Tag: 77004

Museum Park
06/24/13 11:00am

A Strip Center Art Gallery Opens in Museum Park

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Openings and Closings, Renovations
7 Comments

Inside this mongrelized building on Blodgett St., Museum Park residents Matt Scheiner and Lisa Qualls have opened a friendly neighborhood art gallery they’ve named Gallery Jatad. Their suite at 1517 Blodgett — it’s the one with the unpapered windows — used to house a record and T-shirt shop; it shares the strip center with a nail salon, washateria, and food mart. County records indicate that the center, spanning La Branch and Crawford, dates to the 1940s, though it appears to have been bejeweled with those decorative diamonds and a stucco mask in the ’70s, says Scheiner. Inside, the suite has been renovated to feature museum-issue walls and lighting and the old building’s original slab.

The gallerists’ friend Victor Rojas says he will be opening a showroom right next door at 1515 Blodgett for his own furniture and metalwork; and they say they have another friend considering opening a coffee shop in the endcap.

Photo: Allyn West

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Apartments
06/24/13 10:00am

Around the Museum District Block Hines Likes for a 22-Story Apartment Highrise

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Commercial Real Estate, Highrises, Museum District, Museum Park, Proposed Developments
20 Comments

Hines has confirmed that it’s considering a 20- or 22-story apartment tower for this block in the Museum District. This photo shows the corner of Oakdale and Caroline St., across from the Asia Society Texas Center and a recently cleared corner lot that wouldn’t sell to the Asia Society Texas Center. A source tells Swamplot that 3 of the 4 properties on this block bound by Caroline, San Jacinto, Oakdale, and Southmore have sold to Hines, and that Hines will take those over on July 1.

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Comments
06/20/13 3:00pm

Comment of the Day: The Glass Is Half Full — and Bright Red

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Highrises, Museum District, Museum Park, Quicklink
5 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE GLASS IS HALF FULL — AND BRIGHT RED “I haven’t had any kool aid but it’s hot enough to have some. Rather than be negative, my point was at least it’s Hines. Look at our skyline and all the great buildings are Hines. There are only a handful of developers that build high quality buildings in Houston, rather than the junk most of them do before they go out of business or scoot back to Las Vegas. Rather than be bitter and wish for a bubble, try being positive. It does the soul good. And lastly, if you don’t like what’s being built, why don’t you get all your money together and show us how you could do better! What do you think was in the spot where you currently live or work? Either a virgin lot, or something that was refurbished, or torn down.” [Loves swamplot, commenting Hines Buying Up Museum District Property To Build Highrise Apartments]

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Mobile Resources
06/20/13 11:00am

Applied Technology at UH’s New Coffee Nook

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Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants, Retail, University of Houston
2 Comments

APPLIED TECHNOLOGY AT UH’S NEW COFFEE NOOK A pair of University of Houston alums will be running a coffee shop and wine bar out of this new retail center in the cranny of Calhoun Rd. and Spur 5. The Nook, they’re calling it, will open July 15, reports The Daily Cougar, with more student-friendly hours, staying open until midnight — even on school nights. And there will also be a kind of caffeine-expediting service well suited to a spread-out campus that can require some serious between-classes hoofing: “‘The unique piece of The Nook that we’re actually proud of is a smart phone app where you can actually order your coffee the way you like it. You tell us when you’ll show up, you pay with your credit card and come to the pick-up counter and pick it up,’ Shaw said. ‘Anything on the menu, except for alcohol, can be ordered on the phone app.’” [The Daily Cougar; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Allyn West

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Apartments
06/19/13 10:05am

Hines Buying Up Museum District Property To Build Highrise Apartments

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Buying and Selling, Highrises, Museum District, Museum Park, Proposed Developments
51 Comments

A few sources are telling Swamplot that Hines is planning to build either a 20- or 22-story apartment tower on the entire city block where this house stands in the Museum District. The house is at the corner of Caroline and Southmore, directly across from Yoshio Taniguchi’s Asia Society Texas Center and that recently cleared residential lot immediately behind it. The block is bound by Caroline, Southmore, Oakdale, and the light rail line along San Jacinto. One of the sources says that 3 of the 4 property owners on the block have agreed to sell, and that Hines will be taking those properties over on July 1. Another source speculates that Hines might go ahead and build around the holdout. As of this morning, there’s been no word from Hines — though a rep in an email writes: “No deal has been closed so it is too preliminary to discuss,” which sure makes it sound as though there is an “it.”

Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Demolitions
06/07/13 10:00am

No More Golden Years for the U of H Golden Arches

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Franchises and Chain Stores, Restaurants, Third Ward, University of Houston
4 Comments

It would seem that McDonald’s has resolved the steely staring contest between these 2 signs from 2 different eras, having gone ahead and ushered out the old restaurant here on Elgin and Cullen near the U of H campus to put up a brand-new one, a regional rep from the company confirms. No renderings of the next generation are available yet, but the rep says that it should be open in time for the fall semester.

Photo: Allyn West

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Quicklink
06/04/13 12:00pm

Is HISD Keeping Rebuilding Jobs from Minority-Owned Firms?

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Schools, Third Ward
38 Comments

IS HISD KEEPING REBUILDING JOBS FROM MINORITY-OWNED FIRMS? That’s what the Houston chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (or HNOMA) seems to suspect, having sent a letter to HISD superintendent Terry Grier alleging “disenfranchisement” and wanting to know why so few jobs funded by last year’s $1.89 billion bond to rebuild 40 schools have been awarded to African-American-owned firms, reports Hair Balls: “Only two percent of the monies assigned have gone to the six [Houston-area] architectural firms run solely by African-American owners,” says Jeff Balke. “According to the letter, it appears that none of the six firms in question were even interviewed for projects pertaining to the four traditionally African-American high schools being rebuilt,” one of which is Yates High School, shown here. Adds HNOMA veep Anzilla Gilmore: “In the 2007 Bond, all of these firms got work, so we assumed that with a Bond this big, these guys shouldn’t have any issues. . . . They just need the chance, and if they don’t get the chance, they should be told why.” [HISD; Hair Balls; previously on Swamplot] Photo: HISD

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Medical Buildings
05/23/13 11:10am

The New Mixed-Use Building in the Museum District

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Mixed Use, Museum District, Office Space, Retail
6 Comments

That excavator first rolled out here on La Branch and Binz last summer — and 11 months later this is how the site looks: Catty-corner from the Children’s Museum, the Museum Point Professional Building appears to be all but complete. The 4-story building at 1401 Binz was originally planned to be 30,000-sq.-ft., with retail on the first floor, a clinic and offices on the middle floors, and some kind of residence (“with a garden terrace”) up top. A 160-car parking garage was also planned.

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Commercial Real Estate
05/20/13 3:10pm

What’s Next for That Museum District Never-Was?

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Demolitions, Land Development, Museum Park
7 Comments

“There’s a lot that’s recently been cleared immediately behind the Asia Society,” reports a reader. You know the one, at the corner of Oakdale and Caroline St.? The one whose owners refused to sell, forcing Asia Society architect Yoshio Taniguchi to design around it? Where there was that 1930s vine-covered home being used as a doctor’s office that was supposed to be sold and renovated into a restaurant, but never was?

Well, in February, 5219 Caroline appeared in the Daily Demolition Report. And this photo taken from the median shows what the site looks like now. The reader continues:

All of the neighbors have questioned who owns the property and what is to happen to it. According to HCAD it appeared to be owned by Balcor, the company behind the rather unpopular Parc Binz. . . . We’re wondering if the Asia Society is trying to buy the land . . . [T]he neighbors who live in the town homes across from Asia Society have complained that the social events held on site tend to be quite loud, quite late. Overall, the neighborhood couldn’t be happier to have this organization in its bounds. And, if they were to own that land, if only they’d open a little gourmet coffee shop. That would please hundreds of people. . . . I’ve heard from Asia Society . . . that they’re trying to purchase the land. I think there is something more going on there — but no one is talking at this point.

Photo: Allyn West

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Adaptive Reuse
05/16/13 4:20pm

Inserting Bathroom B Into House Slot A

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Quicklink, Renovations, Third Ward
10 Comments

INSERTING BATHROOM B INTO HOUSE SLOT A A trio of Rice grads has come up with what seems to be a kind of golden mean between gentrification and decay, when it comes to restoring an old home that no longer works the way it should and yet still preserving the character of the neighborhood: Andrew Daley, Jason Fleming, and Peter Muessig are calling it InHouse OutHouse, reports OffCite, and it’s a prefabricated core consisting of a kitchen, bathroom, and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems that’s then inserted — like a transplanted kidney, say — into a hole cut in the wall. The photo here shows just such an insertion of the team’s prototype — which they estimate cost almost $35,000 and took 220 hours to build — at the Bastrop Stuart House among the Project Row Houses in the Third Ward. [OffCite] Photo: Mary Beth Woiccak via OffCite

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Proposed Developments
05/15/13 11:00am

Let the Designs Begin: UH To Renovate Aging Basketball Arena

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Stadiums, University of Houston
No Comments

Let’s do 2: As construction at U of H on the $105 million no-name replacement football stadium plows on, the regents have decided to go ahead and redo the basketball arena, too. It probably won’t look like this; the rendering shown here has been circulating since February. No, the regents’ decision this past Monday really means that other, newer designs will be undertaken to freshen up the 43-year-old Hofheinz Pavilion — where fashion mogul and Houston real estate player Hakeem Olajuwon first honed his shakes before opening his DR34M store in the old Jim West Mansion in Clear Lake.

The Houston Chronicle reports that, if approved, the project — which some reports have costing as much as $77 million — would introduce nicer locker rooms for the players and “premium seating” for fans, as well as a new sound system and video boards above the court. UH athletic director Mack Rhoades tells the Chronicle that as many as 9 other schools in the newly formed American Athletic Conference have, or are building, new arenas.

Rendering: UH Athletics

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Homes for Sale
05/07/13 4:35pm

Where the Sidewalk Ends in North MacGregor Oaks

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Interiors, North MacGregor Oaks
1 Comment

Near Brays Bayou’s switchback just east of SH 288, this relisted, refurbished 1941 abode in North MacGregor Oaks sports a few water features: a small fountain off the front walkway’s river rock border and a grotto (with koi) beneath a pergola out back. The midblock property has a sidewalk in front (not pictured), but its immediate neighbor in Timber Crest does not — giving the street the feel of a time-warp that’s also apparent in the architectural shift from prewar 2-story homes on urban-size lots to postwar ranch-style ones on deeper lots. Last week, this recently stuccoed property with full quoin dressing returned to the market, at $315,000, after a 6-month rest.

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Midtown
05/07/13 10:00am

Improvements Coming to a Trio of Midtown Parks

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Parks, Renovations
13 Comments

What used to be just a corner lot and one of those green tell-tale signs in Midtown is becoming a little more parklike, it seems: Parks department rep Estella Espinosa says that Elizabeth Glover Park at Elgin and Austin will be closed through August while crews upgrade lighting and drainage systems and install new features, including a crushed granite plaza, dog run, and bocce ball court. According to a post yesterday at Midtown Houston Rocks, there are 2 other parks getting a similar treatment: Midtown Park at Gray and Bagby and Baldwin Park between Crawford and Chenevert on Elgin, a few blocks southeast of here.

Photo: Allyn West

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