COMMENT OF THE DAY: COMMODITY, FIRMNESS, AND NOTORIETY “The design can’t possibly be that bad. People are talking about it. When was the last time anybody remarked on the designs of Energy Tower III or Energy Crossing II?” [TheNiche, commenting on There Will Be No Tours of the Death Star, and Other Details About the Hospital in the Belly of the Memorial Hermann Tower]
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Tag: 77024
Hospital executive Adam Lane tells the Houston Business Journal‘s Jennifer Dawson that the easiest patients to move into the new Memorial Hermann Tower on I-10 will be . . . the babies, “because they don’t know where they’re going.”
Also, it sounds like some of the interiors might prove a little disorienting for suburban kids:
A hospital floor dedicated to children has been elaborately designed as a town center. The hallway is made to look like a street with curbs, grass and storefronts.
Fortunately, more familiar surroundings will be nearby: the building is connected by skybridge to the Memorial City Mall.
We have a winner for this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game! Who won that membership in the Rice Design Alliance?
First, here’s where you guessed this home might be: Southampton (2 guesses), Bellaire (3 of you), Tanglewood, Champions (2), “off Memorial near the Tollway,” Baytown (2), “Gessner and Wilcrest area,” Pearland, Sugar Land, The Woodlands (2), Katy, Southampton, the Heights, Briar Forest, Downtown, Memorial, West University, Deer Park, League City, Clear Lake, Greatwood, Willowbrook, Spring, Champions, Kingwood, Midtown, Montrose, Rice Military, Camp Logan, Garden Oaks, Oak Forest, Timbergrove Manor (2), Upper Kirby, the Galleria, Afton Oaks, Gulfton, Spring Branch, Sharpstown, Alief, Braeburn, Tanglewilde, Westchase, Barker Cypress, Greenspoint, Cinco Ranch, EaDo, River Oaks (2), “Wards 1-6,” Riverside Terrace, Avondale, “just inside the Beltway, just off Memorial Dr.,” West Lane Place, “somewhere south of Richmond and west of Hillcroft,” “the Stoney Brook or Westbriar/Tanglewilde area,” Tealwood, and “the Memorial/Gessner area.”
The winner of a one-year individual membership in the RDA is mojo jojo, for pinpointing the home with this entry:
The decorations in this home point to outside the loop, around the beltway or beyond! The photos give very little indication to era, except for the kitchen. From the knob placement on the cabinets (I betcha that these cabinets original had yellow or green ceramics knobs), to the custom built vent apron over the island, this kitchen screams 70’s!!! . . .
What leads me to the location is the fact that the home has almost no yard, as seen in the many photos which show the ivy covered wall outside of every window. This leads me to the many townhome communities built in the 70’s and 80’s, around the Beltway.
My scientific calculations, lead me to believe that this home is just inside the Beltway, and just off Memorial Dr.
Congratulations, mojo jojo!
We’re also handing out an honorable mention to movocelot, for being kinda close too. Now just where is this place?
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THAT MIDCENTURY MOD FUNDING PROBLEM “I can understand if a unique house such as this is torn down when it hasn’t been maintained or updated over the years. But this one clearly has. To say it’s beautiful is an understatement. There just aren’t enough mid century mod enthusiasts in Houston who have $3 million to spare. Maybe someone in LA can have it moved over there.” [Carol, commenting on A Last Look at the Old Schnitzer Home]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL REAL ESTATE IMPERATIVES “The house is old. The house must be torn down. The house will be replaced by one with separate rooms for every task imaginable. The house will have a six car garage – the new four car garage. A realtor will advertise the property with ‘old growth trees’. This must be done.” [tcpIV, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Taking from Friar Tuck and Little John]
A few readers have requested a final tour of the former Sherwood Forest home of Greenway Plaza developer Kenneth Schnitzer. The home at 314 E. Friar Tuck Ln. showed up in yesterday’s Daily Demolition Report. It was built in 1970 from a design by Houston architects Neuhaus & Taylor.
Have a look around:
What’s new to eat?
- Opening Soon: Lola, a diner-ish spot serving “American comfort foods” — in the restored and refashioned former Eckerd Drug across from the Heights Post Office on Yale and 11th. This’ll be the third Heights restaurant venture from Ken Bridge, who also runs Dragon Bowl and Pink’s Pizza.
- Opened This Week: From famed New York, Las Vegas, and Dallas chef John Tesar, Tesar’s Modern Steak and Seafood, directly across from the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands. You’ll certainly want to eat everything on your plate when you visit: “Tesar’s entire menu will be one hundred percent sustainable created with a zero-waste food ethics in mind,” declares the restaurant website. Whole fish will be a specialty. Outside: a burger bar.
- Closed: The Texadelphia in the fast-food-friendly strip center on Memorial Dr. and Asbury, across from Otto’s — reportedly on account of the parking lot being too darn clogged. No worries: You can still get your cheesesteak fix at 3 other Houston locations, and it’s now a bit easier to find a spot in front of the Kolache Factory.
More food fun:
Do we have a prizewinner for this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game? Who wouldn’t want to win a membership in the Rice Design Alliance?
Your guesses were almost all over the place: Pearland (3), Friendswood, Webster, League City (2), Kingwood, Richmond, Champion Forest (2), “along Briar Forest and Dairy Ashford,” Meyerland (2), Meyerland “near Westbury High School,” Braeswood (3), Bear Creek, Clear Lake (2), Deer Park (2), near MacGregor Way, Pasadena (2), “the ritzy part of Pasadena over around Fairmont Parkway and Young St.,” Lake Olympia, Missouri City, Sharpstown, Sugar Land, Alvin, Katy, Humble, Spring Branch north of Long Point (2), “East Side,” “some more rural area of Fort Bend County,” Baytown (2), LaPorte, Lake Jackson, Inwood Forest, near Jersey Village, “the Champions/Spring area” (2), Fondren Southwest, Alief, “the area around South Post Oak, way down past 610 south,” Sagemont, Atascocita, “between Hwy 6, 1464, and Bissonnet, . . . south of George Bush Park,” Stafford, “Kempwood and Gessner,” “near Knob Hill Park near Gessner and Hammerly,” southeast Tomball, Tanglewood, and Marilyn Estates.
Lots of great guesses . . . but none of them right. What made this one so difficult? Finness tried to put a . . . finger on it:
From the pink Texas door mat to the empty bathroom plant hooks and the ovewrwhelming scent of litter pan – I just look and look again and the mind boggles. I will forever be haunted by the kitty eyes on the toss pillows on the pink leather sofas. Even writing that gives me an out of body sensation. Senses overwhelmed.
Where is this place?
The Swamplot Price Adjuster needs your nominations! Found a property you think is poorly priced? Send an email to Swamplot, and be sure to include a link to the listing or photos. Tell us about the property, and explain why you think it deserves a price adjustment. Then tell us what you think a better price would be. Unless requested otherwise, all submissions to the Swamplot Price Adjuster will be kept anonymous.
Location: 8906 B Memorial Dr., Bayou Woods
Details: 7 bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths; 7,521 sq. ft. on a 25,740-sq.-ft. lot
Price: $1,650,000
History: On the market for more than 2 1/2 years. 8 separate price reductions, totaling $925K. Just cut $100K at the beginning of this month.
Says the nominator of this home:
This place is just too much. Really. I mean … 22 ft. ceilings in the Living Room? Who’s got that much of a swelled head? And 2 separate game rooms? One of them has its own kitchen and dining room! I think “built for builder” says it all.
But what do I know? At only 7,500sf maybe it’s not grandiose enough for the new Bayou Woods.
I don’t really know much about this place, but it sure has been hanging around on the market for awhile.
What should the price be?
Got any projects for the long weekend? Swamplot will be back on Tuesday with more Houston real estate and neighborhood coverage.
Photo of unfinished Lego model of Memorial Hermann Tower: Anthony Sava (images of additional pieces here)
This 4,148-sq.-ft. 4-bedroom, 4-bath home on three-quarters of an acre in Piney Point Shadows is listed for sale on HAR at $1.1 million. But don’t waste your time making an offer for anything less: The sellers won’t take it.
At least not until after April 22nd. And even then, not unless the auction for the property the listing agent is holding on that date fizzles.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL VILLAGE “Sounds like the high ground is still important to British occupation.” [Neil, commenting on Outlines of a Bunker Hill Village Theme Retreat]
Here — minus mysteriously absent lots 5, 7, 9, 11, 17, 19, 21, and 23 — are the outlines of the 19 homesites carved from the 10-acre wooded property that Holy Name Retreat Center sold off last year in Bunker Hill Village. Black Diamond Companies, the purveyors of two elsewhere-themed, other-worldly developments — the Cáceres Andelusion in Rice Military and vaguely Francophile Bammel Lane Park Homes on . . . uh, Bammel Lane — so far appears to be soft-pedaling the existence of any foreign entanglement in this latest development.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE GREAT WEST HOUSTON DIVORCéE BELT “It basically runs in between Beltway 8 and 610 and is crossed by the likes of Westheimer, Woodway, Richmond, Bissonnet et al. Basically these people met in drunken stupors along the Richmond strip in the early 80s at those cheesy night clubs; tried to make lasting marriages but eventually divorced; and then bought homes and patio homes close but not too close to their old stomping grounds. Incidentally, many of them work non-descript office jobs at middle market companies in the Westchase district and raaaaaave about the tres leches cake at the Churrasco’s out there on Westheimer. Yay Divorcee Belt!” [Bobby Hadley, commenting on Neighborhood Guessing Game: Blue Check]
Hey, what happened to Monday? Swamplot spent most of it fighting off a few tech demons. But hey, here’s some news!
- Opened: The new and expanded Children’s Museum had its grand opening this weekend. Now twice its original size, the 90,000 sq. ft. museum features exhibits of children in various states of play. Also inside: an expanded branch of the Houston Public Library.
- Opening: Backe’s Bullpen, a fine drinking establishment in Dickinson, will open with the backing of Astros pitcher Brandon Backe, reports the Galveston Daily News‘s Laura Elder. Last October, Backe was arrested after a run-in with police at a Galveston bar.
- Closed: Mike McGuff notices that the Meyer Park Chili’s, once “the big teen hangout in southwest Houston,” shut down in February.
