Headlines

• New Paragon Outlet Mall Planned for I-69 and Spacek Rd. in Rosenberg [Click2Houston]
• Embassy Suites To Build New Hotel at 3 Hughes Landing on Lake Woodlands [Houston Business Journal]
• Home2 Suites Planning Second Houston Location with Westchase District Hotel on Wilcrest Between Richmond and Westheimer [Prime Property]
• Missouri City Ranks No. 16 on 24/7 Wall St. List of ‘America’s 50 Best Cities to Live’ [Houston Business Journal]
• ​New York Investment Firm Clarion Partners Buys Westchase Corporate Center for Undisclosed Price [Houston Business Journal]
• Petroleum Club Will Auction Off Items It’s Leaving Behind November 16, Before Move to 1201 Louisiana [Houston Chronicle]
• HISD Board Votes To Demolish Wheatley High School, but Saddle New Building with Outdated Design and Materials [Houston Chronicle]
• Yellow Rose Distilling on N. Post Oak To Celebrate Grand Opening of Distillery and Tasting Room This Saturday [Food Chronicles]
• Planted: Houston Breaks Ground on New City Farm in the East End at Hutcheson and Sherman [Click2Houston; previously on Swamplot]
• State Transportation Official Warns $25M in State Funds Will Go to Project at Texas 288 and Sam Houston Tollway Instead If Post Oak Transit Plan Not Ready [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Corinthian Real Estate Will Renovate Former Interfaith Ministries Property at 3217 Montrose, Add Restaurant, Medical and Office Tenants [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]
• Customers Camp Out at Highland Village Apple Store To Get New iPhone 6 [Click2Houston]

Photo of Energy Center Five at N. Eldridge and Katy Fwy.: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Guefen Development To Break Ground This Week on 5-Story ‘Haven at Main’ Apartment Complex on Former Motel Site at 8700 S. Main [Prime Property]
• Prologis Picks Up Another Building in Prologis Park West by Northwest Industrial Complex [Prime Property]
• Tel Aviv-Based Azrieli Group Buys 8 West Centre Office Building in West Houston [Prime Property]
• New Bar from Oxheart Duo Opens ‘Secretly’ in Former Cotton Exchange Space Downtown [Culturemap]
• Niko Niko’s To Open Inside H-E-B Plus! in Pearland on Sept. 26 [Your Houston News]
• New Light Rail Lines Won’t Open Until 2015 Because of Unexpected Repair Work, Problems [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Neighbors Living Behind Steakhouse V Live at Richmond and Greenridge Say It’s a ‘Nuisance’ and Strip Club [abc13]
• Sugar Land To Install 27 License Plate Recognition Cameras in Traffic Areas as Part of $1.6M Crime Prevention Program [KHOU]
• UH To Install Temporary Pop-Up Parks Designed by Architecture Students in Parking Lot on Friday [Prime Property]
• Lightning Strike During Yesterday’s Storm Destroys 2 Crude Oil Tanks at Hollimon Oil Corp. in Baytown [Click2Houston]
• Complaints to 311 About Illegal Dumping Sites in Houston Topped a Record 365 in August [abc13]
• A Sneak Peek at an Ando-Inspired Heights House, Featured in This Weekend’s Houston Modern Home Tour [OffCite]
• Prada Marfa Reclassified as an Art Museum To Save It from TxDOT Regulations on Illegal Advertising [Texas Tribune]

Photo of 802 N. Nagle: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• The Woodlands, Katy Fwy. Score as Top Office Submarkets in Houston for Construction, Leasing [Houston Business Journal]
• David Weekley Homes Building Westview Manor, a Gated Collection of Townhomes and Patio Homes in Spring Branch [Prime Property]
• Microsoft Store Opening in Baybrook Mall on Nov. 6 [Prime Property]
• Pappas Plans to Rebuild Burned-Down Bar-B-Q Restaurant on Little York near US-59 [Culturemap]
• Unnamed Izakaya Planned for Former Farrago Space in Midtown at 318 Gray St. [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
• Parents, Alumni Protest Preliminary Design for $59.5M Jack Yates High School Building in the Third Ward [Houston Chronicle]
• Sunday Streets Events Return on October 5, Somewhere in the ‘East End and Fifth Ward’ Area [The Highwayman]
• Artist Rick Lowe, Founder of Project Row Houses, Wins MacArthur Fellowship [Houston Chronicle]
• Do Houston’s Sprawl and Its Diversity Go Hand-in-Hand? [Houston Chronicle]
• Slideshow: Houston’s Weirdest and Funniest Clusters of Street Names [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of Houston Police Officers’ Memorial, Memorial Dr.: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Construction Starts on Petroleum Club’s New Downtown Digs on Top Floor of Total Plaza at 1201 Louisiana [Prime Property]
• Video: Touring Avera’s Massive 225 RailPort Tilt-Wall Building Under Construction in Pasadena [Prime Property]
• Belmont Village Senior Living Opening Second Houston Location with Galleria-Area Hunters Creek Property [Houston Business Journal]
• B&R Butchers Steakhouse and Butcher Shop Opening in Dittman Building on Washington Ave by January [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Co-Owners of Real Estate Firm Carnan Properties Now Suing Each Other for Breach of Contract on Magnolia Construction Project [Houston Business Journal]
• Houston Bus System ‘Reimagining’ Plan Will Go Before Metro Board Next Week [The Highwayman; previously on Swamplot]
• City Council Set To Approve Purchase of 95K Recycling Bins To Cover City’s Remaining 90K Homes Without Curbside Recycling [Houston Chronicle]
• Water-Filled Sandpit Behind the Autumn Run Subdivision Near FM 529 and Barker Cypress Going from ‘Large, Unsightly Nuisance’ to ‘Danger’ [Click2Houston]
• League City’s Relocated Century-Old Ghirardi Oak Showing Signs of the Deadly Hypoxylon Canker Tree Disease [Houston Chronicle]
• Researchers Will Bale Galveston Sargassum Seaweed Like Hay, Investigate Ways To Make It Edible [TAMU Times, via Houston Press]
• Documenting the Abandoned Shopping Carts of Houston [Not of It]

Photo of I-10 near Allen’s Landing: Christof Spieler via Twitter

• Frost Bank To Open New Regional Headquarters This Week on Ground Floor of BLVD Place [Prime Property]
• Memorial-Area Senior Community The Buckingham To Add 10-Story Tower on Adjacent Property [Houston Chronicle]
• Construction Delays Mean Hundreds of UH Students Still Waiting To Move into Private Housing Near Campus [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]
• Building Permits Taking 3.5 Months, Complains Realtor [Houston Public Media]
• A Dozen New Dunkin’ Donuts Franchises Will Open in Houston, San Antonio, and Austin by Year’s End [Houston Business Journal]
• Mayor Appoints Steering Committee To Develop ‘General Plan’ for Houston [Houston Public Media]
• Keeping Up with Mosquito Spraying a ‘Daunting’ Challenge in Cities, Unincorporated Areas, Says Galveston County Judge [Click2Houston]
• Returning Native Trees to 1,000 Acres of Grasslands North of Brazos Bend State Park Could Reduce Air Pollution, Study Suggests [Houston Chronicle]
• Houston Drops from No. 3 to No. 11 on United Van Lines’ List of Places People Are Moving To [Houston Business Journal]
• Capsule Descriptions of 11 Houston Neighborhoods, from Aldine to West University [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of Discovery Green: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• In Once Heavily Industrial Area of Southwestern Heights, Apartment Complexes and Homes Are Replacing Warehouses [Houston Chronicle]
• CBRE Acquires The Plantation at The Woodlands Apartment Complex [Houston Business Journal]
• The ‘Senior-Friendly Amenities’ of 55-Plus Community Bonterra at Woodforest North of The Woodlands [Houston Business Journal]
• Charles Bishop of Cottonwood, Liberty Station and Chef Lyle Bento Opening Southern Goods, Somewhere in the Heights, by January [Food Chronicles]
• Moving Northbound Gulf Fwy. to Hwy. 59 Traffic to Current Downtown-Only Elevated Ramp Will Cost $28.4M, According to Bids [The Highwayman]
• Clark Martinson’s Ambitious Vision for a Walkable Energy Corridor, from Expanding the Trail Network to an Air-Conditioned Bridge [OffCite]
• Huge Sink Hole Discovered Near MKT Trail Portion of the White Oak Bayou Trails During Improvement Project [The Leader]
• Six Years After Ike, Is Galveston County Ready for the Next Big Storm? [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• How The New York Times Covered the 1900 Galveston Hurricane [Houston Press]
• Is Houston the New ‘It’ City? [Conde Nast Traveler]

Photo of Buffalo Bayou: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Houston Home Sales Up 1.1% This August over Last with 7,505 Sold, Finds HAR Report [Prime Property]
• Galveston Housing Authority Breaks Ground on Public Housing That Replaces Homes Lost During Ike [Click2Houston]
• Colorado-Based Century Communities Acquires Houston Homebuilder Grand View Builders for About $14M [Prime Property]
• Slideshow: This Venetian-Style Home Listed at $12.8M Is Sugar Land’s Most Expensive Listing [Prime Property]
• HISD Documents Show How Houston’s 1929 Original Phillis Wheatley High School Ended Up Slated for Demolition [Houston Advocate]
• H-Town StrEATs Team Opening The Bird House in the Same Heights Space as Seasonal Crawfish Restaurant Boil House [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Torchy’s Tacos Opening Fifth Houston-Area Location on Sept. 18 in Vintage Park [The Spring Observer]
• Houston Getting $10M from Feds To Upgrade Its Transportation Monitoring System [The Highwayman]
• City Council Approves Water Conservation Plan Requiring Residents To Reduce Usage By About 1 Gallon per Day by 2019 [abc13]
• Work More Than Halfway Complete on Buffalo Bayou Dog Park; Will Include Bayou-Water Dog Wash Facilities [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Why the People in Charge of Transit Systems Should Be Required To Ride Transit Themselves [The Atlantic CityLab]

Photo of Rice Building Workshop’s “Micro Pavilion: Convergence” in Hermann Park: Swamplot inbox

• Home Construction Begins in Master-Planned Community The Groves, Near Kingwood [Houston Business Journal]
• Sneak Peek at Weights + Measures, the Restaurant, Bar, and Bakery Planned for Former Garage at 2808 Caroline St. in Midtown [Food Chronicles]
• Ribbon Cutting Held for New Cracker Barrel at 27040 Northwest Freeway in Cypress [Cypress Creek Mirror]
• New Caney ISD Names High School Stadium After Texan Drive Car Dealership [Click2Houston]
• Supporters Urging Preservation of Wheatley High School and HISD Reach Agreement in Mediation, But Results Are a Secret for Now [Houston Chronicle]
• Segment of Grand Pkwy. Run Through Katy Prairie Between I-10 and U.S.-290 Is ‘People’s Choice Award’ Finalist for Best Transportation Project [The Highwayman; previously on Swamplot]
• Residents Living Near $21M Drainage Project on Shepherd near Buffalo Bayou Complain about Noise, Construction [Click2Houston]
• Mayor Declares Aug. 7 ‘Juan Carlos Day’ in Honor of the Montrose Rollerbladder [Click2Houston]
• Reconstruction of a 1-Minute Film by Thomas Edison Documenting the Aftermath of the Great Storm of 1900 in Galveston [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of Crosby St. sidewalk near W. Dallas St.: Walker Agnew, Jr. via Twitter

• Houston Club Building Set To Be Detonated on Oct. 19 [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]
• Skanska To Break Ground on Second Spec Office Building in the Energy Corridor This Month [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
• Northstar Healthcare Considering Building New Hospital, Medical Office Near the ExxonMobil Campus in 2016 [Houston Business Journal]
• Developer Rumored To Be Buying Former J.C. Penney Building at Mall of Mainland [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Clark Cooper Concepts Plans To Open Seafood Restaurant in Former Pesce Spot at 3029 Kirby by Summer 2015 [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Pizaro’s Pizza Napoletana To Open in Montrose in January, Minus a Patio But Twice as Big as the Original in Memorial [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Army Nuclear Reactor Barge the Sturgis To Be Towed 1,700 Miles from Virginia to Galveston This Winter for Dismantling [Houston Public Media]
• New Water Plan Before City Council Today Calls for Residents To Reduce Usage By About 1 Gallon per Day by 2019 [Houston Chronicle]
• Galveston Enacts Stage 2 of Drought Contingency Plan; Sprinkler Restrictions in Effect for Property Owners [Click2Houston]
• This is the Worst Year On Record for West Nile Virus in Houston, Says Harris County Mosquito Control [Click2Houston]
• Art Car Parade Moving Up a Month to Next April To Capitalize on Cooler Spring Temperatures [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of 1920 W. Alabama St.: Molly Block via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Sugar Land in Negotiations To Purchase 230 Acres of Former Prison Site for a Business Park [Houston Business Journal]
• Wallis State Bank Planning To Add Second, Larger Building Next Door to Its Headquarters at 2929 W. Sam Houston Pkwy. [Prime Property]
• Texas Racked Up $11B in International Home Sales from March 2013 to March 2014, Says Texas Association of Realtors [Houston Public Media]
• Project Aims To Change Design of Northbound Gulf Fwy. at U.S-59 Split [Houston Chronicle]
• Pappas Bar-B-Q at Little York Rd. Near U.S.-59 Burns Down in 2-Alarm Blaze [Houston Chronicle]
• Contractors Say Toby Keith’s West Oaks Mall Bar Owes Them Thousands of Dollars in Unpaid Work [Click2Houston]
• Harris County Files Lawsuit Against ‘Nuisance’ Acapulco Night Club at 10632 FM 1960 [Click2Houston]
• $8M Road Project in League City Would Connect FM 518 Directly to FM 270 [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Houston Officials Considering Transferring Responsibility for ‘Languished’ Cullinan Park to City of Sugar Land [Houston Chronicle]
• Cypress Homeowners Plan Protest Against Developers Over Promised Pool That Was Never Built [Houston Chronicle]
• Timbergrove Residents, Business Owners Fed Up with Odor Emitted from the Nearby Southwaste Disposal Facility on Hurst Street [The Leader]

Photo of Liberty Rd at Solo St., Fifth Ward: David Elizondo via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Beginning Soon on 96-Acre Self-Storage-Anchored ‘Business Park’ Near Conroe This Month [Houston Business Journal]
• BHW Developing 28-Acre Multi-Use Project in Lake Jackson, Including Apartment Complex Named ‘Plantation Park’ [Houston Business Journal]
• Metrostudy’s List of Master-Planned Communities with the Most Housing Starts in the Country Includes 7 from Houston Area [Houston Business Journal]
• Realtors Predict Median Home Price in Texas, Florida, Hawaii Will Jump More Than 5% in Next 12 Months, says National Association of Realtors [Prime Property]
• 6 Years After Ike, UTMB Close To Completing $1B in Improvements To Protect Against Future Hurricanes [Houston Chronicle]
• Proposed Katy ISD Football Stadium Would Cost More Per Seat Than UH’s New Stadium [Covering Katy]
• Taqueria La Macro on N. Main St. Closing This Saturday in Part Because Construction Workers Have Finished with Light Rail Line; To Reopen in EaDo [Culturemap]
• Northside Residents Can’t Get Anyone to Remove Decomposing Horse Left for Dead in Overgrown Lot [abc13]
• Final 2 Men Convicted of Holding More Than 100 Illegal Immigrants Hostage in Almeda School Rd. Stash House Sentenced [Click2Houston; previously on Swamplot]
• Your Chances of Being Seen on Camera in a Commercial Area Are Almost 100%, Thanks To Ubiquitous Public Surveillance [Houston Chronicle]
• How a Law Student Came to Housesit the Weingarten Mansion for a Month in 1968 [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]

Photo of Galveston: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Trammell Crow Residential Buys Photo Studio, Will Build 7-Story Apartments on 2.3 Acres Next to CityCentre [Prime Property]
• The Top 10 Hottest Submarkets for Houston Apartments, Based on Rental Rate Growth and Absorption [Houston Business Journal]
• David Weekley To Build Homes at Gated Reserve at Washington North of Memorial Park [Houston Business Journal]
• Downtown’s Pennzoil Place Completes Three Years, $16M Worth of Capital Improvements [Houston Business Journal]
• Hilton Debuts Home2Suites Hotel Concept in Houston at 20985 Katy Fwy. at Westgreen [Prime Property]
• Jonathan’s the Rub Not Moving into Ground Floor of MetroNational’s New ‘Treehouse’ Building at 963 Bunker Hill After All [Food Chronicles]
• Pier 1 Imports Signs Lease at Hughes Landing Development on Lake Woodlands [Prime Property]
• Woodforest Golf Club To Open $6M Clubhouse This Month Featuring Golf Shop, Bar, Veranda [Houston Business Journal]
• By Next Year, Montgomery County Water Supplier Will Give Homeowners Choice To Use Reclaimed Water for Their Lawns [Houston Chronicle]
• Yelp Could Manipulate Its Business-Review Ratings To Sell Advertising If It Wanted To, Court Rules [San Francisco Chronicle]

Photo of Eclectic Menagerie Park, Texas Pipe & Supply, Highway 288 at Bellfort: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Fish-Shaped Amphitheater Under Construction at New Smither Park Next to Orange Show [Culturemap]
• Village School Developing 15 Acres of Land, Expanding Campus with Ziegler Cooper Architects Design [Houston Business Journal]
• Wheatley High School Demolition Halted Until At Least Sept. 9 or When Court Rules on Preservation Group Lawsuit [Houston Chronicle]
• What Congestion Might Mean for a Commute’s ‘Planning Time Index’ in Houston [The Highwayman]
• Galveston at 10% Above Its Normal Hotel Revenue, 1.5% Above Occupancy Despite Seaweed Invasion of 2014 [MyFoxHouston]
• Darling Homes Building 2 Patio Collections in Woodforest, Unveiling New Neighborhood in Sugar Land This Month [Prime Property]
• Some 9,600 Plants Seized from Marijuana Field in Polk County [Montgomery County Police Reporter]
• Galveston Pet Owners Worried About Presence of Coyotes Near Residential Neighborhoods [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• How the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Installed a 2-Ton, 36-Foot Tall Sculpture on Its South Lawn [Inside the MFAH via Glasstire]
• A Play-By-Play of the Downtown Tour on Those Double-Decker Buses [Houstonia]
• What Architecture Historian Vincent Scully Got Wrong About Houston [Houstonia]
• Photographer Captures Downtown Houston Intersections Using a Drone [The Texican]
• Photos: The Pay Stations, Honesty Boxes and Parking Huts of Downtown Houston’s Surface Parking Lots [Not of It]

Photo of 1823 Old Place in Sam Houston Park: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Galleria Office Tower Replacing the Courtyard on St. James Place Gains 2 Floors; Will Break Ground on Sept. 8 [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
• Museum Park Cafe Opening Sept. 5 on Ground Floor of the Parc Binz Midrise [Food Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza Chain Gino’s East Coming to The Woodlands, Other Texas Cities [Houston Business Journal]
• Inversion Coffee House Removes Distinctive Window Stickers Depicting ‘Inversion’ Art Project [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Public Input Wanted on Short-Term Fixes for Southwest Fwy. Traffic Backups [Houston Chronicle]
• West Loop the Most Congested Freeway in the State, Reports Texas A&M Transportation Institute [Houston Chronicle]
• Metro Holding Public Meetings on Design of the Harrisburg Overpass [The Highwayman]
• Demolition of Historic Wheatley High School Begins, Angering Fifth Ward Alumni Who Say HISD Promised Preservation [Houston Chronicle]
• Officials Warn Western Montgomery County Residents Against Burning as Drought Conditions Worsen [Houston Chronicle]
• ‘Boys from Houston’ Documents the City’s Music Scene During the 1960s [Rocks Off]
• Photography Exhibition Documents Everyday Life and Labor Along the Houston Ship Channel [Houston Chronicle]
• What Joel Kotkin Gets Wrong About Suburban-Style Sunbelt Cities [Grist]
• Copperfield ‘Under Siege’ by Hundreds of White and Cattle Egrets; Forced To Close Playground [KHOU]
• Photos: The Pumpjacks, Oil Well Pumps, Decorated Oil Derricks, and Disguised Well Sites of Los Angeles [The Atlantic]

Photo of 1920 W. Alabama St.: Molly Block via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• First Residents Will Move into Houston’s Tallest Apartment Tower, PM Realty Group’s 40-Story Building at 2929 Weslayan, This Fall [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• 46-Story San Felipe Plaza Now More Than 90% Leased for the First Time Since 2009 [Prime Property]
• Boxer Property Acquires 2-Building Office Property Aerospace Plaza in Clear Lake Area [Prime Property]
• McVaugh Custom Homes Breaks Ground on ‘Modern-Style‘ Royal Oaks Courtyard Villas in Westchase [Houston Business Journal]
• New UH Student Housing Seen as Spark to Third Ward Neighborhoods [Houston Chronicle]
• Some Sharpstown Homeowners Want To Be De-Annexed from TIRZ for Fear They Could Be Forced Out of Their Homes [abc13]
• Task Force Will Study, Recommend Clarifications and Adjustments To Ordinance That Governs Houston’s Historic Districts [Prime Property]
• Downtown Ramen Joint Goro & Gun Closes After Failing To Find an Audience, Owners To Open Bar in Its Place [Food Chronicles; previously on Swamplot]
• Heights House Designed by LaVerne Williams Has an Independent Rainwater-Based Water Supply [Culturemap]
• State Transportation Official Says Houston-Dallas High-Speed Rail ‘Going to Happen,’ Would Connect to Galleria Area, Not Downtown [The Highwayman]
• How Driverless Car-Sharing Services Could Change How People Walk in Houston [OffCite]
• The Great Galveston Seaweed Invasion of 2014 Winds Down [Houston Chronicle]
• Houston Should Be Nicknamed ‘The Adolescent City’ [Not of It]

Photo of Aura Memorial, on Memorial Dr. between Dairy Ashford and Eldridge Pkwy.: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool