FIGHTING THE INVADERS OF BUFFALO BAYOU 
Though much of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s (BBP) plans for that eponymous waterway involve adding things — kayak rental shops, pedestrian bridges, etc. — there seems to be the need for subtraction, too: “‘People look at the park and see that it’s filled with trees and grass, what most people don’t realize is that most of those plants shouldn’t be there,'” BBP’s prez Anne Olson tells Alex Wukman of Free Press Houston. “A study of the park’s vegetation, which the Partnership filed with the Texas Forest Service, found Buffalo Bayou to be overrun with invasive species — primarily White Cedar and Chinese Tallow. . . . Olson explained that the Partnership plans to combat the invasive species problem by removing 50 percent of the park’s lawn, which is mostly made up of easily-maintained but non-native Bermuda grass, and replacing it with native grasses.” Adds Olson: “‘We’re going to create an 11 acre urban prairie.'” [Free Press Houston; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Flickr user barryDphotography
Sign up for the Newsletter
When last we visited this home at the western edge of Memorial Bend, built in 1958 from a design by noted Houston architect Lars Bang, the trees were a smidge shorter and the open-plan interior perhaps a bit less tweaked. That was 5 years ago, for a listing that never found a buyer. Last fall, the midcentury-mod-gone-whatever property returned to the market at $565,000 — though within a couple of months the price had fallen to $499,000. (Price histories posted for the property indicate a couple contracts didn’t go through.) Earlier this month, however, the flat-topped specimen overlooking Rummel Creek and the Edith L. Moore Bird Sanctuary popped back up with a big bang of a price increase, to $679,000.
- Today is the Last Day To Protest Property Values in Harris County [abc13]
- Means Knaus Partners Building Energy Corridor Commercial Development Two Oak Park on Spec [Houston Business Journal]
- Ronnie Killen Buys Former Pearland School Cafeteria, ‘Hopefully’ 3 Months Away from Opening New BBQ Restaurant [Eater Houston]
- D&T Drive Inn Manager Fell in Love with the ‘Soul’ of the Old Enid St. Dive [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
Photo of construction at Welch and Driscoll: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
HOW HOUSTON’S AIR GOT BETTER 
During the past decade, Houston’s notoriously polluted air has become — well, if not quite good, then not quite as bad, says NPR’s Richard Harris. (Pay no attention to what that ozone app may or may not tell you.) How? Well, it seems that pollution regulators in the early aughts had been worrying about all the wrong gases: “They were going all-in against [only] one of the pollutants that create smog, while downplaying the role of other emissions from the petrochemical plants,” reports Harris. “Barges carting chemicals up and down the [Ship Channel] were leaking. . . . And some types of storage tanks were leaking as well. . . . It turns out that routine day-to-day emissions were not the biggest problem.” Since then, regulations targeting those chemicals, like ethylene — as well as the use of infrared cameras that can spot them — appear to have made a difference: Port of Houston Authority employee Dana Blume tells Harris: “I can look out of my office window now and almost every single day see downtown.” [NPR; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Flickr user stmu_mike
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THEY GET AROUND IN THAT PART OF TOWN “. . . Welcome to the East End, where humble homes like you are still welcome (for now). And within walking distance of both MetroRail AND Elbow and Nipple. Take a train or fix a drain.” [Dana-X, commenting on Chapter 2: The Little Gibson St. Bungalow Finds a New Home]
Overlooking Hogg Park and White Oak Bayou, the old Robert E. Lee Elementary school is being renovated into a community center for the Near Northside. The school was designed by Alfred C. Finn and dates to 1919 and 1920, though it’s been vacant in this historic district since 2002. Architecture firm PGAL is preserving 3 of the building’s walls and decorative geegaws as well as the arched entryway that faces South St.; new space for what’s been named the Leonel J. Castillo Community Center is being built out the back, as this photo shows.
- 2123 Winberie Ct. [HAR]
Once the old 18-story Houston Club Building here at 811 Rusk is out of the way, and someone or something agrees to set up shop inside, this is the Gensler-designed office tower Skanska has said it will begin building Downtown. Tentatively named the Capitol Tower — since the main entrance will be moved from Rusk, on the south side of the block, to Capitol — the 700,000-sq.-ft., 34-story building (and a parking garage, too) will go along with a cavernous lobby designed to connect the recently vacated tunnels to the streets above.
Crack open the rubied exterior (top) for the creamy filling (above) of this red-brick cottage finished with brick-red paint. The updated 1928 North Norhill home spent Memorial Day weekend getting itself listed, at $389,900.
- Galveston Seeks End to Short-Term House Rentals [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Residents Want To Know Where the $6M Infrastructure Improvements Near Washington Heights Walmart Are [MyFoxHouston]
- $1.7M Settlement Reached on Toxic Landfill Site on Pleasure Islet [Houston Chronicle]
- New Plan Allows Businesses To Return to Galveston Sooner after a Hurricane [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- As Hurricane Season Approaches, What One Houston Utility Company Learned from Ike [KUHF]
Photo of missing signage at the old Harold’s in the Heights on 19th St.: Molly Block via Swamplot Flickr Pool
“Nice!” says homeowner Scott Reamer in this video he shot today from his backyard, just 5 ft. away from the Ashby Highrise site, when a bunch of bricks from the Maryland Manor Apartments wall that demo workers were banging on to take down topples his fence.
- Oops! Controversial Ashby high rise build accidently crushes a neighbor’s fence: Bricks are flying! [Culturemap]
- Ashby Highrise coverage [Swamplot]
Video: Scott Reamer via Tyler Rudick
From Magnolia Grove to a previously vacant lot with a single sickly magnolia: What a journey it’s been for this little bungalow! After being sold in 2012 and cleared for demo, then suddenly spared last week and trucked away from its home at 4414 Gibson St., the 1,200-sq.-ft., split-pea-soup-green bungalow has finally come to rest. Where? Almost 6 miles away on Hussion St. in the East End. It’s now behind the for-sale Finger Furniture on the I-45 feeder and catty-corner (well, almost) from the Houston Elbow & Nipple Company.
- Previously on Swamplot: The Story of the Little Bungalow at 4414 Gibson St., Previously on Swamplot: Daily Demolition Report: How Houses Disappear, Finger Furniture Selling Showroom, Old Baseball Stadium Property Near UH
Photo: Allyn West
An email sent out by the owners of re:HAB says that the bar will have to close and leave its Houston Ave. location by July. (A landlord issue, apparently.) But the email also says a new spot has been lined up — at 1658 Enid and Link Rd. in Brooke Smith — and that it could open as early as August “if everything goes according to plan (yeah right).”
So we’ll take things one day at a time, then. The bar first opened in the renovated (and repainted) former Houston Ave Bar spot along the Spring St. hike and bike trail. This new location is just a few blocks north of the renovated D&T Drive Inn on Enid and about a mile east of the proposed site of Town in City Brewing Co. on W. Cavalcade. The email goes on to describe this building as “nestled on the banks of ‘Little White Oak Bayou,’” explaining that you’ll be able to get to re:HAB this time “by car, bus, bike or kayak.”
