10/29/18 12:00pm

Swamplot Sponsor: The Damnation Series

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Today’s Sponsor of the Day is Dead Indian Wars, the sequel to Clark Casey’s breakout paranormal western novel Dawn in Damnation.

The up-and-coming neighborhood of Damnation, located somewhere in the afterlife just short of Hell, has been left in shambles after a werewolf attack. A growing population of recently deceased Native Americans, displaced by wars back on Earth, have been swooping up undervalued property on the plains outside of town. Business is booming downtown where a new saloon caters to crowds of dead soldiers looking for their own fixer-uppers to call home. Alas, a food shortage at local eateries and the arrival of a second vampire might be enough to burst this housing bubble once and for all.

All just in time for Halloween! Dead Indian Wars and Dawn in Damnation are both available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle formats.

Sponsor of the Day
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Featured Posts
10/29/18 10:30am

Taco Bell #9535 Is Done Taking Orders

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Here’s what the restaurant just west of the Meyer Park Shopping Center looks like in its afterlife. Signage came down the same day that the store closed, last Wednesday. It’s now listed for lease by the franchisee that owns the land at 4904 W. Bellfort as well as that beneath about 70 other Taco Bells, KFCs, and Pizza Huts in and around Houston: KorMex Foods.

KorMex grabbed this location along with 15 other existing stores when it went into business in 2000. By then, the building itself had been around for 7 years.

Photo: Jason Karwacki

W. Bellfort and S. Post Oak
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Headlines
10/29/18 8:30am

Presidio’s Weekend Flameout; New MFAH Conservation Center Complete; Free-Swim Zone Floated for the Texas City Mega-Lagoon

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Photo of container home under construction on McGowen St. between Hutchins and St. Emanuel streets: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
Downtown
10/26/18 5:15pm

Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza Renovations No Longer Just Rhetorical

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Note: This story has been updated to indicate that City Council’s October 23 vote approved funding for previous work that was already completed on the plaza, not for future renovations.

This week Houston City Council voted to cut a check to workers that finished the first round of renovations on the plaza. The results of their work  — including new fencing, gates, and a terrace — clear the way for the second chapter of redos to begin. The video at top winds it way through round 2 of changes, showing off the new children’s reading area, stage, and outdoor seating bound for the 0.75-acre space between the Jesse H. Jones Building (AKA Central Library) and the Julia Ideson building directly east of it.

While 25-year naming rights are already locked down on the Phillips 66 Jumbo Video Screen (on the right in the rendering abvoe) and Janice and Robert C. McNair Performance Stage (left), the puppet theater depicted below is still in need of a namesake:

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Downtown Redo
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Boulevard Oaks
10/26/18 4:15pm

Comment of the Day: Minchen House Looks Good Under the Hood

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COMMENT OF THE DAY: MINCHEN HOUSE LOOKS GOOD UNDER THE HOOD “Part of the house is pier and beam and part has a basement — some of the vents visible are actually basement windows. Both the pier and beam and the basement portions of the foundation are totally solid.” [Jim, commenting on An 87-Year-Old North Blvd. House with as Many Awards as Its Owner] Photo of 1753 North Blvd., recently listed for sale: Ed Uthman [license]

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Featured Posts
10/26/18 3:00pm

Man-Made Lagoon Experts’ Second Houston Swimming Hole: 12-Acres Big, 10-Ft. Deep

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MAN-MADE LAGOON EXPERTS’ SECOND HOUSTON SWIMMING HOLE: 12-ACRES BIG, 10-FT. DEEP Developer Land Tejas announced it’ll be deploying another artificial lagoon in Houston on top of the 2-acre one it’s already filling up with water near Summerwood. Technology for both of them comes from Dallas-based firm Crystal Lagoons whose patented, beach-fronted swimming holes function “year-round, even in cold climates” —- reports BusinessWire — “in which they can be frozen and used for winter sports such as ice skating and hockey.” Crystal Lagoons’ biggest one so far, a 23.8-acre body of water at the Citystars Sharm El Sheikh resort in Egypt is the current Guinness-World-Record-holder for “largest man-made lagoon.” But not for long: the firm’s got a 90-acre one in the works for Dubai. At Land Tejas’ 4,000-home community in Texas City — dubbed Lago Mar — the planned 12-acre Crystal Lagoon lagoon will be surrounded by a “70-acre resort-style compound,” reports the HBJ’s Fauzeya Rahman, including boardwalks, a hotel, restaurants, and retail. [HBJ] Map showing proposed resort component of Land Tejas’ Lago Mar development: Land Tejas

Featured Posts
10/26/18 1:15pm

Parking Lot Carnival Still a Mainstay at Greenspoint Mall Despite the State of Things Inside

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What better way to make use of all those empty parking spots than with an good old fashioned carnival like this one? It’s been a tradition at Greenspoint Mall going back decades now to plant a few attractions outside the building once the weather cools off enough for visitors to enjoy themselves. And management’s kept doing it — even as Macy’s, Dillards, and Sears all shuttered inside over the past few years and portions of the building and surrounding parking lot have sold to investors with heavy-duty plans for redevelopment. The attractions shown above are all sprawled out on the I-45 side of the building, where they cover up the “For Lease” banner that’s otherwise visible to passing northbound traffic.

There’s even a Ferris wheel:

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Roadside Attractions
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10/26/18 12:00pm

Swamplot Sponsor: Central Bank

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Swamplot is brought to you today by Houston’s own Central Bank. We appreciate the continuing 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; or Carlos Alvarez, at 832.485.2372. You can also find out more on the bank’s website.

Sponsors make the Swamplot go ’round! Become a Sponsor of the Day.

Sponsor of the Day
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Downtown
10/26/18 10:30am

The Case Against the Houston Forensic Science Center’s Shared Office Setup

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THE CASE AGAINST THE HOUSTON FORENSIC SCIENCE CENTER’S SHARED OFFICE SETUP Last month, leaders of the Center told Houston City Council their 200-plus person staff just isn’t fitting in at HPD’s downtown offices in 1200 Travis, pictured above. For one thing: “Technicians test guns by firing live ammunition on the 24th floor,” which neighbors offices above and below, reports the Chronicle‘s Zach Despart. They also “transport evidence upstairs in public elevators.” Although “shortcomings in the Houston Police Department’s own crime lab” were what prompted the city to found the Center as an independent body in 2014, the agencies’ ongoing closeness tends to raise eyebrows: “You walk into HPD’s headquarters on the way to the laboratory,” says Center president Peter Stout. The good news: their proximity is only temporary. Earlier this month, City Council approved a new 30-year lease for the Center at 500 Jefferson — a privately-owned building 9 blocks away — where it’ll get 83,000 sq.-ft. for “toxicology, DNA testing, fingerprint analysis and narcotics storage,” as well as a 25-ft. firing range in the basement, reports Jasper Scherer. [Houston Chronicle] Photo of 1200 Travis St.: WhisperToMe

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Headlines
10/26/18 8:30am

Ranking Houston’s Pricey Rentals; Bellaire Food Street Picks Up Popsicle Vendor; Jersey Village’s New Office-Park Brewery

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Photo of Conservatory food hall, 1010 Prairie St., Downtown: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
Featured Posts
10/25/18 3:30pm

Your Next Best Bets for Houston’s Most Historic Car Dealership Building Once 1621 Milam Gets Demolished

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With the former Shelor Motor Company building at 1621 Milam St. all but doomed to meet the wrecking ball, historian Stephen Fox digs through some old Chronicle clips to remind us that there’s still a few other old car dealerships lurking down south in Midtown. Sure, they may not be as pedigreed as the ill-fated building to the north, but get this: One of them still sells cars! It’s Midtown Cadillac at the corner of Main and McGowen streets, shown at top. Architect Harvin C. Moore — the brains behind more than 84 homes in River Oaks, as well as Rice University’s chapel — designed it for Sam White Oldsmobile (pictured above), which opened inside in the early 1950s, according to Fox. Sam White and its successor Rice-Menger occupied the building until 1985. It’s been a Cadillac dealership since Don Massey took it over in 1999, followed by Stewart and then Central in 2012.

Catty corner to it, Midtown seafood spot REEF was originally a dealership, too. Built in 1952, the building opened as Smith Chevrolet Co.:

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Inner-Loop Auto Lore
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Comments
10/25/18 2:15pm

Comment of the Day: Parsley Studios’ Bike Lab Redo Comes Full Circle

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COMMENT OF THE DAY: PARSLEY STUDIOS’ BIKE LAB REDO COMES FULL CIRCLE “Blue Line Bike Lab’s owners are brothers Fred and David Zapalac whose mother Patti Moore Zapalac graduated from Reagan High School in 1966 — actually had senior pictures taken at Parsley Photography!” [Patti Zapalac, commenting on Blue Like Lab Now Has Parsley Studios’ Former Yale St. Building Color-Coded] Photo of former Parsley Studios, soon-to-be Blue Line Bike Lab: Swamplox inbox

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