Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
This end will definitely provide a quiet place for something new.
Sign up for the Newsletter
- 2355 Dutton Lane [HAR]
An indiegogo page has just been launched to crowdfund the removal and reuse of an unexpectedly large group of well-preserved 1930s bricks from the now-under-deconstruction Yale St. bridge over White Oak Bayou. The group calling itself Friends of Houston’s Yale Bridge Bricks says the funds will be used to preserve the bricks for reuse both around the bridge and elsewhere around the city.
The fundraising effort shares some organizers with Friends of the Fountain, which launched the late-February campaign to crowdfund the de-restoration and subsequent repair of the Mecom Fountain following its short-lived experiment with limestone couture. That effort raised more than $50,000 toward a $60k goal in one month; Bill Baldwin (of both Friends groups) says it the fountain’s fundraiser received over $100k in total, including offline donations. This latest round of online crowdfunding the preservation of National Register of Historic Places structures is starting the bar higher, with a goal of $100,000 shown on the fundraising page.
- Friends of Houston’s Yale Bridge Bricks [IndieGoGo]
- Previously on Swamplot: Flooding Keeps Yale St. Bridge Open But Closes Hwy. 6 and 290; Yale St. Crossing of White Oak Bayou To Cut Out in 2 Weeks, Reopen in 2018; Private Group Now Trying to Crowdfund the Un-Restoration of the Mecom Fountain’s Basin Wall;
Photo of work on Yale St. Bridge and Memorial Park Mattress Firm: Friends of Houston’s Yale Bridge Bricks
Follow the Yale Brick Road
The front is up on the shipping-container-containing duplex under construction now at 3622 Lehall St. between Tierwester and Scott. The box-based structure is similar to builder Krieger Containers’s first such project (down the street at 3802 Lehall); both buildings consist of 2 separate 2-bed 2-bath units framed around 2 steel containers each. The company claims on its website that the model can beat ‘any general contractor in Houston’ on a cost-per-sq.-ft. basis.
Back in September, company founder and steel box aficionado Sean Krieger spoke with Nancy Sarnoff about plans to built dozens more container houses in the South Union neighborhood over the next few years, aiming to draw students and young professionals. Krieger now tells ABC13 that the project underway at 3622 Lehall has faced abnormal scrutiny from city inspectors and officials, recently including a heated verbal exchange on site with District D councilman Dwight Boykins (who also spoke to ABC13 about the incident after Krieger sent them a recording).
The floorplan above shows the layout of the downstairs unit of completed 3802 Lehall; the bathrooms, bedrooms, and closets fit within the footprint of the shipping containers, which flank a central living space. Here are some shots of the inside, both during and after construction:
Checking All the Boxes
Our sponsor again today is Houston’s own Central Bank. Thank you again 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 Kenny Beard at 832.485.2376 — or check out the bank’s website.
Swamplot readers appreciate businesses that support Swamplot! Lookie here to find out about our Sponsor of the Day program.
Sponsor of the Day
CITY RESPONSES TO UBER THREATS CITE BACKGROUND CHECK CATCHES, DATA UBER SUED TO KEEP PRIVATE 
Mayor Turner held a press conference this week in response to Uber’s current PR push regarding Houston’s licensing requirements on Uber drivers. The rideshare company and ubiquitous favorite ‘[blank] of [industry]’ fill-in is threatening to pull out of Houston over the city’s rule that drivers must pass more stringent (specifically, more fingerprint-requiring) background checks than what Uber internally requires. Turner says the city’s checks have turned up criminal history in applicants already OK’d by Uber’s screening processes, including charges for DWI, assault, and murder. Meanwhile, city administrator Lara Cottingham tells Michael Barajas that Uber’s claims of drivers waiting 4 months for city licenses are exaggerated; the actual normal wait is a few weeks, Cottingham says, but the city can’t release data to support that because Uber sued in 2015 to block open records requests regarding its business practices. “The number of drivers is increasing, their revenue is increasing, everything seems to be working out for them very, very well,†said Cottingham, adding that because of the lawsuit she “can’t tell you how successful they are.” Uber lobbied last legislative season for less-stringent state-level licensing rules that would supercede local regulations. [KHOU, Houston Press; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Houston Uber HQ, 5714 Star Ln.: Uber Houston
- Houston and 4 Other Cities Leading the Way in Urban Innovation [Wall Street Journal]
- Why Houstonians Are Optimistic About the Economy Despite Low Oil Prices [The Urban Edge]
- Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau Wants To Increase Houston Visitors to 20M by 2018 [Houston Chronicle]
- Demolition of San Jacinto Mall in Baytown Begins as Part of Redevelopment Project [HBJ]
- Ikea in Talks To Lease Distribution Space at Cedar Port Industrial Park [HBJ]
- UH Architecture Students Envision New Housing, Amenities for Third and Fifth Wards [University of Houston]
- That Article About a Houston-Based ‘Grand Theft Auto’ is Fake [Houston Chronicle]
- Alligator Displaced by Recent Flooding Caught After Approaching Fort Bend County Porch [abc13]
- National Weather Service Issues Flash Flood Watch for Houston Area This Weekend [Houston Public Media]
Photo of EaDo: Jan Buchholtz via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Sending off April with a bang, crumple, smash.
- 2240 Marina Way [HAR]
What led up to the neighborly lawsuit filed last week over the former Houston Chronicle building’s planned demolition? A pair of letters filed with the county clerk’s office as part of the suit sheds a little light on the back-and-forth between the building’s new owners and their new neighbors. Plaintiff Theater Square, a partnership controlled by construction and development firm Linbeck, is developing the downtown block marked SITE in the map above, immediately across Prairie St. from the former Chronicle property (bought last year by Hines entity Block 58 Investors). Theater Square wants to link its own could-be-a-Class-A-contender block into the Downtown tunnel network (traced above in solid black).
The company sued both Hines and Chronicle owner Hearst News last week to stop the demo, claiming that Hearst gave it property rights to build a new tunnel through the newspaper building’s basement (via the route shown in stripes above along Travis St.) and that the demo (as currently intended) interferes with that plan. Theater Square sent a letter to Hines on April 15th citing news stories about the impending demo and requesting both access to inspect the basement and assurances that the demolition would be carried out in a way that doesn’t harm certain existing structures that the new tunnel’s already-semi-permitted building plans depend on.
Fight For The Right To Tunnel
Preservation Houston’s Good Brick Tour is today’s Sponsor of the Day — and just in time: The tour is this weekend. Thanks for supporting Swamplot!
In 1953, a young architect made a big bang with a new Modern home at 4111 Drummond St. in what is now Braeswood Valley. The next year, the distinctive home designed by Lars Bang was named one of Good Housekeeping magazine’s “Ten Best Small Houses for 1954.â€
63 years later, visitors on Preservation Houston’s Good Brick Tour will see the results of a painstaking restoration that includes period furniture, fixtures, and décor. From the Chevrolet Skyline Deluxe under the carport to the Paul McCobb furnishings in the living room and the Russel Wright place settings on the dining table, the house is a time capsule of mid-century modernism.
Bang’s house is 1 of 5 award-winning preservation projects welcoming visitors from noon to 5 pm on both Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1.
Today is your last chance to buy advance tickets online for $25. Tickets will be available for $30 at any tour location during the weekend. Tickets are valid both days of the tour and provide admission to all locations. You can start at any location and see the projects in any order you choose.
Preservation Houston has recognized all of the properties on the tour with Good Brick Awards for excellence in historic preservation. The other tour locations are:
- 1203 Edwards St., First Ward. A quaint Folk Victorian design (1899) with classic detailing
- 716 Sabine St., Old Sixth Ward Historic District. A rare Carpenter Gothic cottage (1872) and a sympathetic new residence inspired by Texas pioneer homes
- 3229 Groveland Ln., River Oaks. Birdsall P. Briscoe’s finely detailed interpretation of English Regency architecture (1936)
- 3405 Meadow Lake Ln., River Oaks. John Staub’s post–World War II reinvention of his traditional country house (1948)
Additional information about the 2016 Good Brick Tour is available on Preservation Houston’s website.
Do you love Swamplot? Maybe it’s time to show it — with a turn as a Swamplot Sponsor of the Day.
Sponsor of the Day
The original Shepherd-side location of 59 Diner is now up for lease, with teal-and-bubblegum exterior still intact. The whole 59 chain shut down suddenly at the end of February, amid a tangle of formal and informal disputes regarding employee pay. The listing indicates that the 6,000-sq.-ft. building (officially located at 3801 Farnham St.) can be divided, as long as the future tenant wants at least 2,000 ft.
The ex-diner property is next door to the smaller building now housing The Halal Guys, whose red-and-yellow striped canopy is visible on the right in the east-facing photo above. The former carwash reopened as the New-York-food-cart-gone-international-chain’s first Texas location a few weeks before the 59 closures; hundreds of customers lined up outside the tiny venue during the opening weekend rush, some allegedly filling 59’s parking lot while waiting for hours for gyros and chicken.
- 3801 Farnham St. [LoopNet]
- 59 Diner Owner Showed Up to Pay Employees — and It Got Tense [Houston Press]
- Longtime Houston diner shutters remaining locations [HBJ]
- Previously on Swamplot:Â 59 Shake: You Want Fries with That?
Photo: LoopNet
Upper Kirby
Construction fencing is already up around the Cleburne Cafeteria, which burned down for the second time at 3606 Bissonnet St. earlier this week. The 75-year-old cafeteria business was bought by Nick and Pat Mickelis in 1952 at its original location on Cleburne and Fannin streets (which was recently occupied by DiverseWorks for a brief pre-MATCH stint, and currently houses the Zoya Tommy art gallery). The cafeteria moved to the Bissonnet spot in 1969; shortly after Nick Mickelis’s death in 1989, the building burned down for the first time.
Restaurant Re-Reconstruction
- Roughly $5B in Medical Construction and Development Underway in Houston, According to Transwestern [HBJ]
- Woodbranch Investments Corp. Begins Preleasing Downtown’s Amenity-Filled Market Square Tower [HBJ;Â previously on Swamplot]
- Randalls Seeks Variances To Expand 14-Year-Old Midtown Store [Houston Chronicle]
- Dallas Luxury Boutique Forty Five Ten Opening in the River Oaks District This Fall [HBJ]
- A Call To Stop Building Neighborhoods That Cause Other Neighborhoods To Flood [Houston Chronicle]
- Repairs Underway This Week on Houston Roads in the Wake of Last Week’s Flooding [abc13]
- Uber Threatens To Leave Houston if the City’s Ridesharing Regulations Do Not Change [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- Texas A&M University System Board of Regents Grants Approval of A&M’s Campus Carry Policies Kicking in This Fall [Texas Tribune]
- Where Are the Women Architects? [OffCite Blog]
- The Strange Beauty of a Houston Thunderstorm, as Captured by Ray Kuglar in The Woodlands [Houston Press]
Photo of Meyerland: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
If we get rid of one, many more could go in its place.
