Tag: 77007

08/07/13 3:00pm

Allston or Nothing: Side Street Now at Center of Alexan Yale Apartment Dispute

Houston Heights, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Streets

17 Comments

ALLSTON OR NOTHING: SIDE STREET NOW AT CENTER OF ALEXAN YALE APARTMENT DISPUTE About 290 ft. of Allston St. have become the latest point of contention between developer Trammell Crow and HeightsÂ opponents to the proposed 5-story Alexan Yale apartment complex. This complex, planned immediately south of the other one, would sit on the block bound by 5th, 6th, Yale, and Rutland, with Allston running through it. The Leader reports that Trammell Crow has requested that the city abandon Allston, which dead-ends just before 5th St., so the complex doesn’t have to be discontiguous; opponents, of course, want Allston to be opened up, to help with traffic and ensure connectivity to the nearby detention basin that’s been proposed as a recreation site. The abandonment request is going to be decided upon soon by a city committee of reps from public works, planning, and the fire department — though Trammell Crow appears to have some leverage, reports Cynthia Lescalleet: “The structure could go even higher, the developer says, if it doesnâ€™t get what itâ€™s seeking. . . .Â [Trammell Crow] has ‘alternate plans’ that would add two or three floors to the building. Thereâ€™s also speculation about a possible sky bridge connecting sections on either side of the still-open street.” [The Leader; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Allston St.: Allyn West

77007, Apartments, Houston Heights, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Streets

Nightlife

07/31/13 11:00am

Sawyer Park Marquee Leaves Cryptic Reopening Message from the Great Bar Beyond

Old Sixth Ward, Openings and Closings, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor

16 Comments

A reader sends this photo from the Washington Corridor: Is Sawyer Park coming back from the dead this September? The 4-year run of the 2-story sports bar with a checkered past at 2412 Washington came to an end in February. But the marquee — plagiarized from that ubiquitousÂ Dos Equis ad campaign though it might be — suggests that something might be happening sometime soon. HCAD data show that the property hasn’t changed hands. Still, there aren’t any clues or further omens on the bar’s Facebook page or Twitter feed, and calls to Rockwood, what appears to be a design-build firm whose sign hangs from the bar’s terrace, haven’t been returned.

Good Food, Good Sports [Sawyer Park]
Sports Bar Sawyer Park Has Closed [Eater Houston]
Previously on Swamplot: When Pigs Fly: Sawyer Sportsbar Gets Its Wings, The Pigâ€™s New Gig: Sawyer Sportsbar

Photo: Swamplot inbox

77007, Bars, Nightlife, Old-Sixth-Ward, Openings and Closings, Washington Ave., Washington Corridor

Historic Preservation

07/26/13 2:00pm

Restocking a Converted Grocery Store in the Houston Heights

by CALwords

Homes for Sale, Houston Heights, Interiors

42 Comments

There has been a clean up on Aisle 9 in an ivy-covered Houston Heights landmark. Previously converted into a home, the former Morton Brothers Grocery Store appeared on the market Wednesday with a $564,900 asking price. The ribs inside (above) aren’t for eating, though. They’re holding up the roof above the all-in-one living area at the front of the 1928 property, which has held a spot in the National Register of Historic Places — as a domicile — since 1988.

77007, Adaptive Reuse, Buildings for Sale, Homes for Sale, Houston Heights, Interiors

Streets

07/19/13 10:05am

Why the Sidewalk at the Washington Ave Five Guys Burgers Isn’t Walkable

Washington Ave, Washington Corridor

23 Comments

Struggling to make themselves heard above the whoosh of traffic along the Washington Corridor, Better Houston’s Pedestrian Pete (a.k.a. one-time mayoral candidate Peter Brown) and visiting Harvard prof and city planner Peter Park take a very short stroll in this recently uploaded video. Their objective? To lament the guy wires, utility poles, and other hindrances for would-be pedestrians on the few feet of sidewalk they traverse in front of Five Guys Burgers and Fries and Buffalo Wild Wings in this strip center near Leverkuhn at 3939 Washington.

Improvements Along Wash Ave [Pedestrian Pete]

Video: Pedestrian Pete

77007, Pedestrians, Sidewalks, Streets, Walkability, Washington Corridor

Buildings for Sale

07/18/13 2:00pm

Bids To Buy Law Enforcement HS Punished for Not Following Rules

Buying and Selling, Magnolia Park, Quicklink

19 Comments

BIDS TO BUY LAW ENFORCEMENT HS PUNISHED FOR NOT FOLLOWING RULES HISD gave a unanimous no today to thoseÂ competing bids from nearby St. Thomas High School and developer AV Dickson Street to buy the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal JusticeÂ in Magnolia Grove. Apparently, the reason the offers for the 11-acre campus at 4701 Dickson St. were rejected had less to do with theÂ numbers than with HISD’s preferred S.O.P.:Â “[T]he board’s attorney, David Thompson, stated immediately afterward that both bidders had violated the district’s ‘code of silence’ policy, which prohibits communication between trustees and those with pending business before them.” Superintendent Terry Grier tells the Houston Chronicle that the building will be going rightÂ back on the market: “Hopefully if we do that, the bidders will take our ethics policy seriously.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: HISD

77007, Buildings for Sale, Buying and Selling, HISD, Magnolia Grove, Schools

Houston Heights

07/16/13 12:00pm

City Traffic Operations Building New I-10 Facility Much Closer to City Traffic

Institutional Buildings, New Construction, Office Buildings, Public Buildings

2 Comments

Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that the city would relocate its traffic operations to this building; that assertion is in error. The new Patterson St. building is replacing an older structure, and it will serveÂ in addition to the primary traffic operation offices in the Public Works Building Downtown. The story has been corrected. Swamplot regrets the error.

Going up: This building at 2001 Patterson St.Â On the north side of I-10, the 40,000-sq.-ft. building designed by Kirksey will house the city’s traffic operations offices, warehouses, and sign- and signal-making shops. A smaller pavement-marking shop will be built here too. Fittingly, the buildings will stare across the freeway atÂ David Adickes’s recently installed spelled-out declaration of Houston love.

77007, Houston Heights, Institutional Buildings, New Construction, Public Buildings

07/15/13 2:45pm

A Photo Tour: The 2 Yale St. Lots Where Those 2 Alexan Apartment Complexes Want To Be

Houston Heights, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments

38 Comments

This photo shows 6th St. between Allston and Yale, the street that would more than likely be pressed into service for theÂ 2 Alexan-brand apartment midrises that Trammell Crow has said it plans to build here.Â Alexan Heights, the first of the 5-story, 300-odd-unit complexes to be announced, would take up much of the lot to the north to the hike and bike trail near 7th; Alexan Yale, the second, which neighbors seem to have found out about just last week, would take up much of the lot to the south to 5th. The photos below walk you around the lots in question:

77007, Apartments, Houston Heights, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments

Old Sixth Ward

07/15/13 11:15am

A Restaurant Renovation in the Old Sixth Ward

Proposed Developments, Renovations, Restaurants, Washington Corridor

13 Comments

A Swamplot reader writes in to confirm what the sign in the window suggests: “I talked to the people. Said its going to be a restaurant!” This 6,561-sq.-ft. 1925 former food store in the Old Sixth Ward sits at the corner of White at 2003 Union St., just south of Washington Ave. If you’ve got a really good arm, it’s a stone’s throw from Liberty Station. And it’s immediately south of that awkward triangular patch where planning firm Asakura Robinson and other neighborhood futurists plotted visions of a walkable Washington Corridor, with bike repair stations, local retailers, food trucks, and the like.

77007, Bars, Old-Sixth-Ward, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Restaurants, Washington Corridor

Old Sixth Ward

07/12/13 11:45am

Repairing the Broken Spoke: A New Bar in the Burned-Out Washington Ave Cafe

Openings and Closings, Renovations, Washington Corridor

3 Comments

A tipster tells Swamplot that the former Broken Spoke Cafe at 1809 Washington will soon be home to a new bar called the Caddy Shack. The cafe, located between Silver and Sabine in the Old Sixth Ward, closed last fall — and, unfortunately, soon after received the brunt of a fire that destroyed a vacant duplex next door.

Landmark Washington Avenue cafe goes up in flames: Fire burns nearby house down [Culturemap]
The Broken Spoke Goes Up in Smoke: Pictures and Video [Eating Our Words]
Previously on Swamplot: Breaking Through the Smoke at the Broken Spoke

Photo: Allyn West

77007, Bars, Old-Sixth-Ward, Openings and Closings, Renovations, Washington Corridor

Construction Problems

07/11/13 4:45pm

Building Back Up the Heights Blvd. Townhomes That Toppled

Houston Heights, New Construction, Townhomes

34 Comments

It looks like these 4-story townhouses are filling out a bit here on the corner of E. 2nd and Heights Blvd., where in late April their stick-frame precursors fell over in a wind-aided collapse. Fortunately, no one was hurt, though the garage doors of several finished and already occupied neighboring units were damaged. Keystone Classic Homes is the builder of this 8-pack located just south of White Oak Bayou.

77007, Construction Accidents, Houston Heights, New Construction, Townhomes

07/10/13 4:30pm

A Second Midrise Alexan Planned Right Beside the First One on Yale

Houston Heights, Land Sales, Proposed Developments, Quicklink

67 Comments

A SECOND MIDRISE ALEXAN PLANNED RIGHT BESIDE THE FIRST ONE ON YALE The Leader reports that notices have gone out to Heights neighborhood groups indicating that Trammell Crow is planning a second Alexan-brand apartment complex on Yale. This one, writes Cynthia Lescalleet, would also be 4 stories set atop 2 levels of parking. It would sit on a 4.9-acre lot on Yale between 5th and 6th, immediately south of the 3.5-acre lot targeted for the proposed Alexan Heights — the rendering for which is shown here — bound by 6th, Allston, Yale, and the Heights hike and bike trail. Lescalleet quotes from the notice sent around by city council member Ellen Cohen: “TCR has the site under contract and is currently performing preliminary due diligence, and they expect to close the purchase of the property by the end of the year. Once TCR establishes a site plan and unit count, they will perform a new traffic study that will include roadways and intersections included in their previous TIA, while also including new intersections on Yale St., Heights Boulevard, and I-10, as well as pedestrian counts.â€ [The Leader; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Trammell Crow Residential

77007, Apartments, Houston Heights, Land Sales, Proposed Developments

07/10/13 10:00am

How One Buyer Would Use HISD’s Law Enforcement HS Property

Magnolia Grove, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Schools

17 Comments

HOW ONE BUYER WOULD USE HISD’S LAW ENFORCEMENT HS PROPERTY If theÂ High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice is sold to St. Thomas High School competitor AV Dickson Street, the investment company has said it plans to link the 11-acre Magnolia Grove property with the adjacent and recently purchased Bayou Park apartments at 4400 Memorial to create a mixed-use district: Alison Malkhassian of AV Dickson Street tells The Leader‘s Charlotte Aguilar that “the long-term goal . . . could be to create a 26-acre mixed-use luxury retail-office-residential development on the combined properties — a process that would take about a decade.” Yesterday, HISD received the 2nd round of bids: St. Thomas is offering $42 million, about $800,000 more than AV Dickson Street — but Aguilar suggests that the sale might come down to rent: St. Thomas said it would charge the school $225,000 a month to lease the space for the next 5 years, compared with $100,000 a month from AV Dickson Street, a difference of $7.5 million over that time. [The Leader; previously on Swamplot] Photo: HISD

77007, Apartments, Buying and Selling, HISD, Magnolia Grove, Proposed Developments, Schools

Buying and Selling

07/03/13 10:00am

A Standoff To Buy HISD’s Law Enforcement HS Campus

Magnolia Grove, Quicklink, Schools

11 Comments

A STANDOFF TO BUY HISD’S LAW ENFORCEMENT HS CAMPUS The 11-acre parcel for sale in Magnolia Grove where the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice stands has been the object of some poker-faced one-upmanship between two interested contenders: In one corner, you’ve got St. Thomas High School, whose campus is immediately south of here, and in the other you’ve got AV Dickson Street, a recently formed LLC named for the street the HISD magnet school stands on. The first round, reports the Leaderâ€™s Charlotte Aguilar, yielded a $40 million offer from little-known AV Dickson, with St. Thomas countering and raising it by $100. The next round will go off early next week. Aguilar adds that whoever buys the campus will be required to lease it back to HISD for the next 5 years, while a new spot is sought: “In keeping with a move by HISD to relocate its specialty high schools close to beneficial community resources â€“– the DeBakey High School for the Health Professions to the Texas Medical Center, the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts to the Theater District downtown –â€“ a downtown location near police and sheriffâ€™s headquarters and courthouses is being scouted.” [The Leader] Photo: HISD

77007, Buying and Selling, HISD, Magnolia Grove, Schools

Magnolia Grove

06/28/13 10:00am

A 25-Story Office Tower Aimed for Washington and Waugh

Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, West End

22 Comments

No tenants? Worry about that later: PageSoutherlandPage is designing a 25-story spec office tower for the West End. Dubbed 22 Waugh, the proposed 220,000-sq.-ft. building would sit just south of Washington Ave. A rep from PageSoutherlandPage, which is partnering with Stream Realty on the project, says that the building would be located on the corner of Waugh and Barnes. It appears that it would be directly behind that Bank of America branch. The Houston Business Journal reports that the building could begin going up as soon as November.