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08/13/13 12:00pm

Upper Kirby Ranch-to-Table Restaurant Lets You In on Permit-to-Sign Renovation Process

Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Upper Kirby

The new restaurant moving into the old Palazzo’s Trattoria space on Westheimer is 60 Degrees Mastercrafted, a “ranch to table” concept from Certified Master ChefÂ Fritz Gitschner. In keeping with this culinary philosophy of full disclosure and transparency, 60 Degrees also seems intent toÂ reveal the process of its own becoming. Says a post on its Facebook page: “We are looking forward to having you follow us along this amazing journey and watch the restaurant come to life!”

The first stop on this amazing journey? The Houston Permitting Center. Now, write that check . . .

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77019, Buildouts, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Upper Kirby

Headlines

03/01/12 9:00am

Headlines: Taxi Fare, METRO Ridership Hikes; Freeway Favorites

by Meredith Deliso

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Taxi Rides Will Now Cost You 40 Cents More a Mile [KUHF]
Gas Prices, Rise in Employment Lead To More Houstonians on METRO Buses, METRORail [Click2Houston]
First Tenant for Former Stanford Financial HQ: Keller Williams Metropolitan Realty [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]
Memorial City Drainage Group Revives Water Detention Lawsuit Against TIRZ [Memorial Examiner]
Construction Expected Soon on League City Jimmy Changas [Galveston County Daily News]
Pampa Grill Customers Resort to ‘Istanbul Grill’ Parking Method [Eating Our Words]
Alice Waters Christens Houston Permitting Center Vegetable Garden [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
Slideshow of Horse-Friendly Houses [Prime Property]
Vote for Your Favorite Freeway [Loop Scoop]

Photo of eagle sculpture at Eclectic Menagerie Park, Texas Pipe & Supply, Highway 288 at Bellfort: Gonzvales via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines

Art

02/03/12 5:53pm

A Second Round of Initial Concepts for Midtown’s Independent Arts Collaborative

by Swamplot

Attractions, Houston Architects, Institutional Buildings, Midtown, Proposed Developments

7 Comments

Wait — haven’t we already seen “initial concept drawings” for the Independent Arts Collaborative building planned for the corner of Main and Holman in Midtown? Well, yeah, but those initial concept drawings were prepared by Morris Architects as part of a study just to sell folks on the idea. Since then, the IAC bought the former city parking lot at 3400 Main St. and Morris lost out on the actual commission to a mix-in combo of San Antonio’s Lake Flato Architects (best known in town, strangely enough, for 2 inner-loop grocery stores they’ve designed for H-E-B) and Houston’s own Studio Red (fresh from its work on the renovation of an old Downtown warehouse into the new Houston Permitting Center). So we’ve got a whole new batch of initial concept drawings to look through, this time from the building’s actual architects.

Shunning the typical secrecy surrounding not-ready-yet designs, the new arts organization has decided to show them off on its Facebook page — even before floor plans are ready — with a simple “let us know what you think.” What a concept!

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77006, Art, Attractions, Houston Architects, Institutional Buildings, Midtown, Proposed Developments, Theaters

Downtown

01/10/12 3:36pm

Coming to One End of Washington Ave: Vegetables

by Swamplot

Gardening, Landscape, New Construction

3 Comments

Over the weekend, volunteers placed reclaimed clay tiles next to the I-45 overpass at the northern end of Downtown to create raised beds for a new city garden, Houston’s third. The garden is meant for employees of the city’s new permitting center at 1002 Washington — there’ll be one raised bed for each floor.

How to Build a Raised Garden Bed: City of Houston Edition [East End Escapades]
Houston Permitting Center Employee Garden (PDF) [Houston Permitting Center]
Previously on Swamplot: Pods Appear on Downtown Building, Grab Solar Panels with Wrench and Garden Hose

Photo: Lauren H.

77002, Downtown, Gardening, Landscape, New Construction

Awards

12/16/11 11:38am

Most Notable Recycling Effort: The Official 2011 Ballot

by Swamplot

63 Comments

We are now ready to announce the official nominees for the 4th category in this yearâ€™s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. This year, what was the Houston area’s Most Notable Recycling Effort?

Let your votes in this category be heard â€” yes, all 4 of them! Youâ€™re allowed to vote once in a comment at the bottom of this post, once in an email to our super-top-secret email address, once through Twitter, and once on the wall of Swamplotâ€™s Facebook fan page. (You can read more about our crazy voting rules here.) If you want to swing the voting toward your favorite candidate, go ahead: Start an email or social-networking campaign. The polls for this and all categories in the 2011 Swampies will close at 5 pm on Tuesday, December 27th.

The official nominees for 2011 Most Notable Recycling Effort are . . .

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Swamplot Awards 2011, Swamplot Awards 2011 Official Nominees, Swamplot Awards Ballots 2011

Downtown

06/21/11 5:47pm

Pods Appear on Downtown Building, Grab Solar Panels with Wrench and Garden Hose

by Swamplot

Green Design and Development, Houston Architects, Openings and Closings, Public Buildings, Utilities

7 Comments

Hanging out on the roof of Houston’s new Central Permitting and Green Resource Center at 1002 Washington Ave.: Solar panels, anchored by the first-ever commercial installation of Metalab Studio’s new PV-Pod. The local architecture firm developed the hollow high-density polyethylene pods with support from a UH Green Building Components grant. There’s one pod for each panel, and each is filled up with just enough water to resist required wind forces. This kind of assembly is much simpler to install than a typical photovoltaic-panel rack system with concrete ballast blocks, claims Metalab’s Andrew Vrana. It also allows for a more flexible layout. The new permit building opened for business yesterday.

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77002, Downtown, Green Design and Development, Houston Architects, Openings and Closings, Public Buildings, Renovations, Solar Power, Washington Ave.

Apartments

05/11/18 4:00pm

Near Northside’s Dunlop St. Won’t Run Through Fulton Lofts Apartments on METRO’s Red Line

by Dan Singer

Near Northside, Proposed Developments

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Houston’s City Planning Commission approved a variance yesterday permitting a developer that plans to build a 4-story apartment building on the corner highlighted above not to extend Dunlop St. through the site, as otherwise required. Instead, plans call for the street to end at the south side of the complex, where it’ll be bounded by a new, 8-ft. tall fence.

The request first showed up on the commission’s agenda on April 26, at which time a couple of residents came forward to complain about the heavy traffic on nearby Karcher and Angelo streets — which northbound drivers use to avoid the light at the intersection of Link and Fulton. Extending Dunlop through the site, they argued, would clear up some of that congestion.

But a 60-ft.-wide swath of road like that would run over the garage, parking lot, pool, and dumpster area the developer plans to build at the center of the complex, as shown in the site plan below:

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Transit Corridor

77009, Apartments, Near Northside, Proposed Developments

Downtown

04/10/17 4:30pm

Tacos A Go Go Is A Go Beneath Downtown

by Christine Gerbode

Quicklink

8 Comments

TACOS A GO GO IS A GO BENEATH DOWNTOWN Tacos a Go Go at 910 Louisiana Ave., Downtown, Houston, 77002 Tacos A Go Go’s latestÂ locationÂ is currently being set up in the tunnel spot beneath soon-to-be-Shell-free One Shell PlazaÂ at 910 Louisiana St. The permitting process for the remodel of the space (centered roughly between branches of Murphy’s Deli, Starbucks, and the People’s Trust Co-op)Â kicked off late last year, around the time Tacos a Go Go’s third location opened in theÂ now-thoroughly disguised formerÂ Roznovsky’s Hamburgers spot in Garden Oaks. The company’s website currently says the fourth spot’ll open Downtown later this month,Â operating on breakfastÂ and lunch taco hours (from 7 to 3). [Previously on Swamplot; tunnel coverage] Image of One Shell Plaza leasing flier: LoopNet

77002, Downtown Tunnels, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Tunnels

First Ward

02/02/17 5:15pm

Club Nomadic Shows Off Latest Trends in Just-In-Time Nightclub Delivery

by Christine Gerbode

Quicklink

1 Comment

CLUB NOMADIC SHOWS OFF LATEST TRENDS IN JUST-IN-TIME NIGHTCLUB DELIVERY Club Nomadic, 2121 Edwards St., First Ward, Houston, 77007 Temporary 3-story nightclub and performance venue Club Nomadic has received its final checks and OKs from the city for tonight’s 9pm opening — with just overÂ 6 hours to spare,Â if the time a city repÂ gave toÂ St. John Barnard-Smith and Mike MorrisÂ is correct. Both Club Nomadic’s owner and folks at the city permitting office sayÂ it’s totally normal for aÂ temporary event structure like this one to cut the permitting processÂ close;Â the temporary nature of the project also means on-site parkingÂ is not required for the 9,000-or-so visitors expected, and organizers are stressing thatÂ tow trucks will be on the prowl. The ClubÂ is currently selling parking passes forÂ the 1600 Smith St. garage, with plans to shuttle guestsÂ between the garage and theÂ club site at 2121 Edwards St.; other enterprising Houstonians appear to be getting in on the action as well. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo of 2121 Edwards St.: Club Nomadic

77007, Bars and Clubs, Building Permits, First Ward, Parking, Super Bowl

Notices

12/09/16 5:30pm

The ‘Where Are They Now?’ Award: The 2016 Official Ballot

by Christine Gerbode

22 Comments

Unexpected comebacks and inglorious fade-outs abounded in your nominations for this next category in the 2016 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate: the “Where Are They Now?” Award. Thanks to everyone who contributed! Now, it’s time to whittle down the list to thatÂ single winner.

Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate Ribbon Logo The nominees for this award areÂ people, places, and things which have made aÂ noteworthyÂ transitionÂ of one variety or another. As with this year’s other categories, there are 4 ways to vote for your favorite nominee Â — and if you really want to give your favorite a boost, you can do all 4. Make your voice heardÂ by leaving a comment below, by sending us an email, or by shouting out your choices to Facebook and the TwittersphereÂ — and, of course, by getting your friends in on the action to help. Be sure to sendÂ your votes in by 5 PM on Tuesday, December 27th.

Any questions? Read up on the complete voting guidelines, if so. Now, on to theÂ nominees for the 2016 “Where Are They Now?” Award:

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The 2016 Swampies

Notices, Swamplot Awards 2016, Swamplot Awards Ballots 2016

A Peek Inside the Half-Baked Krispy Kreme near NRG Stadium

by Christine Gerbode

South Main

12 Comments

3055 S Loop W Fwy., South Main, Houston, TX 77054

The jutting, Tyvek-wrapped facade of the under-construction Krispy Kreme donut shop at 3055 S. Loop W. hasÂ looked like this for a while now, saysÂ a reader curious about the store’s progress. Following the North Carolina pastry chain’s complete retreat from the areaÂ in 2006 after a lawsuitÂ with itsÂ main regional franchisee, the company opened 2 new Houston stores in 2015, thoughÂ the announced-then-retractedÂ February grand opening date of the Hwy. 6Â location turned out to be much more December-ish than originally planned.

EaterÂ attributedÂ the slow-off-the-line opening toÂ permitting delays, though regional franchise manager Guillermo Perales told the HBJ thatÂ the delays had to do with fears thatÂ theÂ crowds would be too large for the store’s originally-planned infrastructure to handle. As for the South Main store?Â Posted to the inside of the front window is aÂ highlighted letterÂ from October documentingÂ the donut stand’s theoreticalÂ ability to withstandÂ hurricane-strength winds:

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Slow Rise in South Main