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77006, Midtown, Mod, Office Buildings, Renovations

Art

02/07/13 11:00am

Hazmat Hikers To Trek Across Houston

5 Comments

Invasion of the Art Snatchers: Carrie Schneider and Alex Tu, pictured above (though not in their everyday wear), are planning to reproduce the Art Guy Michael Galbreth’s “The Human Tour,” reports Houston Press‘s Meredith Deliso. As a UH student in 1987, Galbreth came up with the crosstown tour: a 40-mile, anatomically correct urban hike in the shape of a human figure.

Art Guys, Environmental, Public Art, Walking

Cambridge Green

02/07/13 10:00am

Green But Not Seen in Cambridge Green’s Corner Pocket Home

by CALwords

2 Comments

Most of the green in this Cambridge Green home is at the front of its off-a-commons lot, but the bricked-up front elevation doesn’t make the most of that greenbelt view. Compact, the house hugs the back corner of the 1979-built subdivision, located off Kirby Dr. south of W. Holcombe. Listed yesterday, the hidden home carries an initial asking price of $445,000. The last time the property was on the market was back in 2000, a year after its remodel, when it sold at $339,000.

77025, Cambridge Green, Homes for Sale, Interiors

Interiors

02/07/13 9:30am

Great New Indoors Replacing The Old Great Indoors

1 Comment

If you like intensely cinematic video renderings of former housewares stores set to a really rocking soundtrack, you’re going to love this one: It’s Block 10 West Office Park! This screenshot from the video shows how developer Hicks Ventures plans to maintain fidelity to the original I-10 site near Beltway 8, retaining the parking lot that used to front the former Great Indoors, which Sears sold along with 9 other stores about a year ago.

I-10, Interiors, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Renovations

Daily Demolition Report

02/07/13 9:00am

Daily Demolition Report: Apartments Be Gone

by Swamplot

19 Comments

We need the room, for different kinds of apartments.

Daily Demolition Report, Demolitions

02/07/13 8:30am

Headlines: Unloading BG Group Place; 8th Wonder Brewery Brewing

by Meredith Deliso

No Comments

Hines Looking To Sell Downtown’s $470M BG Group Place [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]
Dickinson Property Owners Offered Incentive To Change Building Facades to Resemble Late 19th Century Main Streets [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
8th Wonder Brewery Starts Brewing; Tours of EaDo Facility To Start in March [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
South Montgomery County Regional Mobility Plan Moves Forward [Courier of Montgomery County]
Federal Approval for Newest 28-Mile Segment of I-69, Along U.S. 59 from 610 Loop to South of Rosenberg [Houston Chronicle ($)]
Texas Lawmakers File Bills Designed To Keep Electric Customers from Absorbing Costly Utility Project [Courier of Montgomery County]

Photo of West Loop: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Downtown

02/06/13 1:30pm

Where Will the Ramen Be?

6 Comments

WHERE WILL THE RAMEN BE? You can order ramen at dozens of places in Houston, but The Modular food truck’s Joshua Martinez’s Goro & Gun, declaresÂ Houston Press‘s Katharine Shilcutt, is going to be the firstÂ dedicated to the squiggly noodle: Doubling as a bar, Goro & Gun is set to open in about a month somewhere Downtown; CultureMap’s Tyler Rudick hazards a guess that 306 Main St. will be the new spot, butÂ Martinez calls that story’s reporting “very inaccurate.” So where, then? Martinez andÂ his fellow gaijin Brad Moore and Ryan RouseÂ aren’t ready to say, but Shilcutt doesÂ slip in a few clues: “The downtown restaurant which will house Goro & Gun hasn’t been home to anything successful in years. Its last resident was a sandwich shop, which closed almost as quickly as it opened.” And it’ll be in a “shotgun-style space.”Â [CultureMap; Eating Our Words] Photo: First We Feast

77002, Downtown, Interiors, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Renovations, Restaurants

Comments

02/06/13 1:00pm

Comment of the Day: Plans for Houston

31 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: PLANS FOR HOUSTON “Houston didnâ€™t develop organically. The original street grid was planned, the Heights was planned, Montrose and River Oaks and the Villages and Cinco Ranch, etc., all planned. At least 90% of the people who wax poetic about Houstonâ€™s ‘vibrancy’ and ‘free spirit’ probably live in a place that was very carefully planned. Our freeway system was the result of planning, and our organic twisty-turny roads were straightened out. Everything within 5 miles of Rice University was aggressively planned, and people love it. Property values in Houston are high in places that were planned, low in places that werenâ€™t, which tells you what the market wants: Planning.” [Mike, commenting on â€˜The Galleria Is My Idea of Hellâ€™ and Other Houston Stories]

Comments, Quicklink, Urban Planning

Demolitions

02/06/13 12:15pm

First Ward Murals Get Unscrewed

2 Comments

Yesterday’s Daily Demolition Report listed 1706 Alamo St., where Houston’s Theater LaB has operated since 1993. The 65-seat theater sat on 1,600 sq. ft. in the First Ward. Theater LaB sold the property last October. Also in the demo path, a reader reports, wasÂ Thespian Park across the street, where among bajillions of native plants the Tunisian-born set designer Rodolphe Zarka installedÂ 18 of these panelÂ murals in 2003. A tipster tells Swamplot that a group of First Warders were told late Monday night that everything — murals and all — was going to be bulldozed the next day.

Daily Demolition Report, Demolitions, First Ward, Parks, Public Art

Homes for Sale

02/06/13 11:15am

Watching the Garden from an Updated Oak Forest Abode

by CALwords

14 Comments

Austin-style eco-landscaping finishes out the front of this renovated 1940 Oak Forest home new listing, which comes with an initial asking price of $319,000. The property’s far greener outback includes a fenced-off veggie-herb-fruit garden. Next to it, an air-conditioned treehouse stands guard; a balcony allows visitors to the raised clubhouse to keep a watchful eye on errant vegetation. Inside the main house, meanwhile, a super-sized master suite occupies a goodly portion of the total living space.

77018, Gardens, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Oak-Forest, Renovations, Treehouses

Home Decor

02/06/13 10:00am

West University Home Listing Photo of the Day: Short Order Cook

by CALwords

8 Comments

2912 University Blvd. [HAR]

77005, Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Kitchens, West University

Buying and Selling

02/06/13 9:30am

Taking A Few More Shots at Houston’s LBJ House

19 Comments

LBJ wuz here: Built in 1904, this 3,161-sq.-ft. home on the corner of Hawthorne and Garrott in the Westmoreland Historic District gave the future president a place to crash in 1931 when he was teaching public speaking and coaching the debate team at Sam Houston High School.

In March 2011, the house was put on the market for the first time in 90 years; the price climbed to almost $619,000 that June. It sat for a year, going for just under $285,000.Â Renovations began that summer. And the houseÂ returned 9 days ago with a new MLS number, new photos, and a newÂ historically low — for this place, anyway —Â price: $569,900.

77006, Homes for Sale, Houston History, Interiors, Listings, Montrose, Renovations, Westmoreland Historic District

Daily Demolition Report

02/06/13 9:00am

Daily Demolition Report: Floyd Floored

by Swamplot

14 Comments

Maybe we can use these woodpiles to sop up a bit of the rain.

Daily Demolition Report, Demolitions

02/06/13 8:30am

Headlines: Tooling Around in a Shadyside Mansion; Invasive Feral Hogs for Dinner

by Meredith Deliso

3 Comments

La Marque Sam’s Club Opening on March 21 at I-45, FM 1764 [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
Pearl Midtown Apartments Meant To Appeal to ‘Echo Boomers and Professionals’ [CultureMap; previously on Swamplot]
North Forest ISD Discussing Partnership with Texas A&M To Avoid Closing [abc13]
IAH Opening Mexican Restaurant from San Antonio Chef in March [San Antonio Express-News via 29-95.com]
Brazos River Bottom Closing Next Month After Nearly 35 Nears in Midtown [Houston Voice]
Giving Last Concert Cafe in the Warehouse District One Last Chance [Eating Our Words]
3-Month Delay for Metro’s New North Line Trains [abc13]
State Climatologist: Current Drought Could Rival Record 1950s Drought if Rainfall Remains Below Normal [Houston Chronicle]
Spring Residents Protest 2 Proposed Low-Income Housing Projects [abc13]
Harris County Rounding Up Feral Hogs in Addicks, Barker Reservoirs, Processing Meat for Food Banks [Houston Chronicle ($)]
Video: Shelby Hodge Tours Designer Showcase at Historic Shadyside Mansion [CultureMap]
Apple Maps Is Not Ready To Let Go of Astroworld [Hair Balls]
The Top 13 Buildings To See in Texas in 2013 [Architizer]

Photo of the Galleria: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Bayous and Waterways

02/05/13 3:00pm

Downtown Parking Lot Beside Buffalo Bayou Coming Up for Grabs

12 Comments

This Commerce St. parcel of property will be up for auction onÂ February 14, reports Real Estate Bisnow‘s Catie Dixon. Owned by Cushman & Wakefield, says Dixon, the Downtown lot bound by Elysian and Austin is almost 29,000 sq. ft. of surface parking — for now, anyway — that stares at Minute Maid Park. Maybe the most important detail is that the lot backs up to Buffalo Bayou . . .