01/17/14 4:15pm

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Was the open house of this grand-scale 1993 patio home near Memorial Park planned for this coming Sunday afternoon strategically timed for just after the rolling street closures of the 2014 Chevron Houston Marathon? Access to the enclave neighborhood off Memorial Drive falls between marathon miles 20 and 21. The property, asking $1.2 million, is in Arlington Terrace, or so reads the legal description in its listing earlier this month. Neighborhood signage says Arlington Court.

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Behind the Memorial Dr. Fence
01/17/14 12:15pm

Construction of 2229 San Felipe Tower, Vermont Commons, Houston

Aerial View of Proposed 2229 San Felipe Office Tower, Vermont Commons, Houston“They are definitely moving forward” on construction of the office tower at the corner of Spann St. and San Felipe between Kirby and Shepherd, a Swamplot reader reports from the scene across the street from River Oaks. Neighborhood complaints or no, Hines is ready to roll on its 17-story 2229 San Felipe development (portrayed in an aerial view among its low-rise neighbors at right). “They have scraped the land, built a cover over the neighbors garage, and fenced this property,” our correspondent reports. And oh, yeah: A crane has arrived.

Photo: Loves Swamplot. Aerial View of 2229 San Felipe: Hines

Sticking Up, for River Oaks
01/17/14 10:45am

Former Stables Restaurant, 7325 S. Main St., Old Braeswood, Houston

7200 S. Main St. at Greenbriar, Old Braeswood, HoustonThere’s a stub end of North Braeswood Blvd. that extends just east of where the Stables Restaurant (pictured above) stood until 2007 at the corner of Greenbriar Dr. and South Main St. It leads to the St. Nicholas School along the northern bank of Brays Bayou, southwest of the Texas Medical Center. A reader alerts Swamplot that a variance sign has gone up on the now-vacant 8.5-acre parcel (at right) that surrounds the school and extends along S. Main up to Pressler St., and which used to house the Stables, the Red Lion restaurant, and the Bermuda Apartments. The variance lists 7200 Main and Springwoods Realty Company as the developers of the site, but doesn’t announce what the development is. Springwoods Realty is best known in Houston as the developers Springwoods Village, the curious 1,800-acre eco-themed development also of possible Aristotle Onassis origin whose announcement preceded that of the adjacent new ExxonMobil campus south of The Woodlands. And 7200 Main shares the New York address of Springwoods Village’s somewhat mysterious developer, Coventry Development Corp. The variance asks for permission not to extend North Braeswood or terminate it in a cul-de-sac, as would normally be required:

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What’s up at Greenbriar and S. Main?
01/17/14 8:30am

esperson building reflection

Photo of the Neil Esperson building, reflected: Jackson Myers via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
01/16/14 4:45pm

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Stern & Bucek Architects designed this 2008 contemporary home for a mid-block double lot in Southampton. The site lent itself to a large, open-plan interior with many a view of the fire and water features found in the 3 courtyards behind the shade-dappled brick wall (above) marking the front yard’s setback . . .

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Fire, Water, and a Staircase
01/16/14 2:15pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THEY’RE COMING FOR SOUTH END VILLA The South End Villa Bermuda Triangle“This little wedge of land south of 59 and between Montrose and Main is like the Bermuda Triangle of Houston. It’s not part of the street grid, and there are no roads that connect through it. Few Houstonians probably even know there’s anything back there. There are interesting 80+ year old houses, dead end snippets of roads, and well kept old garden apartments. It’s a very sleepy little wedge of the City. It was inevitable that that would change, given the proximity of this spot to downtown, Rice, the Museum District, Montrose, etc.” [Semper Fudge, commenting on Here’s Chelsea Montrose, Another 20-Story Apartment Tower for the Museum District] Illustration: Lulu

01/16/14 12:15pm

Austin Sucks Poster by Kammi RusselIn the fine tradition of the Houston. It’s Worth It. campaign, here’s another well-disguised civic marketing effort meant to drum up a certain Bayou City pride of place. And, uh, by the way — it comes to us from Austin. There, designer and illustrator Kammi Russel has put together a helpful, mostly typographical infographic spelling out a few of the many reasons not to move to her adopted hometown.

“Austin Sucks. Please Don’t Move Here. These are some reasons why,” it reads at the top. Among the dire warnings of the Texas capital’s failings conveyed therein: “No major league sports,” and “People talk about kale all the time.” Plus this gem: “Good luck finding a boyfriend. This is the adult never-never land. Men stay children until their late 30s. Then they date one of the 158 people who moved here today. I hope your dog is rescued . . . because you will be alone.”

Helpfully for hapless Houston boosters, it concludes with this observation: “Dallas and Houston are amazing . . . you should move there.

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Austin. It’s Not Worth It.
01/16/14 11:15am

WHY IS THE AGENT TELLING ME THIS HOUSE IS ONLY WORTH ‘LOT VALUE’? 1905 Shearn St., First Ward, HoustonA reader named Gary writes: “My husband and I have been looking for houses (which has been daunting in this seller’s market) and I’ve been a little jaded by agents listing houses that that are being sold for lot value and are “drive by only.” These houses look to be in okay shape and just need the right buyer to fix it up but the listing agents are marketing them to developers to tear down. For instance, the house [at 1905 Shearn St., pictured at left] could be so cute! It even has those gingerbread architectural details! . . . Houston is bleeding cute houses because of listings like these and I feel helpless to do anything about it because I don’t have the cash to buy a place like this and fix it up.” [Swamplot inbox] Photo: HAR

01/16/14 10:15am

A DECK POOL, BUT NO ‘SKYBAR,’ FOR THE NEW 3400 MONTROSE Rendering of Montrose Facade of Proposed 3400 Montrose Highrise, Montrose, HoustonNancy Sarnoff collects a few more details on Hanover’s plans for the 30-story tower to replace the vacant ‘Skybar’ building the apartment developer bought just south of Kroger on Montrose Blvd.. The new 3400 Montrose will contain a total of 330 apartments, the smallest of which will be 500 sq. ft. (keeping them out of the “micro-unit” category). The Montrose-facing driveway will serve as a garage entrance as well as an exit. On the ninth-floor open-air deck above the parking garage (just out of view in the rendering above of the Montrose Blvd. view) there’ll be “a swimming pool with private cabanas, grilling areas and a green lawn.” If downtown views from that level are blocked by the tower, they’ll be available from the Hawthorne St. balcony overhang Hanover hopes to gain approval for in its variance hearing next week. The company expects to take about 2 years to build the Montrose highrise, but hasn’t announced a start date for construction. [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Solomon Cordwell Buenz

01/16/14 8:30am

greenway plaza sunset

Photo of Greenway Plaza: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
01/15/14 2:30pm

So many opportunities to revisit the scene of a crime present themselves in this handy map of 2013 Houston murder locations assembled from HPD data by the Houston Chronicle. The city’s death-dealers appear to have kept out of the lower west quadrant of the Inner Loop (for the most part), and stayed clear of a swath west of the Loop between I-10 and Westheimer. [Edit: The Greater Fifth Ward looks pretty good too.] Viewing the map on a larger page (try here) allows you to zero in more easily on homicide hotspots such as the stretch of Bissonnet on either side of the Southwest Fwy.

We’re not exactly sure what lucky advertiser will show up at the bottom of the death map from BatchGeo when you view it, but them’s the breaks.

Map: Houston Chronicle

Death Spots 2013