- 18025 Collingswood Dr. [HAR]
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As advertised by the banner fronting Montrose Blvd., the wine bar and its outdoor drinking area are now open for business. Getting things ready inside the venue took a little longer than it did to set up fencing. After the bottles went up in late August, the front door of the former homeless shelter stayed closed to patrons for a little over a month.
- Previously on Swamplot: Bacco’s Montrose Patio Gets Plastered with Hundreds of Wine Bottles To Celebrate Its TABC Approval; New Designated Drinking Pen Takes Over Old Youth Homeless Shelter Parking Lot on Montrose Blvd.; What’s Behind the Bacco North Braeswood Backup; Sixties Ex-Dry Cleaning Spot To Be Made Over as a Brays-Side Wine Bar
Audubon Place
- WalletHub Ranks Pearland One of the Fastest-Growing Economies in the U.S. [HBJ]
- Houston Mortgage Rates Highest They’ve Been Since April 2011 [Houston Chronicle]
- Trademark Property Co.: New ‘Relevant’ Retail, Restaurant and Service Tenants on Tap for Rice Village [HBJ]
- Owners of Gorgeous Gael Close Rice Village Pub, Planning New Concept in Spring Branch [Eater Houston]
- League City Officials Eyeing Sports Tourism [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- East End Neighborhood Idylwood Hosting Home Tour Saturday in Honor of 90th Anniversary [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Laser Artist Group JD3 Lasers Temporarily Transforms ‘We Love Houston’ Sign [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of “moonGARDEN” at Discovery Green: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Time to break the do-nuts.
- 2414 Greengalde Ln. [HAR]
Drink specials set the stage not only for what Moon Tower Inn billed as a “gluttonous celebration†of its 8-year anniversary 2 weeks ago, they also helped management get rid of all its inventory so that the venue could close down while workers install a new patio in place of its old one. Following 3 days of clearance festivities, the bar ran dry in the afternoon last Sunday — although some “cheap ass†food remained in stock until Friday, August 25, when it finally shut its doors. Now, a Swamplot reader sends the photo at top showing what used to be the Moon Tower’s covered patio transformed into an earthen field. From it, the new heated and cooled outdoor seating area will materialize with help from the equipment pictured above.
It’ll span the yard between the corner of Canal and North Ennis streets and the shipping container that architecture firm Kinetic Design Lab repurposed for the bar’s reopening in 2012:
3004 Canal St.
The former Berger Ironworks complex shown above behind Walmart and across Koehler St. from the new Heights West End apartments now belongs to Best Friends Animal Society, a national nonprofit that keeps homeless creatures alive by diverting them from shelters where they wouldn’t always be as lucky. To that end, the group hosts adoption and awareness events (like the upcoming Strut Your Mutt charity dog walk planned for Stude Park), partners up with non-lethal shelters, and in some cases operates its own facilities — the largest of which is a 20,700-acre sanctuary in southern Utah. (National Geographic ran a 4-season teevee documentary about it called DogTown.)
At 1414 Bonner St., just under an acre and a quarter currently serve as home to a pair of abutting metal-roofed buildings. Making use of the new vernacular, the land’s previous owner Riverway Properties had been calling it Bonner Heights. A rendering released as part of that group’s old listing showed the buildings with a brand-new gap between them and — in a setup that now seems less likely to materialize — retailers inside them:
Meet the Buyers
- Office Investment Sales Activity Down in Houston from This Time Last Year [HBJ ($)]
- Galveston Housing Authority Plans To Build 50 Public Housing Units in Texas City to Replace Those Lost in Ike [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Can Downtown Houston Handle All the New Food Halls Planned Nearby Each Other? [HBJ ($); previously on Swamplot]
- Cajun-Creole Restaurant Called Eunice Opens Today in Greenway Plaza [Eater Houston]
- Tenfold Coffee Coming to Braun Enterprises’ Retail Redo Next to Johnny’s Gold Brick [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- GRB’s Rusk St. Balcony Now Home to 4 Honey Bee Colonies [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of Lyric Market, 411 Smith St.: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Let’s kick the week off by kicking these off:
- 5619 Simsdale St. [HAR]
Today is teardown day at Andrew Schneck’s neighbor’s house, pictured above at 2021 Albans Rd. Schneck, a resident of 2025 Albans, was sentenced to 6 and a half years in prison last month after admitting he tried to blow up the marble statue of Dick Dowling in Hermann Park using homemade explosives he stored in his Southampton house. During the federal raid of his house last year, members of the surrounding neighborhood — including those next door — were evacuated so that FBI and ATF officials could dispose of the “significant amount of material” they found inside through “controlled detonations” — which they warned could potentially cause damage to nearby structures. A blue tent set up on Schneck’s lawn — just off camera to the right — functioned as their staging area.
- Previously on Swamplot: A Southampton Blowup Over the Statue of Dick Dowling in Hermann Park
Photo: Swamplox inbox
Albans Smashup
Our sponsor today: Houston’s own Central Bank. Swamplot appreciates 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.
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Sponsor of the Day
- Site of Former Heights Tortilla Factory To Be Turned into Apartments [HBJ ($)]
- Downtown Americana Building Wraps Up Renovations That Removed 10 Levels of Office Space [HBJ]
- Astrodome Makeover Should Start After Next Year’s RodeoHouston [Houston Chronicle]
- Ronald McDonald House Houston Completes $25M Expansion, Renovation Project [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- City Council Approves Plan To Create ‘Quiet Zones’ for East End Rail Crossings [Houston Chronicle]
- 100-Year Rain Events in Houston Now More Like 25-Year Events, Finds NOAA Study [AP]
- Heights House Touts Gluten-Free Status on For-Sale Sign [Houston Chronicle]
- Gulfton a Case Study on the Challenges in Improving Street Safety [The Urban Edge]
Photo of Memorial City Tower: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Where it all comes apart — unhinged and unglued:
- 24806 Millers Ln. [HAR]
