COMMENT OF THE DAY: THEY GET AROUND IN THAT PART OF TOWN “. . . Welcome to the East End, where humble homes like you are still welcome (for now). And within walking distance of both MetroRail AND Elbow and Nipple. Take a train or fix a drain.” [Dana-X, commenting on Chapter 2: The Little Gibson St. Bungalow Finds a New Home]
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Tag: East Downtown
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: WHAT’S COMING TO EAST DOWNTOWN “It’s been a pretty slow three years for east downtown townhome development, but it looks like things are coming back to life. While townhomes are about the least interest type of residential development I can think of, modest numbers of buyers willing to spend 250-350k is nothing to sneeze at, and it’s what retailers need to kick east downtown into the next phase.” [JD, commenting on Signs of Townhomes Coming to Polk St. in East Downtown]
Most of this East Downtown property, according to city records, was purchased in November 2012 by CitySide Homes; signs recently posted here suggest that the contemporary townhome’s eastward expansion will continue to continue — this site is just 5 blocks from where Urban Living says it’s building around that leaning Leeland St. live oak — on these 2 purchased parcels between Polk, Clay, Nagle, and Delano that add up to a little more than an acre.
Sharing a wall with Chinatown Printing, The Green Bone threw a grand opening last Saturday, debuting its hemp doggie treats and recycled-wood doggie daycare digs in the East Downtown Art Deco building shown here. Located at 2104 Leeland St. near the corner of St. Emanuel, the shop also has a lounge for masters with wireless Internet and an espresso bar. It’s not up and pouring yet, but a store employee tells Swamplot that it’ll sell homemade snacks meant to be eaten by either species.
“We’ve had a lot of angry calls about that tree,” says an Urban Living rep — calls presumably prompted by the sign posted recently here at 2917 Leeland in East Downtown. Renderings aren’t available, though Urban Living tells Swamplot that the designs for 3 Princeton City townhomes are working around the tree. They’ll also have an interesting neighbor:
Look familiar? Two weeks after its smaller look-alike housing unit appeared on the market, this bigger-by-a-bedroom version finishing up right next door listed for a bit more. And speaking of doors, this mini-mod’s entry is cool blue instead of the cheery yellow one marking its neighbor. Other differences include the roofline’s wider wingspan — to accommodate a broader, shorter driveway that bumps against that extra room downstairs.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A BIG DIG FOR EAST DOWNTOWN “What needs to happen to connect Downtown with the East End/EaDo is TxDOT needs to put 59 in a tunnel from just south of 45 up to Commerce Street. Above ground create a mile long linear park. Instead of the elevated freeway discouraging pedestrian activity, a underground freeway below with a fantastic linear park above would draw in visitors in hordes. Who wouldn’t want to be around or live near a mile long urban park jewel? The value added is enough in itself to justify such a project for the betterment of the city.” [Thomas, commenting on Adding to Convention Center District Easy as 1-2-3 . . . 4-5-6-7]
The smaller of a wee pair of snaggle-topped properties built since April 2012 on a Scott St. corner of the new East End Southeast rail line popped on the market last week. Initial asking price: $175,000. No listing yet for its equally efficient slightly bigger sister right next door, which employs the same corner windows, criss-cross rooftop, and slew of eco-friendly components.
Collectors and artsy-crafty types will have to head to East Downtown for their muse-feeding materials when Texas Art Asylum, a 18-month-old venture in the First Ward’s art district (top), packs it all up and moves its various shop-classroom-warehouse operations from several sites to one consolidated locale at 1719 Live Oak St. (above and left). The new space, about 6,000 sq. ft., is the former home of pedicab vendor Space City Bike Cabs.
EAST OF DOWNTOWN, AND NO ONE’S BITING 
“I need help,” writes the would-be seller of this townhome just north of the railroad tracks from East Downtown, a day after cutting the asking price down to $254,900. (It originally sold for $236K back in 2008.) “I read Swamplot daily and love seeing what your astute commenters have to say. I’ve lived in the Houston area my entire life but am new to selling a house around here. I’ve had my townhouse on the market for a few weeks now but haven’t had much traffic. I’m wondering if this is normal around here or maybe there’s just not enough buzz for my house. Is the pricing all wrong? Are the pictures awful? Is my agent doing enough (umm… Hi, mom!)? Is my ’hood too early in the gentrification stage? It really is a great house and a pretty cool neighborhood if I do say so myself! I’d love some advice from folks in the know.” [Swamplot inbox]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE CASE FOR STUPID NEIGHBORHOOD NAMES “I think of ‘the east end’ as everything east of downtown all the way to 610. Eado is more of the area just east of downtown (not much past the new dynamo stadium). I’m not alone in this thought. Eado is a stupid name, but people have been calling that area that for a long time, now people have more reasons to go there and the name is getting used more frequently by more people. Trendy names although silly and annoying, are very helpful in marketing an area (especially if you are trying to make it a new hot spot).” [caneco, commenting on Warehouse Turned House Turned Mobile: Start’s East Downtown Startup Incubator]
This 1963 warehouse on the corner of Delano and Dallas in East Downtown was converted into an ultramod residence in 2003. But its new owners, who purchased it about a month and a half ago, are turning it back to commercial use as a co-working space and high-tech accelerator intended for small startup companies developing applications for mobile phones. The 5,000-sq.-ft. building now features a single 800-sq.-ft. dedicated office space and a 3,000-sq.-ft. co-working area which entrepreneurs can use for a $199-a-month per person fee (all-hours access, wi-fi, printer, and coffee included) — or reserve a specific desk in for $299. Here’s how it looks:
THE EAST DOWNTOWN ENRON MILLS MALL THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN 
Long before he sold the land where the brand-new BBVA Compass Stadium for the Houston Dynamo soccer team now sits to the city, former council member and longtime land speculator Louis Macey had a deal ready to go that would have turned the vacant land into some sort of close-to-Downtown entertainment venue, Catie Dixon reports: “He ended up with six blocks around Bastrop and Texas, which attracted the attention of Katy Mills and Enron. They agreed to buy the site if he could get 12 blocks and an exit ramp off the highway. (He convinced TxDOT to put in the Polk Street exit.) The deal fell through at the last minute . . .” Macey began buying up the properties in 1997. [Real Estate Bisnow; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Real Estate Bisnow
Here’s the fly-over (and -through) tour of the new BBVA Compass Stadium for the Houston Dynamo you’ve been waiting for — that is, if you were left hungry for more by the flyover tour of the stadium under construction captured by Brent Hall’s drone videocamera last summer. The big difference between that tour and this one, of course, is that the structure is now complete. The stadium’s first game takes place this Thursday, ahead of the Dynamo season opener over the weekend.
How do you make videos like this? With this sort of thing.
- Dynamo Stadium coverage [Swamplot]
Video: Accent Aerial Photography
Those fishy figures in the photo above might look like just another bit of street art wheatpasted onto just another dilapidated East Downtown building, but they signaled a life-changing event for one Swamplot reader. QR code included. The images are based on the work of Spanish graffiti artist El Pez — the reader’s favorite. So what happened when she and her boyfriend drove past them on Congress St. between Hutchins and Bastrop last Sunday?
