- 1103 Manatee Ln. [HAR]
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: YOUR VERY OWN INNER LOOP TRAILER PARK, FOR FUN AND PROPERTY TAX CONTROL 
“Are there typically HOA restrictions against mobile homes inside the Loop? Like if someone’s sitting on a cleared-off lot and not wanting to build, could they just pull in 2 mobile homes and start renting out? Or would the neighborhood/city be pounding on the doors? Not sure such a thing is feasible with $400k lots, but if you had to demo a multifamily and still wanted to hold onto the property, sounds like [that] could potentially keep the tax value low while still bringing in rental income.” [joel, commenting on All That’s Left of the Heights Trailer Park Behind Eight Row Flint] Photo of cleared mobile home park on W. 11th St.: Swamplot inbox
The Kroger Market at the not-quite-intersection of Airline Dr., Parker Rd., and Fulton St. in Northline is shutting down next month, an employee at the store tells Swamplot this afternoon (confirming a rumor from a reader in the vicinity). The store’s last day is planned for April 20th, after which it will cede the area to its nearest grocer competitors: the Food Town just over half a mile up Airline, at the intersection with Little York Rd.; the other Food Town a little over a mile further west down Little York; and the not-quite-an-H-E-B Joe V’s Smart Shop on N. Shepherd Dr., just across I-45.
Behind its cube-on-a-spindle signage, the store sits at the northern end of a classic array of strip mall companions (capped to the south by South Texas Dental, whose space and streetside signpost once belonged to a Blockbuster Video); standing alone at the southeast corner of the center sits El Muelle Seafood & Oysters, housed in a former Taco Bell.
- Previously on Swamplot: Secretly Preserved Weingarten History Quickly Erased from Side of Weingarten-Owned Heights Kroger; Kroger on OST at Cambridge St. Closing Down For Real on January 24th; Kroger Says It Has ‘No Plans’ To Close Signature Store on OST; The Kroger on OST at Cambridge St. Is Closing
Photos: James T.
Northline Line Drawn
The plans submitted to the city along with a variance request being advertised lately along Canal St. show that the developer — an entity which traces back to Frank Liu — is asking for permission to drop below a required 3,500-sq.-ft. minimum lot size on its new property. That would allow the company stick about 29 houses on the L of land the documents refer to as Williams on Canal, which wraps around the brightly muraled La Familia Meat Market building and 2 pre-1950’s homes just south of it on St. Charles. The drawings in the request show 64 townhomes altogether, including the company’s adjacent land on the same block (extending all the way to Commerce St.):
Second Ward Stock
Our sponsor today is Just Buyers Houston, representing buyers only in real estate transactions. Thanks for supporting Swamplot!
You may be surprised by Judy Thompson’s pick for the most difficult neighborhood to buy a home in right now: The Energy Corridor. Still. Really.
She writes: “For years the Energy Corridor (77079) has seen the lowest inventory of homes for sale, and it continues — even after the price of oil fell off a cliff in 2014. I can tell you from experience that any good house that is priced right sells immediately. A couple I recently worked with came back from an overseas post and were willing to spend $800K. They never found anything and renewed their lease at the apartment complex where they had temporary lodging. We were all surprised that the market was still so short of inventory out there.”
You can see Judy’s analysis of sales and days on the market for 21 Zip Codes through March 15th on the Just Buyers Houston website.
Another thing this chart tells us, she notes, is that “MLS area 9 is absolutely on fire.” MLS area 9 means the Heights, Timbergrove, Garden Oaks, and Oak Forest. Her recent data show twice as many sales there than in the second most popular area — Area 16. Judy doesn’t have anything for sale in any of these areas — she’s a buyer’s agent only.
Judy continues: “A puzzling days on market ranking was the Med Center (77025), which historically has been very popular. I suspect that the high number of days on the market for that neighborhood is skewed by new construction, which typically goes into MLS when the builder breaks ground and stays in MLS for months. I doubt if the area has suddenly become less popular.”
If you dig this kind of analysis of local sales data, take a look at the other charts updated regularly on the Just Buyers Houston website. And if you think you’d like to work with a real estate agent who thinks gathering this kind of information is important (she’s been doing it for years), get in touch with Judy Thompson (you’ll find her contact info on the Just Buyers Houston website as well).
Posts from Swamplot sponsors get attention. Find out how to become a Sponsor of the Day.
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Trash cans, cinder blocks, and other debris strewn around the southeast corner of W. 11th and Allston streets are what remain of the huddle of 9-or-so trailers that has occupied the lot since at least the mid-1990’s. A set of permits on file with the city for Jozzie’s Mobile Home Park expired at the end of December, and the final exodus looks to have occurred in the last few weeks. Have the homes been given a new space to hang out in? And what will take their place, here on the 13,200-sq.-ft lot backed up against Citgo-station-turned-whiskey-bar Eight Row Flint?
Sticks and Stones on Allston St.
- Inside Third Palm Capital’s Updated Plans for Republic Square on Former West Houston ExxonMobil Campus [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- Texas Add More Grocery Stores Than Any Other State Last Year, Finds JLL [Houston Chronicle]
- What the Fed Interest Rate Hike Means for Houston Homebuyers [HBJ]
- McKinsey & Co. Relocating Houston Office from 5 Houston Center to 609 Main [HBJ]
- Architecture Firms Imagine Remodeling Sections of 1600 Smith into ‘Office of the Future’ Prototypes Through Brookfield DesignHive Contest [HBJ]
- Dallas Chef John Tesar Opening Steakhouse Knife in Unnamed Houston Hotel [Eater Houston]
- State Senate Budget Rider Could Prevent TxDOT from Doing Any Work Related to Planning, Building, or Operating Bullet Trains [The Texas Tribune]
- Long-Awaited Bus Line Connecting Galveston, Texas City, and Houston Moves Forward [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Revised Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Estimates Say Greater Houston Added Only 200 Net Jobs in 2015, Not 15,200Â [Houston Public Media]
- Travis Scott: Houston Needs a Monument To Celebrates Artists Like Himself and Beyonce [abc13]
- Slideshow: Tours That Show Off the Coolest Parts of Houston [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of Buffalo Bayou Park: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
The highest bidder for the highest and best use.
- 708 W. Clay St. [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: CHANGING TASTES AT THE CORNER OF MONTROSE AND WESTHEIMER 
“Dallas invading Houston with its bland ‘designer tacos’ made for yuppies. Right across from Austin’s Uchi, where the waitstaff tells you what you’re suppose to taste as you eat. I remember when you could get a blowjob for $20 in this neighborhood. This is sad.” [MW, commenting on Edge Realty Now Seeking To Fill Bright Orange Box with Neighbors for a Montrose Velvet Taco] Photo: Swamplot inbox
A double-V’d walkin’ and bikin’ bridge like the one shown above will be spanning Brays Bayou before too long, the Houston Parks Board says, linking together the sections of Mason Park separated by the waterway. The agency is planning a short mid-morning party for the planned structure’s construction kickoff next Tuesday, on the southern side of the park (mostly located east of the 75th St. crossing). The whole complex is just downstream of the Gus Wortham Golf Course, for which renovations finally teed off a few weeks ago (trailing much ado a few years back that culminated in the land not getting turned into a botanical garden).
The board says the other, decidedly less suspenseful pedestrian bridge announced earlier this year should be done in the fall as well; that one will will run across Brays alongside the Martin Luther King Blvd. car bridge at the downstream edge of of MacGregor Park, and look kinda like this:
Double Crossing Brays
Our sponsor today is Oaks on Caroline, a new development offered for sale by Nan and Company Properties. Thanks for supporting Swamplot!
Located at 4820 Caroline St. in Houston’s bustling Museum District, Oaks on Caroline offers modern living spaces in a pedestrian-friendly, culture-filled environment.
This condo midrise offers 7 distinct options: one- and two-bedroom plans, each featuring luxury finishes, stainless-steel appliances, high ceilings, and stone countertops. The building was constructed with cast-in-place concrete and post-tensioned floors, allowing each unit a high degree of privacy. Floor-to-ceiling windows are equipped with low-e glass systems. Private balconies offer skyline views of the Museum District, Downtown, and the Medical Center.
For a quick tour of this property, watch the video above (or follow the link here). If you’re interested in finding out more, contact Nan and Company Properties at 713.980.0774 — or info@nanproperties.com.
To stay updated on the latest listings and announcements from Nan and Company, check out the company’s website — or follow the company on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Show off your next development on Swamplot — sign up to be Sponsor of the Day.
Sponsor of the Day
Permissions started to trickle in earlier this month for the  knockout of various buildings on the newly former Exxon Upstream research facility at the corner of Buffalo Spdwy. and W. Alabama St. California-based Spear Street Capital and Transwestern admitted to buying the property last week but stayed mum on plans for the site. A reader took a wandering tour around the edge of the 1950s lab complex yesterday afternoon, noting the parking garage teardown shown above, and the various signs of deliberately accelerated wear-and-tear around the rest of the structures:
Upstream Going Down
- Houston Has Highest Office Vacancy Rate in the Nation, Finds Marcus & Millichap Report [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston Continues To Be a Top Choice Among Home Investors [Houston Chronicle]
- How Foreign Investment Fuels Hyper-Gentrification [The Urban Edge]
- City Officials Want To Transfer Ownership of Ashton Villa to Galveston Historical Foundation [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- More About 17-Story Luxury Senior Housing Community The Village of Southampton to Go Up Next to Robinhood Condo Tower [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Some 70,000 Bees Removed from Floor of Fort Bend County Home [abc13]
Photo of Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
To get the full value of demolition you must have someone to divide it with.
