A SAMPLER OF 2015’S MOST FOGGY, BEST FORESTED, AND OTHERWISE INTERESTINGLY UNHELPFUL ARCHITECTURAL RENDERINGS Meanwhile, in the digital ether: Designing any building comes with the concurrent challenge of producing appealing and informative renderings of the new project — a feat which not every project manages to achieve. To wrap up the year, the folks over at CityLab have pulled together 2015’s most um, “memorable” renderings. Notable entries include the museum shown entirely obscured by fog, a skyscraper optimistically covered in mature trees, and developments set in blank space and mysterious marshes. [CityLab]
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The tearing down is done — the old parking garage at the Children’s Assessment Center on Bolsover St. in the Rice Village is gone, following the completion of the facility’s new garage (a sliver of which can be seen peeking into the right of the frame in the shot above from Dustan St. along the northern edge of the property). A furtive glance through the back gate of the construction site reveals that the freshly cleared field between the the new garage and the Center’s original 1998 building (on the left) is already being overgrown by forms and thin PVC pipes, sprouting in advance of the 4-story 89,000-sq.-ft. facility expansion that will rise in the newly-vacated gap over the coming months. The Center, which provides free care and services for sexually abused children and their families, put its new garage’s 420-space foot down on the former Village Plaza Shopping Center, kicking the leftover bit of the block to the Frost Bank now fronting Kirby.
The rendering of the completed project from Gensler has taken on more concrete definition since it initially surfaced several years ago:
Down and Up on Kirby
FARM-THEMED PLANNED COMMUNITY RIPENING ALONG THE WESTERN GRAND PARKWAY Hous
ton’s first farm-centric master-planned community is moving forward on the Grand Parkway along Oyster Creek in Richmond, writes Paul Takahashi of the HBJ. The Harvest Green residential community will be structured around working farms and themed accordingly throughout: in addition to opting for a backyard planter (available in L-shaped or rectangular), residents can elect to work a plot in a 5-acre community garden, part of the 300 acres of farmable land that will be associated with the development. Not sure what to do with a backhoe? An on-site farmer will offer classes in both agriculture and nutrition. Those less keen to get their hands in the dirt will be able to visit the farm-to-table restaurant instead — or simply partake of the edible landscaping. Johnson Development has recently opened model homes at the site, and is currently constructing non-model homes as well. [HBJ] Photo: Johnson Development
Yet another fast-casual semi-gourmet upstate taco chain appears to be spreading saucy tendrils into the 610 Loop — Austin-based Tacodeli, which announced intent to expand to Houston and Dallas last year, is now appearing in renderings and marketing plans of Lovett Commercial’s site at 1902 Washington Ave, across the street from upscale cocktail bar Julep and just west of cow-to-table butcher shop and steakhouse B&B Butchers. Tacodeli will be jostling against other taco invaders such as Torchy’s Tacos (also an Austin export), Fuzzy’s Taco’s (a Dallas chain currently working its way down through the north Houston ‘burbs to West Gray and Post Oak), and Velvet Taco (another Dallas chain) in the rush to claim territory in the local tacoscape, already thick with native Hous-Tex-Mex options.
A Lovett site plan for the property also shows a few other developments nestling in around Tacodeli, including a ramen shop, a brewpub, and a high-end barber:
Washington Ave Taco Strategery
- Homebuilders, Apartment Developers Increased Houston’s Housing Supply 9.7% from 2011 to 2014 [Houston Chronicle]
- Dailey Oil Tools Office Project in Conroe NewQuest Crosswell Business Park Sold [Realty News Report]
- More Concessions and Amenities Expected in 2016 To Attract Tenants [HBJ]
- How Mandolin Village Subdivision’s ‘Snake Pit’ Became Its Biggest Attraction [Houston Public Media]
- New Icehouse Eight Row Flint Now Open in Former Citgo Station at Yale and W. 11th [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot]
- Public Art Wanted for Smither Park in Southeast Houston [Houston Public Media]
Photo of Christmas Village at Bayou Bend: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Just a handful of holiday leftovers on the table today.
- 6310 Ravenwood Dr. [HAR]
FLOODING IN SOUTHEAST INDIA WORSENED BY MANMADE ISSUES OTHER THAN JUST CLIMATE CHANGE Meanwhile, in Chennai: An unusually heavy winter monsoon season led to serious flooding in the coastal Indian city earlier this month, costing hundreds of lives, disrupting local infrastructure and economic sectors, and interrupting access to food and water for millions of residents. The city’s plight precipitated discussions during the Paris Climate Conference of how the impacts of extreme weather events may be exacerbated by poor urban planning. The New Delhi-based Indian Express released a short video walking through some of the local planning issues that contributed to the catastrophic flooding — including illegal construction in floodplains or on top of filled-in water bodies, stormwater runoff infrastructure built without crucial topographic data, and valuable projects never executed at all. [Indian Express, Citylab]
A reader snapped a few shots of construction over at 8877 Frankway Dr.: a midrise apartment complex taking shape in a long-vacant strip of land next door to the Houston Orthodontics building and a ProGuard public storage facility, just west of where S. Braeswood jumps across Brays Bayou to become N. Braeswood. The project will fall into a row with the next-door Meritage and freeway-adjacent Halstead apartment complexes to the west, both on N. Braeswood between Frankway and the West Loop. Just east of the Proguard facility is the Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant, which accidentally released nearly 100,000 gallons of raw sewage into Brays Bayou and the surrounding area during this year’s Memorial Day flooding.
A crane is on the scene, and some preformed concrete segments have been trucked in:
Meyer Park
COMMENT OF THE DAY: PRICING OUT TAKEOUT OPTIONS FOR THE HOUSE-SLASH-TAQUERIA ON CAROLINE ST. “I think ‘less is more’,
in that I’d pay more for the house WITHOUT the attached taco stand. Don’t get me wrong — I love me some tacos — but I don’t need a stand attached to my house. That’s taking convenience too far.” [Major Market, commenting on 2-Story Single Family Home with Built-In Taco Stand Now Available in the Museum District] Photo of 4504 Caroline St.: HAR
Too close, too far for tacos
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SIMON SAYS DON’T BRING YOUR GUNS TO THE GALLERIA 
Galleria manager Greg Noble released a statement last week on developer Simon Property’s decision not to allow open carry on Galleria premises: “As a private property owner, Simon will continue to enforce its existing policy of not allowing possession of any weapon on its property whether concealed or displayed openly, other than licensed weapons carried by law enforcement personnel. Once the law goes into effect, any shopper in possession of a weapon will be individually notified of Simon’s existing policy by a member of the security or management team and asked to comply.” Olivia Pulsinelli of the Houston Business Journal also notes that grocery chains H-E-B, Whole Foods, and Randall’s have posted the signage required to refuse open carry; so far, Kroger’s has not. [HBJ, previously on Swamplot] Photo of Nieman Marcus in the Galleria: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Just in time for the holiday season, the residential floors of the Elan Heights midrise apartments (officially located at 825 Usener St.) have been packaged up in a shiny new layer of building wrap. A sign outside the construction site announces an early 2016 opening for the 327-unit complex, nestled in next to Mango Beach snowcone shop and Little Buddy gas station and convenience store on White Oak Dr. (bottom left in the aerial photo below):
Wrapping Up in Woodland Heights
- Miller Road Realty Purchases 80.4 Acres in Northeast Houston Pipe Yards Industrial Corridor on Highway 90 [Realty News Report]
- Horizon Homes Breaks Ground on First Model Home in Affordable Living Community in Northwest Houston [HBJ]
- Fisher Homes Sells Oak Forest Place Apartments Less Than a Year After Purchasing Property [The Leader]
- We’re at a ‘Tipping Point’ for the Galleria Submarket [HBJ]
- Cause of Christmas Day Fire at Southwest Houston Strip Mall Mosque Declared ‘Incendiary’ [Houston Chronicle]
- College Park Cemetery Association Trying To Raise Funds To Turn Montrose Cemetery into Park [Houston Public Media]
- New Minipark in Downtown Galveston First Project in Effort to Add Greenspace to Island [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston Museum of Natural Science To Renovate Wiess Energy Hall [HBJ]
Photo of sunset off I-10 near Houston: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
A quick demolition intermission because of the Thursday and Friday holidays. We’ll be back tomorrow after the City issues more of those cleansing permits.