MORE THAN A COLLECTION OF RED SHIRTS AND BLUE SHIRTS 
Hearing the news that Mayor Parker will be hosting a public meeting Wednesday evening at Downtown’s George R. Brown Convention Center to answer questions about Ainbinder’s Walmart & friends development targeted for a 24-acre property near the intersection of Yale and Koehler streets in the West End (just south of the Heights), the folks behind the Stop Heights Walmart website have come up with an interesting plan: Urge opponents of the discount chain’s first foray into Houston’s Inner Loop to attend the meeting wearing red shirts. Notably, that’s the daily uniform of the hundreds of thousands of “team members” who work for discount rival Target. One Walmart opponent noted on the group’s Facebook page that red shirts are available for low prices at Walgreens. “Please don’t buy them at Walmart :) Given, right?” asked another commenter. A few representatives of Ainbinder and Walmart itself will be on hand at the meeting, wearing blue vests and greeting visitors at the door. [Stop Heights Walmart; previously on Swamplot] Photos: Rufus Quail; Alice Wright
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Development Strategies
Ainbinder Company president Bart Duckworth says he’s hoping to unveil plans to “community leaders” next week for the firm’s 23-acre development at Yale and Koehler in the West End — which the company is calling Washington Heights. But it sounds like they’ll look at least something like what we’ve already seen. Some details: The exterior of the Walmart the company wants to plant on 15 acres of that development will “feature more browns and show an effort to break up the stark ‘big box’ look with architectural detailing,” writes real estate promoter Ralph Bivins, who the company invited to look at the plans. Duckworth tells Bivins the Walmart’s large parking lot and store front will have tree plantings that “exceed the norm.”
The project’s leasing broker tells Bivins he wants “chef-driven restaurants, local boutiques and non-chain outlets” to occupy the new retail spaces on Yale and Heights Blvd., which he views as an extension to recent developments along Washington Ave.
Duckworth also describes portions of the “380” agreement his company has been trying to negotiate with the city:
More evidence that Walmart is now in full campaign mode as it pushes for public support to build what the company is now calling its Central Houston location: Residents of the Heights, Timbergrove Manor, and many other nearby areas have reported receiving a small slick brochure in the mail touting the benefits of the proposed “custom-designed” store at Koehler and Yale in the West End. The mailer asks recipients to send in an attached postcard indicating their support for the project — and asks them if they’d be willing to contact city council members and other “city leaders” as well. The mailer is identified as coming from Friends of Walmart, an organization with a 77270 Houston P.O. box address. But the website link featured on the brochure, WalmartHouston.com, is clearly a project of Walmart itself. That website follows the same format as others the company has set up (see the Chicago and Baltimore equivalents) to campaign for public support or approvals necessary to build urban stores in other major cities.
The ad copy uses some form of the term “community” 10 times. Also worth noting: The Friends of Walmart mailer describes the proposed West End site — formerly home to Trinity Industries’ steel fabrication plant — as “an unused piece of property that is much in need of remediation.” But the brochure doesn’t specify what remediation Walmart — or Ainbinder Company, the project’s developer — plans to complete before construction begins. The Walmart Houston website makes no mention of any possibly toxic materials lying in wait at the former plant.
THE WEST END WALMART AND THAT “OUTSIDE AGITATOR” ARGUMENT Sadly, KPRC reporter Carl Willis doesn’t exactly specify who is “raising questions” about the neighborhood groups fighting Walmart’s attempts to build a new store in Houston’s West End. And he only shows a portion of Walmart spokesman’s Daniel Morales’s musings on the subject. But still, this is starting to get real fun: “As for the outspoken opposition, questions have come up about just who is supporting them,” Willis declares. “Written reports have alleged competing chains have paid consultants, or so-called Walmart Killers, to run anti-development campaigns in other cities.” Where could these suggestions have come from? Willis cuts to Morales: “It would be unfortunate,” says the Walmart spokesperson, “if another outside group or competitor would be creating a disingenuous movement . . .” Oh, but why cut him off there? [News2Houston; previously on Swamplot]
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
Signs have been going up and coming down around the West End site Walmart is reportedly buying. Yesterday, Swamplot reported that signs posted over the weekend across from Koehler St. on Yale had been taken down, though a representative of the planning firm hired for the project told blogger Nicholas Urbano, who’s been protesting the development, that the removal had been a mistake and that the signs would be back up soon. They are up now, Urbano reports. But the two other signs surrounding the Walmart site (for the replatting of a portion of the Houston Heights Addition, shown above) have been removed. Another member of the “Stop the Heights Wal-Mart!” group reported on the group’s Facebook page that an engineer he encountered on the property told him that Ainbinder Company would now be “looking to present this a different way” at the August 5th planning commission meeting.
The Yale St. variance sign, now back up:
EVEN IF SHAYA BOYMELGREEN CAN MAKE IT THERE, HE WON’T BE BUILDING TOWERS HERE In his first interview with a reporter in 3 years, international developer-in-distress Shaya Boymelgreen tells the New York Observer he’s back in Manhattan, scouting for “new development opportunities,” and singing an old movie tune: “Unless I get an offer I can’t refuse, I would like to concentrate now in Manhattan. I believe this is now the opportunity and the time. If I cannot make it in Manhattan, I don’t know where else I can make it.” Translation: His long-threatened twin condo tower development planned for San Felipe at the end of Woodway in Houston is officially toast. [New York Observer; previously on Swamplot]
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: IN HOUSTON, DESIGN INSPIRATION IS EVERYWHERE “As a nearby property owner, I must say I’m glad to see something replacing the burned-out building, but I just can’t help but feel this apartment house came out of someone’s Happy Meal.” [kilray, commenting on The Norman’s Replacement Price]
MAKING THE TITLE INSURANCE PAY A Harris County district court has ordered Stewart Title Guaranty to pay $2.8 million to a Sugar Land developer after the title company failed to pay out on a title policy. Back in 2007, Ponderosa Land Development was hoping to build a Chase Bank branch at the corner of Settlers Way and Highway 6. AmeriPoint Title, the title company for the transaction, had obtained title insurance from Stewart Title to cover its work. But AmeriPoint’s title search failed to uncover a deed restriction on the property that specifically prohibited banks from being built on that site: “Stewart Title only offered to pay $200,000 of the $1.83 million title policy, arguing that the land was not worth that much. [Ponderosa’s James] Chang says the purchase price was dictated by the value of the property with the ground lease to JP Morgan and planned sale of the bank to an investor upon completion. Ponderosa is now free to sell the vacant property. Houston Suds has had a contract to buy the site for $953,000 since November 2008, but could not close the transaction and build a car wash until the legal matter was resolved.” [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
ASTROWORLD IN PIECES Want to know what new owner Michael Mallick might do with the former AstroWorld site across the South Loop from Reliant Park? It’s none of your business: “As head of a small private real estate investment group based in Forth Worth, Mallick emphasizes the word ‘private’ and won’t even say if he owns any other properties in Houston. . . . Mallick says he would be just fine if nobody ever knew his group acquired the Astroworld site. But word got out and his phone has been ringing for the past two weeks since the deal was completed. ‘We have a few groups that have come to us that have proposals that want portions of it,’ says Mallick. . . . He’s not sure what will become of the land, but says a decision will probably be made around the end of the year. The group might hold the property for three to five years. Or perhaps sell the entire parcel once the market turns around. Or maybe sell off the defunct theme park in pieces.” [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: 104-ACRE VACANT FORMER ASTROWORLD SITE IS A DEVELOPER’S DREAM “Can’t wait to see the giant box rolled in and opened to reveal a strip center with: 1) Starbucks on the corner 2) Bed, Bath & Beyond 3) Borders|Barnes and Noble (choose one) 4) High-end Dentistry office not covered under any mere mortal’s dental plan 5) Wine bar 6) $6 ice cream place 7) vitamin/supplement retailer 8) standard set of strip center restaurants (Chinese, Italian, Tex-Mex deli, etc.) 9) if the place is classy enough, may graduate to having Next Tier of ethnic-themed restaurants (Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Greek, etc.) 10) Starbucks on the opposite corner” [SL, commenting on Fort Worth Developer Buys Himself an Empty AstroWorld]
A CONDO OWNERS FAN SITE FOR SHAYA BOYMELGREEN Still waiting for the developer of the twin-tower condo development proposed for San Felipe near the end of Woodway to provide an update on the project? Some New Yorkers would like a word with him too. The residents of the Newswalk Condominium in Brooklyn have created a website called Shame on Shaya, documenting in Russian, Hebrew, and English the “extraordinary number of construction defects” in developer Shaya Boymelgreen’s first high-profile development, constructed in 2002: “The building is now undergoing a two-year, $7 million construction remediation project. Newswalk residents are currently in legal action against Boymelgreen with a suit seeking no less than $10 million in damages.” Spokesman Michael Rogers explains: “Many of us got to know Shaya in the early days of Newswalk, and found him friendly and likeable. He may not fully understand what the residents of Newswalk are suffering, and this campaign is a way to bring him up-to-date.†[Previously on Swamplot]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT I LEARNED EARLY IN THE HOUSTON REAL ESTATE BIZ “In 1993, I was with a firm that looked at buying many of the run down apartment complexes in Greenspoint. Our intent was to renovate them, thinking that the many class A office buildings contained many potential residents. Greenspoint was an enigma: awful multi-family and beautiful office development. You don’t often see the two side by side like this. When we got into town and started touring the area, we immediately saw the two critical falacies of our plan: 1. we needed to own and renovate all of the multi-family to turn the neighborhood. One holdout property would serve as a sanctuary for all that was bad about Greenspoint. Unfortunately, not every property was available for purchase. 2. Some of the properties, in particular those developed by Fred Rizk, were functionally obsolete. For example, sliding glass doors opening directly into parking lots–no way to easily dress this up. We never spent much time on the deals after that. On a more positive note, my boss at the time corrupted my by taking me to the St. James Club, and since that time I have considered it the best strip club ever.” [LandMan, commenting on Waiting for the Renaissance: What Could $32 Million Buy at Greenspoint Mall?]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: LOT SIZE AND THE ROAD TO DEMOLITION 
“. . . The owners of the above pictured house realized a LONG time ago that the value of their 10,000 SF lot was the same with or without the existing structure. THAT is the point when maintaining the structure becomes uneconomical. THAT is when repairs stop. THAT is the starting point on the path to real decay and eventual demolition.
Interestingly, the economics of a townhouse give their owners MORE incentive to keep up with repairs. Their ratio of structure-value to land-value is higher meaning that going forward they should have MORE economic incentive to keep their structures maintained.
Even a $100,000 structural repair on a townhouse on a 1,800 SF lot isn’t likely to push it into teardown status. Making the repair is still economically rational. You’d be far less likely to affect a similar repair on a single family home on 5,000 SF lot in the same neighborood.” [Bernard, commenting on Up and Down in Hyde Park] Photo of former property at 1212 Hyde Park Blvd.: fortbendtomontrose
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOUSTON HOMEBUILDING TALES, ABBREVIATED “Once upon a time we knew how to build homes to take advantage of [things] like prevailing winds, natural shade, the position of the sun at different times of the day and year. Then we started just smacking them down in a line after clear cutting the entire sub-development and relying on being able to chuck in a bigger AC unit to take the load.” [Jimbo, commenting on Factory-Built Green Homes for Houston]