NEW ALEXAN BLAIRE HOUSE WILL EAT BLAIR HOUSE APARTMENTS ON BELLAIRE BLVD. 
Even though the location isn’t specified, there’s enough detail in a press release put out by Bluerock Residential Growth REIT last week announcing its joint venture with Trammell Crow Residential to build a 269-unit apartment complex “2 miles from the Texas Medical Center” to identify where the new construction will take place. And to know that if it goes forward, it will spell doom for the Blair House Apartments, next door to the Palace Bowling Lanes, at 4139 Bellaire Blvd. in Southside Place. The biggest giveaway: The new project’s name, Alexan Blaire House, which combines Trammell Crow’s multifamily brand with a can’t-quit-it developer addiction to adding a trailing ‘E’ wherever it might stick. Plus, both Blair(e) houses sit on 4.16 acre sites. The existing 12-building complex of 2-story structures was built in 1963. [Bluerock Residential, via Houston Business Journal] Photo: Apartment Science
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These are the sites we will remember — as soon as their contents are cleared.
- HEI Hotels and Resorts Sells Galleria-Area Aloft Hotel to New York-Based Westpark I, Will Continue To Manage [Realty News Report]
- Chicago-Based Waterton Associates Buys Villas at Hermann Park at 6301 Almeda, Plans Upgrades, Rent Hikes [Houston Chronicle]
- Photo Tour of Almost Complete One Lakes Edge Apartments in The Woodlands’ Hughes Landing [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- Sunrise Luxury Living Submits Plat Application for Montrose Blvd. Apartment Complex on Former Site of El Tiempo 1308 Cantina [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- Beckrew Wine House To Open in Former Tasting Room River Oaks in February [Eater Houston]
- Houston-Galveston Area Council Requests $278.74M in State Funding for 14 Houston-Area Road Projects [Houston Chronicle]
- Loose Dogs ‘Terrorizing’ Residents in Spring’s Five Oaks Neighborhood [Click2Houston]
Photo of Rice University: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
- 13210 Isbell Dr. [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE PROBLEMS SPRAWL SOLVES 
“. . . the concern about cities expanding out into the suburbs is about worker mobility and our ability to fund adequate infrastructure. That’s great if the woodlands, katy, and sugarland could become real functioning cities comparable to that of Houston. However, it’s unsustainable if you have poor transportation options affecting the supply of qualified labor and an undiversified industry base that leads to boom and bust cycles. We can barely afford Metro’s reach in central Houston and with more low-income workers being pushed further from the city’s core we will continue to lose workers from our supply of labor.
I love Houston the way it’s always been though. having multiple office centers spread across town helps keep housing demand distributed across a wider area rather than turning the central part of town into an enclave for well paid dual income families only. Allowing land to continue being gobbled up further and further out allows for affordable housing for new residents increasing our supply of labor. Anything that helps cities expand, even if endless suburban sprawl, and make better use of their existing resources and infrastructure is a positive to me.” [joel, commenting on Comment of the Day: West Houston’s Plan for Suburban Domination] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THE PRICE OF OIL MAKE TO HOUSTON REAL ESTATE? 
“Let’s assume 100,000 people live and work in Houston and are employed, somehow, someway, by the energy industry. That’s a very high guesstimate, but let’s go with that. Now let’s assume one of four, or 25,000, are in danger of having their hours reduced or jobs eliminated. Again, a very high estimate. 25K folks in financial distress is less than one percent of the giant Houston SMA (5M or so). Even if you tripled the number to 75K folks living in Houston that are instantaneously released from their employment ’cause oil dropped to $25/barrel, that’s still less than 2% of the city’s population, and a blip on the ‘financial health of Houston’ radar. Home prices may dip a bit in Houston, but that may be more due to a massive number of shit houses being constructed and sold cheap than $1.95/gallon gas.” [c.l., commenting on Houston Housing Market Reaches All-Time Highs — Before It Crashes, Dips a Little, Remains Steady, or Climbs Further] Illustration: Lulu
One of the lookalike garage-front homes on a redeveloped block in the western reaches of the Houston Heights took steps to distinguish itself in that brick-faced lineup by doubling up its corner holdings and putting in a pool — a really, really long one (top). At more than 75 ft., its footprint waters down most of the additional narrow side lot, which parallels 15th St. a block west of Durham St. The wet-dry property (above) dove into the market last week floating a $529,900 price tag. The current owner picked it up new in 2006 for $312,000.
Lap It Up
If the giant 25-story-tall question mark built into the profile of the Hotel Alessandra — the Modern tower pictured above, planned for a spot directly behind the XXI Forever store along Fannin — spurred any of you to wonder when or whether construction of the promised residential expansion of GreenStreet (formerly Houston Pavilions) might begin, here’s an answer: Next Monday, MLK Day, workers will begin blocking access to the urban mall’s center court at 1201 Fannin St. and other areas to begin demolition work. Their target: The much shorter structure that once housed the Houston Pavilions’ Yao’s restaurant, owned by family members of Houston Rockets star Yao Ming, which stands in the way.
Clearing Yao’s Away
- That Giant Sucking Sound You Heard Last Year in Houston Was 6.8M SF of Office Space, Absorbing Workers [Realty News Report]
- First Building in 2-Building Northwest Houston Industrial Park DCT Northwest Crossroads Logistics Centre Now Fully Pre-Leased [HBJ]
- First Ward Morphs from Industrial Hub to Upscale Artsy Nabe as Sawyer St. Warehouses Are Primed for Development [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- HISD Rejects Plan To Take Westbury Manor Apartments Near Westbury High Because of Cost, Impact [Houston Chronicle]
- As Mango’s Closes, Crepe Kiosk Melange Creperie Starting Kickstarter Campaign for Its Own Restaurant Space [Houston Chronicle]
- World of Beer Taking Over Cafe Japon Space in Upper Kirby Later This Year [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot]
- Ula’s Mexican Restaurant & Cantina Moving into Coppa Ristorante Space on Washington Ave in Coming Months [Eater Houston]
- Berryhill Baja Grill and Cantina To Open January 21 in Oak Forest at 1201 West 43rd St, Near Ella [The Leader]
- Walter’s Patrons Blame Confusing Signs After Around 2 Dozen Cars Towed Near Downtown Club Tuesday Night [Houston Chronicle]
- MFAH Installing Full-Size Indoor Ice Rink Open This Weekend Only, To Promote Its Monet Exhibition [Houstonia]
- I-10 To Be Closed Sunday in Both Directions Around Meadow and U.S.-59 for Construction of New Bridge [Houston Chronicle]
- Interactive Map of the Many Construction Projects Runners Will Pass by in Sunday’s Houston Marathon [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of Dynamo Stadium: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Spiffed up more than considerably since its purchase for $93K in September 2014, a double-decker Simms Woods spread maxes out the midcenturyisms. Do the updates — to just about every surface and system — merit the $450K asking price in its listing over the weekend? The 1955 property, in a neighborhood west of Idylwood, is one lot off the intersection of Jefferson and Hackney streets. That puts it catty-corner to the site of a planned 173-home subdivision on a cleared, former 11.93-acre warehouse property adjacent to the HB&T rail line.
Short Ribs
TESLA OR SPACEX OR SOMEBODY ELON MUSK KNOWS IS PLANNING TO BUILD A 5-MILE HYPERLOOP TEST TRACK, PROBABLY IN TEXAS 
Speaking at a Texas transportation forum in Austin today, Elon Musk said plans are afoot to build a 5-mile test track for the Hyperloop pneumatic-tube-like transportation system the entrepreneur and engineer and billionaire outlined 18 months ago — and that the “leading candidate” for the site was somewhere in Texas. The track — a low-pressure environment inside a set of steel tubes, meant to allow pods to move inside at speeds of up to 760 mph — would be privately funded, but open to universities and research institutions interested in developing and iterating on the prototype transportation technology. In a couple of follow-up tweets, Musk described the test track as a site where students and others could test out their own pod designs, and even suggested a Formula SAE-style annual student Hyperloop pod racer competition. Musk’s SpaceX launch facility is located near Brownsville. Not coincidentally, the Tesla CEO said he also plans to reintroduce legislation this year that would end Texas laws that block the electric-car manufacturer from selling directly to consumers. [Ars Technica; The Verge; previously on Swamplot] Drawing of Hyperloop prototype design: Tesla Motors
- 5234 Libbey Dr. [HAR]
The Komatsu has arrived at the doorstep of this 1941 bungalow at 1707 Holman St., in the southeast corner of Midtown. Once it disposes of the property, the excavator will work its way through another home abutting this one’s back yard — at 1706 Francis St. And once the land is clear, Jared Meadors and Tony Tripoli will start building this development of 6 close-but-not-touching townhouses fronting a long driveway extending all the way from Holman to Francis:
New Townhome Row
If you’re scoring which large residential projects are going ahead — despite concerns about a price-of-oil-induced downturn — and which ones are being quietly shelved, score this apartment tower from the Dinerstein Companies in the first column. “The medical center will shield us from the oil situation,” Dinerstein marketing director Emily Prevost declares to HBJ reporter Paul Takahashi. Construction on the Millennium Tower on a vacant lot at 1911 Holcombe St., just southeast of the Brays Bayou border of the official Texas Medical Center campus, is scheduled to begin on January 26th.
The Scrubs Will Shield Us
