FORT BEND ISD WON’T BUILD NEW SCHOOL ON TOP OF THE GRAVEYARD IT ACCIDENTALLY DUG UP LAST SUMMER 
“Fort Bend ISD agrees that the Sugar Land 95,” the group of black prisoners whose remains the ISD accidentally unearthed during construction on the James Reese Career and Technical Center on University Blvd. last June, “need to be memorialized at the site of discovery,” the school district’s board president Jason Burdine says in a statement. Accordingly, “The district’s plan to build the portion of the building that is within the cemetery area has been cancelled,” says Burdine, along with legal action the district had been pursuing to relocate the bodies to the nearby Old Imperial Farm Cemetary, an existing 1800s-era graveyard less than a mile away. Activists pushed for the remains to remain in their original spot for months after experts exhumed them and determined they likely belonged to convicts that the State of Texas leased out to work on a local plantation in the 19th century. (One vocal local, Reginald Moore, actually warned the district ahead of time to study the planned construction site before building on it, but to no avail.) Now that the remains are staying put, the ISD is brainstorming with Fort Bend County on how to get them back in the ground. County Judge K.P. George told News 88.7 last week that they’re aiming to redeposit them in the same spot where they’d been buried in the first place, however, there’s still chance they’ll be moved to a location in “close proximity” to their original resting place. [abc13; previously on Swamplot] Rendering of James Reese Career and Technical Center: Fort Bend ISD
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Houston’s roadway overlords have begun eyeballing a proposal to swap out 11th St.’s current 4-lane setup between T.C. Jester and Pecore St. for a 3-lane configuration instead, consisting of one lane in each direction plus a center turning lane. The plan, says the city, would help to calm down residents who’ve been particularly frustrated trying to turn off 11th St. “at key intersections, such as Nicholson Street and Heights Boulevard.” It’d also give walkers and bikers less to look out for on their way across the street. And it paves the way for new landscaped barriers to run between the east and westbound sides of the road, offering pedestrians even more protection from oncoming automobiles.
Got an opinion about it? The city will be all ears at the Heights Fire Station at 12th St. and Yale next Tuesday from 6:30 to 8:30pm. There, officials plan to lay out their case for the changes and field some questions from the audience on the proposal.
- 11th St. [Houston Bike Plan]
The Straight and Narrow
- D.R. Horton Submits Plan for 460-Acre Neighborhood Ventana Lakes East in Katy [HBJ ($)]
- SNAP Clinic on Durham Crowdfunding New HVAC Unit for Section of Building that Houses Furry Surgical Patients [Houston Press; campaign]
- New Midtown Rooftop Bar 77 Degrees Opening Above Jack & Ginger’s March 7th [Eater]
- BBVA Compass Stadium Renovating To Add Goal Post Smoke Effects, Mother’s Rooms for Dynamo Fans [Houston Dynamo]
- Contract-Analysis AI Company ThoughtTrace Moving HQ to Phoenix Tower [HBJ]
- Spring Resident Spending Retirement at the Holiday Inn Because It’s Cheaper — and Has More Perks — Than a Retirement Home [abc13]
- Former Gibbs Boats Building Under Development at 1110 W. Gray Designated a Houston Landmark [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
Photo of Houston Rodeo Trail at 947 Gessner Rd.: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
From a one-stop tire shop to nada, full stop:
- 22918 Haven Field Ct. [HAR]
Here’s the latest roadmap of where the Grand Pkwy. currently exists (in green) and where it plans to go (yellow) as it assumes its full, 184-mile circumference. Construction on segments H and I-1 — which serve Liberty and Chambers counties — has been in progress since last year, although it wasn’t until last week that the federal government decided to chip in for it with a $605 million loan to the public nonprofit that’s behind the highway’s construction (a companion to the $840.6 million loan the feds arranged to fund the first 5 segments of the road). That’ll cover about a third of total $1.9 billion pricetag for the 2 northeastern segments, reports News 88.7’s Gail Delaughter. Construction on them is scheduled to wrap up in 2022.
Down south, work on segments C and B remains in the planning stage — and in the case of segment A, the indefinitely stalled stage. If TxDOT were to consider building that all-but-dead portion of the parkway between State Hwy. 146 to I-45 however, it could begin as far north as Kemah or as far south as Texas City.
- Houston’s Grand Parkway Receives $605 Million Federal Loan For Further Expansion [Houston Public Media]
Map: TxDOT
Rounding Out the Job
WEEKEND CROWDSOURCING EVENT YIELDS HOLOCAUST MUSEUM HOUSTON NEW OLD ARTIFACTS AHEAD OF ITS GRAND REOPENING 
Note: This story previously stated that the museum had accepted artifacts as donations over the weekend. While the museum has agreed to consider certain items further as donations, it has not officially accepted any of them yet.
Owners of Holocaust-era documents, photographs, and other Jewish WWII memorabilia made their way out to Holocaust Museum Houston’s temporary location in a Kirby Dr. office park south of 610 yesterday between noon and 5pm where curators scrutinized their belongings and — in some cases — agreed to consider them further as potential donations. If accepted, the new artifacts would help fill up the museum’s more permanent home at 5401 Caroline St., which is scheduled to reopen in June having more than doubled in size to 57,000 sq.-ft. since last year. At least 2 of its mainstay exhibits are already there: a 25.7-ft.-long German rail car like those used to carry Jews to their deaths during the war and a 37.1-ft Danish fishing boat of the type used to rescue thousands of them in 1943. After being moved over to an adjacent lot in early last year, a crane airlifted the 2 vessels back onto the grounds of the museum in May so that a new portion of the campus they belong to could be built around them as part of the expansion. [Previously on Swamplot] Rendering of museum expansion: Holocaust Museum Houston
- Rhotey Rotisserie Serves Last Chicken Sandwich After 6 Months in Business at 9296 Westheimer [Eater]
- Lockwood Station Landing in Bravery Chef Hall’s Bar ‘Incubator’ [Culturemap]
- Sienna Plantation Adding New 600-Home Neighborhood on 10,800 Acres with Parks for Humans and Dogs [HBJ]
- Oil and Gas Firm EnVen Energy Relocating HQ to 609 Main St. from Three Allen Center [HBJ]
- HomeAid Houston Completes 50th Duplex for Single Mothers, This Time on Gracewood Campus in Spring Branch [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
Photo of Minute Maid Park: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
A double-hitter in Lincoln Heights, plus a boom or two on different parts of Colquitt St.
- 3114 Cypress Point Dr. [HAR]
You’ve probably never noticed it from the bike trail, but at the corner of Nicholson and 12th St. lies a tiny flat-roofed structure that’s been that way for decades. It’s pictured at top from its less-heavily-trafficked side, to the south. That’s where the various shrubbery gives way to a gravel walkway and you can sort of make out an address on the rock to the right of the pergola: 723 W. 12th St.
Step on through the double doors and here’s what greets you, for $750,000:
Beyond the Bamboo Shoots
East Downtown’s self-styled “come-as-you-are beer garden & adult playground” Truck Yard is now taking reservations from parties of up to 20 people who want a spot where they can sing like nobody’s listening. What better location that than inside one of those thick-walled shipping containers piled up near the bar’s entrance? Workers outfitted the inside of a steel box on the left near the entrance off Dallas St. with bench seating, a crop of LPs serving as ceiling decorations, an iPad-controlled sound system, 3 flat screen teevees to display lyrics, 2 microphones, and a whole bunch of foam soundproofing panels sporting photos of Elton John, Freddie Mercury, Elvis, Aretha Franklin and other professional talent, perhaps for inspiration. $25 plus a drink minimum buys you an hour inside.
- Previously on Swamplot: Why All the Food Trucks Vanished from East Downtown’s Truck Yard; An Opening-Night Tour of the New Truck Yard on Lamar St. in East Downtown
Photos: Truck Yard (interior); Gail G. (shipping containers); Marc Longoria (courtyard)
Adaptive Reuse
 Karaoke Lounge... "Pin It")
Today’s Sponsor of the Day: Houston’s own Central Bank. Swamplot appreciates the continuing support!
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- Moody National’s 182-Room Residence Inn by Marriott Now Open Near NRG Stadium at 7807 Kirby Dr. [HBJ]
- After Recent Renovations, 1415 Louisiana Considers Adding Coworking Space [Bisnow]
- New Broadstone Apartment Projects on Chelsea Market Site, Near Memorial Park Start Construction August 1st [HBJ ($); previously on Swamplot]
- Pasadena’s Bay Area Business Park Adding Additional 1.3M SF in Phase 3 of Development [Bisnow]
- New Houston Libraries Should Be Modeled on Palm Center’s Young Library [OffCite; previously on Swamplot]
- Feng Cha Teahouse Opening Second Houston Area Location in Sugar Land’s University Commons [Eater]
- Study Finds 59% of People Whose Homes Were Damaged as a Result of Hurricane Harvey Experience ‘Intrusive Thoughts’ About Storm [Houston Public Media]
- Berlin Considering Barring Landlords Who Own 3K+ Units from Operating in the City [CityLab]
Photo of Hobby Airport: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Renovations are kicking off at La Colombe d’Or as construction on the new Hines highrise looms in the background:
