The demo-mentum is building! Or coming apart, really.
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- City Council Voting Today on Creating an Authority To Help Oversee Beautification Projects Near NRG Park for 2017 Super Bowl [Houston Chronicle]
- Texas Historical Commission Poised To Vote on Granting Astrodome Antiquities Landmark Status [Click2Houston; previously on Swamplot]
- New Ella Plaza Owners Will Keep the Center’s Retro Sign if City Code Allows It [The Leader]
- Developers of ‘Porch Street on Adele’ in East Sunset Heights Like Porches [Culturemap]
- Darling Homes Bringing Collection of Patio Homes to Sugar Land’s Imperial Development [Prime Property]
- City Council Voting Today on Funds for East End Overpass Along Metro Light Rail Route [Houston Chronicle]
- Why Houston Should Say Yes To Uber and Lyft (Editorial) [TribTalk]
- And Why Houston Should Say No to Uber and Lyft (Editorial) [TribTalk]
- How Plant It Forward Plans on Putting a Farm in Every Houston Neighborhood [OffCite]
- $60M Dallas High School Football Stadium To Get $2M Repair To Fix Structural Problems [Culturemap]
Photo of Buffalo Bayou Park construction on Allen Pkwy.: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
So much blue in this home in Copperfield Middlegate Village. It’s in the swabs of color found in most of the rooms — or maybe the updated 1991 property is holding its breath? Its listing 2 weeks ago at $168,000 comes nearly 2 years after a previous unsuccessful effort aimed at $139,000 and an earlier failed market run in 2011 that started at $164,900 and ended 6 months later at $152,500.
Blue State
- 2126 Westwood Dr. [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A GUIDE TO SOUNDING OUT THE NAMES OF HOUSTON’S ACRONYMED SPORTS STADIUMS 
“Just make up a pronunciation. “TDECU†becomes “tuh-DECK-you,†and is the response to “why Grandma, what big fists you have!â€
Likewise, “NRG†becomes “nurg†(a kind of parasitic technician) and “BBVA†becomes “bubba-VUH†(Popul Vuh’s brother from the country).” [Memebag, commenting on Here’s That Downtown View the University of Houston Rotated Its Football Stadium For] Illustration: Lulu
Swamplot reader Marc Longoria has pics of some of the greenery added recently to the revamped interior of the former Houston Pavilions mall downtown, now known as GreenStreet. The rebranding of the mixed-use complex, which extends 3 blocks east from the Main St. rail line in a Discovery Green-ish direction, signifies more than just the infusion of cash from the new owners who are rescuing the project from bankruptcy, the Midway Companies (the folks behind CityCentre) and Magic Johnson’s Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds: There’s the notable addition of striped-green roofs over the escalators (above), for one thing. And more new plant-ish color has been added nearby:
Artificial Turf, Salads, and More
Cherry Demolition crews are attacking portions of the Memorial Club Apartments at 904 Westcott St. this morning. A tipster tells Swamplot the section of apartments on the east side of Westcott have been vacant for a few weeks, and that ovens, washers, dryers, and other appliances were hauled off last week.
Tearing Down for Elan
Say goodbye to these. No, really. Times are frightening out there for a house.
- City Could Net $22M on Sale of 10.5-Acre Site Along Allen Pkwy. to Second-Highest Bidder [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- An Overview of IH-45 Expansion Alternatives for the North Houston Highway Improvement Project [OffCite]
- KBS Sells Renovated Energy Corridor Building to Bravo Strategies for $120M [Prime Property]
- Rodeo and Texans’ Demo Proposal Would Replace the Astrodome with a Tiny Astrodrome [CityLab; previously on Swamplot]
- Lease Rates for High-End Retailers Headed for As Much As $65 per SF in Houston Right Now, According to NewQuest Properties [Houston Business Journal]
- Struggling East End Bakery Not Jus Donuts Appearing on Tonight’s Episode of ‘Bakery Boss’ After Reopening [Houstonia]
- Slideshow: First Look at Springwoods Village Model Homes [Houston Business Journal]
- 5 Reasons Why Houston’s Apartment Market is Hot [Houston Business Journal]
- Weather, Cattle, Speeding Drivers Some of the Construction Challenges of Extending the Grand Pkwy. from US-290 to US-59 [Houston Chronicle]
- Texas 249 Project Moves Forward To Expand Route 42 Miles To Grimes County [The Woodlands]
- Editorial: What We Will Lose As a Result of the Buffalo Bayou Flood-Control Project [Houston Chronicle]
- Deer Hunter Stumbled Upon Massive Marijuana Operation Off Old Highway 35 Near Goodrich [Houston Chronicle]
- Montrose Roller Blader Juan Carlos Restrepo To Perform Live on ‘America’s Got Talent’ on Aug. 5 [Houstonia]
- Articles About Houston in the Temporarily Unlocked New Yorker Archives [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of 802 N. Nagle: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Outdoor living dominates a 1991 Lake Conroe waterfront property in Montgomery. The log cabin’s interior, at least, didn’t rate many photos in the listing that appeared last week. There are, however, plenty of shots of canines in repose (top). The compound occupies 7.4 acres of a peninsula north of FM 1097 near the Grand Pines Country Club and Bentwater; a slice of San Jacinto National Forest is just across the water. The property has a $2.25 million asking price. It last changed hands in 1999, for $698,750.
Ruffing It
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SCREWING THE HAVES 
“Message to the cool kids: If you are really cool, move to a cheaper part of town. The squares who are pricing you out of Montrose will be punished by living exclusively among squares, and the cheaper part of town will be cool. However, if you move and none of that happens then you probably weren’t that cool.” [Memebag, commenting on New Owners to Montrose Apartment Dwellers: Everybody Out by the End of August, We’re Tearing These Places Down] Illustration: Lulu
A TABC mixed-beverage notice for a new eating and drinking establishment has been posted to the storefront at 416 Main St. next to Georgia’s Market downtown, fronting the 3,600-sq.-ft. space last occupied by Mexican restaurant El Centro Comida y Copas, reports the RDA’s Allyn West. The new venture, named Bovine and Barley, appears to be connected to the owners of The Refinery, the burgers-and-whiskey joint just west of the downtown at 702 W. Dallas St.
- Downtown Former Restaurant Space Available (PDF) [Downtown Houston]
Photos: Allyn West
Ingredients for a New Bar
From the Twitter feed of Brandon Blue comes this across-the-endzone pic of the University of Houston’s newly minted TDECU Stadium, highlighting the view of downtown Houston the structure’s designers felt made it worth twisting the scrapped-and-rebuilt house of Cougar football. Robertson Stadium was aligned in a more even-handed northish-southish direction. TDECU Stadium (officially, ), constructed on the demolished remains of that structure, is rotated to match the eastish-westish orientation of neighboring Scott St. and Cullen Blvd., a decision that a few momentarily blinded quarterbacks or receivers may come to bemoan during afternoon games. But the benefit of those bleacher cutouts separating the upper decks of stadium’s endzones from the bleachers at the sides is clear: A gleaming glimpse of Houston’s homegrown mountain range opens up through the concrete canyon.
Giving TDECU Credit
The new owner of 3 adjacent 2-story apartment complexes at the western edge of Winlow Place in Montrose have politely asked all tenants to leave by the end of August. The fifties-and-sixties-era courtyard complexes, at 1920 W. Alabama St. (above), 2810 McDuffie, and 1924 Marshall, were sold by Prestige Holdings at the end of April to a company called City Centre at Midtown, which appears to be connected to apartment developer Dolce Living. The adjacent complexes together include 73 apartments; the 1.58 acres of land they sit on has frontage on West Alabama St. (between Hazard and Huldy, pictured above) and McDuffie St., which dead-ends into a parking lot shared by the McDuffie and Marshall St. properties. According to a tipster, a notice for the abandonment of that dead-end portion of McDuffie St. was posted in February. Admiral Linen’s 3-building complex (behind the Randalls grocery store) at 2030 Kipling St. is immediately adjacent to the properties.
‘Cuz We’re Building New Apartments
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Great to start a week fresh, with another gaggle of smashable buildings before us.
