$4 MILLION BUYS YOU THIS NORTH HOUSTON HOME AND 35 OTHERS KINDA LIKE IT 
This 2005-vintage 1,755-sq.-ft. home at 826 Bandon Ln. in Remington Ranch is just 2.8 percent of the residential wonderfulness you’ll get if you plunk down $4 million for a “package” of 36 homes in North Houston and Spring posted on MLS recently. That averages out to more than $110K each; The seller isn’t identified, but a company called Darland Partners, Ltd. owns a total of 24 properties (including this one) in Harris County; it paid $80,000 for the home pictured above in September of 2012. [HAR]
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Goodbye to the former Community Artists’ Collective building on Elgin, along with these fellow disappearers:
- Houston Was the Second-Fastest-Growing City in US Last Year, but Still Outpaced by Growth in Its Own Suburbs [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Aldi Breaks Ground on 650K-SF Distribution Center in Rosenberg [Prime Property]
- Gates Ranch Community in Washington County Opens Up Additional 627 Acres To Meet Demand [Houston Business Journal]
- Months After 5-Alarm Fire, Debris Removal Begins at Axis Apartments on West Dallas St. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- What You Get for Your Money at Houston’s Luxury High-Rise Apartments [KHOU]
- Metro Votes To Proceed with Overpass in Place of Underpass for East End Light Rail Line [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Stretches of Travis St., Caroline St. and Texas Ave. Hotspots for Parking Tickets in Houston [Culturemap]
- Several Conclusions from Following the Proposed 11-Heights-Dallas-Telephone Metro Bus Route [OffCite]
- 8-Ft.-Tall Bronze Statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. To Be Unveiled Saturday in MacGregor Park [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston-Area Employers Will Create 85K to 90K Jobs This Year, Driven by Energy Industry, Predict Economists [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- ‘Government’ Is the Largest Employer in Texas, According to Texas Workforce Commission [Real Estate Center]
- Most of the Sargassum on Galveston’s Beaches Has Been Bulldozed Away Before the Holiday Weekend [Hair Balls]
- Anonymous Drone Video Shows Renovation of Texas A&M’s Kyle Field in Progress [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of White Oak Dr.: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
A reader who was sent a link to an earlier version of this long promotional video earlier today is eager to learn whether the Skye, Rise, and Edge — the 3 condo towers promised in it — are “real or vaporware.” And continues: “The promise of a 12 month delivery was what immediately stood out for me. Anyone in commercial construction will tell you that it is next to impossible unless it’s a vanity project in Dubai with no budget limitations.” Otherwise, the reader notes, “It felt like an SNL skit.”
- Elevated Living [Elevated Houston]
Video: Elevated Living
Elevated Living
CAFE EXPRESS ON KIRBY IS CLOSING AT THE END OF MAY 
What’s this little flyer employees at the Café Express at 3200 Kirby Dr. have begun stuffing into to-go bags? Just a little announcement that the location, which has been open since 1987, will be shutting down before the month is out. And sending customers to one of the 13 other spots in the chain, with a coupon. Thanks, but might cost a bit more to eat at some of the restaurants in the site’s replacement when it opens. Thor Equities has been showing whizzy images of the Kirby Collection, a mixed-use grouping of 3 structures planned for the entire block of Kirby between Colquitt and West Main St., on its website. The site is being redeveloped, the flyer says. [Previously on Swamplot] Image: Loves Swamplot
- 1916 Rosewood St. [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SCOOTING ON OVER FOR THE FUTURE 
“In 1860 the population density of NYC was 3,891 people per square mile. Houston today is 3,371. Were there a bunch of people in NYC around 1860 decrying the densification of NY to 11,381 by 1900? I’m not saying that Houston is like NYC but the world is only filling up with more people. In 1940 there were only a little over 2 billion people on the planet . . . today there are over 7 billion people. It is insane to think that the world, especially cities, are not going to change and become much much denser to accommodate this growth. What else are we going to do? Where are all these people going to live? The inner loop of Houston is where all of the action is at . . . demand is driving this. Some cities help mitigate a lot of the growing pains with comprehensive plans . . . I guess Houston has Swamplot and the invisible hand . . .” [Duston, commenting on Trio of Houses Across from Black Hole on Castle Ct. Is Coming Down] Illustration: Lulu
Does Sisyphus do windows? With floor-to-ceiling expanses and sliders trimming a tree house of a home in Saddlecreek Village Estates, the adjacent woodlands provide most of the background art. Last week, the updated 1980 property landed on the market, with a listing that keeps the home’s façade a bit of a secret. It’s a split-level and has a $1.75 million asking price. The glassy structure squeezes into its zig-zag lot’s leafy terrain in Hunters Creek Village, but much of the interior is wide open . . .
The So Big House
A funny thing happens in Pooja Lodhia’s teevee report on the whole Tampico Heights dust-up. Yes, she gets Jim Badger, the creator of the Tampico Heights website, to come on camera, and she notes that his renaming project was meant as a sort-of joke. But more interesting: She finds a couple people who claim that the inside-the-Loop neighborhood west of I-45 and east of North Main St. should be called Northside.
They aren’t wrong.
Tampico Heights or Northside West?
- Houston Again Sets Record for Construction Permit Values with 12-Month Total Topping $6.8B [Prime Property]
- Sprouts Farmers Market Opening Newest Houston Store on Aug. 20 in Spring, 3 More Locations To Follow This Summer [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
- Stadium Signage To Change from ‘Reliant’ to ‘NRG’ in June; LED Lighting, Solar Canopies, Charging Stations Coming [Houston Business Journal]
- Fast Food, Strip Center, or Bank? As Car Lots Sell Out, Shepherd Dr. Owners Ponder Its Future [The Leader]
- Pre-Sales Begin for 3 Home Series in the Avalon Section of Riverstone in Sugar Land [Houston Business Journal]
- City Council Set To Consider Proposal To Create a New Historic District in the First Ward [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot]
- Opposition to Memorial Park Bayou Erosion Plan Grows Louder as Deadline To Submit Public Feedback Approaches [Houston Chronicle ($); more info]
- More Infrastructure Needed To Connect People to Parks in Houston [OffCite]
- Metro Expected To Approve Revised East End Overpass Plan for Light Rail Line in Today’s Vote [The Highwayman; previously on Swamplot]
- MTA To Again Open I-45 HOV Lanes South of Downtown on Weekends This Summer To Help Move Galveston Beach Traffic [The Highwayman]
- The History of Deroloc and Backward Spelling Mania in Houston [Houstonia]
- $60M 2-Year-Old Dallas High School Stadium Deemed Unsafe for Football [NBC News]
Photo of construction of Alliance Residential’s Block 334 Apartments: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Update, 5/22: Swamplot has now confirmed that the tree was a Chinese Tallow, not an oak, as neighbors, and Swamplot, had originally reported.
Oh, those East Montrosians and their continuing tree battles. Here’s a photo of the street tree that once stood in more more leafly fashion in front of the property at 501 W. Drew St. The gentle warning tape wrapped around it appears not to have made much difference to the chainsaw operators who cut off its limbs last week, though. Had the tape been attached by a tree-hugging neighbor? Not exactly:
The Giving Up Tree
In the up-and-down maze of the 1985 postmodern Court at Museums Gate complex in Montrose, one of the 3-story units has been on and off the market at a variety of price points since last summer. Yesterday, the plaza-entry condo popped up again in a re-listing (with sharper photos) by a new agency. The asking price, $370,000, is where things stood earlier this month when an April 2014 re-listing terminated, having reduced its $385K price tag for 2 days. Back in July 2013, the unit debuted at $276,000, then tracked its price upward with the market through the end of the year. The property last sold in 2011, for $168,517.
More Montrose than Museum
From reader David Hollas come these pics showing portions of the 2 apartment complexes Martin Fein Interests is building at the southeast corner of West Alabama and Las Palmas Dr., 2 blocks south of the Highland Village Shopping Center. The building at left, stretching its wings to get ready for its facade finale, is the 325-unit Aria at Willowick Park. Facing off across the central ellipse will be the slightly more Modern-looking Olympia, which will include 189 units, but they’ll be larger:
Highland Village Apartments
