• Sims Luxury Builders Breaks Ground on Condo Project Riva at the Park at 3331 D’Amico St. [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
• Houston Community College Has Spent $35M on More Than 35 Acres It’s No Longer Planning To Use [Houston Chronicle]
• Houston, Dallas No. 1 and 2 in the Nation in New Home Sales, According to Metrostudy [Realty News Report]
• Gerald Hines To Host Architecture Forum on Development and Design at the Wortham Theater Center on Sept. 18 [Houston Chronicle]
• A Family of 4 Can Live Comfortably on the Lowest Salary in Houston Out of 15 Major U.S. Cities [Business Insider via HBJ]
• Biskit Junkie Opening a Second Houston Location in the Former Home of Mango’s on Lower Westheimer [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Metro’s Massive Bus Route Overhaul Debuts with Free Bus and Rail Rides Through Aug. 22 [Houston Chronicle]
• NRG Stadium Completes $12M Wireless Upgrade [Click2Houston]
• Statue of Mahatma Gandhi Unveiled at Entrance to Houston’s Little India Area off Hillcroft Avenue Near US-59 [Houston Chronicle]
• Sheltering Evacuees During Hurricane Katrina was the Astrodome’s ‘Finest Moment,’ Says Then-Harris County Judge [Houston Public Media]

Photo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Sugar Land Home Builder Chris Sims Planning 40-Unit Luxury Residential Tower Aurora in the Galleria Area [Houston Chronicle]
• Hartman Buys Ashford Crossing II Building Near the Energy Corridor [Realty News Report]
• City Seeks Public Comment on First ‘General Plan,’ Will Hold Public Hearing on Aug. 20 [Houston Chronicle]
• Atlanta Pizza Chain Mellow Mushroom Signs Lease for 1919 N. Shepherd, Across 19th St. from Future Site of Dallas Pizza Chain Cane Rosso [HBJ]
• Public Meetings on U.S. 290 Widening Deal To Be Held Sept. 1 in Cypress, Sept. 3 in Houston [The Highwayman]
• A Tour of Houston’s Soon-To-Be-Extinct 26/27 Bus Route Along the Loop [Houston Chronicle]
• Confused Metro Riders Can Refer to a Trip Planner at Ridemetro.org, Text Messaging System, Help Line When Route Changes Go into Effect [Houston Press]
• Houston’s I-45 ‘Be Someone’ Graffiti Altered for Third Time in a Week [Houston Chronicle]
• Texas Lawmakers Demand Fix for Utility-Related Road Delays [Houston Chronicle]
• What It’s Like To Be Carless in Houston [Texas Monthly]

Photo of The Treehouse at Memorial City: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• July Had the Highest Houston Home Sales Ever with 8,147, Up 6.7% from July 2014, Reports HAR [HBJ]
• Medistar’s 177-Acre, Space-Themed Development in Webster Dubbed SpaceWalk, To Cost More Than $500M [HBJ]
• Grand Pkwy. Spurs Development of Both Signorelli Company’s The Timbers Community in Huffman, Valley Ranch Town Center in Porter [Houston Chronicle]
• Retail Lined Up for New Retail Center Planned Near Fulshear’s Cross Creek Ranch [Prime Property]
• Dickinson Bar-B-Que Owners Plan To Demolish Garcia’s Grill Building, Replace It With a New Concept [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Space Center Houston To Open $12M Independence Plaza Complex and Exhibit on Jan. 23 [HBJ]
• To Understand Houston’s New Bus Network, Just Look at the 27 Route [The Urban Edge]
• Will Metro’s New Bus Plan Actually Get More People To Ride? [Houston Public Media]
• Project To Restore Galveston’s Beaches Kicks Off Today [Houston Public Media]
• Urbanization, Pollution Putting Health of Galveston Bay at Risk, Finds New Report [Galveston County Daily News ($)]

Photo: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Bayou Music Center To Now Be Called Revention Music Center As Part of a 5-Year Naming Rights Deal [Houston Chronicle]
• Lennar Multifamily Communities Bought 9.2 Acres from Medistar Inside ParkWest Business Park Near Grand Pkwy. in Katy [HBJ]
• Brock Group Leases 38,260 SF in the Deerwood Glen Business Park in Deer Park [Prime Property]
• Redevelopment of Long-Vacant Falstaff Brewery Moves Forward After Port Parking Agreement Reached [Galveston County Daily News ($) via Prime Property]
• Keller Williams Realty Inc. Pearland Adds 4K-SF of Office Space in the Sunrise Lake Village Professional Building [HBJ]
• Living Near a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods Will Likely Boost Your Property Values, Finds RealtyTrac [Prime Property]
• The Bird & The Bear Restaurant at 2810 Westheimer Has Closed, Been Sold to Relish Fine Foods [Houston Chronicle]
• Table on Post Oak Blvd. Might Be Transforming into Texas Outpost of L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon [Houstonia]
• City Makes Plan To Add Dedicated Bike Lanes in Both Directions on West Alabama St. [Montrose District]
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Suggests Removing Industrial Waste from 14-Acre Superfund Site on the San Jacinto River [Houston Chronicle]
• Southwaste, Timbergrove Manor Still at Odds Over Hurst St. Disposal Facility [The Leader]
• Outdoor Ban Burn In Effect Now in Harris County [Houston Public Media]

Photo of the West Loop: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Howard Hughes Corp. Says Land Sales Dropped in Second Quarter in The Woodlands, Bridgeland Due To Oil Slump, Heavy Rains [HBJ]
• City Grants Landmark Status to Grace and Henry David House in Southampton Designed by Charles Tapley in 1971 [Houston Chronicle]
• After Nearly 40 Years in the Business, Houston Restaurateur Gigi Huang Launches New Career as a Realtor [HBJ]
• Duo Behind Greenway Coffee and Blacksmith Opening Morningstar, Serving Breakfast, Lunch, Donuts and Kolaches in the Heights [Culturemap]
• Is Bernie’s Burger Bus Planning a Heights Location in the Alabama Furniture Building at 2200 Yale St.? [Not of it]
• Axelrad Beer Garden Set To Open Next Month in Century-Old Third Ward Building at Alabama and Almeda [Houston Chronicle]
• The 2 Big Concepts Behind Why Metro Is Rolling Out a New Bus Network [Houston Public Media]
• Ridership on 2 New Light Rail Lines Went Up in July, Though Still Below Initial Estimates [The Highwayman]
• Houston Leads the Nation in Red-Light Wreck Fatalities with 181 from 2004-2013, Finds National Coalition for Safer Roads [Houston Chronicle]
• ‘Rip Rap’ Poured Along Buffalo Bayou Near River Oaks Country Club’s Bluffs To Hold Banks Eroded by Recent Floods [Houston Public Media]

Photo of the Med Center: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Houston Had Second-Highest Number of Apartment Units Permitted in the Past Year Ending in June with 25,692 [Prime Property]
• 64 Oak Trees Planted at River Oaks District as Part of Complex’s $6M Landscape Plan [Culturemap]
• La Fisheria To Open Downtown Restaurant at 213 Milam While Expansion to The Woodlands Comes to a Halt [Food Chronicles]
• Southern Goods Restaurant Has Soft Opening in Former Table 19 Space in the Heights [Culturemap]
• The Halal Guys Taking Over a Former Snap Kitchen Location near Shepherd Square [Culturemap]
• Planning Underway for Next and Final Key Segments of the Tomball Tollway Between FM 2920 and FM 1774 [Houston Chronicle]
• Poor Road Conditions Costing Houston Drivers $772 More a Year in Vehicle Maintenance, Finds TRIP [Houston Public Media]
• Landmark ‘Be Someone’ Graffiti on I-45 South Restored After Message Changed To ‘Be One’ [Click2Houston]

Photo of Greenway: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Some More Details on Todd Interests’s Plans To Redevelop the Great Southwest Building into a Luxury Apartment Tower [HBJ]
• More Private and Foreign Capital Investors Than Institutional Are Still Buying Apartments in Houston Right Now Amid the Oil Slump [HBJ]
• Construction of Upscale, 5-Story Homewood Suites Gets Underway on Galveston’s Seawall [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Woodlands-Based LGI Homes Sold 853 New Homes in the Second Quarter, Up 29% Over Same Period Last Year [Realty News Report]
• Garden Oaks Isn’t the Ideal Location for Whole Foods’s New 365 Concept, Say Some Brokers [HBJ]
• Brick & Spoon in Montrose That Opened in the Former Bocados Spot Has Closed [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Is Leon’s Lounge Actually the Oldest Bar in Houston? [Houston Chronicle]
• A Few Highlights and ‘Secret’ Histories from the Astrodome Memories Archive Project [The Urban Edge]
• Updated System Maps Are Now Available Online Ahead of Metro’s Bus Network Change on Aug. 16 [Not of it]
• B-Cycle Use Up 20% in the First 7 Months of 2015 Compared to Same Period Last Year [The Highwayman]

Photo of the Astrodome: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Dallas-Based Todd Interests Set To Buy Downtown’s Great Southwest Building, Renovate into Residential Project [HBJ]
• Houston, Dallas Among Largest New Homebuilding Markets Nationally This Year Based on Sales Volume, Finds Metrostudy [Houston Chronicle]
• Baytown Apartment Rents Grew the Most Among Texas Cities from July 2014 to July 2015, Finds Apartment List [Prime Property]
• Houston No. 29 in Ranking of U.S Cities Based on Livability, Education, Health, Economic Growth, and Tax Rates, According to WalletHub [HBJ]
• New Partnership Between Airbnb, Realtor.com Lets Potential Homebuyers Test Out a Neighborhood Before Buying There [Culturemap]
• Management Change at Fitzgerald’s as Concert Promotions Group Pegstar Leaving After Aug. 29 Show To Open White Oak Music Hall in Spring 2016 [Houston Chronicle]
• Owner of Davenport Lounge and Business Partner To Reopen Leon’s Lounge in Midtown [Houston Chronicle]
• Hundreds If Not Thousands of Dead Fish Found in Buffalo Bayou Downtown [Click2Houston]

Photo of Hermann Park: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Designs for Katy School District’s Second, $58M Stadium Revealed, Work To Begin in October [Houston Chronicle]
• Sneak Peek Inside the Former Camp Strake Property Being Redeveloped into Grand Central Park [HBJ]
• Luxury Homebuilder Lifetime Homes Building 2 Residential Communities in Rice Military on Snover and Malone [HBJ]
• Cartier To Open Sept. 3 in River Oaks District, Ahead of Oct. 1 Opening for the Other District Stores [Culturemap]
• Fielding’s Local Kitchen & Bar Now Open in The Woodlands [HBJ]
• Moody Gardens To Begin 22-Month, $27M Renovation of the Aquarium Pyramid Later This Month [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• MTA Board Members Set To Meet Today To Tweak the New Bus Network Launching Aug. 16 [The Highwayman]
• Lawsuit Claims City, Housing Authority Want To Bulldoze Fifth Ward Church, Condemn Property of Another To Use for Private Business [MyFoxHouston]
• Residents Asked Not To Burn Brush on Their Property as Montgomery County Now in Moderate Drought [Houston Public Media]

Photo of Market Square Tower/Critical Mass: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Caldwell Bros. Reveals First Tenants for 65%-Leased Mixed-Use Waterfront Project The Boardwalk at Towne Lake [HBJ]
• Owner of Dallas’s Kessler Theater Under Contract To Buy the Heights Theater [The Leader; previously on Swamplot]
• Unnamed Company Leases 67,504 SF in Boxer Property’s Northwest Commerce Building at 14405 Walters, Will Get Its Name on the Side [Prime Property]
• Kingwood To Add at Least 1,100 New Homes Over the Next Several Years [Houston Chronicle]
• Price Tag on 2115 River Oaks Blvd. Mansion Back on the Market Revealed To Be $17.9M [Culturemap]
• Home Sales in Texas Grew 4.7% Year-Over-Year in the Second Quarter, Finds Texas Quarterly Housing Report [Prime Property]
• Texas Has Also Seen an Influx of Pizza Outlets with Population Growth, According to CBRE Marketflash [Realty News Report]
• Willow Meadows Residents Say City Drainage Project Delaying Their Efforts to Rebuild Post-Memorial Day Floods [Click2Houston]
• Ziegler Cooper Architects Merges with Hall Barnum Lucchesi Architects [Realty News Report]
• Colorado-Based Noodles & Co. Opening First Houston Location at 5174 Richmond Ave. on Aug. 10 [HBJ]
• What Houston Can Do by 2022 To Address the City’s Mobility Challenges [The Urban Edge]

Photo of Lee’s Fried Chicken and Donuts at Heights Blvd. and 6th St.: Brie Kelman via Swamplot inbox

• League City Sees Bump in Commercial Construction [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Renovation of Fifth Ward’s DeLuxe Theater Nears Completion, Grand Opening Set for October [Houston Public Media; previously on Swamplot]
• Downtown Mia Bella at Main and Preston Closed Since May for Remodeling Reopening in 2 to 3 Months [Food Chronicles]
• Town in City Brewing Co. Makes Debut in the Heights at 1125 W Cavalcade St. During White Linen Night [Culturemap]
• Torchy’s Tacos Opening Seventh Houston-Area Location in November at The Woodlands’ Cochran’s Crossing Shopping Center [Houston Chronicle]
• Lack of Connectivity, Construction Deterring Bicyclists from Using Downtown’s Lamar St. Bike Lane [Houston Public Media]

Photo of Downtown: Telwink via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• 365 by Whole Foods Market Planned for Garden Oaks/Greater Heights Areas at Corner of Yale and Loop 610 [Prime Property]
• Group Plans To Convert Historic 2-Story Building at 4600 Main in Midtown into Facility for Veterans, Add a Third Story [Prime Property]
• Houston Tech Company ChaiOne To Begin Construction on New EaDo Headquarters in August [HBJ]
• Houston Ranked the 10th Healthiest Housing Market Among U.S. Metro Areas by Wallethub [Culturemap]
• The Story Behind Architect Alvaro Espinal’s Attention-Grabbing House in Pearland [Houston Chronicle]
• LeBron James-Backed Blaze Fast Fire’d Pizza Now Open in Sugar Land at 16100 Kensington Dr. [Culturemap]
• Metro Hosting Public Meetings Before Launch of New Bus Network Starting This Weekend [Houston Public Media]
• Seawall Blvd. Still Looks the Same 2 Years After Launch of Paid Parking Intended to Support Improvements [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• How To Make Transit Work in Houston [Houston Chronicle]
• Why Houston Has So Many Mattress Stores [Houston Matters; previously on Swamplot]

Photo: telwink via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Cedar Port Industrial Park in Baytown Sells 50 Acres, Warehouse to Venezuela-Based PBP Inc. [HBJ]
• New Idea to Save the Astrodome Involves a Public-Private Partnership Where Tax Credits Would Cover Renovation Expenses [Houston Chronicle]
• Fertitta Unveils Villas at The San Luis Resort at 5222 Seawall Blvd. [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Gator Fabrication Moves into Revamped, Former JM Eagle Plant Property in Conroe [Prime Property]
• Tema Gets $37.5M Construction Loan for 224-Unit Luxury Apartment Project Capella Museum District at 1699 Hermann Dr. [Prime Property]
• Repsol’s New Office Building in Research Forest Lakeside in The Woodlands Has Achieved LEED Gold Designation [Prime Property]
• About 700k-SF of Sublease Space in West Houston is ‘Good as New’ [HBJ]
• The Groves Will Be the First Residential Community in Texas To Receive Comcast’s ‘Fiber-to-the-Home’ System [Prime Property]
• 3 out of 4 Houston Millennials Plan to Buy a Home in the Near Future, According to Apartment List [HBJ]
• Antone’s Famous Po’boys Redesigning TC Jester and San Felipe Locations, Opening a Third in the Rice Village Area or Downtown [HBJ]
• I-45N, US-290, and US-59S HOV Lanes To Boot Solo Houston Commuters During Rush Hour Starting Aug. 3 [HBJ]
• Vonlane To Expand Luxury Commuter Bus Line with Austin-Houston Service Starting in January [Austin American-Statesman via HBJ]
• Brays Bayou, Beltway 8 Had Hardest Rain Fall During Memorial Day Weekend Floods, According to New Report [Click2Houston]

Photo of the Hermann Park Golf Course: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Caldwell Releases New Renderings, Video for Mixed-Use Waterfront Project The Boardwalk at Towne Lake [HBJ]
• Dallas-Based Regis Property Management Buys 6-Story Boutique Uptown District Office Building at 770 S. Post Oak Lane [HBJ]
• Pearland Town Center Retail, Hotel, Restaurant, and Residential Project To Now Also Include a 60K-SF Office Building [Prime Property]
• Venterra Realty Acquired 420-Unit Multifamily Community The Preserve at Colony Lakes in Stafford [Realty News Report]
• Real Estate Investor John Beeson Picks Up 73.2 Acres of Undeveloped Katy Land Along Katy Hockley Rd. Likely for New Homes [HBJ]
• Chevron To Cut 950 Jobs in Houston By the End of This Year Amid Low Oil Prices [Fuel Fix]
• Retrospect Coffee House To Open in Former Gulf Coast Oil Gas Station at W. Alabama and La Branch This Fall [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot]
• Harris County Commissioners Approve $848M Bond Proposal That Will Primarily Go Toward Improving Roads [Houston Public Media]
• Metro Officials Looking for Ways To Reduce Number of Rail Accidents After Record-Setting 17 Crashes in June [Houston Chronicle]
• Lane Closures on Allen Pkwy. To Start Monday as $11M Redesign Project Begins [Culturemap]
• City Considering Charging Homeowners $15-$20 a Month to Cover Trash Collection and Recycling Expenses [Click2Houston]
• Dredging Project That Will Add 20 Blocks of Galveston Beach Between 61st and 81st Streets Start Aug. 15 [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• 4-Alarm Fire Guts at Least 60 Units at the Gentry House Apartments at 9001 Kempwood Last Night [Houston Chronicle]
• A Loose Cobra Was Roaming the Halls of The Rice Luxury Downtown Apartments Over the Weekend [Houston Chronicle]
• New Program at Texas A&M’s Disaster City Preparing Firefighters for Accidents Involving Crude-Carrying Trains [Houston Public Media]

Photo of former Kirby Court Apartments on Steel St.: Swamplot inbox

• Braun Enterprises Redeveloping 3 Buildings on West Gray and Dunlavy into 1 or 2 Restaurants, Retail [HBJ]
• Lone Star College Building a 8.3-Acre Process Technology Center in Generation Park [HBJ]
• Westcase District’s Campaign To Increase Occupancy Rates in Its Class B Office Space [Prime Property]
• Houston Neighborhoods That Are Hot, and Somewhat Hot, for Multifamily Development Amid the Oil Slump [HBJ]
• The Median Home Price in Texas Was $209,500 in June, Up from $193,400 a Year Earlier [Prime Property]
• Home Buyers in Harvest Green Community at West Airport and the Grand Pkwy. Can Elect To Get a Backyard Vegetable Garden [Prime Property]
• Mayor Parker Tweets That There Have Been 285 Tickets Issued on Downtown’s Protected Bike Lane Since Its Debut [The Highwayman]
• Oil Prices Hit a 4-Month Low Yesterday at $47.39 Per Barrel [Click2Houston]

Photo of Alexan Wilcrest at I-10 Frontage Rd. and N. Wilcrest Dr.: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool