Is the sky really the limit when the neighborhood has its own landing strip, or is that what it takes for commutes from Richmond? That’s where a Covey Trails property,  located out FM 1093 near FM 1463, took off at $1.2 million in its listing over the weekend. Hangar (top) and hangouts (middle) are harbingers of the adventurous array — and many, many murals — found within the unassuming house, which previously kept its active inner life to itself. But now lookie here:
Over the weekend Surge Homes removed the sign promising “future development” along the Heights Hike-and-Bike Trail. Workers took the recently-installed bike-scaled billboard Saturday morning. It appears that the sign had been squatting on a public right-of-way.
Around the same time, the newly-created Surge Homes released lots of new information for the trailside colony. Surge is run by the same principals involved with Canada’s Group LSR who closed on the property in 2004. Sporadic attempts to develop the site have so far borne no fruit.
Aerial views show that the project would take quite a bite out of the pocket forest currently on the site; access would come via a lengthened E. 5th St., not a trail-crossing extension of Frasier St., as in an earlier proposal.
Here lie the remains of the New Flea Market, the most recent occupant of a strip mall site at 8315 Long Point Rd. that once was home to the  Spring Branch K-Mart. Workers are scraping an 8-acre parcel of the larger site at the corner of Hillendahl Blvd. to make way for the Village at Spring Branch, a 100-home David Weekley development offering three-story townhouses and garden and patio homes ringing a pool and cabana. Blue-light specials will be offered around $400k; premium buys will go on sale at $700k. Retail — and the tiny, historic Hillendahl Cemetery (captured below in an old photo) — will remain along the Long Point frontage.
Photo of Old Sixth Ward: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
How’d all this open land find itself around this deep-on-the-lot bungalow-like listing? This 2008 property is far from the higher density cottage communities in Houston Heights and its hinterlands. Rather, it’s in Pearland’s Colonial Estates, a neighborhood located west of Cabot Cove Lake and south of Magnolia St. The big-roofed home and just-plain-big garage (above) share an acre and a half fronting a straight-shot country road. Views from the front porch go deep, wide, and high (top). The recent listing asks $348,000.
The proprietor of The Green Bone is hoping to turn this former office warehouse at the far eastern edge of East Downtown into a new home for the doggie daycare, hemp-treat outlet, and espresso stop. The Green Bone currently operates in this still-for-sale building at 2104 Leeland St., 1 mile to the southwest. Its envisioned future home in the warehouse at the corner of Rusk and Paige, which The Green Bone purchased at the beginning of this year, would encompass 3,429 sq. ft. at the corner of Rusk and Paige.
A note and FAQ sheet sent to all residents of the Avalon Square Apartments at 2400 Westheimer Rd. last Friday — informing them that the 3-story, 5-courtyard compound is now under new management — does not mention the property’s sale or identify Peak Real Estate Management as anything other than the new management company. But a representative of the firm tells Swamplot that it is also the property’s new owner, and that upgrades are planned for the 210-unit complex, not demolition. Avalon Square, which sits on a 3.72-acre site stretching between Dickey Pl. and Argonne St., was built in 1974; it last changed hands 7 years ago.
Photo:Â Justin McMurtry
The hexagonal clock mounted above the front door of the former Cra-Bell Vacuum and Appliance Co. building at 216 Westheimer Rd. was stolen over the weekend. Derek Brotherton of Scott-Day Paint & Supply, the company that’s inhabited the building since 1963, tells Swamplot that he and coworkers noticed the disappearance this morning, and that they are “deeply upset over losing part of the character of the store.” Photos above show the clock in place (above, in an older image) and gone missing (at top, taken this morning). Brotherton says he believes the clock had been in its current position since the building was constructed in 1935Â — or shortly thereafter. Back then, the street was named Hathaway; it now sits on the north side of Westheimer between Helena and Mason.
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
And here we go, kicking off another great week of removals.
Photo of Downtown from Air Liquide building: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Tauping up a 1969 Westchester home as part of its updates this year seems to have decoratively straddled the great divide between the forces of gray and beige throughout the floor plan. Listed earlier this week at $620,000, the property has upped its game with new paint, roof, heating system, and a remodeled kitchen. Its Memorial West neighborhood lands west of Dairy Ashford and south of Memorial Dr.
DEFORESTED KIRBY DR. WENDY’S BRINGS BACK A LITTLE GREENERY 
Passersby hoping to see for themselves precisely what hullabaloo was responsible for the larger-than-normal red tag placed by city officials on the door of the abruptly-paused-during-renovation Kirby Dr. Wendy’s now have an additional obstacle blocking satisfaction of their curiosity. The perimeter construction fencing on the jobsite at 5003 Kirby Dr. — which only went up just as workers were chopping down 6 oak trees on the surrounding public right-of-way late one night last week — has gained a new green-fabric wrapping. “I think it makes the construction look more attractive,” quips the reader who sent in the above photo of the stump-and-fence scene (with the red tag still barely visible through the greenage). That’s nice, the reader notes, since “apparently we are going to be looking at it for a long time.” [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplot inbox
