Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Some buildings are merely illusions, albeit very persistent ones.
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- 19182 Laketree Dr. [HAR]
CONN’S SLOWS GROWTH, LOOKS TO SQUEEZE MORE FROM DEBT COLLECTION, MATTRESSES 
Previously investigated home appliance and furniture retailer Conn’s is slowing down on plans to add new stores in the wake of the quarterly net losses announced yesterday, Mike D. Smith writes this afternoon. The Woodlands-based national chain (which has about 20 Houston area locations and 55 in Texas) has scaled back expansion plans to adding just 3 stores next fiscal year, despite grander talk last December. Among the initiatives in the works to boost profits: pushing the store’s mix of goods toward more higher-margin items like furniture and mattresses. Also on the list: boosting customers’ interest rates on in-house loans repayments and adding more months to payback plans. National retail consultant Howard Davidowitz tells Smith that both ideas look like steps toward a more sustainable business model for the company (which has been threatened with a class action lawsuit by its investors for allegedly hiding profit losses caused by targeting customers with lower credit scores): “The reality is, that’s how people live,” Davidowitz said. “The question is, ‘How much am I paying every month?’ And that’s going to determine in their minds whether they can afford it.” [Houston Chronicle] Photo of Conn’s at 11051 Hwy. 290 in Spring Branch: Conn’sÂ
THE CASE OF THE SPECULATIVE RUBE GOLDBERG-STYLE LONG DISTANCE HOME ARSON ATTEMPT Meanwhile, in Kerikeri: Gag orders surrounding a set of insurance fraud and blackmail investigations have recently expired, bringing to light details of New Zealand investigators’ suspicions that British expat Chris Robinson may have burned his own house down while out of town in 2013. Investigators of the fire, which destroyed Robinson’s multi-million-dollar home and Mercedes, found burn marks suggesting a flame accelerant, as well as records of a remote login to a home computer on the night of the fire. Traces of the software program used to access the home machine were found on Robinson’s travel laptop, though he deleted the program the morning after the blaze. The investigators eventually presented a proof of concept video in court demonstrating one theoretically possible method of starting a fire remotely: the investigators cued a printer to print, which pulled down a sheet of paper which was taped to a string, pulling a switch that caused a small heating element to set some matches on fire (enough to ignite the accelerant that appeared to have been splashed around the house). The case fell apart because investigators didn’t produce evidence of a sent print command; though the insurance company still won’t pay out for the house, Robinson was acquitted. He did, however, lose an associated court case over an attempt to blackmail the insurance company; during sentencing, the judge took into consideration a previous UK conviction for posing as an Irish priest to solicit-slash-extort donations to a nonexistent charity. [Stuff via The Independent]
As of tomorrow morning, any missed-the-memo visitors to the former Blank Slate Laser Tattoo Removal space at 1720 Houston Ave. will at least have the option to drink to forget (assuming that’s not what got them into trouble in the first place). Spanish-Latin-American-themed cafe Cafeza will open to the public around 6 a.m. with coffee, food, and wine on the menu. The shop is tucked into northern storefront of the 1925 building at the corner with Crockett St., with Belgium-minded companion Cafe Brussels occupying the adjacent space next door. The view above is from the Crockett side, where the scribbles-welcome Grateful Heart chalkboard hangs out these days:
European Influences on Houston Ave
Today’s sponsor is Houston’s own Central Bank. Thank you for the continued support of Swamplot!
Central Bank has 4 (central) Houston branches available to meet your business or personal needs: in Midtown, the Heights, West Houston, and Post Oak Place.
Central Bank believes that change is essential to its success; the company actively pursues the latest in service, technology, and products. Central Bank aims to know its customers personally and to be their primary business and personal financial resource. The bank’s staff values relationships and strives to be available when you need them.
To learn more about how Central Bank can meet your banking needs, please call any of the following Senior Vice Presidents: Kenny Beard, at 832.485.2376; Bonnie Purvis, at 832.485.2354; Gary Noble, at 832.485.2366; or Ryan Tillman, at 832.485.2307. You can also find out more on the bank’s website.
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The letters strung out under the Red Line overpass at Burnett St. and N. Main to label the area as Hardy Yards are now back in place once again, Chris Andrews notes. After a few ups and downs earlier this year the letters were removed altogether for a bit; they’re now back in place, standing on what appear to be some slightly buffed-up legs. The ones shown above are on the north side of Burnett; here’s the southern companion piece, with the stairs leading to the Burnett Transit Center visible on the left:
Knocked Down, But Up Again
- LyondellBasell To Build $700M Plastics Plant in La Porte [Fuel Fix; previously on Swamplot]
- Telephone Square Acquires Kroger-Anchored Glenbrook Square Shopping Center Near Hobby Airport [Realty News Report]
- Prime Real Estate Group Buys 207-Room Holiday Inn Houston Southwest-Sugar Land Area [Realty News Report]
- Class A Office Rental Rates Increased 18% Between 2010 and 2015, According to Newmark Grubb Knight Frank [HBJ]
- Average Price of 4-Bedroom, 2-Bath House in Houston is $274,061, Finds Coldwell Banker [Houston Chronicle]
- Renters Give Houston a B- in Overall Satisfaction in Apartment List Survey, Up from D Grade Last Year [HBJ]
- Reef Chef Ryan Lachaine’s New Restaurant Riel Opening on Fairview in November [PaperCity Magazine; previously on Swamplot]
- Montrose Mining Company Owner Closes Long-Running Gay Bar, Planning New Concept in Its Place [Houston Chronicle]
- Super Bowl Host Committee Seeks To Raise $10M More in Sponsorships [HBJ]
Photo of University of Houston Downtown: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Every house is a quotation from all its ancestors.
- 733 W. Creekside Dr. [HAR]
The field above, on the block between W. 24th, W. 25th, Ashland and Rutland streets in the Heights, will be the subject of a public meeting next month, a reader who got a letter about it from the city notes to Swamplot. The land (an also-ran in the Best Teardown category for the 2010 Swampies) was previously the site of some of National Flame & Forge’s operations, which extended into the double block immediately to the north (now sprouting the townhomes visible in the distance). The owners have spent some time in the last few years taking stock of some industrial leftovers on the property, and are now seeking a Municipal Settings Designation for the land, which will legally nix any future use of the site’s chromium-and-trichloroethylene-spiked groundwater for drinking purposes.
The letter, addressed to nearby property owners and water-well-havers, emphasizes that no city water sources are affected by the contamination, and adds that the city is also legally required to send the meeting invite to anyone who owns a water well within 5 miles of the site. The map below is included with the application from NFF Realty for the no-drinking label; the aerial shows the rough boundaries of areas where water sampling over 2014 and 2015 showed more-than-you-want-in-your-coffee levels of chromium (in red) and trichloroethylene (in yellow):
Forging Ahead
COMMENT OF THE DAY: ONE SET OF HOUSE RULES FOR ALL HOUSTON LOCATION GAMBLES 
“So, whenever anyone in Houston gets upset about the impact a new development will have on their neighborhood, the chorus rises up and yells at them about how they should have seen it coming when they bought in a no zoning area. Fingers wag in their face about expecting government to save them from the impact of development when they had a choice to buy in a deed restricted neighborhood in the ‘burbs but chose Houston’s zoning-free wilds instead. But, when it is Mother Nature at work, the same [logic] gets thrown out the window. Everyone buying land along the bayou knows that it is a very active waterway that is constantly reshaping its banks. But when a few dozen owners of very expensive real estate . . .  come crying to the government to protect them from a problem that was very open and obvious to them when they developed their properties, suddenly they are given a free pass from having to be responsible for their decisions. . . . Buffalo Bayou is just fine the way it is. Anyone with a stabilization issue can pay their own way to deal with it.” [Old School, commenting on  Comment of the Day: Keeping Buffalo Bayou in its Place] Photo of Buffalo Bayou: Save Buffalo Bayou
Looks like the glassy structure above will be jumping gardens, per the announcement last week from the wedding venue formerly known as the Gardens of Bammel Lane (which took the new name Gardens of River Oaks late in July). The conservatory building will head north to the Gardens at Madeley Manor in Conroe once the Bammel Ln. venue shuts down in December. The rest of the garden’s structures and landscaping will likely be removed by less delicate means to make way for the planned 26-story Villa Borghese highrise, depicted below with Downtown peeking over its shoulder from the east:
Conservatory Conservation
Today our sponsor is the 4-5-bedroom, 4-bath single-family home at 1704 Kipling St. in Winlow Place. Thank you for supporting Swamplot!
The duplex that originally stood on the northwest corner of Kipling and Dunlavy was built in 1930, but it had been vacant for 20 years before Houston architect Donna Kacmar renovated and converted it, in 2007, to this single residence. Kacmar recycled some of the materials from the house for its own rejuvenation: Termite-ridden oak planks on the first floor were replaced by shiplap — removed from the interior walls, milled, and turned into wide-plank flooring. New cabinet pieces were fabricated from the home’s longleaf pine door jambs. Interior doors are refinished originals, but all windows and exterior doors were replaced, soapstone countertops inserted, and a new garage constructed.
The renovation efforts resulted in a Good Brick Award from the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance (now known as Preservation Houston) in 2008. But the home has more to offer than its rehab pedigree: There’s also the central Montrose location. Coffee, croissants, and company are just a short walk away. The 3,552-sq.-ft. home is just a couple blocks south of the storied corner of Westheimer and Dunlavy.
1704 Kipling St. is listed for sale by New Leaf Real Estate, which offers unique savings programs for both sellers and buyers. You can see more photos of the renovated home — including the back porch and brick exterior — and get more info about it on the property website.
Show your support for Swamplot by becoming a Sponsor of the Day. Here’s how to do it.
Sponsor of the Day
The sides of the 1965 Memorial Towers highrise apartment complex are currently getting the blues as part of a period remodel, a reader reports. Serial multifamily fixer-upper The Barvin Group bought the property in May. The side of the complex pictured above (also shown pre-paint for comparison) faces west down Memorial Dr. toward the recently flattened former roost of Pollo Bravo (occupied before that by Hartz Chicken Buffet).  A rendering of the complex’s planned new look (including a throwback cursive replacement of the signage currently pointed at east-bound drivers) is on display in the lobby:
Rice Military Remake
