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08/31/16 4:00pm

Gregory Lincoln’s Field Plowed So Wharton Elementary Can Grow in Fourth Ward

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Wharton T-Buildings at Gregory Lincoln Education Center, 1101 Taft St., Fourth Ward, 77019

A fresh batch of temporary buildings have recently made an appearance in the W. Dallas-adjacent field atÂ the Gregory Lincoln Education Center, a reader notes. The buildings, some 21 in all, are aÂ complete temporary campus set up for use by elementary school Wharton Dual Language Academy,Â whose own land less than half a mile away at W. Gray and Columbus streets is being turned over to construction crews for aÂ $35.6-million expansion. Â A 3-story building will be tacked onto the north sideÂ of the existing Wharton structure, closing offÂ a new interior courtyard;Â below is a look through the renderings and floor plansÂ for the expansion, as well as the layout forÂ the anticipated 2-year-long of Gregory Lincoln squeeze-in:

Sporting Something New

Fourth Ward, New Construction, Schools

08/31/16 1:00pm

Got Anything To Say About the City Buying That Land at 288 and N. MacGregor for an H-E-B?

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Former Site of Planned HCC College of Health Sciencesâ€™ Medical Science & Technology Early College Charter High School, Hwy. 288 and North MacGregor Way, Third Ward, Houston

A meeting is set for September 7th to take public input on the city’s plan to purchase the long-vacant land at the northeast corner of SH 288 and MacGregor to let H-E-B build a store on the site (at the edges of a few of Houston’s USDA-defined food deserts). The cityÂ says the meeting and comment period (which lasts through September 11) are standard parts of its 8-step programÂ when developing within the floodplain —Â Brays Bayou is just to the left of the frame above (snapped back in 2014), whichÂ the southeastern corner of the land asÂ the facade-and-foreclosure-twin Mosaic and MontageÂ towers peek over from west of 288.

The land isÂ currently ownedÂ by Houston Community College; theÂ college system bought the tract (reportedlyÂ for the second time) back in 2013 as the proposed site of the elaborately monikeredÂ HCC Coleman College of Health Sciencesâ€™ Medical Science & Technology Early College Charter High School.Â The city would bundle the landÂ together with some adjacent already-city-ownedÂ property to lease it to H-E-B, and the grocery chain would be able to buy the whole packageÂ once all 72,000 sq. ft. of new store are constructed and certified forÂ occupancy.Â

Public Meeting Notice [City of Houston]
Previously on Swamplot:Â Visiting the Future Site of the New Third Ward Medical High School with the Ridiculously Long Name

Photo:Â Swamplot inbox

Flood Plain Food Desert

77004, Buying and Selling, Floodplains, Food Deserts, Grocery Stores, Proposed Developments, Riverside-Terrace, Third Ward

08/31/16 10:45am

The Pastoral Scene at Krispy Kreme’s Unglazed Pasadena Location

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Krispy Kreme shell, 4601 Spencer Hwy., Pasadena, TX 77504

AÂ field of rippling grassÂ between the Denny’s and the Comerica Bank branch on Spencer Hwy. currently holds the half-finished form of one of the Krispy Kreme donut shops planned as part of the chain’s post-lawsuit re-emergence into the Houston market. The chain still hasÂ the location on its list of upcoming grand opening donut-campouts (labeled as down-the-street 4601 Spencer Hwy., though both Eater Houston and a look at neighboring addresses put the property number at or around 4061), but arch-ive-ist and daily demo reporter Lauren Meyers notes the overgrown site is pretty light on signs of active work.

Some ofÂ Fisher Elementary’s T-buildings can be seenÂ loitering to the rightt, withÂ the stadium lights of the McGuire baseball field and track facility rising distantly in the background on the right; on the west side of the building is aÂ would-be drive-thru window:

77504, Cancellations and Delays, Franchises and Chain Stores, New Construction, Pasadena, Restaurants

Cold Now on Spencer Hwy.

Headlines

08/31/16 8:30am

More Pearls Now Open in Midtown and Washington Ave; More from The Halal Guys

by Meredith Deliso

4 Comments

buffalo-bayou

Photo of Buffalo Bayou: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines

Daily Demolition Report

08/31/16 8:00am

Daily Demolition Report: Bayou Bash

by Lauren Meyers

2 Comments

10218 Briar Dr., Briargrove Park

Swamplotâ€™s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.

So let it be permitted, so let it be done for.

Daily Demolition Report, Demolitions

Homes for Sale

08/30/16 6:00pm

Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: Leafy Greens

2 Comments

12302 Broken Arrow St. [HAR]

77024, Bathrooms, Home Listings, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Lighting, Memorial, Mirrors

08/30/16 5:30pm

Appeals Court: TxDOT Can’t Limit Ron Paul Sign, Any Other Advertising Billboards

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Billboards and signs near Gulfgate, Houston, 77087

In the wake of a multi-year legal tiff between TxDOT and an Austin-based real estate companyÂ over a freestanding Ron Paul 2012Â sign outside of an erotica shop on Hwy. 71, a district appeals court has just struck down central parts of the Texas Highway Beautification Act, Dug Begley reports today. The ruling may have eventual implications for cityÂ makeover enthusiastÂ Scenic Houston’sÂ long-term de-billboardingÂ quest,Â and comes right on the heels of the announcement last week that an additional 13 signs around Houston would be coming down.

Signs of the Times

Billboards, Inflatable Animals, Lawsuits, Scenic Houston, Signs, TXDOT

Quicklink

08/30/16 3:00pm

Documenting Houston’s Townhousification, One Tweet at a Time

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DOCUMENTING HOUSTON’S TOWNHOUSIFICATION, ONE TWEET AT A TIME @densifyingHOU While you’re waiting for Kuukibot’s polite butÂ insistent stream of air toxics tweetsÂ to come back,Â another Houston-obsessed account has just hit the Twittersphere — this one documenting the city’s infill development, as evidenced by dailyÂ before-and-after shots pulled from Google StreetviewÂ (like the 2-house-t0-7-townhome transition shown above,Â from near the intersection of Gibson and Snover streets in Brunner).Â Â The accountâ€™s Philadelphia-based author (who’s looking for submissions,Â by the way)Â points to the 1999 changes inÂ minimum lot size requirementsÂ as the catalyst for the subsequent waves ofÂ tightly-packedÂ townhouse do-overs in previously large-lot neighborhoods around town, as explained by Daniel HertzÂ earlier this summer: Hertz writes that Â the decision to allow lots as small as 1,400 sq.ft. within the Inner Loop (a decree later expanded city-wide in 2013)Â allowed the building of way more housing stock in the city’s core without a switch to multifamily-style buildings. “An important research project in the coming years ,” Hertz notes, “will be to see if Houstonâ€™s willingness to allow more housingâ€”and especially missing middle housingâ€”in the center of a growing metropolitan area can reduce the growth of housing prices and keep neighborhoods more diverse and affordable than they would otherwise be.” [City Observatory] Screenshot of Densifying Houston tweet: @densifyingHOU

Brunner, Demolition, Google Maps, Houston Heights, New Construction, Prevailing Lot Size, Tools, Townhomes

Demolitions

08/30/16 1:15pm

New Hope Dashed to Bits at Goliad and Crockett

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Former New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, 1221 Crockett St., First Ward, Houston, 77007

The brutal Sunday scene at the former New Hope Missionary Baptist Church was caught by a reader on Goliad St. in First Ward this weekend. Â The 1940s structure is making way for new CitySide townhomes; 3 lots in the new 7-way split will face Goliad, whileÂ the otherÂ 4 keep watchÂ on Crockett St. Here’s a look from Crockett atÂ building’s insides spilling out under the guiding influence of that excavator, and of the corner tower’s last stand:

Last Stand in First Ward

77007, Churches, Demolitions, First Ward, Proposed Developments, Townhomes

08/30/16 11:15am

Happy 180th Birthday to Houston’s Founding Fibs

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Allen brothers' Houston sales ad

It’s that time again — Houston’s birthday celebration,Â observed traditionally on the anniversary of the publication of the Allen brothers’ newspaper ads offering land for sale in the area in 1836. Among the moreÂ eyebrow-worthyÂ claimsÂ put forward by the founders: that the “beautifully-elevated”Â areaÂ (depictedÂ nestled amid a clutch of towering hills) wasÂ already the site of regularÂ steamboat traffic (the Laura wouldn’t make the first steamboat runÂ up the sandy twists of Buffalo Bayou to Allen’s Landing until the following year), and that the area “[enjoys]Â the sea breeze in all its freshness” and isÂ “well-watered” (that part, at least, is likelyÂ undisputed).

The ad text also claims that “Nature appears to have designated this place for the future seat of Government,” though Lisa Gray suggests this morningÂ that a few well-timed gifts to members of the newly-minted Texas Legislature may have been responsible as well. Gray writes that the city hosted the Texas government from 1837 until the legislators, tired of the heat and mosquitoes, voted to move elsewhere in 1839.

Here’s the ad in its entirety, as it appeared 180 years ago today in the Telegraph and Texas Register: