Headlines
01/05/12 8:30am

Headlines: Skeeters’ Copper Copped; Macy’s Leaving Mall of the Mainland

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Photo of Midtown structure: Monica Danna [license]

Comments
01/04/12 10:08pm

Comment of the Day: Ballad of the Fourth Ward

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COMMENT OF THE DAY: BALLAD OF THE FOURTH WARD “Freedman’s town is not a historic district under the City’s historic preservation ordinance. In fact, it is an excellent example of why historic districts are needed. Freedman’s town was where freed slaves settled after emancipation. The land was crap due to the flooding from the bayous. The residents built roads out of brick made by hand and constructed utilities. They basically built a thriving community out of swampland with their own hands. The area decayed and turned into crack town in the 1980s. In the late 1980s, Residents and activists were able to put over 500 buildings on the national register of historic places. Today, less than 30 of those buildings remain. And the effort to preserve the shot gun shacks was based on the historic and cultural value of the buildings, not just for the architecture. Had Freedman’s town had the protection of the current historic ordinance and a fraction of the kind of tax assistance that goes to stadiums, grand parkways and Walmarts, a significant piece of American history could have been saved and become a national tourist destination along the lines of Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. . . .” [Old School, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Dixie Chuck]

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Nightlife
01/04/12 5:45pm

Caught Watering Ditches: Your Latest Photo Guide To Off-Washington-Ave Nightlife

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“People are always peeing on my street, so I bought a Q-Beam.” With that informative epigram, blogger Jay Rascoe takes his focus off his usual guns and tacos beat for a wee bit in his new Tumblelog, OneBlockOffWashington. There he catalogs his growing collection of caught-peeing, caught-puking, and caught-in-a-ditch videos shot from his home perch, which is, apparently, a block off Washington Ave. Rascoe’s frequent late-night interactions with would-be sidewalk urinators wandering back from club visits are frequently aided by the million candles’ worth of halogen in a pistol grip he points at perpetrators. But some of his most entertaining street-scene captures use only available light:

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Medical Buildings
01/04/12 12:34pm

The Signs Around the Parc Binz Site

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Walking by the vacant site on the corner of Binz and Chenevert on the way to Hermann Park, reader David Hollas notes that the large sign advertising a 75,000-sq.-ft. medical-offices-and-retail development planned for the site has been taken down. Meanwhile, the surrounding neighborhood has been peppered with Ashby-Highrise-style signs protesting Balcor Commercial’s planned 6-story Parc Binz building and parking garage at 1800 Binz St— and “hi-rise buildings” in general. Opposition to the development got some media attention last year, but Hollas has seen sign changes on the property before: “About 2 years ago, the signs offered the sale of townhomes that were to be built imminently, but never materialized. After a period of inactivity and weed growth, the city came and decked out the site with code violation placards. Eventually the site was mowed and trash removed, and the city signs and townhome signs disappeared.”

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Headlines
01/04/12 8:30am

Headlines: Those Long Cinco Ranch Commutes; Last Days of the Prudential Building

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Photo of M.D. Anderson Houston Main Building: Candace Garcia

Highland Village
01/03/12 1:00pm

Highland Village Apple Store Reboot

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HIGHLAND VILLAGE APPLE STORE REBOOT Did you know the shiny new Apple Store with the glass roof and front and back walls in Highland Village was scheduled to open very soon? Well, not any more, says Nancy Sarnoff. A source tells her the opening of the first Houston-area non-mall store has been pushed back until March. [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot] Drawing: Jeffrey Djayasaputra

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Quicklink
01/03/12 11:09am

Why Hank’s Ice Cream Is Closed This Week

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WHY HANK’S ICE CREAM IS CLOSED THIS WEEK There’ll be no butter pecan, vanilla, or creamed corn flavors available for the next few days at the southern end of the angled strip center at the corner of Murworth and South Main St. — for a period of mourning. Hank’s Ice Cream owner and founder Hank Wiggins, who opened the shop with his wife Okemah in 1985, passed away on New Year’s Eve. He was 74. [Houston Chronicle] Photo: Edgar V.

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New Construction
01/03/12 10:15am

Trader Joe’s Braces Itself for a Woodlands Shopping Center Landing

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That’s it, right there, next to Petco: Trader Joe’s first Houston-area store, now in fetal form in the shopping center at 10868 Kuykendahl Rd., across the street from the H-E-B at Woodlands Pkwy. New Swamplot reader Michael E. sends these pix showing how far construction has progressed since the dusty days of last November. The steel frame is up! When do the multi-pack avocados come in?

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Headlines
01/03/12 8:50am

Headlines: Convention District Master Plan; Stalking Galveston’s Tree Stump Carvings

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Photo of dead-tree sculpture, 1508 29th St., Galveston: Robert Boyd

Awards
12/30/11 2:27pm

The Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate, 2011: The Winners!

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Here they are at last — the results of the fourth annual Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate! Who won what in this year’s competition? You’ll find the answers below.

This announcement caps an almost month-long process that began with calls for nominations in 9 separate award categories. Official ballots were were put together from reader nominations. Then voting was opened up — to everyone.

Winners of the 2011 Swampies: We salute you for your unique contributions to this city. It takes a lot to stand out in Houston’s real estate landscape. On Swamplot, Houston real-estate fans have noticed you!

Big thanks are due the many Swamplot readers who took time to nominate, evaluate, vote, and comment on competitors in each category. It’s your judgments, your descriptions and your observations that are featured below. Does this honor roll of award winners — along with the list of runners up — provide a good snapshot of the year in Houston real estate? All were determined by reader votes. Let us know what you think!

The winners of the 2011 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate are . . .

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Awards
12/30/11 10:18am

The Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate, 2011: The Runners-Up

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Your votes have been tallied. Now here’s the moment you’ve been waiting for! Well, almost: It’s time to announce the second-place winners of the 2011 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate!

But first, a note of thanks — to all of you who voted, commented, nominated, campaigned, and cajoled in support of your favorite candidates. You made this extended moment of reflection, recognition, and honor possible. The Swampies belong to you!

You know what they say about runners-up: Should the actual award winners (they’ll be announced next) be unable to fulfill their duties for any reason, these second-place winners will be ready and willing to serve! Let’s have a big round of digital applause, please, for the 2011 runners-up in the Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate — the Swampies!

They are:

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