09/09/13 11:00am

That slow-to-develop retail district on the old prison farm in Sugar Land, rehabilitated into The Crossing at Telfair, appears to be locking up a new occupant. This sign, says the reader who snapped the photo, recently popped up behind the Whataburger and the H-E-B on Hwy. 6, just to the north along University Blvd. of the site where that new 6,500-seat performance hall is planned to be built. No opening date for the Austin Tex-Mex chain has been announced, though the Sugar Land Sun reports that the place should be good to go by the end of the year.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

09/09/13 10:00am

A reader sends this rendering of the skybridge that would hook up the existing Chevron buildings Downtown with the new 50-story big blue tower planned to rise at 1600 Louisiana and Pease, on the site of Kenneth Franzheim’s torn-down Downtown Y. The reader says that the new HOK-designed tower could rise as high as 830 ft., “making it the third tallest building downtown.” (Which, this rendering suggests, would invite backpack-wearing tourists to gawk and take photos.) A few other details: “The 4th floor will have an outdoor cafeteria and event space while the recently purchased parking garage will have two new floors added to house a new fitness center.”

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09/09/13 8:30am

Photo of Galveston: Jackson Myers via Swamplot Flickr Pool

09/06/13 1:00pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHO’S MAKING CARRION OF HOUSTON? “I love reading comments from our real estate investor and developer friends who do not see or understand the value in salvaging older homes/buildings. I also love reading their complaints about COH’s minimal/laughable pro-development ‘restrictions’ as some sort of tool of communistic oppression. I guess if I agreed the profits and bottom line of real estate investors/developers are more important than the quality of life of every single other person in Houston, I could possibly see their points. However, because I don’t care about their profits or their bottom line, I don’t see their points. Instead, I see these people and their friends as vultures, slowly picking away at the bones of our city. My community does what little it can to swat away the vultures, and I am heartened to see others in other communities doing the same, but unless the City’s short-sighted attitude toward development at any cost changes, we can count on ‘development’ eroding the rest of the inner loop.” [mel, commenting on Comment of the Day: The Qualities That Make Houston So Special] Illustration: Lulu

09/06/13 12:05pm

ANYONE GOT A BETTER IDEA FOR THE ASTRODOME? The Harris County Sports and Convention Corp. might have passed over everyone else’s ideas about what to do with the Astrodome, but that doesn’t mean that no one would pick them: Thus, Architect’s Newspaper and YKK AP are sponsoring a Dome design competition to launch its new Southwest edition. The gist of the contest: A jury will award cash prizes to the 5 best ideas, which will be featured in the inaugural issue to debut November 6: “[W]e feel that the current proposal can only be made better by an infusion of fresh ideas. . . . Great aspirations and utopian schemes are welcome, as are feasible proposals that mesh with The New Dome Experience.” You’ve got to pay to play and register by September 17 to compete. [Arch Paper; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Allyn West

09/06/13 11:15am

Justin Turner of the cheddar-colored, school-themed burger bus — a frequent visitor to the can-you-hear-me-above-the-generators Houston Food Park in East Downtown — tells Eater Houston that he’s planning to open 3 non-wheeled restaurants in the next 5 years. That’s in addition to the stand he set up at Sections 114 and 115 inside Reliant Stadium to cook patties while the Texans play. Bernie’s will still operate 3 buses to serve close-in ’hoods, but it appears that all the restaurants will be outside the Loop: The first to open, says Turner, will be on Bellaire west of 610, the second in Katy, and the third “another place out in the ‘burbs.”

Photo of Bernie’s Burger Bus at Inversion at 1953 Montrose Blvd: Yelp user Jason T.

09/06/13 10:00am

Remember that unusable and really vague tip sent to Swamplot back in January? The one promising that a “major (non-residential) Houston property is about to make a significant change”? And it wasn’t Macy’s? Well, the in-the-know tipster now reports, we can let that cat out of the bag, since the Houston Business Journal and Houston Chronicle already have: The “Houston landmark” the tipster couldn’t tip us off about is the Galleria — which, it was announced yesterday by developer Simon Property Group, will be undergoing extensive renovations and partial demolition to create about 100,000 new sq. ft. of retail and restaurant space.

The plan calls for the Galleria III portion where Saks Fifth Avenue is currently located to be demolished — though the tipster says the Philip Johnson façade will be maintained — to make room for a bumped-out food court (shown in the rendering above). That freed-up Saks space will provide room for 35 new retailers and restaurants. Meanwhile, Saks will be moving into the Macy’s spot on Sage, and that Macy’s will be merging with the other Macy’s on Hidalgo. (Makes sense.) Also, a standalone box will be built in the parking lot for a few tenants who can afford to be more conspicuous to the stop-and-go crowd on Westheimer.

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09/06/13 8:30am

Photo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

09/05/13 4:45pm

Somewhere under the ’80s remodeling of this angular home clad in contemporary-ish stucco and cement board lie what HCAD logs as a 1920 residence and its 1950-vintage addition. Located on a corner lot across from Reagan High School, the Houston Heights property-with-parapet hit the market Tuesday and has a $420,000 price tag.

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09/05/13 3:45pm

Here’s a look at the recently approved designs of the new arts and concert venue that could start being built as soon as 2014 in Sugar Land. Drawn up by Washington, D.C., firm Martinez & Johnson, the 200,000-sq.-ft., 6,500-seat theater will eventually sit on 39 undeveloped acres in Telfair, just off the Southwest Fwy. and University Blvd.

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09/05/13 2:30pm

IN PRAISE OF CARNEGIE VANGUARD’S MIXED-USE PARKING GARAGE What does HISD have to show for that $805 million approved in 2007 for new school construction and renovation? MaryScott Hagle reviews the results at Lockhart, Herod, and Peck elementaries and gives props to RdlR Architects for the design of Carnegie Vanguard High School at 1501 Taft — though she seems most taken with the parking garage, which was, she writes, “originally planned for one story that grew to two when the City of Houston offered to pitch in, in exchange for community access to the school’s ball fields on the weekends. . . . Furthermore, the garage itself is dual-purpose: when the academic day is over and the students who park on the garage roof go home, the Carnegie tennis team takes over for practice.” [OffCite] Photo: HISD

09/05/13 1:00pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WOODLAND HEIGHTS BACK IN ITS NAKED FOLK DANCING DAYS “When I first moved to Woodland Heights in the 80s, responsible parents were more likely to strip naked and perform a tarantella on the Houston Avenue overpass than to send their kids to Travis, and I got burgled frequently enough to do my very own comparison test of TVs. Things change.” [mollusk, commenting on Comment of the Day Runner-Up: Looking Sharp] Illustration: Lulu