- 2145 Kipling St. [HAR]
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A row of 5 already-growed-up oak trees took up their new home along the North Blvd. flank of the Wendy’s drive-thru at 5003 Kirby Dr. last weekend, to replace the same number along the public right-of-way that went missing after dark last Halloween on account of they were chopped into pieces by order of the franchise owner. “The new trees at Wendy’s are so big they had to close the road to install them,” writes the reader who sent in these photos. “. . . almost as big as the ones cut down.”
One more tree is still to come — for this spot on Kirby Dr., right in front:
Fast Landscaping
Crews working on the site of the former Village Mobil on the inbound I-10 feeder road at 8819 Katy Fwy. have now covered up part of the former gas station sign with a new hood announcing the Starbucks drive-thru now under construction in its place. But only the top part of the sign. “Will the Hedwig Village Starbucks stick with the ‘by the gallon’ pricing strategy of its predecessor?” asks reader (and Metro board member) Christof Spieler, who snapped this photo.
- Previously on Swamplot: Hedwig Village’s New Freeway-Side Starbucks Drive-Thru Is Coming To Save Your Missed Exit
Photo: Christof Spieler
Regular, Super, or Diesel?
- Houston Has a 38% Chance of Having Lower Home Values in 2 Years, According to Arch Mortgage Insurance Co. [HBJ]
- Fiesta Mart Sold to D.C.-Based Private Equity Investment Firm Acon [Prime Property]
- ClubCorp Completes First Phase of $8M Renovation of The Woodlands Country Club [Prime Property]
- Texas City Restaurant The Reef Seafood House Listed on LoopNet for $975KÂ [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- First Phase of Tomball Tollway Averaging 33,000 Transactions a Day 2 Weeks After Opening [The Highwayman]
- City Council Approves $5.6M Contract To Fix 600 Potholes Around Houston [Click2Houston]
- Uber Files Suit Against City of Houston To Block Release of Public Records That Would Reveal How It Operates in Texas [Huffington Post]
- CultureMap To Take Over Stands Formerly Occupied By Hudson News, Others at Hobby, IAHÂ [HBJ]
- Some Advice on How To Turn the Pierce Elevated into a Pierce Skypark from People with Actual Experience in That Sort of Thing [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Exactly Zero Fans Attend Bizarre Orioles–White Sox Game at Camden Yards in Baltimore [LA Times]
Photo of Buffalo Bayou: Swamplot inbox
Headlines
The asking price for the Heights Theater on bustling 19th St. in Houston Heights in today’s live-or-work listing is $1.9 million. The owners last toe-tested the reel deal in 2008, at $1.3 million. In the interim, surrounding neighborhoods have tipped even more hip. Though the future of the historic (but not protected) property is up for grabs, its past scrolls like an old film roll, with scenes of early prosperity, seedy decline, suspected arson, and restoration.
The exterior’s revamp earned the current owners a Good Brick Award 20-ish years ago. The interior, a shell space since its near destruction by fire in 1969, has been used for live theater, retail, events, and galleries. In the former lobby’s crossroads sits an original projector (top), a sculpture standing as both a testament and witness to passing eras.
Film House for Sale
THE SHOCKING REASON WHY SUPERMAN, BATMAN, AND THE FLASH WERE WASHING WINDOWS AT THE HOTEL DEREK TODAY No movie to promote. No pay squabble to publicize. No pediatric cancer patients to visit. Just: ’cuz. After a SkyEye HD copter spotted superheroes on the roof around lunchtime today, abc13 investigators called the Hotel Derek on Westheimer at the West Loop to get the marketing message. But none was available: “A hotel spokesperson says a standard window cleaning was scheduled, and guests and passersby just got a little something extra, courtesy of the window washers, who apparently took it upon themselves to show up for work in costume.” [abc13]
- 6423 Pineshade Ln. [HAR]
A lowslung brick 1965 building in the warehouse district in the northwest quadrant of the Inner Loop west of Timbergrove Manor and Lazybrook scored landmark status from the city today, marking the first such designation for an industrial, Modern, and suburban (well, at least used-to-be suburban) structure. NuSmile, a company that manufactures pediatric dental crowns, bought the former American Brakeshoe Company building in 2011 and then renovated it, adding a taller 6,140-sq.-ft. metal-wrapped extension to the back of the 8,584-sq.-ft. structure in 2013 and winning a Good Brick Award from Preservation Houston in the process. A report the company submitted with the application notes that “no records of an architect, contractor, or developer have been found” for the original building. Among the former tenants of the property at 3315 W. 12th St.: Smith Industries, TelTex, and TD Rowe Amusements.
Photo: SWCA
NuSmile on Building
It’s a grand view of Upper Galveston Bay from a lattice-wrapped century-old Victorian home in Grandview. The bayfront stretch of Morgan’s Point in La Porte was an early 20th Century enclave of upper-crust summer residences. The 1896 home sits near the water end of the lot, which is nearly an acre; 1886 quarters anchor the gated entry off the lone roadway serving a string of shoreline-hugging properties, which includes the 1928 Ross Sterling mansion and its mega-sized, treeless lot. This property, however, has plenty of plantings. County tax records indicate the spread has been in the same family since at least the early (19)80s. The asking price for the listing, which went up earlier this month, is $1.2 million.Â
Lattice Wrap
We must rid ourselves of distractions, for the interfere with what is truly important.
- Hines Developing 1M-SF Beltway Southwest Business Park This Summer at Beltway 8 and Fort Bend Toll Rd. [Realty News Report]
- ‘Vintage Texas-Style’ 70K-SF Office and Retail Park Vintage Creek Under Construction in Spring at 23901 Gosling Rd. [Houston Chronicle]
- Condo Towers Astoria and Belfiore Going Up in the Galleria Area Each Only Have 1 Unit Left, Developers Say [HBJ]
- Ed Emmett Visiting Zeppelin Hangar Turned Caribbean Resort Outside Berlin Next Week for Some Astrodome Inspiration [Houston Public Media]
- Houston Tourism Board Unveils Its ‘Boldest Bid Ever’ for Drawing Visitors [Houston Chronicle]
- Sushi Restaurant Oka Opening in Old Osteria Mazzantini Spot in BBVA Compass Building By July or August [HBJ]
- Washington Ave’s B&B Butchers Retail Butcher Opening May 13, Steakhouse To Follow May 21 [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot]
- What 51fifteen Restaurant and Lounge Will Look Like Once It Opens Inside Saks Fifth Avenue at the Galleria in April 2016 [HBJ]
- City Considering Contracts To Fix Potholes with Concrete Panel Replacements [Houston Chronicle]
- Galveston Island State Park To Get $10.7M for Upgrades from BP Restoration Fund [Galveston County Daily News]
Photo of Buffalo Bayou Downtown: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
- 5167 Kingfisher Dr. [HAR]
CUPCAKE ATM IS REALLY COMING TO HIGHLAND VILLAGE THIS TIME, SPRINKLES PROMISES 
If news that Sprinkles plans to bring a Cupcake ATM to Houston sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Today’s announcement marks the third time in 3 years that the California chain has declared that its lone Houston location — in Highland Village, snuggled up next to the Apple Store — would soon have one of the company’s signature baked-goods vending machines installed for all-hours use. Houston was to receive the second-ever such machine, after the Beverly Hills pilot (pictured here), in the summer of 2012. A second announcement the following year earmarked Houston for the fourth-ever Cupcake ATM that October (by then Chicago and Dallas stores had received theirs), after a holdup caused by “design issues.” Now Sprinkles is promising Houston the ninth Cupcake ATM in the country, opening this June 11th. It’ll be installed on the back side of the building at 4014 Westheimer, facing the parking lot. Inside, Sprinkles will be expanding its offerings to include cookies, ice cream, and attendant shakes, malts, and floats. Frequent Highland Village shopping center cupcakers will want to mark May 12 through 19th on their calendars — though perhaps only in pencil. That’s when the store is scheduled to be shut down for the installation of dipping cabinets along the back counter and cookie trays in its cupcake display area, as well as the exterior vending station. [Sprinkles Houston] Photo: Sprinkles
Crews are gutting the innards of the Kirby Court Apartments on Steel St. just west of Kirby, a reader tells Swamplot. Dumpsters are on the scene, chain-link fences are up, and trash is being thrown out of the backs of the 2-story townhouse-style garden apartment buildings; to our source it appears that asbestos abatement may be in progress.
Steel Waiting
