- 17226 Sunshine St. [HAR]
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The shopping center at the southwest southeast corner of Montrose Blvd. and 59 known as Chelsea Market has just recently gotten the chain-link wraparound, as shown above from the west (top) and east (above). Its days had been numbered ever since plans showing a Broadstone apartment tower in place of the 3-building retail complex surfaced online last year.
Renderings of the tower, to be named Broadstone Museum District, show it rising 16-stories high:
Montrose Blvd. at 59
Like some kind of otherworldly brand ambassador, this large larger-than-life-sized inflatable now looks dutifully out over the strip center parking lot off Belway 8 and Woodforest Blvd., its antennae twitching in the wind. The building it tops — home to Jenny Nails II, J Donuts, Betlway Beverage, Dominos, a hair salon, and Boost Mobile — was once part of the Randalls-anchored retail complex dubbed the Eastbelt Centre that stopped being a thing when Galena Park ISD moved its administrative offices into the supermarket’s building nearly 2 decades ago.
That converted structure lies just next door to the strip building . . .
Roadside Attractions of Beltway 8
SEARS PROBABLY WON’T BE COMPLETELY LIQUIDATED THANKS TO THE BANKRUPTCY BIDDER WHO JUST AGREED TO BUY IT OUT 
Early this morning, the days-long bankruptcy auction for Sears being held at the Manhattan offices of its law firm Weil, Gotshal & Mangles reached a conclusion when the retailer accepted a $5.2 billion takeover bid from one of its executives, Reuters reports. Eddie Lampert, former chairman of the retailer’s parent company Sears Holdings Corp, upped an earlier $5 billion offer and agreed to take on more liabilities as part of the winning deal. “The billionaire’s proposal, made through his hedge fund ESL Investments Inc,” according to Reuters’ Mike Spector and Jessica DiNapoli, “will save up to 45,000 jobs and keep 425 stores open across the United States.” (That’s including Kmart locations, too.) It comes over the objections of a handful of Sears’ creditors who, the Reuters journalists report, had been calling instead for the company’s liquidation. “There remains a chance the deal could fall apart,” according to the reporters, as a bankruptcy judge still must sign off on the agreement. A court hearing hasn’t been scheduled yet, but is expected to go down later this week. [Reuters; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Memorial City Sears, closed since last year: Toru O.
- Stretchy Palestinian Ice Cream Coming to Richmond Ave. in Woodlake [Eater]
- Weingarten Sells Heights Office Building [HBJ ($)]
- 20th St. Hotel Maison Robert To Feature Pool, Bar, and House Florist Neighbor [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Restoration of Historic Third Ward Mural Damaged in Harvey Underway as Roof Repairs Near Completion [Houston Chronicle]
- Humble City Council Okays “Prudent†Commercial Development Builds in Flood Plains [Community Impact]
- Pan-Asian Teahouse 7 Leaves Chooses Bellaire Blvd. for First Texas Location [Eater]
- Hanover Plans Mixed-Use Development Possibly Featuring Hotel, Office, Residential Space Downtown [HBJ ($)]
- Rothko Chapel Closing in March for Renovations and New Building for Visitors [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
Photo of Fred Hartman Bridge: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
A light smattering of homes today, with a refreshing hint of mortar:
- 5230 Grape St. [HAR]
MIDTOWN APARTMENT DEVELOPER COULD OUTDO ITSELF ON THE OTHER SIDE OF LA BRANCH ST. 
The developer with a 7-story apartment complex underway at 2111 Austin St. “is debating putting a 12- or 20-story high-rise on a second piece of land” across the street,” its president tells the HBJ’s Fauzeya Rahman. Winther Investments bought both the formerly vacant parcels in 2013 and broke ground on the first project last June. It’s going up catty-corner southwest of the St. Josephs Professional Building off the Pierce Elevated. [HBJ ($)]
- Pelican Builders Developing 17-Story Tanglewood Condo Tower on San Felipe [HBJ]
- Proposed Kingwood Highrise Could Damage Wetlands, Exacerbate Flooding [Houston Public Media; previously on Swamplot]
- Next Transit Steps for Light Rail Lines in Community’s Hands, Says METRO Chairwoman [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- New Tiki Cocktails Headed to The Heights as Tikila’s Snags Former N. Shepherd Dive Bar Spot [Eater]
- Urban Bricks Debuts with Drive-Thru Pizza on Westheimer Near Phoenicia [Culturemap]
Photo of Wells Fargo Plaza: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
One man’s shed is another man’s pile of rubble.
- 3024 Del Monte Dr. [HAR]
Now that the former XCars service center across from the Silber St. Walmart has been torn down, construction is underway on the Enterprise Rent-a-Car building that’s taking its place. The new 960-sq.-ft. building’s placement on the third-acre lot suggests there will be plenty of room to fit a fleet of cars there, too. The L-shaped structure that stood on the property previously was a bit bigger — 1,200-sq.-ft. — and featured a long canopy extending out over its parking lot and toward the El Pollo Loco that went up directly across the street in 2015.
Right now, Enterprise’s closest rental office is just down the street, across Silber from the Marq-E Entertainment Center and directly adjacent to Italian car dealership Helfman Imports.
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Walmart’s New Neighbor
NEW TEXAS SENATE BILL: IF HOME LIES IN ANY FLOOD ZONE, SELLER MUST SAY SO 
State Senator Joan Huffman filed a bill last Friday that, if passed, would require sellers to tell buyers if their homes are located in a 100- or 500-year floodplain, a reservoir, or a flood pool — the area next to a reservoir that’s expected to fill up with water during major flooding events (but that most were unaware of until reporters blew the lid on their existence in late 2017). The bill, S.B. 339, would also force owners to disclose whether the home they’re listing has flooded before, whether it might flood under “catastrophic circumstances,” and if it’s located less than 5 miles downstream from a reservoir. “If a seller doesn’t disclose the information,” reports the Texas Tribune’s Kiah Collier, “the law would allow buyers to terminate the contract — or sue.” [Texas Tribune] Photo of flooding at Creech Elementary School, Katy, near Barker Reservoir: Breta Gatlin
A Swamplot reader perched up in the SkyHouse Main Apartments has been documenting the evolving scene 3 blocks away from his living room, where the block once home to U-Haul Moving and Storage of Midtown at San Jacinto — now completely demolished — is now giving rise to a larger, replacement U-Haul building. The photo at top looks east down Pease St. to show workers planting the earth with beams for the new structure. On the left, you can see what the previous moving and storage building looked like during its final stand at the end of last year.
The demolished building consisted of 28,376 sq.-ft. for self-storage, moving supplies retail, and truck parking. Building permits filed for its replacement indicate it’ll be 220,160-sq.-ft.:
Downtown Block 348
- New UTHealth Med Center Campus Will Be the Largest Academic Psychiatric Hospital in the Country [Houston Public Media]
- Construction Underway on 3 New CCISD Schools To Be Completed This Year [Community Impact; previously on Swamplot]
- Baytown Business Park off of Grand Pkwy. Changes Hands as New Industrial Builds are Planned [HBJ]
- Star Pizza Opens Third Location on Westheimer Pkwy. in Katy [Houston Chronicle]
- Legislators Consider Using “Rainy Day†Funds for Harvey Recovery, Teachers, and School Safety [Texas Tribune]
- New Houston Developer Building Industrial Spec Projects Near Denver Harbor, Aldine [Bisnow]
- Pax Americana on Montrose Shutters Over the Weekend [HBJ]
- Cornyn Opposes Rumored Redirection of Harvey Funds for Border Wall [Houston Public Media]
- Public Works Raises Million-Gallon Water Tower on Wilson Rd. In Humble [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of The Shops in Houston Center: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
