- 6127 Riverview Way [HAR]
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The developers hoping to build this 12-unit condo building on the former site of the River Cafe at the corner of Montrose Blvd. and Marshall St. are requesting a variance from the city so they can scooch the project’s blank-wall parking-area front 15 ft. closer to Montrose Blvd. than city rules ordinarily allow. And if they don’t get their way, they’ll make the 7-story structure even bigger, the variance application threatens. That would mean fencing off the building’s front; putting the parking garage on 2 floors instead of one, and adding “additional living floors . . . making the building much taller than others adjacent.”
A submitted site plan prepared by Element Architects shows the existing right-of-way reduced by 5 ft. along Montrose Blvd. in addition to the setback requirement, to allow for future widening:
At Variance
A bulletin board with a request for “comments” went up last week on the fence fronting the now-vacant site at 411 Lovett Blvd. in Avondale, where the 1906 Bullock–City Federation Mansion was torn down earlier this year (see photo at right). Yes, the metal fence along Lovett Blvd. is still standing. Passers-by have been adding their thoughts.
Suggestion Box
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
To make the finest pulp, you must be willing to grind hard.
- Woodland Creek Development Will Feature High-End Housing, Office Buildings, and Shops North of ExxonMobil Campus [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- After Renovations, Loop Central Three Office Building Near U.S. 59 and the West Loop Nearly 50% Leased [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Better Aesthetics Lead to Better Cities, Better Economics, Says Gerald Hines [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Aging St. Mary Cathedral Basilica That Was Damaged During Ike Gets New Lease on Life Thanks to Donations [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Pothole Complaints Peaked This Year at 992 in March, Up 190 from Same Time Last Year [The Highwayman]
- Texas A&M Institute Conducting Study To See If Drivers Would Use an App To Share Rides for a Discount on Toll Roads [Houston Public Media]
- Natural Pawz’s New ‘Treat Truck’ Offers Peanut Butter Ice Cream, Chews, Tennis Balls for Dogs, Nothing for Humans [Houston Public Media]
Photo of the Astrodome: Paul via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Somewhere upstairs in this updated 1939 Idylwood home, a hidden staircase leads to the upper level’s “extra room.” The property’s listing this week, asking price $269,995, appears to keep the secret, however: No photos of the access or space are included.
Bedecked Front and Back
- 6A Bayvilla St. [HAR]
A groundbreaking ceremony today is marking the construction start of the new $335 million Marriott Marquis hotel on Walker St. and Crawford next to the George R. Brown Convention Center downtown, which will face the existing Hilton Americas hotel across Discovery Green. The newly updated rendering shown below confirms that the hotel will be the first institution anywhere to sport an island shaped like Texas in one of its lower rooftop pools:
On Discovery Green
Carolyn’s, the dive bar at the corner of Craighead and Willowbend Blvd. across the train tracks from the Willowbend subdivision closed sometime around the end of last month, a reader notes. Back in 2008, the bar at 10711 Craighead Dr. won the Houston Press award for Best Hidden Bar. For years, Carolyn’s (pictured at right, behind the “canopy”) was the sole remaining tenant in the dilapidated but once-stylin’ classic 1959 strip center with vintage details stretched along that corner. Now, reports the reader, it appears the 18,600-sq.-ft. center is entirely empty — despite the remaining sign facing Willowbend for the Fruit of the Spirit Community Church (“Developing Fruitful Lives,” above).
Everybody Out of the Strip Center
The restaurant spot at 4319 Montrose Blvd. just south of Richmond Ave (at left in the photo above) that until mid-February was home to Thai Sticks — and was earlier the longtime home of Monica Pope’s Boulevard Bistro — will soon be home to an unidentified new restaurant run in part by Dan and Mark Zimmerman. Four years ago, the Zimmermans turned the restaurant at their parents’ La Colombe d’Or into Restaurant Cinq; they later opened and closed Zimm’s Little Deck in the 610 Richmond spot also owned by their parents (that spot is now home to the Brooklyn Athletic Club).
Replacing Thai Sticks
Home or dust? We interviewed more than a dozen structures who’ve made that momentous decision.
- Justin Basye To Helm Museum Park Cafe Opening Inside Parc Binz in Mid-June [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot]
- Gianfranco Percovich’s Restaurant Sal y Pimienta Opening in CityCentre This May [Eater Houston]
- El Tiempo Opening Biggest Outpost Yet of Its Chain in Webster This June [Food Chronicles]
- Newest Heights Restaurant from Delicious Concepts Is The El Cantina Superior in Former Conoco at Studewood and White Oak [Eater Houston]
- League City Development Tuscan Lakes Adding 400 New Homes [Prime Property]
- City Hall Farmers Market Will Move To Houston Public Library Plaza for a Week in May to Make Way for a Reflection Pond Plumbing Project [Eating Our Words]
- Bear Claw Knife and Shear, The Beef Jerky Outlet Open in Strand’s Renovated Rosenberg Building [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Houston Named One of the Most Underrated Food Cities in America by Thrillist [Houston Chronicle]
- Final Stretch of Revised Grand Parkway Toll Road Between Bellfort Street and Westpark Tollway Opening to Southbound Traffic Tomorrow, Northbound on Monday [The Highwayman; previously on Swamplot]
- George R. Brown Convention Center Hosting Home Loan Assistance Event Today Through Tuesday [Prime Property]
- Suite 6224 Club on Richmond Ave Caught Fire This Morning [abc13]
Photo: Paul via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW MUCH HOUSE YOU CAN AFFORD 
“. . . Affordable is in the eye of the beholder.
My brother wants to buy his first house, and I explained it to him thusly: To see how much house you can afford, NEVER start with one of those mortgage calculators. Instead, do the following: Evaluate your month to month finances. Figure out how much you can comfortably spend on housing every month, using your own situation of debts, expenses, etc. Multiply by 2/3 to see how much you can pay on a mortgage (the remaining 1/3 is escrow fees to cover required insurance, taxes, etc, which the mortgage calculators leave out.). THEN go to the mortgage calculator and work it backwards to see what price range you should be in. This will be your threshold for affordability. You will then probably want to knock off 10 or 12% and give that number to a realtor (this way if they show you something over your price range that you like, you can still go for it).
That said, on a macro scale, the affordability indices do have merit. Large corporations use the data to help determine where to locate offices. Federal and State governments use them to help determine who gets housing dollars. But it is important that we not treat those numbers as gospel for what we, individually, can afford in terms of housing.” [ZAW, commenting on Where Houston Ranks for Affordability; The Rise of Bicycle Commuting] Illustration: Lulu
- 5427 Broad Oaks Park [HAR]
Here are some of the purty watercolor renderings the Uptown District has been presenting of what Post Oak Blvd. will look like after the addition of 2 dedicated bus lanes down its middle. The proposed changes to the thoroughfare won’t take away any of the 6 existing car lanes or 13 existing left-turn-signal lanes. There’ll be a few modifications, though: new protected-left-turn signals will be put in at West Briar Lane and Fairdale, for example, and 3 median openings will be closed. The space for the buses and 8 transit stations along the Boulevard between the West Loop and Richmond Ave will come from acquiring 8 feet of right-of-way from each side of the existing street. The bus lanes and light-rail-style stations will go in the median:
Uptown Transit
