- 15406 Glamorgan Dr. [HAR]
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Flanked by a pair of churches, these stick frames just popped up in the Third Ward. Plans for the development called Bastrop Plaza show a row of 9 townhouses on a vacant lot at the intersection of Webster and Bastrop. That’s a block west of Dowling St., 2 blocks south of the Gulf Fwy., and 2 5 north of Emancipation Park, primed for a very expensive redevelopment project of its own this summer. A sign at the construction site here announces that the townhouses will start at $260,000.
Let’s do 2: As construction at U of H on the $105 million no-name replacement football stadium plows on, the regents have decided to go ahead and redo the basketball arena, too. It probably won’t look like this; the rendering shown here has been circulating since February. No, the regents’ decision this past Monday really means that other, newer designs will be undertaken to freshen up the 43-year-old Hofheinz Pavilion — where fashion mogul and Houston real estate player Hakeem Olajuwon first honed his shakes before opening his DR34M store in the old Jim West Mansion in Clear Lake.
The Houston Chronicle reports that, if approved, the project — which some reports have costing as much as $77 million — would introduce nicer locker rooms for the players and “premium seating” for fans, as well as a new sound system and video boards above the court. UH athletic director Mack Rhoades tells the Chronicle that as many as 9 other schools in the newly formed American Athletic Conference have, or are building, new arenas.
- UH board approves first phase of Hofheinz renovation project [Houston Chronicle]
- Board of Regents approves design phase of Hofheinz Pavillion [The Daily Cougar]
- UH set to vote on possible Hofheinz renovations [KHOU]
- Previously on Swamplot: New UH Football Stadium Will Point Team in a Slightly Different Direction, Hakeem Olajuwon Launches New Showcase Clothing Store in Former NASA Moon Institute, Goodbye, Robertson Stadium: Replacement UH Football Venue Gets Go-Ahead, UH: Fundraising for Robertson Stadium Replacement Halfway There
Rendering: UH Athletics
HOUSTON CLUB TUNNEL TENANTS MAKING THEIR ESCAPE 
The last 2 restaurants in the tunnels underneath the 18-story former Houston Club Building on Rusk St. are preparing to get up and out of there, reports Prime Property’s Nancy Sarnoff: The below-ground Skyline Deli and KoKoro Sushi will have sold their last lunches by the end of May, in advance of what a rep from new building owner Skanska says will be “selective interior demolition and abatement.” And that demolition is about to become much less selective, adds Sarnoff, since Skanska says it’s designing an office tower for this Downtown lot bound by Rusk, Capitol, Travis, and Milam. [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Silberman Properties
And now, a few brief acts to celebrate our appreciation of open space:
- Construction Underway on the Retreat at Vintage Park Apartments [Houston Business Journal]
- 1200 Enclave Pkwy. in Energy Corridor Sold for $48.75M [Houston Business Journal]
- Mayor Says ‘Bilevel Retail,’ With Retail Accessed from Streets and Tunnels, Might Help Downtown Businesses [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Empty Houston Ave. Lot Has 3 Headstones To Keep Vagrants Away [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Slideshow: AIA Houston To Hold First Woodlands Home Tour This Saturday [Houston Business Journal]
- The Problems with The Woodlands Red Light Cameras [Houston Chronicle]
- A Northeast Houston Grow House So Elaborate, It Had Artificial Seasons Built In [Houston Chronicle]
- Wildlife Dispatchers Getting 5 Calls a Day About Alligators in Neighborhoods [Click2Houston]
- More Than 100,000 Houston Residents Could Be Added to City’s Single-Stream Recycling Program This Year [Houston Chronicle]
- Galveston State Park Trails Island’s Best-Kept Secret [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
Photo of the demolition of the Fiesta at Algregg and Studewood: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Houston has a knack for knocking things down, and painter and Glassell School instructor Ken Mazzu has been showing up at a good number of those demo sites during the past 10 years, snapping the photos he then works from to render the bent rebar and crumbled concrete on canvas. The somewhat abstract painting shown here comes from the wreckage of the Kenneth Franzheim-designed Prudential Building that used to stand on Holcombe Blvd. in the Med Center until it fell a little more than a year ago.
Oh, and are there more:
Custom in 1967, this barn-meets-barn Dutch-like home spreads across a lot of lot over in Pasadena. An early example of an upscale Kickerillo number, the listing’s interior finishes offer cavernous ceilings — some of them given an extra bit of zip by some vibrant plaid wallpaper (above) — and “built-ins galore,” including a handy off-the-den pre-SodaStream soda fountain bar (at right). The super-sized property listed last month with an asking price of $379,210.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SAVING HOUSTON FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF NEWCOMERS “i’d just point out that Houston is a large and growing city. although the inner-loop is changing, so are all the other hoods within 20 miles of here. nobody says you have to live in the same ‘hood all your life and i’d even go so far as to say that to expect to live in the same neighborhood indefinitely without seeing major changes is just selfishness. i’ll gladly pick up and move once the montrose has finally been redeveloped for the $150K+ income bracket only. i think it kills diversity and character of the area, but i’m glad it’s growing and more people are able to live near work and greater amenities while providing a larger tax base to make this city better for all the areas . . . i think my fellow citizens deserve that at least. if it changes it changes, but there’s no shortage of places to move to. as long as it’s making the city better. move to a poor neighborhood if you don’t want to see any changes, there’s plenty around. and that’s the danger of giving neighborhoods rights over [what] can be developed. by nature they will only have their desires in mind, not that of the millions of others that could benefit from growth and new developments.” [joel, commenting on Comment of the Day: Who Cares What the Neighbors Think?]
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: BOGARTING THE ASTRODOME “The only roadblock to redevelopment of the Dome, as I see it, are two self-interested organizations that are afforded an unwarranted and undeserved say in the matter.” [TheNiche, commenting on Headlines: Itemizing Astrodome Tax Expenses; El Tiempo Cantina Heading South]
This is what Hermann Park says it would like to look like when it turns 100 next year: This drawing of Centennial Gardens from Chicago landscape architecture firm Hoerr Schaudt shows the blossoming of the current 15-acre Garden Center that’s between the museums and golf course along Hermann Dr. Looking forward to its centennial in 2014, the park conservancy has also recruited Peter Bohlin, the architect behind the Highland Village Apple Store, to design a new entrance:
A new site plan from Town in City Brewing Co. was approved by the planning commission last month, finally clearing the way for that brewery that would be made out of a trucked-in kit to be put together. The microbrewery, taproom, and outdoor garden on this lot near 1125 W. Cavalcade in Sunset Heights were all supposed to be done by now — or so brewers Justin Engle and Steven Macalello were telling their investors in November, when the Houston-fabricated steel parts first came rolling onto their 9,714-sq.-ft property. But the required 25-ft. setback from a major thoroughfare like W. Cavalcade threw a wrench in their plans.
And now we shall gather these carefully carved pieces and deposit them into landfills:
- Taxpayers Have Spent $7.9M on Astrodome Maintenance Since 2009 [Click2Houston]
- Victorian-Style Hotel, Homes Planned for East of Stewart Beach [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Rental Rates for The Woodlands, Katy Fwy. Office Buildings Peaking [Prime Property]
- Kinder Morgan Investing $106M To Buy Land, Build Dock on Houston Ship Channel [Houston Business Journal]
- El Tiempo Cantina Planned for Webster in Former Big Ben Tavern Spot [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Mattress Mack Doesn’t Want Uptown ‘Mucked Up’ with Bus Lanes [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot]
- How the Leland Woods Community Project Was Reborn [KUHF]
- Report Challenges Effort To Remove Pollutants from Texas City Watch List [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Houston Region Named Among Least Safe U.S. Metro Areas in Gallup Poll [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston Parks Board To Lead Bike Tour Discussing Buffalo Bayou Plans on June 1 [HAIF]
- 8-Ft. Alligator Spotted in Sienna Plantation on Front Yards, Porches [Click2Houston]
Photo of Center St. near Washington Ave: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
