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Tag: Demolitions
Update, 9/15/11: Our error. 5820 Washington is now the home of The Blue Fish, a restaurant chain based in Dallas — not to be confused (as we did) with Blue Fish House, a Houston-based restaurant with locations at 2241 Richmond Ave. and in Sugar Land at 2735-C Town Center Blvd. The Dallas chain also has a location in Bayou Place. We’ve updated the story.
This new parking lot across Knox St. from Benjy’s on Washington recently replaced the Thomas Collection fabric store that used to sit directly on the corner of Washington Ave. Dallas’s Blue Fish chain will be opening a new location in the building behind it, at 5820 Washington Ave. Yes, this is the same building that, a few weeks ago, a Swamplot reader identified from a state license application as the future home of Washington Wine Storage. That facility’s address will be 1120 Knox St.:
Four houses and a garage. Guess that’ll have to be enough — till you give up your place.
IF THE SILO’S ROCKIN’, DON’T COME A-KNOCKIN’ The strange noises and clouds that’ll be emerging over the next 6 months from the Bayport Polymer plant at 12001 Bay Area Blvd., a few miles south of the La Porte Municipal Airport, are nothing to worry about, LyondellBassell wants you to know. Just a little demolition work: “Periodically during the coming months, people close to the facility might detect rumbling noises, loud thuds, vibrations or dust clouds. ‘We will continue to communicate to our community in advance via the CAER Line, CAP groups and E-Merge/E-Notify when work is being done that our neighbors might notice. We apologize for any inconvenience this situation may cause,’ stated a company press release.” [Bay Area Citizen]
This time, getting rid of a little grain of Rice — and a small assortment of houses:
Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:
Scuttlebutt on that decrepit parking lot on Richmond, plus what’s ready to pop up on the site of the Hooters on Gessner:
- Upper Kirby: “How many professionals in kenneth cole loafers or nine west heels want to navigate lake Ponchartrain just to get to our restaurant for a meal?†asks a commenter from Yelapa Playa Mexicana, one of three restaurants sharing the potholed (and occasionally flooded) parking lot between Richmond and Portsmouth west of Greenbriar. But . . . nothing’s doing:
We would love to force our landlord to get this mess fixed as soon as possible…any advice from anyone? We’ve been on him for the last 10 months or more (since we took the space in mid-September 09).
Commenter marmer notes a repair job may involve significant drainage work. “Simply patching the holes won’t last long enough to be worth the trouble.†Plus, where are Yelapa, Blue Fish House, and Hobbit Café customers gonna park while the work gets done? Also left unanswered: Is the existing parking lot required to meet any drivability standards?
Next: What comes after Hooters?
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Just one little ant to crush today. Maybe we should take it apart by hand? For old-times’ sake.
House down! And another! And . . . a bit more:
Tallyho! Let’s crack open these nuts:
Oh, yeah: It looks like a bit of this school is definitely out.
Got an answer to any of these reader questions? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Here’s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.
- Upper Kirby: “I can assure you that there are some bone crunching potholes underneath the lovely puddles,” writes the reader who sent in these rain-drenched photos of the ancient, multi-layered, and pockmarked parking lot shared by 3 restaurants at 2241 Richmond, just west of Greenbriar. When it rains, the lot gets even worse, claims the reader, who wants to know why it’s so “pitiful”:
While I can kind of understand Blue Fish and Hobbit [Café] not wanting to spend too much money on improving the parking lot since they are not high dollar places, Yelapa [Playa Mexicana] is trying to position itself as this new chic Mexican/Seafood eatery and thus I would have thought they’d care more about a customer’s initial impression.
A related question from the same reader: “Are there any City ordinances that require a parking lot used by the public to have a certain amount of drivability?”
Next: What about the Hooters?
Yesterday was demo day at 3613 Goodhope St. in South Union. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition host Ty Pennington (or his designated photo-Tweeter) sent out this pic Monday, showing the final moments of the Johnson family’s 700-sq.-ft. 1945 bungalow. What’s going on today at the Houston build?
HHN Homes manager Linda Stewart tells Swamplot last night’s rain set back the schedule. The slab for the new 4,500-sq.-ft. home is now on track to be poured at 3 pm today. Pre-assembled wall panels should be “ready to set” 50 minutes later, she says. Intrepid (and now hard-hatted) Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia files these photos from the scene:
A light day today. Just two notches on the crowbar:
EXTREME MAKEOVER: SOUTH UNION EDITION Texas Children’s Hospital pharmacy technician Eric Johnson, his wife Elaine, and their 5 daughters — all of whom live in a 720-sq.-ft. Hurricane-Ike-damaged house at 3613 Goodhope St. in South Union — learned over the weekend that they’ll be traveling to Paris this week. When they return on Saturday, they’ll find their old home gone and a new 4,500-sq.-ft. 2-story home installed in its place, designed by Studio RED Architects and the team from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and constructed by HHN Homes and hundreds of volunteers. The Harrises run a small marriage and family counseling nonprofit they founded called Optimum Lifestyle. Host Ty Pennington and the EM:HE crew are promising an “innovative tears-free episode” of the teevee show this time (the Harrises got the news in a comedy club). And no, this home is not in the Third Ward. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Time to shed a few extra buildings. Won’t you take them from us?