A WYNDHAM HOTEL IN EAST DOWNTOWN? 
The San Antonio developer who recently tore down the former On Leong Merchants Association building at 801 Chartres behind the George R. Brown Convention Center tells reporter Jennifer Dawson that Wyndham Hotels will operate the $12 million, 12-story Wyndham or Wyndham Grand he plans to build there, not far from where Dynamo Stadium is being built. According to Dawson, the hotel site — which Ocean2Ocean Development acquired from foreclosure last month — incorporates a half acre on the block surrounded by Rusk, Chartres, Walker, and Saint Emanuel. Behind that property currently: the strip-center location of East Downtown mini-grocer Epicurean Express (in photo). [Houston Business Journal] Photo: Candace Garcia
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East Downtown
Seen at this morning’s Purple Line kickoff on McKinney St. near Ennis in East Downtown, a sight not seen around Houston since before 9/11: What it looks like when Metro contractors lay track for a new light-rail line . . . or pour the concrete pad for it, anyway.
- Metro puts down rail for first time in decade [Houston Chronicle]
- Previously on Swamplot: Metro Rail Gets Back on Track Tomorrow
Photo: Metro
This single-story warehouse building at 2202 Dallas St. will be the home of a new craft brewery founded by Houston food-truck veterans the Eatsie Boys. The 5,000-sq.-ft. building at the corner of Hutchins is near the site of Dynamo Stadium and a short walk to Minute Maid Park, but the brewery will be named after the empty and forlorn former home of the Astros further south: 8th Wonder Brewery. When the lease was signed in April, there was a different name behind it. But “Heady Brewing Company” ran into a few trademark issues, so they’re going with the Dome. The buildout should be complete at the end of this year, with the first 8th Wonder beers appearing around town in 2012.
The scene captured last Saturday by that drone videocamera flight, showing excavation on the site of the East Downtown stadium at Texas and Dowling, plus a high-end view of Downtown’s back side . . . and a very round earth. Like a more steady ride? Here’s a still:
What’s to look at once it’s up there? Just this panoramic view of construction so far.
- Dynamo Stadium coverage [Swamplot]
Video: Accent Aerial Photography
Epicurean Express, that long-awaited little bodega-style grocery store in East Downtown, opened quietly early this week in this strip shopping center at 2018 Rusk St., at the corner of St. Emanuel — about 10 months after its originally scheduled opening date. Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia reports a bit more work will be needed inside before the 3,500-sq.-ft. store just down the street from Warehouse Live — which includes a small area for cafe seating inside — is fully stocked. You’ll want to wait a few more weeks before sandwiches are ready at the deli, too.
- Previously on Swamplot: Coming to the Street That Warehouse Live Built: An EaDo Corner Grocery
Photos: Candace Garcia
COMMENT OF THE DAY: EAST DOWNTOWN’S HOMESTEADING SPIRIT “Yo, Wayne my Homes! Here in da ’Do, we grow our own cilantro and make our own hummus. Just sayin’.” [sugarpie, commenting on Comment of the Day: The Hummus and Brie Desert in East Downtown]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE HUMMUS AND BRIE DESERT IN EAST DOWNTOWN “. . . The census records just came out, and EaDo’s population gained 3500 people (of course in 2000 EaDo didn’t exist… it was just a warehouse district). If EaDo wants to actually KEEP these new residents, it’s gonna have to build us a damn grocery store that has stuff we actually eat!! That means Hummus, Brie, F-R-E-S-H produce and a deli that offers some actual prepared foods. . . . I should NOT have to drive to West Gray or Montrose just to get fresh Cilantro!!” [wayne2k33, commenting on Here’s Your Montrose Kroger, All Dressed Up]
An effort led by former Houston mayor Lee P. Brown to recruit wealthy Chinese investors for a proposed 1000-room East Downtown hotel project on the opposite side of the 59 freeway from the George R. Brown convention center appears to be picking up steam. Brown is listed as chairman of the managing general partner of the project, a company named Global Century Development. Brown and Global Century’s president, Dan Nip, hope to raise money for the $225 million project from investors who want to immigrate to the U.S. through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ EB-5 Visa program. That program, established as a result of the Immigration Act of 1990, allows foreign nationals to obtain a green card by investing a minimum of $500,000 — and thereby create 10 or more jobs — in qualified areas with high unemployment rates. An East Downtown investment zone identified by Global Century Development in the area bounded by Preston St., the 59 Freeway, I-45, and Dowling is the only area in Houston that qualifies as a “regional center” under the program.
A Powerpoint presentation prepared by Global Century Development that appears to date from last year sites the proposed hotel on three adjacent blocks near Saint Emanuel and Polk St. But a report in today’s Houston Business Journal by Jennifer Dawson indicates plans for the East Downtown hotel are focused on only 2 of those blocks, which Nip controls: They’re bounded by Polk, Saint Emanuel, Bell, and Chartres. Dawson reports that a pedestrian bridge connecting the hotel to the convention center across the freeway is being planned, but a schematic drawing of a bridge featured in the presentation appears to show it only crossing Chartres St., requiring pedestrians to cross under the freeway:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE DYNAMO DOME “I like the shrink-wrapped look. Kinda looks like the remnants of a geodesic dome that got reworked by a hurricane…” [DanaX, commenting on Your First Official Look at Houston’s New Soccer Stadium]
It’s not as if drawings showing the industrial look of the new Dynamo Stadium hadn’t been floating around for a little while, but today marks the day the folks at Populous, the building’s designers, officially “unveiled” the design for the East Downtown soccer venue. Hiding behind that veil, of course, is . . . a giant veil: a meshy, irregular metal skin wrapping the structure, lifted up at corner entrances to reveal a glowing orange polycarbonate surface behind. Kinda like the approach to that big reception desk at the new Downtown Y — just a whole lot more, y’know, grand.
When you’ve already designed Minute Maid Park, Reliant Stadium, and the Toyota Center, what’s left in Houston for these guys to do? Will they get to push the button for the Astrodome demo too?
DOWN IN THE DYNAMO DISTRICT, FEELING THE LAND RUSH What’s happening to land values around the East Downtown site of Dynamo Stadium at Texas and Dowling? “Dave Cook with Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. said he has six properties listed for sale in the area with an asking price of $50 per square foot, or nearly $2.2 million per acre. ‘That’s what the value will be when the soccer stadium is an actual reality,’ he said. Cook said property sold for $30 to $35 per square foot before the stadium site was acquired. An investor signed a contract last week, Cook added, to buy an 11,000-square-foot building on a one-acre tract at 2020 McKinney that’s leased to the City of Houston for parking administrative offices. The asking price was $2.2 million. ‘We got very close to that,’ said Cook, who would not reveal the actual sales price.” [Houston Business Journal]
The big East Downtown orangish blob that will be Dynamo Stadium takes on a more definite shape in these new drawings. That’s a giant steel mesh wrapping the 22,000-seat soccer and football venue. Inside: 34 luxury suites, 1,000 “club” seats, and a stadium club. Separate canopies connected to the exterior mesh hang over both sidelines and a stage on the south end. The Houston Business Journal‘s Allison Wollam reports that orange lights will shine on the stadium at night — but the tower lighting shown in earlier renderings is gone from the latest images. Maybe, as a Dynamo fan on HAIF suggests, the place is just gonna glow from within.
DYNAMO STADIUM DESIGN NO LONGER SKETCHY 
AEG president Tim Leiweke says the design for the new Dynamo Stadium just east of Downtown is “100 percent complete,” and that at least 2 local companies have expressed interest in naming rights, which he’s eager to sell. “We are pricing the construction out now. We have a pretty good handle on the budget. The project will probably come in including the land at $110 million and the fact that we are sitting here talking about a ground-breaking by the end of the year and playing soccer and football for TSU by June of 2012 is amazing. It has come together quickly in the last few months.†[Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Rendering of stadium “conceptual” version: Populous
The Swamplot Price Adjuster runs on your nominations! Found a property you think is poorly priced? Send an email to Swamplot, and be sure to include a link to the listing or photos. Tell us about the property, and explain why you think it deserves a price adjustment. Then tell us what you think a better price would be. Unless requested otherwise, all submissions to the Swamplot Price Adjuster will be kept anonymous.
Location: 2312 Sperber Ln., East Downtown
Details: 3 bedroom, 3 1/2-bath, 2,006-sq.-ft. unfinished townhome on a 1,400-sq.-ft. lot
Price: $151,700
History: Current listing up since mid-April
For your consideration: this special property, just over the tracks from EaDo. Submitted by a reader, who comments:
Here’s another one from the Waterhill debacle. There’s a set of 3 townhouses in the corner of this EaDo neighborhood that all appear to be in tear down condition. HAR description states “Great opportunity for investor or builder to purchase 3 partially completed townhomes, never lived in.†HA! I beg to differ! I bet homeless people have been living there off and on for the last 2 years! HAR lists this stand-alone unit for $151,700. Is it really worth that?
Then . . . well, what is it worth?
