If we can sneak these out one at a time, maybe no one will notice.
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- LaSalle Investment Management Has Backed Out of $450M Bid To Buy 1000 Main Tower Downtown, According to Real Estate Alert [Houston Business Journal]
- How a Small Change in Texas’s Property Tax Code Helped Corporations Avoid Paying Millions in Property Taxes [Texas Observer]
- HISD To Vote Today on Using Eminent Domain Powers on Westbury Manor Apartments To Expand Adjacent Westbury HSÂ [Houston Chronicle]
- 45K-SF World Gym Opening in About a Week in the Redeveloped Macy’s Building at Mall of the Mainland [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Berryhill Baja Grill on Montrose Blvd. Has Closed [Food Chronicles]
- 3-Story Lounge Henke & Pillot, Named After Grocery Chain, Planned for Former ERA Spot at 809 Congress [Eater Houston]
- City Overcharged 241,000 Water Customers by a Total of $24.9M [abc13]
- How Houston’s Required 25-Ft. Setback from Major Thoroughfares Has Uglified It [Purple City]
- Nassau Bay To Replace All 234 City Street Lights with Solar Fixtures This Spring [Click2Houston]
Photo of Sesquicentennial Park: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
The owner of this 1930-ish former gas station and duplex bungalow at 3500 White Oak Dr. in the Houston Heights Historic District South plans to tear down the 2 structures and build a single-family home on the 8,800-sq.-ft. site — likely facing the side street, Cortlandt. Last week by a vote of 12 to 6 Houston’s planning commission reversed the decision of the archaeological and historic commission, allowing the demo to go through. The HAHC had denied the owner’s demolition request in November, insisting that the structures could be rehabbed. But experts hired by the owner indicated that the underground gas tank beneath the station couldn’t be removed without demolishing that structure, and that redevelopment of the duplex would be “cost prohibitive.”
They’re History
- 6346 Mercer St. [HAR]
Renovations to a 1950 rancher in the Montclair neighborhood just north of West University a dozen years ago added a wide open upper level studio-dance hall outfitted for meditation (top). The Eat-Pray-Lease property offered up its zen as the year began. Located north and east of Weslayan Plaza, the singular retreat is asking $6,200 a month, and offering short-term leasing terms. Whether the furnishings come with is negotiable.
Healing Beneath the Ceiling
SORRY, NO MATTRESS STORE CAN SNEAK INTO HIGHLAND VILLAGE WITHOUT SOMEBODY NOTICING 
Here’s a piece of hot retail news the likes of which has not been encountered since . . . well, since Swamplot broke the story that the Walgreens near the corner of Westheimer and Weslayan will be moving across both streets to the former Fresh Market spot: A reader has ID’d a new neighbor moving into the former Rice Epicurean shopping center, next to said future Walgreens. It’ll be . . . wait for it . . . a Mattress Firm going into the 3743 Westheimer Rd. address, as evidenced by the familiar red sign now glowing brightly above the future front door shown above. Intriguing bonus tip, for all you Highland Village area store-opening watchers to chew over: “There were two vacant spots in the center when Fresh Market was there and it looks like the other one is leased as there’s a sign in the window for construction but does not identify who is moving in.” Photo: Swamplot inbox
Is this Houston real estate’s Wile E. Coyote off-the-cliff-but-hasn’t-realized-he’s-gonna-fall-yet moment? Or is a new era dawning, in which out-of-state investors new to this whole “Houston is booming” thing swoop in to buy up everything and save the day? A fresh serving of home-sales data from real estate agents is available this morning . . . to support either notion. This past December was a record-breaking month for home sales, the Houston Association of Realtors claims in its latest report. Total property sales were up 11 percent over last December, and the current 2.5-months supply of inventory (a comforting term to those who regularly consider a home to be an off-the-shelf item) is scored as “the lowest level of all time.” Total dollar volume of housing sales for this past month was up a whopping 18.1 percent over December of last year. Both average and median sales prices for single-family homes reached “historic highs for a December in Houston.”
Separately, using her own calculations from MLS data, buyers’ agent Judy Thompson has updated her hand-carved regular roundup of appreciation rates and market conditions for the 21 well-known (and mostly Inner Loop) neighborhoods she’s been tracking on her West U Real Estate website for the past decade. (“In some areas I have had to make value judgments about which sales might have been lot value sales that were not listed that way,” she explains.) Of note: Of the tracked neighborhoods, little old Westbury led the increase in average sales price per sq. ft., rising 22 percent in the last year; the combined average for 2014 was an 11 percent uptick.
- The Houston Real Estate Market Breaks Records in 2014 [HAR]
- Appreciation [West U Real Estate]
Chart: HAR
Take Your Pick
- Downtown Living Initiative Nearly Maxed Out After Fairfield Residential’s 290-Unit Project at Main St. and Jefferson Approved for Financial Incentives [Houston Chronicle]
- Hooked on Growth, The Woodlands May Turn to Tax Incentives To Counteract Slowing Pace of Commercial Development [Houston Chronicle]
- $49M Katy Mills Convention Center Complex Will Center on Boardwalk Around 80-Acre Retention Pond [Community Impact News]
- Gaia Real Estate Sells 300-Unit Township Apartments at 401 South Bender Ave. in Humble To Local Developer [Prime Property]
- Philadelphia Firm Pays $52.5 Million for 843-Unit Trails at Dominion Park Apartments in North Houston [Prime Property]
- 5.34M of the 17M SF of Office Space in the Pipeline for the Houston Area Is Still Unleased [GlobeSt.com]
- Average Apartment Rental for 2-Bedroom in Houston $1,040, Second Highest in Texas Behind Austin, Finds ApartmentList [Culturemap; report]
- After Agreement Last Month, City in Talks with 2 More Companies To Remove Dozens of Billboards Across Houston [Houston Chronicle]
- Johnny Steele Dog Park in Buffalo Bayou Park To Hold Grand Opening This Saturday [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Stewart Beach Master Plan Includes Boardwalk, Dog Park, Pavilion, Food Truck Park, Roller Skating Rink [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Harris County To Restore 4,000SF 1973 Mural on Old Continental Can Company Factory Spanning Full 5900 Block of Canal [Houston Chronicle]
- Residents Near Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay Refinery Find Cars Coated in Silica Sand-Aluminum Oxide Powder [abc13]
Photo of Spur 527: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WEST HOUSTON’S PLAN FOR SUBURBAN DOMINATION 
“Houston does not have a centralized downtown district. After Gerry Hines built the Galleria, the city fractured into numerous regional shopping centers and has remained decentralized since. Perhaps Houston functions better this way.
Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall and all the King’s men cannot put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
MetroNational and Midway Cos. are determined to reconstruct Houston with a new centralized downtown district in CityCentre. They envision Memorial Drive and Gessner as commercial 8-lane thoroughfares. They envision the corridor of residential neighborhoods between the Katy Freeeway and Memorial Drive as one big mega shopping center, an expansion of Memorial City that stretches on for miles. They envision deed restricted neighborhoods of Walnut Bend and Briargrove Park as office parks. Don’t believe me? Just go to the West Houston Association website and click on 2050 map. They are serious about remapping Houston. And what are they going to do with all the storm water run-off from these commercial buildings? They are going to channel it into Buffalo Bayou, of course. To do this they have to deforest the bayou and widen and deepen and concrete it. They are determined to do it. And where are they going to get the money to do this? Out of TIRZ 17 and MetroNational Bank.” [Memorial Resident, commenting on Comment of the Day: Houston’s Westward Tilt] Illustration: Lulu
Here’s the first image most of us have seen of the 24-story office tower New Haven architects Pickard Chilton have been quietly designing for Amegy Bank. The site is the former West Loop stomping grounds of Micro Center at 1717 West Loop South, just north of San Felipe. The foundation was poured for the building this past weekend; construction is expected to be complete by the end of 2016.
The tower will contain 350,000 sq. ft. of space; Amegy is expecting to use more than two-thirds of that total. The bottom floors of the tower will contain a parking garage.
- Previously on Swamplot: The West Loop Micro Center’s Online Farewell Photo Album; Micro Center Will Move South, Give Up West Loop Site for Amegy Bank HQ; More Info on Amegy Bank’s Plans To Spike Houston’s Micro Center with an Office Tower; Did Micro Center Just Sell Its Houston Location to Amegy Bank?
Rendering: Amegy Bank
First Look
This postwar property in Washington Terrace appears to be especially animal friendly, what with the horsey sculpture frolicking out front (above) and an embossed elephant tending the front door (at right).
But more decorative critters linger within the artsy 1945 home, where bursts of color glow in hues far brighter than the taupe visible at curbside.
Animal Crossing
This baroque 8th-floor penthouse condo in the Campton at Post Oak building at 4950 Woodway Dr. north of the Galleria has been available for rent at $9,500 a month since last September (marked down from the whopping $11,500 it began with in August). But there a few things you might want to know about the 3,948-sq.-ft. pad before you sign any lease: First, the unit’s owner since 2010 is Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson — who (in case you’ve been on a news blackout for the last several months) last November pled no contest to charges of “recklessly assaulting” his 4-year-old son with a wooden switch, and was suspended from the NFL for the remainder of the season. Second: Peterson hasn’t been paying his taxes on the property; after court proceedings at which Peterson failed to appear, a tax auction was approved by a district court a few days before Christmas.
Running Back To Pay?
- Atlanta Developer Plans To Build New Apartment Comlexes in Cypress, West Houston, Spring, and Near Tomball [Houston Business Journal]
- A Look at the 62 ‘Southern Architecture-Inspired’ Townhomes of Crain Square, Replacing Part of the Shell Tech Center on Bellaire Blvd. [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]
- Anvil Bar & Refuge Closes Temporarily for Deep-Cleaning, Fresh Paint in First Part of Remodeling Process [Houstonia]
- Cinco Ranch, Montgomery County To Start Using Reclaimed Wastewater for Public, Residential Irrigation [Houston Chronicle]
- Some Crestwood Residents Complain Memorial Park Changes Will Decrease Their Property Values, Create Traffic and Safety Issues [abc13; previously on Swamplot]
- Houston Ranked No. 7 Among the Top 25 Best-Performing Large Cities in 2014 By Milken Institute [Houston Business Journal]
- Mattress Mack Will Reimburse Customers Who Spend $7,000 on Furniture — if Oil Rises to $85 a Barrel or Higher at End of This Year [Reuters]
Photo of Sidney Sherman Bridge on Loop 610 over Houston Ship Channel: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
