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sueba-1300-n.post-oak-site

1300-n-post-oak-sueba-signcloseup Here is a close-up view of an upcoming apartment complex that eastbound Hwy. 290 travelers might see to the west as they enjoy that new short-cut to I-10. Sueba Development’s Residences at North Post Oak is going up at 1300 N. Post Oak Rd. a little north of Awty International School and a smidge south of the Hempstead Hwy. and the creaky remnants of Northwest Mall. This project is almost catty-corner to another Sueba development — the North Post Oak Lofts, at 1255 N. Post Oak, tucked away behind Prince’s Diner.

A two-story office building and warehouse complex was demolished in 2012 to make way for the project.

Spring Branch East Redo

77055, Apartments, Spring Branch East

Comments

11/19/14 2:00pm

Comment of the Day: How To Grow the City Money on Trees

9 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW TO GROW THE CITY MONEY ON TREES Money Growing on Tree “Hedge funds would blush at these returns. What did it cost the city to plant these suckers? $1k at most . . . And they got $50k apiece for them? Now Iâ€™m not saying we should celebrate the loss of these trees, but I hope right now some keen eager young city arborist is planning some oak plantings along the most outrage-worthy corridors in Houston, where they will best rankle the franchises of the future. How old does a tree have to be to elicit outrage? Maybe 20 years? At an eye-popping 22% IRR, perhaps some strategic tree-driven investments can make future union pension negotiations a bit easier . . .” [Sebastian Good, commenting on City Nets $300K Settlement for Late-Night Kirby Dr. Wendyâ€™s Oak-Axing Incident] Illustration: Lulu

Comments, Streetscapes, Trees

11/19/14 1:00pm

The Next Big Event Planned for the Astrodome Will Be a Wash

5 Comments

THE NEXT BIG EVENT PLANNED FOR THE ASTRODOME WILL BE A WASH Pressure Washers from Green Team Services, Houston When was the last time anyone bothered to clean the exterior of the Astrodome? Long enough ago to merit media coverage for word that the Dome’s caretakers have now decided to do something about the building’s growing exterior grunge.Â The Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation, having presided for 15 years over the former sports stadium’s steady decay, is about to embark on its first notable Dome maintenance operation since firefighters used fans to blow smoke out of the building in the aftermath of a 2011 transformer fire in the vacant facility. With approval from the Texas Historical Commission, reports Fox 26’s Mark Berman, the agency will award local building restoration and pressure-washing practitioners Green Team Services $63,800 to clean the outside of the structure. [My Fox Houston;Â previously on Swamplot] Photo: Green Team Services

77054, Astrodome, Historic Preservation, Houston Landmarks, Maintenance, Reliant Park

11/19/14 12:00pm

Days After $300K Treecutting Settlement, Workers Are Back on the Job at the Kirby Dr. Wendy’s

9 Comments

DAYS AFTER $300K TREECUTTING SETTLEMENT, WORKERS ARE BACK ON THE JOB AT THE KIRBY DR. WENDY’S Workers at Wendy's Restaurant, 5003 Kirby Dr., Upper Kirby, Houston The snapper of this story-in-an-image pic taken of the construction site at 5003 Kirby Dr. tells Swamplot that construction crews went back to work on the stalled renovation of the Wendy’s Tuesday morning. Last Friday Mohammed A. Dhanani and HAZA Foods, the franchise owner,Â agreed to pay the city of Houston $300,000 for the 6 oak trees removed late last month from the city right-of-way in front of the fast-food franchise along Kirby and North Blvd. AÂ permitting logjam had halted work on the ongoing renovationsÂ after city officials learned of the street-tree chop-downs.Â What’s the worker’s gesture in the pic supposed to mean? “I think it was a ‘right on’ fist pump,” reports the photographer. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplot inbox

77098, Fast Food, Renovations, Restaurants, Trees, Upper Kirby

11/19/14 10:45am

Here’s James Harden and a TV Commercial Crew Showing What Montrose’s Siphon Coffee Looks Like as a Pizza Joint

5 Comments

Minus the crew of bearded lookalikes with whom he toured the Galleria earlier this year, Houston Rockets guardÂ James Harden shows off a pizzeria-ized Siphon Coffee in this just-released ad spot for Foot Locker. The coffee shop at 701 W. Alabama St., which normally features no boxed items on its menu, was transformed into a pizza spot for a day-long shoot on November 9th.

Rocket Redo

77006, Cafes, Montrose, Restaurants, TV-Commercials

Daily Demolition Report

11/19/14 9:30am

Daily Demolition Report: Kilgore Out

1 Comment

No photos today. But try to focus, and maybe you’ll be able to picture all the destruction and mayhem in your mind’s eye.

Daily Demolition Report, Demolitions

Headlines

11/19/14 8:30am

The Tax Break That Boosts Traffic; Why New Homes Burn 8 Times Faster

by Meredith Deliso

18 Comments

JFK Blvd. at Rankin Rd.

Stream Realty Partners and DRA Advisors Partnership Buy 20-Story 600 Jefferson Office Tower Downtown [Realty News Report]
H-E-B Planning 57K-SF Texas City Store, Spurred by a $1.4M Enticement [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
Section of LaCenterra at Cinco Ranch with Trader Joe’s Lands First Office Tenants [Prime Property]
La Fisheria Planning To Open New Location in the Woodlands in April 2015 [Food Chronicles]
Hubbell & Hudson Bistro in The Woodlands To Reopen December 1 With More Than Double the Space [Food Chronicles]
Mystery Bar Opening in Former Bronx Bar Location at Washington Ave and Fowler [Eater Houston]
Amid Criticism the East End Is Losing Its Latino Culture, Greater East End Management District Counts the Ways It Encourages Community FeedbackÂ [Houston Public Media]
Sneak Peek at the Verizon Destination Store Opening November 24 at Blvd PlaceÂ [Houston Business Journal]
Petroleum Club Auction Raked in $262K Through Sale of Chandeliers, Chesterfield Sofas, Old Pool Table, More [Houston Chronicle ($)]
Woodlands Township Leaders Campaign To Have I-45 Corridor Reconsidered for High-Speed Rail [Houston Chronicle ($)]
Federal Tax Break for Employee Parking Puts 820K More Cars on the Country’s Most Congested Urban Freeways, Finds Study [Houston Public Media]
Senate Narrowly Fails To Pass Legislation To Authorize the Keystone XL Pipeline with 59-41 VoteÂ [Fuel Fix]
Opinion: Charter Schools Creating Campuses for Far Less Money Than Local School DistrictsÂ [Houston Chronicle]
Fire Destroys Facility Meant To Serve Mentally Ill and Homeless Under Construction in SunnysideÂ [Houston Chronicle; more here]
Modern Homes Burn 8 Times Faster Than Older Homes, Finds Underwriters Laboratories [Click2Houston]
How Uber and Lyft Will Operate at Houston’s Airports [Houston Business Journal]

Photo of Radiant Fountains, JFK Blvd. at Rankin Rd.: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines

11/18/14 3:15pm

Here’s the Richmond Ave Bungalow Where Celebrity Chef Wendell Price Hopes To Reboot His Career

8 Comments

511-richmond-rustic-oak500

Wendell Price has been a Food Network star and a partner with Olympic legend Carl Lewis at Houston’s Cafe Noir. He hasÂ catered Hollywood sets, cooked for the likes of Larry Flynt and O.J. Simpson, and served as executive chef in a restaurant co-owned by Denzel Washington. More recently, after his 2012 conviction on tax-related crimes,Â Price was an inmate in a Memphis jail. And now Price is back in his hometown, trying to get his career back on track via Rustic Oak, a restaurant slated to open at 511 Richmond Ave in January. Rustic Oak is taking root in a restored Montrose home near Spur 527; Price tells Culturemap’s Eric Sandler he “prayed for a unique spot instead of a strip center,”Â — and lo, there appeared this bungalow, right next door to the Brooklyn Athletic Club and directly across Richmond Ave. from the Post 510 apartments.

Comebacks

77006, Montrose, Restaurants

11/18/14 2:15pm

Inside a Skylit Rancher in Woodside That’s Wanting $495K

by CALwords

4 Comments

9008-latma-01

9008-latma-02

A cul-de-sac inÂ Woodside is exhibiting some fall colorÂ — in the golden tones of a 1955 Ranch homeÂ updated a decade ago. Or maybe that golden glow is from the skylights found in many of the rooms. Groomed ivy (appearing to end at the ivy clipper’s shoulder height) adds texture to the painted brick exterior, which is slightly recessed beneath the roof’s overhang. The home faces east on one of 6 lots fanning ’round Latma Ct., which is located off Latma Dr., a main street sloping diagonally through the neighborhood found east of Stella Link Rd. halfway between S. Braeswood Blvd. and the South Loop. In its listing a few days ago, the property-with-pool attached a $495K price tag and a very basic description. Is the midcentury property ripe for remuddling?

With Red Stripes

77025, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Swimming Pools, Woodside

Homes for Sale

11/18/14 1:15pm

Pearland Home Listing Photo of the Day: Best Dishes for the Season

by CALwords

1 Comment

2985 Creek Falls Ct., Pearland, Texas

2985 Creek Falls Ct. [HAR]

77581, Creekside, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Pearland

Attractions

11/18/14 11:45am

Decorate Your Eclectic Home Compound with These Leftovers from the Houston International Festival

3 Comments

Auction Items from Houston International Festival

Auction Items from Houston International Festival Complete the grounds of your Jamaica Beach canal-side palazzo with an actual-ishÂ Venetian gondola! Bond with the family in the back yard while reconstructing a long-dismantled mockup of one of Ethiopia’s famed rock churches,Â the Great Wall of China, or the Sydney Opera House!Â (See photos above.) Restore a toppledÂ statue of a Thanksgiving turkey in pilgrim attireÂ to its former pride,Â and watch the neighbors turn green with envy when your work crew trundles it out to the front yard every November. Or add seriousÂ gravitas to your estate gateway through the addition of a giant clenched fistÂ (theÂ iFist?; pictured at right) or mini-obelisk!

All these items and more from the now-ended 27-year run of the Houston International Festival willÂ hit the auction block at 9 am this Saturday in a warehouse at 3811 Clinton Dr.

Here areÂ more pics of some of the choicest lots. Everything must go!

Auction

Auctions, Home Decor

Bars and Clubs

11/18/14 10:45am

Sunset Heights Wine Bar The Boom Boom Room Will Close Forever This Friday