CES trucks [via Swamplot]
Most Hated: Headlines August 1 to 11
Lisa Gray called the new River Oaks Shopping Center the “most hated” shopping center in her lament over the likely fate of the soon-to-be-vacant Alabama Theatre and Weingarten Realty’s assault on Deco architecture. Also in the Montrose, the demolition of Wilshire Village began.
Perhaps on the more positive side of things, two notorious facilities were shut down: the T. Don Hutto “children’s prison” and the CES waste-processing facility behind M+A Architecture Studio on Grace Lane. Also, the Houston Ballet broke ground on its Center for Dance building designed by Marshall Strabala.
Tuesday August 11
OBITUARY Robert Cohen, designed noted Meyerland home [Houston Chronicle] “The nearly 5,000-square-foot dwelling, torn down in 2007, was nicknamed The Carousel House for its circular form. The site of large parties, the living room had a 32-foot curved sofa and walls upholstered in silk. The home’s pleated, conical roof had a large skylight, and in the backyard was a swimming pool shaped like a boomerang.”
Monday August 10
Harris County DA investigating homeowners’ claim that their former management firm mishandled things [Houston Chronicle]
“In many neighborhoods, particularly those in unincorporated areas such as Sterling Green South, power and knowledge are limited to the management company, attorneys who focus on collections and perhaps the association president, said Evan McKenzie, a University of Illinois-Chicago political science professor whose research specializes in private governance. ‘It’s the most massive privatization of local government that has ever happened,” McKenzie said. “There’s no transparency at all.’”Campbell sees his effort to account for his neighborhood’s funds as a battle. His weapons are e-mails, spreadsheets and bank reconciliation reports. His adversary, at least in his view, is a man he has never met: State Sen. John Carona, a Dallas-based Republican, whose community management companies represent almost 3 million homeowners in 28 states.
Sunday August 9
The most hated shopping center: Thousands have signed petition to save center [Houston Chronicle]
The new River Oaks Shopping Center building, a bland two-story behemoth at the northeastern corner of Shepherd and West Gray, has come to represent the senseless destruction of Houston’s historic buildings — and in particular, the destruction and endangerment of three of the city’s best-preserved and most loved Art Deco buildings.In 2006, the Chronicle reported on Weingarten’s unannounced three-part plan to raze the three buildings.
One of those is already gone: Weingarten razed the 1937 shopping-center building at the corner of West Gray and Shepherd, a building that architectural historians say had national significance, and one that the city of Houston designated a landmark. The big, bland new building occupies that site.
And when the new building opens, the next domino falls. The center’s anchor tenant is Barnes & Noble. On Sept. 15, the day before the new bookstore opens, Barnes & Noble will close its nearby Bookstop store, the longtime tenant of the former Alabama Theatre. And as preservationists know, an empty building is an endangered building.
Significant step seen in case against waste facility. Feds involved, rather than usual state court route. CES: Fate of firm in doubt [Houston Chronicle] “The CES Environmental Services waste-processing facility squats conspicuously among the houses and strip malls along Griggs Road in southeast Houston.”
Jonathan Leach’s art dazzles, uplifts [Houston Chronicle] “Leach combines a keen eye for architecture and urban landscape with dazzling opticality, bold directional patterns and beyond-vibrant color. Not to mention an acrobat’s sense of balance: Leach’s most complex paintings have all the jostling clamor of a bustling city with none of the blight or squalor.”
Friday August 7
ICE will revamp detainee system: Policy of using converted prisons to hold families of illegal immigrants is on its way out [Houston Chronicle] “Three years ago, immigrant families sent to a Central Texas immigration detention center found themselves at a converted prison rimmed in razor wire. Child inmates slept with their parents in cells monitored by lasers, stood still for daily head counts and donned navy detention uniforms available in sizes as small as infant onesies. They reported getting only one hour of school a day and going weeks without playing in the sun.”
Thursday August 6
Bookstop to close Sept. 15 Owner plans to lease Alabama Theater as is [Houston Chronicle] “Barnes & Noble Booksellers will close its Bookstop location in the revered Alabama Theater, 2922 South Shepherd, on Sept. 15 and reopen Sept. 16 in a new store tailor-made for a larger audience just up the street in the River Oaks Shopping Center at West Gray Avenue…A new tenant has not been found, said Brooke Harvey, leasing director for Weingarten Realty Investors, which owns the River Oaks and Alabama Shepherd shopping centers where both of the old marquee theaters are located. Until then, he can’t speculate about how the cavernous, art deco interior, which retains its balcony and terraced first floor, might be used going forward.”
WEST HOUSTON Medical center to break ground on $70 million project in 2009 [Houston Chronicle]
Calm after the storm Sand, sea, light star in designer’s beach house [Houston Chronicle]
Lawmaker vows to renew bike bill after relative hit: After her granddaughter was struck by car, legislator revives efforts [Houston Chronicle] “Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, sponsor of a bill to protect bicyclists, expressed relief Wednesday that her granddaughter and a friend suffered only minor injuries after getting hit by a SUV. Gov. Rick Perry recently vetoed legislation that Harper-Brown plans to push again next session to protect vulnerable road users.”
Tuesday August 4
SMART METERS CenterPoint seeking funds for grid update $200 million in federal stimulus money would aid automation plan [Houston Chronicle]
Construction starts again on hospital Developer seeks operator for Webster site [Houston Chronicle]
Monday August 3
Scenes from a Demolition: Wilshire Village on the Outs [Swamplot]
MOVE IT! Drought taking a toll on I-10 trees [Houston Chronicle]
Sunday August 2
Dancing downtown: Houston Ballet breaks ground on its new Theater District home [Houston Chronicle]
Construction is under way on the Houston Ballet Center for Dance, a 115,000-square-foot facility that could be the most exciting new architecture Houston has seen in decades. Designed by Marshall Strabala, design director of Gensler, the center has the potential to transform the Theater District’s ugly northern backside into a vibrant downtown gateway.The internationally renowned Strabala designed three of the world’s tallest and flashiest edifices, including China’s 632-meter-tall Shanghai Tower, which is under construction, and 420-meter Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, as well as the 160-plus story Burj Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
By comparison, the Houston Ballet Center is insanely modest – six stories housing administrative offices, nine studios (they currently have six), a black box theater (a new amenity) and a dorm for 20 students (eight more than they now house in two townhomes). Including the land purchase, it’s a $53 million project.
City, and cab companies, insist Rev Houston’s ecofriendly, no-fare cars are cabs and thus are subject to taxi regulations [Houston Chronicle]
Backtrack to July 31
The pieces are falling in place for piecemeal commuter rail [Intermodality]
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