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In Oak Forest, there’s a forest of knotty pine (top) and other hardwoods inside a 1953 home located east of Donna Bell Ln. north of W. 43rd St. But is it doomed? An “as-is” listing of the property posted Tuesday (price tag: $284,900) mentions all the remodeling and new construction going on throughout the midcentury neighborhood. Some original flourishes and finishes remain inside this pinewood derby of a home, though.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FLOODING DOWNTOWN WITH UNDER-FREEWAY PARKING 
“I’d rather see parking garages under 45 and 59 than retail. I’d rather not have to worry about car fires and 18-wheeler accidents on the roof of my building. The insurance costs would be incredible.
Tens of thousands of parking spaces could be made under 45 and 59. Vast quantities of free, or very cheap, parking would reduce the demand for surface parking in the Downtown area. Owners of empty lots would be more inclined to develop the empty lots if drivers were no longer willing to pay $10 to $20 per car for every sporting event. For $1 parking I’d be willing to walk half a dozen blocks or hop on the light rail to get to my destination. Direction way finding for parking for out-of-town visitors would be easy — ‘park under the freeway.’ Developers would gain an advantage as supplying parking levels would no longer be a given necessity of building in Downtown Houston. Even typical parking garage congestion come rush hour wouldn’t be an issue due to the linear nature the 45 and 59 garages would have to take. Multiple entrances and exits could face Pierce and Chartres with dedicated right-of-way lanes to the street. Line the lengthy parking garages with a spine of moving sidewalks so ‘prime’ parking spots are minimized. You’ll always be five minutes from a rail stop.” [Thomas, commenting on Headlines: Metro’s New Bus Plan; The Score Next Door] Illustration: Lulu
WHEN THE BROKER YOU SIGN WITH SUES YOU 
When you’re looking to buy a home, do you sign an agreement with an agent before that agent has shown you any properties? Testifying in a trial going on now at the Harris County Civil Courthouse downtown, a former VP of sales for real estate firm Urban Living says it was the firm’s policy not to show customers any homes unless they’ve signed a buyer representation agreement first. And that’s what’s landed Christopher Drummond, buyer of the townhouse drawn above at 4245 Dickson St. in Magnolia Grove, in court: The parent company of Urban Living is suing Drummond for the commission it says the company should have earned in 2011 after Drummond found and purchased the home using a different broker. Drummond claims Urban Living didn’t explain what the agreement required of him when he signed it, and that the company hadn’t used its “best efforts” — as the document requires — to find him a home. Drummond heard about the Dickson townhouse, then under construction, from a Sudhoff Properties agent he met at a party. Nancy Sarnoff has been tweeting live from the trial, which is expected to continue into next week. [Houston Chronicle ($); more on Prime Property] Drawing: NuHabitat
What’s slated for the block just west of the Highland Village Shopping Center, tucked between the railroad tracks and the shopping area on Mid Lane where construction — on a rumored highrise — will reportedly “begin in a few weeks“? An affiliate of Stonelake Capital Partners owns an entire block at 4200 Westheimer, which it assembled in a series of 3 purchases completed in July of 2012. It’s currently the site of the Westheimer Oaks office complex and a still life of demolished modern apartment buildings behind it, accessed from Bettis St. Mid Ln. forms the western border.
A note in a newsletter from a restaurant website hints that some long-rumored changes to that quaint shopping district on the west side of Mid Lane north of Westheimer, just west of the Highland Village Shopping Center, are about to begin: “Yes, the block that Crapitto’s Cucina Italiana is in has been sold. No, Crapitto’s is not closing and will remain there. The block will be developed and most of the businesses have moved out so construction can begin in a few weeks.”
- After Eight-Year Stall, Preliminary Work Begins on First Phase of Lago Mar Development [Galveston County Daily News ($); previously on Swamplot]
- Pipeline Realty Building Up To 5 Office Warehouses on 12 Acres Next to Church at Beltway 8, Cottingham [Prime Property]
- Houston-Area Office Rental Rates Slowed in First 3 Quarters of 2013 [Houston Business Journal]
- Down the Road, Phoenicia Would Like To Expand to ‘Outer Houston, Like The Woodlands or Sugar Land’ [Eater Houston]
- Developer Group Submits Brief Arguing Court Should Stop Residents’ Attempt to Stop Ashby Highrise [Prime Property]
- Appraising the Contents of Former Hand Surgeon Michael Brown’s Memorial Dr. Home [Houston Chronicle]
- State Budget Writers Reject $250M Plan To Repair Roads in Energy-Boom Areas [Houston Chronicle ($)]
Photo of Mecom Fountain at Hermann Park: Curt Littlejohn via Swamplot Flickr Pool
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A LINEAR SHOPPING DISTRICT FROM HIGHLAND VILLAGE TO THE GALLERIA 
“I love that all these projects are coming to fruition on Westheimer.
As more and more private investment comes to this area of Westheimer between Post Oak and Weslayan, will the city of Houston invest in the walkable infrastructure to make this one coherent district as it fills in?
What would we call it?
East Uptown? Lower River Oaks? Highland West?” [DNAguy, commenting on The River Oaks District’s New Box of Dior] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: IF WE SHUK UP THE DOWNTOWN TUNNELS 
“We need to turn the tunnel system into a public souq, similar to those in many Arab cities. A cool, covered area connected to the city streets that acts as an open market for various vendors and restaurateurs. Replace the bland tunnel surfaces with quality materials, carve out small market stalls, and offer them cheaply for any kind of business use. Connect the tunnels to street level every couple blocks. Each entry area could also house market stalls to offer a transition into the tunnels. This would help provide the ‘street’ life that lacks in downtown Houston. Cheap rents could attract vendors from every type of ethnicity that has come to Houston. It would be a real attraction worth visiting.” [Carpetbagger, commenting on A Park-Size Tunnel Entrance Concept for Downtown] Illustration: Lulu
- 5134 Glentworth Ct. [HAR]
WHERE THE FOOD TRUCKS ARE PARKING ON HWY. 6 
One advantage of the new Energy Corridor-area food truck park that officially debuted last week at 800 Hwy. 6 South, backing up to the Addicks Reservoir: the 3.5-acre grounds mean there’s room enough for a variety of trucks — as well as seating areas that comply with City of Houston regulations by keeping 100 ft. away. Katharine Shilcutt finds plenty of parking, music, fire pits, and ambition there too: “‘We want to make a farmers market over there,’ [My Food Park HTX co-owner Liz Gandy] told me, pointing to a series of metal structures that already form the shape of a roadside produce stand. ‘We get so much shade in the afternoons right here. It’s just beautiful.’ Behind the future market area, the acreage goes from gravel to grass, surrounded on three sides by dense thickets of trees. Back here, where many people choose to dine, it’s quiet. You can barely hear the traffic from Highway 6; you feel like you’re in the country.” [Houstonia] Photo: My Food Park HTX
A different style of furnishings and a new set of HDR-ish photos that focuses on the home’s outdoor areas show off another side of Rick Sundberg’s “Handmade House,” which has been up for sale since September for just shy of $1.6 million. Developer Carol Isaak Barden brought Sundberg to Houston to design a couple of high-end Boulevard Oaks-area homes in the late noughts. The listing for 1916 Banks St. credits the design to Sundberg’s longtime firm, then known as Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen. But Sundberg went out on his own while the home was under construction, and it’s now featured on the website of his new firm, Sundberg Kennedy Ly-Au Young Architects.
- Dunkin’ Donuts to open 12th Houston-area store in Deer Park on November 23 [Houston Business Journal]
- The View from the Houston Club’s New Digs on the 49th Floor of One Shell Plaza [Culturemap]
- Lack of Discussion of Astrodome’s Style Shows the Public Accepts Modernism [Next City]
- Architecture Firm Envisions Retail Under US-59 Overpass Near Downtown [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
- TxDOT Seeking More Input on Plans for I-45 North in Public Meetings This Week and Next [KUHF]
- Metro Strategy Change Would Increase Frequency of Popular Bus Routes, Remove Less Popular Ones [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Last Week’s House of Pies Fire Ruled Accidental, Sparked by ‘Electrical Issue’ [KHOU]
- Contemporary Plaza Residents Say Neighboring School Sports Field Has Turned Their Homes into ‘Skyboxes’ [KHOU]
- Illegal Animal Dumping Down 80 Percent Along Highway 90 in Crosby After Barriers, Signs Installed [abc13]
- 1 World Trade Center Ruled Tallest Building in the US over Chicago’s Willis Tower, Thanks to ‘Critical and Permanent’ Spire [New York Times]
Photo of the Chevron building at 1400 Smith: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool
