THE RUMORS IN-N-OUT OF SUGAR LAND 
“Sources in the 77478 tell me ‘In an Out Burger’ coming to Sugar Land,” tweets morning talk-show host Matt Jackson. “Suspected location near Skeeters Stadium.” And how about a big ol’ bag of frozen sweet-potato fries to go with that?: “In related but less important news to most of you…Sugar Land also getting a Costco.” [Twitter; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Constellation Field: Aero Photo
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ICE CREAM MAN REOPENING MYTIBURGER 
Oak Forest’s Mytiburger, which shut down 2 weeks ago, is expected to reopen tomorrow under new ownership. Shawn Salyers, the owner of a local Baskin Robbins franchise 9 blocks away, noted the lines out the door at the tiny burger joint at 2211 W. 43rd St. after owner Kathy Reynolds-Smith announced her intention to close up shop. Salyers plans to add free Wi-Fi, a touch-screen ordering system, and an outdoor seating area under a tree outside. He’s also hired Reynolds-Smith, who ran the restaurant for 24 years after taking over for the previous owner — as a consultant. [The Leader] Photo: Charlotte Aguilar
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE TEARDOWN DOGWHISTLE “I found that calling a property a ‘Charming Bungalow’ on MLS is a way to send a message to developers ‘Lot Value!!!’ without offending the hipsters in the neighborhood. Much like other beloved MLS code phrases . . . Fixer upper = Utter Dump, beware of tetanus!, Up and coming neighborhood = Sleep with one eye open and a finger on the trigger, Cosy = you’re better off living in a closet where you are now, Great Art Scene = Masses of unbathed malcontents roaming the streets and coffee shops.” [Commonsense, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Care for a Tower of Prayer]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE HERITAGE WEST BIKEWAY IS BACK ON TRAIL “If you had not heard, the construction contractor for this project had gone bankrupt, leaving the project dormant for quite a while. Good news is that the new contractor started working yesterday (8/13/12) and has 120 days to complete the bikeway project. Yes, this should mean that the project will be done by 12/31/12.” [Dan Raine, commenting on Did the Heritage West Bikeway Lose Its Way?]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: LOOKING FOR HOUSTON’S NEIGHBORHOOD-ALIKES “I think the math is already starting to work for some people. Remember the guy who was concerned that he had 30 days to vacate the Andover Richmond property in Montrose? The 3rd and 5th Wards may be a good option for tenants like him, — as older, more affordable properties continue to disappear from Montrose. Of course it’s a while before anyone would drop $3,000 a month for an apartment in that area. The New York Times had an article in January titled ‘So You’re Priced Out, Now What?‘ They looked at neighborhoods, sometimes miles from each other, in very different price points, but that looked like each other. They had pictures of a street of gorgeous brownstones in Manhattan’s Upper West Side; and an equally gorgeous street in more reasonable Prospect Heights Brooklyn. You’d swear they were side by side; not miles away. The same thing happens in Houston, and Montrose versus the 3rd and 5th Wards is starting to be like that.” [ZAW, commenting on Comment of the Day: The Rent Isn’t Too Damn High]
MITT ROMNEY’S MISSOURI CITY MORTGAGE Among those who answered the clarion call to invest in Houston-area real estate back in the early eighties, just a few years before its big crash: Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Long before he earned billions at the helm of Bain Capital, Romney bought 5 rent-to-own houses in suburban areas of Houston — “without putting up any of his own money,” according to Mike McIntire’s report. Romney got stuck renting out the houses until the late 1990s, when he unloaded 4 of them, “mostly at a loss.” The tenants of the fifth house wanted to buy their 1,836-sq.-ft. 3-bedroom home (at 1350 Gentle Bend Dr. in Missouri City’s Hunters Glen neighborhood) but couldn’t qualify for a mortgage. So Romney became their bank. Tim and Betty Stamps have been making out $600 checks to Romney every month for 15 years. They refinanced the property with him this June. [NY Times]
GAMESTOP’S APPLE-POLISHING STRATEGY 
Strip-center mainstay GameStop has a new strategy to keep itself from going the way of video-game cartridges: changing its business in the direction of another strip-center mainstay: the mobile phone store. The company began a program of buying used iPhones last fall; it’s now ready to remake itself as a leading reseller of used Apple gadgets. Company employees are working on coming up to speed on repairing Android devices as well. Seventy-one of the Texas chain’s 6,600 locations are in the greater Houston area. Sixty stores around the country have already begun selling prepaid wireless plans; an analyst suggests selling phone plans to go with used phones could become a big new business for the chain. [SF Chronicle] Photo of GameStop Outlet at Westheimer and Hwy. 6: Dr. Mario Kart
COMMENT OF THE DAY: NAMING THE NEW STUDEMONT KROGER “. . . It’s ‘Broger’ because the guys that hang out at the bars on Washington are ‘dude-bros.’ ‘Party Kroger’ makes it sound like a place where one might have a party, but ‘Broger’ describes the people who will be shopping there.” [Eric, commenting on Up Pops the Studemont Kroger]
KINDER MORGAN WORKOUTS OUT OF DOWNTOWN GARAGE 
The health club up there on the 8th floor of the Travis Place Parking Garage (see it? you gotta squint) at the corner of Travis and McKinney streets downtown is no longer a dedicated workout space for Kinder Morgan employees. The pipeline and terminal company has sold the 25,000-sq.-ft. facility at 1010 Travis St. to Redstone Companies Hospitality, operators of the Houstonian Club at the Houstonian and a couple of other downtown clubs. It’s now called the Health Club at Travis Place and open to general memberships. A Redstone rep reports the club buildout dates back to the days when the structure belonged to Tenneco. Photo: Redstone Companies Hospitality
HOUSTON JANITORS CLEAN UP AFTER STRIKE Six of the 7 janitorial services companies affected by a month-long walkout agreed to a tentative settlement late Wednesday that should end the work stoppage by more than 3,000 Houston janitors. Beginning next January, janitors will earn an additional 25 cents an hour each year, bringing their pay to $9.35 an hour by 2016. The Service Employees International Union Local 1 had sought an increase to $10 an hour over 3 years, beginning a strike early last month after the companies offered only a 50-cent increase over 5 years. The janitors were reportedly unsuccessful in efforts to lengthen their work hours. [Texas Observer]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE RENT ISN’T TOO DAMN HIGH “People who think that $3,000 plus for rent in a luxury high-rise in Houston is ‘outrageous’ have not been paying attention for the last 10 years. Museum Tower and several others have been at 95%-plus occupancy for years with similar rates. I think a lot of Houstonians have NO idea just how wealthy hundreds of thousands of their fellow Houstonians actually are today.” [Jon, commenting on Ashby Highrise To Start Rising on Bissonnet This Year]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE SAME BOAT “. . . When talking to people looking for stuff in Montrose, this is what I hear: 1) Nothing available 2) Over priced for what you get 3) By the time you try to take it, someone else already has 4) What you do get will have bad electric, bad roof, bad pipes, sketchy tenants, etc. 5) Was built in the 60′s most likely. Doesn’t have it’s cert of occupancy, no water pressure, low insulation, old windows, etc. Then I like to joke that this is what I hear from people trying to BUY apartments in Montrose. Point being, the challenges you face as a renter are the challenges you face as an investor. And the solutions are often the same: Network with owners, jump on something good if you see it, communicate with the property manager showing if you don’t like the place (this is big), look every day. . . .” [Cody, commenting on Comment of the Day: What’s the Thought Process?]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT’S THE THOUGHT PROCESS? “. . . There is one other thing that troubles me that maybe some of the developers on this thread might clear up. How much does humanity and civic duty factor into these decisions? I could quickly assume that the dollar and cent logistics is enough for anything like this to get green-lit, but I would rest a little more easily knowing that someone along the line questioned the implications of suddenly forcing so many people to find new places to live. Especially considering that, for students like me and my room mate, springing this change so close to the beginning of the coming semester only makes finding a new place that much more impossible to find. It might sound petty, but I hope someone somewhere feels at least a little guilty for the amount of hardship that has been dumped onto my lap.” [thisboy, commenting on Report: Castle Court Midrise Planned for Andover Richmond Apartments Site]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: YOU’LL REMEMBER THE CHICKEN “All of you are completely missing the forest for the trees. What we have witnessed in the last week is one of the most brilliant marketing campaigns in the U.S. A restaurant chain that is pretty much concentrated in one corner of the U.S. has obtain national notoriety. Chik-fil-a the company already has and will continue to have a non-discrimination policy in regards to sexual orientation (i.e. they don’t discriminate against homosexuality). The president of the company being interviewed and making the statements that started all this was a calculated move. Chik-fil-a knew there would be a backlash and big support along with controversy. For all those anti-chik-fil-a posts in the social media, Chik-fil-a thanks you. Any publicity is good publicity. Because of these events (which the majority will forget in a couple of months), the name chik-fil-a will stick in a vast new audience that never heard of the chain. And all this will little marketing dollars spent. This is playing right into Chik-fil-a’s planned expansion across the U.S. Again, Chik-fil-a thanks all hate filled posts in the social media world. You just helped get it’s name out while knowing the masses won’t remember the controversy.” [kjb434, commenting on Headlines: Finding Ribs at Park Memorial; More Business for Chick-fil-A]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY THERE’LL BE NO 1301 RICHMOND REDO AT THAT SELLING PRICE “At 2.9 acres of physical land, and a purchase price of X (let’s assume priced to the dirt, likely $50/foot) they are in this deal for $6MM dollars day one. If they wanted to be in the business of renovating (This IS income producing property, not pride of ownership single family housing) and retaining the character of the original complex, look at the math . . . assuming a coverage ratio of 1/1, and average unit @ 1000 square feet, that gives you 120 units and 120,000 to renovate meticulously. Assuming you would have to put $20,000 into each unit to justify buying this deal, you’ve now got $6MM + $2.4MM in renovation dollars, plus the fact you’ve got to kick everybody out of their unit to renovate it, do the work, then relet the unit. So, that puts you at 1 year of ZERO revenue, and whatever associated costs there are there. For the sake of argument, your all-in is $10MM. THEN, after you have painfully restored a garden complex to the delight of yourself (I promise you the neighborhood won’t come out and bring you a check for your efforts to retain transient renters for another 50 years), here is your reality: 1) you would need to jump rents from $800/month to $1200 or greater, lease them all, then sell at a benchmark cap rate exit for such a non-conforming product, and that’s assuming you get your investors interested in the capital and scope in the first place, rather than buiding a 2.5:1 ratio development against $50 dirt 2) you would need to find an exit partner with just as much interest in running this model as you did creating it. institutional buyers that are willing to overlook the latest TCC Alexan product to buy a risky retrofitted low coverage ratio multi family deal in a market that has very little inventory of trailblazing like product. what i’m saying is this won’t exist, so you’re stuck with cash flow now. So . . . you have $10MM in it, and if you are the greatest level of execution here, you are 7 years of revenue before you are whole on your initial investment, and you have a huge chunk of change parked in it, with zero recap abilities. if i run a bank, i’m not cashing you out of that mistake.” [HTX Rez, commenting on Report: Castle Court Midrise Planned for Andover Richmond Apartments Site]