Headlines

• New State Law Effective September 1 Will Allow Spears, Swords, Machetes To Be Carried in Public [KHOU]
• The 8 Kinds of Chinese Food You’ll Find Along Bellaire Blvd., by Address [MyTable]
• A Video Tour Inside HISD’s New Wisdom High School (Formerly Lee HS) on Hillcroft [YouTube; more info]
• AmazonFresh Leases 110K SF Warehouse in Fallbrook Pines Business Park, Just South of Sam Houston Race Park [HBJ ($); more info]
• Sinkhole Appears in Rayford Rd. Across from Kroger Just West of Aldine Westfield Rd. in Montgomery County [Houston Chronicle]
• Controller’s Office Audit Shows Houston’s Affordable Housing Funds Not Being Spent To Build Affordable Housing [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Houston Downtown Management District Holding Public Workshops To Discuss 20-Year Plan for Downtown Development [Houston Public Media]
• A Brief History of the Closet [Places Journal]

Photo of Meyerland construction: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Cypress Creek Parkway Property and Business Owners Association Hopes New Trees Along Western Portion of FM 1960 Will Beautify Abandoned Shopping Centers, Parking Lots [Houston Chronicle]
• Bender’s Landing HOA Board Tells Family To Take Down Security Fence Around Backyard Pool [Click2Houston]
• Two-Alarm Fire on N. 1st St. and Ave. D Near Spencer Hwy. Destroys 3,500SF Warehouse, Knocks Out South Houston Power [Houston Chronicle]
• Texas A&M Engineers Crashing Cars into Bollards To Test New Stronger Design [Click2Houston]
• Kentucky Chain Xscape Theatres Now Acquiring Land To Build 2 New 14-Screen Multiplexes in Houston [HBJ]
• Security Camera Shows Nighttime Vomit, Urine Delivery to Cottage Grove Driveway [abc13]
• Study Suggests Neighborhood Crime Increases After Retail Businesses Shut Down Are Worse in Less-Walkable Areas [Curbed]

Photo of KPRC offices, 8181 Southwest Fwy.: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Acquiring Houston REIT Parkway [HBJ]
• Dick’s Sporting Goods Will Open Next Month in Former Sports Authority Spot on Post Oak [Houston Chronicle]
• Recycling Contract Proposed by Mayor Turner Would Include Glass Collection, New 120,000SF Facility on Ley Rd. Near McCarty Rd. Landfill [Houston Chronicle ($); more info]
• Brenham’s Truth BBQ Planning Inner Loop Location at Some Point [HBJ]
• Contempo Homes Building Another 9-Acre Housing Development in Acres Homes, but Calling It Oak Forest [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Residents of Tamarac Pines Apartment Complex in Spring Create Pulley System To Transport Groceries After Elevator Stops Working [abc13]
• Efforts To Build Low-Income Homes in Wealthy, Majority White Neighborhoods Have Stalled in Houston and Other Cities [New York Times]

Photo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Houston Rents, Occupancy Unchanged from Earlier This Year, Finds RealPage [Houston Chronicle]
• 270-Acre Mesa Business Park Underway in Northeast Houston [Realty News Report]
• New Midtown Developments Will Bring More Than 1,200 Living Units to the Neighborhood [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Aldi To Open 33rd Houston-Area Store on July 6 in Fulshear [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House in the Galleria Area Closes for Remodeling [HBJ]
• Galveston’s Lost Bayou Neighborhood Added to Nation’s List of Historic Places [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Is a Walkable Houston Possible? [The Urban Edge]

Photo of Jerry’s Artarama: Ruben S. via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Motiva Expands Headquarters in One Allen Center, Gains Naming Rights [Realty News Report]
• Montrose’s Westheimer Flea Market To Be Redeveloped into Retail and Restaurant Center [Houston Chronicle]
• Hotel ZaZa Memorial City Releases Interior Renderings of Lobby, Pool, Spa [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
• Anna Nicole Smith’s Former Cypress Estate on the Market for More Than $2.8M [HBJ]
• Epicentre Development Associates Found Liable in Alleged Scheme To Develop Former Astroworld Site [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Battleship Texas Will Continue To Face Leaks, Decay Until It Can Be Removed from the Water [Houstonia; previously on Swamplot]

Photo: BOldbury via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Downtown’s Historic Esperson Office Complex Hits the Market [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Harris County Commissioners Court Votes To Seek ‘Construction Manager at Risk’ for Proposed Astrodome Renovation [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Houston Home Inventory Up 9% So Far This Year, Finds Zillow [Culturemap]
• Who To Listen To in Contradictory Houston Housing Price Reports [Houston Public Media]
• Blood Bros. BBQ To Open Brick-and-Mortar Barbecue Joint in Bellaire Triangle Shopping Center [Houston Chronicle]
• Houston Poised for Record Year of Truck Collisions with Bridges as Local Economy Picks Up [Houston Public Media; previously on Swamplot]
• How African Americans Lost Land in the South Due to an Obscure Legal Loophole [The Nation]
• City Looking for Artists to Paint More Mini Murals on Traffic Control Signal Boxes [FOX 26 Houston; previously on Swamplot]

Photo of Row on 25th: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Howard Hughes Corp. Planning 2,000-Acre Community The Woodlands Hills [Houston Chronicle]
• GHX Industrial Leases 143,500-SF Warehouse in Generation Park in Northeast Houston [Realty News Report]
• Skanska Hosts ‘Skybreaking’ for Capitol Tower in Virtual Reality Igloo Set Up in Building Next Door [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Midas Hospitality Picks Up Staybridge Suites Near NRG Stadium [HBJ]
• Arizona Residential Brokerage Clayton Nash Real Estate Expands to Houston [HBJ ($)]
• Houston’s Share of Housing Units That Rented for $800 or Less Shrunk 13.1% Between 2005 and 2015, Finds Harvard Report [The Urban Edge]
• Chicago Fitness Studio Spenga To Open First Texas Location in Montrose Project at 307 Westheimer Rd. [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
• Japanese Steakhouse Roka Akor Now Open at 2929 Weslayan [Eater Houston]
• Luke’s Icehouse on Durham Dr. Sold To Dallas Buyer [HBJ]
• McMansion Hell Blogger Whose Targets Included Houston Homes Receives Cease and Desist Letter from Zillow [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]

Photo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Where Apartment Vacancies Are the Highest and Lowest in Houston [HBJ ($)]
• Former Tootsie’s Owner’s Broadacre Estate Designed by William Ward Watkin on the Market for $4.75M [Houston Chronicle]
• New Business Park Planned in Northeast Houston Near Generation Park [Houston Chronicle]
• Third Ward Barbecue Joint Ray’s Real Pit BBQ Shack to Relocate to Bigger Third Ward Space [Culturemap]
• Asian Population the Fastest-Growing Racial or Ethnic Group in Houston from 2015-16, Finds Census Bureau [The Urban Edge]
• La Marque Officials Concerned Proposed I-45 Expansion May Displace Businesses [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Houston Adds 2 Homes, Former Southwestern Bell Headquarters to Historic Landmarks List [Houston Chronicle]
• Bayou Greenways, Buffalo Bayou Projects Join National Infrastructure-Repurposing Parks Network [The Urban Edge]
• How Driverless Cars Are Changing the Way Houston Architecture Firms Design Garages [HBJ ($)]
• Chamber A in Johnson Space Center’s Bldg. 32 Mimicking Freezing Temperatures of Space [NASA]

Photo of the Cullen Sculpture Garden: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Bank of America Acquires Naming Rights for Skanska Tower Under Construction Downtown [Realty News Report]
• Brazil Petrochem Company Braskem To Build $675M Project in La Porte [HBJ]
• Where Apartment Vacancies Are Highest and Lowest in Houston [HBJ ($)]
• Construction of Villas on the Strand Mixed-Income Housing Development in Galveston Complete [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• How the Texas Medical Center Prepares for Disasters [Houston Public Media]
• New Kuykendahl Bridge Linking Harris and Montgomery Counties To Open Next Week [Houston Public Media]
• Some 60 Storefronts Have To Move Out of the Way of Seabrook’s Highway 146 Expansion [Houstonia]

Photo: thranth via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Missouri City Development Park 8Ninety Signs First Tenants [Houston Chronicle]
• Chicago Title Insurance Co. To Move into 609 Main [HBJ ($)]
• How Houston Home Sizes Have Changed Over the Years [HBJ ($)]
• Pulte Homes Planning New Residential Community Northwest of Houston [HBJ ($)]
• Dallas Restaurant, Bar, and Live Music Venue The Rustic To Break Ground Downtown by GRB Next Year [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Hotel ZaZa Memorial City Opening Dec. 1 [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
• Emsi Ranks Houston Fourth Among Major U.S. Metro Areas for Talent Attraction in 2017 [Houston Chronicle]
• Do the Fashion Police and the Regular Police Intersect in Upper Kirby? [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• How Street Art Took Over Houston [Houstonia]
• How Battleship Texas Was Readied for Tropical Storm Cindy [Houston Public Media]
• Storm Surge from Cindy Causing Flooding in Low-Lying Areas of Bolivar Peninsula [Houston Public Media; previously on Swamplot]
• After Cindy, Houston To See a Rainy Pattern Through the Weekend [Space City Weather]

Photo of Margaret Long Wisdom HS: BOldbury via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Agricole Hospitality Announces 3 Bar and Restaurant Projects at 1201 St. Emanuel in EaDo [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• More on Bravery Chef Hall, Proposed for Aris Market Square Apartment Tower Downtown [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• CBRE Group Consolidating 3 Offices in New ‘Workplace360’ at Williams Tower [Houston Chronicle]
• Houston Area Ranked No. 3 Among the Nation’s Most Undersupplied Apartment Markets [HBJ ($)]
• How Crime Affects Houston Apartment Rents [HBJ ($)]
• Holocaust Museum Houston To Double Size with $49.4M Expansion [Houston Press]
• Dallas-Based Coffee Shop Ascension First Restaurant Tenant Announced for Heights Waterworks Development [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Kansas-Based Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburger Opening Restaurants in Pearland, Pasadena, League City [Houston Chronicle]
• Kolache Shoppe Coming to Heights Central Station in Summer 2018 [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• About 13.2% of Texas’s Total ‘Booked Listings’ on Airbnb Last Month Were in Houston [HBJ]
  Where the ‘Ike Dike’ Stands as Houston Prepares for Arrival of Tropical Storm Cindy [abc13; previously on Swamplot]
• Metro Holding 2 Dozen Open Houses Starting June 27 Where You Can Pitch Projects for Its Regional Transit Plan [The Urban Edge]
• What Happens When You Try To Get a Street Sign at the Border of 2 Cities Repaired [KHOU]

Photo of Imperial Sugar Factory: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Houston Among Top U.S. Cities for Hotel Rooms Under Construction with 4,993, Finds STR [HBJ]
• Everest Medical Properties Acquires 4 Houston Medical Office Buildings [Houston Chronicle]
• Galleria Place I and II Office Buildings To Undergo $14M Renovation [Bisnow]
• Luxury Condo To Replace Canceled Flats on Fairview Project in Montrose [HBJ ($)]
• UK-Based Churchill Drilling Tools Buys Manufacturing Property at 1366 E. Richey Road [Realty News Report]
• How HFF Helped Both Sides in Whitestone REIT’s Purchase of BLVD Place [Houston Chronicle]
• New 390-Acre Subdivision ‘Reserve at Lakewood Pines’ Coming to Lake Houston [Houston Chronicle]
• Houston Ranks No. 7 on Resonance Consultancy’s 2017 List of America’s 50 Best Large Cities [HBJ]
• City Council To Consider $33.6M Contract To Add Hundreds of Traffic-Tracking Devices Across Houston [Houston Chronicle]
• ExxonMobil’s XTO Energy To Move 1,600 Employees from Fort Worth to Springwoods Village Campus [HBJ]
• How Those Relocated Jobs Could Affect The Woodlands Housing Market [Houston Public Media]
• Falling Oil Prices Could Drag on Houston’s Economy — Again [Houston Chronicle]
• Is Houston Prepared for the Next Hurricane? [KHOU]

Photo of Yia Yia Mary’s: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Midway Demolishes Office Buildings for CityCentre Expansion [HBJ ($); previously]
• Work To Begin in August on Big Rivers Water Park at Grand Texas Theme Park [Community Impact Newspaper]
• Will Hyatt Regency Ever Build a Resort on Galveston’s West End? [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Baileson Brewing Co. Plans To Open at 2322 Bissonnet St. by Labor Day [HBJ ($); previously on Swamplot]
• Giant Gastropub Chapman & Kirby Debuts in EaDo [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• indiGO Auto Group Opening Porsche North Houston Next to Its Lamborghini Houston Dealership Next Month [HBJ]
• Battleship Texas Reopens for Tours After Emergency Repairs [abc13; previously on Swamplot]
• AT Kearney Ranks Houston a Top 10 Global City for the Future [Houston Public Media]
• How American Cities Including Houston Are Trying To Change Sprawl [Thrillist]
• Harris County Commissioners Court Approves Set of Property Tax Exemptions [abc13]
• Emancipation Park Rededicated After $34M Upgrades [AP; previously on Swamplot]
• Rainbow Crosswalk Debuts in Montrose at Westheimer and Taft [Houston Chronicle]
• Owners of Shuttered Bernadine’s, Hunky Dory Now Being Sued by Father of former Chef [Houston Press; previously on Swamplot]

Photo of the Marriott Marquis: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Houston-Area Home Prices Have Increased Nearly 30% Since 2000, Finds Harvard Study [Houston Chronicle]
• Stream, AMD To Develop 5-Story  Medical Office Building in Memorial Villages Area [HBJ]
• Why Remington Square III Is Catering to Smaller Tenants [HBJ ($)]
• Astrodome Architect Ralph Anderson’s Courtyard Home in Boulevard Oaks Still Looking for a Buyer [abc13; previously on Swamplot]
• New Audit Shows Lack of Fire Marshal Building Inspections Across Houston [abc13]
• Health Museum Unveils Solar-Powered Air Monitoring Station [Houston Public Media]
• Aluminum Cladding Used on London Tower That Burned Is Banned for Use in U.S. Tall Buildings [Independent]
• Will Drones Lead to a Boom in Landscape Architecture? [CityLab]

Photo of the Chambers County Courthouse: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Investor Rockspring Capital Plans Townhouse Community in Spring Branch [HBJ ($)]
• Construction Underway at Grand Parkway and I-10 for Shopping Center Dubbed ‘Katy Asian Town,’ Anchored by H Mart [Houston Public Media]
• High-End River Oaks Restaurant Luigi’s Cucina Italiana Has Closed [HBJ ($)]
• The Local’s Guide to Galveston’s Least-Touristy Beaches, Cheapest Beachfront Views [Houstonia]
• Shepherd Forest Residents Upset City Workers Removed 9 Trees [abc13]
• Attorney Sees Movement in $52M Worth of Stalled Ike Claims [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Gulf Fwy. Northbound Between Scarsdale and Fuqua Will Be Closed This Weekend [Houston Public Media]

Photo of the KPRC demo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool