AL RETZLOFF’S CARD ROOM WILL RAISE YOU ONE 
First there’s the 5-ton A/C unit, installed so that guests of the late chemical executive and Indy car sponsor “could open the floor-to-ceiling doors facing the number 13 ladies tee box” at the neighboring Houston Country Club “while staying cool,” says the current owner of 302 Shadywood Rd., who’s now listing it for sale. The opposite wall, however, made it harder to get through to Retzloff and his pals: Windowless and 10-in. thick, it served “as a security feature against drive-by shootings.” Up top, “The TV came out of the ceiling using a 3/4 horsepower motor.” And on the roof directly above was a full-service helipad — but not for long: “The neighbors and the HOA shut it down due to the noise.” [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: HAR
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A Chronicle article dug up by the group proposing to renovate 612 Live Oak St. into a coworking space called Brass Tacks reveals that the 4,750-sq.-ft. building — 2 blocks from BBVA Compass Stadium — was originally put there by architect S.R. Slaughter in 1938 to house Oliver Armature Works, a manufacturing plant that produced electrical doodads. It’s now up to Schaum/Shieh Architects to make room inside for a variety of different business professionals who’ll come and go as they please from both private and communal work areas (and a bar).
New previews of the planned venue showcase one way of accomplishing that task: by installing a hive of productivity cubbyholes along the side of the main room. They’re shown at top lining the building’s north wall, with open-air booths on top of them.
To get down from the upper level, take this narrow side corridor up to the spiraling stair structure by the door:
Brass Tacks
The photo at top shows Cypress Ace Hardware attempting to label its most obscure class of goods, the odds and ends customers know they want but struggle to put a name on. Turns out they’re actually top sellers at the 11655 Jones Rd. store: “We have so many people that walk in with a random part in their hand,” co-owner Susan Murff tells the Chronicle’s Rebecca Hennes. Their question: “Do you carry these doohickies?”
Installed about 8 months ago, the DOOHICKIES lettering matches signs that aren’t visible in the photos but run horizontally to the left and right of what’s pictured, advertising the rest of the store’s offerings: tools, paint, electrical items, plumbing supplies, a fudge bar, and an on-site post office. (There’s also an “indoor grilling center where customers can schedule a time to cook their favorite meat on a grill they are interested in buying,” reports Hennes.) As for what corporate’s got to say, each Ace store is individually owned, so local management gets some editorial power over its own décor.
- Texas hardware store sells ‘doohickies’ and people can’t get enough [Houston Chronicle]
Photos: Karen M. (storefront); Cypress Ace Hardware & Feed (sign)
The Writing on the Wall
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Texas Added the Most Construction Jobs of Any State Last Year [Houston Chronicle]
- Austin’s Jack & Ginger’s Irish Pub Set To Open Oct. 25 in Midtown [HBJ]
- Olive Oil and Vinegar Boutique Olive & Vine Opens on 19th St. [Culturemap]
- Where Houston Has the Most Vacant Lots for New Home Construction [HBJ ($)]
Photo of Amherst St., Rice Village: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Sundry takings from South Post Oak — and beyond:
- 4415 Belle Hollow Dr. [HAR]
WHO’S DRINKING IN D&W LOUNGE AT 7 AM? 
Until recently, a lot of “third shift workers on their way home” from the Maxwell House coffee plant 3 blocks up Milby St., reports John Nova Lomax in his recent Vice ode to the bar. (There’s no getting away with it under current regs, but — he adds — D&W used to be a 24-7 establishment.) “It was also a hit with weary cops and assistant district attorneys,” says Lomax. The coffee plant closed down over the summer, but the bar’s hours remain the same. [Vice; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Nathan F.
The founders of The Greensheet are looking to part with their defunct printing complex at I-45 and the N. Loop after selling the publication earlier this month to MVR Publishing — a newly-formed partnership whose majority owner Jonathan McElvy also publishes The Leader. From 1998 onward, the facility cranked out all Houston editions of the classified paper (it’s also got versions in Dallas and Fort Worth), along with other publications like the New York Times — which Greensheet agreed in 2006 to start printing for local distribution.
Delivery trucks loaded with bundles of The Greensheet’s own reading material rolled out of the parking lot pictured from the north in the aerial above.
Here it is at ground level:
Shopper Hits the Market
- Buffalo Heights District Mixed-Use Development Has Topped Out [Realty News Report]
- Equinox Moving Forward on Plans for Hotel in the River Oaks District [HBJ ($)]
- New Hope Housing Opens First Residential Complex for Homeless and At-Risk Families [The Urban Edge]
- Asian Population Growth Spurs Suburban Chinatown in Katy [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Cafe The Roastery Coming to Bellaire’s New 2-Story H-E-B [Culturemap]
- Japanese Chain Go Go Curry To Debut in Houston Next Month [Eater Houston]
- Feds, State Sue City of Houston Over Years of Illegal Sewage Spills [Houston Chronicle ($)]
Photo of the Heights Theater, 339 W. 19th 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.
Try to remember the end of September: these demolitions and all that will follow.
- 1003 Alexander St. [HAR]
Here’s what the former Wabash Feed & Garden Store on Washington looks like with a second level stacked on top of its original storefront. Workers are now climbing around the outdoor portions of the new upstairs, setting the scene for what’s coming next.
What exactly they’re planning hasn’t shown up in the form of any physical signage yet, but some digital breadcrumbs dug up by a HAIF poster hint at what they’ve got in mind. Two active Facebook pages — one for something called Warsaw Houston, the other for “Axis & Alibi” currently sport similar branding and claim Wabash’s address as their own. Late last year, another page with the title Van Nuys made its internet debut with a 5701 Washington address, too — but it’s since been taken offline.
5701 Washington
A nationwide franchise of about a dozen kids obstacle gyms is bringing its latest location to the new business park in Katy, on Franz Rd. about a mile inside the Grand Pkwy. Its name — USA Ninja Challenge — plays off that of the 10-seasons-old sports entertainment show American Ninja Warrior, on which contestants ages 19 and up race through a series of physical challenges before a live audience.
USA Ninja Challenge serves a younger demographic: Kids 4 to 17 are split into groups with their peers and tasked with scaling things like sloped walls, rock climbing walls, ladders, cargo nets, and peg boards — as well as balancing on slack lines and other easy-to-fall off objects. Six levels of training make up the official curriculum, each containing 27 individual skills for students to check off.
At the 22564 Franz Rd. location — the chain’s first in Texas — it’ll all go down inside the 7,000-sq.-ft. box pictured at top. It’s nestled within the triangular Franz at Elrod complex shown in the map above with north on the right. Classes start just over a month from now, on October 22.
- Welcome to USA Ninja Challenge – Katy [USA Ninja Challenge]
- 22564 Franz Rd. [LoopNet]
Photo: USA Ninja Challenge. Map: LoopNet
USA Ninja Challenge
- MARS Properties Breaks Ground on High Point West Industrial Distribution Center in Katy [Realty News Report]
- West University Home with Full-Size Gymnasium Hits the Market [Houston Chronicle]
- Danton’s Seafood Trading Longtime Montrose Home for Former Mockingbird Bistro Space [Eater Houston]
- Adair Concepts To Take Over Cafe Space in Evelyn’s Park, Debut New Concept [HBJ]
- DFW-Based Pizzeria Chain i Fratelli Coming to Houston [Eater Houston]
- Why Downtown Houston Has So Many Food Halls [Bisnow]
- Bayou Greenways Unveils Mason Park Bike and Pedestrian Bridge in the East End [Houston Public Media]
- Study Finds 30% of Parking Spots Go Unused During Peak Workday Times [Houston Chronicle]
- PARK(ing) Day To Take Over McKinney Street Downtown Today [Culturemap]
- New Harvey Documentary ‘Changed’ Follows West Houston Families in the Aftermath of the Flooding [Houstonia]
Photo: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
A golf course, 3 churches, a brewery, and 2 homes:
