A LIST OF 17 FASHIONABLE HOUSTON NEWCOMERS HEADED FOR RIVER OAKS THIS YEAR WHO’LL END UP ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TRACKS 
John Lobb, Akris, Kiton, Moncler, De Boulle, Giuseppe Zanotti, Etro, Chopard, Canali, Brunello Cucinelli, Brioni, Diptyque, Bonobos, Intermix. Haven’t heard of ’em? Well, how about Tom Ford, Roberto Cavalli, and Dolce & Gabbana? They’re all luxury retailers who are new to Houston, and who’ll be arriving here about the same time that OliverMcMillan’s long-awaited (but not-so-accurately named) River Oaks District opens up on Westheimer between the Galleria and the Highland Village Shopping Center — only a mile away from the actual neighborhood called River Oaks — sometime this spring. [Real Estate Bisnow; previously on Swamplot] Photo of River Oaks District under construction: OliverMcMillan
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- Houston Ranked No. 1 on Forbes’ Annual List of America’s Fastest-Growing Cities 2015 [Forbes]
- Houston Area Absorbed a Record-Breaking 8.1M SF of Industrial Space in 2014, According to CBRE [Houston Business Journal]
- Houston ‘Red-Lighted’ By Lenders in Light of Tumbling Oil Prices, Says Apartment Builder [Houston Chronicle]
- Butler Brothers To Begin Building Tuscan-Inspired Piazza Lucca Development on Memorial Dr. [Prime Property]
- Here’s a Rendering of Richdale Apartments’ French Chateau-Inspired Le Palais Midrise Going Up on Former Houston Ballet Building Site [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]
- Lasco Enterprises Posts Ads for Staff at Unnamed Galleria-Area Tex-Mex Restaurant, Possibly in Place of Arturo’s in Uptown Park [Culturemap]
- Little Free Library in Shepherd Park Plaza Area Ordered To Come Down Because It Doesn’t Have a Permit [Click2Houston]
- Metro Planning To Test Out ‘Flex’ Bus Service in Acres Homes [Houston Chronicle]
- A View of a Changing Dowling St. from Wolf’s Department Store and Pawn Shop [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of Main St. downtown: jsulak via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Deep porches on an updated 1915 Eastwood home listed for lease look toward a residential street lined with similarly neighborly vantage points, all shaded by huge palm trees and live oaks. Behind the home run train tracks — and a tract promised for Lovett Commercial’s Harrisburg Crossing, a mix of retail and office space fronting Harrisburg Blvd. between Oakhurst and Lockwood streets. That juxtaposition also puts the rental home around the block from Metro Rail’s Green Line station at Lockwood.
Fore and Aft
“What’s up with Julia’s?” writes the Swamplot reader who got a Main St. train to slow down enough to snap the photo of the unlit Midtown restaurant above. “It’s been dark and closed for weeks now. With all the new development and foot traffic from the new apartments across the street and new restaurants/bars in the area, everyone’s wondering: Is something new in the works for this premier midtown corner?” The answer is yes: A “new concept” for the restaurant space is being developed. In the meantime, Julia’s Bistro is closed for lunch and dinner, but available for private parties.
Gotta Wait
- 2216 Chilton Rd. [HAR]
UH LOOKING TO BUILD NEW CAMPUS IN KATY, BECAUSE THAT’S WHERE THE ENERGY IS 
The University of Houston has asked state lawmakers to begin work on a $60 million tuition revenue bond that would fund a new campus in Katy, including a 60,000-sq.-ft. facility on a not-yet-identified site. The new campus would be separate from the system’s existing facility at 4242 S. Mason Rd. in Cinco Ranch (pictured above). The move closer to oil and gas firms in the Energy Corridor is part of what UH vice president for government and community affairs Jason Smith tells Community Impact news is the institution’s goal “to become the energy university for the United States.” The Katy campus “would serve the oil and gas interests there, the companies and their campuses there,” he says. Separately, university president Renu Khator last week called the award of a multi-million-dollar grant for the establishment of a UH-led Subsea Systems Institute “the culmination of years of work to establish the University of Houston as the Energy University.” (Grant monies for that institute will come from payments made by oil company BP to the state of Texas after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.) [Community Impact News; UH] Photo of University of Houston System at Cinco Ranch: Directron
Jaws have been dropping along North Blvd. at the intersection of Kirby Dr. at the sight of a prominently placed inscription that now greets drive-thru customers of the Wendy’s at 5003 Kirby Dr. Is this just one of those obliviously coincidental following-corporate-guidelines things, or is the management of this Wendy’s going out of its way to draw attention to the under-cover-of-night street-tree massacre it orchestrated late last year to clear away 6 oaks on the corner and that cost the franchise owners a well-publicized $300,000 settlement from the city’s legal department? Or is the assembly of words attached directly to the brick wall, which honors “SERVICE THAT DOESN’T CUT CORNERS,” meant to apologize for the hired landscaping crew’s actions — which y’know, really did cut a corner — and emphasize that the hardworking burger-makers inside are trying to do something . . . different?
In full, the signage reads, “QUALITY SERVICE THAT DOESN’T CUT CORNERS IS OUR RECIPE,” though the part about corner-cutting service in the middle is clearly meant as an add-on to the fast-food chain’s more famous “Quality is our recipe” tagline. For those of you who haven’t been following the saga closely enough to appreciate the . . . humor? chutzpah? contrition? obliviousness? involved here, Â here’s the backstory:
Corner Cutting
- Everson Developments Starts Construction on Spec Havenwood Office Park on Site of Brookhaven Business Park in Spring [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston’s Economy Ranked Among the World’s Top-Performing Metro Areas in Brookings Institution Report [Houston Business Journal]
- Whole Foods Market Opening in Former Flagship Randall’s at 1407 S. Voss Rd. on April 8 [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
- H-E-B Breaks Ground Today on 62K-SF Store at Palmer Shopping Center in Texas City [Galveston County Daily News]
- Nara Sushi & Korean Kitchen in West Ave To Close January 31 [Food Chronicles]
- Truluck’s and Starbucks Headed to Hughes Landing Development [Your Houston News]
- The Rise of the $1 Million Housing Market in the Heights, Oak Forest Area [The Leader]
- The Case Against the 50-foot Right-of-Way for Houston Townhome Developments [Purple City]
- Public Comment on Proposed Ellington Spaceport Open through January 31; Officials Hope To Get Approval This Summer [Houston Public Media]
- The World’s Largest BBQ Pit For Sale for $350K, on the Side of the Road on Hwy. 290 Between Austin and Houston [Texas Monthly]
- Oak Forest Nanny Says Hacker Broke into Baby Monitor [Click2Houston]
Photo of Marriott Marquis Convention Center Hotel: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Weathered to a driftwood finish outside, a secluded 1988 home clad in Cypress wood (and lotsa porches) overlooks Trinity Bay in Beach City, located off FM 2354 in Chambers County. Dark paint colors and stained craftsman-inspired woodwork inside formalize the waterfront property, though its 3 acres — and 400 ft. of bay frontage — are better described as near the water than on it (top). A relisting earlier this month — after a 2-week break over New Year’s — marks the property’s first anniversary on the market. The asking price is $1.15 million, down from the initial ask of $1.3 million a year ago and a couple mid-run reductions.
House of Panes
- 11713 Longleaf Ln. [HAR]
The former Hollywood Vietnamese and Chinese restaurant building just north of Westheimer at 2409 Montrose Blvd. has been turned into a dog adoption facility run by K-9 Angels Rescue. The restaurant closed down in that space last Thanksgiving after developer Jonathan Farb purchased the property and the surrounding parking lots for a new apartment complex on the block, which is bounded by Hyde Park Blvd., Grant St., and Fairview. This isn’t the first last-occupant stint for the K-9 Angels; the nonprofit organization had been operating out of the former Cat Clinic building at 2100 W. Alabama St., before that building was torn down for a new CVS siding up to S. Shepherd Dr. one block south of the Alabama Theater Shopping Center.
Farb donated use of the space to the K-9 Angels temporarily — until he starts construction on the midrise, currently planned for “late spring or early summer.”
Pre-Apartment Adoption Center
Residents of the Georgian Apartments in Highland Village are still up in the air about a possible sale of the 1965 courtyard complex, which sits just behind the Cadence Bank building at the corner of Westheimer and Weslayan. Last July, the River Oaks Management Company sent residents of the apartment for the over-55 set a notice indicating that an agreement to sell the 3.4-acre property had been reached and that the closing date would be in December. Residents heard rumors of a 40-story highrise planned for the site. Then in mid-December, according to a source, word came that the sale was off and that no other buyer had expressed interest.
But shortly after Christmas came another twist: the unidentified prospective purchaser has been granted an extension. “Closing would likely occur in early spring if the purchaser is satisfied with their final evaluations and decides to go forward with the purchase,” reads the latest note sent to residents.
Highrise Site?
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Sometimes you just have to make that journey alone.
