COMMENT OF THE DAY: BABY, PLEASE DON’T GO DOWN THE BULK FOODS AISLE “That’s Lightnin’s corner. HELL NO!!!” [SYMWAFA, commenting on Conquering Flag of Whole Foods Market, Planted in the Third Ward]
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Tag: 77004
CONQUERING FLAG OF WHOLE FOODS MARKET, PLANTED IN THE THIRD WARD 
“It seems as though this sign appeared over night” at the corner of Dowling St. and Holman St., writes the reader who sent in the photo at left. It reads, “Coming Soon, Third Ward,†above and below a Whole Foods Market logo. “Is this true?” the reader wants to know. Aw, c’mon! Someone went to all that trouble to put up this sign . . . and now you want to ruin the fun? [Swamplot inbox] Photo: Swamplot inbox
Back in April, former Bootsie’s Heritage Cafe chef Randy Rucker gave up on plans to open a new restaurant in the holdout parcel (above and at bottom right in the photo at right) behind the Asia Society Texas building. Now that property’s owner, Balcor Commercial, is giving up on it as well. The 3,624-sq.-ft. former doctors’ office on a 11,700-sq.-ft. lot at 5219 Caroline was listed for sale earlier this month for just a tad under $1.5 million. The property traded hands for $907K back in July of 2010, when Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi’s steamy building next door was just a muddy construction site. Renovations of the Caroline building for Rucker’s conÄt never began. “Unfortunately, converting the Caroline property into a fully functional restaurant while maintaining the integrity and design of the structure turned out to be a challenge,” an owner’s rep tells Swamplot.
It turns out the construction work Swamplot readers noted last week on the vacant lot at 1401 Binz St., catty-corner from the Children’s Museum, is for a 4-story structure combining ground-floor shops, 2 floors of medical office space, and a top-floor residence — all in less than 30,000 sq. ft. A small courtyard will separate the building from a linked multilevel 160-car parking garage. Half the office space, reports the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff, will be taken up by medical clinics operated by UT dermatologist Stephen Tyring; he also owns the property and is an owner of the development firm, Dermedica Property Group. Bailey Architects notes on its website that the building “will reflect the architectural fabric of Houston’s premier museum district buildings.” Sarnoff’s translation: It’ll look Modern. Contractor Arch-Con expects construction to be complete early next year.
- Sarnoff: Ministry makes Midtown move [Houston Chronicle]
- Museum Point Medical Office Building [Bailey Architects]
- Previously on Swamplot: Clearing an Empty Lot in the Museum District
Rendering: Bailey Architects
A couple of readers are curious about some Museum District action, catty-corner from the Children’s Museum. “Could hardly believe my eyes this morning,” writes one. “SOMETHING is going on at the empty lot at Binz & LaBranch (next to the soon to be opening Lucille’s). Old foundations and stumps have been dug up. There’s even a port-a-potty on-site. What I don’t know, however, is WHAT is being planned for this site. I thought maybe the readers would have a clue.” Well, here’s an old one:
“I like how this view makes it look like Fiesta is exploding,” writes engineer and Metro board member Christof Spieler of this photo he snapped last night at dusk. No fire clouds are expected, but the Montrose Fiesta Mart will be closing for good on July 15th — to make way for a Finger Companies apartment complex on the site. Spieler’s photo was taken from the shelter of the half-year-old H-E-B across Dunlavy, just south of West Alabama.
More building-turnover photo fun:
After waging a year-long “all out war” against this abandoned house near the corner of Prospect and Live Oak in Riverside Terrace, a Swamplot reader declares “I feel like I won.” How? “The house went up for sale this past week, exactly two weeks after a yellow ‘Dangerous Building’ violation was nailed to the tree out front by the city (following one of several of my complaints to the city’s Neighborhood Protection office — previous complaints generated violations notices for weeds and trash).” The listing for 2536 Prospect features photos of the home’s foreboding exterior with clear warnings from the listing agent: “Dangerous Building — No access!” and “Do NOT Enter!” This hoped-to-be-vacant lot could soon house your dream home! Once it’s bought and the house gets torn down, that is.
University of Houston officials have asked Metro to move a portion of the Southeast Line, currently under construction, off its planned route — and off campus. Work on portions of the line on Wheeler and Scott streets near Robertson Stadium came to a standstill 2 months ago, West U Examiner reporter Michael Reed notes. Metro and UH officials have apparently been negotiating on the layout of the light-rail route since that time, but so far, according to Reed, there’s been no agreement.
Metro’s planned design for the line requires the transit agency to purchase a total of 4.48 acres of UH property, much of it in a strip along the eastern side of Scott St., just west of the stadium. A plan submitted to the Department of Transportation for funding last year shows the line and a Scott/Cleburne station on the east side of Scott St., on part of what’s currently a stadium parking lot. (The map, below, also shows that Metro adjusted the plan from a 2008 layout that would have eaten up more UH property.)
- 3339 Arbor St. [HAR]
A MUSEUM DISTRICT RESTAURANT CONVERSION CUT SHORT 
How far along did Randy Rucker get turning the 3,624-sq.-ft. former doctors’ office directly behind the Asia Society Texas Center into a restaurant — before the plug was pulled? Restaurant conÄt will not be opening at 5219 Caroline St., the lone holdout on the Museum District block demolished for architect Yoshio Taniguchi’s first freestanding new building in the U.S., which opened officially earlier this month. Rucker writes he’ll “continue to search for a location to help give life to restaurant conat & make it a reality”; he’d been working on the project with pastry chef Chris Leung. The partnership with building owner Balcor Commercial, announced last August, has been called off. [29-95; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Candace Garcia
A full block of Calumet St. in the Museum District has been blocked off from traffic with a new landscaped and fenced median, notes Swamplot reader Katie White. Her photo above shows the new view from Austin St. looking towards Calumet; the street appears to have been closed between Austin and Caroline, directly south of the Holocaust Museum.
- Does the museum own the land now? [Twitter]
Photo: Katie White
A second Swamplot reader sends us a pic of another Burger King sporting what appear to be recently hacked-up live oak trees — this one at the corner of Scott St. and Cleburne. That’s far away from any freeway feeder roads, but across the street from UH’s Robertson Stadium. How recently were these trees guillotined? The reader isn’t sure, but the cuts look kinda fresh, and Google Street View is ready with images from last June showing how the sidewalk-side residents looked with their limbs still bushy and intact.
Spot any further Burger King beheadings around town? Snap a photo or 2 and send them in!
- Previously on Swamplot: Mysterious Oak Beheadings at the Yale and 610 Burger King
Photos: Swamplot inbox
COMMENT OF THE DAY: INVASION OF THE CAR SNATCHERS “It’s a mystery to me who lives in these new construction [townhomes]. I make considerably more money than the average wage earner in Houston, and I sure don’t live in one. Look at The Fink and then look at the monstrocity next to it, with the huge a/c unit in front, constantly kicking on and off. I think pod people live in those things and they keep their pods there. Think about it . . . do you ever really see someone who lives in those kinds of townhomes? You may occasionally see the huge garage door open and shut, but never see the people.” [Darogr, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Apartment Hunters]
The Asia Society Texas Center has been providing previews of its new headquarters building in a series of private events, but Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi’s new Museum District landmark isn’t scheduled to open to the public until the second half of a 4-day celebration beginning April 12th. By then the $48.4 million modern building will be outfitted with an exhibition of Asian art from the Rockefeller Collection.
In the meantime, the organization has released to Swamplot a more complete set of images than what’s been available so far — documenting photographer Paul Hester‘s take on the ins and outs of the new 38,000-sq.-ft. structure on Southmore Blvd. between Caroline and Austin:
HOT ROLLS FOR THE MUSEUM DISTRICT 
A passerby notes there’s construction going on at 5512 La Branch, around the corner from the Children’s Museum. Going in at that address: an establishment named after the proprietors’ late great grandmother, culinary entrepreneur and hot-roll-mix pioneer Lucille Bishop Smith, who on the restaurant’s Facebook page is shown in photos feeding her creations to grocery-store shoppers and boxing champ Joe Louis and greeting Martin Luther King. Lucille’s, scheduled to open this month, promises to feature Southern cooking “with infusions of European gourmet techniques.” [Facebook via Swamplot inbox] Photo: LoopNet
