The vacant 2-story building at 2107 Milam St. in Midtown, which long ago was home to a President Health Club — but is likely better remembered as a blank-faced, boarded-up building with a for-sale sign on its corner — is being smashed to bits this morning. A reader sends in this view of the scene at Milam and West Gray St. taken from the Metro HQ building at 1900 Main St. The 14,975-sq.-ft. soon-to-be empty lot is next door to Central Square Plaza (at left in the photo), which is currently undergoing renovations. County records show a company called Hobby Place LLC purchased the smaller property in April.
Photo: Swamplot inbox
The online and offline publications of the Rice Design Alliance have announced a design competition to “reimagine” the area surrounding the city’s 21-acre police, courthouse, and jail complex centered around 61 Riesner St. between the Sixth Ward and Downtown — within the virtual world of Minecraft. Models of a number of existing buildings in the area bounded roughly by Houston Ave., Washington Ave, Preston St., I-45, and Memorial Dr. have already been crafted in the video game’s distinctive blocky style for the venture (try this server address: 108.60.220.190:25565), including Kenneth Franzheim’s 1950 Streamline Moderne HPD HQ itself (above); the publication is still seeking help to model other existing structures, including the Ferris Wheel and Aquarium on the opposite side of I-45. But simply blockifying existing structures isn’t the focus of the competition; instead, 
Top Chef: Just Desserts contestant and 
Two men in casual business attire attempted to walk out of a basement service door of the JPMorgan Chase Tower at 600 Travis St. after midnight last night with the beach-scene painting pictured at right, which had been hanging in one of the building’s common areas. 
