COMMENT OF THE DAY: INSTIGATING LATITUDINAL PROPRIETY IN HOUSTON’S PALETTE 
” . . . Houston is a colorful town. The skies are usually blue. The live oaks stay green in the winter. Azaleas, wildflowers, oleanders and crepe myrtles color our city throughout the warm months. Our interior design should not be inspired by landscapes that are above the Arctic Circle. Houston is a dynamic, multicultural city. We do not have to snap into line with the latest design fad. We can do better. Please. Just try it. One time. That is all I am asking.” [Old School, commenting on An Early Peek at the Galleria’s New Saks 5th Avenue Space and the Restaurant Inside] Illustration: Lulu
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THE TIPLINE IS STANDING BY Oil pumpjacks popping up around Piney Point? If you’ve got news, or a hint of a story, Swamplot wants to hear about it! Send your tips and photos to Swamplot’s special email address, found here. And while you’re at it, be sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and sign up for our email list.
Today’s Sponsor of the Day is Tom Rusteberg CGI. Thanks for your continued support of Swamplot, Tom!
Are the images above photos or renderings? Here’s a hint: Images and videos created by Tom Rusteberg provide visual representations of what clients are bringing to market before construction is completed.
Tom has performed visualization work for numerous clients in and around the Houston area since 2005. His work is technical, but it’s also intuitive. His renderings come out of thin air, but they’re guided through long lasting relationships with clients who rely on him to provide a visual advantage in the marketplace for their products.
For more information, please visit Tom’s perpetually outdated website.
Swamplot’s Sponsor of the Day program is the perfect way to show potential clients what you can do. Please contact us to find out more about the program.
Sponsor of the Day
CELEBRATING LAURA DAY, AND THE CON THAT MADE THE CITY 
On this day in 1837 — according to Houstorian, Houston’s “loudest preservation group” — the packet steamer Laura shoved its way up Buffalo Bayou through sand bars and tortuous snags to Allen’s Landing in what is now Downtown Houston. The trip proved publicly for the first time that such a voyage was actually possible, though the Allen Brothers had already been promising as much to investors for months in their “highly exaggerated” advertisements of the new town. Houstorian teamed up with the Bayou Preservation Association last night to celebrate the grand con’s success; the now-annual Laura Day event took place this year at Public Services Wine & Whisky, housed in the 1884 Cotton Exchange Building at the corner of Travis and Franklin — just a few blocks west of the Laura’s purported landing site at the foot of Main St. [Houstorian] Historic photo of the steamship Laura: Houstorian
A clearer picture is emerging of Ancorian’s East Village development, headed for 2 blocks along St. Emmanuel St. in East Downtown between Lamar and Polk Sts. A Houston branch of the Swedish Our/Vodka distillery project plans to move in at the corner of Lamar and Hutchins St.; a block of office space in the complex has been claimed by Three Square Design Group, whose past work includes projects for Buffalo Bayou, Fort Bend, and Karbach breweries. On Polk St. at the other end of the development, The Secret Group’s not-so-secret comedy club has been under renovation for some time.
Investor-geared materials on the development also name Dallas’s Truck Yard as a planned occupant — the food-truck friendly beer and cocktail bar currently sells drinks out of an open-air building, an Airstream trailer, and a treehouse at its existing location up north.
Meanwhile, renderings have been released of the Chapman & Kirby gastropub, headed for the warehouse at the corner of Lamar at St. Emanuel St. The building was occupied until the start of this year by Asian-American restaurant supplier Kitchen Depot (which has moved out to a location on Harwin Dr. at S. Gessner Dr. near Beltway 8); the East Downtown space will be renovated and made over per designs by MÄk Studio.
The front of the building is depicted with nearly a dozen new windows or entryways:
Added To The List
- Home Prices, Rents within a 2-Mile Radius of NRG Stadium 29%, 20% Higher Than the Metro Average, Finds Trulia [HBJ]
- How Designers from Gensler Architecture Firm Would Revitalize Houston’s Neglected Structures [Houston Chronicle]
- Bayou Greenways 2020 Project Getting $7.1M Grant from Deepwater Horizon Funds [Culturemap]
- Priceless John Biggers Mural Inside Blue Triangle Multi-Cultural Association’s Third Ward HQ Threatened by Leaky Roof [Houston Chronicle]
- Offers To Help Couples Come in After Gran Palacio Wedding Venue Abruptly Closes [KHOU; more here]
- ‘Brown and Gay’ Discount Sign Outside Logan Farms Honey Glazed Hams Causes ‘Hilarious’ Misunderstanding [KHOU]
- Eastbound I-10 from Heights-Yale to I-45 North Connector Ramp Closed This Weekend for I-45 Bridge Work [Houston Public Media]
Photo of Pennzoil Place: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Well, at least for these select structures.
- 2215 Westgate St. [HAR]
A pile of dirt is heaped up at the northeast corner of N. Braeswood Blvd and the West Loop feeder road this afternoon, next to a sign announcing the upcoming arrival of a Starbucks to the site. The lot held a Citgo station before demolition in mid-2013; a reader notes that construction crews have been poking around at the site for at least the past 3 weeks.
The blocky facade of the Halstead apartment complex can been seen in the background of the above snapshot — down the street to the east, the Halstead and next-door Meritage complex are slowly being joined by a midrise residential development going up at the corner of N. Braeswood and Frankway. East of that is a Proguard Storage facility and the Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Coffee on 610
Raised 5 feet on piers, this 1-story, 4-bedroom single family home lifts potential home owners above the din, as well as the Brays Bayou floodplain. The listing proclaims that the 1959 building did not flood during Memorial Day weekend last year; the house went on the market a few days before Christmas for $975K. A lift is available on the side of the front patio (above) for those disinclined towards stairs:
Above Brays Bayou
We’re pleased to have the renovated 1920 bungalow for sale at 1208 Aurora St. in Sunset Heights be our Sponsor of the Day today. Swamplot appreciates the support!
The recent extensive redo of this 3-bedroom, 2-bath home is a project of Griffin Properties, and was designed by Ellie Busker. The renovation added 800 sq. ft. of living space and a 2-car garage, as well as new electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling systems, windows, roof, appliances, fixtures, fencing, and a bunch of other stuff. Most of the shiplap is still intact.
Downtown is just 10 minutes away; Heights shopping, restaurants, and nightlife about a mile. You can view many more photos of the property and get more info about it on the listing website; find out more about Griffin Properties and its record of area redos on the company website.
If you haven’t had a chance to see it, why not have a peek at an open house this weekend? The bungalow at 1208 Aurora will be open Sunday, January 24th, from 2 to 4 pm.
Swamplot’s Sponsor of the Day program is a terrific way to highlight standout properties. If you’ve got something worth noting, talk to us about becoming a site sponsor.
Sponsor of the Day
The Memorial Branch of Big Tex Tree Nurseries at 10939 Katy Fwy. is closed for good, and its tree-dealings have moved south to the company’s Sugar Land locale for now. The Christmas trees disappeared after the holiday season, and everything else followed suit: “even the port-a-potty,” writes the reader who sent in photos of the now-bare freeway-side lot at Wycliffe and I-10, just outside Beltway 8. A Big Tex employee says the company is planning to open up another Houston location at some point, but for now the other spots in Sugar Land, Conroe, and Spring will have to do.
The lot is shown below post-faux-forest-departure; meanwhile, someone was out marking up the sidewalk with orange paint last week:
Land Cleared on I-10
While you’re waiting for that Galleria redo to wrap up, renderings have been released of the new home of 51Fifteen, the upscale bistro tucked into the existing Saks Fifth Avenue location along with its sister bar Bar 12 (currently located “amidst the men’s fashion selections”). The restaurant will follow Saks 5th Avenue to its new home, landing in its own swanky new space designed by the Contour Interior Design folks. The restaurant’s website is now booking events at the new location for dates as soon as April 2016.
Here’s a rendering from Beck Architecture of the new Saks building’s boxy exterior, slated for the spot where the Galleria III used to be:
51Fifteen at 5115
- University of Texas To Pay About $450M Over Next 30 Years for 300 Acres Near the Med Center [Houston Chronicle, previously on swamplot]
- Medistar, TRC Capital Partners’ 21-Story Med Center Hotel To Feature 357 Rooms, Office Space, Restaurants [HBJ]
- Master-Planned Community Could Rise on 521 Acres Near Daikin Campus [HBJ]
- 5 Houston Communities Make List of Top 21 Best-Selling Communities in the U.S. [Realty News Report]
- Inside the Raven Tower Next Door to White Oak Music Hall [Houston Press; previously on Swamplot]
- Your Pie Pizza Chain Opens First Texas Location on Ground Floor of SkyHouse Apartment Tower Downtown [Houston Chronicle]
- Falling Oil Prices Leading To Drop in Texas Road Funding [The Texas Tribune]
- Downtown’s Preston Street Bridge Now Known as The Robert Mosbacher Bridge [Houston Public Media]
- U.S. 290 Ramps to Sam Houston Tollway Closing for 6 Weeks Starting Friday During U.S. 290 Widening Project [Houston Chronicle]
- South Acres-Crestmont Park the Best, North Shore the Worst for Parking in Houston, According to Trulia and Parknav [HBJ]
- The 10 Worst Houston Suburbs [RoadSnacks via Houston Chronicle]
- The Essential Apps for Living in Houston [Thrillist]
Photo: Jackson Myers via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Not quite reminiscent of the French Renaissance, mais c’est la vie.
