Headlines
08/15/13 8:30am

Headlines: A Shipping Container Icehouse for Texas City; A Zip Line Ride for Kemah

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Photo of B-Cycle station at Caroline and McKinney streets: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

New Construction
08/14/13 5:00pm

The Natural Spaces Being Built into the ExxonMobil Campus

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Here are some new renderings of the spaces between the buildings on the ExxonMobil campus under construction in Springwoods Village. The Houston Business Journal’s Shaina Zucker reports that the 20 or so office buildings that will constitute the 385-acre campus will be organized around “a central three-acre commons” much like the one, designed by Houston firm PDR, shown here. The commons, explains Zucker, is “modeled after great public squares found in Europe and the U.S.”

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Nightlife
08/14/13 3:30pm

Say Howdy to the Largest Gay Country Bar in Texas

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SAY HOWDY TO THE LARGEST GAY COUNTRY BAR IN TEXAS Lamenting the closing of Brazos River Bottom in Midtown, the new owners of the 1955 Esquire Ballroom — where a young Willie Nelson, among other country crooners, cut his teeth — say they are restoring the vacant dancehall and saloon and will be opening on August 24 what they claim is the largest LGBT country bar in Texas. At 11410 Hempstead Hwy. in Spring Branch, the 10,000-sq.ft. building is now named Neon Boots and, according to a press release, is being renovated to include a “huge dance floor and performance stage, six bar stations, table service, [and an] expansive outdoor area with deck and patio. The owners also anticipate installing a mechanical bull.” [Neon Boots; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Esquire Ballroom: West Houston Archives

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Comments
08/14/13 1:45pm

Comment of the Day: What the Fate of the Astrodome Says About Houston

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26 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT THE FATE OF THE ASTRODOME SAYS ABOUT HOUSTON “This whole Dome debate is more than a just a property tax issue that people want to paint it as. If you really distilled it down to a single point, well then I guess it is. However, it incorporates debates on size of government, government accountability / effectiveness, a city identity crisis, preservation, nostalgia, optimism vs pessimism, and cronyism. One could actually make the argument that in this one issue, we’re trying to figure out what it is to be a ‘Houstonian,’ what the future of Houston is going to be, and if it’s worth saving our past. This has been so fascinating to me because of all these issues are being hashed out whether consciously or unconsciously. This whole saga is definitely worth writing a book over. I guess we get to decide how that book ends (or continues?) in November.” [DNAguy111, commenting on Commissioners Decide To Let Voters Decide on Convention Center Plan]

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Comments
08/14/13 1:30pm

Comment of the Day Runner-Up: How Houston Can Speed Things Along

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COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: HOW HOUSTON CAN SPEED THINGS ALONG “Can we replace the HOT lanes with hyperloop tubes? Who wouldn’t pay $5 bucks to travel from The Woodlands to Downtown in 5 minutes? It’d be cheaper than gas! That’d be a game changer. How about a hyperloop tube to Galveston? Think of how efficient evacuation would be with an on coming hurricane.” [Thomas, commenting on Headlines: Many More Dunkin’ Donuts; Free Metro Rides on Labor Day] Illustration: Lulu

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Demolitions
08/14/13 12:15pm

Is Astrodome Demolition Going To Be on the Ballot in November?

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Harris County Commissioner Jack Morman and Judge Ed Emmett are already saying that, were that $217 million bond election to turn the Astrodome into a convention center (as shown in the rendering above) to fail this November, then the Dome would probably be torn down — but will that be stated clearly on the ballot? So far, that doesn’t seem to have been decided — or even mentioned as a possibility. What is clear is that the November vote is being touted as a this-or-nothing proposition. The Houston Chronicle’s Kiah Collier reports:

[Emmett and Morman] said Tuesday they see no other alternative than to demolish the former ‘Eighth Wonder of the World,’ which has sat vacant since city inspectors declared it unfit for occupancy in 2009. . . . ‘If it does not pass in November, then that should be the death knell for the Dome,’ Morman said.

Rendering: HCSCC

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Buildouts
08/14/13 10:15am

Pink’s Pizza Moving Into West End Strip Center

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A reader sends these new photos of the taped-up TABC sign in the window of the old laundromat at 1009 Moy St., shown above, where it appears a Pink’s Pizza will be opening soon. The photo at the top of the page shows the strip center endcap as seen from the corner of Moy and Center St., looking toward Washington Ave. a block to the south; T.C. Jester is a few blocks to the west. This new Pink’s will be the restaurant’s 4th inside the Loop; a 5th is on N. Shepherd in Garden Oaks. No opening date has been revealed. Another Pink’s is reported to be opening soon in that new retail center on Calhoun Rd. at the University of Houston.

Photos: Lisa L. Riley

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Headlines
08/14/13 8:30am

Headlines: A Big New TV in Reliant Stadium; The River Oaks Mansion with the Biggest Pool in Houston

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19 Comments

Photo of 3940 Inverness Dr.: HAR

Comments
08/13/13 4:30pm

Comment of the Day: Listening to the Montrose Vortex

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COMMENT OF THE DAY: LISTENING TO THE MONTROSE VORTEX “This looks like the tornadic vortex that tunneled through and created the Inversion House and could do the same to any bungalow left in Montrose. I’ve seen some of Renner’s gigantic spheres of the same colorful slats and this seems like the humongous fallopian tube that spit them out. It appears to move faster than the traffic that sits alongside it. I love that the colors reflect the rainbow flags along Westheimer left from the parade. Best of all is that HAA money went to a Houston artist! If I put my ear up to the big end, do I hear the live oaks singing? It appeals to all my senses.” [Mike, commenting on Now Ready To Be Looked At: Montrose “Funnel Tunnel”] Illustration: Lulu

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Adaptive Reuse
08/13/13 3:30pm

The New Fourth Ward Townhomes with an Attachment to History

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Here’s a pair of renderings of 4 new townhomes about to be built in the Fourth Ward. The site is 2 blocks south of W. Gray, near those side-by-side lots where that 5-story apartment complex Dolce Living has been proposed to go in beside a row of vacant shotgun houses.

If you look closely at these renderings, you can see at least one more remnant of the past: The remains of the brick storefront of a dry cleaner’s that opened here on the corner of Genesee and W. Webster in the 1930s; it appears that what was the store’s main entrance has been incorporated into the design and widened into a 1-car garage. Says Tim Cisneros, whose firm worked on the townhomes: “[The storefront is] being left as a part of the neighborhood ‘commercial archeology.’”

Renderings: Cisneros Design Studio

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Homes for Sale
08/13/13 2:15pm

Balancing the Books in Indian Trails

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Minimalism maxes out the use of maple in a contemporary Indian Trails property that went blonde in its wooden trim, panels and shelving (top). The home’s lobby-like living and dining space, capped by skylights, sits between a bridge-like balcony and book-filled shelving rising to the double-height ceiling. The 2002 home, entered from a courtyard to the left of the front-loading driveway (above and at right), has a $1.25 million price tag and a $6,750 annual maintenance fee.

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Houston Landmarks
08/13/13 1:00pm

Commissioners Decide To Let Voters Decide on Convention Center Plan

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COMMISSIONERS DECIDE TO LET VOTERS DECIDE ON CONVENTION CENTER PLAN You’ll get your chance at the ballot box this November to decide whether to approve a bond that would pay for the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp.’s $217 million plan to clean up and slim down the Astrodome into a convention center. The Houston Chronicle’s Kiah Collier reports that the County Commissioners finally approved the bond order this morning — along with a few other items of business, including spending “$8 million for asbestos abatement, selective demolition and other work county staff says needs to be done on the vacant stadium whether it is revamped or torn down. That includes allowing the county purchasing agent to inventory and sell Dome-related ‘sports memorabilia,’ including signs.” If passed, adds Collier, the bond would raise property taxes by about $8. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: HCSCC

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Buildouts
08/13/13 12:00pm

Upper Kirby Ranch-to-Table Restaurant Lets You In on Permit-to-Sign Renovation Process

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The new restaurant moving into the old Palazzo’s Trattoria space on Westheimer is 60 Degrees Mastercrafted, a “ranch to table” concept from Certified Master Chef Fritz Gitschner. In keeping with this culinary philosophy of full disclosure and transparency, 60 Degrees also seems intent to reveal the process of its own becoming. Says a post on its Facebook page: “We are looking forward to having you follow us along this amazing journey and watch the restaurant come to life!”

The first stop on this amazing journey? The Houston Permitting Center. Now, write that check . . .

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