- 4616 Verone St. [HAR]
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DRINKING AGE RISES TO 23 AT KIRBY ICE HOUSE 
No-longer-blue Upper Kirby Kirby Ice House announced this morning that it will no longer allow customers younger than 23 into the venue. A message on the company’s Facebook page cites a month and a half of customer feedback since the bar’s opening at 3333 Eastside St., and a need to maintain the venue’s diverse clientele — adding an apology to the segments of that same clientele who areunder 23 (and an invitation to come back in a few years). [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Kirby Ice House
Some Memorial-area residents (mostly under the banner of uncontroversially-named Residents Against Flooding) filed a previously-threatened lawsuit this morning requesting that the city of Houston and TIRZ 17 be barred from using the reinvestment district’s funds for private development projects until more drainage projects have been implemented in the nearby neighborhoods. The lawsuit alleges that the Memorial City Redevelopment Authority and the city have been increasing runoff from the zone (inside Beltway 8 at I-10, shown above in green) into the nearby neighborhoods without adding enough new drainage projects to compensate for it; residential flooding in 2009, last Memorial Day, and this Tax Day are cited as the outcome.
The group filing the suit says it doesn’t want money — so what is the suit asking for?
Memorial City
CHINESE COMPANY PREPARING TO TEST 1400-PASSENGER TRAFFIC-STRADDLING TUNNEL BUS Meanwhile, in Changzhou: Engineer Song Youzhou tells Xinhua News that the first full-scale model of the road-straddling Transit Explore Bus may be ready for testing by July or August. The developers say the 2-rail “land airbus” system could pick up as many as 1,400 passengers lowered in through the top from a series of elevator-equipped station platforms; the vehicle could drive straight over traffic jams (assuming those jams are less than 7 ft tall) without having to slow down. Song’s version of the tunnel-train concept was first introduced in 2010 but reappeared at this month’s Beijing Intel High Tech Expo with more solid plans for development. Funder TBS Shipping’s animated 3-D concept video can be viewed here. [Xinhua, CityLab]
Today’s Swamplot Sponsor of the Day: the new-construction residence at 810 Ralfallen St. in the Heights. Thank you for supporting this site!
Do you hear this home calling you? The brand-new 4-bedroom at 810 Ralfallen was recently completed by the Heights’s own Icon Home. The company’s name signals its inspiration: iconic architectural styles — such as Greek Revival and American Farmhouse — which the builder adapts to contemporary sensibilities.
Beyond the carefully ordered façade is an open layout with an emphasis on entertaining: the formal dining room, for example, has its own serving bar with wine fridge. Beyond is a view into the family room, a few steps down, with 12-ft. ceilings, the kitchen open to it, and floor-to-ceiling built-ins surrounding a marble fireplace. The family room opens directly onto a carefully crafted room for outdoor living — dubbed the loggia — which is sheltered by a vaulted ceiling, and appointed with a masonry fireplace, a custom grill and kitchenette, and wood shutters. Its one open side leads into a yard opposite the kitchen.
Other spaces in the home await interpretation: A first-floor room off the foyer could be a study or sitting room; a cathedral-ceilinged flex space upstairs could be a gameroom or fifth bedroom. There are 4 bathrooms and 1 half-bath — including one you can get to directly from the back loggia.
Other new Icon Home constructions in the Heights area offer variations on 810 Ralfallen’s sensibility: 2023 Cortlandt sports a little more Greek Revival styling on its front, while the home at 523 E. 23rd St. features a courtyard with multiple points of entry through the living area. All 3 are listed by Bill Baldwin and Boulevard Realty. If you like what you’ve seen and heard about it here, do poke through the 810 Ralfallen property website for more photos and details.
Show off your style by sponsoring Swamplot. Here’s how to do it.
Sponsor of the Day
WILCREST WHOLE FOODS NOW ON HOLD WHILE BEING TRANSFERRED TO RANDALLS 
A reader reports that the Whole Foods Market at 11145 Westheimer was closed forever as of 4:15 pm on Sunday afternoon. The store’s new spot directly across S. Wilcrest Rd. in the former Randalls grocery store will be opening early in the morning on Wednesday, June 1, amid a flurry of gift-card giveaways; a DJ’d grocery store party will be held the afternoon before for those who RSVP. [Previously on Swamplot] Rendering of Whole Foods Wilcrest Market at 11041 Westheimer Rd.: Whole Foods Market
The new Houston Toros facility on Summer St. is getting polished up for next month’s soft kickoff, per reader Rony Canales’s latest panoramic update. The training spot and community center is across a railroad easement and some now-warehouse-free fields from the rice silo complex being redeveloped into the Silos at Sawyer Yards artsy-retail space to the south.
The new soccer center appears to incorporate at least the shells of few of the warehouses previously occupying the site, though a few structures on the block have ejected — including the house at the corner of Summer and Hemphill streets, where a playing field is now being smoothed into place (as shown above). Check out the aerial rendering of the entire site, facing toward the silos and the Downtown skyline:
Summer St. Summer League
- ABS Signs Lease for Mixed-Use Development CityPlace Under Construction in Springwoods Village [Houston Chronicle]
- Economist Mark Dotzour: Houston Market To Hold Up Amid Oil Slump as Long as Inventory Remains Low [Houston Chronicle]
- How Third Ward Plans To Manage the Forces of Gentrification [The Urban Edge]
- Inside the Harwood Taylor-Designed Frame House, Currently on the Market [OffCite Blog; previously on Swamplot]
- The ‘Questionable’ Relationship Between Subsidized Housing and Property Values [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Uptown Top Neighborhood for Houston Apartment Inquiries in April, According to Zumper [HBJ]
- Heights-Area Triple A Restaurant Closes Amid Lease Dispute, Likely For Good [Culturemap]
- Houston’s Unemployment Rate is Likely Higher Than It Looks [Houston Chronicle]
- 10 Acres of Heavily Tax-Day-Flooded Mercer Botanic Gardens Reopening Today near Spring [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of White Oak Music Hall: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Uncommon or not, these will never be found again after today’s report.
- 709 W. Creekside Dr. [HAR]
Outlined in red is the next addition to University of Houston Downtown’s campus, per last Thursday’s meeting by the UH system’s board of regents. The image above comes from a marketing flier included in the board’s agenda notes (as presented by board member and real estate reality TV star Tilman Fertitta). The 17-acre parcel on the north side of I-10 runs along the Daly St. student parking lot by the Burnett Transit Center light-rail station, and includes several areas west of N. Main St. already in use by UHD as faculty and student parking.
The land, bounded on the southwest by White Oak Bayou,  will likely house a new science and engineering building — though it may have to cozy up with some additions to the downtown freeway system still in the planning phase. UHD VP David Bradley tells Nancy Sarnoff that the parts of the tract that may end up inside the expanded right-of-way will hang around as green space until TxDOT’s map lines are firmed up.
Rail Yard Revival
COMMENT OF THE DAY: ELEVATING HOUSTON’S FREEWAYS TO GLOBAL MASCOT STATUS 
“If you want transit to be ‘Great for Tourism,’ then you’ve got to look at transit systems such as in NYC, London, and Tokyo that are not only exceptional but that serve as cultural iconography for the city. There has to be some showmanship. Houston’s METRO was never building a cultural icon, even if some people embraced it as such back in 2004 for lack of any sort of imagination otherwise. Ironically, I’ve given rides to the airport from international visitors from places as different as India and Australia, and they seem to really enjoy riding on the freeways, taking in the vast expanse of concrete and the tangle of overpasses and underpasses. Houston’s freeways are a spectacle! Houston’s freeways are cultural iconography!” [TheNiche, commenting on Feds: Unused Richmond Light-Rail Funding Offer Now Expired, Getting Thrown Out] Illustration: Lulu
That’s 5 stories of sticks now stacked up at 9000 Main St., the triangular former site of the Medical Inn & Suites complex that met its unmaker late last year. The property was bought in 2013 by an entity named Shree Shriji LLC, which shares an address with the Days Inn & Suites near Hobby Airport at 9114 Airport Blvd. The land sits a half block north of Broadmead Dr., directly across Main from Superbowl-prepping NRG Park’s parking lot (the one spanning between Murworth Dr. and McNee Rd.).
The land wasn’t empty for long following deconstructive operations — but another reader did manage to snap a view of the property back in January, when the freshly emptied spot provided a clear view all the way to the since-sold land 2 parcels north, where Regency Car Wash holds soapy court:
More Rooms on Main St.
BULLET TRAIN BACKERS: NOT TRYING TO TAKE ANY LAND YET, JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW MUCH WE’D OWE YOU 
Texas Central Railway is seeking approval from the federal Surface Transportation Board to start the ball rolling on eminent domain negotiations on land it would need to take to construct its planned high-speed line between Houston and Dallas, writes Eric Nicholson in the Dallas Observer this week. Granted, it’s not totally clear where all the needed land is yet, as the finalized route has yet to be confirmed or permitted. The company is nonetheless asking the board for permission to get a jump on what it purports is just an administrative aspect of the process: namely, negotiating land values of potentially condemned tracts with landowners. The company argues that this part doesn’t involve actually taking any land, and therefore doesn’t need the railroad agency’s approval. The company is trying to get going on acquisitions “as soon as possible” to meet an investor schedule requiring construction to start next year so service on the line can start in 2021. [Dallas Observer via Houston Press; previously on Swamplot] Map of proposed high-speed rail routes: Texas Central RailwayÂ
- Bellaire Retailers Relocating To Make Way for 2-Story H-E-B [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Baker Katz Buys Foodarama-Anchored Retail Center in Timbergrove at 1805 Ella Boulevard [HBJ]
- Sugar Land To Buy Old Prison Grounds for Training Center, Potential Business Park [Community Impact Newspaper]
- Developer Behind The Sophie Says Houston Has an Untapped Market for Condos [HBJ]
- Lennar Corp. Expands NextGen Home Line Across Houston for Multigenerational Living [HBJ]
- River Oaks’ Briar Club Almost Done with $33M Renovation To Add Clubhouse, Pool, Tennis Courts [Houston Chronicle]
- An Early Look Inside White Oak Music Hall’s Music Hall, Opening Later This Summer [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Outdoor Bar Part & Parcel Being Added to Whitehall Hotel Downtown [HBJ]
- Houston and Dallas Customers Complain State’s ‘Power to Choose’ Electricity Website Is Rigged [Houston Public Media]
- A Recap of the Year Since Metro’s 2 New Purple, Green Rail Lines Opened [Houston Chronicle]
Photo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
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