- 424 W. 32nd St. [HAR]
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Tag: 77018
- 1767 De Milo Dr. [HAR]
OAK FOREST BERRYHILL STILL ON ITS WAY 
In the course of providing an overview of Houston’s commercial permitting process likely to open further the eyes of any wide-eyed I-wanna-open-a-restaurant newbie, Betsy Denson provides a quick sorta-update on the current status of the long-delayed Berryhill Baja Grill on the site of a former gas station at 1201 W. 43rd St., even though franchise owner Park Blair isn’t commenting publicly: “Some conjecture that it was an encroachment issue or something similarly major that has caused the delay at Berryhill on Ella. The restaurant applied for a building permit in 2011 and construction has been sporadic for the last two years. Their last approval for a restaurant addition was in February of 2014 and from the looks of things, they will open in the near future.” [The Leader] Photo: Betsy Denson
Dog friendly? Maybe. But cats, the listing says, are a deal-breaker for leasing this 2005 patio home in a quad-plex located one street south of the Garden Oaks section between Ella Blvd. and N. Shepherd Dr. Like a quick swipe of lipstick to attract notice, a reddish zipline tops the front porch and extends around the home’s mid-section. Lawn maintenance is included in the home’s $2,850 monthly rate. So are the baby gates, kiddie locks, and a fair amount of wainscot:
Red-Lined
Bright landscaping has perked up the front of an updated 1955 Shepherd Forest property, earning the property Yard of the Month status in its section of the tight-knit neighborhood, located north of the North Loop and stretching east from T.C. Jester. The home sprouted on MLS yesterday with an asking price of $260,000. Views of the bloomage from inside the home are well-shaded, though:
Mid-Rise Living
Does beer taste better in glass or metal containers? The draught beers of a new craft brewery will soon be bubbling in yet another cleaned-up metal structure in Houston — this one the former Fredrick’s Auto Repair in the southern edge of Oak Forest. 3540 Oak Forest Dr. will soon be home to the brand-new Allen’s Landing Brewing Company, the company announced on its Facebook page.
- Hand Made Craft Beer [Allen’s Landing Brewing Co.]
Photo: Allen’s Landing Brewing Co.
Opens in Front
- 1045 Gardendale Dr. [HAR]
Corner windows sharpen the edges of a buffed-up 1956 home with mod-fied interior (top) located on a corner lot in Shepherd Forest. The walkway across the lawn (above) leads to the street that determines the property address, but the tomato-red front door faces the cross street. So does the double-bay garage tucked closer to the utility easement running behind the fully fenced property. Earlier this week, the sideways-sited home landed on the market. Its $279,000 asking price is just over $100K more than when it last sold, back in August 2011.
Corner Pocket
- 1839 Libbey Dr. [HAR]
Here’s the news that’s “all the rage in Oak Forest,” according to a reader: TxDOT has reopened the segment of the hike-and-bike trail along White Oak Bayou that wends its way between between Ella Blvd. and 34th St. That stretch of asphalt had been closed in December 2011 for construction on the North Loop overpass at T.C. Jester. TxDOT is planning an official celebration of the reopening this coming Saturday, but it’s unclear whether the path, which lines the east side of the bayou, will have to be closed again at some point. “Please note that TxDOT has not completed the reconstruction of the bridges that support the feeder roads across the bayou,” reads a note on the Houston Bikeways Program Facebook page posted this morning. “We hope to get more details shortly.”
- Without much fanfare, TxDOT re-opened the segment of the White Oak Bayou trail [Houston Bikeways Program]
- Previously on Swamplot: White Oak Bayou Bike Bypass Impasse
Photo of trail at E. T.C. Jester and Loop 610 North: Jim Mackey/White Oak Bayou Association
610 Underpass
One of the most recently built homes in Shepherd Park Plaza appears to have a thing for blonde highlights. The garage door’s panels set the golden tone also found on the spiral staircase (top), cantilevered window sills, kitchen cabinets, parquet floors, and trim. Earlier this month, the 1989 property popped up on the market with a $744,900 price tag.
Blonde Leading the Blonde
A collection of a couple dozen or so bungalows along E. 31st 1/2 St. between Yale and Cortlandt in Independence Heights just a block or so north of the 610 Loop is the city’s newest historic district — and perhaps the one with the most colorful name: Starkweather. The subdividing of the neighborhood predates the establishment of Independence Heights as an actual independent city in 1915, but most of the homes were built between the late 1920s (when the city was annexed by Houston) and the 1940s. They were originally marketed to the African American community in the neighborhood. Here’s a map:
Independence Heights
- 1611 Ebony Ln. [HAR]
LANDS’ END ENDING FOR GARDEN OAKS, BUT NO SEARS’ END IN SIGHT 
Garden Oaks, Oak Forest, and Independence Heights–area customers who received a not-entirely-clear email this morning from Lands’ End calling attention to the “big savings on everything” in the Sears store at 4000 N. Shepherd Dr. in Houston, but noting that “Unfortunately, we’ll be closing that location on 1/31/14″: Here’s a little explication for you. Only the Lands’ End store within the Garden Oaks Sears will be closing at the end of the month. The Sears itself will remain open, for the time being. Photo: Louisiana and Texas Southern Malls and Retail
Close-up photos take the lead in this listing of an updated 1946 Oak Forest home near Stevens Elementary School that appeared yesterday. Isn’t that all you need? They hint at the spaces present in the 1,000-ish-sq.-ft. floor plan . . .
It’s the Little Things
