DUTCH ARCHITECT READY FOR FUTURE MIXED-USE RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT IN ABANDONED OIL TANKERS Meanwhile, in Amsterdam: As the IMF announces predictions of oil prices as low as $20 to $30 per barrel, architect Chris Collaris is already deep into planning for the conversion of empty oil megatankers into residential and mixed-use spaces. Collaris refers to “an overdose of pretentious iconic buildings” in oil-wealthy Persian Gulf states such as Dubai, and suggests that retrofitted tankers would serve as “a true icon” of today’s economic landscape “into the present and next era”, referencing a hypothetical post-oil future. Check out interior and exterior renderings and plans for the group’s inaugural design: the enormous Black Gold. [Chris Collaris, via CityLab]
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Direct flights to Cuba from the US are back on the table (probably, eventually) per last week’s agreement between Havana and the State Department — and whenever that happens, Southwest Airlines is looking to get in on the action from its newly-minted international concourse at Hobby Airport. The concourse has been launching passengers to Central America and the Caribbean since its mid-October opening, which marked the airport’s return to the international game for the first time since IAH opened in 1969.
Other major additions to Hobby include a 3,000-spot parking garage (shown above) still partially under construction on one of the former EcoPark lots, just west of the original garage (now labeled the Red Garage). The new structure (known as the Blue Garage) is rising in phases: Phase I opened just in time for Thanksgiving, and the rest of the structure should be ready to receive rather less anxious travelers some time next year. The pedestrian bridge shown in the photo above connects Level 3 of the new garage to the newly-expanded Terminal area:
Park and Fly
 Hobby Airport... "Pin It")
COMMENT OF THE DAY: IS HOUSTON ALREADY EQUIPPED FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL SPRAWL? 
“What a waste! The coastal prairies will soon be gone and few will remember them. Everyone will say, ‘Well, Houston doesn’t have much in the way of natural environment anyway, but at least it has affordable housing compared to a lot of cities,’ and ‘Oh yeah, it is hot, but we stay inside most of the time, so who cares about the outside world?’ Maybe Houstonians should be the first to move to Mars or the Moon. (Hopefully) there aren’t any irreplaceable ecosystems to replace with big box stores, suburban homes, and highways!” [Duston, commenting on Houston Shifting to a Buyer’s Market; Making Way for the Lancaster Hotel Parking Lot] Illustration: Lulu
Today’s Swamplot Sponsor of the Day is personal coach Cricket Buchler.
If you’re searching for a last-minute creative and personalized holiday gift for friends, family members, or employees, consider giving a fun and inspiring 90-minute personal coaching session with coach Cricket Buchler. An experienced corporate trainer who has helped top executives, Hollywood celebrities, and employees in a range of industries address personal and professional development issues, Cricket also works one-on-one, guiding clients to explore and unlock possibilities and design plans to realize change, and coaching them through their journey toward an intentional life.
A coaching session can be a great gift for anyone on your list who is looking to take the next step forward in life, work, or relationships, but feels a bit stuck as to what next steps might look like. You’ll find a sampling of testimonials from former clients on Cricket’s website, along with more information about coaching sessions. Mention Swamplot when you book online and receive a 30 percent holiday discount.
Give a creative last-minute gift to your own company — by helping it to become a Swamplot sponsor. Find out more about the program by contacting us on the Swamplot sponsorship line.
Sponsor of the Day
Permits were issued yesterday for construction of a new tunnel concourse below 800 Bell St. —Â the Louisiana tunnel will be tied into the new digs planned beneath the former ExxonMobil building, at the corner of Bell and Milam downtown.
Following Exxon’s gradual withdrawal north to its new Woodlands campus, the Bell St. building is being completely redone — beneath a fancy new hat, the structure’s exterior fins will be engulfed in a new glass skin to add 100,000 sq.ft. of floorspace to the building. Eric Anderson told the HBJ last year that the only part of the building that wouldn’t be replaced is the concrete.
Renderings and site plans from architects Ziegler Cooper now provide a glimpse into plans for the basement and coming tunnel connections as well:
800 Bell St.
38 miles of Grand Parkway are expected to open early next year — NewQuest Properties is prepping Spring Town Center for the anticipated additional traffic by adding five new pad sites to the retail complex, located off of Kuykendahl Rd. south of FM 2920. Grand Parkway Segments F-1, F-2, and G — running between US 290 and the Eastex Freeway — are kind-of-sort-of nearing completion following a flood-heavy 2015, and are expected open in the first quarter of 2016.
The new additions to the shopping center are highlighted in yellow in the map above, and the zoomed-in section below along Kuykendahl:
Coming This Fall to Spring
- Kirkland & Ellis Signs 62K-SF Lease for Top 2-and-a-Half Floors of Hines’ 609 Main St. Office Tower [HBJ: previously on Swamplot]
- The Scene After the Hogan-Allnoch Building Demo [Houston Streetwise; previously on Swamplot]
- Economist Tom Lawler Predicts Houston Housing Market Will Continue To Cool [Calculated Risk via Houston Chronicle]
- Ellington Airport Awarded State Grant To Assist in Building New Air Traffic Control Tower [Houston Public Media]
- 20-Ft. Hole in San Jacinto River Waste Pits Has Contaminated Water with ‘Untold Amounts’ of Dioxin, Says EPA [KRIV]
- Galveston Preparing for High-Tide ‘Nuisance’ Flooding [Houston Public Media]
- The Proper Signage That Allows Private Businesses To Forbid Openly Carried Guns on Their Premises [Houston Press]
Photo of nighttime construction at Braeswood and Kirby: Rakesh Agrawal
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Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Some retooling, rearrangement, and remediation on today’s permit spread.
- 23407 FM 362 [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HIP, TASTY, FUNKY, AND SAVVY HAVE LEFT THE BUILDING 
“I think any time you need words on a sign or mural to declare that your city is hip or creative, it’s likely that your city is in reality struggling to be hip and creative. It means your surroundings and culture don’t already innately project that image.” [notsohip, commenting on Some Initial Feedback on an Elevated West Loop Lane; Rebranding Houston] Photo: Swamplot inbox
Still hunting for that perfect spot to boil up some fresh eye of newt during tonight’s winter solstice sunset? Github user and mapping fanatic Demeter Sztanko has you covered, a reader tells Swamplot just in time. Sztanko has programmed an interactive map highlighting all the streets aligned with the summer and winter solstices — so you too can get in on the mystical fun from a bit closer to home than Wilshire. Choice picks for an in-line solstice vantage include that entire off-kilter neighborhood north of Westheimer between Waugh and Mandell (pictured above) and certain segments of the South Loop.
G.I.S. for Druids
Today’s Swamplot Sponsor of the Day is Tom Rusteberg CGI.
Tom Rusteberg works with real estate professionals to create high-quality visual representations of what they are bringing into the market — before it is built.
Tom has performed visualization work for numerous clients in and around the Houston area since 2005. The work is technical, but it’s also intuitive. His renderings come out of thin air, but they’re guided through long lasting relationships with clients who rely on him to provide a visual advantage in the marketplace for their products.
For more information, please visit Tom’s perpetually outdated website.
Got something cool you’d like to show Swamplot readers? Our Sponsor of the Day program is perfect for that. Find out more by pinging our special sponsorship line.
Sponsor of the Day
YOU MAY YET HAVE YOUR CHANCE TO LIVE ON TOP OF THE SUR LA TABLE BY THE RIVER OAKS THEATER 
Senior Leasing VP Gerald Crump of Weingarten Realty Investors told Nancy Sarnoff of the Chronicle last week that even bigger changes are likely on their way to the River Oaks Shopping Center section on the north side of W. Gray between McDuffie and Driscoll, currently housing Sur La Table, Brasserie 19, and Cafe Ginger, among others (shown here from above, facing a distant Kroger’s). Still-nebulous plans for revamping the space include incorporating residential units, more retail or more parking. Any changes to the center, which is designated a historic landmark by the City, would need the nominal thumbs-up of the Houston Architectural and Historic Commission — though need for that approval can be bypassed by letting a 90-day waiting period expire, David Bush of Preservation Houston told Sarnoff. Crump says that the company will work to communicate plans to the surrounding community as they develop, but also tells Sarnoff that “as an owner and developer, you have to remain relevant”. The redo, whatever shape it eventually takes, could take that shape as early as 2019. [Houston Chronicle, previously on Swamplot] Photo: bjoelio via Swamplot Flickr pool
After a 4-year coma and slow recovery, the Baylor College of Medicine’s McNair Campus at the corner of Cambridge St. and Old Spanish Tr. may be back on track to eventually lead a normal life — new renderings released late last week to Joe Martin of the HBJ show the next phase of construction for what is now being called the Baylor College of Medicine Medical Center facility. Following a bleed-out of construction financing and subsequent failed merger negotiations between Baylor and Rice University, the building’s shell was completed in early 2010 and sat empty until a partial buildout gave the structure new life in late 2013.
St. Luke’s (owned by Catholic Health Initiatives) teamed up with Baylor shortly thereafter and made plans to move its Texas Medical Center hospital operations to the new facility. The Texas Heart Institute, which operates independently in St. Luke’s existing building, will also be transplanted into the new facility.
The newly released site plan ties in to the double-helix-reminiscent campus recently proposed by the TMC for the parking lot next door — the campus is shown at the top of the site plan below:
Recovery on Cambridge St.
- Houston On Track To Log $11.6B in Commercial Real Estate Sales This Year, Down from $12.3B in 2014 [Houston Chronicle]
- Pair of Century-Old Downtown Buildings, Pecan Tree Coming Down To Make Way for Lancaster Hotel Parking Lot [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Amirex Capital Services Buys Baytown Retail Center Baytown Plaza [Realty News Report]
- University of Houston Information Center at Energy Research Park Moves Forward [HBJ]
- Home Inventory Grows as Sales Slow in Houston, According to Redfin [HBJ]
- Homes Selling Quickly in Houston’s First ‘Agrihood’ Harvest Green [HBJ]
- New Icehouse Eight Row Flint Opening in Former Citgo Station at Yale and W. 11th Soon [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Meat-Centric Bacon Bros. Public House Planning To Open First Houston Franchise Next Year [HBJ]
- Kenny & Ziggy’s Opening New Restaurant in Former Fish City Grill in Plaza in the Park Shopping Center [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- What the Interest Rate Hike Might Mean for Houston [Houston Chronicle]
- State Approves Controversial, $600M Power-Line Project To Feed More Electricity into the Houston Area [Houston Chronicle]
- $1B in Disaster Relief Funds from Hurricanes Ike, Dolly Still Unspent 7 Years Later in Texas [Houston Chronicle]
- Harris County Has Lost More Than 30% of Its Coastal Prairie Wetlands Since 1992 [Houston Chronicle]
- The Art Works Taking Over the Temporary Wall at the Glassell School of Art Construction Site [#FutureMFAH]
Photo of the Chase Tower Observation Deck: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool
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