2100 MEMORIAL RESIDENTS PROTEST BY PAYING THEIR RENT, STAYING HOME 
Singing “We shall not be moved,” a group of residents remaining at the 2100 Memorial senior-living apartments just west of Downtown marched into the 14-story building’s leasing office one by one today to deliver their rent checks, Florian Martin reports. A notice delivered 15 days ago to residents of the tax-credit facility owned by the Houston Housing Authority gave them 5 days to move out of the building, but a spokesperson later told Swamplot that the authority would not enforce that deadline. In the meantime, a lawsuit filed just before the move-out date seeking to force the authority both to make repairs to the electrical system and to allow residents to remain in their homes has been revised and expanded to 17 named resident plaintiffs. Flooding compromised the former Holiday Inn building’s fire-safety and electrical systems; the Housing Authority says it is working with residents to find them new places to live. [Houston Public Media; previously on Swamplot] Photo: 2100 Memorial
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The sleepy 1.33-acre site at the eastern end of the Target parking lot on San Felipe just inside The Loop was rudely awakened from a long slumber last week with the action of some demolition equipment. A couple of structures that formerly housed Dream’s & Bros. Hand Car Wash and Lube, opened by former UTSA basketball player and brother-of-Hakeem Afis Olajuwon in 1998, had sat vacant on the lot at 4303 San Felipe St. since its closing in 2014.
Judging by the name given to the site in a replat document filed with the city in April of this year — “Bank of America River Oaks,” with the address taken down a couple notches to 4301 San Felipe — it’s likely a new bank branch will be going up in its place.
- Previously on Swamplot:Â The Dream’s Is Gone from San Felipe
Photos: Swamplot inbox
ALLEY THEATRE FLOODING DRAMA CAME FROM AN ALLEY THIS TIME, NOT THE TUNNEL 
Harvey flooding caused an estimated $15 million of damage to the Alley Theatre’s basement-level stage, lobby, and dressing rooms, but for the most part spared its recently renovated box-office entrance, main stage, and upper-level lobbies. The good news, relayed by theater managing director Dean Gladden in an email to members: Submarine doors in the tunnel prevented water flowing from the Theater District’s underground parking garage from entering the theater as it had during Tropical Storm Allison. But this time there was another way in: a fresh-air intake vent in the Alley’s drive-thru Alleyway driveway fronting Jones Plaza on Texas Ave. (pictured at left in the above photo): “Harvey’s waters crested so high that this in-take vent provided an opening that enabled the flood waters to enter the building unimpeded. The water was so powerful it knocked through a cement block wall and blew open locked doors. When the cement block wall collapsed, it broke a 2-foot fire line that started spewing water out at 150 gallons a minute. About 900,000 gallons of water would come from this source before it was turned off. The flood water from the bayou would account for 2.8 million gallons of water. The water would reach 10-feet high in the Neuhaus Theatre and lobby and 15-feet high in the basement level. The Alley Theatre below ground was completely flooded.” [Alley Theatre] Photo: Jason Hrncir
- Nearly 60 Homeowners from Kingwood, Atascocita, and Humble Suing State Agencies for ‘Intentionally Flooding’ Their Homes [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston Officials Detail Billions of Dollars’ Worth of Hurricane Harvey Recovery Need at State Hearing [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- About 460,000 Texas Households Are Still Waiting for FEMA Assistance Approval [Houston Public Media]
- New Government Report Finds FEMA’s Flood Mapping Program Is Inaccurate, Outdated [Houston Public Media]
- What Some of Houston’s Flooded Restaurants Have Been Dealing With in Harvey’s Wake [Houston Press]
- CBRE: Harvey Accelerated Multifamily Absorption in Houston by About 18 Months [Realty News Report]
- Harvey by the Numbers [Houstonia]
- Profiles of the Heroes of Harvey [Houstonia]
- Slideshow: The Most Dangerous Houston Suburbs, Based on the FBI’s 2016 Violent Crime Rate [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston-Area School Districts with the Most New Homes Under Construction [HBJ]
- Redfin Reduces Listing Fee from 1.5% to 1% of the Sales Price in Houston [Houston Chronicle]
- Newest Pappas Restaurant, Pappas Delta Blues Smokehouse, Opening Later This Month in Webster [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Pho Restaurant Flying Pho Coming to the Ella Plaza Shopping Center in Garden Oaks [Culturemap]
- Breakfast Chain Snooze Opening Latest Houston Location at LaCenterra at Cinco Ranch on Oct. 25 [Houston Press]
- Food Truck Flip ’N Patties Teases First Brick-and-Mortar Location, in the Energy Corridor [Eater Houston]
- These Are the 10 Houses Featured in AIA Houston’s Annual Home Tour This Month [HBJ]
- Houston Included Among U.S. News’s Best Cities To Spend Retirement [HBJ]
- After Harvey, Houston at a Development Crossroads [Curbed]
- An Optimist’s Guide To What Houston Will Do To Prevent Future Floods [Houstonia]
- Packers Tight End Martellus Bennett Releases Renderings of Football-Field-Sized Playground Called MartyLand Adventure Park [NFL.com]
- Hundreds of Harvey-Displaced Pets Still Waiting for Their Owners at NRG [abc13]
Photo of Los Meros Tacos Y Su Trompo Tribalero: thranth via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
How much has to be demolished and discarded before reaching the naked flesh of feeling?
- 2711 Country Club Dr. [HAR]
Here’s evidence that the scheduled reconstruction of the entire West Loop—I-69 interchange just southeast of the Galleria is about to begin. “Crews have been ripping out trees and other vegetation,” reports reader and 610 traveler John Greiner: “Much more than could be argued for improving traffic sight lines.”
These pics show the scene:
Old Navy Underwater
Flooded Big Boxes at Meyerland Plaza Still Out of Commission
Pet Supermarket in Meyerland Plaza has reopened after taking on water after Hurricane Harvey, but it appears to be an exception among big-box stores lined in a row on the former mall site. Signs in front of Old Navy, OfficeMax, and Dressbarn declare the stores are closed — and direct customers to other locations, according to these photos and a report from a Swamplot reader. Here’s the scene in front of Old Navy, where notes in the window declare the store is closed “until further notice“:
LIFE IN ARBOR OAKS, AFTER MOST OF THE NEIGHBORS HAVE MOVED AWAY 
“It’s almost like living in the country,“HOA president and longtime Arbor Oaks resident Gwen Boucher tells Mike Morris. Her home has flooded 9 times in 42 years. A total of 207 properties in her neighborhood, near the intersection of Antoine and W. Little York, have been bought out and torn down since Tropical Storm Allison 16 years ago, at a cost of $36 million. Arbor Oaks is now down to just 13 homes, all of which flooded after Hurricane Harvey. “Though much of the neighborhood has returned to nature, it can feel unnatural. Yellow street signs and speed bumps caution cars that never come. Deep-green hostas still circle clumps of oak trees on vacant Gum Grove, exactly as their long-gone gardeners intended,” Morris writes. “Though some holdouts live within their original fences, others take a less literal approach. Two families have turned adjacent lots into volleyball courts. A handful of the houses sport basketball hoops, which is common enough, except that they are planted, in cement, on vacant lots across the street. Eugene Cox parks spare vehicles on the nearby grass, and is keeping two antique chassis on the street for a friend. Another neighbor, a truck driver, parks his cab on the street.” [Houston Chronicle ($)] Photo of park carved from former Arbor Oaks homesites: Near Northwest Management District
- Houston Eyes Flood Control Projects During Harvey Recovery [AP]
- Mayor Turner Withdraws Proposed Property Tax Rate Hike After Gov. Abbott Releases $50M from State Disaster Fund [Houston Chronicle]
- Harvey-Damaged Midtown Seafood Restaurant Holley’s Closes for Good [Culturemap]
- What It’s Like To Be in the Debris-Removal Business After Harvey [Houston Press]
- One Houston Landfill Company Expects To Double Year-Over-Year Revenue During Harvey Cleanup [HBJ]
- Wisconsin Homebuilder Makes Tiny House for TBD Houston Family Displaced by Harvey [abc13]
- Effort To Ward Off Mosquitoes After Harvey Considered a Success [Houston Public Media]
- Construction Starts on 600K-SF Industrial Building for Emser Tile in North Houston’s Pinto Business Park [Realty News Report]
- Courtyard by Marriott Hotel Opens in Lake Pointe Development in Sugar Land [HBJ]
- Hotel Alessandra Opens Downtown [abc13; previously on Swamplot]
- Melange Creperie Closes at Conservatory as It Readies for Move to Heights Mercantile [Eater Houston]
- Yelp-Like Commercial Real Estate Platform Tenavox.com Launches in Houston [Houston Chronicle]
- River Oaks HOA Says Tony Buzbee’s Parked World War II Tank Causing ‘Serious Concerns’ for Neighbors [KHOU]
- Houston Only Needs About One-Third of an Inch of Rain for This To Be the Wettest Year on Record [Houston Chronicle]
- Considering the Impact of Gentrification on Health [The Urban Edge]
- Real Estate Art: 1046 Bayou Island [The Great God Pan Is Dead]
Photo of UH: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
We cannot control the demolitions of others; but a good life enables us to disregard them.
- 24811 N. Point Pl. [HAR]
Your Best Yom Kippur Now
A Day of Atonement for Lakewood Church
Continuing arrangements set up for the Jewish New Year last week, families from the nation’s largest Conservative synagogue will assemble this evening and all day tomorrow for Yom Kippur services at the nation’s largest megachurch. Congregation Beth Yeshurun’s own facilities have been unusable since the synagogue on Beechnut St. — on the other side of the West Loop from Meyerland Plaza — took on as much as 4 ft. of water after Hurricane Harvey.
The interfaith arrangement was brokered initially by Congressman John Culberson. After receiving extensive criticism for not opening its doors to flooding victims immediately following the first Harvey storms, Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church eventually served as a shelter for as many as 450 evacuees. For Rosh Hashanah services last week, Lakewood arranged for a rotating slide show of 40 high-resolution photos depicting portions of Beth Yeshurun’s damaged sanctuaries to be displayed on the 24-ft.-by-12-ft. Jumbotron behind the stage of the 16,800-seat former Houston Rockets basketball arena in Greenway Plaza.
- Lakewood Church to host Beth Yeshurun for High Holy Days [Jewish Herald-Voice]
- Church transformed into synagogue for HHD [Jewish Herald-Voice]
- You Won’t Believe What Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church Is Doing Now [Charisma News]
- Jewish congregation to worship at Lakewood Church for High Holidays [KHOU]
- Joel Osteen Opens His Church to Jewish Congregation for High Holidays After Synagogue Flooded by Harvey [Newsweek]
- Previously on Swamplot: Real Estate Works In Mysterious Ways: Houston Agrees To Sell Lakewood Church to Lakewood Church;Â Real Estate Lessons from Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church: It Is Better To Lease, Then To Buy; Lakewood Church Now Offers Drive-Thru Service; Your Best Deal Now: Will Lakewood Buy Its Own Church?
Photos of Rosh Hashanah services in Lakewood Church, in front of projected image of stained glass from a Beth Yeshurun sanctuary: Lakewood Church
All Over, Except for the Garage Water
Almost All Clear on CityCentre’s Northern Front
The 3 office buildings that stood on the block bounded Town & Country Blvd., Town & Country, Ln., Town & Country Way, and the Katy Fwy. eastbound feeder road just north of CityCentre are all cleared now, a reader reports. Except, that is, for the underground parking garage below the concrete — and its liquid contents. The closeup view above, taken from the office building known as CityCentre Five, shows the water level this week at the lower reaches of the entrance ramp. Think it’ll be easy to drain? Take a close look at the concrete surface and you’ll see evidence of previous efforts:
It may have been erected on a one-way northbound street in Lower Midtown, but this new sculpture now standing in front of the oak trees outside the San Jacinto St. entrance to the Bermac Arts Building just south of Cleburne was designed to flag down visitors from Downtown: Quilt Peace, constructed of powder-coated-steel, marks the entrance to the offices and exhibition space of the Community Artists’ Collective, where the Jubilee Quilt Circle meets twice a week to stitch works by hand or with the computer-controlled longarm flatbed stitcher onsite. “Quilt Peace is our tribute to the November 2017 International Quilt Festival at the George R. Brown Convention Center,†explains artist Michelle Barnes — who also happens to be the Collective’s executive director. “. . . We want to demonstrate our connection with quilting to the thousands of convention visitors.”
Photo: Community Artists’ Collective.
