Looking for a little comfort on the Katy Freeway — and other Houston demo tales.
Sign up for the Newsletter
- Reindeer Prance Across Gulf Freeway, Stop at Bay Area Blvd. Metro Park and Ride [Bellaire Examiner]
- Revived Plan for Second Convention Center Would Include Retail, Offices, or Both [Prime Property]
- City Council Signs Off on $55M Buffalo Bayou Redo [MyFox Houston; previously on Swamplot]
- Magnolia Looks To Expand City Limits [Magnolia Potpourri]
- TxDOT Alters White Oak Bayou Detour to Appease Bikers and Hikers [Houston Chronicle]
- Haverstock Hills Apartments Declared ‘Safe’ [Houston Chronicle]
- Things We Lost in the Drought [State Impact]
Photo of Backyard Art, Beer Can House: Elaine Mesker-Garcia [license]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: BIG DEMOLITION NEAR THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH “Just make sure you are upwind of the implosion. The dust cloud is full of nasties like respirable Silica and Aspergillus.” [Rocco, commenting on M.D. Anderson Tower Will Go Out with a Bang]
Last week, Trammell Crow Residential shared preliminary plans for its proposed Alexan West University apartments with its future neighbors in Houston’s Sunset Terrace and Montclair subdivisions. The design presented to the civic association is taller, denser, fancier, and more brightly illuminated than the 40-year-old garden-style apartments it will replace. Currently home to the Courts at West University, the site is located at Law and Bissonnet streets. That’s near but not in West U. The developer’s replat of the 2.54 acre site goes before Houston’s planning commission tomorrow.
SHE WOULDN’T GET OUT OF BED, SO I SHOT HER 
A magazine for Houston real estate agents has this version of the backstory behind the body-in-the-bed photo featured in a Heights-area bungalow listing posted last week: “The current tenants are being evicted, and therefore, were uncooperative in making the home look attractive to any other buyers. They refused to clean it for showings and, clearly, even refused to move when [real estate agent Traye] Wise and his assistant stopped by to take interior photos for the listing website; Wise said he asked the husband if he could rouse his wife from bed so they could take just one photo of the bedroom’s interior sans tenants, and while the husband allegedly told his wife to get out of bed, she refused. ‘This was in no way done on purpose,’ Wise said about the bedroom photo. ‘It was supposed to be edited to take (the woman sleeping in bed) out. It was supposed to be Photoshopped, and my assistant put it up by mistake.’†[Houston Agent Magazine; previously on Swamplot]
Last night, nominations closed for 2 more categories in this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. The ballots in only 3 categories remain open, but they’re biggies: 2011’s Best Neighborhood Upgrade, Neighborhood of the Year, and Greatest Moment in Houston Real Estate. If you’ve got a great suggestion for any of these award categories, you have just a short time left to get it to us (until midnight tonight for the first 2 and until midnight Thursday night for Greatest Moment). And here’s a tip: Sure, it’s nice to get all those standard one-word nominations — like, say, “Katy!†But to make it onto the official ballot, a nominee needs something more: Your unique and quotable explanation for why it deserves that particular award.
One by one, we’re now posting the official ballots for the other categories. We’ve got 2 of them available for voting already: Favorite Houston Design Cliché and Best Demolition. Have you voted yet? Next up: Best Parking Lot Dining Experience.
 Last Call for Nominations... "Pin It")
A demolisher’s job is never done. The latest to-do list:
- New Neighborhood ‘Buffer’ Rules for Highrises Go Before City Council Today [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Dynamo Stadium No More — BBVA Compass Acquires Rights to New Downtown Soccer Site [MyFox Houston]
- Bellaire Council Approves ‘Urban Village’ Zoning Around Proposed Future Westpark Rail Station Site [Bellaire Examiner]
- Galveston Agencies Will Renovate 2 Dilapidated, Historic Homes on Ave. L [Galveston County Daily News]
- Survey Points to Area Job Growth, Scores Houston the Best Place for Landlords [CNN Money, via Prime Property]
- Top Office Buildings Spending $15K-$25K on Holiday Decorations [Houston Chronicle]
- Attention Tubers: More Big Changes on the Way for Comal, Guadalupe Rivers [KHOU; previously on Swamplot]
- Thanks to Fires, Flood Risk Now Higher in Texas [State Impact]
Photo of Texas Medical Center: Kyle Nielsen
What was this year’s Best Demolition? That’s what we aim to find out in this, the second category in the 2011 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. And the official nominees are now in the (soon-to-be-demolished) house!
The voting rules for this year’s Swampies are posted here, but they’re not that complicated: You can vote for this category once each through each of 4 methods: in a comment below, in an email to Swamplot, on Twitter, or on Swamplot’s Facebook page. If you’ve got a favorite candidate, start a campaign! The polls close for all categories at 5 pm on December 27th.
The nominees for Best Demolition of 2011 are . . .
Ready for another Masterpiece? Gotta break these places into pieces first:
- 20 Arrested as Occupy Houston Occupies East Loop/610 Entrance Ramp [KHOU; slideshow]
- Suspect in ‘Ocean’s 11’-esque, $6 Million Houston Jewelry Heist Speaks [Star-Telegram]
- Company Planning Bullet Train Between Houston and Dallas [click2Houston]
- Execs Would Rather Go Virtual Than to Houston, Study Finds [CNET News]
- Possible Culprit in East Texas Wildfire: Smoldering Roots [Houston Chronicle]
- Gingerbread Astrodome, Alabama Theater, Discovery Green: Local Architectural Landmarks Dominate Holiday Build-Off [Eating Our Words]
Photo of Jaume Plensa sculptures on Allen Parkway at Studemont: Jay Lee [license]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE APPLE HOUR OF POWER “Believe it or not. Just a few weeks ago I posted a mail to Tim Cook, no reply till now :), in which I suggested to buy the Crystal Cathedral Campus in Garden Grove. I have been there on several occasions (although I am a dutch citizen so it is not around the corner). It would be an excellent Apple campus where people can meet Apple and each other and where we all can build a platform where contemporary speakers like Deepak Chopra, Lynne McTaggart and many others who can tell us new things that can make this world a better place can be invited to share their knowledge. Can you imagine streaming to or downloading by the devices like the iPad, Apple TV iPhones and Macs in every corner of this planet? In that way preserving the heritage of that beautiful place and at the same time give it a destination that will appeal tot the entire world (community). Now it will be sold to a catholic church, in my opinion a loss of possibilities.” [Hans Noordsij, commenting on Comment of the Day: Apple’s Crystal Cathedral]
Here they are! The official nominees for the very first category of the 2011 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. That would be Favorite Houston Design Cliché. Thanks to everyone who submitted suggestions!
You can cast your vote for this award category simply by adding a comment below indicating your choice. But why not make it more fun? Don’t just tell us who you’re voting for, tell us why!
And pay attention to the Swampies’ quirky voting rules: You can also vote up to 3 more times — by email, on Twitter, or from Facebook — as long as you follow these rules.
The nominees are . . .
HOW THE RIVER OAKS HOUSE OF WOW BEGAN TO SPROUT 
Inspired by the enthusiasm of Swamplot commenters, Lisa Gray tracks down the story behind the looks-mild-from-the-street home of the Brill family, and its eclectic designer George Weinle: “They started with the dining room, which came to feel like something out of Oz. The custom-made dining-room table has an incredibly ornate pedestal: Weinle knew that Pat’s grandkids liked to play under the table, and he wanted them to have something to look at. Her Chippendale dining-room chairs are painted shocking mint green. An intricate red wooden chandelier that looks vaguely like a pagoda was made to George’s specifications; it hangs at the center of a ceiling painted to resemble a carousel top. Shiny blue woodwork fu dogs — the kind that guard Chinese restaurants — flank a doorway, and custom-made, vaguely Asian furnishings sprout as if of their own volition. The breakfast room, living room, entry way and library followed, bits and pieces at a time, done whenever Pat had the money. When George proposed the palm-tree pouf for the living room’s center, she called a retired decorator for a second opinion. “Either you’ll be a grand success or a laughingstock,” he told her. She took the chance. Twelve pillars in the living room? Gilding? More of those intricate wooden chandeliers? She said yes. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
We’re rolling into the second phase in the 2011 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate: the balloting. Nominations closed at midnight last night for the first 2 of the 9 categories in this year’s awards: Favorite Houston Design Cliché and Best Teardown. Later today, we’ll announce the official nominees and begin the voting for the first of those categories, and continue with the rest throughout the week.
This means there are now only hours left to make your nominations for the next 2 categories, which are new this year: Best Parking Lot Dining Experience and Most Notable Recycling Effort. Nominations for these 2 categories will close at midnight tonight.
Some terrific nominations have already come in for all our remaining categories, but we still need your help to make sure that all the candidates are the right ones, and that each is presented in the best possible light.
So if you find anything missing from any of the 7 remaining award categories, please add your nominations now! Or if you think you can improve on any of the explanations submitted, feel free to write in with your own better presentation. If you see a nomination without an explanation, please add a good one! Got photos of any of the nominees? Please send them!
(Special note to neighborhoods hoping to make it to the final ballot for 2011 Neighborhood of the Year: A simple mention of your subdivision’s name, combined with descriptions that could be applied to many other parts of the city, won’t necessarily be enough. Instead, tell us what makes the neighborhood you’re nominating special or unique, and worthy of this award this year.)
There’s still plenty of time to contribute. Add your nominations to the comments section below the post that announces each category (you’ll find all the award categories listed together here). Or send them to us in an email. Who are the contenders in Houston real estate this year? What deserves recognition?
