sure the new development (which includes a brand-new Costco) is super-friendly to pedestrian visitors!
Making everything welcoming to people arriving on foot makes sense — the project had been criticized for exhibiting suburban-style development patterns in a location that some dreamers had imagined would be a street-fronting mixed-use center. It’s already a busy corner, and Metro’s new University Line will have a stop only a short walk away.
But “easy to access” can also mean “boring.” So it’s comforting to see these pictures of the project’s street edge sent in by a reader, which show a gentle, fun infrastructure-themed obstacle course taking shape along the new Weslayan and Richmond sidewalks in front of Trammell Crow’s grand development:
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
It’s curtains for the old Theatre Suburbia, as an Oak Forest shopping-center demo fest begins! Here’s a roster of participants this time: