COULD A $40 BILLION BIRD STOP COASTAL FLOODING IN THE INDONESIAN CAPITAL? Meanwhile, in Jakarta: A Dutch firm has designed a giant seawall complex shaped like a mythical Indonesian bird to help the city deal with present and projected coastal flooding, linked to subsidence from massive groundwater extraction. What could go wrong? According to impact studies of the project, plenty: skeptics’ concerns include the complete erosion of nearby islands, the inadvertent creation of a polluted and oxygen-depleted zone in Jakarta bay that would be toxic to marine life, and even an increase in corruption as the $40 billion project is executed. The Great Garuda and its 17 artificial islands would need to be in place by 2025 to shelter the 10-million-person capital as intended; the project would be partially funded by the sale of newly created land to developers. [National Geographic]
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VILLA ARCOS TACOS’ PERSONALITY SPLIT 
A Sunday post to the Facebook page of Villa Arcos Tacos announced that the East End taco joint would be moving, changing its name, and offering barbecue alongside its familiar Tex-Mex specialties. An emphatic press release issued this morning, however, asserts that “None of these claims are true. In fact, they are completely false.” Villa Arcos operator Dena Gutierres (sister of recently deceased former owner Yolanda Black Navarro) told CultureMap’s Eric Sandler that she had been planning to end her 5-year lease on the space at 3900 Navigation Blvd. long before her sister’s November passing, in light of some $250,000 of modifications needed to comply with City inspectors’ requests. But Black Navarro’s son Christian insists that the restaurant will remain at 3900 Navigation Blvd., where it has operated for the past 38 years, and that he and City inspectors are “working together to determine what corrections are required”. Gutierres plans to open Texas Tacos and Barbecue at 1000 Telephone Rd. in the current home of Oak Leaf Smokehouse after her lease ends on January 31st. [CultureMap] Photo of Villa Arcos Tacos at 3900 Navigation Blvd.: Jamanta F. via Yelp
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WELCOMING HOUSTON’S NEW HIGH-DENSITY OVERLORDS 
“Why should the image of a small, single-family home surrounded by townhouses be frightening? This image is a symbol of the fact that Houston is the city with perhaps the single fastest ability to adapt to changing housing demand. This kind of densification is why a lot more people can afford to live close to jobs and recreation, rather than being forced into the suburbs. This picture is a sign of a vibrant, thriving neighborhood, and fills me with hope for the future.” [Angostura, commenting on Getting Ready for What 2016 Has in Store for Houston] Illustration: Lulu
The Army wants you to send the Corps of Engineers your thoughts on Segments H and I-1 of the Grand Parkway — if you can get them in order by February 1st. A public comment period, following some slight route revisions to the 37-miles-plus-a-bit-extra stretch of the in-progress outer-outer loop shown above in red, opened on December 30th. This next addition to Houston’s increasingly elaborate Saturn cosplay will run from 59 between Porter and New Caney through Montgomery, Liberty, and Chambers counties, skirting southeast of Dayton to link up with I-10 near Mont Belvieu.
Want to read up before having your say? The Final Environmental Impact Statement and associated documentation for the two segments, which collectively total 2,829 pages in pdf, have been helpfully split into 2 volumes for your perusing pleasure.
Eastex Connections
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Today Swamplot is again sponsored by Judy Thompson, exclusively a buyer’s agent. Thanks for your support, Judy!
Judy Thompson has operated the West U Real Estate website since 2003. The site provides regular assessments of Houston residential market conditions for homes in 10 separate price ranges in 19 popular Houston Zip Codes. Thompson’s regularly updated calculations take into account the amount of inventory currently available and the pace of sales in the previous 12 months. Color-coded charts show whether by each calculation the current market favors buyers, sellers, or neither (a “normal†market). A portion of the latest overall chart, which came out yesterday, is reproduced above.
A separate chart on the site plots the average of the weighted averages from the market conditions chart, attempting to illustrate the change in housing inventory in 6 MLS areas over time. (The lowest point was the 2-month supply that held roughly from spring 2013 to spring 2014 — “that crazy free-for-all when anything decent had multiple offers by day 3,†Thompson notes.) The average inventory currently is just under a 6-month supply, according to her latest data.
More detailed figures for each Zip Code are provided on separate charts. Thompson has worked as a buyers’ agent exclusively since 1997.
Hoping to find a way for your business to climb the charts? Consider becoming a Swamplot site sponsor.
Sponsor of the Day
Note: This story has been updated.
Take one last lick — Heights Candy Bar is closing, as are internally connected gift-clothing-and-knick-knack shops Oolala and Tulips & Tutus. Sweets dealer Tania Gumney announced this morning that the 3 shops at 833 Studewood will melt away shortly; Gumney’s mother-in-law, Judy Pfardresher, runs Oolala, but has decided to retire after 13 years of operation.
Pfardresher has subleased parts of the 833 space to various other businesses throughout her tenancy; Gumney joined the glucose trade and set up shop in 2014.
Sugar Crash in the Heights
- Plunging Crude Price Threatens To Drag Down Houston’s Residential Real Estate Market With It [Texas Monthly]
- Development Slowing as Fewer Than 1.6M SF of New Office Space Will Be Completed in 2017-18, According to JLL [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston Could Lose as Many as 50K Jobs in Manufacturing, Oil and Gas Before the Industry Recovers [Houston Chronicle]
- Lincoln Property Secures $60.74M in Financing for Galleria Place Office Campus [Houston Chronicle]
- Vacant Waddell’s Housefurnishing Building in EaDo To Be Converted into Lofts [Houston Chronicle]
- Surge Homes Starts Residential Developments in Upper Kirby, the Museum District, Midtown [Realty News Report]
- Magnolia, Richmond, The Woodlands Among Highest Apartment Rents in Texas, Finds Apartment List [Houston Chronicle]
- Second Ward Taco Joint Villa Arcos Changing Location and Name [Culturemap]
- Baker St. Pub & Grill in Rice Village Has Closed [HBJ]
Photo of the Tarkett Site: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
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Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Flower City gets some pruning, and other neighborhood touch ups.
- 5623 Willow Walk Ln [HAR]
THE “UBER OF COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE” IS STRETCHING ITS REACH FROM MINNESOTA TO TEXAS Meanwhile, in the Twin Cities: Online commercial real estate matchmaking startup Crelow, originally founded to connect building owners to potential tenants online (and pocket a share of the would-have-been brokerage fees) is expanding its reach cross-country as 2016 rolls in. Crelow launched in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area at the end of 2014 and opened up shop in Denver last March; Houston and Phoenix came online in early December, and entry into more cities is planned. The company has since revised its business model to allow tenant reps to participate, but still offers incentives to those flying solo. [HBJ, Minneapolis Business Journal]
A Saturday-afternoon fire has temporarily flushed Montrose bar The Eagle from its roost at 611 Hyde Park Blvd — day-drinkers at the hotspot’s newish location reported smelling smoke and seeing lights flicker just before a manager ran downstairs to the first-floor bar area in the converted Depression Era-home to hustle patrons and staffers out. Owner Jay Allen told KTRK’s Deborah Wrigley that the permit had been approved for an already-installed sprinkler system in the building, but the City hadn’t hooked up the water yet. (No injuries were reported.)
Despite heavy smoke and fire damage to the second and third floors and water damage to the first, owner Jay Allen vows that the club will swoop back to its Montrose aerie (pictured above during the 2015 Pride season) as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the Eagle is screaming again (albeit only on Sundays) at its old bayouside digs downtown — “the dungeon†in the basement space at 709 Franklin — until repairs on the Hyde Park building are completed.
Back To the Underground
Swamplot’s first sponsor for the new year is Farmstead: Grow & Eat. Thanks for sponsoring this website, Farmstead!
Farmstead is a retail garden center that carries a wide selection of edible plants, including the widest selection of fruit, nut, and citrus trees that grow well in Houston. The storefront also features herbs, seeds, and tools necessary to get you on the path to gardening success.
Farmstead is located at 6640 West Montgomery Rd. in the 77091; it’s open from 10am to 4pm on Saturdays and by appointment on Sundays. To find out more, take a look at the Farmstead website.
Trying to grow your own customers? Plenty of water, sunshine, and a few rounds of Swamplot sponsor of the day spots might just do the trick.
Sponsor of the Day
Where you can: Aldi, Kroger, Spec’s (at least some of them), Brook’s Place (where it gets you a discount), Corkscrew BBQ, El Tiempo, Taste of Texas.
Where you can’t: Costco, Fiesta, HEB, Phonicia, Randall’s, Sprouts, Target, Trader Joe’s, the Galleria, Whataburger, and a slew of restaurants across town that have told Kyle Nielsen and friends that they plan to ban openly carried handguns at their establishments. Nielsen created a publicly accessible Google doc listing the yes, no, and maybe-so responses of various Houston grocery stores and restaurants to the question “Will you post a 30.07 sign banning open carry of handguns in your store, starting January 1?”
Aiming to Please
As the clock ticked over into 2016, Houston Botanic Garden and the Houston Golf Association each had something else to celebrate: both groups met end-of-year 5-million-dollar fundraising goals required by agreements with the City to carry forward their respective plans for 2 east Houston golf courses. The golfers raised enough money to move forward with preservation and renovation of Gus Wortham Golf Course, at 7000 Capitol street (south of the Houston Ship Channel Turning Basin, where Wayside meets Polk). Houston Botanic Garden had initially pushed to add some color to the oldest greens in Texas and redevelop the Brays-Bayou-side space as a public garden.
That garden is now planned instead for above-pictured Glenbrook Golf Course, a semi-maintained set of greens-turned-greenspace along Sims Bayou north of 45 from Hobby Airport (just outside the southeast corner of the Loop).
Teeing Off in East Houston
- Houston Commercial Real Estate Players Predict What 2016 Will Bring [HBJ]
- Some of 2015’s Biggest Stories in Houston Real Estate [Houston Chronicle]
- Transwestern’s Chip Clarke: There Is Still ‘Good Investor Demand’ in Houston [Realty News Report]
- Torchy’s Tacos Also Opts Out of Texas’ New Open Carry Gun Law, Now In Effect [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
Photo of the Wortham Theatre Grand Foyer: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
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