COMMENT OF THE DAY: NEW NEIGHBORHOOD NAMES STICK 
“I came from DC and we saw this time and again . . . what I learned is the pro-namers almost always win. Turns out it is fairly easy to name an unnamed area. Of course, in DC (and SF, and LA), the names are almost always douche-y NYC-wannabe abbreviations. The naysayers should just be glad they aren’t calling it TriNoMa (Triangle North of Main).” [CAHBF, commenting on Tampico Heights Rises Again, This Time in a Bumper Sticker Campaign] Illustration: Lulu
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Tag: Real Estate Marketing
WHAT THEY’RE TWEETING ABOUT YOUR LEASE RATES 
We now join the Twitter discussion of the potential lease of spaces at 2502 Dunlavy St. just north of Westheimer Rd. in Montrose, currently home to the offices of Eurostone Marble and the Bacchus Mediterranean Winebar and Coffee Shop (both still open), already in progress. [Twitter] Photo: Davis Commercial (PDF)
TAMPICO HEIGHTS RISES AGAIN, THIS TIME IN A BUMPER STICKER CAMPAIGN 
In a setback for the upstart movement to rename Brooke Smith and portions of East Sunset Heights east of N. Main St. and west of I-45, the appearance of the name “Tampico Heights” on Google Maps got shut down late last month by a couple of eagle-eyed citizen editors who noted that the name was “being used by a small group of residents to try and encourage the adoption of the name for this neighborhood, much to a larger group’s displeasure.” The newfangled designation has now been removed. But pro-Tampico campaigners have taken to the streets — or at least the shopping-center parking lots: A reader sends Swamplot this photo of a Tampico Heights bumper sticker spotted on a Chevy TrailBlazer parked in front of “Party” Kroger on Studemont St. over the weekend. [previously on Swamplot] Photo: Mel
15-HOME WESTMORELAND PLACE DEVELOPMENT CLEARS HURDLES, MORE TREE SPACE 
When last we left the 0.83-acre lot tucked up against Spur 527 between Marshall and Alabama St. (catty corner from the Broadstone at Midtown second block), developer Carnegie Homes was seeking city approval for a variance for reduced setbacks from the spur and Alabama St. The variance was approved last November; the site plan, which lays out space for 7 homesites within the Westmoreland Historic District (on the north portion of the property) and another 8 tighter townhome lots on the free-range southern end, has been adjusted slightly to allow a 5,000-sq.-ft. promenade and private park area leading up to and surrounding the enormous live oak tree (branches visible in the above photo) near the property’s northwest corner. A new sign announcing the development went up last week. It’s been renamed a couple times too. The former Carnegie Oaks at Westmoreland — described on the company’s website as The Oak at Westmoreland — is now Masterson Oaks at Westmoreland, Carnegie’s Arpan Gupta tells Swamplot, after the Masterson Mansion that stood on the site as recently as the 1950s, but was torn down after the spur bisected its grounds. Gupta is still seeking approvals within the Westmoreland historic district for a reduced setback along Marshall St. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplot inbox
A dust-up begun in the comments section of a Houstonia magazine article has blossomed into a mini-campaign to squash a recently coined neighborhood nickname. Two websites have now been created to document the curious internet history surrounding the recent appearance of the name Tampico Heights, and to demonstrate residents’ steadfast opposition to Heights name creep.
“From talking to dozens of Northsiders, it is not a name that anyone has heard used for the neighborhood,” a reader tells Swamplot. So the reader (lightheartedly signing emails as the Tampico Heights Redevelopment Authority) created a timeline site, documenting usage of the term “Tampico Heights” — in a manner that might make the founders of the OED proud — “in hopes that people who write about our neighborhood, or any neighborhood, make a practice of talking to residents, and not inventing things from google searches.”
Battling ‘Heights’ Creep
- 5830 Willowbend Blvd. [HAR]
If you’re as impressed as we are by the free-rotated and seemingly free-spirited snapshots attached to the listing (see actual screenshot of the entire HAR photo gallery, above), you may be interested in the curious for-sale history of the property at 11718 N. Kathy Ave. in Fondren Park — as recorded by the MLS, at least. The 3-bedroom, 2-bath 1967 home is currently marked “pending,” but records show it’s had that same status since April 18th of last year. The current listing appears to date from September 2012, when it went on the market for $70,000. That’s still the current listed asking price. And $70,000 is also the amount the 1,771-sq.-ft. home on a 12,280-sq.-ft. lot sold for in 1999, according to MLS records.
- 11718 N. Kathy Ave. [HAR]
Still Pending
A map-making trio headquartered in San Francisco has turned out its 11th “neighborhood culture map” of a U.S. city. And here we are . . . Houston! Well, after a fashion. How’d the team from Urbane come up with this particular collection of graphic geographic platitudes? Directly from sources: “For this map, we had an army of Houstonian contributors who talked a lot about their local haunts.” Isn’t that enough? “We do very thorough research, interviewing of people from there, and fact-checking to present our best efforts,” the Urbane team explains on its website. “Instead of critiquing our viewpoints, it is helpful for everyone if you would like to help our next project. Nobody can truly be a local to an entire city, can they? Nobody knows everything about every city. Maybe you’re an expert on your block, but it’s rare to find a full city expert.” So there. With its latest venture in Las Vegas, the group is trying another tack: Going onsite and asking passers-by to tag the neighborhoods they know with scribbled-on Post-It notes.
Tag, You’re That
You may have seen some harrowing home listings in your day, but for sheer, ballsy “abandon hope, all ye who enter here” bravado, it would be hard to imagine outdoing the agent’s MLS presentation of the single-bedroom condo at 12748 Huntingwick Dr.
How fearsome is this place? Well, let’s just say the featured photo in the listing is the down-the-hole toilet-bowl shot shown at right. Yes, if while trawling through listings, you are attracted by a full-on view of dank toilet water, surrounded on the floor and porcelain by brown bits that bear more than a passing resemblance to dead cockroaches, this might be the place for you. If, that is, the agent’s sage discouragement, dispensed in contract-friendly all-caps, doesn’t drive you away:
Fair Warning
IT’S GETTING A NAME CHANGE, BUT THE ASTRODOME WILL STILL BE RELIANT ON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS TO REMAIN STANDING 
The Houston Chronicle‘s Kiah Collier has what appears to be the first official confirmation that the name change NRG Energy plans for Reliant Stadium and Reliant Park is meant to extend to the Astrodome and its signage as well. The Harris County Sports and Convention Corp. gave the go-ahead to today to rename it all and put up new signs. Say hello to NRG Stadium, NRG Park, NRG Center, and — yes — NRG Arena and NRG Astrodome. [Kiah Collier on Twitter; previously on Swamplot] Photo of demolished ticket booth at Reliant Astrodome: Jim Ellwanger [license]
NEW NORTH MONTROSE APARTMENTS LEAVE HANOVER, MOVE TO RIVER OAKS 
Residents of the recently opened Hanover West Gray apartments at 1340 West Gray got an unexpected notice in their mailboxes this month: Their new homes at the corner of West Gray and Waugh (replacing the Tavern on Gray and some neighboring structures) now feature a River Oaks address. Hanover sold the 275-unit structures effective March 13 to AMLI. And the new owner is calling the complex AMLI River Oaks, after the tony no-apartments-please neighborhood whose eastern border is three-quarters of a mile to the west. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Hanover Company
In what appears to be a bid to get more people to pronounce Houston’s major industry in a stilted quasi-drawl, the parent company of Reliant Energy has decided to rebrand Reliant Stadium and Reliant Park. The Houston Chronicle‘s Kiah Collier reports that henceforth (or after a vote by county commissioners at least) they shall be known as NRG Stadium and NRG Park. Collier’s sources don’t seem to have mentioned whether the name-change will result in similar switches for the other structures in the sports-and-convention complex, labeled the Reliant Center, Reliant Arena, and Reliant Astrodome since 2002.
The New Old Home of the Texans, Etc.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE GAPING HOLE IN THE GARDENING DEMOGRAPHIC 
“. . . before you try to do something different and figure out a way to provide space for small garden plots, you should look at the demographics of your renters first. I work in the ornamental horticulture industry, and trust me, this has been a subject of deep interest in my business the last 5 years. To summarize dozens of surveys, fruit and vegetable gardening appeals to people in 2 age groups, the first is the 20-30 demo, and the other is 60+. There is a great big hole in the younger boomers and the Gen X folks who are middle aged, who basically don’t garden at all. If your apartments primarily have tenants in the under 30 crowd, they would probably pay extra for that amenity.
One last point is that edible gardening picked up substantially in the 2008 recession, and has not slowed down at all. Most other categories of ornamental horticulture sales are flat or down.” [ShadyHeightster, commenting on Comment of the Day: Gardens or Parking Spots?] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOUSTON, THE CITY OF LITTLE DOWNTOWN SUBURBIAS 
“Why not have a ‘little suburbia’ in the area? I mean, let’s stop fighting it and sail [with] the wind.
Now I know I’m being a little tongue and cheek, but is there nothing more ‘Houston’ than to have a completely market driven transplant of the suburbs right next to downtown? We can even market it w/ such features as ‘the sidewalk to nowhere’ and the ‘stripmall, strip.’ Maybe even use it to advertise Houston to the rest of the country: “Close to work with suburban sprawl; yes, you CAN have it all!†Heck, we’ll just reboot the Virginia Slims campaign w/ big box stores and the skyline in the background!” [DNAguy, commenting on Texas City Buc-ee’s Opening Sooner Than Expected; The Rush To Destroy Rice’s Menil Legacy] Illustration: Lulu
