NEW NORTH MONTROSE APARTMENTS LEAVE HANOVER, MOVE TO RIVER OAKS 
Residents of the recently opened Hanover West Gray apartments at 1340 West Gray got an unexpected notice in their mailboxes this month: Their new homes at the corner of West Gray and Waugh (replacing the Tavern on Gray and some neighboring structures) now feature a River Oaks address. Hanover sold the 275-unit structures effective March 13 to AMLI. And the new owner is calling the complex AMLI River Oaks, after the tony no-apartments-please neighborhood whose eastern border is three-quarters of a mile to the west. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Hanover Company
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A futuristic pneumatic vacuum elevator (top) links levels within a 2006 steel-and-stucco townhome developed by Carol Isaak Barden and designed by former filmmaker Francois de Menil, architect of the Menil Collection’s Byzantine Fresco Chapel. Originally, this property was the Two in a duo Barden named the One-Two Townhomes. The bermed-skirted property rises over street-level garages on a site located a block south of Allen Pkwy. and Buffalo Bayou in Temple Terrace. The larger of the units had its resale premiere last week at an asking price of $1.395 million. Back in 2008, it sold for a disappointing $749,000. In the scenes arranged inside, a strategically placed palm tree on the site appears to have been cast in a supporting role.
4 Stories Plus
An attorney representing international hotel and restaurant designer Tony Chi has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the owners of the Fish and the Knife, complaining that the recently opened Houston sushi restaurant and nightclub has “repeatedly and intentionally” claimed that Chi was responsible for the restaurant’s design. “As you most certainly know,” the letter reads, “Tony Chi had no role whatsoever in connection with the Fish & The Knife and most certainly is not answerable for its operation, particularly its delayed opening.”
A Facebook post published by the restaurant shortly before its February 13th opening claimed that Tony Chi had designed the interior — and implied that his involvement bore some responsibility for the restaurant’s notably delayed debut: “The owner commissioned Tony Chi, famed architect and interior designer, to fit the restaurant into his relentless schedule,” reads the post (which may also have been issued as a press release) in a sentence that directly follows a reference to repeated postponements of the restaurant’s opening. It then goes on to name-drop several of Chi’s former clients: “Based in New York City, Chi owns and operates a global design powerhouse that has an unrivalled reputation in the hospitality industry. Some of Chi’s designs include restaurants for Wolfgang Puck, Alain Ducasse and Michael Mina. In addition to restaurants, he designed many Ritz-Carlton, Park Hyatt, Intercontinental and Mandarin Oriental hotels around the world.” But Chi’s designs do not appear to include Fish and the Knife.
Credit Where It Isn’t Due
- East End Groups At Odds on Restoring Historic Gus Wortham Golf Course or Turning It into a Botanic Garden [Houston Public Media; previously on Swamplot]
- Momentum BMW West Breaking Ground on Bigger Katy Fwy. Location, Further West, Next Month [Prime Property]
- Houston Home Sales Increase for 33rd Straight Month in February as Inventory Drops to Record Low of 15,870 [Tom Plant’s Houston Real Estate Blog]
- More People Inside the Loop Could Mean Fewer Historic Homes [Houston Public Media]
- Metro May Move Overcrowded Grand Pkwy. Park and Ride to Katy Mills Mall [The Highwayman]
- TC Jester Residents Still Don’t Want Traffic Lights North of FM 1960 Even After Second Study Finds They’re Needed [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Free Wi-Fi Up and Running at 7 Public Places in Texas City [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Southern Living Magazine Names Newly Renovated Hotel Derek ‘Worthy of a Revisit’Â [Culturemap]
- Memorial City Mall Still Makes It Hard To Pay for Carousel, Train Attractions [Art Attack]
- Indie Filmmakers Like Filming in Houston Because ‘It Can Mimic All the Cities’Â [abc13]
Photo of the Battleship Texas: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Here’s some evidence that Hines Residential is ready to go ahead with construction of its 33-story apartment tower at the corner of Travis and Preston, catty-corner from Market Square: The surface parking lot on that site closed down over the weekend. “The lot’s money machine and parking lot signage are gone,” reports the reader who snapped these views. “I’m sure better fencing and gates will soon arrive.” In the meantime, newly installed curbstops are blocking the driveways.
Unpaving Paradise, Putting Down a Parking Lot
A sharp-eyed reader has spotted what appear to be security cameras popping up on traffic signals at intersections in Midtown over the last couple of weeks. “I assume this is an extension of the downtown camera system that was announced in December,” notes the camera-watcher, who submitted these uh, surveillance photos of the installations at Gray and Bagby (top) and Webster and Bagby in front of the Capital One bank branch (above right). “They appear to be spreading south. Currently I see them on Gray and Webster. The intersections at Bagby got 2 cameras each. Microwave backhaul antennas are visible in the photos.”
- Houston adding 180 security cameras downtown [Houston Chronicle]
Photos: Swamplot inbox
It’s Springtime for Surveillance
- 4606 Stackstone Ln. [HAR]
Construction work has begun on the exciting new Sam’s Club #6867, which will face onto the Grand Pkwy. just north of Bellaire Blvd. in Richmond, as this reader photo taken from Parkway Lakes Ln. attests. The 136,454-sq.-ft. store will be surrounded by a sea of 529 parking spaces and 13 cart corrals on a 15-acre site just south of the Westpark Tollway:
@ Westpark Toll Rd.
The developer behind the Morrison Heights midrise building (pictured at left) now under construction in the southeast corner of Woodland Heights has plans to build a similar “apartment and condo” complex at the southwest corner of Studemont and Center St., just north of Washington Ave. Like its neighbor to the northeast, the Studemont Mid-Rise would be a 4-story structure of 36 units mounted over an open parking area underneath. To fit the proposed building on the lot at 1011 Studemont St., however, Fisher Homes needs a variance from the city that would allow a reduced setback on either Studemont or Court St. Its application was deferred at a meeting earlier this month, and is up for consideration by the planning commission this Thursday.
All the Single Bedrooms
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
End of Story, Tommie Vaughn. And a few other houses on a few other streets.
- Beijing’s Modern Green Development Looking To Build $500M Mixed-Use Project Near Texas 288 and Beltway 8 [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Historic Niels Esperson Building Nears End of a $2.5M Makeover of Lobby, Tunnel Levels [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- El Tiempo Cantina Opening Seventh Houston-Area Restaurant, at Woodlakes Square Shopping Center in July [Houston Business Journal]
- City, Harris County Ready To Begin Design Work on $100M Joint Inmate Processing Center [Houston Politics]
- Montrose/Museum District Have Most Expensive Apartments in Houston with Average Rent of $1.71 per SFÂ [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Ellington Field ‘Spaceport’ Could Be in Operation By 2017 [Houston Public Media; previously on Swamplot]
- Interim Director Patrick Walsh Confirmed as Houston’s New Planning Director [Memorial Examiner]
- James Surls’ 38-Ft.-High Sculpture ‘Tree and Three Flowers’ Ready To Be Installed at Kirby and Westheimer [Houston Chronicle]
- A 1938 Tour of What Was Left of ‘Quality Hill,’ Houston’s First Blue-Blood District [Houstonia]
Photo of construction at the 610/US-290 interchange: TxDOTÂ via Twitter
Headlines
- 13 Waterford Oaks Ln. [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: MAKING THE WHEELS SQUEAK 
“. . . It sounds like a total douche move, and I guess it is, but if the property really is blighted, you can use the City to coerce them to sell. Keep reporting the property to 311. Code violations are largely complaint based in Houston. so if people make a stink, the inspectors will be out there issuing red tags. Are there crimes occurring on the property? Report them to HPD and the Harris County DA. Graffiti? Report it. Get neighbors in on the complaints, too — the more the better. Keep at it. Eventually it’ll be such a pain in the ass for the owners to keep the property that they’ll be eager to sell.
Just be forewarned, it can be a long process. We were at it for over half a decade with a slum lord who owned most of a crimeridden, gang-infested, horrifically blighted condo complex. It wasn’t until someone found evidence of possible fraud on the condo HOA’s books — and he was looking at possible jail time — that he gave it up.
I know people will react angrily to what I’m saying here. It’s a really horrible thing to do — I admit that. But Texas Law doesn’t give us many other alternatives. And when it’s real blight — dragging down whole neighborhoods, costing the City tons of money and ruining our quality of life — most neighbors would argue that it’s worth it.” [ZAW, commenting on Comment of the Day: Prying Dilapidated Properties from Shy Owners] Illustration: Lulu
There may not be a whole lot of wildlife ranging around the grounds surrounding this 1982 property in Piney Point Village. But check out the inside of the home:
Jungle Fever
