Headlines

• Trammell Crow Breaks Ground on 20-Story Energy Corridor Tower at I-10, North Eldridge Pkwy. [Prime Property]
• South Korean Investors Buy 2000 St. James Place in the Galleria [Houston Chronicle [$)]
• Step Inside an Airy Re-Invention of the American Row House in the Heights [Curbed National]
• Maggie Rita’s Shutters Shepherd Location Following Closure of Kirby, Galleria Restaurants [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
• Why Doesn’t Downtown Houston Have Much Retail Anymore? [Houston Chronicle]
• DownHouse To Keep Original D&T Drive Inn Sign of Revamped Heights Icehouse; Opening Planned for Spring [Leader News]
• MegaBus Could Start Offering $1 Route to Galveston By End of February [GuidryNews.com]
• 300 League City Sidewalk Repair Requests To Begin in February [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Bald Eagles Spotted Living in Hermann Park [abc13]
• Mural of MLK, Obamas Unveiled in South Park [Houston Chronicle]
• Houston Included on List of Best-Performing Cities in 2012 [Culturemap]
• Historic Estate Villa de Luxe in Shadyside To Be Transformed into Design Showcase from February 1-17 [HAIF]

Photo of Walmart site, Wayside Dr. at Gulf Fwy.: Candace Garcia via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Pearland the Fastest-Growing Retail Market in Texas, Finds State Report [Houston Chronicle]
• Hines’ BG Group Place at 811 Main St. is Now 92 Percent Leased [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]
• Clear Lake Indoor Go-Kart Track Opening This May on State Highway 3 near Ellington Airport [Houston Business Journal]
• 1 Year After Twin Peaks Opens Nearby, Kirby Hooters Gets a Makeover [29-95.com]
• I-10 Westbound Lanes at Waco Street To Be Shut Down This Weekend for Bridge Repair [abc13]
• Yale Street Bridge Rehab To Begin in April To Increase Its Load-Bearing Weight [Home in the Heights]
• Deterioration, Congestion on I-45 Between 610 Loop, Beltway 8 Major Transportation Challenges in Houston, Finds Report [Houston Business Journal]
• Recent Rain Makes Dent in Houston Drought [abc13]
• Weather Experts Say Bay Probably Won’t Freeze This Year [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Houston’s Ranking Drops on List of Cities with Most Bed Bug Treatments [Culturemap]

Photo of the Galleria and Greenway Plaza: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Nalco Energy Services Expands in Sugar Land, Buys 18.5 Acres in Imperial Master-Planned Community [Houston Business Journal]
• Indoor Aquatic Facility To Start Construction at Golf, Wakefield in Oak Forest in Next Few Days [The Leader]
• Heights Starting To Mirror East Downtown with Addition of Lucky’s Near Little Woodrow’s [Eater Houston]
• Piney Point Village Mansion $5.9M Asking Price Gets You All the Furnishings, Including Ken Lay’s Desk [abc13]
• City Says CenterPoint May Be Overcharging 400,000 Gas Customers by More Than $15M a Year [Houston Chronicle]
• 150 People Expected To Take ‘Polar Plunge’ at Galveston’s Stewart Beach This Saturday [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of Southwest Freeway at Montrose: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Houston Home Sales Up 23 percent in 2012, Drive Inventory to 13-Year Low [Houston Business Journal]
• Woodlands, Cinco Ranch Among Nation’s Top-Selling Master Planned Communities [Prime Property]
• Downtown Businesses Lobby for Greenlink to Extend Hours, Offer Nighttime Shuttle Service [My Table]
• Study Determines That The Woodlands Doesn’t Need Expanded Park-and-Ride Service [Woodlands Villager]
• Metro Selects Consulting Team for ‘Transit System Re-Imagining Project’ [Houston Tomorrow]
• Houston Pavilions Food Truck Service So Popular It Will Extend into February [Houston Business Journal]
• Houston Makes Short List of Top Moving Destinations in 2012 [Prime Property]
• Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion No. 2 Amphitheater in the World for Ticket Sales [Houston Business Journal]
• What Has Happened to Washington Avenue? [Rocks Off]

Photo of light rail: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Houston Attorney Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for $7.8M Real Estate Scam [Hair Balls; previously on Swamplot]
• $888K Preservation Renovation of 1933 Art Deco 500 Fannin Building Complete [Prime Property]
• Branch Water Tavern Owner Looking To Relocate, Find Brick-and-Mortar Locations for Fusion Taco Food Truck [29-95]
• Underdogs Owner Hears That Pearl Bar Shut Down for Tax Delinquency, Says ‘It’s Bad Up and Down Washington Right Now’ [Rocks Off]
• Map Shows Houston’s Car Accident Hotspots [Click2Houston]
• TxDOT Looking at Better Signage To Keep Oversized Trucks from Hitting Bridges, Causing Traffic Delays [KUHF]
• The Zip Codes Where Houston’s Getting the Flu [KHOU]
• Much Remains T0 Be Learned About Cancer Risk from Chromium in the Air Near Houston’s Metal Recycling Companies [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• 7 Things We Don’t Want You To See When You Come to Houston [Hair Balls]
• White House Says No to Texas Secession [TM Daily Post]

Photo of Battleship Texas: Candace Garcia via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• East Montgomery County Improvement District Now Talking with Developers About Building Grand Texas Theme Park Near New Caney Dinosaur Theme Park [Tomball Potpourri; previously on Swamplot]
• Investcorp and Griffin Partners Buy Pin Oak Park at Loop 610, Bellaire Blvd. for Undisclosed Amount [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Chuy’s Opening in Sugar Land’s Telfair Development Later This Year [Prime Property]
• Dickinson Partners Removing 56 Trees To Add 400 Single-Family Lots to Bayou Lakes Subdivision [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Galveston Home Sales Rose 9.1 Percent Last Year [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• 2 Years Behind Schedule, Project to Widen I-45 in Conroe Nearly Complete [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Flood-Risk Status of 20 Percent of Galveston Has Changed [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Texas Needs $19M Or Up to 20 State Parks Might Close [Star-Telegram]
• Menil Collection Given AIA’s 25-Year Award [Architect Magazine]
• Touring the ‘Really, Really Weird’ Bas-Reliefs of Rice University, Med Center, Hobby Airport [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Half the $70K Raised To Get David Adickes-Designed Bill Hicks Statue Near Old Comedy Workshop at Shepherd, San Felipe [KUHF]
• Houston One of the Times’ 46 Places to Go in 2013 [New York Times]

Photo: Candace Garcia via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• $19M Piney Point Village Megamansion Now Selling for $5.9M; Beyoncé Apparently Interested [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Houston To Start Building as Many as 27,500 Homes This Year, Says Analyst [Prime Property]
• Energy Corridor the Fastest-Growing Commercial Real Estate Market in Houston [Click2Houston]
• Businesses Along North Line Expansion Frustrated That Main Street Bridge Taking Longer Than Predicted [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Harris County Agrees To Lend Montgomery County Up to $20M To Study New Toll Road Along Highway 249 from Spring Cypress to FM 1488 [abc13]
• 2 House Bills Propose State Invest $2B in New Reservoirs, Pipelines to Ensure Water Supply [Houston Chronicle]
• Water Supply Might Run Dry for Baytown-Area Residents if Water District Doesn’t Pay Bill [abc13]
• Residents Complain Bretshire near Parker Treated Like a Dumping Ground [abc13]
• 3-D Images Show Historic Shipwreck USS Hatteras at Bottom of Galveston Bay Since Civil War [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Here Are All the Traffic Changes for This Sunday’s Marathon [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of Midtown’s Status Lounge: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Beachfront Condo Sales Sees Uptick in Galveston [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Construction Jobs Increase by 9 Percent in Houston over Last Year, Finds Report [Prime Property]
• Craigslist Ad Confirms J. Crew Moving into Former Tootsies Spot in Highland Village; Anthropologie Relocating There from Across the Street, Too [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Restaurants Within Restaurants Trending in Houston With Cove, The Pass [Eating Our Words]
• Cleveland Home Recognized as Historical Landmark Used as Meth Lab [Cleveland Advocate]
• Proposed New Bridge Connecting Galveston, Pelican Island Could Open Island to Port Development, End Traffic Delays [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• B-Cycle Expansion To Add Bike Stations in Downtown, Midtown, Montrose, Museum District [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• League City Improves Rating Within Federal Flood Insurance Program Through Drainage System Maintenance, Raising Houses [abc13]
• League City Rainfall Totals Well Above Average for January [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Yesterday’s Rain Not as Bad as Everyone Thought It Was Going To Be [abc13]

Photo of Memorial Park: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Morgan Group Begins Constructing Tenth Inner-Loop Apartment Project, in Midtown [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
• Crowdsourcing a List of Things Demolished in the Name of Katy Freeway Expansion [HAIF]
• Census Data Show Houston Has One of the Worst Commutes in the South [Houston Business Journal]
• Pothole Causing Problems for Unsuspecting Drivers at Richmond Ave., Woodland Park Dr. [Click2Houston]
• Video: Cypress Home Target of 2 Acid Bomb Attacks in Past Month [KHOU]
• Police Nab Burglars at Midtown’s Reef, Chef Promptly Tweets About It [Houston Chronicle]
• After 6 Months on the Lam, Menil Picasso Spray-Painting Vandal Surrenders to Authorities, Says He Doesn’t Regret Anything [Click2Houston]
• What Happened to the Downtown Popeye’s Chicken? [The Isiah Factor; previously on Swamplot]
• Adult Bookstore into L’Olivier Restaurant the Worst Building Conversion of 2012 (NSFW) [Free Press Houston]
• Mysterious Orange Light Spotted Along Galveston’s Coastline Monday Night [Galveston County Daily News ($)]

Photo of Rice University: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• San Francisco-Based Shorenstein Properties Buys ExxonMobil Building; Sale Valued at $50M [Houston Business Journal]
• ExxonMobil Purchase Could Lead To Downtown Tunnel Expansion [Culturemap]
• Camden Sells Baytown Multifamily Community to Allen Harrison Company [Houston Business Journal]
• Houston Ranked Among Top 5 Cities for U.S., Global Real Estate Investment in AFIRE Survey [Houston Business Journal]
• Businesses Leased an Additional 3.6M SF of Houston Office Space During 2012 [KUHF]
• St. John’s School Adding 13 Acres to Its Campus with Purchase of Nearby Buffalo Speedway Property [Prime Property]
• Mayor Hops on Skateboard, Breaks Ground on New Skate Park in Greenspoint; To Open by April 2014 [Click2Houston]
• City Plans Further Testing Outside Carcinogen-Producing Metal Recyclers [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Braeswood Place Residents Pay Coyote Trapper to Protect Their Pets [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• This Guy Is Walking the Entire Length of the Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline [Atlantic Cities]
• Rice Professor Turning Bus into House on Wheels for Traveling Artists’ Residency [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of Washington Ave. and Houston Ave.: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Schlumberger Just Shy of Filling 6-Story Building in Energy Corridor [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Trendmaker Homes Building 372-Acre Clear Lake Community [Houston Business Journal]
• Galveston Rental Resort Escapes Changes Owner, Name; Now Holiday Inn Club Vacations [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Slideshow: Houston’s Latest Trader Joe’s Now Open in Memorial City [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
• Blue Bell Expanding Brenham Plant by 25 Percent To Meet Growing Demand [Houston Chronicle]
• After Brouhaha Over Downtown Food Trucks, Houston Pavilions Bringing in Fleet of Mobile Food Units 6 Days a Week [Eating Our Words; previously on Swamplot]
• Houston Real Estate Data Company Metrostudy Sold to Hanley Wood for Undisclosed Amount [Houston Business Journal]
• City Council To Hear Plan on Reviving Galveston’s Trolleys [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Completion of FM 646 Expansion Can’t Come Soon Enough for Nearby Businesses [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Treasures Will Be Houston’s ‘Most Scrutinized’ Strip Club for Next Few Weeks After Settlement with City [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Texas Drought Likely To ‘Persist or Intensify’ Over Next 3 Months [StateImpact Texas]
• Interest, Applications for Landmark Designation Building Across Houston [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Slideshow: Houston’s Historic Homes [Prime Property]
• NASA Quietly Begins Selling Off Kennedy Space Center Properties [Orlando Sentinel via Prime Property]

Photo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Mayor Creates Downtown Retail Task Force; Will Try To Find New Location for Macy’s [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
• 1110 Main’s Retail Legacy, From Foley’s Window Displays to Conveyer Belts Running Throughout the Store [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Trammell Crow Co. Likely To Break Ground on 20-Story Energy Center Three in Energy Corridor by End of January [Houston Business Journal]
• Round 2 of Hurricane Ike Disaster Recovery On Its Way [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Bruce Mozlan Quietly Opens Ruggles-Like Restaurant in Former Brownstone Cafe Spot [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Settlement Reached in Pearland-Sugar Land Police Statue Copycat Lawsuit [Glasstire]
• State Promptly Reverses TxDOT Decision To Stop Putting Directions to Gun Shows on Freeway Message Signs [Houston Chronicle]
• How Electronic Freeway Signs Help Ease Traffic [The Highwayman]
• Copperfield Residents Want To Disguise Cell Phone Tower at Lowery Elementary as a Tree [Cypress Creek Mirror]
• Residents of Indigo Lake Estates in Montgomery County Complain They’re Living Next to a Gun Range [abc13]
• Cold Weather Likely To Bring Predators, Nuisance Wildlife into Residential Areas, Warn Specialists [Cypress Creek Mirror]
• Mutual UFO Network Investigating Strange Lights over Cleveland Last Month [abc13]
• John D. ‘Jack’ O’Connell, Man Who Steered the Success of the Astrodome, Has Died [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Ceiling Collapses in Apartment near Kirby, South Loop After Tenant Constantly Ran Hot Water for Heat [Click2Houston]

Photo of abandoned house at Bingham and Elder: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Houston Tops Cities with the Highest Rent Spikes in 2012 with 16.8% Increase [Fortune via Hair Balls]
• Galveston’s Historic Hendley Building Undergoing $1.9M Rehabilitation for Commercial, Residential Use of Vacant Eastern Units [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• The Chilly Last Day of the Heights Fiesta Mart at Studewood, 14th St. [The Leader]
• Moon Tower Inn’s Building Made of Repurposed Shipping Containers Passes Inspection; Bar Expected To Reopen Soon [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot]
• Ranking Houston’s Best Bathrooms to Bang In Based on Ambiance, Feasibility, Sex Appeal [Eating Our Words]
• New Texan French Arts Alliance Project Opens the Door to ‘Banal’ Public Art in Hermann Park [Glasstire]
• Houston, Galveston Recorded Warmest Years on Record in 2012 [SciGuy]
• 90-Day Burn Ban No Longer in Effect for Brazoria County [Pearland Journal]
• Texas To Reach Population of 26.39M People This Week [Houston Business Journal]
• Baytown To Conduct Citizen’s Survey Starting January 8 [CBS Houston]

Photo of Discovery Green: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Is Midway Planning a Mixed-Use Project Near Richmond in Greenway Plaza [Prime Property]
• Energy Sector May Need Up To 12.5M SF More Houston Office Space by 2016, Finds Study [Fuel Fix]
• River Oaks District Tenants May Include Hermès, Christian Dior, Tom Ford, John Lobb [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Houston Audubon Society’s Log Cabin Headquarters at Wilchester, Memorial To Reopen This Month After Repairs [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Intercity Bus Services Like Megabus, Bolt Bus, Greyhound Express Could Boost Tourism in Region [KUHF]
• Sea Swallowing Galveston Faster Than Previously Thought [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• More Containers Could Lead To More Air Pollution at Port of Houston, Finds Study [Houston Business Journal]
• Metal Recyclers, Car Crushers a Previously Unrecognized, Dangerous Source of Air Pollution [Houston Chronicle ($); map]
• Art Guys Will Walk the Longest Street in Houston, Orbit the 610 Loop for 24 Hours, and More in the Name of Art This Year [Glasstire]
• Remembering Recently Passed Houston Graffiti Artist Nekst [Art Attack]

Photo of American Statesmanship Park: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Houston Real Estate Pros Expect Even Stronger Market in 2013 [Houston Business Journal ($)]
• Houston Not Underdeveloped, but ‘Underdemolished,’ Says Houston Apartment Association President-Elect [abc13]
• New ‘Brasserie 19’-Like High-End Restaurant To Anchor Post Midtown Square Expansion [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Heights General Store Joining Torchy’s in Harold’s Building on 19th St.; Aiming for Summer Opening [The Leader; previously on Swamplot]
• Unidentified Rodent Caused Partial Blackout of Downtown Houston Yesterday [Houston Chronicle]
• Metro Offering Free Train, Bus Rides on New Year’s Eve [Houston Chronicle]
• Houston Club To Auction Artwork, Doors, Paneling After Move into Plaza Club Space on 49th Floor of One Shell Plaza [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
• The Year’s Most ‘Gloriously Hideous’ Listings, Including 2 in Houston Area [Curbed National; previously on Swamplot]

Photo of house on Briarbrook Dr. in Briargrove Park: Ben Hill