Headlines

• Howard Hughes Corp. Says Land Sales Dropped in Second Quarter in The Woodlands, Bridgeland Due To Oil Slump, Heavy Rains [HBJ]
• City Grants Landmark Status to Grace and Henry David House in Southampton Designed by Charles Tapley in 1971 [Houston Chronicle]
• After Nearly 40 Years in the Business, Houston Restaurateur Gigi Huang Launches New Career as a Realtor [HBJ]
• Duo Behind Greenway Coffee and Blacksmith Opening Morningstar, Serving Breakfast, Lunch, Donuts and Kolaches in the Heights [Culturemap]
• Is Bernie’s Burger Bus Planning a Heights Location in the Alabama Furniture Building at 2200 Yale St.? [Not of it]
• Axelrad Beer Garden Set To Open Next Month in Century-Old Third Ward Building at Alabama and Almeda [Houston Chronicle]
• The 2 Big Concepts Behind Why Metro Is Rolling Out a New Bus Network [Houston Public Media]
• Ridership on 2 New Light Rail Lines Went Up in July, Though Still Below Initial Estimates [The Highwayman]
• Houston Leads the Nation in Red-Light Wreck Fatalities with 181 from 2004-2013, Finds National Coalition for Safer Roads [Houston Chronicle]
• ‘Rip Rap’ Poured Along Buffalo Bayou Near River Oaks Country Club’s Bluffs To Hold Banks Eroded by Recent Floods [Houston Public Media]

Photo of the Med Center: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Houston Had Second-Highest Number of Apartment Units Permitted in the Past Year Ending in June with 25,692 [Prime Property]
• 64 Oak Trees Planted at River Oaks District as Part of Complex’s $6M Landscape Plan [Culturemap]
• La Fisheria To Open Downtown Restaurant at 213 Milam While Expansion to The Woodlands Comes to a Halt [Food Chronicles]
• Southern Goods Restaurant Has Soft Opening in Former Table 19 Space in the Heights [Culturemap]
• The Halal Guys Taking Over a Former Snap Kitchen Location near Shepherd Square [Culturemap]
• Planning Underway for Next and Final Key Segments of the Tomball Tollway Between FM 2920 and FM 1774 [Houston Chronicle]
• Poor Road Conditions Costing Houston Drivers $772 More a Year in Vehicle Maintenance, Finds TRIP [Houston Public Media]
• Landmark ‘Be Someone’ Graffiti on I-45 South Restored After Message Changed To ‘Be One’ [Click2Houston]

Photo of Greenway: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Some More Details on Todd Interests’s Plans To Redevelop the Great Southwest Building into a Luxury Apartment Tower [HBJ]
• More Private and Foreign Capital Investors Than Institutional Are Still Buying Apartments in Houston Right Now Amid the Oil Slump [HBJ]
• Construction of Upscale, 5-Story Homewood Suites Gets Underway on Galveston’s Seawall [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Woodlands-Based LGI Homes Sold 853 New Homes in the Second Quarter, Up 29% Over Same Period Last Year [Realty News Report]
• Garden Oaks Isn’t the Ideal Location for Whole Foods’s New 365 Concept, Say Some Brokers [HBJ]
• Brick & Spoon in Montrose That Opened in the Former Bocados Spot Has Closed [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Is Leon’s Lounge Actually the Oldest Bar in Houston? [Houston Chronicle]
• A Few Highlights and ‘Secret’ Histories from the Astrodome Memories Archive Project [The Urban Edge]
• Updated System Maps Are Now Available Online Ahead of Metro’s Bus Network Change on Aug. 16 [Not of it]
• B-Cycle Use Up 20% in the First 7 Months of 2015 Compared to Same Period Last Year [The Highwayman]

Photo of the Astrodome: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Dallas-Based Todd Interests Set To Buy Downtown’s Great Southwest Building, Renovate into Residential Project [HBJ]
• Houston, Dallas Among Largest New Homebuilding Markets Nationally This Year Based on Sales Volume, Finds Metrostudy [Houston Chronicle]
• Baytown Apartment Rents Grew the Most Among Texas Cities from July 2014 to July 2015, Finds Apartment List [Prime Property]
• Houston No. 29 in Ranking of U.S Cities Based on Livability, Education, Health, Economic Growth, and Tax Rates, According to WalletHub [HBJ]
• New Partnership Between Airbnb, Realtor.com Lets Potential Homebuyers Test Out a Neighborhood Before Buying There [Culturemap]
• Management Change at Fitzgerald’s as Concert Promotions Group Pegstar Leaving After Aug. 29 Show To Open White Oak Music Hall in Spring 2016 [Houston Chronicle]
• Owner of Davenport Lounge and Business Partner To Reopen Leon’s Lounge in Midtown [Houston Chronicle]
• Hundreds If Not Thousands of Dead Fish Found in Buffalo Bayou Downtown [Click2Houston]

Photo of Hermann Park: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Designs for Katy School District’s Second, $58M Stadium Revealed, Work To Begin in October [Houston Chronicle]
• Sneak Peek Inside the Former Camp Strake Property Being Redeveloped into Grand Central Park [HBJ]
• Luxury Homebuilder Lifetime Homes Building 2 Residential Communities in Rice Military on Snover and Malone [HBJ]
• Cartier To Open Sept. 3 in River Oaks District, Ahead of Oct. 1 Opening for the Other District Stores [Culturemap]
• Fielding’s Local Kitchen & Bar Now Open in The Woodlands [HBJ]
• Moody Gardens To Begin 22-Month, $27M Renovation of the Aquarium Pyramid Later This Month [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• MTA Board Members Set To Meet Today To Tweak the New Bus Network Launching Aug. 16 [The Highwayman]
• Lawsuit Claims City, Housing Authority Want To Bulldoze Fifth Ward Church, Condemn Property of Another To Use for Private Business [MyFoxHouston]
• Residents Asked Not To Burn Brush on Their Property as Montgomery County Now in Moderate Drought [Houston Public Media]

Photo of Market Square Tower/Critical Mass: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Caldwell Bros. Reveals First Tenants for 65%-Leased Mixed-Use Waterfront Project The Boardwalk at Towne Lake [HBJ]
• Owner of Dallas’s Kessler Theater Under Contract To Buy the Heights Theater [The Leader; previously on Swamplot]
• Unnamed Company Leases 67,504 SF in Boxer Property’s Northwest Commerce Building at 14405 Walters, Will Get Its Name on the Side [Prime Property]
• Kingwood To Add at Least 1,100 New Homes Over the Next Several Years [Houston Chronicle]
• Price Tag on 2115 River Oaks Blvd. Mansion Back on the Market Revealed To Be $17.9M [Culturemap]
• Home Sales in Texas Grew 4.7% Year-Over-Year in the Second Quarter, Finds Texas Quarterly Housing Report [Prime Property]
• Texas Has Also Seen an Influx of Pizza Outlets with Population Growth, According to CBRE Marketflash [Realty News Report]
• Willow Meadows Residents Say City Drainage Project Delaying Their Efforts to Rebuild Post-Memorial Day Floods [Click2Houston]
• Ziegler Cooper Architects Merges with Hall Barnum Lucchesi Architects [Realty News Report]
• Colorado-Based Noodles & Co. Opening First Houston Location at 5174 Richmond Ave. on Aug. 10 [HBJ]
• What Houston Can Do by 2022 To Address the City’s Mobility Challenges [The Urban Edge]

Photo of Lee’s Fried Chicken and Donuts at Heights Blvd. and 6th St.: Brie Kelman via Swamplot inbox

• League City Sees Bump in Commercial Construction [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Renovation of Fifth Ward’s DeLuxe Theater Nears Completion, Grand Opening Set for October [Houston Public Media; previously on Swamplot]
• Downtown Mia Bella at Main and Preston Closed Since May for Remodeling Reopening in 2 to 3 Months [Food Chronicles]
• Town in City Brewing Co. Makes Debut in the Heights at 1125 W Cavalcade St. During White Linen Night [Culturemap]
• Torchy’s Tacos Opening Seventh Houston-Area Location in November at The Woodlands’ Cochran’s Crossing Shopping Center [Houston Chronicle]
• Lack of Connectivity, Construction Deterring Bicyclists from Using Downtown’s Lamar St. Bike Lane [Houston Public Media]

Photo of Downtown: Telwink via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• 365 by Whole Foods Market Planned for Garden Oaks/Greater Heights Areas at Corner of Yale and Loop 610 [Prime Property]
• Group Plans To Convert Historic 2-Story Building at 4600 Main in Midtown into Facility for Veterans, Add a Third Story [Prime Property]
• Houston Tech Company ChaiOne To Begin Construction on New EaDo Headquarters in August [HBJ]
• Houston Ranked the 10th Healthiest Housing Market Among U.S. Metro Areas by Wallethub [Culturemap]
• The Story Behind Architect Alvaro Espinal’s Attention-Grabbing House in Pearland [Houston Chronicle]
• LeBron James-Backed Blaze Fast Fire’d Pizza Now Open in Sugar Land at 16100 Kensington Dr. [Culturemap]
• Metro Hosting Public Meetings Before Launch of New Bus Network Starting This Weekend [Houston Public Media]
• Seawall Blvd. Still Looks the Same 2 Years After Launch of Paid Parking Intended to Support Improvements [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• How To Make Transit Work in Houston [Houston Chronicle]
• Why Houston Has So Many Mattress Stores [Houston Matters; previously on Swamplot]

Photo: telwink via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Cedar Port Industrial Park in Baytown Sells 50 Acres, Warehouse to Venezuela-Based PBP Inc. [HBJ]
• New Idea to Save the Astrodome Involves a Public-Private Partnership Where Tax Credits Would Cover Renovation Expenses [Houston Chronicle]
• Fertitta Unveils Villas at The San Luis Resort at 5222 Seawall Blvd. [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Gator Fabrication Moves into Revamped, Former JM Eagle Plant Property in Conroe [Prime Property]
• Tema Gets $37.5M Construction Loan for 224-Unit Luxury Apartment Project Capella Museum District at 1699 Hermann Dr. [Prime Property]
• Repsol’s New Office Building in Research Forest Lakeside in The Woodlands Has Achieved LEED Gold Designation [Prime Property]
• About 700k-SF of Sublease Space in West Houston is ‘Good as New’ [HBJ]
• The Groves Will Be the First Residential Community in Texas To Receive Comcast’s ‘Fiber-to-the-Home’ System [Prime Property]
• 3 out of 4 Houston Millennials Plan to Buy a Home in the Near Future, According to Apartment List [HBJ]
• Antone’s Famous Po’boys Redesigning TC Jester and San Felipe Locations, Opening a Third in the Rice Village Area or Downtown [HBJ]
• I-45N, US-290, and US-59S HOV Lanes To Boot Solo Houston Commuters During Rush Hour Starting Aug. 3 [HBJ]
• Vonlane To Expand Luxury Commuter Bus Line with Austin-Houston Service Starting in January [Austin American-Statesman via HBJ]
• Brays Bayou, Beltway 8 Had Hardest Rain Fall During Memorial Day Weekend Floods, According to New Report [Click2Houston]

Photo of the Hermann Park Golf Course: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Caldwell Releases New Renderings, Video for Mixed-Use Waterfront Project The Boardwalk at Towne Lake [HBJ]
• Dallas-Based Regis Property Management Buys 6-Story Boutique Uptown District Office Building at 770 S. Post Oak Lane [HBJ]
• Pearland Town Center Retail, Hotel, Restaurant, and Residential Project To Now Also Include a 60K-SF Office Building [Prime Property]
• Venterra Realty Acquired 420-Unit Multifamily Community The Preserve at Colony Lakes in Stafford [Realty News Report]
• Real Estate Investor John Beeson Picks Up 73.2 Acres of Undeveloped Katy Land Along Katy Hockley Rd. Likely for New Homes [HBJ]
• Chevron To Cut 950 Jobs in Houston By the End of This Year Amid Low Oil Prices [Fuel Fix]
• Retrospect Coffee House To Open in Former Gulf Coast Oil Gas Station at W. Alabama and La Branch This Fall [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot]
• Harris County Commissioners Approve $848M Bond Proposal That Will Primarily Go Toward Improving Roads [Houston Public Media]
• Metro Officials Looking for Ways To Reduce Number of Rail Accidents After Record-Setting 17 Crashes in June [Houston Chronicle]
• Lane Closures on Allen Pkwy. To Start Monday as $11M Redesign Project Begins [Culturemap]
• City Considering Charging Homeowners $15-$20 a Month to Cover Trash Collection and Recycling Expenses [Click2Houston]
• Dredging Project That Will Add 20 Blocks of Galveston Beach Between 61st and 81st Streets Start Aug. 15 [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• 4-Alarm Fire Guts at Least 60 Units at the Gentry House Apartments at 9001 Kempwood Last Night [Houston Chronicle]
• A Loose Cobra Was Roaming the Halls of The Rice Luxury Downtown Apartments Over the Weekend [Houston Chronicle]
• New Program at Texas A&M’s Disaster City Preparing Firefighters for Accidents Involving Crude-Carrying Trains [Houston Public Media]

Photo of former Kirby Court Apartments on Steel St.: Swamplot inbox

• Braun Enterprises Redeveloping 3 Buildings on West Gray and Dunlavy into 1 or 2 Restaurants, Retail [HBJ]
• Lone Star College Building a 8.3-Acre Process Technology Center in Generation Park [HBJ]
• Westcase District’s Campaign To Increase Occupancy Rates in Its Class B Office Space [Prime Property]
• Houston Neighborhoods That Are Hot, and Somewhat Hot, for Multifamily Development Amid the Oil Slump [HBJ]
• The Median Home Price in Texas Was $209,500 in June, Up from $193,400 a Year Earlier [Prime Property]
• Home Buyers in Harvest Green Community at West Airport and the Grand Pkwy. Can Elect To Get a Backyard Vegetable Garden [Prime Property]
• Mayor Parker Tweets That There Have Been 285 Tickets Issued on Downtown’s Protected Bike Lane Since Its Debut [The Highwayman]
• Oil Prices Hit a 4-Month Low Yesterday at $47.39 Per Barrel [Click2Houston]

Photo of Alexan Wilcrest at I-10 Frontage Rd. and N. Wilcrest Dr.: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• New Owners of EaDo’s Old Cheek-Neal Coffee Building Might Restore It as a Boutique Hotel or Hub for Creative Workers [Houston Chronicle]
• Detering Co. Consolidates Buildings on Washington Ave. To New HQ at 6800 Helmers St. [HBJ]
• How Houston Has Become a ‘Tenants’ Market’ Amid Low Oil Prices [National Real Estate Investor]
• Hinze’s BBQ To Rebuild Restaurant in Wharton Near U.S. 59; Will Keep Temporary Location Open, Too [Houston Chronicle]
• Poscol Reopens a Few Blocks Down Lower Westheimer from Its Previous Location [Food Chronicles; previously on Swamplot]
• TXDoT Wants To Sell the Land Under the Pierce Elevated, Killing the Idea of a Pierce Elevated Park [Houston Strategies; previously on Swamplot]
• Metro Preparing for a 25% Increase in Rider Complaints Once New Bus Routes Go into Effect Next Month [Houston Public Media]
• Slideshow: A Look at the Winners of the 2015 AIA Houston Design Awards [Culturemap]
• David Adickes Is Making a 100-Ft.-Tall Astronaut Sculpture for a Webster Business Park [Houston Chronicle]

Photo: o texano via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Gulf Coast Commercial Group Buys 21-Acre Tarkett Site Near Downtown from Texas Tile Manufacturing for $40M [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
• Senterra Behind a 16-Story Office Tower at 3003 Louisiana on Former Van Loc Site [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Houston’s Industrial Market Is Tighter Than Any Other Major Metro Area in Texas with Vacancy Rate of 4.8%, Says CBRE [HBJ]
• Salata Chain Opens New Downtown Location in Greenstreet Redevelopment at 1201 Fannin [Food Chronicles]
• Woodrows Heights on Washington Ave Closed for Renovations Since June Reopening Aug. 21 as The Durham House Cajun & Craft [Culturemap]
• MOD Pizza Signs Leases on 5 Houston Locations, Plans To Open Another 30 Within the Next 4 to 5 Years [Prime Property]
• McMurtrey Gallery on Colquitt St.’s Gallery Row Closing After 35 Years [Glasstire]
• How the City of Houston, Metro, and Harris County Are Splitting Up the $23M BP Settlement [Houston Public Media]
• The City of Houston Has Paid Contractors $1.1M Over the Past 3 Years To Cut the Grass on Its Vacant Lots [KHOU]
• Slideshow: 10 Texas Lakes During the Worst of the Drought vs. the End of the Drought [Houston Chronicle]
• Metro Reviewing HOV Lane Violation Tickets After Board Member Mistakenly Stopped [MyFoxHouston]
• Allen Brothers Were Just Stand-Ins for the Real Founder of Houston, and They Didn’t Even Stick Around [KHOU]

Photo of Fountains at Memorial City parking garage mural: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Landlords Offering Free Rent for 6 to 12 Months, Parking Allowances To Tenants During Soft Office Market [Realty News Report]
• Houston Suburbs of Richmond, Brazoria County See Strong Retail Growth, Finds CBRE Research [Realty News Report]
• The Story of the Colorful, Modern, Affordable Housing Development Avenue Place in Near Northside [The Urban Edge]
• Developer of the Domain West Apartment Project Near the Energy Corridor to Cover ‘Eyesore’ Parking Garage [Houston Chronicle]
• George Bush Intercontinental Airport To Open American Express Centurion Lounge in New Terminal D in 2016 [HBJ]
• Remodeled TGI Fridays with ‘More Modern’ Interior Reopens in Pearland at 2600 Smith Ranch Rd. [Prime Property]
• Houston-to-Dallas High-Speed Rail Moves Forward as Developer Texas Central Partners Raises $75M in Private Investments [Houston Chronicle]
• Inside the Montrose Townhouses of David Lackey, Proprietor of David Lackey Antiques & Art and ‘Antiques Roadshow’ Appraiser [PaperCity Magazine]

Photo of Buffalo Bayou: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Houston Retail Rental Rates Increased in the Second Quarter to $23.46 Per SF on Average from $22.21 Per SF, Finds CBRE [HBJ]
• 23,700 Apartment Units Are Currently Under Construction Across the Houston Area, According to CBRE [Houston Chronicle]
• Richland Cos. Picks Up 550 Post Oak in Galleria Area for New HQ, Planning Renovations To Make it a More ‘Boutique-Type Building’ [HBJ]
• Heights Theatre, Victorian 308 Main St., Historic Homes in Southampton and River Oaks Set to Become Historic Landmarks [Prime Property]
• Salt N Pepper Group Looking Into Opening a New Restaurant in Downtown’s Sweeney Coombs & Fredericks Building [HBJ]
• Brenner’s on the Bayou Has Re-Opened After Closing in May Following Floods [Eater Houston]
• A Second Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers in Pearland Slated To Open in October [Prime Property]
• Webster, Stafford, Katy, Deer Park, and Texas City Among Top 10 Texas Cities for New Businesses, According to NerdWallet [Houston Chronicle]
• Montgomery County Officials Want To Make Sure Proposed Houston-to-Dallas High-Speed Rail Stays Out of Montgomery County [Houston Public Media]
• Clean Harbors San Leon Wants To Dump Up to 350,000 More Gallons a Day of Treated Stormwater and Wastewater from Oil and Petroleum Waste into Dickinson Bayou [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• A Map of Houston Tow Truck Violations in 2015 [Houston Chronicle]
• Not a Single Texan Is Still Impacted By Drought Conditions, According to the Newest U.S. Drought Monitor Report [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of Pearl Residences and CityCentre Pearl: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool