COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE MONTROSE DUAL DEALERSHIP WELCOME THAT WASN’T 
“Too bad . . . I had imagined an identical building being constructed, and as bookends would have made a fantastic ‘gateway‘ into the Montrose/Museum area.” [city cynic, commenting on Stahlman Lumber Up for Sale by Landowner That Didn’t Replace It with a Car Dealership] Photo of Audi Central Houston: Audi Central Houston
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Ever notice that the Wheeler-Ave. side of the Midtown Sears (shown above) doesn’t quite jibe with the rest of the building? It’s become even clearer since all that beige metal cladding was stripped off the structure earlier this year. Upon its removal, the biggest revelations were cascading green, red, and blue art-deco tile mosaics (shown here) running from top to bottom on every side of the building, except the Wheeler one, where the array of facade openings pictured at top are a bit less architecturally refined despite their prominent positions overlooking crosstown traffic.
So, what gives? Well, it turns out that Sears’s south side wasn’t all that visible when the building opened in 1939. Back then, Wheeler was just a narrow side street off Main and did not flow directly into Richmond as it does now, explains Preservation Houston’s Jim Parsons. Richmond, a much larger thoroughfare, also dead-ended into Main St., across from the Sears and just north of where Wheeler began. You can see the missed connection in the 1950 street map above.
It wasn’t until the early 1960s that the 2 streets were joined through a partial annexation of the Delman Theater property at 4412 Main, catty-corner southwest of the Sears:
When Roads Collide
ARE THE NEW FITZGERALD’S OWNERS PLANNING TO BRING DOWN THE HOUSE? 
“They came and tested for asbestos,†Fitzgerald’s longtime owner Sara Fitzgerald tells the Chronicle’s Marcy de Luna, “so I think they’re looking to tear it down. It was their original intention to build a high-rise there.†Fitzgerald sold Fitzgerald’s along with 3 home lots behind it on E. 6½ St. in July to the same Chicago-based company, Easy Park, that’s been planning that automated parking garage a few blocks west down White Oak Dr. in place of the existing, analog garage next to Tacos A Go Go (which it also owns, along with some other retail nearby). She’s now renting the building at 2706 White Oak from her new landlord and running the 41-year-old business remotely from Seguin, Texas, outside San Antonio, de Luna reports. Following a spree of farewell shows scheduled throughout the month, the club will close with a New Year’s Eve party featuring ’70s and ’80s cover band SKYROCKET! [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Caramels D.
Evidently, those plans to put another car dealership across 59 from the existing 7-story Audi Central Houston won’t be panning out since the land where it would’ve gone is now up for sale. A newly-erected sign at the corner of the Greenbriar and the Southwest Fwy. feeder road advertises its availability.
A group connected to Sonic Automotive bought the property — which stretches all the way east to Shepherd Dr. — in January 2017. When news orgs got wind that it’d changed hands, Sonic’s executive vice prez Jeff Dyke told them he’d have more info on what the dealership would end up looking like near the end of the year. The parcel’s 2.4-acre size prompted at least one guess that’d the plans — like those Sonic implemented across the street — would involve something tall.
Amidst all the hubbub, it’s been business as usual at Stahlman. It’s entering its 59th year at 4007 Greenbriar Dr.
- Previously on Swamplot: Southwest Fwy. Midrise Showroom To Get a Dealership Neighbor on the Stahlman Lumber Land
Photo: Lulu
59 at Greenbriar
- Katy Chinese Favorite Tiger Noodle House To Open Third Location in Rice Village [Eater; previously on Swamplot]
- Third Ward Church’s Multimillion-Dollar Expansion on Former Frenchy’s Chicken Site Begins in January [HBJ, previously on Swamplot]
- County To Activate Emergency Operations Center Starting This Afternoon for Expected Floods [Houston Public Media]
- Fort Bend Pkwy., Sam Houston Pkwy. Among Most Expensive Toll Roads in the U.S. [Houston Chronicle]
- Harvey Gas Price Gougers Still Settling Cases with Attorney General’s Office [Texas Monthly]
- New York Times Exposé Prompts Southwest Key To Review Its Own Business Practices [HBJ]
- Burns Original BBQ in Acres Homes Pays Tribute to Anthony Bourdain with New Mural [Eater]
- Richmond’s Opportunity Zone Experience Shows Program May Be Less Promising Than Expected [Bisnow]
- Woodlands Board Approves Name, Map, Logo for New Waterway Arts District [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of Byrne St., Woodland Heights: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
There are only homes on today’s demo docket, but the businesses will have their day soon enough.
- 8214 Glencrest St. [HAR]
THE MARQUIS II IS GETTING ITS SECOND ENCORE 
Well, that was fast. After shutting down on Sunday without any timeline for a return, the Marquis II reopened at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, according to a note posted on Facbeook by longtime bar employee Al Jara. According to the Chronicle’s Marcy de Luna, Jara is now the owner of the place, having purchased it from his boss during the 2-day timeout. The last time a Marquis employee pulled a stunt like this, it was a pair of devoted cocktail waitresses who bought the place after the owner, their boss at the time, died in the late ’60s. (Adding “II” to the name was their idea.) In this case the former owner is still alive, just sick of dealing with the sustained construction activity outside the bar on Bissonnet St., which Jara says has cost the business $1.2 to $1.5 million since it began in 2014. “They’ve broken up our parking lot and we are not getting business because people can’t access us,” he tells de Luna. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Marquis II
NOW EVERY KATY BUC-EE’S BATHROOM STALL WILL HAVE A LIGHT ON IT TELLING YOU WHERE TO GO 
Tooshlights is the brand name of the latest amenity that the Guiness-World-Record-winning Buc-ee’s off the Katy Fwy. wants to add to its 40 bathroom stalls, reports Dan Solomon over at Texas Monthly. It’s a spin on the technology you’ve probably seen on twinkling in certain parking garages: individual LEDs that light up red when a spot is occupied and green when it’s vacant. Along with Buc-ee’s’s Temple location, the Katy store will be the first of the chains 34 branches to roll it out. [Texas Monthly; previously on Swamplot] Photo of restroom at Buc-ee’s #40, 27700 Katy Fwy., Katy, Texas: Jennifer N.
- Houston on Vince McMahon’s XFL Inaugural List for 2020, UH TDECU Stadium Tapped as Venue [HBJ]
- City Hires Lobbying Firm To Fight for Harvey Relief in Upcoming Legislative Session [Houston Public Media]
- Brightwood College Closes All Campuses Nationwide, Including Two in Houston [Houston Chronicle]
- Royal Caribbean in Talks To Build 200K Sq. Ft. Galveston Cruise Terminal in 2021 [HBJ]
- Nancy’s Hustle, Vibrant Among Houston’s 2018 Eater Awards Winners [Eater]
- HCC Will Build New Campus Next to UH Katy Near I-10 and Grand Pkwy. [Covering Katy]
- Houston Dad Develops Stadium Food Delivery App sEATz So Spectators Don’t Miss the Game [Culturemap]
- Texas Electric Grid Bracing for Another Record-Breaking Summer as Backup Power Reserves Are at All-Time Low [Houston Public Media]
- Class-B Multifamily Developer Nitya Capital Starts First Townhome Development off Memorial Heights [HBJ ($)]
- Dallas-Based Investment Firm Buys 6 Multifamily Properties Along Beltway 8 [Realty News Report]
- Growth of Houston Rental Rates Stabilizing After Long Post-Harvey Spike [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston Employment Forecast Predicts 71,000 New Jobs in 2019 [Houston Public Media]
- New EaDo Rooftop Bar Sunset Heading to 2119 Dallas St. Will Offer Stunning Skyline Views [Eater]
- Construction Underway of 9-Foot Diameter Water Tunnel Under W. Lake Houston Pkwy. [HKA Texas]
- New York-Based Indie Film Distributor Buys River Oaks Theatre’s Parent Company Landmark [HBJ]
- City May Pre-Release Lake Houston Water Ahead of Heavy Rains Expected Friday [Houston Public Media]
Photo of Main St. METRO Rail: Ruben S. via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
When all that’s left is the fall, we can only hope to go down with dignity.
- 2730 Leroy St. [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT’S ON THE RISE AT ALLEN PKWY. AND GILLETTE? 
“And as of yesterday, a wood frame has gone up. It definitely does not look like the lower floors of the 11-story-ish building shown in the upper right of the rendering.” [Chris C., commenting onA First Concrete Step Toward Building That Mixed-Use Complex at Allen Pkwy. and Gillette St.] Photo of new concrete pad on Gillette St. south of Allen Pkwy.: Swamplox inbox
Perched up in the parking garage of the Ashton on West Dallas apartments, a Swamplot reader has been monitoring recent progress on the empty field once home to a garbage incinerator between Allen Parkway Village and the Federal Reserve building. The new flat work shown at top across Gillette St. is the first man-made addition to the 6-acre site since renderings showed a few mixed-use towers including a Thompson hotel, condos, office space, and retail cropping up on it last year.
Crews began clearing the southwestern corner of the property for the new pad 3 weeks ago by busting up some older concrete that stood in its way. Next, they took their work underground:
The Allen
Think your street’s drainage is bad? Listen to this: In 2015, Kris Handoyo was heading north on Travis St. in the backseat of a Mazda when the downtown storm drain cover pictured above came loose and punched through the floorboard of the car, severing half of his right foot. Handoyo, a digital content employee of the Houston Rockets, filed a lawsuit against the city asking for up to $1.25 million in recompense. And this morning the city voted to give it to him. Well, some of it: After mediation, the parties had settled on $200,000.
The drain in question — shown above in the Travis St. bus lane just north of Clay St. — is still there, although the particular grate that impacted Handoyo has been removed and patched over with concrete. Many of its relatives remain in their asphalt habitats however, where they’ve been since the late ’90s and early 2000s.
And where neighbors in Downtown and Midtown have been complaining about them for at least a decade:
Drainage Lawsuit
