A bit more rooting in the Fifth Ward, plus truckloads of home-destruction fun.
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- City Recommends Alternate Routes, Parking Locations, Public Transit Options To Limit Rodeo Traffic [Houston Chronicle]
- Wood Partners Begins Construction of Apartments Next to Woodlake Square Shopping Center in Westchase [Houston Business Journal]
- Skanska Acquires Old Arco Building in Energy Corridor, Will Replace with Office Space [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
- Landry’s Rumored To Have Bought Last Bowling Alley in Galveston [Galveston County Daily News]
- More Mosquitoes Than Normal Thanks To Wet, Warm Winter [Click2Houston]
- Dozens of Giant Rodents Hanging Around Pasadena Apartment Complex [KHOU]
- City Council Poised To Vote on 13 Percent Rate Increase for Taxi Services This Wednesday [KUHF News]
- Developer ‘Likely’ To Abandon Planned Affordable Housing Complex off FM 1488 in Westwood After Community Opposition [Magnolia Potpourri]
- The Best Finds from Jason Smith’s Houston Modern Architecture Tour [Art Attack]
- Corps Seeking Ideas on Hurricane Damage Reduction, Flood Risk Management at Upcoming Public Workshops [Galveston County Daily News]
- TransCanada Breaks Up Keystone XL Pipeline, Will Build Southern Leg First [Reuters]
Photo of I-10 and Sam Houston Tollway: Cory Borealis via Swamplot Flickr Pool
COMMENT OF THE DAY: INVASION OF THE CAR SNATCHERS “It’s a mystery to me who lives in these new construction [townhomes]. I make considerably more money than the average wage earner in Houston, and I sure don’t live in one. Look at The Fink and then look at the monstrocity next to it, with the huge a/c unit in front, constantly kicking on and off. I think pod people live in those things and they keep their pods there. Think about it . . . do you ever really see someone who lives in those kinds of townhomes? You may occasionally see the huge garage door open and shut, but never see the people.” [Darogr, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Apartment Hunters]
With a tricked-out log cabin like this, Abe Lincoln might have overshot the presidency. Far from rustic, the country home in Friendswood sits on 10 ATV-friendly ag-exempt acres. A deep porch surrounds the 1-story home, which was built in 1994.
Here are a few pics from the battle that began last Friday between demo crews and at least one of the former Alamo Elementary School’s 2 buildings at 201 E. 27th St. in Sunset Heights. The school shut down back in 1980; since then it’s been used as the site of an HISD storage facility and a series of only imagined — and now, it appears, officially defunct — preservation and repurposing schemes. The original 2-story structure was built in 1913; the single-story structure was added in 1926.
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
The Fink Apartments, ratted out.
- Court Sides with Ranch Landowners in Von Ormy Water Rights Case [Houston Chronicle]
- Three Office Buildings Considered for The Woodlands [Houston Business Journal]
- Woodlands Real Estate Conference Celebrates Woodlands Real Estate [Culturemap]
- Houston Management Districts Valued in Billions [Houston Business Journal]
- Judge Lifts Order Blocking Segment of TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline, Trial Set for April 30 [Click2Houston]
- ‘Complete Streets’ Plan Aims to Make Navigation More Pedestrian, Bike Friendly [Culturemap]
- City Begins Repairs to Southeast Houston Homes Damaged by ‘Fecal Fountains’ [KHOU]
- Seabrook Lifts Water Restrictions [Bay Area Citizen]
- February Rains Help Replenish Brazos River Basin Reservoirs [Galveston County Daily News]
- After Nearly Reaching Pumping Cap Last Summer, League City Considers Alternative Water Sources [Galveston County Daily News]
- Real Estate Agents Are Dinosaurs, Says Houston Real Estate Broker [Wall Street Journal]
- Houston One of 25 Cities in ‘Homeowners Assurance Program’ [KUHF]
- Slideshow of Houston’s Most Expensive Homes for Sale [Prime Property]
Photo of Eastex Fwy. near Deerbrook Mall: Eric Prado [license]
The black curtains that shrouded the exterior scaffolding at the Apple Store construction site at the corner of Westheimer and Drexel in the Highland Village Shopping Center came down today, a reader reports. But a full reveal of Apple’s first-ever glass-roofed see-through-and-walk-through store — and (perhaps) whatever secrets lie below or next to it — will have to wait for a further strip-down: of the material still covering the all-glass front and back facades.
Does the Saint Germain Foundation qualify as a church? That’s the story the listing agent sticks to in her description of the property for sale on the corner of Greenbriar and Portsmouth. As a qualifying religious institution, it’s exempt from local property taxes. The Illinois-based group, founded by mining engineer Guy W. Ballard in 1934, is selling its longtime Houston home across Greenbriar from the Shepherd Plaza shopping center and worldly-goods discounter Tuesday Morning. According to followers of Ballard’s teachings, the organization’s founder had previously completed earthly stints in the person of Achilles, Alexander the Great, Kings Richard I and Henry V of England, and George Washington; in 1939, in lieu of dying, he became Ascended Master Godfre. The 3,000-sq.-ft. home at 3700 Greenbriar was built a year later.
A LONG GOODBYE FOR THE WOODLANDS MALL SEARS 
The Woodlands Mall location is among the 11 anchor stores around the country Sears announced it will sell to mall operator General Growth Properties. All of the stores will remain open until 2013; a closing date will be announced within the next several months. [Retail Traffic] Photo: City-Data
Time’s up for the former Alamo Elementary School in Sunset Heights — and a few other structures.
- Last P.H. Robinson Power Plant Tower in Texas City To Come Down Today [Galveston County Daily News]
- Southeast Houston Homes Get Sewage Shower During City Street Work [KHOU]
- The Tank Explosion Heard Across Galveston [Galveston County Daily News]
- Houston Drought Recovery Faster Than Expected [KUHF News]
- Dynamo Stadium Gets Orange Glow as Seats Installed, Walls Painted [KUHF News]
- Texas Parks Department Now Accepting Applications for Gator Hunters [Hair Balls]
- Fulshear Creek Crossing Bottles First Vintage from Community Vineyard [Prime Property]
- Dozen Bronze Animals Heads Coming to Hermann Park [Woodlands Online]
- Deer Invade Adjacent Homes in Atascocita Forest [Humble Observer]
- Houston Modern Market Preview [Culturemap]
Photo of Salt Grass Trail riders on Groschke Rd., Katy: Alan Warren/Sugar Land Sun
COMMENT OF THE DAY: KEEP THOSE TRAINS MOVING BY MY HOUSE, PLEASE “This is a great photo of the cars that Union Pacific parks behind our neighborhood on a constant basis. I’ve been fighting them for 1 1/2 years now about leaving running refrigerated cars there overnight. Those suckers are LOUD. Yeah, I understand the track was there way before my house but we didn’t have this problem until UP started using it as a delivery point for a local distributor 2 years ago. Miserable sleep for 10 households just so UP can save a few bucks. When the cars aren’t running, I actually enjoy the constant change of scenery. We’ve seen some pretty interesting stuff back there.” [JenBen00, commenting on Headlines: Affordable Housing Demos; Young Houston]
Basements are relatively rare in low-lying Houston. But a Swamplot reader who’s been following the progress of construction at the first not-in-a-mall Apple store ever to be built in this city thinks Apple dug deep into its curtained Highland Village Shopping Center site:
Apple not only tore down the existing building they dug down far more than was necessary. . . . I saw big excavators, much larger than what would be expected and I saw an excavation that was far deeper than needed for a typical strip center foundation. If there was anything below grade that needed removal such tasks would have been done during the previous construction. . . . [The excavators] were at full extension which would suggest a foundation 15’ below grade. Sounds like a basement to me. The old saw about you couldn’t have basements in Houston is certainly not true. Many buildings downtown and in the medical center have multilevel basements.
So . . . what might Apple be hiding underground?
