Headlines

• Houston Area’s First Kroger Marketplace To Sell Apparel and Shoes Opening This April in Spring [Prime Property]
• Honeymoon Cafe & Bar Opening Downtown This Spring in Former Cielo Space on Main St. [Culturemap]
• City, TSU, Fifth Ward CRC Kick Off $5M Renovation of Historic DeLuxe Theater [abc13; previously on Swamplot]
• Metro Meeting Today To Discuss Plan for East End Bridge Revived After Gasoline Contamination Concerns [Click2Houston; previously on Swamplot]
• Metro’s North Line Extension Exceeded First Month Ridership Projections by 62 Percent [Write on METRO via Off the Kuff]
• Houston Region Has Quietly Slipped Back into Yet Another Drought [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Experiencing the Resurrected Wetlands of Sheldon Lake State Park [OffCite Blog]
• After 23 Years, Houston Restaurant Guide B4-U-Eat Posts Its Own ‘Closed’ Sign [Eating Our Words]

Photo of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church at 717 Sage Rd.: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Houston Has an Ongoing Housing Shortage, Says Woodlands Development Co. President [Houston Business Journal]
• HomeLPC Launches Rent-to-Own Housing Program in Houston Designed for People with Credit Issues [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• First Houston Pollo Tropical Set To Open in Pearland in April, 2 More to Follow [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Houston Falls on Forbes’ Fastest-Growing Cities List to No. 10 Spot, Behind Austin, Dallas [Houston Business Journal]
• Former Kemah Mayor Accused of Taking Advantage of Office To Acquire Ike-Hit Properties [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Indoor Entertainment Complex Funplex on Beechnut Sued by County Over Safety Hazards [abc13]
• Trenton Doyle Hancock’s Vinyl Railroad Building Mural Is Hermann Park’s Latest Art in the Park Installation [Culturemap]

Photo of Buffalo Bayou near West Loop: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Friendswood Development Credits Coming Grand Parkway Extension for Sparking 2 New North of Houston Housing Projects, Buyback of Fairfield [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• New Center at Pearland Parkway Shopping Center Will House Ross, TJ Maxx [Prime Property]
• Construction of New 303-Room ‘Waterway Square Hotel’ Along Woodlands Waterway To Begin Soon [Houston Business Journal]
• Brown Bag Deli Owner Replaced Kirby and Richmond Location with Luna Pizzeria [Culturemap]
• James Coney Island Planning New Chili’s-Like Concept Called Walker Street Grill To Break Into New Developments [Houston Business Journal]
• Arson Investigators Looking into Last Night’s Fire at Mary Lee Donuts Shop at Gulf Fwy. and S. Wayside [KHOU]
• New Townhome Owner, Developer Oppose First Ward Historic Designation Effort [abc13; previously on Swamplot]
• Houston-to-Dallas High-Speed Rail Could Break Ground in 2016 [Community Impact Newspaper]
• Hens for Houston Founder Quits After Failing to Change City’s Animal Ordinance [The Leader]

Photo of: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Retail Space To Increase by 34 Percent in Houston with Addition of 2.61M SF This Year, including 28 New Grocery Stores, Claims Survey [Houston Chronicle]
• New Corner Bakery Opening at Echo Ln. Shopping Center This Month, 2 More in Woodlands and Katy This Year, and 16 More Over Next 5 Years [Houston Business Journal]
• Midway Cos. To Break Ground This Month on Houston CityCentre Five [Houston Business Journal]
• Why Some Buildings Around Houston Have Been Turning on the Red Lights [Prime Property]
• The Engineering Challenges of Expanding Houston’s Light Rail System [Civil Engineering]
• Tales from the Galleria’s Abandoned Hotel 31, Slated for Demolition [Houstonia]
• Two Allen Center Exhibition Explores Houston’s Growth with a TxDOT Model of Freeway Rebuilding, Photos of I-10 Then and Now, More [Houston Chronicle ($)]

Photo of Wortham Park: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Hillwood Communities Planning 2,100-Home Development ‘Pomona’ in Manvel Along 288 [Prime Property]
• Town in City Brewing To Break Ground in the Heights in About Two Weeks [Beer, TX; previously on Swamplot]
• Buffalo Hardware Co. To Close After 66 Years at the Corner of Westheimer and Kirby [Houston Business Journal]
• The Woodlands Area Qualifies as ‘Another Energy Corridor,’ Thanks to New ExxonMobil Campus [abc13]
• HISD Hosting Public Meetings To Share Design Concepts, Site Plans for First 17 New Schools Under 2012 Bond Program [HISD News Blog]
• Residents Likely Have No Recourse in Closure of Metro’s Pinemont Park & Ride [The Leader]
• What’s Up With All the Gargoyles Along Dunlavy? [Houstonia]
• Exploring Houston with Instagram-Style Pix from Houston Google Street View Scenes [Not Of It]

Photo of Jaume Plensa’s “Tolerance” sculpture along Allen Pkwy.: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• 22-Story Millennium II Going Up Next Door to Millennium Tower in Westchase [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Fein Interests’ ‘The Grand’ Apartments To Open in Cinco Ranch’s 34-Acre LaCenterra Development Next Year [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
• That ‘Cuban, Creole, Caribbean’ Restaurant Moving into the Old Red Lantern Space Downtown Will Be Called El Gallo Rojo [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot]
• Metro Again Considering East End Overpass After Gasoline Infiltration of Soil Is Found To Be Far More Extensive Than Previously Believed [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot]
• Work on Downtown Galveston Transit Terminal May Not Start Until June [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Exploring an ‘Unscripted’ 1,000-Foot-Long Marsh Near Main Street and US-59 [OffCite Blog]

Photo of former Louis White Grocery, 4101 Lyons Ave.: David Elizondo via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Post Properties Demolishing Abandoned former Holiday Inn, Hotel 31 on East Side of West Loop Just North of Richmond To Build 390 Luxury Apartments [Real Estate Bisnow]
• 8-Level Midrise Apartment Plus 17-Story Residential Tower Now Going Up One Block West of Highland Village Shopping Center [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
• Developer Bought 25 Acres for New Stratton Woods Development 2 Years Ago, After Hearing About New ExxonMobil Campus 2 Miles North [Houston Business Journal]
• Slideshow: The Most Expensive Homes Sold in Houston Last Year [Houston Business Journal]
• Galveston Cruise Ship Now Offering ‘Virtual Balconies’ with Real-Time Ocean Views in Windowless Rooms — for an Upgrade [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of North Boulevard: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• H&M Will Open Third Houston-Area Store, in Katy Mills Mall, This Fall [Houston Business Journal]
• Former Bocados Owners Opening Red Ox Bar & Grill in Northside Village; East End Bar To One Day Follow [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Slideshow: Meet Houston’s ‘Kings of Commercial Real Estate‘ [Houston Business Journal ($)]
• Mayor Parker Promises City Government Will Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions an Additional 10% by 2016 [KUHF]
• Video: Metro Starts Testing Trains on East End, Southeast Light Rail Lines [KUHF]
• Heights Developer Tears Down Fence, Threatens To Rip Out and Relocate AC Unit and Water Heater of Neighbor’s Lawrence St. House That Extends Over His Property Line [abc13]

Photo of construction of the Susanne, 3803 Dunlavy: Loves Swamplot

• Johnson Development Teaming Up with Dallas Firm To Turn 55 Freeway-Side Acres of Sugar Land’s ‘Imperial’ into Office Building Zones [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
• Grand Parkway Transportation Corp. Selling $733M in Bonds To Pay Back Construction Loans [Bloomberg]
• State Set To Award $10.9M Contract for Parkway Between Fort Bend and Waller Counties [The Highwayman]
• Woodlands Parkway Bridge Expansion Project To Finish in April, 4 Months Behind Schedule [abc13]
• Up to 15 Fare Inspectors Now Deployed To Check Light Rail for Freeloaders [abc13]
• City Keeps Saying It’s Fixed Garden Oaks Sinkhole That Continues To Grow, Complains Resident [The Leader]

Photo of Reliant Park: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Average Texas Home Price Rose 9 Percent in 2013 to $226K, Finds Report [KUHF]
• $300M Development Project Planned for Former WaterLights District Spot in Pearland [abc13; previously on Swamplot]
• Slideshow: The Winners of Urban Land Institute Houston’s 2014 Development of Distinction Awards [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
• Galveston’s Broadway Cemetery Moves Closer To Landmark Status [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Slideshow: 40-Year-Old River Oaks Institution Marfreless’s Slicker New Look [Food Chronicles; previously on Swamplot]
• Closed for 2 Years, White Oak Hike and Bike Trail Reopening in Late March [Houston Chronicle ($)]

Photo at N. Main Street and E. 22nd Street: Molly Block via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• How ExxonMobil’s New Corporate Campus is Altering the Houston’s Northern Suburbs [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• First Occupants of New ExxonMobil Campus Due in March [Houston Chronicle ($)]
• Texas Children’s Hospital Breaks Ground on Woodlands Campus [Houston Business Journal]
• Banker Predicts Greater Heights Housing Market Will Keep Up Pace for 2 to 3 More Years [The Leader]
• St. Thomas To Launch Website on Plans for ‘North Campus’ at Former HISD Law Enforcement HS [The Leader; previously on Swamplot]
• Fort Bend May Be Most Ethnically Diverse County in the World, Says Rice’s Stephen Klineberg [Your Houston News]
• With Commercialization of Space Travel, Houston Has Lost Its Head Start as ‘Space City‘ [Houston Chronicle ($)]

Photo of downtown mural: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Number of Home Flips in Texas Down Slightly from Last Year [Houston Business Journal]
• Post Properties Selling Downtown’s Historic Rice Hotel, Will Focus on Newer Buildings [Houston Chronicle]
• Only 12 of Memorial City’s 265 Acres Left Undeveloped [Houston Business Journal]
• Russell Hancock’s Photos from Inside the Partially Demoed Astrodome [The Texican]
• Couple Opens ‘Weirdo’ Video Store in Front Rooms of Their Cottage Grove Home [The Texican]
• Free Ride on New Grand Parkway Section Between I-10 and US-290 Ends Tonight [The Highwayman; previously on Swamplot]
• Doggie-Door Burglary of Braeswood Place Home Puts Neighbors on Edge [abc13; previously on Swamplot]

Photo of 300 block of Main St. downtown: Jackson Myers via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• 357K SF Occupied by Shell Oil Co. at Two Shell Plaza Will Be Up for Lease in 2015 [Houston Business Journal]
• New York Firm Buys a Second Downtown Tower from KBR for Undisclosed Amount [Houston Business Journal]
• County Commissioners Hiring Independent Appraisers To See if the Harris County Appraisal District is Undervaluing Business Properties [Houston Chronicle]
• Most of Mall of the Mainland’s Stores Will Be Closed for Good By Friday [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• That Weirdly-Placed Concrete Panel TxDOT Installed Above a Ramp at I-10 and Loop 610 Is There for ‘Aesthetic’ Reasons [The Highwayman]
• The Williamsburg of Houston Is Montrose and its Bushwick Is the Heights in This Map of Hip America [Gawker]

Photo of construction of The Treehouse at Bunker Hill Rd. and Gaylor Dr.: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Alley To Move to U of H’s Wortham Theatre for a Year; Renovations Scheduled To Begin This Summer [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Congressman Culberson Brags He Has Killed All Federal Funding for Uptown and University Light Rail Lines [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• The One Westcreek Apartment Block That’s Not for Sale Will Likely End Up as Apartments Someday [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
• Texas Central Railway Planning High-Speed Dallas-to-Houston Line at 80% of Airfares, without Taxpayer Funding [Houston Chronicle]
• Water Line on W. 30th St. Near Ella on Continual Cycle of Breaking and Leaking Since October, Residents Complain [KHOU]
• Galveston’s Labyrinth Meditation Garden Moving to Moody Methodist Church [Galveston County Daily News ($)]

Photo of MFAH: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool