Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
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- The Woodlands Likely Not To Become Its Own City Anytime Soon, Because It’d Be Expensive [Houston Chronicle]
- Appraisal Values for Single-Family Homes in League City Up 24 Percent Over Past 10 Years [Galveston County Daily News]
- Water Costs To Rise 50 Cents per 1,000 Gallons Next Month in The Woodlands, Conroe [abc13]
- Texas City Rebuilding First Lady Pavilion at Its Dike, Making Other Enhancements [Galveston County Daily News]
- Bennigan’s, Del Taco, Shoney’s On the Go, Gulf Oil Staging Houston Comebacks [Houston Chronicle]
- Pearland Steak ‘n Shake First of 8 to 10 New Locations for Second Houston Franchisee [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Houston Fire Museum Raising Funds for New, Bigger Facility [abc13]
- Kemah Boardwalk Ride Malfunctions, Sending Light Debris Falling [KHOU]
- Bus Service That Connects Pasadena with La Porte Might End Aug. 31 [Houston Chronicle]
- NRDC Report Ranks Texas’s Industrial Pollution 10th Worst in the Country [Fuel Fix]
- Smelly Fish Kill Along Galveston Beaches a Result of Low Oxygen Levels [Galveston County Daily News]
- West Nile Threat Likely To Rise in Houston in Coming Weeks [Houston Chronicle]
- Backyard Pool in Walden on Lake Houston Mosquito Breeding Ground [Click2Houston]
- Houston Needs a New Brand; How About ‘Houspitality Spirit’? [Houston Strategies]
Photo of dead shad on Galveston beach: drealjjones
If you squint, this house sort of puts a party face on its facade, what with the eyeball windows, nose-like roof above the landing, and unfurled tongue of stairs. The 2-story-over-garage quay-side property is on tiny Tiki Island, which, at less than 1.5 sq. miles in size, is more canal than actual land. It’s just off Galveston’s West Bay and has 91 ft. of canal frontage plus 2 boat lifts. It listed in July at $564,500. The entertainment-in-mind layout includes 2 living areas, decks at 2 levels, screened porches, and a pool with hot tub off a covered patio. Inside the 1993 home by the bay, you’ll find more than earth tones:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: NAMING THE NEW STUDEMONT KROGER “. . . It’s ‘Broger’ because the guys that hang out at the bars on Washington are ‘dude-bros.’ ‘Party Kroger’ makes it sound like a place where one might have a party, but ‘Broger’ describes the people who will be shopping there.” [Eric, commenting on Up Pops the Studemont Kroger]
KINDER MORGAN WORKOUTS OUT OF DOWNTOWN GARAGE 
The health club up there on the 8th floor of the Travis Place Parking Garage (see it? you gotta squint) at the corner of Travis and McKinney streets downtown is no longer a dedicated workout space for Kinder Morgan employees. The pipeline and terminal company has sold the 25,000-sq.-ft. facility at 1010 Travis St. to Redstone Companies Hospitality, operators of the Houstonian Club at the Houstonian and a couple of other downtown clubs. It’s now called the Health Club at Travis Place and open to general memberships. A Redstone rep reports the club buildout dates back to the days when the structure belonged to Tenneco. Photo: Redstone Companies Hospitality
No, the Turnberry Tower luxury highrise planned for a prime Galleria spot next to the Water Wall Park never got off the ground, but office workers and shoppers nearby have been able to enjoy a good old-fashioned Houston-style sendoff for the project. The 5-year-old, 12,000-sq.-ft., multimillion-dollar sales center for the toilet-heavy tower at 5048 Hidalgo St. is being demolished. Hines, the new owners of the property, will have no use for the structure in the new 7-story One Waterwall apartment complex it’s building there and expects to complete in 2014:
HOUSTON JANITORS CLEAN UP AFTER STRIKE Six of the 7 janitorial services companies affected by a month-long walkout agreed to a tentative settlement late Wednesday that should end the work stoppage by more than 3,000 Houston janitors. Beginning next January, janitors will earn an additional 25 cents an hour each year, bringing their pay to $9.35 an hour by 2016. The Service Employees International Union Local 1 had sought an increase to $10 an hour over 3 years, beginning a strike early last month after the companies offered only a 50-cent increase over 5 years. The janitors were reportedly unsuccessful in efforts to lengthen their work hours. [Texas Observer]
- Finger Furniture Closing Giant ‘Outdated’ Store at Gulf Fwy. and Cullen Again [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Burger Guys Taking Over Former Korma Sutra Spot on Main Street Downtown [Eater Houston]
- Federal Grant for $188M Coming to Metro for North and Southeast Rail Line Construction [KUHF]
- Preliminary Study Approved for Channel Improvements to Briar Branch Creek [Memorial Examiner]
- Wreckers Right on Time To Haul Away Cars When Porretto Beach Closes, Visitors Complain [Galveston County Daily News]
- Braeswood Place Coyotes Preying on Residents’ Pets [abc13]
- Rare Alligator Sighting in Galveston Bay Near Pelican Bay Pier [abc13]
- Porch Planter Thefts Roil Sunset Heights [The Leader]
Photo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
The grass is always greener when it’s part of an overhaul. A redo (above) of this 1968 home in Forest West (at right) lawned-up the yard, boosted the landscaping, and thinned out the tree limbs. Then, the makeover moved inside, adding fresh paint, a new HVAC system, carpet, and 2012-ier finishes in the kitchen and bathrooms. The home is just a couple lots away from the crosswalks of HISD’s Clifton Middle School and adjacent Forest West Park.
The revamped property was listed earlier this week at $159,900, but in February 2012 it changed hands for $85,000. That previous listing’s initial asking price was $139,900 — in September 2011. But it tumbled every few weeks thereafter: from $132,500 in early October to November’s double-dips of $124,900 and $114,900 to holiday pricing of $109,900 . . . and a new year-new price of $99,900.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE RENT ISN’T TOO DAMN HIGH “People who think that $3,000 plus for rent in a luxury high-rise in Houston is ‘outrageous’ have not been paying attention for the last 10 years. Museum Tower and several others have been at 95%-plus occupancy for years with similar rates. I think a lot of Houstonians have NO idea just how wealthy hundreds of thousands of their fellow Houstonians actually are today.” [Jon, commenting on Ashby Highrise To Start Rising on Bissonnet This Year]
“The thing went up in about two weeks,” writes the camera-toting bicyclist from the First Ward who sends us these photos of the new Kroger under construction at 1400 Studemont, just south of I-10. “I was hoping they would link it through to Target,” continues the tipster. “As all this industrial stuff redevelops in that area they are going to have to break up some of the super blocks or the traffic is going to be a mess.” As part of a “380†tax-reimbursement agreement approved by the city last year, Kroger promised to build a block of Summer St. behind the store (part of which is labeled Hicks St. on the plan shown here) to connect it through to Studemont. There’s also a tighter route:
How long does DiverseWorks plan to stay in the new Midtown location it announced yesterday? A press release put out by the 30-year-old performing and visual arts organization doesn’t say, but DiverseWorks had been listed prominently as one of several groups meant to anchor the proposed Independent Arts Collaborative building planned for a now-vacant block at 3400 Main St. The new DiverseWorks spot in a 5,500-sq.-ft. portion of the former Cleburne Cafeteria building at the corner of Fannin and Cleburne is just 7 blocks south. It’ll open September 7th. With its move out of the warehouse district slot north of Downtown at 1117 East Fwy. it’s occupied for 20 years, the DiverseWorks Artspace will lose its built-in theater as well as its large parking lot and covered dock. It’ll gain a perch closer to the Museum District — and an address first-time visitors will be able to find. (4102 Fannin St.)
- DiverseWorks will move Sept. 7 [Houston Chronicle]
- Diverseworks Reboot: Goodbye Docks! [Glasstire]
Photos: arch-ive.org and Cleburne Cafeteria
- Sugar Land Approves New 6,500-Seat Concert Venue Near US-59 and University Boulevard [Houston Business Journal]
- Edwards’ New 14-Screen Complex at West Oaks Mall Begins Previews Aug. 20 [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- After Noise Disputes, League City Sports Bar Moving to Webster [Galveston County Daily News]
- Williams Tower Sale Could Draw Lots of Offers [Houston Chronicle]
- No Public Vote on Astrodome’s Future Until 2013 [KHOU]
- West U To Issue $75 Fines for On-Street Parking Violations Starting in October [Houston Chronicle]
- Woodlands Waterway Cruisers’ Ridership on Upward Trend for First Time in 4 Years [Woodlands Villager]
- Just How Safe is MegaBus, Houston’s New, Plush Long-Distance Travel Option? [Hairballs]
- Residents Complain About Galveston Park Board’s 6-Ft.-Tall Pile of Smelly Beach Refuse on 29th St. [Galveston County Daily News]
- Downtown’s Quebedeaux Park Overrun with Rats [abc13]
- The Drama Behind the Heights’ Strife-Torn, Wildly Popular White Linen Night [Houston Press]
Photo: David Elizondo via Swamplot Flickr Pool
