Always easier to digest when it’s broken down into smaller pieces.
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- Leasing at Downtown ‘Trophy Towers’ Slows; 150K SF Year-to-Date, Down from 2.5M Last Year, According to JLL [HBJ]
- Apartment Construction Starts Down 53% in First Quarter of 2015 Year-Over-Year, Finds CMD Group Report [HBJ]
- Developer M Group Planning 230-Unit Apartment Complex off I-45 Between Tanger Outlets and Buc-ees in Texas City [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Florida-Based OrangeTheory Fitness Plans To Add Up to 20 More Houston Locations Within 2 Years [HBJ]
- Workshop Houston Breaks Ground on New Third Ward Campus Born from Rice Design Alliance Charrette, Rice Building Workshop Project [OffCite]
- Economic Impact of Floods Could Be $200M-$550M, According to BBVA Compass Economists [HBJ]
- Hundreds Pack Public Meeting for Flood Victims [Houston Chronicle]
- Gallery Furniture, Mattress Firm Helping Flood Victims by Replacing Damaged Mattresses [HBJ]
- Early Use of New Green and Purple Light Rail Lines Below Daily Ridership Expectations [The Highwayman]
- Metro To Issue Paper Transfers for Cash-Paying Bus Riders, Extend Hours for Toll and Carpool Lanes Starting July 1 [Houston Chronicle]
- TxDOT Awards Contracts To Add 1 Lane in Each Direction on Highway 290 from Mason Rd. to Badtke [Houston Public Media]
Photo of Buffalo Bayou’s Rosemont Bridge: Christopher Hysinger via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
- 19027 E. Kahala Dr. [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILL THE NEW BIKE TRAIL SYSTEM BE THIS SHOCKING? 
“Here’s something a little off topic but has to do with putting trails on power easements. Has anyone ever experienced what happens when you ride under the lines down the dirt road in Memorial Park? The electromagnetic field actually shocks you where you are touching the frame or handlebars especially during peak Summer usage hours and when sweaty. Not sure if that’s ever been addressed.” [j, commenting on FPSF Moving Next to the Astrodome; I-10 Toll Hike Delay; Secrets of the I-45 Redo Plan] Illustration: Lulu
Crews tore down the Mod basketball pavilion in Meadowcreek Park on Monday. Its structure had been declared unsafe last August. The pavilion and community center at 5333 Berry Creek Dr. were built in 1961, following a design by Raymond Brogniez — the architect of the River Oaks-Lamar Shopping Center and the Sylvan Beach Pavilion.
Coming Back in Steel
Downtowner Joey Sanchez has begun a project to photograph and document what he refers to as Houston’s first form of “street art”: the old school tile street signs that still stand guard by the curbs of a number of older city intersections. Already posted to the website he set up for the Blue Tile Project: an interactive map to confirmed locations — and links to Facebook and Instagram accounts, where photos of the signs, in various states of disrepair and dislocation, are posted. Sanchez reports he’s already found more than 160 of the signs, which he claims date from the 1920s.
The Blue Tile Project
- 300K-SF Suburban-Style Grocery-Anchored Shopping Center Planned for Springwoods Village’s ‘Urban’ District [Prime Property]
- Miami-Based Multifamily Investment Company Opens New Houston Office [Realty News Report]
- Hubbell & Hudson Opening New Tasting-Menu Restaurant Cureight Next to Bistro on June 18Â [HBJ]
- Floods Might Add Up To Costly Delays for Retail Construction [HBJ]
- Homes in Flood Plains with ‘Substantial Damage’ May Need to Be Elevated Under Houston Ordinance [abc13]
- 16 City Vehicles Damaged During Last Week’s Floods Because Flood Gate at City Hall Annex’s Underground Parking Garage Was Left Open [Houston Chronicle]
- What To Expect at Free Press Summer Fest This Weekend Now That It’s at NRG Stadium [Houston Chronicle]
- City and Federal Officials To Address Flood Recovery Process at 2 Meetings This Week [Houston Chronicle]
- How To Check for Hidden Water Damage in Your Home Following a Flood [Click2Houston]
- HPD’s Mounted Patrols Have Been Leaving Poop on the Dedicated Lamar St. Bike Lane [Houston Press; previously on Swamplot]
- League City To Install 30K Water Meters 2 Years After Replacing all City Water Meters [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Remembering Houston’s Devastating Flood of 1935 [Houston Chronicle]
- CultureMap Wants To Use Your Mobile Phone To Track What Restaurants and Shops You Visit [HBJ]
- Slideshow: Highlights of the AIA Houston Chapter’s Sandcastle Building Contest [HBJ]
Photo of Marriott Marquis construction: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
- 16020 Crews Rd. [HAR]
CAT CAFE LOOKING FOR A COZY SPOT TO CURL UP SOMEWHERE NEAR MONTROSE, RICE VILLAGE, WEST U 
A group looking to establish Houston’s first-ever combo café and cat lounge is focusing its search on existing retail or former restaurant spaces to lease in the Montrose, Rice Village, or West University areas. The website for Lola’s Cat Café says the new venue will be “more than just a coffee shop with cats.” Instead, it’ll be a hangout for people “who are either looking to adopt a cat or would like to spend some time hanging out with our resident kitties.” All cats on hand will be adoptable. [Lola’s Cat Café] Photo: Lola’s Cat Café
Here are views of a couple of holes that appeared at the eastern edge of East Montrose after last week’s flood. The sizable tire-grabber at the corner of Hyde Park Blvd. and Mason St. shown here was decorated by nearby residents who repurposed the cones and barricade from a nearby construction site, explains reader Brittanie Shey.
What Lies Beneath
WOODLAND HEIGHTS BUS MAPPERS TO METRO: YOUR NEW ROUTE PLAN MISSES THE TARGET 
Metro says it’ll be ready to go with its new bus network on August 16, but that hasn’t prevented various groups from petitioning the transit agency to make late adjustments to its route map. One group of Woodland Heights residents is trying to get the new 30 route, which late in the process was shifted east to parallel the new 44 route down Houston Ave into Downtown, shifted west to Watson, Taylor, and Sawyer streets between Pecore and Memorial Dr. before entering Downtown from the west. The current proposed alignment leaves the Sawyer Heights shopping center and its Target without a bus stop. [Not of It] Diagram: Philip Teague
- Texas Small Land Sales Increased 21% Last Year, According to Texas Small Land Sales Report [Prime Property]
- Houston Retail Firm Baker Katz Acquires Federal East Shopping Center off I-10 East [Prime Property]
- Remembering the Shamrock Hotel, Demolished 28 Years Ago [Houston Chronicle]
- Cheat Sheet on the Leanings of 4 Houston Urban Development Think Tanks [Houstonia]
- Houston Needs a Watershed-Specific Flood Alert System [The Urban Edge]
- Road Flooding a Reality in Heavy Houston Rains [The Highwayman]
- Widower Files Lawsuit After Coffin Surfaces from Riceville Cemetery Near Keegans Bayou During Last Week’s Storms [KHOU]
- Should Air Conditioning Be a Basic Human Right in Hot Climates? [Houstonia]
- NRG Stadium Charged $12 for Parking During HISD Graduations [Houston Chronicle]
- The Travails of Mattress Salesmen on One of the Busiest Weekends of the Year [Washington Post]
Photo of Westbury flood aftermath:Â Swamplot inbox
Headlines
- 1116 S. Nottingham Dr. [HAR]
