- 2503 Dallas St. [HAR]
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It looks like the former Discount Liquor is getting sobered up and converted into a restaurant. Permit documents hanging on that plywood indicate that the 1965 1,440-sq.-ft. corner store at 4902 Almeda will be transformed into a “take-out restaurant” to be named the Maxwell Street Grill — though it’s near the corner of Almeda and Rosedale.
Photo: Allyn West
“At 11:20 pm last night, my husband and I heard the sound of heavy scraping, metal on concrete,” reports a neighbor of the recently sold teardown at 2530 Maroneal in Old Braeswood. “It is an odd sound to hear at that time of night. It was at least 8 hours too early for trash pick-up, and it went on for a long time. After about five minutes of listening to this my curiosity and frustration drove me to get out of bed, robe up, grab my eye glasses and see what I could see. The back of my property was dark but that’s where the noise was coming from. We called the police. By the time we finished giving the police our information, the sound shifted to that of a large truck driving away. I’d guess whatever they were doing back there took about 15 minutes to execute.”
Morning light revealed 2 new neighbors: the Dumpster pictured above and this machine:
A reader sends these photos of the dirt that’s been moved at the corner of Meadow and Baron, where a rep from Urban Lofts says a new pack of townhouses will soon stand. (Presales haven’t yet begun.) West of Jensen and just a few blocks north of the former KBR property, the site bumps up against Swiney Park; it’s catty-corner from another 30 Urban Lofts townhouses on Sydnor, all of which have sold.
DOWNTOWN’S LITTLE DIPPER WILL BE VISIBLE THIS SATURDAY 
Now there’s an astrological sign on the window foretelling all the boozing to come: Eater Houston’s Darla Guillen reports that the owners and operators of hipster havens Antidote, Poison Girl, and Black Hole are preparing to open their latest venture, Little Dipper, at 304 Main St. Downtown “in the weeks to come.” And if you can’t wait that long, Guillen adds that the bar will be open for a few hours this Saturday for a preview party. [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot] Photo: @LittleDipperBar
Here are the renderings of the apartments that Mill Creek wants to build right across the street from the gameday roar and glare and incessant rhythmic drumming that goes on at BBVA Compass Stadium. Dubbed EaDo Station, the 5-story, 315-unit complex will sit at the corner of Dowling and Texas. Mill Creek tells the Houston Chronicle that the goal is to have these apartments ready to go to coincide with the running of the light rail, still under construction itself, next August.
- Transwestern Breaks Galleria Ground on 30-Story BHP Billiton Tower [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Hines Planning ‘European-Style’ Residential Development on Old Katy Road Inside the Loop [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Aldi Postpones October 24 Opening of Kemah Store [Prime Property]
- What’s Going On at Georgia’s Farm to Market’s West Houston Location? [Houstonia Magazine]
- Metro Brings Back $3 Day Pass, Discontinued in 2008 [Click2Houston]
- City Sues Developer for Cutting Down Two 100-Year-Old Live Oaks in the Museum District, Montrose [Houston Chronicle]
- Five Of Houston’s Weirdest, Wackiest Buildings [Houstonia Magazine]
Photo of I-10: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Marshlands ebb and flow just off a 1.3-acre by-the-bay property on the Surf Oaks Marsh side of Pine Gully in Seabrook. Neighbors across the wetlands are pretty quiet — they include rugged Pine Gully Park and Seabrook Cemetery. The porched, patioed, and pavilioned home appeared on the market last week with an asking price of $625,000. Back in 2009, it sold for $400,000 (when the asking price was $449,000).
The Houston and Southeast Texas chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association will be moving its headquarters from Holcombe Blvd. to Southeast Houston. Gensler redrew the former Plus4 Credit Union on the Loop feeder near Long and Griggs to do away with the 6-teller drive-thru and include instead a garden, cafe, office space, and entrance pavilion on the 2.2-acre property. The 2-story, 16,078-sq.-ft. bank building dates to 1979. Construction is scheduled to begin this Wednesday.
- 1222 Sampson St. [HAR]
FOOD TRUCKS AMONG THE TREES IN SPRING BRANCH EAST 
Another parcel of Houston real estate is being given over to food trucks: The Mangum Food Park is set to open in Spring Branch East in about 2 weeks, reports the Leader. The new park will be located at 2924 Mangum Rd., pictured here, just east of Hwy. 290. And unlike the busted concrete, street art, and for-lease signs that lend the Houston Food Park in East Downtown an urban grit, this spot outside the Loop would seem to have more of a rural feel: “The property . . . has been in [co-owner Paige] Hughes’ family since the early 1900s and has been a dairy farm and residence. The main work so far has been clearing ‘lots of dead trees’ . . . Enviably, there’s a row of large trees still standing along the south side of the land, which, along with canopied areas and plenty of tables, will provide shaded eating . . . .” [The Leader; previously on Swamplot] Photo of 2924 Mangum Rd.: Mangum Food Park
A NEW MIXTURE OF USES FOR THE OLD SPRING BRANCH MED CENTER 
The proud new owners of the 300,000-sq.-ft. Spring Branch Medical Center say they plan to flip the 18-acre property on Long Point Rd. into a residential and retail development. Investor Bruce Phillips tells the Houston Chronicle that the old medical buildings, most of which were built in the ’80s, might not have to come down to make the change happen and could be repurposed. The purchase was led by BlackSwan, which is also developing with Stream Realty that 25-story office tower near Washington on Waugh and Barnes. [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot] Photo: MAM Jobs Network
BUILDING A MONUMENT TO GATED FLOOD CONTROL AND TOURISM 
Protecting the Ship Channel during an Ike-like (or worse) storm surge has led some to propose a big dike, others a big gate. But UH professor of urban planning Tom Colbert doesn’t see why we couldn’t trouble ourselves to make such protection a real sight to see too: “Colbert likes the idea of . . . connecting the Centennial Gate and its levees to the proposed Lone Star National Recreation Area, undeveloped land that would both attract ecotourists and slow floodwaters,” reports the Houston Chronicle’s Lisa Gray: “I remembered one drawing I’d seen in [Colbert’s] PowerPoint show: Happy tourists, paddling kayaks past the Hartman Bridge, on one of the byways out of the big ships’ path, waterbirds and wetlands all around. Colbert motioned southeast, toward the Ship Channel’s mouth, toward Barbours Cut, the other possible location for the floodgate. There, he said, the levees would cross the channel’s water, connecting the Ship Channel’s artificial islands — made from dirt dredged from the channel — to the shore. Enough room could be left on top of the levee for a hiking path or even for car access; for the first time, it would be possible for people to get to the Atkinson Island Wildlife Management Area — a bird mecca on manmade land — without a boat. You could even, he notes, build a tourist destination atop one of those islands: He proposes a monument to Houston, the gateway to North America, the place where nature meets industry. In some drawings, just to give people the idea, he plunks the Statue of Liberty atop a Ship Channel island.” [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot] Photo of Fred Hartman Bridge: Chuck Wilkson
Construction should begin by the end of October to transform a chopped-up industrial street in East Downtown into something like the pedestrian promenade rendered here. Anton Sinkewich, the director of the East Downtown Management District, explains that 5 blocks of Bastrop St., between Bell and McKinney, running near the Houston Food Truck Park and leading toward BBVA Compass Stadium on Walker, will be regraded. A pedestrian-only crushed granite path will be installed and dozens of trees planted. This first part of the project is modest, says Sinkewich, though there are plans in place to include more amenities if and when the ’hood continues to grow.
