Swamplot | Houston's Real Estate Landscape

01/10/18 11:30am

How Another Deal Warehouse Is Shaping Up in a Former First Ward Halliburton Habitat

Following the trail of industrial buildings transformed in the First Ward, a Swamplot reader in motion this morning sends this photo of workers getting a boost to install new siding along the Spring St. frontage of the former Halliburton manufacturing plant at 1907 Sabine St. A company overseen by developer Jon Deal bought the 1.3-acre complex of industrial buildings between Spring and Shearn streets in 2016. Five years earlier, Deal bought the property across Spring St. from the Halliburton plant and transformed it into Spring Street Studios. He also developed the Silos at Sawyer Yards studio as well as 2 other art spaces nearby it — all 3 blocks south of the former plant.

The complex includes a vacant lot on the corner of Spring and Silver streets:

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Oilfield Services Redo

77007, First Ward, Renovations, Warehouse Space

Headlines

01/10/18 8:30am

Houston Predicted To Top Home Sales in 2018; New Industrial Park for Baytown

by Meredith Deliso

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Houston Expected To Lead Nation in New Home Sales This Year, Says CoreLogic [Realty News Report]
Pontikes Development’s Massive Industrial Park Port 10 Logistics Center To Break Ground on Jan. 11 in Baytown [HBJ]
Braun Enterprises Closes on Uptown Office Building 5757 Woodway, Plans Renovations [HBJ ($)]
Harris County OKs Deal with Montgomery County To Seek State Funds for Flood Control Study [Houston Chronicle]
Texas Churchs’ FEMA Relief Applications Will Be Considered Following Rule Change [Houston Chronicle]
Slideshow: Renderings of Projects That Could Have Shaped Houston [Houston Chronicle]
What Little It Takes To Create, and Then Delete, a Fake Restaurant on Google Maps [Dallas Observer]

Photo of Buffalo Bayou–White Oak Bayou Bike Connector: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines

Daily Demolition Report

01/10/18 8:00am

Daily Demolition Report: Pitchett

by Lauren Meyers

1 Comment

Swamplotâ€™s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.

Dwell on the beauty of demolition. Watch the houses, and see yourself running with them.

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Daily Demolition Report, Demolitions

Galleria

01/09/18 5:30pm

Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: The Accent Wall

by Dan Singer

2 Comments

1005 Fountain View Dr. [HAR]

77057, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Woodway Place

Featured Posts

01/09/18 5:00pm

How Much Headway Has Been Made on Lamar High School’s Eastside Extension

by Dan Singer

5 Comments

The steel is up on the site of Lamar High School’s new campus, nearly in its sophomore year of construction adjacent to the existing building at 3325 Westheimer. Photos of the new schoolhouse — which will front Eastside St. to the east of the old building — show it still in assembly on what used to be the high school’s track and athletic field. When it’s done, the planned 4-story structure will house 2,800 to 3,100 students, who will spend most of their class time in the new building, but still be able to access its neighbor through a 2nd-story concourse that links to it.

The perspective section below from architect Perkins + Will slices open both the planned and existing buildings and peers south into their classrooms. On the right, it shows the concourse plugging into the old building’s gray exterior:

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Secondary Education Building

77098, New Construction, Schools, Upper Kirby

Featured Posts

01/09/18 12:30pm

Starting Tomorrow, Golden Bagels Will No Longer Rank Among the Not Yet Open

by Swamplot

2 Comments

Just how many would-be customers have been pulling up to the Golden Bagels & Coffee storefront at the corner of White Oak and Oxford, yanking on the locked front door, then walking away? Enough that the proprietors have seen fit to post a handwritten sign this morning telling them they’ll SEE YOU TOMORROW. The Heights’ first-ever bagel shop has already received 3 reviews on Yelp — one a 1-star rating (since upgraded to 3 stars) knocking the establishment for not being open this past Sunday even though the hours painted on the front door suggest otherwise, and two 5-star reviews submitted with the intention to counterbalance the first, noting that the shop at 3119 White Oak Dr. has not yet opened for business.

Previously on Swamplot: This Is the Spot on White Oak Dr. Where Golden Bagels and Coffee Will Land

Photo: Swamplot inbox

Heights Bagel Stakeout

77007, Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

Featured Posts

01/09/18 11:30am

West Elm Heading Out of Highland Village Shopping Center Before the End of the Month

by Dan Singer

7 Comments

The blue dot stuck on the window of West Elm’s Highland Village furniture gallery announces the store’s plans to decamp from its spot below and next to RA Sushi, near the eastern side of the shopping center on January 21. Both West Elm and RA Sushi’s only other Houston locations are at CityCentre. That West Elm location opened in 2015, while the current spot at 3922 Westheimer has been in business for over 9 years.

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Furniture Move-Out

77027, Highland Village, Openings and Closings, River Oaks, Shopping Centers

Headlines

01/09/18 8:30am

Camden Downtown Moves Forward; Kingwood H-E-B Gets Reopening Date; Where Dat Dog Will Debut

by Meredith Deliso

6 Comments

Camden Property Trust’s Paused Downtown Houston Apartment Tower Receives Building Permits [HBJ]
Amazonâ€™s Warehouse Expansion Driving Up Industrial Land Prices [HBJ ($)]
New York Investor Acquires Nearly 122,000 SF of Industrial Properties Near the Port of Houston [Houston Chronicle]
FanReact Building New Esports Arena in Houston [HBJ ($)]
Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille To Expand to Inside the Loop with River Oaks Shopping District Location [HBJ]
New Orleans Hot Dog Chain Dat Dog Opening First Houston Location Near Rice University This Summer [Eater Houston]
Harris County Commissioners Court Slated To Vote Today on Buyout of 39 Flood-Prone Homes [Houston Chronicle]
How a Starbucks Near Brays Bayou Withstood Harvey Flooding [Texas Architect Magazine]
Flooded Kingwood H-E-B Flooded To Reopen This Month [HBJ]
Video: How Post-Harvey Pollution Hurt Houston’s Latino Communities [YouTube; more info on filmmaker]
Independence Heights Included on Redfin List of Neighborhoods That ‘Have It All’ [Houston Chronicle]
See How Houston ISD and Other Districts Segregate or Integrate Students Through School Zoning [Vox]

Photo of Mariott Marquis terrace and beyond: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines

Daily Demolition Report

01/09/18 8:00am

Daily Demolition Report: Heights Delight

by Lauren Meyers

No Comments

Swamplotâ€™s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.

He who is not contented with what he demolishes, would not be contented with what he would like to demolish.

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Daily Demolition Report, Demolitions

Eastwood

01/08/18 5:15pm

Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: The Twins

by Dan Singer

19 Comments

4913 Rusk St. [HAR]

77023, Greater Eastwood, Homes for Sale

Bars and Clubs

01/08/18 3:30pm

The New Audi-Sized Hole Drilled into PJ’s Sports Bar on W. Gray Last Night

by Dan Singer

12 Comments

A car gunning for PJ’s Sports Bar on the corner of W. Gray and Stanford St. ended up inside the bar’s front patio last night. Nobody was seriously injured after a traffic mix-up between a Ford and the Audi pictured above sent the sports car sailing into the sports bar at around 11 PM last night. PJ’s was closed at the time.

The Ford came to a stop upside down, in between 614 W. Gray and its neighbor — Cecil’s Pub:

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A Front Porch Welcome

77019, Bars and Clubs, Montrose, North Montrose

Featured Posts

01/08/18 2:30pm

The Undressed, Huddled Figures Found Warming Up This Morning Outside a Rice Village Clothing Store

by Swamplot

1 Comment

Spotted in the pre-retail hours at 2512 University Blvd. by morning Rice Village dog-walker Gerrit Leeftink: This convocation of under-dressed athletic figures — in warm-up mode outside the local outlet of women’s clothing chain Athleta.

More views of the gathering, as participants awaited their new attire indoors:

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Street Mannequins of University Blvd.

77005, Retail, Rice-Village

Avondale

01/08/18 1:30pm

New Owner of Baba Yega Buys Neighboring Montrose Mining Company Building

by Dan Singer

21 Comments

Is the site of shuttered gay bar Montrose Mining Company destined to become a parking lot for nearby restaurant Baba Yega Cafe? The new owner of Baba Yega, developer Fred Sharifi, bought the 39-year-old bar on the corner of Pacific and Grant streets from longtime proprietor Charles Armstrong last month. When the bar closed in 2016, Armstrong said he was working on plans to bring a new restaurant to the building within 18 months. A sign posted on the door of 805 Pacific St. now directs would-be patrons to one of Armstrong’s other hangouts across Pacific — JR’s Bar & Grill. Above that flyer, a notice from the city dated December 14 — 2 days after the 2,809-sq.-ft. building was sold — tells its owners to stop all unpermitted plumbing and structural work on the site.

Sharifi has now purchased at least 5 Montrose properties within the last 2 years, including Baba Yega, Montrose Mining Company, and 3 sites slated to be part of a project he’s developing on Fairview Ave. — one of which was home to Armstrong’s nightclub Meteor. In addition to his projects in Montrose, Sharifi also owns Hungry’s Cafe in Rice Village.

Armstrong still appears to own a vacant,Â 6,648-sq.-ft. property that wraps around the east side of Montrose Mining Company:

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Old Gay Bars of Avondale