07/26/13 12:15pm

An intrepid Redditor recently explored the vacant Oakbrook Apartments and snuck away with these photos. The 222-unit complex, currently for sale, sits on 7.3 acres at 5353 De Soto St., east of Antoine and north of W. Tidwell, right up against White Oak Bayou. Writes the creative trespasser: “The majority of [the apartments] are unsecured at this point. There really didn’t seem to be much of anything left in any of the apartments, and I went in a lot of them. Most of the drywall is crumbling and you can smell the mildew from 20 yards away. Wiring and other appliances have been torn out in most of them.”

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

07/26/13 10:00am

Yeah, this old one is a goner: A rep from the city says that a variance application to reduce the building setback has been approved for this corner in Museum Park, making just enough room on the 8,100-sq.-ft. lot at Jackson and Blodgett so 4 townhomes can squeeze on in. The peach-trimmed, converted-into-apartments building at 1702 Blodgett St., catty-corner from the art gallery that opened in the strip center, was in the Daily Demolition Report this morning. County records show that the doomed 4,220-sq.-ft. building dates to 1935.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

07/26/13 8:30am

Photo of the 1200 block of Elder in the First Ward: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

07/25/13 4:05pm

SOME REAL-LIFE OCCUPANTS FOR GALVESTON’S LONG-ABANDONED BREWERY? The endangered historic Falstaff Brewery that once harbored a bunch of scared architecture students in a horror flick might become a real refuge for Galvestonians looking for cheap housing — or so Culturemap’s Tyler Rudick seems to think, divining a hint about Dallas developer Matthews Southwest’s plans for the property from the very title of the rep he interviews: “Company officials are unable to reveal the full details until a purchase is finalized,” cautions Rudick. “But [we] spoke with current project leader Scott Galbraith, whose position as Matthews Southwest’s vice president of affordable income development suggests the company’s larger plans for the complex.” Perhaps, but Galbraith is also quick to point out that Matthews Southwest is keeping its options open while studying the site; previous environmental investigations have found plenty of asbestos in the 313,000-sq.-ft. building and soil contamination around it. [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Candace Garcia

07/25/13 2:30pm

A reader sends a photo of what still remains of this 1930 home at 1813 Arbor St. MLS data show that the 2,004-sq.-ft. house on this 8,000-sq.-ft. Museum Park lot was sold in May for $285,000. Reports the reader: “I thought that they were going to rehab this house but now it looks like they are dismantling it and salvaging bricks and materials.” You can find these ruins a block west of Almeda, directly across the street from those Intexure homes that were reviewed here when featured on the Art Institute of Houston’s 2011 Modern Home Tour.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

07/25/13 1:00pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH AN OLD GROCERY STORE “The Skaggs Albertson at Louetta and Kuykendahl is now a DPS Drivers License Center. The old Klein’s grocery store in Tomball is being turned into a Veterans Health Center. The old Walmart on 249 just south of Spring Cypress was turned into a training center for a company. The old Randalls on Jones is now a Habitat ReStore. Another good use is for a fitness center.” [Tejas, commenting on Comment of the Day: All Emptied Out with Nothing To Do] Illustration: Lulu

07/25/13 10:45am

Across town from the new “Stop the San Felipe Skyscraper” signs popping up in River Oaks and Vermont Commons to oppose the proposed 17-story Hines office building, another crop of anti-development placards is objecting in free verse to the Morrison Heights complex of apartments and condos that’s currently under construction near Houston Ave. and White Oak. Eschewing both the bold imperative of the San Felipe signage and the cartoon menace of the Ashby Highrise hatred, these seem to prefer the rhetorical oomph of puns and wordplay and rhyme. And what, exactly, is the development that has received this poetic ire?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

07/25/13 8:30am

Photo of the Houston Ballet building at 601 Preston: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

07/24/13 5:00pm

Here’s a photo of the little rubble pile forming outside the former Houston Club Building at 811 Rusk, a presage of the bigger rubble to come. Skanska, which bought the 18-story building standing on the block bound by Rusk, Capitol, Travis, and Milam, has said it plans to replace it with a 34-story, 700,000-sq.-ft. office tower that’s being designed by Gensler.

Photos: HAIF user Nate99

07/24/13 4:15pm

A reader sends these photos that show a new location — if in name only — of the Tex-Mex restaurant that couldn’t hack it up on the mean streets (and drives and boulevards) that’s getting ready to open in the tunnels Downtown beneath the First City Tower at 1001 Fannin. This would appear to be the 2nd of the version of Maggie Rita’s operated by Tony Shannard, who paid the original restaurateurs Carlos Mencia and Santiago Moreno to use the name; Shannard runs another Maggie Rita’s in the tunnels beneath the JPMorgan Chase Tower at 600 Travis; that’s about half a mile away from here as the mole scurries.

Photos: philaphonic

07/24/13 3:05pm

HOW CAN A HOMEBUYER JUDGE CONSTRUCTION QUALITY? A reader who’s been following discussions of various construction efforts in Swamplot comments has a few questions: “There seems to be a big controversy among the commentators about what constitutes ‘quality construction.’ Are the big differences between old homes and new homes simply that one or the other are built to better standards? . . . Is it the materials that matter more than the construction crew themselves? How is one supposed to do his/her due diligence when purchasing a home? Find the builder, go look at other homes and how they have stood up, take a class on construction (which I’m not sure many of the people actually building the homes have done)?” [Swamplot inbox]