Swamplot Archives by Tag:

Monday, February 4, 2008

Billboard House: No Reason for a Front Porch Anyway

House with Billboard at 4743 Banning Dr., Afton Oaks, Houston

With their Afton Oaks neighbors up in arms over their enterprising 90-foot-tall front-yard billboard, the owners of the home at the corner of Banning and Vossdale have apparently decided there won’t be much need to hang out on the front porch anymore. A Swamplot reader drove by the site Friday and sends in photos and comments:

Yes, the driveway is now where the front porch once was. Also, every shade on the house was drawn. I wonder if they have gotten threats from this? Oh wait, this is Afton Oaks. Of course they have.

The reader, who asked to be called “Buildergeek,” also reports on the yard improvements described in the Afton Oaks eNews:

As for landscaping, if you call not mowing a tuft of grass and leaving a mud track where your old sidewalk used to be landscaping, they did a really good job.

Below the fold: Buildergeek’s view from the front.

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Friday, February 1, 2008

The House with the Very, Very Tall Sign in Front

House and Billboard at 4743 Banning Dr., Afton Oaks, Houston

Yes, that’s a mighty big sign in the front yard of the house at 4743 Banning Dr. in Afton Oaks. And it’s not listing the house for sale.

A reader sends in photos and says they’re from a couple of months back. He adds, “What good is having a home at the edge of the West Loop if you can’t put up a 90 foot tall billboard in your front yard?”

Remember that hiccup in the city’s sign ordinance, back in October? Well, look how resourceful some people are! The Afton Oaks January eNews reports that the billboard is still there, but that there’s now . . . landscaping around the base!

Court date: postponed until the second week of February. After the jump: a few more pics from our tardy tipster.

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Monday, January 21, 2008

Farewell to the Birdman of Afton Oaks

Pigeons on Roof of 4404 Richmond Ave., Houston

What are all those pigeons doing in the parking lot by the original Ragin Cajun restaurant? Tech radio answerman Jay Lee discovers the secret of their survival — plus an interesting detail about a neighboring property — during his encounter with a man who’s spent more than 22 years working at Jarinee’s Dressmaking & Alterations shop, just a few doors down (at 4404 Richmond):

He’s been feeding the pigeons for 10 years.

He expressed some sadness as he told me the property had recently been sold to developers and he worried about the fate of his “friends.” Vichien told me how he tried to watch over the pigeons and how much money he’s spent on feed over the years.

As we talked I saw a Red-tail Hawk circling above the parking lot. Vichien clapped his hands and the birds all flew into the sky. This caused the hawk to retreat a bit, but he stayed close. Vichien confided that he’s lost to the hawk on many occasions.

After we were done chatting he went to his truck and pulled out a bag of bird seed and began to pour it onto the pavement. That was a sight to see…

After the jump: That sight!

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Thursday, January 17, 2008

River Oaks District Development Reaches Advanced Watercolor Stage

Watercolor of Proposed River Oaks District Mixed Use Development Planned for Westheimer by OliverMcMillan

With new bold, rich watercolor renderings now posted to its website, OliverMcMillan shows its mixed-use proposal for Westheimer is serious. The River Oaks District won’t be in River Oaks exactly, but it would mark a serious upgrade for this portion of Westheimer just inside the Loop, on a portion of the site of the Westcreek Apartments.

What’s planned here: 300,000 square feet of retail space, 300 fancy apartments, 250,000 square feet of office space, plus two hotels — rumored to be a W and a Le Meridien. The W Hotel will house 150 condos on its top floors.

After the jump: those shiny watercolors, plus plans and an aerial view!

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Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Fig. Leaves: Miraculous Advanced LipoDissolve Works on Retail Locations Too!

Collage of Diagrams from fig. Medical Body Shaping Website Showing How Advanced LipoDissolve Is Supposed To Work

Swamplot’s many readers eager to return to Houston-area Fig. Medical Body Shaping clinics for continuing fat-reducing injections will be saddened to learn that the national chain has abruptly shut down and discontinued all operations. A note on the fig.com website indicates the company will likely be seeking bankruptcy protection.

There are three local Fig. clinics: in Sugar Land at 59 and Highway 6, next to Panera Bread; next to Jamba Juice at the Summit Plaza by Lakewood Church; and at the Portofino Shopping Center across I-45 from the Woodlands. (Yes, that’s the same Portofino Shopping Center that was home to the statue-genitalia controversy a few years back — which was ultimately solved with . . . a fig leaf.) All three Houston-area Fig. locations had been open only since April.

Okay, whose inside joke was it to locate all three fat-reduction clinics in shopping centers on feeder roads?

What happened to Fig. that would cause it to shut down so suddenly? (Reader caution: suggestive uh . . . medical detail below.)

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Thursday, November 8, 2007

High on Westheimer?

Drawing of Proposed High Street Development at 4410 Westheimer, Houston, near Highland Village

Trademark Property has released this new image of its High Street development, slated for the site of the demolished Central Ford dealership at 4410 Westheimer, just west of Highland Village. So . . . is it really gonna happen?

The project had been on hold. It’s now described as “a 6-acre, pedestrian-oriented urban village featuring 93,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space combined with Class A offices and urban residences.” The Fort Worth developer — who also developed Market Street in the Woodlands — had planned to break ground this past spring. Instead, the company has leased part of the site to the sales trailer for the Highland Tower, and politely thrown a picture of that condo building into the background of the new drawing as well.

Don’t confuse High Street with the River Oaks District, a similar but larger project planned for next door.

Continue reading for a site plan and lots more images!

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Daily Demolition Report: Allen a Day’s Work

More structures approved for demolition at the Allen House. Plus a trio of houses around town. Where? See our demo address list, after the jump.

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Thursday, September 13, 2007

Daily Demolition Report: Holiday Extended

More structures at the Holiday House Motel come down, along with a Holiday Inn cabana. Read the addresses in our daily list, which begins after the jump.

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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Daily Demolition Report: Razing in the Sun

A whole lotta demo going on: A county outpost downtown, more industrial buildings along Studemont, plenty of houses, and more. Our daily list of addresses begins after the jump.

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Friday, August 10, 2007

River Oaks To Move West, Add Hotels, Apartments, Offices, and Shopping

Street Perspective of Proposed River Oaks District Development by Oliver McMillan

Aerial View of Proposed River Oaks District Mixed Use DevelopmentThe Houston Business Journal gives more details on the River Oaks District, a 15-acre, $600 million mixed-use development proposed for Westheimer just inside the loop, on the site of the Westcreek Apartments, between Highland Village and the Galleria. It’s hard to imagine River Oaks moving further west than that. Once you get to the other side of the loop of course, you might as well call yourself Tanglewood.

Two luxury hotels are on tap. The five-star properties will have a total of 500 guest rooms, and 150 condominiums for sale at the top of one tower.

Another building will hold 300 upscale apartment units. A 10-story office building with 250,000 square feet of space also is part of the mix. And since the Galleria is synonymous with shopping, the developer plans 350,000 square feet of mostly ground-level retail space.

San Diego developer OliverMcMillan says groundbreaking is scheduled for a good year-and-a-half from now. So there’s plenty of time for this project to morph into a more typical Houston-style mixed-use project: maybe a stylish Sam’s Club next to some shiny new apartments?

After the jump, plans and more flashy drawings!

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Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Big, Expensive HISD Box To Be Replaced by Big, Cheap Costco Box

Former HISD Central Administration Building on Richmond

Proposed Costco on Richmond

The building was simply too big, too lavish, too expensive, too outmoded, and too hot a property for a school district to keep. The site was prime real estate, near the projected path of a new rail line, and perfect—said the buyers—for a dense “New Urbanist-style” mixed-use center. The big concrete box surrounded by parking just didn’t seem to make sense. So after HISD sold its Central Administration building on Richmond at Weslayan, Trammell Crow Co. had it razed last year to make the site ready for new, fresher, denser development.

And the new development is . . . a Costco! With an LA Fitness above it! Plus some outside-the-mall-style pad sites in a big surface parking lot facing Richmond! A small parking garage too. Oh, and an apartment complex tucked in back.

What happened?

[Trammell Crow project manager Craig] Cheney said the project had quietly shifted direction some time ago.

“We looked around, and we had all these competing projects with integrated residential, office and retail, all competing for the same few retailers,” he said. “Life is too short to get into that kind of situation.”

So the project — which had an initial design including a hotel, high-rise and garden homes, a bookstore, grocery store and other features integrated into one “village” — took on a different form.

Shorter version: Costco wanted the site, so the developers jumped at the chance for some of that inside-the-loop big-box excitement.

After our jump, dreamy architect sketches of Paseo, the mixed-use European-style “lifestyle center” Trammell Crow and the Morgan Group waved in front of us for a brief, shining moment in our—yes, too-short lives.

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Monday, August 6, 2007

Daily Demolition Report: Bash Place

Nine houses and three buildings leave Houston. Our list of the newly departed begins after the jump.

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Friday, July 27, 2007

Daily Demolition Report: Simply Smashing

An all-residential edition of the demo report begins after the jump.

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Daily Demolition Report: Winter St. Discontent

Nine houses fail to please. Read today’s list of unappreciated structures—after the jump.

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Monday, June 18, 2007

Shopping Center Update: Franchises, Anchors, and All Those Nail Salons

Three items from the world of Houston shopping-center development:

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Daily Demolition Report: The Fall of Ben Hur

A Heights institution falls. That and more in our daily list of demolition permits—after the jump.

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