Headlines
06/29/12 8:30am

Headlines: Second Houston H&M Open; Expanding Rooms To Go

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2 Comments

Photo of Beer Can House, 222 Malone St.: Candace Garcia via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Comments
06/28/12 11:43pm

Comment of the Day: Choosing Which History To Preserve

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26 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: CHOOSING WHICH HISTORY TO PRESERVE “I don’t understand how we’re supposed to decide which moment of time in history we are all supposed to value more than all the other moments in history. A vacant lot is actually much closer to the historical use of this site. It was vacant for millions of years before someone built a farm there. Many decades later someone decided the farm had to go to make room for a house. Several more decades pass and someone else wants to use the site for a bigger house. To argue over the type of house best suited for this lot seems silly. I propose that we use eminent domain to condemn every non-agricultural structure that currently exists more than one mile from Allen’s Landing. Let’s bulldoze them all and write zoning laws that allow only farm, ranch or wildlife use for everything else within the city limits. We can all move into downtown high rises that are super duper dense, walkable and mixed use. And we’ll have a choo choo train on every street and ban cars. Yippeee!!!!!!!!!!” [Bernard, commenting on A Brief Illustrated Guide to Bungalow Removal]

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Home Design
06/28/12 1:37pm

A Renovated Woodside Ranchburger’s Shy Second Story

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5 Comments

Instead of razing this ranch-style home, the new owner raised the roof, adding a heap of space on the second floor and reworking the original floor plan downstairs. Located in Woodside, near Longfellow Elementary School, the 1957 home morphed via a to-the-studs renovation and addition following its purchase in 2009 for $315,000. Now weighing in at 3,621 sq. ft., the new listing’s asking price is a much heftier $675,000.

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Apartments
06/28/12 1:05pm

Regent Square-ish Apartment Tower Possibly Breaking Ground in 2 Weeks

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15 Comments

A reader passes onto Swamplot an unconfirmed report that a groundbreaking ceremony for the Sovereign, the 21-story apartment tower from the developers trying to kickstart Regent Square that Swamplot reported on back in April, is scheduled for July 11th. That date’s not too far off from the June window predicted in a Houston Business Journal story earlier this month. The site is a cleared lot on West Dallas St. between Rosine and Rochow, where a surviving portion of the Allen House Apartments was recently demolished.

Is the Sovereign the first piece of GID Development’s long-stalled Regent Square development? It fits within the massive North Montrose mixed-use project’s eastern boundary, but the 4-year-old drawings for Regent Square show only low-rise apartments on that spot. On the other hand, the 2 projects are listed separately on the Boston company’s website. And the proposed 290-unit highrise appears to sport more modern look in its renderings than the images of brick-caked structures still floating around in old Regent Square drawings.

Here’s a view of the site from the 1000 block of Rochow, looking toward West Dallas:

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Headlines
06/28/12 8:30am

Headlines: Losing Minute Maid Park’s Toy Train; Sugar Land Under Surveillance

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14 Comments

Photo of Minute Maid Park train: Mark Hodgins via Flickr [license]

Comments
06/27/12 9:30pm

Comment of the Day: Catechism of the Native Houstonian

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9 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: CATECHISM OF THE NATIVE HOUSTONIAN “I grew up in Houston and never thought I’d choose to live here long term, but life and kids and job opportunities kept me here. I have grown to love this city. I travel frequently for work and am always impressed, for instance, at how clean Houston is by comparison. The biggest difference is the attitude that if you have a good idea and the guts to try, you can succeed here. You aren’t subject to the same kind of exclusionary treatment by the monied elite of some other cities. I live close in and take advantage of art and entertainment that seem a bargain and rival other major cities of the world. If we could just fix the summer heat, it would be wonderful.” [stevec, commenting on Comment of the Day: Pack Them In]

Awards
06/27/12 5:40pm

Swamplot Astrodome Photographer Comes Clean, Picks Up Web Award

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6 Comments

Congratulations to tipster Russell Hancock, who won for Swamplot and himself the Photo of the Year award in the Houston Press‘s second annual Houston Web Awards, announced today. Hancock’s mini photo essay about wandering off-course at this year’s Rodeo into a forlorn and mussed-up Astrodome focused attention on the empty sports venue’s state of neglect. Writes the Press‘s Craig Hlavaty: “The resulting photos revealed moldy and torn Astroturf and a litter-strewn building that looked more like a storage facility than the Eighth Wonder of the World. The covert pics also set off a media frenzy, leading first to KHOU’s sanctioned peek at the stadium and, ultimately, a 20-strong public tour for local reporters and talking heads.” Back in March, when Swamplot ran the story, Hancock didn’t want us to use his name, but he tells Swamplot he’s got no problem identifying himself as the photographer now. For taking those photos, sending them to Swamplot, and sparking an important public conversation about Houston’s best-known piece of real estate, he certainly deserves an award.

Photo: Russell Hancock

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Buildings for Sale
06/27/12 2:09pm

Spur-Side Mansion a Mixed-Use Bute

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2 Comments

Some might know this Milam at W. Main property as the former home of Milam House, a social services agency that operated within until 2007. Some might recognize it as a building they view peripherally and from above while zipping out of downtown on Spur 527. Behind the automated gate, however, the mansion-turned-commercial space holds a doctor’s practice downstairs and unrelated professional offices upstairs.

The building combines the presence and proportions of a 1950 home with the more modern upgrades of a 2007 renovation, which also subdivided — only temporarily, the listing agent says — several first floor rooms. Described as an historic property in the Bute section of the Montrose area, this new listing fronting an access road is asking $1,350,000 — regardless of whether its future use remains commercial, resumes residential status, or blends a bit of each. Its neighbors include 2-story apartments next door and 3-story offices-over-parking across the street.

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Headlines
06/27/12 8:30am

Headlines: The Arena in the Astrodome Option; Salvaging the Salvage Warehouse

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4 Comments

Photo: Candace Garcia, via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Apartments
06/26/12 11:18pm

Comment of the Day: Pack Them In

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35 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: PACK THEM IN “Swamplotters crack me up. If this site were home to a bunch of crack houses and Fiesta wanted to tear them down and build this exact strip center (with or without decades of deferred maintenance) with a giant parking lot out front, every one would be up in arms about because it’s not dense enough, or urban enough, mixed use enough or pedestrian friendly enough. I see an eyesore going away, just [like] that dump that used to be across the street. I see $40-50 million of additional tax base that will toss another $1 million each and every year toward HISD and local government. I see room for 500-600 new residents in Houston’s core who will drop countless millions of dollars into bars, restaurants and retail stores and help Houston become an even more dynamic and vibrant city. I see progress. And I like it. Companies are hiring in Houston. People WANT to live in Houston. I say we accommodate them rather than force them to the next mile of empty prairie in the suburbs while letting our own city rot from the inside out.” [Bernard, commenting on Montrose Fiesta on Dunlavy Will Close Forever in Less Than a Month]

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Apartments
06/26/12 1:35pm

Montrose Fiesta on Dunlavy Will Close Forever in Less Than a Month

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53 Comments

Fiesta Mart announced today that it will shut down its store at the corner of Dunlavy and West Alabama — across the street from the newly built modern H-E-B Montrose Market — on July 15th. Developer Marvy Finger plans to build a 6-to-8-story “Mediterranean-style” apartment complex on the 3.68-acre site, which he bought last fall. Fiesta has operated the former Weingarten grocery store on the site since 1994.

Photo: Candace Garcia

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