- 18330 Mueschke Rd. [HAR]
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Tag: 77433
- 14731 Bronze Finch Dr. [HAR]
- 18518 Paloma Lago Cir. [HAR]
- 8206 Caldera Ln. [HAR]
A high-flying reader sends this mid-March progress shot of the segment of Cypress’s Towne Lake development known as The Crossing. The other major crossing planned for nearby — a continuation of Towne Lake Pkwy. over the less-holy water feature under construction to the south and east, as shown in this selection from the development’s master plan — looks to still be in the works. The parkway will eventually connect all the way down to the Kroger just south of Tuckerton Rd.Â
The site also seems to have resolved some of its earlier crises of purpose: Originally the land just north of David Anthony Middle School was labeled as a potential church, but developer Caldwell Companies appears to have opted for the secular route since the 2013 version below was published:
Driving on Water
CYPRESS BARBECUE TRAILER THREATENED WITH GUN VIOLENCE FOR SUPPORTING OPEN CARRY 
Perennial Allison Cook’s Top 100 listee Brooks’ Place, the parking lot barbecue joint in Cypress which began offering a discount on New Year’s Day to those visibly bringing a holstered gun to the establishment, received a review via its Facebook page this morning threatening a Saturday shootup (with explicit reference to the spot’s “gun-toting patrons”). Owner Trent Brooks tells the Houston Chronicle’s Sid Kearney that he has contacted the authorities and that he is “not taking the threat lightly, not with all the crazy stuff that is going on in the world today.†But the barbecue shed-trailer will be open this Saturday, with peace officers stationed nearby if necessary. [Houston Chronicle, previously on Swamplot] Photo: Cletus O.
Nationally ranked Cypress parking-lot barbecue trailer Brooks’ Place will offer a 25 percent discount on New Year’s Day to anyone celebrating Texas’s new open carry law with a properly holstered firearm. Owner and master of smoked beef Trent Brooks will also offer a permanent 10 percent discount those who show up armed after January 1st. (A sign posted on the premises notes that “judicious marksmanship is appreciated” if the need to draw does arise.) Things you shouldn’t show up with, according to other noticed posted to the shed (tucked next to the Ace Hardware in the shopping center at FM 529 at Barker Cypress Rd.): short-shorts and saggy pants.
- Restaurant owners split on Open Carry law [ABC13]
- The 50 Best Barbecue Joints in the World: Brook’s Place [Texas Monthly]
Photos: Cletus O. (trailer) Angela S. (sign)
With Open Arms
- 21603 Harbor Water Dr. [HAR]
2 CORNER BANK BUILDINGS BANISHED FROM BANKING FOREVER 
This 3,848-sq.-ft. former WaMu at the intersection of Barker Cypress Rd. and FM 529 Rd. has been vacant and on the market for a good 5 years now. It’s surrounded by parking spaces on a 1.152-acre lot and features a spacious 5-lane drive-thru in back. Along with a twin structure at the intersection of Louetta Rd. and N. Eldridge Pkwy. (also for sale), the Cypress building has been forcibly retired from its banking career. Chase Bank, which bought up all the Washington Mutual corner-bank leftovers, spat out locations like these it considered too close to existing Chase banks — with restrictions to prevent another bank from moving in. A few more restrictions potential buyers of the structure at 7019 Barker Cypress Rd. will want to note: You can’t put a burger joint, a nail salon, a hair salon, or a dentist’s office in there either, because any of those (as well as a few other uses) would duplicate the offerings of establishments in the adjacent Signature Kroger shopping center from which the pad site was spun off. Still-asking price: $1.1 million. [The Weitzman Group]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: ALSO, PAVING OVER THEIR ANCESTORS “Yes we do know what people were doing 10,000 years ago. Basically it’s the same thing we are doing today. Making and raising children, trying to feed our family, and working to have safety, shelter, and clothing.” [Bill, commenting on Grand Parkway Will Pile on the Dead]
GRAND PARKWAY WILL PILE ON THE DEAD 
An agreement between TxDOT, the Harris County Historical Commission, and 5 Native American tribes over what to do with the prehistoric human remains unearthed in the prairie highway’s path will allow construction of the Grand Parkway Segment E to continue — with only a bump in the road: “Under the agreement, TxDOT will fill the excavated areas and cover them with rip rap, creating a permanent burial site near where the road would cross Cypress Creek, about three miles south of U.S. 290.” The reburial might confuse future anthropologists, though: “[UH professor of anthropology Kenneth] Brown expressed frustration over TxDOT’s handling of the site, saying crews saved some artifacts but ruined the area for richer study. The agency’s crews scraped and sifted mechanically instead of digging by hand. ‘When you scrape, you will find things, but you won’t be able to see how they were associated,’ Brown said. ‘That is a shame because we do not know what people were doing 10,000 to 14,000 years ago, and we won’t know now.'” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo of gravesite: abc13
OLD BONES ORDERED OUT OF THE WAY OF THE GRAND PARKWAY District judge Reece Rondon has given TxDOT the go-ahead to remove 2 sets of prehistoric human remains contractors found over the summer in the path of Grand Parkway’s Segment E — as well as any additional gravesites contractors encounter nearby. The bones and bone fragments — some estimated to be as much as 9,000 years old — were discovered on the northern bank of Cypress Creek, less than 3 miles south of where the Grand Parkway will intersect US 290. According to documents submitted to the court, investigators had been aware since 1996 of an extensive archeological site in that location. The Harris County Historical Commission had requested that TxDOT delay the project to allow more study of the artifacts; it is appealing the ruling. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo of gravesite: abc13
One advantage of those double-height entries and oversized arched door-topping windows that come free with the purchase of your new home in Fairfield, as reporter Jennifer Bauer demonstrates: As you’re coming down the stairs, it’s easy to scan your front yard for mummies. KPRC photographer Jon Hill is lighting up the internets with the harrowing tale of his encounter last Wednesday night with a man who had an actual Ace bandage wrapped around his head. After spotting the sorta-masked sorta intruder lurking in his yard in the Fairfield neighborhood of Inwood Park, Hill ran out the front door with hopes of launching a surprise tackle. The wrapped visitor made an un-mummy-like exit, but Hill wasn’t able to chase him down. Thanks to a teevee report documenting the episode and other sightings of the unidentified interloper, all of Fairfield is now officially on mummy alert. Money quote: “Harris County sheriff’s deputies recommended that homeowners who see the man dressed as a mummy in their yard call 911 immediately.”
An amused reader points Swamplot to the HAR listing shown above for a newly discounted home in Bridgeland. Conveniently, HAR highlights MLS listing price drops — and the occasional price correction — of a certain weight. And which one is this? The price for this 4-year-old “hardly lived in” 4,061-sq.-ft. home was adjusted downward by a little more than $4 million on . . . April Fools Day.
- 18618 Partners Voice Dr. [HAR]
