- 1111 E. 27th St. [HAR]
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE NO-BIKE-LANE BIKE PLAN 
“There’s even a more simple plan: Make the right lane 12 ft. (or more) and the left lane 10 ft. Don’t stripe new bike lanes or overly alter existing regulations. Don’t plan. Don’t get approvals. Don’t p/o motorists with the silly bike lanes that bikers fear and never use. We just need a little extra space for cars to pass us by. And: Motorists will like having buses and other heavy vehicles in the larger right-lane, too . . . you don’t even need signage.” [Chris M(2)., commenting on Comment of the Day: Houston’s New Bike Plan Is Just a Plan] Illustration: Lulu
The Chron’s Craig Hlavaty reports from the scene of still-ongoing renovations to the bedecked and multi-turreted home at 2309 Wichita St., better known as the castle-like former duplex, orphanage, and daycare facility in Riverside Terrace that former owner and VA nurse Charles Fondow spent 31-odd years renovating and expanding as his own quirky residence, inspired by his sightseeing travels in Russia and Green Bay, Wisconsin. Fondow died in 2011, his life’s work incomplete. New owner Nick Ugarov, who picked up the property from a bank sale in 2014, has continued Fondow’s legacy with a multi-year renovation project of his own:
WE’VE REACHED CHAPTER 11 IN THE HUNKY DORY, BERNADINE’S STORY 
Here’s an update to continuing reports on the financial health of the Treadsack restaurant group, the company behind Heights-area establishments Down House, D&T Drive Inn, Johnny’s Gold Brick, Hunky Dory, Bernadine’s, Foreign Correspondents, and Canard: Mothership Ventures, LLC, an entity owned by Treadsack partner Chris Cusack and — according to Houston Press reporter Craig Malisow, the business entity that operates as Bernadine’s and Hunky Dory — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection over this past weekend. Foreign Correspondents and its next-door-neighbor bar Canard closed for business in the shopping center at 4721 N. Main St. suddenly at the end of last year; in February, Malisow published a detailed saga of payroll and tax problems behind the shutdown, alleging Treadsack restaurants had become subject to IRS and state liens totaling more than $1.3 million, and that at one point the Texas Comptroller’s office had threatened a seizure of assets at Down House if taxes were not paid. Bernadine’s and Hunky Dory have been operating since late 2015 in a new building constructed for them at the corner of 18th St. and N. Shepherd. Update, 1:30 pm: An investor has filed suit against the owners of Treadsack, the Houston Press now reports. Craig Malisow also notes that the debtor in the bankruptcy filing has been granted funds to pay for the next employee paychecks. Photo: Hunky Dory
Some signage for Starfish is now stuck to the side of the former location of yes-that-Bradley Bradley’s Fine Diner at 191 Heights Blvd. (next to Koehler St.), Heights-area-restaurant cartographer Brie Kelman notes. The aquatic theme, expected to extend to the menu, extends to the interior of the space as well, which Kelman says sports a large fish tank near the entrance. Cherry Pie Hospitality (which also owns Pi Pizza down at the south end of the strip center) says it’s looking for Starfish employees, now, too.
- Restaurateur Lee Ellis’ Much-Anticipated Starfish Won’t Open Before Super Bowl LI [Eater Houston]
- Previously on Swamplot:Â Online Gun Enthusiasts Attack Pi Pizza’s New Heights Blvd. Locale, Sales Blow Up
Photo: Brie Kelman (top), Chris S. (bottom)
- Houston’s Construction Industry Tackles Labor Shortage [Houston Public Media]
- Sawyer St. Area Emerges as “Creative Hub” for Houston [Click2Houston]
- Houston Music Landmark in the Fifth Ward That Recently Housed the Charity Baptist Church Razed [Houston Chronicle]
- Greystar Starts Preleasing “Active Adult” Apartment Community Overture Tanglewood [HBJ]
- These Amenities Don’t Bring in Higher Apartment Rents in Houston [HBJ ($)]
- BHGRE Gary Greene Houston Top Sales Office Nationwide for Franchise [Houston Chronicle]
- Braun Enterprises to Lease Out 18th Street Pizza Hut To New Restaurant [Houston Chronicle]
- Fire at Big Daddy’s BBQ in State Highway 6 Strip Mall Caused by ‘G’ in Marquee Sign [Houston Chronicle]
- Sneak Peek at Next Month’s Heights Association 2017 Spring Home & Garden Tour [HBJ]
- Half-Hour Documentary on YouTube Takes a Look Back at AstroWorld Through Historical Footage, Pictures [Houston Press]
Photo of Lynn Park: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Demolition does not come by breaking out, but by giving in.
- 135 Haversham Dr. [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT IT TAKES TO LIVE NEXT TO THE FAST LANES 
“The housing stock of the city has MANY luxury apartments located too close to comfort to a freeway. On I-10, the Sawyer Lofts’ north side [sits] right up on the freeway with some units being feet away from an exit ramp. Go further west and I-10 is lined with luxury apartments that look out at the freeway from a very uncomfortably close distance (basically two lanes away, plus a small setback). This is becoming a permanent fixture of the city. I’m not sure why anyone would voluntarily rent one of these, but the developers are banking on housing being in so short supply that someone will basically lose out when the music stops playing and there’s not a chair to sit in and they will be forced to rent one of these. I think that must be the game plan. Maybe they think if it’s common enough people will just subconsciously modify their lifestyle expectations in a big city to thinking its okay to live between 7 and 50 feet from one of the widest freeways in the world.” [Commenter7, commenting on The Downtown Apartments Caught Between a Freeway and a Curved Place] Illustration: Lulu
Club Turnover of a Life Time
The Houston City Club and Its Greenway Plaza Indoor Tennis Courts Are Going Away Forever This Summer
The Houston City Club, best known to passersby as that parking-garage-like building tucked deep in Greenway Plaza across Norfolk St. from Lakewood Church — and to members and guests as perhaps the best indoor tennis venue in the city — will be shutting down forever on June 12th. On the sorta-main-entrance side off City Club Dr. between Edloe and Timmons, the athletic club and event venue has this classic view onto the Greenway Plaza plaza between office buildings Greenway 9 and 11:
Torchy’s, Shake Shack, Home Runs
The New Taco and Burger Zone Perched Over a Newly Flattened Minute Maid Park Outfield
Astros historian Mike Acosta, among others, has posted pics of the new Tacolandia beyond the newly reshaped centerfield wall of Minute Maid Park. Tal’s Hill, the former outfield bump that ramped up the wall, has been gone for months now, but reconstruction of other areas around the wall appears to be still ongoing. Serving burgers and tacos on the pictured mezzanine level in homerunville will be a new Shake Shack and Torchy’s, respectively. The wall, 2 additional food-service options, 3 more bars, and a new Astros-memorabilia store in the rehabbed outfield are expected to be ready for opening day next Monday.
Fans attending weigh-ins for the Geico Bassmaster Classic at the Astros’ stadium over the weekend got peeks at the final stages of construction; photos posted to Twitter this morning indicate progress overnight, as well as the new 409-ft. sign (discounted by 27 ft. from the former centerfield distance) and a plastic-ivy Astros insignia above it serving as a batter’s eye, in all its topiary-like glory:
Sponsor of the Day
Swamplot Sponsor: This Glenbrook Valley Ranch on Glencrest St.
See this 3-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath home at 8206 Glencrest St. in Glenbrook Valley? It’s Swamplot’s Sponsor of the Day. Thanks for the support!
If you love the style and expansiveness of 1950s-era Ranch homes — especially ones that have been updated in a sympathetic manner — you probably already know about Glenbrook Valley. It’s the only historic district in the city that features Midcentury Moderns. And if you’re interested in homes in Glenbrook Valley, you’ll want to know about this 1957 number, which sits on a 12,392-sq.-ft. corner lot in the neighborhood’s northern section.
The grounds have a full sprinkler system. There’s a 500-sq.-ft. artist’s studio (or playroom) above the 2-car garage — and 2 covered carport spaces in front of it. The exterior (except for parts of the garage structure) is faced with Roman brick, and features ironwork details.
Inside the 3,363-sq.-ft. home you’ll find terrazzo flooring in the entry, original mahogany paneling still gracing the den, and the redone kitchen pictured above. Here the original mod cabinetry and hardware have been refinished; and the countertops and appliances both shine in Stainless, set off by an extensive backsplash in Modwalls tile. Note also: the Rejuvenation light fixtures over the sink, the Jenn-Air refrigerator, the Fisher & Paykel gas cooktop and 2-drawer dishwasher.
There’s plenty more to look at: You’ll find additional pix on the property website, as well as more details. If you’d like to see the home for yourself, contact the listing agent indicated on the listing: Robert Searcy of Robert Searcy Properties.
Swamplot’s sponsors keep us going! Here’s how to become one.
Arrivederci, British Italian Style
Another Reign of International Cuisine Ends on Shepherd, as Mascalzone Shutters
The multinational dalliances of the restaurant building at 1500 Shepherd Dr., a parking lot away from the corner of Maxie, have come to an end — for now. The management of the outpost of British restaurant chain Mascalzone Ristorante Italiano announced the closure of the location over the weekend, not long after rumors of the shutdown were reported on Houston Food Finder. According to a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page, the Shepherd location will be “merging” with the still-operating Mascalzone location in the shopping center at 12126 Westheimer Rd., west of Kirkwood and across from the Phoenicia parking lot.
- Developers Delivered 1,555 New Apartment Units Downtown in 2016, Finds Central Houston Report [HBJ]
- Inside the Renovation of the 107-Year-Old Star Bottling Works, AKA Warrant Building, in the Warehouse District [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- 8-Acre Public Garden with Restaurant, Event Space To Break Ground Next Month in Cypress [HBJ]
- East Downtown Restaurant Nancy’s Hustle Opening This Fall at 2704 Polk [HBJ]
- Houston’s Noisiest Areas, as Mapped by the Department of Transportation [Houston Chronicle]
- The Latest on the Artist Drawing Heights-Area Houses [The Leader; previously on Swamplot]
- Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar in the Heights Reopens Under New Ownership [The Leader]
Photo of shuttered Macy’s at Northwest Mall: Brent Oldbury via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Where we demolish is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.
