- 3711 Olympia Dr. [HAR]
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE BETTER LAKE 
“Wrong lake? Would you prefer rush hour on Lake Conroe? Shoulder to shoulder and all the noise?
The area of Lake Livingston is 129.7 sq miles compared to Lake Conroe of 32.81 sq miles. Four times as large.
Lake Livingston is fed from the Trinity River which flows from North of Dallas (almost Red River / Oklahoma line) while Lake Conroe is fed from the West Fork of the San Jacinto River. This matters greatly if it doesn’t rain or if Houston is too thirsty.
Avg depth in Lake Livingston is 55 feet compared to 20.5 feet for Lake Conroe.
In short Lake Livingston is far less congested, four times as large, much more stable water level, and much deeper. You choose but I chose Lake Livingston and love every minute of it and don’t forget the ability to head up the Trinity River a long long ways for other large bodies of water and calm surfaces for wake boarding and water skiing.” [Scharpe, commenting on A Newish Lakeside Estate in Coldspring Looks Back] Illustration: Lulu
Ethan’s Glen, a Hines townhome development completed in 1978 near the Energy Corridor, clusters its quad pods around the community’s 32 wooded acres off Memorial Dr., just west of Paul Revere Dr. The 288 units feature rough-sawn cedar siding, sloped cedar shingle roofs, and cross-property views from semi-sheltered decks and balconies on 2 levels. One of the updated larger units popped up on the market this week, with a $329,000 asking price.
The Art Guys say their van will be doing about 60 mph around the 38-mile-circumference of the 610 Loop this weekend, which means that in 12 hours of continuous driving, they should make something shy of 19 times around the Inner Loop — minus pit stops for gassing up and, uh, watering down. Then they’ll turn around and unwind for an additional 12 hours in the opposite direction. What are these guys driving at? Feel free to call the artists themselves while they’re on the road, using the number emblazoned on the side of the van (832-712-6207) if you’ve got questions about the project; they plan to start their 24-hour freeway adventure at 5 p.m. this Saturday from the North Shepherd entrance ramp.
Who’s footing the bill for such loopiness?
BALLY’S I-10 SHOPPING CENTER TO BE BLASTED AWAY FOR NEW OFFICE TOWER 
MetroNational has immediate plans to tear down this 2-story 12-year-old former Bally Fitness Shopping Center on a 3.44-acre site facing the I-10 feeder at the northeast corner of the Memorial City Mall — and replace it with some sort of new office tower, Real Estate Bisnow‘s Catie Dixon reports. The health club (along with all 9 other Houston Bally’s locations) was taken over by Blast Fitness last year — and shut down entirely this spring. As of the end of last week, all remaining tenants in the building at 9801 Katy Fwy. have closed up shop as well. MetroNational (as usual) wouldn’t comment on plans for the site half a mile east of its headquarters, but Dixon gets the scoop from the stores themselves: Le Peep plans to be gone from the site only for 14 to 16 months, however; it’s been promised a ground-floor retail space in the new building. T.N. Tailor Alterations also says it has a spot in the new development; no word on the Starbucks. [Real Estate Bisnow] Photo of Bally Total Fitness at 9801 Katy Fwy.:Â MetroNational
- Folks Behind Proposed Grand Texas Theme Park in Montgomery County Say It’ll Open by Summer 2015, Now with Roller Coasters [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Heights General Store in Former Harold’s Now Open for Restaurant Service; Market Debuts This Weekend [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
- Montrose’s Lowbrow Bar a Love Letter to Houston [Houstonia Magazine; previously on Swamplot]
- Longtime Director of Houston Planning Dept. Marlene Gafrick Leaving Her Post To Work for Secretive MetroNational [Houston Planning]
- Neighbors of Willow Waterhole Meet with Flood Control District To Discuss Tree-Cutting Concerns [West University Examiner; previously on Swamplot]
- Could New Trees and a Promenade Help a ‘Blighted’ Area in East Downtown? [Prime Property]
Photo of lit-up Astrodome: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
A waterfront estate in Coldspring’s Paradise Cove on Lake Livingston pumps up the nostalgia. It’s not just the charming merry-go-round (top), a tilted bit of grandchild bait strategically placed on the grounds. Built in 2007, the sprawling, multi-peaked home mirrors grand-scale cottage escapes of another era. The references play out in the home’s scale and interior sprinklings of somewhere-in-time architectural “finds” from round-the-world. Vintage touches blend in with modern building materials made to look old, such as the exterior’s bricks and replica slate roof with griffin and copper finials. Meanwhile, the chimney stacks hail from England, the front door from France, and the gazebo from Egypt. How convincing is the assembly? Only the custom newel posts from New England get a close-up in any of the listing photos, which also indicate a penchant for heavy, dark-stained trim, red velvet accents, and claw foot tubs.
- 1118 League Trace [HAR]
AN ASTRODOME GAMBIT THAT WON 
The Astrodome’s future may have taken a hit in Tuesday’s bond vote, but the building’s past has never looked brighter. The Dome, in all its historical splendor, will now head to the silver screen. Filmmakers Chip Rives and David Karabinas succeeded in reaching their $65,000 goal with their Kickstarter effort to fund additional filming and finishing work on The Dome Movie, a cinematic tribute to Houston’s once-astonishing ambitions and the building that made them apparent to the world. A total of 233 backers pushed the fundraising campaign, which officially ended yesterday, to a total of $68,618, earning for themselves expressions of gratitude ranging from Facebook-page thank-yous to actual Producer credit. Included on the filmmakers’ now-funded to-do list: interviews with Earl Campbell, Billie Jean King, and George Strait — and some sort of ending. [Kickstarter; previously on Swamplot] Movie still: Texas Crew
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHEN KIDS TAKE OVER THE BIG ROOMS 
“. . . And let me say as a parent, having a large room entirely devoted to the kids is great. We didn’t have a dining room table for at least a year when we first moved into our current home, and our kids LOVED that empty space. They cried when we turned it into a proper dining room.” [Vonnegan, commenting on Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: Child Support] Illustration: Lulu
Woodlands organic shoppers: Do not let the parking garage that appears to be enveloping the new Whole Foods Market in this rendering scare you off. The press release announcing the grocery chain’s first Woodlands store declares there’ll be “ample surface parking” adjacent to the market. Whew! Construction will start on the 40,000-sq.-ft. store soon, the Woodlands Development Company announced this morning. It’ll be part of Hughes Landing, the new 66-acre office, hotel, retail, and apartment complex going in on the northeast bank of Lake Woodlands. The store will be near the intersection of Lake Front Circle and Lake Woodlands Dr., with the main entrance shown above coming off Lake Front. That likely places it in the spot marked “Grocery” in this rotated plan of the development’s southern half:
NOW PICTURE HOUSTON’S ASTRODOME REPLACED BY A GIANT WET PIT 
Simply filling in the 9-acre, 35-ft.-deep hole in the ground where the Astrodome now sits would eat up more than $10 million of the estimated $28 million it would cost to demolish the publicly owned structure, according to county engineers. (Another $8 million of that total has already been approved, for removal of asbestos, ticket booths, turnstiles, grass berms, and ramps, plus all the seats and interior items; that demo work is already taking place.) Which leads county commissioner Steve Radack to suggest that the money be saved and the site be turned into a giant flood-preventing detention pond — “if and when” it is demolished. That’d make for a rather eloquent and down-to-earth symbol to substitute for Houston’s most famous landmark. Judge Emmett, who before the failed bond vote favored preserving the Dome by renovating it, declared after Tuesday’s election defeat that “We’re going to have to do something quick.” But commissioner Jack Cagle says he has no deadlines for a decision in mind. So who’s pushing to have the Dome demolished in a hurry? The same folks who’ve been calling the aging structure an “inconvenience” to Rodeo and Texans game visitors, write the Chronicle‘s Kiah Collier and Nancy Sarnoff: “Reliant Park’s main tenants, the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo and the NFL’s Houston Texans want the county to act as quickly as possible, and certainly before the Super Bowl comes to Reliant Stadium in early 2017.” [Houston Politics; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Brays Bayou detention basin: John Lienhard
- House of Pies on Kirby Closed Until Thanksgiving at Least After Fire Damages Roof and Exterior [KHOU]
- Lots More Highrise Rentals Coming on Board in Galleria Area [Houston Business Journal]
- Woodlands Development Co. Confirms Details, but not Prices, of Mitchell Island Private Home Project [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
- Astrodome, Katy Stadium Bonds Failed Only Because of Antipathy to Tax Increases, Say Political Observers [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- ‘Usonian Home’ Designed by Frank Floyd Wright in 1939 Finally Built — on Florida College Campus [Dezeen Magazine]
- Slideshow: Those Promotional Photos of Drilling Rigs and Refineries are Works of Art [Fuel Fix]
Photo of House of Pies fire: KHOU
