Renovations have added more than $1.5 million to the asking price of a 1988 townhome in Briar Hollow’s gated Raintree community. Inside, the floors are now so polished a Zamboni driver might get jealous. The 2-pool property’s shined-up version made its market re-entry at the end of August with a $2.875 million price tag. It sold this January for $1.299 million — after more than a year on the market had whittled down the ask from an initial (October 2011) $2 million.
W. A. PARISH PLANT ONE OF THE WORST POLLUTERS IN THE COUNTRY, FINDS REPORT 
According to a new study published by Environment America, NRG Energy’s coal-firing W. A. Parish Electric Generating Plant, on Smithers Lake outside of Richmond, is really good at being dirty. Though the plant has been messing around with a way to clean itself up in the past year or so, the report, published today, still fingers it as the 5th dirtiest in the country when it comes to carbon emissions. And here, in order, are 1-4: “Georgia Power Co.’s Plant Scherer, Alabama Power Co.’s James H. Miller Jr. Plant, Luminant’s Martin Lake in Texas, [and] Ameren’s Labadie in Missouri.” [StateImpact; Environment America; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Flickr user Joe A.
PRESERVATIONISTS PURCHASE DEER PARK PRAIRIE 
No thanks to Stephen Colbert, but enough money has rolled in from more than 1,000 donations — including $2 million from Terry Hershey — for the Bayou Land Conservancy to buy up those 53 acres of prairie near Luella Ave. and Spencer Hwy. in Deer Park and stave off a subdivision. Still, at least one question remains: What else is there to do with so much prairie? Lisa Gray explains: “The conservancy plans to donate the land to the Native Prairies Association of Texas, which would manage the health of the prairie and provide guided tours.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Video still: via Brian Traylor
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE DEEP, RICH BEAUTY OF HOUSTON’S FEEDER ROADS 
“Houston is ugly, but there are hidden benefits to this ugliness. I was in the NE this summer going from DC up the Eastern seaboard visiting friends and family. Feeder roads do not work out east because freeways are frequently dug out of the hilly terrain and there isn’t any flat land along side the freeways to build. The result is that a lot of the freeways are just lined with trees. While this is attractive, it also gets boring after a while. There isn’t much difference between the trees in DC, Philly or Boston. Houston’s endless feeder road developments make driving around town much more interesting. You can observe the various layers of strip mall sediment that lines the highways: from fresh new bundles of Academy Sports, HEB and Toys R US to middle of the road, tired Kohls-anchored strip with Cici’s pizza to the ramshackle strips with the accident and injury clinic, Pho noodle #3 and tax/bankruptcy/notario and divorce ‘law’ firm. There are ooohs and aahhhs at sites like Luz de Estrella on 59, Gallery Furniture on I-45 and an ad hoc gallery of steel sculptures on 288 south. And in between all of that, miles and miles of car dealerships. Never a dull moment on Houston’s highways.” [Old School, commenting on Comment of the Day Runner-Up: Houston Can’t Keep Up] Illustration: Lulu
Note: Story updated with “after” photo, after the jump.
You can almost see the poor thing quivering: A reader sends this photo of the last few minutes of the life of 219 W. 10th St. in the Heights. The 2,311-sq.-ft. home, dating to 1920, showed up in the Daily Demolition Report on Friday, and it appears that the dirty deed was done earlier this week. This 6,600-sq.-ft. lot is on the corner of W. 10th and Allston, just a few very narrow blocks up and over from those sites where Trammell Crow says it is going to build 2 Alexan apartment complexes.
NEXT ALEXAN COMPLEX GOING UP ON LAKE-LOOKING SITE IN SPRING 
Most of the Alexan-brand apartment complexes that Trammell Crow is building haven’t strayed too far from I-10 — with ones planned for the Heights, Energy Corridor, and Wilchester — but a new one is being built much farther north on I-45 in Spring. Partnering with Prime Property Investors out of Illinois, Trammell Crow has started construction this week on the 346-unit Alexan at Auburn Lakes at W. Rayford and Gosling. And what comes with this new territory? Residents, reports Nancy Sarnoff, will have access to a “private lake” among other attractive amenities — a dog park, business center, shared kitchen, billiards room — and shell out an average rent for the 1- and 2-bedroom units of $1,199 a month. [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Prime Property Investors
Note: Read more about this story here.
First a Walmart, and now a parking lot? Some Idylwood residents are organizing opposition to a 20- or 30-space parking lot proposed for this site by the Houston Parks Board for the Bayou Greenways Project. The parking lot, presumably meant for users of the hike and bike trail to be built at some point along this stretch of Brays Bayou — which slithers beneath I-45 on its way toward U of H and the Med Center — would replace this sylvan knoll in the bayou-hugging ’hood where N. Macgregor Way curves into Sylvan Rd. But residents have some concerns . . .
Photo of Pasadena refineries: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Big shoulders on a 1928 property in Idylwood look as if the muscular house remodeled in 2000 could transform into an action figure, pull itself out of its slab, and head across the street toward a bend in Brays Bayou. As it is, however, the home’s porch, deck, and side-car vantage points will have to do for the bayou view. The double-lot spread appeared on the market at the end of August and has a $325,000 asking price.
Since many of the big-headed attendees here at David Adickes’s former SculpturWorx compound are already dressed in formal wear — well, except for the Beatles — it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for the Vanderbilt, the new event space with the highfalutin name being prepped for an opening later this month. A reader reports that the Vanderbilt has applied for its liquor license, and you can see one of those telltale TABC signs hanging beneath the plywood in the window at the top of the stairs.
Photo: Allyn West
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW TO LIGHT UP THE ASTRODOME 
“It just occurred to me that the best use would be to turn the Astrodome into a giant Concentrating Solar Power plant — you know, the kind with all the mirrors pointed at a tower. Simply chop off the top, install the tower, and replace the seats with mirrors, and you’re done. A rough, napkin calculation says we should get over 2M W, enough to power almost 1,000 homes. Wikipedia says CSP costs $4/W, so about $9.5 mil for the project. This would make the Astrodome a true symbol of the future while keeping the history mostly intact. Reliant Energy could then promote next door Reliant Stadium as being 100% renewable powered all year.
There was talk of turning it into a conference center with photovoltaic solar panels on the top, but converting it to CSP means much more power per square foot generated, especially if you use the stadium’s natural bowl shape (25% efficiency for dish-shaped CSP vs. 15% for regular solar panels). [Derek, commenting on Anyone Got a Better Idea for the Astrodome?] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: HOUSTON CAN’T KEEP UP 
“Every relative or friend of mine who has visited from another city comments similarly on Houston: ‘It has a dirty, third world vibe.’
This was true for me when I first came here. Houston is ugly. It’s dirty, muddy, with broken pavement and cheap architecture and badly maintained infrastructure. Even its proponents talk about how ugly it is. It doesn’t look like most other American (or even Texan) cities. I go to Austin or Dallas and think ‘wow, everything’s so clean, so well-maintained.’
Houston is just badly maintained. This isn’t a value judgment — I think the lack of maintenance makes it kind of interesting.” [MW, commenting on Comment of the Day: Who’s Making Carrion of Houston?] Illustration: Lulu
WHAT’S BEST FOR BUFFALO BAYOU? 
Let it flow, or let it be? Environmentalists and the Harris County Flood Control District disagree — at least when it comes to the 1.5-mile stretch that contributes to the “jungly ecosystem” of the Hogg Bird Sanctuary in Memorial Park, reports the Houston Chronicle’s Lisa Gray. A “restoration” plan proposed by the flood controllers, explains Gray, “would change the bayou’s course in places, fill in an oxbow here, reinforce banks there, widen the bayou’s channel, raising and lowering landmasses and generally move an enormous amount of dirt. [They argue] that the proposed measures are desperately needed to reduce erosion and improve water quality.” They’d do it here as they did it at Meyer Park along Spring Creek, reports Gray. But the environmentalists don’t seem to consider that to have been a “restoration” project, really: “‘Look at that!” [Memorial Park Conservancy board member Katy Emde] told me, outraged, showing me a picture of Meyer Park on her phone. ‘There’s no diversity! It’s not natural! It’s not habitat! It’s horrifying.'” [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot] Photo of Hogg Bird Sanctuary: Bayou Shuttle
