Also making an appearance in this morning’s Demolition Report: the crumbs of East Montrose’s short-lived but storied MuffinMan restaurant. Back in the wacky late summer of ’10, the four-square-turned-duplex at 2310 Converse St. played host to what proprietor Jason Perry modestly claimed to be “the greatest penis shaped muffin restaurant Houston had†(Note: Perry’s description referenced the shape of the muffins, not of the building or its rooms; a 6-ft. sign he posted on the front lawn announced to his neighbors his earnest contention that a “four inch muffin is better than an eight inch cock.”)
Sign up for the Newsletter
- 6007 McKnight St. [HAR]
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
In today’s edition: The fall of the Ben Milam Hotel — and so much more.
- Hicks Ventures Redeveloping Great Indoors on Katy Fwy. Inside Beltway 8 into an Office Building [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Atlanta Developer Planning $67M Downtown Highrise Apartments But Wants Tax Break First [Houston Chronicle]
- With Referendum Passed, Metro To Add Shelters at 100 Bus Stops, Replace Aging Buses [Houston Chronicle]
- Texas City Considering Ban on Big Rigs Driving in Residential Neighborhoods [Galveston County Daily News]
- City ‘Czar’ Proposing Permits and Meters To Make Sure Washington Ave’s Big Spenders Can Find Parking Places [Houston Chronicle]
- Megabus Revives Houston-Austin Route, Adds Downtown Dallas Stop [Culturemap]
- City Council Approves Funding Ike Dike Study [Galveston County Daily News]
- Houston on the Verge of Another Drought After Dry Spell [KUHF]
- The 30-Ft. Tall Sol LeWitt Wall Drawing in Architect Bill Stern’s Living Room [Culturemap]
Photo of Sky Lobby, JPMorgan Chase Tower: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
COMMENT OF THE DAY: BOOING A DEBAKEY HIGH SCHOOL FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONS MOVE TO THE OLD SHAMROCK HOTEL SITE “Any biomedical educational institution gains considerable strength by being closely associated with TMC. There’s a much higher credibility and visibility factor. And as a bonus, students may be visited by Glenn McCarthy’s ghost.” [Chef, commenting on Headlines: Houston Club Shacking Up with Plaza Club; Galveston’s Port of Call Dreams]
The verdicts handed down this week in the court case connected to a dispute between the owners of 3 bars carved out of the former Settegast Kopf funeral home on Kirby Dr. at Colquitt, their landlord, and residents of the subdivision that surrounds it are a tad complicated. As a result of the jury decisions, neighborhood homeowners are now asking the judge to force 2 of the bars — Roak and Hendricks Pub — to stop selling alcohol. One of the jurors in the case offers Swamplot readers a detailed explanation of the decision:
Gotta let ’em down gently:
- NASA Likely To Unveil New Manned Missions Beyond the Far Side of the Moon [Space.com]
- Now at 40 Stories, 2929 Weslayan Will Be One of Tallest Residential Buildings in Houston [Prime Property]
- Gulf Greyhound Park Leases Parking Lot, Lobbies for Casino-Style Gambling in Fight for Visitors [Galveston County Daily News; previously on Swamplot]
- Another Washington Wine Bar Block 7 Shuts Doors for Good [Eater Houston]
- Native American Tribes Want Grand Pkwy. Burial Remains To Be Left in Place, Sites Sealed in Concrete [Bellaire Examiner; previously on Swamplot]
- ‘Fearless’ Feral Hogs Running Amok in Clear Lake’s Norfork Neighborhood [abc13]
- Houston’s 63-Foot White Fir Holiday Tree To Use LED Lights [Culturemap]
- Candlelight Park Replaces 120 Trees Damaged in Last Year’s Drought [The Leader]
- 2,000 Shade Trees To Be Given Away This Saturday in Ike Replanting Program [Galveston County Daily News]
- Today Is the Last Day To Submit Comments to TxDOT on I-45 Plans [Off The Kuff]
Photo of Gables Tanglewood: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
DEEP INSIDE MISSION CONTROL 
At last, that in-depth, exhaustive tour through the Johnson Space Center’s Building 30 that you’d been waiting for — coffee bars and tiny women’s rooms included: “The corridors look like they should exude the odor of decades of cigarette smoke,” space-travel fan Lee Hutchinson writes, “but the federal government’s ‘no smoking’ policy has been in place long enough that most smell faintly of stale coffee instead.” Bonus: Every console in Apollo-era Mission Control explained — or close enough. [Ars Technica] Photo: Steven Michael
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HIPSTER-YUPPIE CONFUSION “at some point a few years ago, long after the hipster refrain should’ve been dead, all the suburban folks started referring to yuppies as hipsters and i don’t think it’s ever gone back. hipsters don’t own homes and they’re certainly not up to speed on construction/real estate in houston.” [joel, commenting on Comment of the Day: Who Dare Oppose]
Some design elements here — including the thin-look St. Joe brick, tubular pediments, and Morse-code glazed-brick accents — look an awful lot like a couple of buildings at Rice University that César Pelli designed in the 1980s. But according to the agent, this home is the work of local architect Richard Fitzgerald — from 1992. It’s in Colquitt Court. The niche neighborhood within Upper Kirby is tucked north of Richmond Ave. just west of Greenbriar Dr.; this slice of it has has unusually deep lots by Inner Loop standards. (This property goes back more than 220 ft.) With the garage in front, the mid-sized home leaves plenty of backyard scenery — plus a somewhat secret garden.
- 559 Westminster Dr. [HAR]
- After Closing Stafford Site, Texas Instruments Planning $35M Sugar Land Facility [Prime Property]
- HSPVA, DeBakey HS for Health Professions To Be Rebuilt in New Locations Thanks to HISD Bond Passage [Prime Property]
- TCBY To Open Up to 20 More Self-Serve Franchises in Houston Area [Houston Business Journal]
- Texas City Jimmy Changas Opening November 19 [Galveston County Daily News]
- Tiff’s Treats Opening Second Houston Store Saturday on OST near Reliant Stadium [Culturemap]
- Houston Club To Move into Plaza Club Space on 49th Floor of One Shell Plaza [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Galveston Council To Consider Removing ‘Highly Unpopular’ Specific-Use Permits from City Code [Galveston County Daily News]
- Galveston Wants To Become Texas’s First Port of Call, Attract Millions of Tourism Dollars [Houston Business Journal]
- Bike and Transit Riders Wanted for Metro, Houston-Galveston Area Council Focus Group [KUHF]
- Planning ‘Framework’ for Washington Ave Corridor To Be Unveiled Next Week at Open House [The Leader]
Photo of Constellation Field, Sugar Land: Real Estate Bisnow
