LAST EDIBLE PIECE OF THE HANOVER RICE VILLAGE’S RETAIL FOOTPRINT FINALLY OPENS THIS WEEKEND 
It may have taken some time to weld all those custom steel bow windows, but the Cyclone Anaya’s Mexican Kitchen on the east side of the Hanover Rice Village apartment complex between Cloud 10 Creamery and Punk’s Simple Southern Food, is at last ready for its enchilada debut. The restaurant’s official opening is scheduled for this Sunday. The first Cyclone Anaya signs were spotted at the 5214 Morningside Dr. storefront last September. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplot inbox
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: STILL WAITING TO SEE HOW HOUSTON IS GOING TO TURN OUT 
“I used to groan and grouch about Houston’s ugly sprawl and wished that the city would be more like its culturally and aesthetically superior East and West Coast brethren. But with all the recent growth, I have come to realize that Houston is really a blank canvas, despite being home to over 6 million people and sprawling out for 30-40 miles in every direction. NY, Boston and San Fran are what they are. They will have to spend more energy just on maintaining quality of life and do not have much of an opportunity to become something new and better. But in Houston, the next ten years will be transformational. While there are never any guarantees in a city that is subject to the boom and bust cycles of the oil industry, I would take living in Houston over any other great US metropolis just for the chance to see the transformation take place.” [Old School, commenting on Comment of the Day: Top Houston Punch Lines] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: TOP HOUSTON PUNCH LINES 
“If an out-of-towner wanted to make fun of Houston, there are a multitude of easier targets than the Rothko Chapel. Just the drive in from the airport on I-45 will give any out-of-towner loads of risible material.” [Robert Boyd, commenting on Sniffing Out the Subtle Secrets of the Rothko Chapel] Illustration: Lulu
SNIFFING OUT THE SUBTLE SECRETS OF THE ROTHKO CHAPEL 
Exploring the Menil’s quiet, deep-purple monument, the Chronicle‘s Leah Binkovitz turns up a couple new lines of investigation: “In a turn Rothko, with his proscriptions for proper viewing, could never have anticipated, the chapel has its own Yelp page. ‘Whatever, some people don’t like to think too much about life and what our place is and if you’re one of those people, this isn’t the place for you,’ writes Eric J. in his recent review, ‘You need to head on down to Moody Gardens for “Pirates” or whatever.’ Inside, there’s a collection of Rothko paintings — dark and turbid — that surround the viewer. When the sun sifting through the clerestory shifts, the purple panels shine like scars. People meditate on cushions on the ground or lean against each other on the benches. The occasional crinkle of a plastic bag breaks the silence. There’s a smell, a specific Rothko Chapel smell. That’s the first thing two dashing young men in khaki shorts comment on when they leave the chapel.” [Houston Chronicle] Photo: Ed Uthman [license; cropped]
A LIFEBOAT FOR THE ROYALTON’S CORRODING CROWN? 
Judging from court filings, there appears to have been some sort of resolution to the lawsuit filed more than 2 years ago by the condominium association of the 253-unit Royalton at River Oaks highrise over the design of the steel grid at the top of the building at 3333 Allen Pkwy. The lawsuit claimed the structure was corroding and was designed in such away that made maintaining it or recoating it impossible — and sought damages from the building’s contractor, architect, and other parties. The condo association dropped its claims against many of those parties late last month. And a reader wonders if the attachment seen hanging below the structure in the recent photo at left, which “almost looks like a hot tub,” is part of some newly devised cleaning solution. [Prime Property] Photo:Â Swamplot inbox
A RANDALL DAVIS-FLAVORED HIGHRISE FOR THE EAST SIDE OF THE WEST LOOP 
Themed-residence developer Randall Davis is planning another Galleria-area condo project, and it looks like this one won’t have to share space with any fast-food drive-thrus — unless, of course, he wants it to. The HBJ‘s Paul Takahashi is reporting that Davis plans to construct an 85-to-100-unit highrise on a 1.8-acre site at 2021 Westcreek Ln., until recently occupied by a portion of the Westcreek Apartments. (It’s labeled Parcel D in the view at left.) Davis’s block is immediately north of the SkyHouse River Oaks, which is already under construction. It fronts San Felipe, across from Ashley Furniture, and its eastern flank abuts the Target parking lot. If Davis still wants some sort of fast-food spot to land next to his so-far-unnamed project, though, he could certainly make it happen: Takahashi reports he’ll be building on a little less than half of the site, and selling off 45,000 sq. ft. of it to developers. [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot] Image: CBRE
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WE’RE NOWHERE NEAR PEAK MONTROSE 
“I don’t think we’re anywhere close to the peak of property values in Montrose. You can still get an older 1,500 square foot townhome in the area for under $250,000. The average price for a bigger (~2,500sf) recent construction townhome is probably around $600,000. Those prices would be laughably low in comparable neighborhoods in most cities. Gentrification doesn’t really stop halfway like that barring a major economic downturn — once the ball starts rolling like this it just keeps going until the whole neighborhood is gleaming and wealthy. If you think Montrose has reached that point yet, you’re wrong. A fully gentrified urban neighborhood doesn’t have horrible apartment complexes like Takara So or vacant lots and skeazy strip centers on its main commercial street. Gentrification isn’t going to stop in Montrose until you can’t get a new townhome for less than a million or an apartment for less than $1,400.” [Christian, commenting on Gibbs Boats on West Gray and Montrose Is Selling Everything Now] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: HOW TO POSITION YOUR INNER LOOP INVESTMENT BUSINESS FOR THE COMING DOWNTURN 
“Cody, yeah I agree with you. If this isn’t the top of a market cycle, it’s damn close. If you bought low, now is the time to sell high. And do it without regret because you’ll never go broke by profit-taking. But even more than your Montrose assets, sell the stuff that you’ve got that is further east. In a downturn, there will be a flight to asset quality both on the part of capital markets and tenants. Montrose values will go down, but Greater Third Ward be much more volatile.
Use some of the proceeds to short high-yield bonds, use the remainder to reposition your outfit as an apartment management company. No matter how bad things get, there will always be a need for management companies, and this gives you a way to maintain the continuity of your career and to keep your ear to the ground. Then, in the worst of the down-cycle, while most everybody else is paralyzed and some are distressed sellers, you’ll have cash (hopefully a LOT of cash if that short position plays out for you the way I think that it might), a company, and a resume.
And when my prediction pans out and you’re fantastically successful, don’t forget whose crystal ball made it possible. I might need a job by then.” [TheNiche, commenting on Gibbs Boats on West Gray and Montrose Is Selling Everything Now] Illustration: Lulu
HOUSTON’S HOTEL BUILDING BOOM 
If you’ve been adding up the new Embassy Suites planned for Hughes Landing in The Woodlands, the 14-story combo Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites now beginning construction on Crawford St. between Capitol and Rusk downtown (illustrated at right, directly behind the Marriott Marquis going up one block to the south), and other recent reports of new hotels coming to town, keep counting: Arch-Con’s Michael Vaughn tells Real Estate Bisnow’s Catie Dixon that 66 new hotels will be built in the greater Houston area over the next 2 years, and “that’s mostly just the major brands” that he knows about. [Houston Business Journal; Real Estate Bisnow] Photo: American Liberty Hospitality
COMMENT OF THE DAY: ODE TO THE SOUTHEAST LINE CLEARANCE TESTING REGIMEN 
“9:53 pm and I can hear the hollow, electronic train horn from my study window, the sad woot of the empty car. Despite the fact that I cannot ride the Metro train, it runs. Past me on my morning commute, it runs. Stopping traffic for 10 minutes on my way home. Always, it runs.” [crunch, commenting on Why Metro Trains Are Already Rolling Around UH] Illustration: Lulu
HOUSTON DEVELOPMENT ANALOGIES YOU CAN EAT FOR BREAKFAST 
Here’s a freshly baked city-development paradigm that’s a pretty good, but imperfect match for Houston, writes Christopher Andrews: “Houston’s inner core, at least that area within the I-610 loop, predominantly west of I-45, makes up most of the ‘new donut’ downtown area, even though Houston’s currently gentrifying and historically vibrant neighborhoods lie just outside of its downtown district. Our ‘Inner Suburbs and Inner Core’ portion of Houston (think Alief, Sharpstown, Southwest and Southeast Houston, Northside, Acres Homes) is continuing to age, and is evidenced when we look at home sale prices. Naturally, then the newer homes in the ‘Collar Counties’ (think Sugarland, Cinco Ranch, The Woodlands, Kingwood) attract families and professionals looking for new housing. That comprises Houston’s ‘new donut’ paradigm.” Why stop there? There are scone and English muffin models to consider too. But which breakfast item best describes the shape of the city? “While I love donuts, I like bagels too,” Andrews writes. “Houston’s development, and the downtown development in many cities, is more like the experience of having a cinnamon crunch bagel at Panera, which one can argue is much like a donut anyways. You know the bagel has a hole in it somewhere. It’s just filled in with sweet, cinnamon-y toasted sugar. You know the hole is there in the middle of the doughy periphery, it’s just filled in. Maybe that toasted cinnamon sugar filling is the gigantic amount of sweet public funding that cities have dedicated to building these stadiums, convention centers, and even residential developments.” [Not of It] Photo of Cinnamon Crunch Bagel: Panera
FAIRHOPE RANCH REDO AIMS FOR A SMALLER FLIP 
As Swamplot reader Tawnya notes, the Braes Terrace ranchburger that emerged mid-August from a spring-and-summer redo sporting an almost-$700K asking price (it sold previously this past April for a far humbler $361K) has undergone a second, even quicker refresh. Sporting a new listing agent and a new side fence fronting its Buffalo Speedway frontage (pictured above), the home at 3203 Fairhope St. is now available for $649,900. The previous listing had dropped from $698K to $686K earlier this month, but was terminated yesterday. [HAR; previously on Swamplot]
WHY METRO TRAINS ARE ALREADY ROLLING AROUND UH 
No, the new light-rail lines won’t be ready to carry passengers anytime this year — if you’re looking for a ride, check again in 2015. But over the next couple of weeks, you may see a Southeast Line train or 2 skirting the western and southern borders of the University of Houston. Starting today, Metro will be shuttling vehicles along the path shown in red on the Purple Line map at left, from the corner of Elgin and Scott Streets through MacGregor Park to the vehicle storage facility just past the Palm Center Transit Center — for safety testing. Map: Metro
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOUSTON HAS NO TIME FOR THE PAST 
“Houstonians do not look back at the past. They are so intent upon running into the future at break-neck speed that any glance into the past could lead to a disastrous fall. I will have you know that they are running with scissors.” [Bubba, commenting on The Real Estate Secrets Buried Around Market Square] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: BUYERS WILL BE COMING TO SCOOP UP YOUR ENTIRE CONDO COMPLEX 
“I don’t know how it went for Park Memorial, but with these Post Oak Townhomes only some number deemed the majority had to approve it, and the hearsay is that there was a lot of misery and gnashing of teeth by those who did not want to sell.
I am surprised there was not more media chatter about the sale of this complex. To me, it seemed flat out REMARKABLE that you could get even half to agree in a complex of that size. A big story + a harbinger of the future for aging condos.” [Harold Mandell, commenting on The End of the Post Oak Park Townhomes] Illustration: Lulu
