Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Pardon us while we squash a few bugs.
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- 22-Story Millennium II Going Up Next Door to Millennium Tower in Westchase [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Fein Interests’ ‘The Grand’ Apartments To Open in Cinco Ranch’s 34-Acre LaCenterra Development Next Year [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
- That ‘Cuban, Creole, Caribbean’ Restaurant Moving into the Old Red Lantern Space Downtown Will Be Called El Gallo Rojo [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot]
- Metro Again Considering East End Overpass After Gasoline Infiltration of Soil Is Found To Be Far More Extensive Than Previously Believed [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot]
- Work on Downtown Galveston Transit Terminal May Not Start Until June [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Exploring an ‘Unscripted’ 1,000-Foot-Long Marsh Near Main Street and US-59 [OffCite Blog]
Photo of former Louis White Grocery, 4101 Lyons Ave.: David Elizondo via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Things are looking up (and over) in a relisted 1983-built home in The Woodlands. An array of finishes clads the ceilings, and the bands of windows view the third hole and greenway of the Canongate Panther Trails golf course. Multi-textured and medallion-studded, the property considers itself “Spanish-inspired.” It’s back on the market after a January break following a previous 6-month listing. The price kept its pace steady, though, at $1.795 million.
Above It All
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOUSTON’S MAIN STREETS OF DISTRACTION 
“The fact that its not facing the freeway is progress. For too long, Houston has used its freeways as a super fast main street.
One of the reasons why the traffic is so bad in this area is that people gawk at the purdee buildins facing the freeway in addition to the excessive on/off ramps within a 2 mile stretch.” [DNAguy, commenting on This 21-Story Office Tower Is Headed for the West Loop’s East Side] Illustration: Lulu
- 2703 Jackson St. [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: ONE OF THOSE THINGS KEEPING BUDGET-MINDED TOWNHOUSES FROM A FULL 4 STORIES 
“City of Houston only requires fire sprinklers on homes 4 stories and higher. That’s why so many townhouses stop at 3 stories and have an unfinished room leading to a roof terrace on the 4th floor. Also, exterior finish materials over 40 feet high must be non-combustible.” [Spencer Howard, commenting on Comment of the Day: Everything New Is So Much Better] Illustration: Lulu
A slideshow featured on the website of the Houston Business Journal (and noted in our Headlines post this morning) features the 7 most expensive homes sold in Houston last year. Coming in at No. 3 is the full-floor Huntingdon condo unit where former Enron CEO Ken Lay used to live. 2121 Kirby Dr. Unit 33 and its mopey-castle-in-the-sky interior (shown below after the furniture was removed) was listed for sale by his widow, Linda Lay, back in 2010 and featured on Swamplot occasionally over the following years as it hopped on and off the market a few times and descended in fits and starts from an initial (off-market) asking price of $12.8 million to the mid-single-digit millions. MLS and county tax records show the 9-bathroom, 6-elevator, 12,827-sq.-ft. pièd-a-terre with the $10K+ monthly maintenance fee finally sold last February to an entity controlled by another local CEO, for a (still-record-making, but more than half-off) $5.5 million, though the list price had by that time fallen $100K lower.
Much Lower, but Still Sky High
Architect Meeks + Partners has posted a rendering of the steel-framed apartment complex Greystar is planning to replace the Memorial Club Apartments lining the southern boundary of the Washington on Westcott roundabout. Swamplot reported Greystar’s plans for the apartments last year — along with a tip that the planned redevelopment would include a new Trader Joe’s. The rendering shows no sign of a Trader Joe’s, but it does show the base of the apartment structure filled with retail spaces and outdoor dining areas facing the roundabout. The view appears to be taken southeast from the roundabout; the existing stone Rice Military placard is in the foreground.
Elan Memorial Park
- Post Properties Demolishing Abandoned former Holiday Inn, Hotel 31 on East Side of West Loop Just North of Richmond To Build 390 Luxury Apartments [Real Estate Bisnow]
- 8-Level Midrise Apartment Plus 17-Story Residential Tower Now Going Up One Block West of Highland Village Shopping Center [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
- Developer Bought 25 Acres for New Stratton Woods Development 2 Years Ago, After Hearing About New ExxonMobil Campus 2 Miles North [Houston Business Journal]
- Slideshow: The Most Expensive Homes Sold in Houston Last Year [Houston Business Journal]
- Galveston Cruise Ship Now Offering ‘Virtual Balconies’ with Real-Time Ocean Views in Windowless Rooms — for an Upgrade [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of North Boulevard: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Remains of a time-worn neighborhood entry marker (top) set off a fortified corner property on a double lot in Idylwood that was listed mid-January and has a $328,000 asking price. Light walls and dark-stained trim inside the updated 1940 home help highlight the fruit bowl of color pops when they appear, starting with the mango punch of the bar-gated entry door (above) . . .
Old Ironsides
Yesterday demo crews began tearing down 2 buildings at Westbury Square, the once-quaint pedestrian shopping district at West Bellfort and Chimney Rock that in recent decades has been overtaken by a combination of bigger-box retailing (see the Home Depot lurking in the background of the photo at left) and neglect. Long-dilapidated Buildings 1 and 5 at 635 Westbury Sq. are being removed under an agreement with the city after a longstanding battle over a “repair or demolish” order, according to the Westbury Area Improvement Corporation. But owner Alfred Antonini still has 9 other 1962-vintage buildings standing on the property, according to appraisal district records.
Charm of Yesteryear
- 1135 Louise St. [HAR]
As noted in this morning’s Headlines post, yesterday Metro toted around some trains for “clearance testing” on the eastern stretches of the East End and Southeast rail lines scheduled to open later this year, in advance of electricity being brought down the lines. But downtown, repair continues on a 200-ft. stretch of track shared by the 2 lines on Capitol St. between LaBranch and Crawford — where the rails “probably shifted during concrete placement” and therefore didn’t set properly, a spokesperson for the transit agency tells Swamplot. The concrete has been torn up so the stretch can be rebuilt, level. The rework is being paid for at no cost to Metro by the contractor, Houston Rapid Transit, and will not cause any delay in opening the lines, the spokesperson says.
- East End Line and Southeast Line coverage [Swamplot]
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Get This Straight
Having completed demolitions of facilities it owned on the property, including its fleet maintenance facility at 801 Gillette St., a couple of public works buildings at 812 Gillette, and a former HPD SWAT substation at 1500 W. Dallas, the city has now listed for sale the 10-1/2-acre swath of land along Allen Pkwy between the Federal Reserve building and Allen Parkway Village. The land includes San Felipe Park at 1717 Allen Pkwy., which fronts Houston’s premiere waterfront roadway opposite Buffalo Bayou Park. Also included, apparently: Land underneath 3 streets that extend into the property: Hopson St., Bailey St., and Golf Link Pl. The listing from Cushman & Wakefield says bids are due March 14th.
San Felipe Park and All
