HOUSTON LIGHT RAIL BEATS THE COMPETITION IN PEDESTRIAN, BICYCLE COLLISIONS PER MILE 
Following 2 deaths over the course of Super Bowl Week and Weekend resulting from cyclist-vs-light-rail collisions, the Chronicle‘s Dug Begley takes a look at how Houston stacks up nationally in terms of train-related accidents. The verdict, after a look through some National Transit Database data: Houston’s rail system has more walker and cyclist hits per mile “than any other major line in the country.” Houston breezes in at less that 100,000 train miles travelled per collision (compared to more than twice as many miles traveled per collision in Dallas, and more than 17 times as many in Boston). Metro CEO Tom Lambert tells Begley it may have to do with Houston’s high number of at-grade crossings and relative lack of barriers to keep people off the tracks. Begley says that the original decision to build the train at-grade isn’t itself unusual given the cost of elevated rail, but notes that “few places outside Houston have built their lines in some of the most congested and pedestrian-heavy areas of their respective urban regions.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo of light-rail train dressed for Super Bowl Week: Christine Wilson
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A relatively sleek new style of Walmart Supercenter (rendered above) is set to open next week, hugged on 2 sides by the Timbercrest Village RV Park just north of Hufsmith Rd., Beth Marshall notes this week. The prototypical “smart Walmart” at 25800 Kuykendahl Rd. appears to have taken over part of the property that was previously part of the trailer park’s land, and will take the name Walmart Augusta Pines in reference to its east-west cross street (August Pines Dr.).
The new store will include a health clinic, a means of checkout-line-free purchasing mitigated by phone app, and that previously noted first Chobani Cafe to open in Houston (or outside of New York, for that matter). The clinic is also the first in the Houston area since Walmart began its pilot program to move into broader healthcare and disease management services in 2014, with an initial focus on Texas, Georgia and South Carolina — 3 states that didn’t accept federal money to expand Medicaid  and also have a high concentration of uninsured residents.Â
- New Walmart Store To House Chobani Cafe [Community Impact]
- Walmart August Pines [Walmart]
Rendering of Walmart August Pines: Walmart
Rolling Out in Tomball
- Single-Family Home Sales Went Up Slightly Year-over-Year in January, Found HAR [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston Apartment Market Facing a Sluggish Year as Demand Struggles To Keep Up with Supply [Houston Chronicle]
- Camden Property Trust Gives Declining Outlook for Houston Apartment Market in 2017 [HBJ]
- Atlanta-Based Law Firm Fisher Phillips in Negotiations To Lease Space in One Shell Plaza [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- Stone Mountain Properties Has Acquired Beltway 8 Office Flex Center in Southwest Houston [HBJ]
- 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza Slated To Open Third Houston-Area Location Today in Katy [HBJ]
- Houston Texans Grille in CityCentre Has Closed for Some Reason [HBJ]
- Mayor: The Super Bowl Left Houston with a $350M Gain, and Good PR [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Memorial Villages Police Considering Installing ‘Virtual Gate’ of License Plate Reader Cameras [KHOU]
- Repairs Begin on Texas City’s Hurricane Levee [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- UH Exhibition Pays Tribute To Late Architecture Professor John Zemanek [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of the former Houston Chronicle building: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
He who is of calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of demolition.
- 1205 Horseshoe Dr. [HAR]
Technically, that’s just $499,423, cash sale, only — but you get the idea. The former Monta Beach Boy Scout Lodge at 3003 Dover St. was build in 1937 and converted into a 2-bedroom house in the early 1950s. The 1,400-sq.-ft. home sits a few blocks from the east-facing armpit of I-45 South and the 610 Loop, on a 21,600-sq.-ft. property backed up against a drainage channel leading to Sims Bayou. The home was featured by the Chronicle in 2007, after the current owner (turned current listing agent) redid the wiring and chinking between logs; that article is now featured prominently in the listing, too, with a few other write-ups:
Pining Near Sims Bayou
Downtown cellphone naturalist Christine Wilson sends some shots this morning of unauthorized tree remodeling on the banks of Buffalo Bayou east of Travis St. by Spaghetti Warehouse (across from the University of Houston Downtown building shown up top). Wilson says a chat with some Buffalo Bayou Park rangers confirmed the identity of the anonymous tree hackers as likely beavers. That aligns with a report from earlier this month from the folks at Save Buffalo Bayou of other activity in the same area by rodents of unusual size. More closeup shots of denuded trees below:
Stumping Downtown
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HOW MANY DOWNTOWNS DOES HOUSTON HAVE? 
The list of Houston neighborhoods with potential to be mistaken for Downtown by outsiders, Blake Mathews of KHOU writes this week, is long, and includes at least “Uptown (Galleria), the Texas Medical Center, Greenspoint, Greenway Plaza, The Woodlands and perhaps even Westchase.” So what makes a Downtown? Mathews runs through some factors for consideration, ranging from the city’s population density center (which falls somewhere west of Downtown) to total office space (Uptown has less than downtown Houston, but more than downtown Denver) to building height (with a specific shoutout to the Williams Tower, pictured here.) [KHOU] Photo of Williams Tower: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
- Morgan Starts Construction on Whole Foods-Footed Mixed-Use Project Pearl Midtown [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- Camden Property Trust Rents, Occupancy Down Year-over-Year in the Fourth Quarter [Houston Chronicle]
- Duke Realty Has Sold Sam Houston Crossing II to Buchanan Street Partners [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston-Based Neighbors Health Relocates Headquarters to Richmond Park Westchase [Realty News Report]
- CBRE: Houston’s Office Leasing Slowdown Reminiscent of Post-Enron Years [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- Dallas-Fort Worth-Area Chef Tim Love Opening Woodshed in Levy Park [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Carlo’s Bakery of TV’s ‘Cake Boss’ Fame To Open New Kiosk Bakery in The Woodlands Mall Feb. 18 [Culturemap]
- Ryan Hildebrand’s 5-Year-Old Triniti Restaurant and Sanctuari Bar on S. Shepherd Has Closed [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Houston, San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Austin Ranked Among Best Cities To Live In by U.S. News & World Report [abc13]
- Houston Restaurants Saw a 31.5% Increase in Sales During Super Bowl Weekend, Finds Upserve [Thrillist]
Photo: o texano via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Double reed, double down.
- 22 Grogans Point Rd. [HAR]
The remaining segments of the Richmont Square apartments are on their way down — a reader sends a few shots this morning capturing the current state of the disunion. The demo permits for the then-remaining 2 thirds of the storied 1960s apartment complex have been trickling in since December, with a few more issued late last week; the associated flattening work on the Menil-owned property started late last year as well. The view from the Richmond Ave. parking lot and former entryway shows the empty space formerly occupied by the complex’s main entrance:
Clearing Rooms on Richmond Ave.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOUSTON NEEDS A NEW T-SHIRT 
“. . . LA and New York marketers just don’t know enough about Houston or don’t bother to learn more. They just hear ‘Houston’ and queue up the rocket launch. This might have been magnified by the rumor that PR firms in Houston were overlooked to market the Super Bowl. But maybe now that the elites have seen Houston thanks to the Super Bowl that will change. It is like when you tell your great-aunt you like Lord of the Rings when you are 12 and so she buys you LOTR T-Shirts for the next 20 years.” [rex, commenting on Taking on the ‘Houston, We Have a Problem’ Problem]
HOUSTON-TO-DALLAS BULLET TRAIN PUTTING THE BRAKES ON ALL THOSE LAWSUITS 
The company planning to build a bullet train between Houston and Dallas appears to be altering the legal strategy it had been using to try to get landowners to allow crews on their land to survey property along the proposed 240-mile route. Texas Tribune reporter Brandon Formby says Texas Central Partners has withdrawn 17 lawsuits across the state (including one in Harris County that had a trial scheduled for July) and settled 21 others that had sought court-ordered access. Officials of the private company now say they will seek an “open dialogue†with property owners about letting crews in. The company tells Formby it has already reached land-purchase options with more than 3,000 landowners, accounting for 30 percent of the total number of parcels it needs, and 50 percent in the 2 counties along the route adjacent to Harris County: Grimes and Waller. The company announced last week that the train is now expected to begin operating in 2023. [Texas Tribune; Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot] Map of proposed high-speed rail routes: Texas Central Railway
