- 17230 Oakwood Chase Dr. [HAR]
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WINTER SNOBALLS FOR HOUSTON 
Just in time to serve up a white Christmas — at least before a few pumps of flavoring are added to your order — MAM’s House of Ice has opened its first-ever non-wheeled, year-round location. It’s at 1040 W. Cavalcade St. in Sunset Heights, about a mile east of the popular mobile storefront’s longstanding trailer-parking spot. That means snoballs (along with a few warmer dessert-y and snack-y items added to the menu) will now be available year-round. [b4-u-eat; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Mam’s House of Ice
City permit offices were closed Tuesday and Wednesday, so we’ve got no demos to report.
- Linbeck Group Selected To Oversee Construction of Sugar Land’s $83.6M Performing Arts Center [Community Impact Newspaper; previously on Swamplot]
- Galveston’s Waterfront Harbor House Hotel and Marina Closing Until February for Renovations [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Owners of River Oaks Plant House at Westheimer and Buffalo Speedway Still Looking for New Location, Shutting Down by December 31 [abc13; previously on Swamplot]
- City Adding 180 Surveillance Cameras Downtown; Total Near 1,000Â [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Texas’s Craft Beer Industry Added $2.3B to State’s Economy in 2012, Claims Brewers Association [Houston Business Journal]
Photo of I-10 near Bunker Hill Rd.: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
WHILE WE’RE AWAY 
Well, hello there! Looking for a little something to do on Swamplot over our Christmas break? Don’t forget to add your vote to this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. You can find the ballots for all 8 categories here, or a single list with links to each of them here. Been there, done that? Sign up for Swamplot’s email list, or “like” us on Facebook. Swamplot will be back on the 26th with more Houston real-estate fun. Until then, our best holiday wishes to all of you. Photo: Ed Uthman [license]
Light makes bright by day or night in this Jersey Village contemporary. Its bold colors further ramp up the lumens sneaking in from a plethora of windows. The grounds-hugging, mostly single-story property, which occupies more than half an acre across a low gate from privately owned Jersey Lake, has been on the market since May 2013. Its relisting by a new agency last week set a new asking price of $900,000. That’s down a few tads from previous listings, which began at $1.15 million, tiptoed to $1.099 million in September, and hit $945,000 in November.
Primary Property
- ‘Ugly Houses’ Company Ranks Houston Market No. 5 in the U.S. for Investing in Single-Family Homes, Behind Fort Worth, Dallas [Houston Business Journal]
- Nalco Champion Building New Headquarters in Sugar Land Next to Current Sugar Land Operations [Prime Property]
- 2014 Set To Be Another Big Year for Houston-Area Freeway, Tollway Projects [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Lawsuit Reveals Details of Construction Death During Texas A&M Stadium Renovations [Culturemap]
- Garden Oaks’ 34th St. Is Next in Line for Quiet Zone, but Funding May Not Be Available Until 2015Â [The Leader]
- How to Use the New Red Line Extension To Try New Restaurants [Food Chronicles]
- Mysterious Orange Dust That Covered Cars, Lawns Over the Weekend Blew in from Central Mexico [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of the Southwest Freeway near Montrose Blvd.: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Last week we finished announcing the official nominees for the last of the 8 categories in this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. With all ballots open, voting is already well under way.
You can vote using any or all of 4 separate methods:
- In a comment to the official ballot for the category
- In an email you send to Swamplot
- Using Twitter
- In a wall post on Swamplot’s Facebook page
That’s a total of 4 votes (only one using each method, please) for each of 8 categories. But make sure you follow the voting rules here. If you’re ready to catch up on the award action, use these handy links to all the categories:
- Favorite Houston Design Cliché
- Best Demolition
- Best Houston Transplant
- The Ground-Floor Retail Award
- Least Recognizable Neighborhood
- Most Recognizable Neighborhood
- Neighborhood of the Year
- Greatest Moment in Houston Real Estate
Already voted? There’s still time to round up more support for your favorite nominees. Come-from-behind candidates, we’re talking about you: All it might take is a little email, Facebook post, or tweet to call on your friends to better the odds. If you explain your vote when you make it, too, you’ll help build support for your choices.
Voting in all categories will end at 5 pm on Friday, December 27th.
- How To Vote in the 2013 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate [Swamplot]
- Swamplot Awards Ballots 2013 [Swamplot]
The 2013 Swampies
CROWDWATERING, CROWDGOBBLING SUCCESSES 
Crowdfunding efforts for 2 separate Houston ventures featured on Swamplot last month have achieved their fundraising goals. Rebecca Masson tells Swamplot that “Fluff Bake Bar will happen,” after a campaign on Kickstarter brought in $53,580 in donations. But Masson says she’s “still in talks” with the landlord about the new Midtown retail sweet shop she’s planning; location details won’t be announced until there’s a signed lease. Meanwhile, $3,035 brought in from a campaign on YouCaring means 20 new trees donated to Meadowcreek Village Park by Trees for Houston will have enough water to drink for 2 years. Got concerns about what the trees will drink after that? The campaign still has 9 days to go before it closes. Map: Meadowcreek Village Civic Club Beautification Committee
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT DO YOU CALL THE TRANSFORMED INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT SOUTH OF THE HEIGHTS? 
“I think the stretch of land North of Washington but South of I-10, where all the big-box retailers are going in, should be called Katyville.” [el duderino, commenting on Grocers Supply Sale Will Supply 15 Acres for Apartments, Shops Across from Studemont Kroger] Illustration: Lulu
AND YET ANOTHER BAR IS COMING TO MAIN ST.’S HAPPENING 300 BLOCK 
The stretch of Main St. downtown between Prairie and Congress that’s been nominated for the Ground-Floor Retail Award in this year’s Swampies will soon have another bar to add to its growing collection. A food-and-mixed-drinks establishment named Bar Materia — at least that’s the proposed name — is planned for the spot shown at left at 312 Main. Last week, the folks behind Anvil, Hay Merchant, and Underbelly announced plans to open The Nightingale Room a couple doors down at 308 Main St., downstairs from Captain Foxheart’s Bad News Bar & Spirit Lodge. [Swamplot inbox; Eater Houston] Photo: Downtown District
A reader who happened to be on the scene Saturday morning when scaffolding collapsed on the side of the Chateau Ten condo building going up at the corner of Spann and Welch streets just south of River Oaks sent Swamplot these photos and a report shortly after the incident. The Randall Davis development is under construction behind the empty lot on San Felipe on which Hines is planning to build a 17-story office tower:
“I did not see the collapse, but I heard it . . . It sounded like an explosion — power went out immediately.” The correspondent reports running out to find scaffolding for the 6-story building down, “completely covering a house (and Mercedes) and scaffolding bits were dangling from power lines. I called 911. I don’t think anyone is hurt.”
What could have caused this construction accident?
Stucco, Interrupted
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
In which we teach these properties a few important end-of-life lessons:
