HOUSTON IKEA GOING SOLAR 
Houston’s 300,000-sq.-ft. IKEA store on the Katy Fwy. near Antoine — along with 8 other southern-state locations and a distribution center — will soon be covered with rooftop solar panels. The furniture company’s U.S. solar program began late last year. Contractor REC Solar will install 3,962 PV panels measuring a total of approximately 116,400 sq. ft., which IKEA will own and operate, on top of the Houston store by next summer. A company press release estimates the Houston panels will produce 931 kW, for a projected annual electricity output of 1,317,500 kWH per year. [BusinessWire] Photo of panels installed earlier this year in West Sacramento: IKEA
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WHAT’S BEHIND THOSE BOARDED-UP WINDOWS? 
Sawbuck Realty doesn’t appear to have a separate “historic home, likely teardown” template for the home-listing videos the company’s website automatically generates. Which might explain some of the strangeness of this curious autoplay “tour” of the property at 1915 Shearn St. in the First Ward. From the script: “. . . with great space and fresh air for your peace of mind. Which make this home an ideal purchase for buyers who value privacy and comfort.” [Sawbuck Realty, via Swamplot inbox] Photo: HAR
THE HOUSTON OFFICE TRADEOFF 
“I don’t know whether he gets to take those paintings with him, but it looks like he’s in for an upgrade in the office department,” notes a reader commenting on the back-of-house museum real estate awaiting newly announced MFAH director Gary Tinterow in Houston. For a spread in the New York Social Diary last year, photographer Jill Krementz took this snapshot of the curator in front of the neater of the 2 desks in his park-view office at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “The director’s office at MFAH doesn’t exactly look out on to Central Park, but it’s much bigger.” (It faces a walled-in garden space shielded from Montrose Blvd. traffic.) And Tinterow’s new salary may afford him the opportunity to upgrade from the IKEA floor lamp highlighted in Krementz’s office tour. “Also, fun fact,” notes our reader: “Late MFAH director Peter Marzio never had a computer. They were just kinda beneath him, I guess. The only thing on his huge desk was a red telephone. It looked like a White House War Room or something.” [Swamplot inbox; background] Photo: Jill Krementz
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WE’VE MOVED ON “Most of Houston gets its drinking water from Lake Houston. It’s full of old cars, batteries and tires. There’s no need to worry about a little gasoline in the groundwater. :)” [jgriff, commenting on Harris County Sues AT&T for Leaky Underground Fuel Tanks]
EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT HOUSTON FREEWAYS — FOR FREE 
A reader writes in to make sure we were aware that the world’s best book on the popular topic of Houston-area freeways — which just happens to be entitled Houston Freeways — is available as a free PDF ebook download on the author’s website (yes, HoustonFreeways.com). Sharpstown native Erik Slotboom’s freeway-photo-filled 416-page opus has been out of print since 2005, though dedicated freeway fans can still scrounge up an only mildly battered physical copy for upwards of $100 on Amazon and other sites. Online only: Slotboom’s 5-year photo update of all the Houston Freeway happenings that took place between 2003 and 2008.
DHARMA CAFE TO RAY’S FRANKS TO LATIN BITES TO OXHEART 
That’s only the recent lineage of the tiny corner space at 1302 Nance St. in the old warehouse district at the northern stretches of Downtown, where former *17 chef Justin Yu, his pastry-baking wife Karen Man, and Central Market wine guy Justin Vann plan to open their new Gulf Coast-flavored restaurant. (Latin Bites will be escaping to the former Rockwood Room location at Chimney Rock and Woodway.) The trio promises not to take up any of the mere 26 seats in the former Erie City Ironworks space themselves. Oxheart — yes, named after the central organ of an ox (as well as a kind of carrot, a type of tomato, and a certain cabbage) — will be open for dinner 5 nights a week, including Mondays, beginning next March. [29-95; more from Eater Houston] Photo: Almost Veggie Houston
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY I WON’T MISS THE SANDBOX AT LUPE TORTILLA “It was always a hassle with the kids running around while I was trying to sunbathe.” [Chad, commenting on Lupe Tortilla Axes Kiddie Sandbox]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: TEARDOWN STREET CRED I love the nothing but exterior shots – particularly the one down the street to indicate “See – there’s ONE other McMansion on this block already . . .†[mollusk, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: A Stitch in Tyne]
DRINKING FOR THE GREATER GOOD Among the goals of OKRA, the new business organization founded by a group of mostly Montrose-area restaurant and bar owners (including Anvil’s Bobby Heugel, Chris Shepherd of the upcoming Underbelly, and Greenway coffee couple David Buehrer and Ecky Prabanto): Opening a new, collectively run non-profit neighborhood bar as early this summer — preferably in the refurbished digs of some recently shuttered for-profit drinking establishment. All proceeds would go to a different charity each month, which drinkers would get to vote on. Also coming this spring from the group: “a multi-pig roast unlike Houston has ever seen.” [Facebook; more from 29-95, Culturemap, and Eater Houston]
LUPE TORTILLA AXES KIDDIE SANDBOX 
The removal of the sandbox play area adjacent to the bar at the Lupe Tortilla on the 59 feeder road just east of Kirby has attracted little attention. Well, except for grumbles from disappointed families showing up for dinner with sand buckets and plastic shovels — and the “SAVE the Sandbox at Lupe Tortilla’s on the Southwest Freeway” Facebook page. (So far that protest page has garnered only a single “Like.”) The bleachered sandbox was shut down only a few weeks ago, to accommodate a planned expansion of the restaurant’s deck. Photo: Flickr user amydell
COMMENT OF THE DAY: INSIDE POLITICS “I’m amazed nobody who ran against him had pictures of this interior . . . this alone would sink a lesser candidate. For Example, ‘Bob Lanier claims to represent Houstonians, but how can he relate to the common man when perched on his pretty, pink, princess bed!?!’ -or- ‘11 Bathrooms?!?! What is he trying to hide?!?!’ -or- ‘Bob Lanier is such a clown, his ceilings are painted like a circus tent!’ I do kinda like the ceilings though . . .”
THAT’S THE SOUND of Swamplot sneaking out for a long holiday weekend, too. The best of Thanksgiving wishes to all of you. Our streaming parade of Houston real estate action will kick up again on Monday. Video: Ana Serrano
COMMENT OF THE DAY: BIG LOTS “In regards to crazy land values inside the loop, I have an opinion as an active RE broker. Anything that is 2 to 5 acres seems to be in huge demand from institutional multi-family developers. They have lenders that want to lend on apartment projects and the scarcity of larger in-fill tracts result in the $75psf average that hits a range between $60 to $85psf. What is missed here is that owners who sit on dirt in the same dense areas with smaller parcels way under 2 acres, have no market driving forces paying anywhere over $50psf. Home builders used to drive the market, but they have gone on a diet. Hope this helps put it all in perspective; there is just a higher premium paid for larger tracts.” [Janak, commenting on West Ave-Style Apartments and Retail Planned for Dunlavy Fiesta Site?]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE ADMIRAL MOTEL HIS CASTLE “I would kill for a moat like that. Even if it couldn’t keep the riff raff out, I could mock all those that are subject to water restrictions.” [Hawthorne Mike, commenting on Houston Property Listing Photo of the Day: Flooded with Offers]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: EASIER TO CONCEAL THOSE SECRET YOGURT BEHAVIORS “I prefer the self-service kind of yogurt place. That way I can put blueberries, white chocolate chips, cap’n crunch and cheesecake bites on my chocolate and pistachio flavored froyo mix – and not get that judgement from the person making it.” [Britt A, commenting on Rice Village TCBY Leaves Franchise, Avoiding Self-Serve Fro-Yo Redo]