06/14/17 12:45pm

Just a few blocks down the street from that River Oaks Shopping Center highrise site, a reader checks in this week on the French-esque midrise apartment complex that’s been slowly coming together at 1916 W. Gray St. The Houston Ballet’s converted clothing factory headquarters made a grand exit from the site back in the pre-oil-bust days; since then the project has been rechristened from Graybelle to Le Palais, and this sketchy view of a facade has been circulated by the developers:

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Gargoyles in the Wings
06/14/17 12:00pm

8226 Glencrest St., Glenbrook Valley, Houston

8226 Glencrest St., Glenbrook Valley, Houston

Our sponsor today is the home for sale at 8226 Glencrest St. in Glenbrook Valley. Thanks for supporting Swamplot!

You know Glenbrook Valley, right? It’s Houston’s first outside-the-Loop historic district, known for its midcentury modern and ranch-style homes. This 2-bedroom, 2-bath home carries stylistic features of some of the area’s larger homes, but in a more compact size: It measures 1,841 sq. ft. There’s nothing smaller about the lot, though: It measures 11,700-sq.-ft.

The roman brick wraps all the way around the house. Integrated offset planters line the recently redone walkway from the driveway to the front door, which still features the home’s original 1957 knob plate. The living room, to the right of small foyer, leads to the dining room at the far end, and opens as well to a paralleling set of more casual living spaces toward the back (pictured above): the den, breakfast area, and kitchen, all facing onto the back yard.

In the kitchen, you’ll find new appliances set among the original tile countertops — as well as an original stainless-steel vent hood. Both bedrooms (as well as the living and dining rooms) have refinished hardwood floors. And if you like vintage tile bathrooms, you’ll certainly want to take a look at the ones in this house.

Many more photos of the home are available on the property website. If you’d like to see this place in person, contact the listing agent, Robert Searcy of Robert Searcy Properties.

Looking for just the right spot to get your message out? Try becoming a Swamplot Sponsor of the Day.

Sponsor of the Day
06/14/17 11:15am

Across and a little bit down the street from the site where the company proposes to tear down an already altered section of the River Oaks Shopping Center and erect a 29-story apartment tower with 2 floors of underground parking, Weingarten Realty has more plans to make changes to the landmark art deco center. At the corner of West Gray and McDuffie, the company wants to tear down the 2-story western end of the south half of the 1948 section of the shopping center — which now houses a California Pizza Kitchen and the remains of the Evolve Fitness Studio upstairs (and was previously the site of a Birraporetti’s with Sherlock’s Pub above it) — and reconstruct the section as a 12,730-sq.-ft. Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille with significantly taller first and second stories.

The design, by Chicago’s Aria Group Architects, “will maintain historical features” of the building at 1997 West Gray St., the submitted plans (PDF) explain. But not exactly in the same order. Stick-on stone facing was stuck onto lower portions of this section of the art deco structure in 2007 when it was given a new stucco-batter coating and turned into a CPK; the new design shows a tall curved panel of limestone wrapping the corner, but this time on the higher second floor, suspended above a rebuilt portion of the center’s signature curved soffit.

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Raising Perry’s Steakhouse
06/14/17 8:30am

Photo of Greenway Plaza: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
06/13/17 4:30pm

In advance of a public hearing scheduled for this Thursday, Weingarten Realty has submitted these drawings of the 29-story apartment tower it’s calling the Driscoll, and which it’s proposing to build across the from the northern end of Driscoll St. The site at 1958 W. Gray also happens to be occupied currently by the eastern end of the 69-year-old northern portion of the River Oaks Shopping Center, which has city historic landmark status despite the numerous inconsistent alterations Weingarten has made to the Art Deco complex over the years. As suggested by the included diagram above, the tower will knock out most of one wing of the complex, leaving Brasserie 19 in place, but deleting 18,000 sq. ft. of space currently housing Café Ginger, Local Pour, and some office space above — as well as 2-and-a-half bays of parking to the east.

As part of its package for the required hearing before the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission, Weingarten presented this photographic evidence in support of its claim that its existing property, which it altered significantly during renovations conducted in 2011, is in a “deteriorated state“:

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Here Comes the Driscoll
06/13/17 1:30pm

FINGER COMPANY POKES INTO THE MONTROSE DISTRICT LAWSUIT FRAY A corporate appendage of the Finger Companies has filed a document to add itself as a plaintiff to one of the lawsuits trying to shut down the Montrose Management District, Nancy Sarnoff reports this week for the Chronicle. The company’s Museum Tower along Montrose Blvd. sits a few blocks south of US 59 in a narrow south-pointing offshoot of the district’s boundaries, making it one of the property owners assessed a regular tax; Sarnoff writes that Finger’s new filing zeroes in on that 2016 petition to dissolve the district, which proponents say has garnered signatures from property owners of about 80% of the district’s land area; the filing claims that the district has been trying to invalidate individual signatures in an effort to bring that total back down below the required threshold for dissolution. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Museum Tower

06/13/17 12:00pm

Today on Swamplot our sponsor is Mosaic Dermatology Houston. Thanks for supporting this site!

Mosaic Dermatology Houston is an award-winning, highly rated general dermatology practice with multiple area locations: in Upper Kirby at 2211 Norfolk St. (pictured at top) Suite 405; in Midtown at 3401 Louisiana St. Suite 155; and in the Tanglewood area (convenient to the Galleria) at 5757 Woodway Dr. Suite 185.

What’s new from this Swamplot sponsor? The latest in its new line of branded cosmetic products: Mosaic Dermatology’s own professional-grade face and body cleanser (pictured above). It’s a gentle face wash to help maintain clear skin. Mosaic Gentle Wash is now available at all 3 clinic locations — and from this page online.

Also available: a variety of cosmetic services — from Botox to MiraDry, the new underarm sweat and odor-reduction treatment. You can learn more about them on this page of the company’s website.

Clinic dermatologists are available for both scheduled appointments and last-minute urgent skin visits. You can schedule same-day and Saturday appointments online or by phone. Check out the Mosaic Dermatology Houston website — or call (281) 941-5556 for immediate assistance.

Sponsoring Swamplot is a great move for local businesses. Find out more about our Sponsor of the Day program here.

Sponsor of the Day
06/13/17 10:30am

Developer Giorgio Borlenghi may have just shelved plans to build the 26-story condo tower he had dubbed Villa Borghese on the 1.43-acre site a block south of Westheimer at Bammel Ln. and Earl Ln., but work clearing the property of the 15 separate cottage-y structures that once stood in the way of the now-on-hold project has not stopped. A reader sends pics of the scene from last Thursday, as workers from Cherry House Moving mounted the houses-turned-shops-and-offices surrounding the shuttered wedding venue known as the Gardens of Bammel Lane onto steel rails and prepared them for exit:

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There They Go, Borghese or Not
06/13/17 9:30am


The little swatch of test facade tilted up at 7551 Main St. north of Brays Bayou earlier this spring is still standing, a reader’s drive-by snap attests this week. The piece, which shows off the look of a handful of warmer and cooler beige-and-brown pairings, is likely related to the much taller project planned on the site by Allen Harrison Company, which bought the land last year. The developer has the spot marked for an 11-story residential building (the top 7 of which’ll hold 186 apartments, and the bottom 4 of which’ll hold 285 parked cars). A reader over on HAIF also spotted the recently completed review of the building by the Federal Aviation Administration folks, who okayed the plans for the 125-ft.-tall structure as not a flight hazard.

Photos: Swamplot inbox

Beiges of Brays
06/13/17 8:30am

Photo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
06/12/17 3:30pm

Back in March, excavators were cleared from the site at the northeast corner of Yale St. and the 610 North feeder road after heavy-equipment rental facility Neff Rental shut down. But at least one of them is back again today, reports a Swamplot reader who passed by the site. It’s shown in the left side of the photo above, performing what appears to be some site prep work for the future home of Houston’s first-ever 365 by Whole Foods market. Also on site, in the foreground of the photo taken from Yale St.: a new construction trailer.

Opening date for the mini-Whole Foods Market at 3004 N. Yale St. at the southern border of Independence Heights — originally scheduled for 2017 —has been pushed back to next year, according to the Houston Business Journal.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

Groceries for Garden Oaks