Seen at this morning’s Purple Line kickoff on McKinney St. near Ennis in East Downtown, a sight not seen around Houston since before 9/11: What it looks like when Metro contractors lay track for a new light-rail line . . . or pour the concrete pad for it, anyway.
This single-story warehouse building at 2202 Dallas St. will be the home of a new craft brewery founded by Houston food-truck veterans the Eatsie Boys. The 5,000-sq.-ft. building at the corner of Hutchins is near the site of Dynamo Stadium and a short walk to Minute Maid Park, but the brewery will be named after the empty and forlorn former home of the Astros further south: 8th Wonder Brewery. When the lease was signed in April, there was a different name behind it. But “Heady Brewing Company” ran into a few trademark issues, so they’re going with the Dome. The buildout should be complete at the end of this year, with the first 8th Wonder beers appearing around town in 2012.
The scene captured last Saturday by that drone videocamera flight, showing excavation on the site of the East Downtown stadium at Texas and Dowling, plus a high-end view of Downtown’s back side . . . and a very round earth. Like a more steady ride? Here’s a still:
Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:
Midtown: There’s more new to the Houston House Apartments than just that exterior paint job. Catching an elevator has been a bit tough and there’s the occasional burst pipe or AC interruption, but otherwise the ongoing renovation is looking good so far, a resident reports: “The new carpet on the residential floors is a geometric pattern with a good mix of cool and bold colors. The units are looking much improved with new finishes and appliances. The appliances are pretty low end but definitely an improvement. The lobby’s looking great. The color-scheme there is a brown and orange and white palette. I’m not a huge fan of the two accent walls of orange dots but the new lettering and signage in the lobby is a great addition. I haven’t been up to the renovated 9th floor (lounge, gym and pool) in a while . . . but when I last saw it it was looking fantastic with a cleaned-up, opened-up, and really bright feel.“
Melrose Place: Next act for the former Monarch Cleaners building at 2815 South Shepherd, known more recently as the Fox Diner, Cafe Serranos Cantina, Crome, and then Pravada, as several readers pointed out: former Textile chef Ryan Hildebrand‘s new triple threat, Triniti. MC²‘s design for the currently gutted restaurant will include a garden and — judging from some recent construction photos — some colorful applications of perforated metal panels:
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Melrose Place: Waiting in line at the Starbucks drive-thru south of Westheimer, a reader snaps this photo of the former Crome Lounge at 2815 South Shepherd next door, and reports: “It has been vacant as far as I can tell for months if not a year. Now there is renovation going on.” What’s next for the former Fox Diner and Monarch Cleaners building?
Galleria: The HBJ‘s Jennifer Dawson reports that ahem, “distracting food smells” from “a fragrant cafeteria” that recently moved onto the same floor as the Houston CPA Society in the office building at 1700 West Loop South are what drove the professional association to leave its offices of 33 years for new digs on Post Oak Blvd. Sadly, the article doesn’t identify the cafeteria or the exact nature of the wafting “spicy aromas” that sent all those accountants packing. Any guesses?
Epicurean Express, that long-awaited little bodega-style grocery store in East Downtown, opened quietly early this week in this strip shopping center at 2018 Rusk St., at the corner of St. Emanuel — about 10 months after its originally scheduled opening date. Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia reports a bit more work will be needed inside before the 3,500-sq.-ft. store just down the street from Warehouse Live — which includes a small area for cafe seating inside — is fully stocked. You’ll want to wait a few more weeks before sandwiches are ready at the deli, too.
“. . . The census records just came out, and EaDo’s population gained 3500 people (of course in 2000 EaDo didn’t exist… it was just a warehouse district). If EaDo wants to actually KEEP these new residents, it’s gonna have to build us a damn grocery store that has stuff we actually eat!! That means Hummus, Brie, F-R-E-S-H produce and a deli that offers some actual prepared foods. . . . I should NOT have to drive to West Gray or Montrose just to get fresh Cilantro!!” [wayne2k33, commenting on Here’s Your Montrose Kroger, All Dressed Up]
An effort led by former Houston mayor Lee P. Brown to recruit wealthy Chinese investors for a proposed 1000-room East Downtown hotel project on the opposite side of the 59 freeway from the George R. Brown convention center appears to be picking up steam. Brown is listed as chairman of the managing general partner of the project, a company named Global Century Development. Brown and Global Century’s president, Dan Nip, hope to raise money for the $225 million project from investors who want to immigrate to the U.S. through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ EB-5 Visa program. That program, established as a result of the Immigration Act of 1990, allows foreign nationals to obtain a green card by investing a minimum of $500,000 — and thereby create 10 or more jobs — in qualified areas with high unemployment rates. An East Downtown investment zone identified by Global Century Development in the area bounded by Preston St., the 59 Freeway, I-45, and Dowling is the only area in Houston that qualifies as a “regional center” under the program.
A Powerpoint presentation prepared by Global Century Development that appears to date from last year sites the proposed hotel on three adjacent blocks near Saint Emanuel and Polk St. But a report in today’s Houston Business Journal by Jennifer Dawson indicates plans for the East Downtown hotel are focused on only 2 of those blocks, which Nip controls: They’re bounded by Polk, Saint Emanuel, Bell, and Chartres. Dawson reports that a pedestrian bridge connecting the hotel to the convention center across the freeway is being planned, but a schematic drawing of a bridge featured in the presentation appears to show it only crossing Chartres St., requiring pedestrians to cross under the freeway:
It’s not as if drawings showing the industrial look of the new Dynamo Stadium hadn’t been floating around for a little while, but today marks the day the folks at Populous, the building’s designers, officially “unveiled” the design for the East Downtown soccer venue. Hiding behind that veil, of course, is . . . a giant veil: a meshy, irregular metal skin wrapping the structure, lifted up at corner entrances to reveal a glowing orange polycarbonate surface behind. Kinda like the approach to that big reception desk at the new Downtown Y — just a whole lot more, y’know, grand.
When you’ve already designed Minute Maid Park, Reliant Stadium, and the Toyota Center, what’s left in Houston for these guys to do? Will they get to push the button for the Astrodome demo too?
What’s happening to land values around the East Downtown site of Dynamo Stadium at Texas and Dowling? “Dave Cook with Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. said he has six properties listed for sale in the area with an asking price of $50 per square foot, or nearly $2.2 million per acre. ‘That’s what the value will be when the soccer stadium is an actual reality,’ he said. Cook said property sold for $30 to $35 per square foot before the stadium site was acquired. An investor signed a contract last week, Cook added, to buy an 11,000-square-foot building on a one-acre tract at 2020 McKinney that’s leased to the City of Houston for parking administrative offices. The asking price was $2.2 million. ‘We got very close to that,’ said Cook, who would not reveal the actual sales price.” [Houston Business Journal]
Swamplot covers real estate, home design and renovation, architecture, and the landscape of Houston, Texas. Swamplot did not flood during Allison — or Ike! Honest! Read more
The San Antonio developer who recently tore down the former On Leong Merchants Association building at 801 Chartres behind the George R. Brown Convention Center tells reporter Jennifer Dawson that Wyndham Hotels will operate the $12 million, 12-story Wyndham or Wyndham Grand he plans to build there, not far from where Dynamo Stadium is being built. According to Dawson, the hotel site — which Ocean2Ocean Development acquired from foreclosure last month — incorporates a half acre on the block surrounded by Rusk, Chartres, Walker, and Saint Emanuel. Behind that property currently: the strip-center location of East Downtown mini-grocer Epicurean Express (in photo). [Houston Business Journal] Photo: Candace Garcia
Galleria: The HBJ‘s Jennifer Dawson 
Comment of the Day: East Downtown’s Homesteading Spirit
“Yo, Wayne my Homes! Here in da ’Do, we grow our own cilantro and make our own hummus. Just sayin’.” [sugarpie, commenting on Comment of the Day: The Hummus and Brie Desert in East Downtown]