Great balls of fire! There’s some dramatic atmospheric action portrayed in the backdrop of this listing for a 1978-vintage 2,197-sq.-ft. 4-bedroom home in Waller. But is it as carefully curated as the grass on the surrounding golf course?
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- 1347 Havelock Dr. [HAR]
Another unit has waded into what seems to be a recent flurry of turnover in Lovett Square, the 36-stuccoed-condo community occupying a city block at Bagby-Tuam-Brazos-Anita in Midtown. The 1979 project by William T. Cannady Architects was an early stab at high-density redevelopment of an area once considered downtown’s South End, where vacant and aging properties and freeway ramps hung out together. This was before the Midtown moniker and the multifamily multiplier effect grew legs, however.
One of the larger homes in the staggered-like-a-pueblo project listed Friday at $193,000. The gated complex has several courtyards off a central promenade. This unit’s entry, however, is off a shared mezzanine-level terrace (above), reached by this exterior staircase:
Will the recent purchase, a reader wants to know, of a 105,000-sq.-ft. building out near Spring Branch by Admiral Linen & Uniform Services mean anything for the company’s much-smaller headquarters at 2030 Kipling St.? Well, Admiral Linen isn’t available for comment.
The company closed just after Christmas on the building at 8020 Blankenship Dr., near Hempstead and Bingle. Since 1998, according to city records, it’s owned the three-building, 24,000-sq.-ft. headquarters a block west east of South Shepherd and directly behind the Randalls on Westheimer.
- Rice University To Build New Center for the Arts with Help from $20M Moody Foundation Award [Houston Business Journal]
- Sprouts Openings Set for April in Spring Cypress Village, July in Copperfield [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Michael Jordan Renting Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts for His 50th Birthday Party During NBA All-Star Weekend [CultureMap; previously on Swamplot]
- Wells Fargo Plaza’s Gigantic Blow-Up Basketball, Hoop Tribute to the NBA All-Star Game [CultureMap]
- Swimming at Bolivar’s Beaches Discouraged After High Bacteria Levels Reported Off Peninsula [Houston Chronicle]
- Resolution To Kill League City Plan To Add Medians to FM 518 Tabled [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Rodeo Parade Starting Point, Route Changed Due To Issue with Under-Construction Metro Rail [abc13]
- Sugar Land Turns Down $500K Offer From Dating Website To Rename City SugarDaddie.com [Houston Business Journal]
Photo of Wells Fargo Plaza: emporio86
Renderings aren’t ready to be released, says Assistant Manager Lindsay Fouchee, but under-construction Phase II of the Fairmont Museum District at Richmond and Dunlavy will have more units and more amenities. (The photo directly above shows the excavation of what will be the parking garage.) The 4-story, 210,933-sq.-ft. apartments back up to the dog run and baseball diamond at Ervan Chew Park and U.S. 59. Phase I was completed in 2007; Fouchee expects Phase II to be done within 14 months.
- The Fine Art of City Living [Fairmont Museum District]
Photos: Allyn West
The lights are coming back on inside the old Huston’s Drugs at 2119 Washington Ave.: Long for sale, the stout mid-century building was purchased at the end of December by Houston-based artist Chris Bramel, who tells Swamplot he is renovating the interior that’s still partially stocked with apothecary bottles and swivel-stools lined up in front of an old soda fountain into an art gallery, shared studio space, and apartment for himself.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HIDING OUT ON THE TOP FLOOR OF A 4-STORY TOWNHOUSE “I’d hate to be the parents of the kid in bedroom #3, having to run up stairs to check on him. Do you have any idea how much mischief a teenager in a place like that could get in? I once had a bedroom like that as a kid, and it was awesome.” [Roy, commenting on Some Happy Guerilla Architectural Disagreement in Montrose, Ya’ll]
At 2020 Hardy St., this building dates to 1900. Previous owners the Espinosa family managed rental properties from here; it’s also been home to the Monte Carlo Lounge and pool hall and a grocery. The 5,000-sq.-ft. building, lying about 2 miles north of Downtown in the Fifth Ward, was bought in early January by 2011 Good Brick Award winners David and Bennie Flores Ansell, who have spent the past month sweeping and clearing out the interior — which came to them unbidden with cases of unopened tostadas, garbage bags of discarded mail, shelves stocked with ’80s perfume, sunglasses, and self-help videos, broken billiards trophies with tattered replica baize, etc. They hope to have the building transformed into offices and apartments by this summer.
- 7414 Carew St. [HAR]
RIVER OAKS DISTRICT TO SEE ACTION, ADVENTURE 
The last we heard the River Oaks District was providing “move out concierges” to help Westcreek Apartment residents get off the property west of Highland Village where the upscale mixed-use cluster is going; now it appears that something’s moving in, the Houston Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff reports: Florida-based iPic has signed a lease to build a 560-seat octoplex. It might not end up looking like the rendering shown here, but it will be called “Escape,” reports Sarnoff, and it will allow moviegoers to pick — get it? — among escalators, self-serve ticket kiosks, beers on tap, recliners, and pillows and blankets. [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Oliver McMillan
- Former Hollywood at Galveston Hotel Being Gutted, Facade Removed [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Reef Duo Bill Floyd, Bryan Caswell Opening Oyster Bar in IAH’s Terminal B on April 1 [Culturemap]
- Montgomery County Officials Considering Constructing 2 North-South Toll Roads [Courier of Montgomery County]
- TxDOT Looking for Sponsorship Money for Help with $3.5M in Highway Cleanup Costs [KUHF]
- 82 Percent of Texans Support a Vote on Gambling, Finds Poll from Group Pushing a Vote on Gambling [Hair Balls]
- Battle to Stop Waller County Landfill Continues with Public Hearing Tonight [The Isiah Factor; previously on Swamplot]
Photo of BBVA Compass Plaza at 2200 Post Oak: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Quite a few of you have sent in similar photos of this befaced sign at Hyde Park and Waugh for Urban Living’s proposed Hyde Park Maison — that’s French for a 4-story, 3-bedroom townhouse. According to the development company’s website there will be five such maisons, ranging from $589,000 to $689,000, squeezed onto the corner lot bound by Waugh, Hyde Park, Fairview, and Upas, just north of Westheimer. Want to see them without the commentary?
