- 10201 Memorial Dr. [HAR]
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The renderings in Edge Realty’s marketing material for the mixed-use office and retail redevelopment planned for the area around Fairview and Mason streets now include signage for another outpost each of New York-based Shake Shack and Alabama-based Steel City Pops. The eccentric popsicle shop is shown inhabiting that freestanding dessert island planned in the parking lot east of Max’s Wine Dive; Shack Shack is depicted in a corner unit in the multi-story building planned across Mason St., next to the empty former site of Meteor Lounge (and catty-corner across Fairview from Meteor’s current crumbly resting place). A reader tells Swamplot that Shake Shack was also mentioned as a future Fairview District tenant at last week’s meeting of the East Montrose Civic Association, though possibly placed in a different spot in the development.
Also showing up in the latest images is Houston-based yoga and bike-in-place fitness outlet Revolution Studio; other names dropped on the flier include Austin-based barber shop Finley’s, California-based and -flavored fast-casual restaurant lemonade, haberdashery chain Goorin Bro.’s,  shoe-polish-brand-turned-upscale-watch-retailer Shinola, and — down on the Genesee St. corner — enthusiastic burger joint Eureka!:
Fairview Views
A few sketches show the gist of Method Architecture’s plans for converting the former Bissonnet Auto Service Center at 2322 Bissonnet St. into Baileson Brewing Company. The auto shop’s original carport structure looks to be incorporated into the plans for the space as a patio shade-provider, while the 2 former garage bay doors look to be getting glassy replacements. The brewery will enter the area beer niche vacated last year by no-longer-next-door Kay’s Lounge, which met its end in October, and by Hans’ Bier House half a mile a way (last seen bearing signage announcing a planned coffee shop). Here’s a few more angles on the potential redo:
Brewing on Bissonnet
Sponsoring Swamplot today: Loam Agronomics, as a way of introducing the company’s new CSA program for Houston. Thanks for the support!
Have you been looking for a way to get a regular supply of fresh, locally grown produce for your household? Do you like the idea of eating food that hasn’t been shipped thousands of miles, but is picked at peak ripeness nearby and available to you in 48 hours or less? Then you’ll want to know all about the launch of Loam Agronomics.
The first crops are growing now on a 40-acre portion of a 288-acre agricultural site the company has acquired in Richmond. And you can participate — by joining the Loan Agronomics CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. The CSA will give Houston residents direct access to high-quality, fresh produce grown on this local farm.When you become a member of the Loam Agronomics CSA, you’re purchasing a weekly “share†of vegetables from the company and supporting the production of local food in your community. Loam Agronomics will begin regular weekly distribution of CSA shares in March.
Loam Agronomics is a project of the same people behind Edible Earth Resources, the local gardening firm that’s been transforming some high-profile urban lots in Houston into attractive edible gardens. Loam Agronomics will serve much of the same community, but at a larger scale.
If you’ve got questions about the CSA program or the operation and standards of the farm, take a look at the answers to the FAQ posted on the brand-spanking-new Loam Agronomics website.
Loam Agronomics offers:
- Drop sites across Houston
- Pickups on Thursdays and Saturdays
- Signups available any time
- Cooking and storing tips
- Community events
. . . all for just $30 per week.
To sign up, all you need to do is select a convenient drop site; fill out a member information profile; and choose a payment plan (4-, 12-, 26-, and 52-week plans are available, some with discounted rates) — all of which you can do from this page on the Loam Agronomics website.
Are you supporting Swamplot sponsors? They help make Swamplot possible! Learn more about the program here.
Sponsor of the Day
Houstorian James Glassman sends in this shot of the Wortham Fountain on Allen Pwky. yesterday, with only the nucleus of the dandelion-shaped structure left standing in place amid a dry basin. The unusually windy Laura Day weather did knock out electricity for tens of thousands throughout the Houston area, but isn’t what precipitated the fountain’s depetaling — that  appears to have been the hard freeze that damaged the fountain’s slender bronze pipes at the start of this month:
Happy Laura Day
- Post Oak Energy Capital Acquires Office Building in Uptown [Houston Chronicle]
- Thompson Hotels Plans To Open in Allen Pwky. Mixed-Use Highrise Development Around 2020 [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- AVERA: It’s Getting Harder To Find Land in Deer Park, Pasadena, and La Porte for Industrial Development [Realty News Report]
- Westchase District Could Support up to 7,000 New Class A Apartment Units [HBJ]
- A First Look at Houston First’s Houston 2200 Plan for Convention Attracing [Bisnow Houston]
- Houston Listings on Airbnb Increased 50% from Oct. 1 to Jan. 1 Ahead of the Super Bowl [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Metro Planning Shuttle Bus Blitz To Carry Super Bowl Visitors [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Inside the A.D. Players’ New Theater Opening in the Galleria Area Next Month [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- The Rice Box Opening First Standalone Location Jan. 28 in the Heights with ‘Blade Runner’-Inspired Design [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Greenway Coffee Company Owners Bringing Coffee Shop Prelude Coffee and Tea to 609 Main St. Lobby Later This Month [Culturemap]
- Houston’s Fourth Pluckers Wing Bar Opening in Cypress Next Year [HBJ]
- The Biggest Reasons Why Houstonians Move: Better Homes, Better Neighborhoods, Better Commutes [The Urban Edge]
- Google Maps Time-Lapse Video Shows How Big Houston Has Gotten Over the Past 30 Years [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of the George R. Brown Convention Center: Jesus Jimenez via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I demolish and I understand.
- 7914 Stratford Hall Dr. [HAR]
Despite being marketed previously as a potential site for up to 15 freestanding townhomes, the townhome-fringed lot at the corner of Houston Ave. and Spring St. now sports a TABC permit notification instead. A reader caught some evening views of the corner and the sign announcing mixed-beverage and late-night plans for its little 1996 building (which names Spring Street Beer and Wine Garden as the incoming occupant). New owners (at least the 6th to purchase the property since 2005, per county records) purchased the property in the fall, and the Attack of the Killer Condos mural previously facing the Heights Hike & Bike Trail along Spring St. has already been painted over:
Holding the Line in First Ward
GROUP PETITIONS FOR 13-COUNTY FLOOD PLANNING 
A group called Citizen Solutions to Flooding — not to be confused with the Residents Against Flooding group currently suing the city and TIRZ 17, though containing some of the same members — is circulating a petition calling for a region-wide plan to address man-made flooding issues, and an agency to oversee it. The petition lists out some of the specific technical concerns that signers want incorporated into future flood planning, including a shift from floodplain-level thinking to whole-watershed rules. The petition also calls for coordination across all 13 counties in the Houston-Galveston Area Council region; Citizen and Residents member Ed Browne tells Ed Mayberry that “flooding doesn’t know any boundaries. I mean, water doesn’t care whether you’re in Harris County or Montgomery County or Fort Bend. Unless we address the whole watershed, one area or another is going to suffer.† [Houston Public Media; previously on Swamplot] Watershed boundaries superimposed across Houston-area county boundaries: Galveston Bay Foundation and Houston Area Research Council’s Find Your Watershed map
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW 2-SYLLABLE NEIGHBORHOOD NICKNAMES ARE BORN 
“I’m with WR: who are these supposed ‘Houston residents’ who call it ADLA? I’ll bet those ‘residents’ are people who got here 6 months ago (and/or are the writer and his buddy). As far as the headline question: I think it may be too early for us to claim ‘World’s Best Super Bowl Host City‘ — or as a Houston resident, I call it WBSBHC, which rolls off the tongue.” [Wolf Brand Chili, commenting on Houston Rents Slide; Post-Flood Calls for Action] Photo of redone George R. Brown Convention Center on Avenida de las Americas: Bob Russell
The former Mental Health and Mental Retardation Association building at 2850 Fannin St. and its many murals are now rubble, a reader notes. The shot above catches the destroyed structure next to Sebastien Boileau’s Preservons la Creation mural across the street on the back of 2800 San Jacinto St., juxtaposed with what appears to be some carefully timed oncoming traffic to add that dramatic glow to the painted figure’s outstretched spray paint can. The reader also caught one of the excavators climbing atop its defeated adversary earlier in the day, beneath the giant cross of the St. Joseph Professional Building:
Cycles of Midtown
- Bank of America’s Skanska Tower Lease Negotiations ‘Not Welcome News’ to Downtown Houston Landlords [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- Martin Fein Interests Planning Luxury Apartments Near Lake Houston [HBJ]
- Howard Hughes Corp. To Begin Building Creekside Park Apartments in The Woodlands [HBJ]
- Horizon Homes Joins Lineup of Builders in Valley Ranch Community [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston Premium Outlets Adds a Dozen New Retailers and Restaurants [HBJ]
- White Oak Music Hall Injunction Hearing Continues [Click2Houston; previously on Swamplot]
- The Four Seasons’ Lobby Bar Bayou & Bottle from Richard Sandoval Opens Saturday [Houstonia]
- Zipcar Launching in Midtown on Jan. 23 Ahead of the Super Bowl [HBJ]
- ‘Tree of Life’ Mural Wraps Up Around Capitol Tower Parking Garage Downtown as Part of Pre-Super Bowl Spruce-Up [Houston Chronicle]
- Citizen Survey Ranks Crime, Flooding, Potholes at Top of Houston Services Priority Lists [Houston Chronicle]
- Web Cams Offer Real-Time Views of Galveston Bay Water Conditions [Houston Public Media]
- Invasive Freshwater Plant Water Hyacinth Washing Up in Mounds Along Galveston Seawall [abc13]
Photo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Demolition is not an event, it is a habit.
TERRY HERSHEY, 1922-2017 
The stretch of Buffalo Bayou running between the Addicks and Barker reservoirs and Shepherd Dr. looks the way it does today in large part because Terry Hershey and some friends spotted the unannounced work to pave and reroute the bayou — and raised some hell about it with the county, the Corps of Engineers, and others. The early actions of Hershey and her associates stopped the pave-over, led to the founding of what became the Bayou Preservation Association, aided the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act (which requires public involvement in projects that could impact the environment), and helped to catalyze Houston’s environmental movement. Hershey’s legacy includes founding, laying groundwork for, and participating in many other organizations to protect green space and environmental quality in Houston and throughout the state, many of which are still active today; the 6-mile park along Buffalo Bayou between Hwy. 6 and Beltway 8 is named for her. Hershey passed away today at age 94. [Houston History, Houston Chronicle] Photo of Terry Hershey Park: Save Buffalo Bayou
