Headlines
08/02/16 8:30am

Houston Rent and Healthcare Construction by the Numbers; Heights Alcohol Sales Ban Headed for the Ballot

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3710-kirby

Photo of 3710 Kirby: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
Featured Posts
08/01/16 4:30pm

Once Bashful Heights Post Office Replacement Retail Now Willing To Step Up to the Street, Learn To Like Sidewalks

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Revised Plans for Heights Central Station, Heights Blvd. at 11th St., Houston Heights

Fresh from the architects (Kirksey), here are revised plans (above) for Heights Central Station, the retail-and-office center MFT Interests is planning for the site at the corner of Heights Blvd. and 11th St. (and Yale) in the Heights where the former main post office for the Heights still sits, awaiting its fate. And whaddya know, the strip-mall-style parking that in the previous plan for the new development was shown fronting Yale and 11th St. has now been stripped away, allowing twin 10,000-ish-sq.-ft. 2-story buildings to front 11th St., right on up to the sidewalk:

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Heights Station
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Demolitions
08/01/16 1:00pm

Gasoline-and-Burgers Mashup at Wilcrest and I-10 To Be Replaced By Innovative Fuel-and-Fast-Food Combo

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Exxon Gas Station with McDonald's, 11035 Katy Fwy., Wilchester, Houston

Exxon Gas Station with McDonald's, 11035 Katy Fwy., Wilchester, Houston

Do not mourn the Exxon station with the McDonald’s inside on the eastbound feeder road of the Katy Fwy. Yes, there’s a new fence around the property, and it’s about to be demolished. But the replacement is well worth waiting for: It’ll be a brand new Exxon station — with a brand new McDonald’s! Ah, but the more things stay the same, the more they change: A reader who contacted the burger chain’s regional office reports the new McDonald’s will sport McDonald’s “next generation” design, and will feature free wifi when it opens — around mid-October Election Day.

Photos: Swamplot inbox

Exxon and McDonald’s, Together Again
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08/01/16 12:00pm

Swamplot Sponsor: This 3-Bedroom, 2-Bath Home Near White Oak Dr. and Studewood

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628 E. 6th 1/2 St., Houston

628 E. 6th 1/2 St., Houston

Swamplot’s sponsor today is the 2-story home at 628 E. 6th 1/2 St. Thank you for the support!

The open, main gathering area (pictured at top) of this 2,570-sq.-ft. brickfront home is upstairs, which allows for a combined living, dining, and kitchen space that spans the entire width of the home. Two pairs of north-facing French doors from this space allow access to the covered deck that lines the front façade. The master bedroom suite (see second photo), with a separate shower and whirlpool tub, is downstairs, and opens onto the back patio and yard.

Sure, a good number of Heights-area homes are within walking distance of the many dining options on White Oak Dr. But how many of these homes have a gate that leads directly to White Oak’s Onion Creek Coffee House? You’ll find the one at the end of the backyard of this property pictured in the listing photos. The Heights Hike & Bike Trail is only a block-and-a-half away. And the home, which was built in 2007, is zoned to Harvard Elementary School.

If you’d like to see more pics of and details about this 3-bedroom, 2-bath home with the quirky-but-cool fractional address, please take a look at the property website.

Unique spaces in unique places get attention when they pop up as Swamplot sponsors. Find out about this site’s Sponsor of the Day program here.

Sponsor of the Day
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Bars and Clubs
08/01/16 10:15am

Meet Hops Meet Barley, Now Brewing in the West Alabama Building Where Uberrito Completed Its Burrito Mission Last Year

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Hops Meet Barley, 2245 West Alabama St., Upper Kirby, Houston

It’s a good bet the kiddie playground that once stood in front of the Mission Burrito (and later Überrito, after the Mexican fast-food restaurant changed its name) at 2245 West Alabama St. won’t be returning for the dining and drinking joint now slated to take its place. Ãœberrito shut down that location 11 months ago. But a couple of weeks ago a sign for a grains-and-greetings-themed establishment (above) emerged where once a plastic castle held court in a sea of mulch. And newer signs on the property, reports a Swamplot reader, indicate that staff is now being hired. According to Eater Houston’s Amy McCarthy, incoming beer destination Hops and Barley is a project of Stephen Long, an owner of the Reserve 101 bar at 1201 Caroline St. downtown.

Photo: Hops Meet Barley

 

Missin’ Burritos
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Headlines
08/01/16 8:30am

Latest 609 Main Tenant; Drywall’s Not-Always-Dry History

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707-Saulnier-street

Photo of 707 Saulnier St.: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
Quicklink
07/29/16 4:15pm

Could Houston Make Like West Virginia and Leave Texas?

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COULD HOUSTON MAKE LIKE WEST VIRGINIA AND LEAVE TEXAS? Map of Greater Houston Area per FHWAIn light of the onslaught of global, national, and local post-Brexit musings, Houston Matters’ Craig Cohen takes a listen look this week at a few other breakups of historic proportion (from the Virginia-West-Virginia split, to the quashed but perennially resurfacing attempts to pull New York City out of New York). Cohen and a few other voices then ponder the potential for a Houston exit from the Lone Star state: While the conversation seems to suggest that Houston maybe could make it alone, University of St. Thomas professor Jon Taylor rates the chances that Houston would want to leave the state at a solid inconceivable. And the chances of the necessary state and federal bodies being ready to let go without a fight? Slim to none. [Houston Matters; previously on Swamplot] Map of Houston Territory per U.S. DOE EV Project: FHWA

Comments
07/29/16 2:00pm

Comment of the Day: Start Saving Water Early For Lower Flooding Returns

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COMMENT OF THE DAY: START SAVING WATER EARLY FOR LOWER FLOODING RETURNS Saving Water “Like I said before, the real solution is engineering and good land cover practices upstream. By the time the flow gets to [the Bay], there is no real answer. Just like your child and your 401k, the earlier in the life cycle you contribute, the more impactful that contribution will be further down.” [Rex, commenting on Comment of the Day: All Houston Floodwater Backs Up in the Same Drain] Illustration: Lulu

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Art
07/29/16 12:30pm

The Art Guys Say Bye, Buy, For Now

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THE ART GUYS SAY BYE, BUY, FOR NOW art-guys-byeRecently dissolved arboreal polygamist duo The Art Guys is holding what it’s labeling a Final Sale through August 15 on its website, which currently declares that The Art Guys are not artists. Michael Galbreth and Jack Massing, whose antics under the name have included navigating Houston in various configurations, encouraging visitors to explore a Garden Oaks median strip, and conducting the sounds of the Ship Channel, spoke with Molly Glenzter — who writes this week that the pair still has other plans and ideas, but won’t be executing them under the Art Guys guise.  The pair mention the possibility of creating a virtual drawing of Houston by sending people walking around town with a special path-tracing smart-phone app: “It’s so poetic,” Galbreth tells Glenzter, but the company that makes the app hasn’t shown interest in sponsoring the project. And their imagined sculpture of a randomly-chosen Houstonian hasn’t gotten funding yet, either — “Our culture is just at low tide right now,” Galbreth says. [Houston Chronicle, The Art Guys; previously on Swamplot] Image: theartguys.com

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07/29/16 12:00pm

Swamplot Sponsor: Central Bank

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Downtown Houston Skyline

Houston’s own Central Bank is again sponsoring Swamplot today. Thank you for the continued support!

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.

Swamplot sponsors make the Swamplot go ’round. Here’s how to become one. 

Sponsor of the Day
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Featured Posts
07/29/16 10:45am

Cemetery-Side Digging for Human and Dog Park Wrapping Up in Old Sixth Ward

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Park for Humans & Dogs, Sawyer St., Sawyer Heights, 77007

Most of the low mounds of dirt appear to be in place now at the carefully labeled Park for Human & Dogs on Sawyer between Union and Decatur streets (though there’s still grass to plant and a port-a-potty to extract). The park-to-be (across from beaver-free barbecue pub Beaver’s) sits on city-owned land backed backed up against the Glenwood Cemetery and the 2411 Washington apartment complex. The Old Sixth Ward Redevelopment Authority (e.g., TIRZ 13) was given to go-ahead to build on the site back in October.

Wavy playhouse designer Metalab currently has a few renderings of the project up on their website; those tiny hills popping up around the property make an appearance, as does the spindly gazebo off to the left above (which the firm says reemployed the Witch Hat, the salvaged cupola of an 1899 house demolished in 1997 at 2201 Fannin St.):

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People-Friendly on Sawyer
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