Headlines
08/26/16 8:30am

Memorial Hermann Crown Open for New Business; Fort Bend County’s Millennial Push

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memorial-hermann

Photo of Memorial Hermann: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
Quicklink
08/25/16 5:15pm

Foot Guy Back to Harassing Houston’s Female Real Estate Agents, Warns HAR

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FOOT GUY BACK TO HARASSING HOUSTON’S FEMALE REAL ESTATE AGENTS, WARNS HAR HAR central office, 3693 Southwest Fwy., Upper Kirby, Houston, 77027The still-anonymous guy known for calling female real estate agents to get them to talk to him about their feet is back at it, a message on HAR’s blog notes this week. The caller, who among other noted habits often asks for descriptions of nail polish and footwear and “will usually request that [the agent] remove her shoes for improved cell phone reception,” has been on HPD’s radar for a while, but calls from a blocked number (and hangs up abruptly if male agents get on the line). HAR asks that any Realtor who gets a foot-centric call mention it to the police, and notes that “the real estate profession involves interaction with consumers who, in most cases, are complete strangers. It is therefore recommended that when meeting a prospective buyer at a property, conducting an open house or any other meeting between Realtor and consumer alone, you exercise caution and common sense.” [HAR via Houston Chronicle] Photo of HAR Central Office: HAR

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Featured Posts
08/25/16 3:45pm

And Now, an Illustrated Series of Detailed Rants About McMansions

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McMansion Hell critique

What puts the Mc- in McMansion? McMansion Hell hit the Internets recently hoping to answer that question, bringing along slews of illustrative photo examples covered with detailed (if at times bitingly sarcastic) annotations. The author notes that not all large post-1980 houses are McMansions — that’s a matter of factors like these. And not recognizing one isn’t necessarily a matter of having bad taste — it’s a matter of familiarity with basic design principles, which the site attempts to provide.

Starting with a McMansions 101 introductory primer on basic layouts and proportions, most of the site’s posts so far take on specific design aspects (last week’s called out useless and disproportionate column deployment). Other posts take readers on a Zillow-photo walkthrough of a single home — this afternoon’s critique dives into a Houston-area house (shown above), text block by aggravated text block:

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McMansion Deconstruction
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Meanwhile
08/25/16 2:00pm

RRC: Your Drinking Water Probably Hasn’t Been Poisoned by Those Wells We Weren’t Tracking

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RRC: YOUR DRINKING WATER PROBABLY HASN’T BEEN POISONED BY THOSE WELLS WE WEREN’T TRACKING Meanwhile, in Austin: The Texas Rail Road Commission is hiring a geologist to look through the 10,000-or-so permits for oilfield waste disposal wells it’s approved since 1982, in an effort to figure out which ones were drilled into potential drinking water supplies.  Kiah Colliers reports this week that the agency (which since 2005 has had nothing to do with railroads) says it’s let through a “handful” of exceptions to the don’t-pump-fracking-liquids-into-water-zones-someone-might-need-later rules, and that they probably aren’t much of a risk, but the agency doesn’t actually know how many times it’s happened (and the EPA doesn’t have records of giving the required OKs). Colliers also notes that even other Texas officials in charge of water quality in frack-heavy areas of the state aren’t necessarily aware that disposal wells are ever allowed near potentially drinkable water supplies, quoting an assistant manager at the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District’s response to a description of the policy as “Now why in the hell would they do that?” [Texas Tribune]

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Featured Posts
08/25/16 12:45pm

Fertitta’s $20 Million UH Donation To Bump Hofheinz from Pavilion to Plaza Status

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Rendering of Fertitta Center at former Hofheinz Pavilion

Rendering of Fertitta Center at former Hofheinz PavilionThe $20-million basketball stadium donation previously rumored to be on its way from Landry’s owner and UH board of regents chairman Tilman Fertitta was confirmed this morning by the school, which also released renderings of what’s planned for Hofheinz Pavilion — eventually to sport the name Fertitta Center. The depictions of the $60-million upgrade  include some prominent views of a well-labeled Hofheinz Plaza, part of a deal with the Hofheinz family after a lawsuit over the basketball arena’s planned renaming.

Below are a few more shots of the plans, which UH says should be wrapped up by the end of the 2018-19 season:

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Center Moving Forward
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08/25/16 12:00pm

Swamplot Sponsor: This 4-Bedroom, 2-Story Bellaire Home

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847 Jaquet Dr., Bellaire, Texas

847 Jaquet Dr., Bellaire, Texas

Today’s Sponsor of the Day is the 4-bedroom home at 847 Jaquet Dr. in Bellaire. Thanks for supporting Swamplot!

The photo at the top of this post shows some of the main living spaces at the back of this 2-story brick home — with a hint of their more formal counterparts at the front: At the far right of the view is an opening into a wet bar (which could also be used as a butler’s pantry), which connects to the formal living room. The opening at the center leads to the double-height entry. And a third opening, off the kitchen, connects to the formal dining room, directly off the entry. Not pictured here are the fireplace behind the camera, the picture windows on the wall at the left of the image, and the door leading from the pictured breakfast area (between the seating area and the kitchen) — facing onto a shaded porch area surrounding the pool in back.

Jaquet Dr. is a U-shaped street that begins and ends off Elm St. just west of the West Loop. Ware Family Park and its playground are a short walk away, at the street’s eastern end. This 2,792-sq.-ft. home has a metal roof, 8 security cameras, 4 bedrooms, 2-1/2 baths, 2 pantries, and a central, granite-topped kitchen island. Upstairs, the master bedroom (pictured above) has its own fireplace and balcony overlooking the pool.

Care for more of a tour? Additional photos are available on the property website. The home is being offered for sale by New Leaf Real Estate, which offers unique savings programs for both sellers and buyers.

How to show Swamplot readers that great property you’ve just listed? Try becoming a Sponsor of the Day. Here’s how.

Sponsor of the Day
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Featured Posts
08/25/16 11:00am

Planned 10-Week Dowling St. Name Change Kicks Off Tomorrow

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Rendering of Emancipation Park, Dowling St., Third Ward, Houston

Houston Planning Commission chief of staff Brian Crimmins announced yesterday that tomorrow will be the day a proposed name change of Dowling St. is announced to those with property along the road. The planned timeline for a few public meetings and some comment-taking stretches over the course of the next few months, with the if-everything-goes-as-planned rededication date of the street as Emancipation Ave. set for Sunday, November 6. The proposed change would mark the second de-Dowling in Houston this year, following the shifting of Dowling Middle School’s allegiance over to Audrey H. Lawson as part of HISD’s lawsuit-inspiring Confederate expulsion.

Rendering of under-renovation Emancipation Park at 3018 Dowling St.: Phil Frelon

Emancipation Anticipation
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Headlines
08/25/16 8:40am

Houston Housing Authority Leadership Swap; More Condos for River Oaks

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houston-skyline2

Photo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
Acres Homes
08/24/16 5:15pm

Where Those 14 $400k-ish Artist Houses Will Fit Into Acres Homes

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Rendering of NoLo Studios

Here’s a rendering of the 3-acre strip of property currently being rebranded as NoLo Studios. Per the drawings released earlier this month, the land (which touches the south side of Mansfield Rd. at the intersection with Midgeley St.) will be split up into lots for 14 new residences; that’s up a bit from the 9 mentioned in mid-2015 by Catherine Anspon (by which point 6 of the homes were reportedly already reserved.) The houses, marketed toward mid-career artists and priced between $300,000 and $450,000, are being designed and developed by Francois de Menil, the New-York-based architect son of Menil Collection founders Dominique and John. De Menil bought the land for the project in Acres Homes (which, after World War I, was reportedly the largest unincorporated African-American community in the South) back in April of 2015.

The view above appears to show the 4 houses planned closest to Mansfield, per the subdivision map:

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Art House Review
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Comments
08/24/16 4:15pm

Comment of the Day: How To Ease Houston Into the Zoning Zone

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COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW TO EASE HOUSTON INTO THE ZONING ZONE Illustration of Master Planners“Another example of the city’s zoning-style regulations that have been built up over the last 20 years or so. They couldn’t get people to vote for zoning, so they are building a zoning apparatus slowly and in small pieces.” [Anonymous, commenting on The Setback Setbacks at 1403 McGowen St.] Illustration: Lulu

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Quicklink
08/24/16 2:15pm

How a Former Enron Trader Brought Hi-Res Aerial Surveillance to Baltimore

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HOW A FORMER ENRON TRADER BROUGHT HI-RES AERIAL SURVEILLANCE TO BALTIMORE Persistent Surveillance Systems sample screen captureA report from Monte Reel this week reveals that the Baltimore police department has been running a secret surveillance-by-Cessna program since January, with funding from the Houston-based Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the philanthropic organization owned by former Enron trader and Centaurus Advisors founder John Arnold and his wife. The couple, which has put funding toward causes ranging from pension reform to the KIPP charter schools to police body camera use studies, contacted Ross McNutt, whose company Persistent Surveillance Systems developed out of his plane-based surveillance projects intended to investigate roadside bombings in mid-2000s Iraq. After the company was featured by Radiolab, McNutt “got an e-mail on behalf of [the Arnolds, who] told McNutt that if he could find a city that would allow the company to fly for several months, they would donate the money to keep the plane in the air.  . . . ‘We settled in on Baltimore because it was ready, it was willing, and it was just post-Freddie Gray,’ McNutt says.” The plane, which can grab images over a 30-square-mile area, has been secretly flying over Baltimore for up to 10 hours per day, sending back photos at a rate of 1 shot per second. [Bloomberg] Capture of PSS law enforcement support system: Persistent Surveillance Systems

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