Headlines
12/08/16 8:30am

Texas Cities Dominate Home Price Growth; Houston Sales Tax Revenue Falls

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crane-city

Photo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

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Notices
12/07/16 5:15pm

Favorite Houston Design Cliché: The Official 2016 Ballot

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Here they are, ripped and culled from your submissions: the official nominees in the first category of the 2016 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. That, of course, is Favorite Houston Design Cliché. Thanks to all of you who contributed! These awards wouldn’t happen without you.

As in years past, you can vote up to 4 times in this category by 1) leaving a comment below this post; 2) sending us an email; or by expressing your preference on 3) Twitter or 4) Facebook. Make sure your vote counts by reading and following the 2016 voting instructions, and get your vote in by 5PM on Tuesday, December 27th.

Just as important as the votes you cast, though, are the explanations you provide with them. Tell us why you’re voting for who you’re voting for! What you write may sway other readers to vote as you did. And if your candidate wins or comes in second place, your clever comments might be included in our round-up post.

Here, then, are the 2016 nominees for Favorite Houston Design Cliché:

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The 2016 Swampies
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Featured Posts
12/07/16 2:30pm

Where Houston Floods Outside the Flood Zones

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from Boomtown, Floodtown (Texas Tribune and ProPublica)
from Boomtown, Floodtown (Texas Tribune and ProPublica)

From some of the same folks who brought you those fun-with-worst-case-scenarios hurricane flood maps earlier this year —  Neena Satija and Kiah Collier of the Texas Tribune, and Al Shaw of ProPublica — comes a fresh set of animated maps of a few of Harris County’s most flooded and floodable places, along with a bit of investigation into how they got that way (and whether that might change any time soon). The new illustrated presentation shows off the spread of properties that took a dip during some of Harris County’s last few citywide submersion events (flooded properties from Tax Day 2016 are shown in yellow above, along with the Memorial Day 2015 flooded properties in orange).

Texas A&M Galveston researcher Sam Brody tells the authors that “more people die here than anywhere else from floods. More property per capita is lost here. And the problem’s getting worse.” In sorting through some of the whos, whats, and hows of Harris County’s flood infrastructure and chronically soggy residents, the article juxtaposes the recent flood damage data with the likes of FEMA-mapped 100- and 500-year flood zones (shown above), a visual tally of the land area developed last decade, and a view of what’s left of Houston’s coastal prairie (as of 2010):

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Harris High Water
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12/07/16 12:00pm

Swamplot Sponsor: This Weekend’s Garden Dinner with Chef Adam Garcia at the New Edible Earth Resources Show Garden

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Chef Adam Garcia, Houston

Edible Earth Resources LogoToday’s sponsor is Edible Earth Resources, which is launching a new series of Garden Dinners this Sunday. Thank you for supporting Swamplot!

Edible Earth Resources is elated to announce the launch of its Garden Dinner series. Edible Earth Resources is the full service edible-focused gardening firm that’s been the motivating force behind a number of Houston-area edible-garden initiatives, including Farmstead, a store for edible-garden gardeners; the urban farming project known as Planted Houston; and some great green spaces like the garden at Heights restaurant Coltivare. The company recently acquired a space behind Patrenella’s Italian Restaurant, one block off Washington Ave, for a show garden.

EER will use the garden space for a series of chef-driven dinners and garden classes. The garden dinners will feature the culinary work of many established and upcoming chefs. A significant portion of the produce used in all the dishes at these dinners will come directly from the garden — making the dishes as fresh as possible. Each four-course meal will be paired with fresh cocktails.

The inaugural dinner is this Sunday, December 11th, at 5 pm, at the new Edible Earth Resources Show Garden at 4107 Lillian St., near Washington Ave. The chef for this evening will be Adam Garcia (pictured above), known for his work at The Pass & Provisions, Coltivare, Revival Market, and Julep.

And you’re invited! Bring your friends and come celebrate the year and meet some of the people behind Houston’s burgeoning edible-garden movement. If you’re interested in edible gardening — or just making friends over a fine meal — you’ll want to attend this event. Click here to buy tickets.

Swamplot’s Sponsor of the Day program is a great way to get the word out about important local happenings. Here’s how to become a sponsor.

Sponsor of the Day
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Quicklink
12/07/16 11:00am

Talk Astrodome Tomorrow with the Guys That Wrote the Book On It

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TALK ASTRODOME TOMORROW WITH THE GUYS THAT WROTE THE BOOK ON IT Book by Robert C. Trumpbour and Kenneth WomackThere’s a new tell-all biography of the Astrodome out this fall, now that year 50 since the stadium’s mid-1965 opening has wrapped up. Robert C. Trumpbour and Kenneth Womack’s The Eighth Wonder of the World: The Life of Houston’s Iconic Astrodome covers Dome history from its development days, and gets into how the building shaped Houston and Houston’s reputation. The authors, one of whom has also written another book about stadium construction politics, will be in town tomorrow night for a free talk and book signing  — you can check out the when-and-where and RSVP here. The book includes what University of Nebraska Press refers to as some of the structure’s more “memorable problems, such as outfielders’ inability to see fly balls and failed attempts to grow natural grass — which ultimately led to the development of Astroturf.” The text also touches on some of the most recent will-they-won’t-they preservation scuffles— though its publication date precedes this year’s approval by Harris County of initial funding for that plan to turn the bottom levels of the stadium into a parking garage.  [University of Nebraska Press] Image of book cover: University of Nebraska Press

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Headlines
12/07/16 8:30am

More Fiesta for Houston Area; Bayou City’s Gelato Boom

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memorial-city

Photo of Memorial City: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
Clear Lake
12/06/16 5:00pm

35 Acres of Created Clear Lake Island Up For Grabs Again, More Highrise-Ready Than Ever

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Beacon Island Sales flier; League City, TX, 77573

Beacon Island (née Lighthouse Island, in its more pedestrian days) is up for sale once again, Brandon de Hoyos writes this week. The eponymous prison-striped beacon at the northern tip of the property has been in place since at least the late 1980s — by which time the 35-acre piece of land had also completed its transformation from Clear Creek shoreline to peninsula to full island, as channels were carved into the southern edge of Clear Lake to expand waterfront access. The land also currently hosts the roadways and underground infrastructure installed by woulda-been joint developers The Verandah Cos. and Crow Holdings, right before the housing market collapse and 2008 recession.

Current owner Isola Ventura previously had previously planned for a mixture of residential structures on the island, from townhome to highrise. The island has already been divvied up and okayed for those various  purposes by League City’s planning department, roughly as labeled below in the current leasing materials:

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League City Layouts
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Quicklink
12/06/16 2:00pm

Comment of the Day: The 3-Step Freedmen’s Town Preservation Shuffle

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COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE 3-STEP FREEDMEN’S TOWN PRESERVATION SHUFFLE Brick tearup in Freedmen's Town Historic District, Andrews St., Fourth Ward, Houston, 77019“1. Buy a block (maybe the vacant one on W. Gray . . . the blocks are small). 2. Move all extant historical structures to said block and make it a park, with public space for outdoor events. 3. Rehab the brick streets. Anything beyond this, in the name of historical preservation, is in name only.” [Turning_Basin, commenting on City Wants To Create Historic District To Protect What’s Left of Freedmen’s Town Historic District] Photo of torn up brick street section at Andrews St.: Chris C.

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Quicklink
12/06/16 12:45pm

Last Calls for Your Nominations for the 2016 Swampies

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LAST CALLS FOR YOUR NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2016 SWAMPIES Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate Ribbon LogoIt’s down to the wire for submissions to the first 2 categories of this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate: nominations for Favorite Houston Design Cliché and Best Demolition close tonight at midnight. After that, the “Where Are They Now?” Award and Best Industrial Incident categories will close on Wednesday night, trailed by Special Achievement in Parking and the Houston High Water Award on Thursday; by the end of Friday, we’ll shut down submissions of contenders for Neighborhood of the Year and this year’s Greatest Moment in Houston Real Estate as well. But why wait that long? Voting for the first category will start before then — get those nominations in now so you can focus on the good stuff.

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Braeswood
12/06/16 12:00pm

Buffalo Spdwy. First Stop Now Readying Ground To Plant a Gas Station

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9230 Buffalo Spdwy., Houston, 77025

The ribbed tank hiding behind the track excavator in the north-facing shot above will soon be going completely underground, per current plans at the corner of Durhill St. and Buffalo Spdwy. First Stop Food Store, the current occupant of the retail shell on the property, sits right across Buffalo Spdwy. from one of the 2 planned senior living facilities in the vicinity — that property is just out of the frame to the right, while one of the houses in the Pemberton Circle gated townhome cluster can be seen peeking over the fence on the left.

The 1950s convenience store building and property itself changed hands early last year. Here’s a shot from July, a few happy months before the parking lot breakup seen above:

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Tanking Up
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Featured Posts
12/06/16 11:00am

Star Cinema To Update Vintage Park Alamo Drafthouse, Reopen It Friday

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Former Alamo Drafthouse, 114 Vintage Park Blvd Bldg H, Ste J, Vintage Park, Houston, 77070

As of a few minutes ago, Star Cinema Grill has officially announced its purchase and takeover of the Alamo Drafthouse in Vintage Park, plus plans to redo the interior with some “modern decór”. An unusually-light-and-getting-lighter December schedule tipped some movie hounds off to an impending change, though neither company was ready to confirm anything by the end of last week; Alamo closed as Alamo for the last time on Sunday, however, and as of earlier today the theater appeared to have completed its Facebook identity swap (and to have fielded answers to at least one skeptical Alamo customer’s since-deleted commentary on the matter).

The shift knocks Alamo back down to just 1 Houston-area location in Mason Park, following several years of floated potential expansion plans for Midtown and maybe-moving-forward-again Regent Square; the Austin export still has plans listed for a new theater in Sugar Land’s Imperial Market complex. Star Cinema, meanwhile, says the Vintage Park spot will reopen under the new name by Friday, and claims the chain’ll be up to 6 Houston-ish locations by the end of 2017. 

Photo of former Alamo Drafthouse in Vintage Park: Casey W.

Vintage Update
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