Is there more change coming to lower Richmond?
The former Shell station and grocery at 1810 Richmond Ave known until recently (formally) known as Richwood Market and (informally) as “Freaky Foods” is boarded up and graffiti-tagged:
Photo of 5311 Maple: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Here they are, straight from your submissions: the official nominees in the first category of the seventh annual Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. That, of course, is Favorite Houston Design Cliché. Thanks to all of you who contributed! These awards wouldn’t happen without you.
If you’ve voted in the Swampies before, please note we’re making a slight tweak to our voting rules this year. You can still vote up to 4 times in this category by 1) leaving a comment below this post; 2) sending us an email; or by expressing your preference on 3) Twitter or 4) Facebook. This year, however — to encourage signups — we’ll only be counting votes submitted through the first 2 methods from voters who’ve signed up for the Swamplot email list. (If you haven’t done so already, you can through this link or the box at the top left of this page). Make sure your vote counts by reading and following our voting instructions.
Just as important as the votes you cast, though, are the explanations you provide with them. Tell us why you’re voting for who you’re voting for! What you write may sway other readers to vote as you did. And if your candidate wins or comes in second place, your clever comments might be included in our round-up post.
Here, then are the 2014 nominees for favorite Houston design cliché:
Here is the lot plan for University Grove, a 39-lot single-family development to go in at the corner of Leeland St. and Cullen Blvd., across the Gulf Freeway from UH, just across the street from Mandola’s Deli, right behind the Polk St. Kroger and hard by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railway line.
Landowner Leeland Baking Company, Inc. is listed as a subsidiary of Flowers Foods Inc., the Thomasville, GA-based mega-bakery behind such brands as Nature’s Own, Whitewheat, Wonder Bread, Cobblestone Mill, and Tastykake.
“We went there the very last night they were open and ended up on the TV news,” remembers reader Laura Friedl Jones of the 24-hour Shipley Coffee Shop and Grill that stood for years at the corner of W. Gray St. and Dunlavy St., where the Office Max above squats today.
While you could pick up a dozen glazed there, the fare at this Shipley ranged far afield of the norm for the homegrown chain:
Previously remodeled and recently tidied, a Norhill cottage is attempting a flip with a twist — and a big finish. Having last sold in mid-October, for $416,000 after a $369,900 listing, the 1928 property popped up again over the weekend with an asking price more than $200K higher: $640,000. Could the price escalation be an example of how frighteningly frothy the local housing market has become, a reader asks? See if you can spot the updates . . .
This year’s Swampies are starting to take shape. Nominations closed at midnight last night for the first 2 of the 7 categories in this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate: Favorite Houston Design Cliché and Best Demolition. Later today, we’ll kick off the voting when we announce the official nominees for the first of those categories. Then, throughout the rest of this week and next, we’ll work our way through the remaining categories in order, announcing the official nominees and opening the voting for each.
But your chance to make nominations hasn’t ended entirely. For the categories that still have nominations open, we still need your help. Peruse the suggestions posted in the comments sections of the 5 remaining categories (all the categories are listed here). If you find anything missing, please add your nominations. If you think you can improve on any of the explanations already submitted, do that, too. If you see a nomination without any explanation at all, fix that and add a good one. Got photos of any of the nominees? Send them our way!
The deadline for nominations in the next 2 categories — Best Body of Water and Best Mobile Food Vendor Location — is midnight tonight.
An excavator yesterday was hard at work scraping the 3300 block of the west side of Kirby clean.
Bounded by West Main St. and Colquitt St. and Lake St. to the rear, this block was long the site of a Settegast-Kopf funeral home, but like that seemingly straitlaced great-aunt with the closet full of empty gin bottles, the staid mortuary and adjacent buildings descended into drink, spending their final years as taverns Roak, Hendricks Pub, and the OTC Patio Bar.
Here’s what the Kirby frontage looked like in both its sober and lush incarnations:
We’ll have these properties suited up in their new gone clothes in a jiffy:
Photo of Stude Park: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
A reader sends in a pic of this variance request sign and vacant lot, possibly heralding the advent of another apartment complex in the Brunner Addition block bounded by N. Durham Dr. and Sandman St. and Center St. and Nett St., in the immediate environs of Soma Sushi, Bethel Church, Woodrow’s Heights and the Esperanza School.
Proposed land use? Mixed-use, multifamily and commercial.
All 7 categories in the 2014 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate have now been announced and opened for nominations. But the Swampies have only just gotten started.
Readers have submitted some stellar nominations so far, but if you think anything’s missing that simply must be included, please add your nomination now. If you like a nomination that’s already been made but think you can beef up or add an explanation to better help it land on the ballot, go right ahead. (Here’s a hint: Nominees that are mentioned, but that don’t come with any explanation or reasons for the choice aren’t particularly likely to end up on a final ballot.) If you have photos of any of the nominees, send those in, too.
But don’t wait too long! Tonight at midnight, nominations will close for the first 2 award categories: Favorite Houston Design Cliché and Best Demolition. We’ll close nominations Thursday night for the next 2 categories: Best Body of Water and Best Mobile Food Vendor Location, then finish off the rest of the nominations next week for the remaining categories. Tomorrow, we’ll announce the official slate of nominees for the first award category and open it for voting. And then continue on from there.
Add your nominations to the comments section below the post that announces each category, or send them to us in an email. Who are the top contenders in Houston real estate this year? You tell us.
