YOUR ODDS OF WINNING A YEAR’S SUPPLY OF CHICKEN SANDWICHES AT CHICK-FIL-A’S NEXT PEARLAND GRAND OPENING 
One in 1,365, a little slimmer than the chance of landing heads on a coin toss 10 times in a row. The Chick-fil-A in question, Pearland’s fifth, opens at Hwy. 288 and Aldine-Fort Bend Rd. on July 25, and in keeping with custom, the store is giving away 52 free #1 meals (chicken sandwich, medium Waffle Potato Fries, and a medium drink) to a group of 100 lucky loyalists selected from those who spend the night before camped out at the location, reports the Chronicle’s Dana Burke. This time though, the franchise is taking measures to ensure that only hometown competitors 18-and-up get access to the prize by limiting eligibility by zip code. The challengers: 77584, 77581, 77588, 77578, 77048, and 77047 — home to 136,500 legal adult residents of Pearland, Brookside Village, Shadow Creek Ranch, Manvel, and parts of Southeast Houston including Crestmont. To keep things competitive, reports Burke: “All participants must remain in their designated spots the entire time, with the exception of bathroom breaks.” [Houston Chronicle] Photo of 2016 Chick-fil-A First 100 event in Prestonwood, Texas: Chick-fil-A
Sign up for the Newsletter
Tag: 77578
Did everyone get their bets in on what the next use for that half-constructed cult-ready megamansion off County Rd. 59 was gonna be? Well, you’ve had plenty of years, and now time’s up: A group is currently working with the city of Manvel to turn the 30-to-70-bedroom space into a veterans housing facility, with plans to house veterans’ families as well (and to offer services like PTSD treatment, readjustment counseling, art classes, and rides to VA appointments). The place is going by the name The Bailey House, after actor and PTSD-afflicted veteran Jimmy Stewart’s character in It’s a Wonderful  Life. A meeting with the organization is in the works for Saturday morning, if you want more info (or want to help the place get set up and running, financially or otherwise).
Veteran Christa Mode, who’s spearheading the project, told the Chronicle’s Dana Guthrie this week that there won’t be a completion date floated until funding is taken care of. The building has also been roughed up by vandals since it last showed its face on HAR:
Vetting Plans Near Pearland
If you missed out last time around, the 2-story, ambiguous-dozens-bedroom building at 2354 County Rd. 59 is back on the market as of this weekend after spending the winter in hibernation under contract. The property, tucked just 1 mile west of 288 at the edge of Pearland, made the rounds late last April for its current asking price of $3.5 million before an October relisting and a quick switchover to the “sale pending” category.
The newest listing calls the house 46-bedroom, but also holds the buyer responsible for counting. Mona Miller of RE/MAX told the Chronicle back in May that the structure has “probably more like 70″ bedrooms — because interior construction is incomplete, it’s hard to tell. The unfinished structure started going up in the early 2000’s, possibly intended for use as a medical rehab institution by its doctor owner, who instead built a slightly-smaller similarly-styled facility on the lot next door in 2003 (on the right, in the aerial photo below)
CONTINUE READING THIS STORY
Make It Your Own
PEARLAND FINDS ITS PARK AND RIDE SPOT Metro will build a Park & Ride lot on 12 vacant acres at the gateway to the Southfork subdivision, at the southwest corner of Highway 288 and Airline-Ft. Bend Rd. (otherwise known as County Road 59): The board also authorized staff members to execute a design-build contract with the unidentified property owner that ‘will allow them to build the complex in accordance with Metro’s specifications and do it quicker,’ [Pearland assistant city manager Jon] Branson said. The facility will be a base for commuter shuttle buses between the Pearland area and Houston, including the Texas Medical Center. It is expected to provide much-needed traffic relief for residents who live in or near Shadow Creek Ranch and Pearland Town Center, [Metro vice president Kimberly] Slaughter said. The Texas 288 corridor averages about 96,000 vehicle trips a year, Branson said. When the shuttle facility opens this fall, it will have parking to accommodate 750 vehicles. Another 750 parking spaces will be added later, Branson said.” [Ultimate Pearland]
PEARLAND MANSION MYSTERY — UNREVEALED! Having been indoctrinated into the bizarre cult of the 64,000-sq.-ft. unfinished residence-like warehouse she calls the Pearland Mystery Mansion, Katharine Shilcutt appears dedicated to keeping its secret: “What became of the house after Dr. Watkins abandoned it and went on to build the halfling mansion next door isn’t a matter of public record, suffice to say it’s a bizarre story of its own that deserves to be told one day. What will happen to the houses is anyone’s guess. The bank that owns both houses has had a feasibility study performed to determine whether or not they would be appropriate for group homes or assisted living facilities. Having been inside, it seems like the most fitting application for at least the larger of the two, if not both. It’s difficult to imagine why someone in their right mind would build what is — essentially — the world’s largest shotgun shack (or, more to the point, what architect conceived of this monstrosity as a residence). But it’s not at all difficult to picture these two buildings on this serene piece of land housing elderly or assisted care patients one day.” [Hair Balls; the house next door, featured on the Neighborhood Guessing Game]
The Facts reporter John Tompkins visits the 4-year-old non-denominational Biker Church in Manvel, which operates out of a strip-center wedding and event facility on Highway 6, just east of FM 1128:
Instead of shirts, ties and Sunday dresses, Biker Church members wear vests, leather pants and sport tattoos. And instead of coming to church in the family car, most participants roll into the Jordan Center, where the church services are performed, on motorcycles and line them up in front of the door.
“If you walked into our church with a suit and tie, people would look at you funny,†said the church’s pastor, David Wright.
Robert “Tree†Perot said he started attending Biker Church after a member saw him on the side of a highway praying by his motorcycle. The man handed him a necklace with a cross fashioned from nails and asked him to come to Biker Church.
Photo of Biker Church parking at Jordan Event Center, 20709 Hwy 6 in Manvel: Biker Church
Looks like this week’s game was a bust. Did we even get any real guesses?
Oh, a few. Your comments mentioned Beaumont, River Oaks, the Westside Tennis Club, Hooks Airport, Waller County, Riverside (Terrace?), the Third Ward, Sharpstown, Fondren, Harwin, and Downtown.
No bluffers showed up.
So no winner this time. But a bunch of you sure had some fun with it! An honorable mention goes to Brad, for this first-rate snark:
The drop ceilings, the steel beam kickouts on the walls, the plastic chandeliers, the ‘media’ room with microwave stand and cafe-style seating, the fantasy executive boardroom with ‘conference’ table, and the executive exercise pool…
This is the Corporate Crimes wing of the Federal Prison near Beaumont where they sent Andy Fastow. The drapes and mini-blinds are covering the bars.
Bravo. And thanks again to the tipster who provided this ripe subject. What are its actual coordinates?
Thinking of taking a test drive on those Pearland Town Center parking lots this weekend? Why not stop by these Silvercreek open houses nearby? Silvercreek is “the community that feels like a neighborhood”!
Location: 2618 Misty Grove Dr., Manvel
Details: 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths; 2,923 sq. ft.
Price: $235,000
The Scoop: Trendmaker Homes doubled down on crown molding in this 2002 one-story. Large Kitchen with granite countertops and tall maple cabinets. Tile and carpet downstairs; carpet up. Large Master Bath has several slender columns, large mirrors, space for TV. Owners are VERY!!! interested in selling this house to you.
Open House: Saturday, 2-4 pm
More brick-faced sprawlers — after the jump!
