LAST NIGHT’S ROOFTOP SMOKE SHOW AT THE SUSANNE APARTMENTS 
Update, 2 p.m.: A spokesperson for The Susanne’s owner, the Finger Companies, tells Swamplot that the fire was caused by a “flying sky lantern,” not by faulty piping. According to the spokesperson, 2 Susanne residents launched the decorative airborne device from the complex’s parking garage, but “the wind unexpectedly caused the lantern to land on the roof of the apartment building along the West Alabama driveway and burned long enough to cause a fire on the roof itself.” The 2 residents called 911 and later reported its cause to fire department arson investigators.
A loose rooftop gas pipe sparked this scene at The Susanne Apartments on the corner of W. Alabama and Dunlavy last night at around 9 p.m. Firefighters choked off the blaze by shutting off a valve that fed the pipe — reports the Chronicle — but not before smoke damaged portions of the 8-story building’s top floor. One apartment sustained some water damage, too, but thanks to a layer of steel on the roof — none of the flames made it inside. No firefighters were harmed — and though hundreds evacuated, all residents remained uninjured as well. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplox inbox
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- ExxonMobil Picks Up Nearly 100 Acres Near One of Its Baytown Refinery [HBJ ($)]
- Ibiza Enterprises Files Permits for Greater East End Residential Project Called Harrisburg Oaks [HBJ ($)]
- Fein Planning Next Luxury Project Reverie at River Hollow in Uptown Area [HBJ]
- Take-Out Focused Location of The Halal Guys Franchise Coming to the Medical Center [Culturemap]
- Slideshow: These Were the 10 Most Expensive Homes Sold in Houston in June [HBJ]
Photo of the Four Seasons: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
We remember how they were in their prime. We’re now well past prime time.
- 2116 Tipperary Dr. [HAR]
Harris County and the trailblazing Buffalo Bayou Partnership will soon clear the way for a new trail segment on the south side of the bayou by demolishing the vacant 1119 Commerce Building warehouse along with portions of the inmate processing center to its east. Pictured above, 1119 Commerce St. spans the width between San Jacinto St. and the Fannin St. bridge at which the existing trail terminates. Harris County Flood Control district bought the building in 2010 as part of its efforts to smooth out that sharp oxbow where White Oak and Buffalo bayous meet and allow more water to flow through Downtown.
But a lot of that water ended up flowing through the building itself, dampening its below-street levels on at least 4 occasions since the county’s purchase. The year after a 2015 checkup found that the structure’s lower-level steel columns were “95 percent rusted,” the flood control district axed its lease with former tenant Quiznos in preparation to bring down the 94-year-old house, originally built for the Texas Packing Company.
After the trail takes over the lot occupied by the not-yet-demolished building, it’ll butt up next against the adjacent Harris County Inmate Processing Center at 1201 Commerce:
Jailbreak
See that faint watermark in the aerial photo taken from up on the balcony? That’s the lap pool at the Parkside at Memorial Apartments just south of Memorial Dr., buried under more water than it’s designed to hold after the release of the Addicks and Barker reservoirs last August. Throughout the first floor of the surrounding buildings, the tide peaked at over 5-and-a-half ft. Workers spent the last 9 months helping the 4-year-old complex make a comeback; its leasing center officially reopened late last month — and on-site amenities now look less divey and more like the refurbished lap pool shown in the photo at top.
Other aquatic areas that took on more than they could handle include the complex’s other pool:
The Deep End
A big thank you to Houston’s own Central Bank — this site’s Sponsor of the Day! Swamplot appreciates the continuing support.
Central Bank has 4 (central) Houston branches available to meet your business or personal needs: in Midtown, the Heights, West Houston, and Post Oak Place.
Central Bank believes that change is essential to its success; the company actively pursues the latest in service, technology, and products. Central Bank aims to know its customers personally and to be their primary business and personal financial resource. The bank’s staff values relationships and strives to be available when you need them.
To learn more about how Central Bank can meet your banking needs, please call any of the following Senior Vice Presidents: Kenny Beard, at 832.485.2376; Bonnie Purvis, at 832.485.2354; or Carlos Alvarez, at 832.485.2372. You can also find out more on the bank’s website.
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YOUR ODDS OF WINNING A YEAR’S SUPPLY OF CHICKEN SANDWICHES AT CHICK-FIL-A’S NEXT PEARLAND GRAND OPENING 
One in 1,365, a little slimmer than the chance of landing heads on a coin toss 10 times in a row. The Chick-fil-A in question, Pearland’s fifth, opens at Hwy. 288 and Aldine-Fort Bend Rd. on July 25, and in keeping with custom, the store is giving away 52 free #1 meals (chicken sandwich, medium Waffle Potato Fries, and a medium drink) to a group of 100 lucky loyalists selected from those who spend the night before camped out at the location, reports the Chronicle’s Dana Burke. This time though, the franchise is taking measures to ensure that only hometown competitors 18-and-up get access to the prize by limiting eligibility by zip code. The challengers: 77584, 77581, 77588, 77578, 77048, and 77047 — home to 136,500 legal adult residents of Pearland, Brookside Village, Shadow Creek Ranch, Manvel, and parts of Southeast Houston including Crestmont. To keep things competitive, reports Burke: “All participants must remain in their designated spots the entire time, with the exception of bathroom breaks.” [Houston Chronicle] Photo of 2016 Chick-fil-A First 100 event in Prestonwood, Texas: Chick-fil-A
- Wolff Companies Picks Up 521 Acres in Waller for Business Park [HBJ ($)]
- Senior Living Developer Breaks Ground on 23-Story Highrise in Tanglewood [HBJ ($)]
- Eleven of RCLCO’s 50 Top-Selling Master-Planned Communities Are in Houston [Houston Chronicle]
- How New Developments Push the Limits of Houston’s Suburban Sprawl [HBJ ($)]
- Co-Working Company Rethink To Open First Houston Location in Former Master Mattress Works North of Downtown [HBJ]
- Tomball Getting Second Craft Brewery with Opening of Fire Ant Brewing Next Month [Houston Chronicle]
- Business Park Redemption Square at Generation Park Adding 2 New Restaurant Concepts [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston Will Have a Cafe Devoted to Matcha Starting Next Week [Eater Houston]
- Shun Japanese Kitchen Planned on Shepherd at Harold St. This Fall [Eater Houston]
- Inside Seattle’s Tiny House Village for Homeless Women [abc13]
Photo: Jackson Myers via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Deep Forest cleansing, River Oaks remaking, Auto Service removal, and other urban pastimes.
- 2002 N. Arrowwood Cir. [HAR]
Update: A Swamplot reader notes that Burgerim originated in Israel — and that in Hebrew, the suffix “-im” adds a plural meaning to the word it ends. Read with that grammar in mind, the restaurant’s name translates roughly to “burgers.”
Although Burgerim’s previous attempts to come online next to Subway in the corner of the strip center at Richmond and Shepherd were met with red tags from city inspectors, those notices have now been taken down — reports an employee at the neighboring Honey Art Cafe — and a building permit filed yesterday grants the new instant-messenger-themed restaurant clearance to proceed with renovations to the space.
Previous high-tech retailers in the endcap include Clear Wireless and Wireless Toyz; analogue merchandiser Gold and Silver Buyers held the place down in between their tenures and Mattress Overstock retired from the space most recently, at the end of last year. When the burger place opens, it’ll be the franchise’s first inner-Loop spot, topping off its existing Cypress and W.-Lake-Houston-at-Beltway-8 locations.
- Previously on Swamplot: Mattress Stores Making a Sleepy Retreat from Shepherd; Your Map to Houston Mattress Chain Stores
Photo: Fox E.
Strip Steak
One keenly observant HAIFer who’s been watching for signs of change at 5521 Navigation Blvd. has now pieced together what’s happening there: it’s planned to house a new beer venue dubbed Symbolic Brewing. Renovations haven’t begun yet on the empty brick warehouse — shown see-through from its east side in the photo above — but according to a recent Facebook post from the business, brewers are now in talks with contractors about what to do with the place.
The building sits on narrow, just-under-an-acre plot that fronts Navigation — as shown in the photo at top — and backs up to a rail line running along the southern oxbow in Buffalo Bayou dubbed Turkey Bend. Roughly five times its size is the Farmer Brothers coffee plant across the street, where production emits strong notes of java.
- Contractor meetings means we’re that much closer to delicious beer [Symbolic Brewing via HAIF]
Photos: Swamplox inbox
East End Uppers and Downers
- Houston Buyers Closed on More Homes Than Any Other Month in History in June [Houston Chronicle]
- United Equities Buys Last 2 Tracks in Northwest Houston’s Satsuma Station Business Park for Industrial Project [HBJ ($)]
- Lincoln Property Co. Breaks Ground on Lincoln Heights Midrise Near the Heights [HBJ ($)]
- Ono Poke To Open Second Houston Location in Downtown’s Tunnels Sometime This Fall [Eater Houston]
- 15-Year-Old Harry’s Restaurant & Cafe Renovating to ‘Keep Up with the Changes’ in Midtown [Culturemap]
- Study: How Race Plays a Factor During the Home-Buying Process in Houston [The Urban Edge]
Photo of Woodland Heights: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
The vanishing Tanglewood single-story — and other mysterious disappearances of local note:
