COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE COMING FLOOD OF FLOOD INSURANCE PREMIUM HIKES 
“If flood insurance becomes as expensive as predicted by the Chron article, it would make large parts of Houston financially uninhabitable. Folks owning property in the Heights now have even more reason to be pleased with themselves.” [Chef, commenting on Headlines: A PAC for the Astrodome Plan; A Kibosh on Free Rail Rides to Texans Games] Illustration: Lulu
Sign up for the Newsletter
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: MAKING HISTORY “I always thought the idea of a historic district was to preserve historic bldgs, not make new bldgs look like fake historic bldgs.” [infinite_jim, commenting on A Few New Views of the 33-Story Apartment Building Hines Wants To Build in Market Square]
So it turns out that Lovett Commercial is planning to put a new restaurant with retail space on an old industrial site in the First Ward — just not the site we thought. Those 1950s metal warehouses a reader photographed in the midst of demolition were taken down, says a Lovett rep, for the space. And the rep says Lovett has no plans to speak of for that site. But that restaurant, rendered here, will be just across the street on the southeast corner of Sawyer and Edwards. There, says the rep, the long building that stands parallel to the street at 2313 Edwards and backs up against the railroad tracks will not be torn down but renovated into something like what you see here.
More renderings:
Retail on the Morningside side of Hanover’s Rice Village mixed-use complex seems to be filling up: A reader sends this photo of signage for Cyclone Anaya’s, the Mexican kitchen named for the Mexican wrestler. It appears that the local chain restaurant will go in a few doors down from the walk-thru pizza window of Coppa Osteria, now open on the corner of Morningside and Dunstan, and, as this photo shows, right next to Chris Leung’s not-quite-ready Cloud 10 Creamery.
Note: Story updated below. And read more here.
Though their neighbors at 4444 Westheimer were assigned “move out concierges” to help with their “residence transitions,” it doesn’t appear that the tenants at the Westcreek at River Oaks apartments, just east of the Loop and south of San Felipe, will enjoy the same luxury, now that they’ve been asked to leave, too. (Though they will get their security deposits back!) A tipster explains that eviction notices from property owners Kaplan Management Co. were delivered late last week politely requiring that 2 of the buildings at 2049 Westcreek Ln. be vacated by the end of November, so they can be torn down. Why? The notice explains that “the community is being redeveloped.”
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
A bit of unlearning for the former North Forest ISD:
- Dornin Investment Group Buys Energy Corridor Office Building, Wants To Buy 4 or 5 More [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- 2-Year Construction Nears an End for 1111 Studewood Place Lofts in the Heights [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot]
- The Electric Company Behind Some of the City’s Biggest Buildings and Ballparks [Houston Chronicle]
- Metro’s Free Labor Day Weekend Rides Helped Draw New Riders [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- 328 Tickets Issued in Galveston Since Paid Seawall Parking Enforced [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Revisiting the Roadside Kitsch of the Eclectic Menagerie off 288 [The Great God Pan Is Dead]
Photo of Uptown: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
That retail task force that Mayor Parker put together about the same time that Macy’s announced it was closing the Downtown store came through with its first report yesterday, recommending that Dallas St. between Milam and La Branch — or between the hotels on the west side of Downtown and the hotels, Discovery Green, and George R. Brown Convention Center on the east — be prettied up into a kind of retail promenade. And the task force recommends that it happen sooner rather than later, in time to capitalize on the disposable incomes of the hordes coming to town for the NCAA Final Four in 2016 and the Super Bowl in 2017.
The rendering above, included in the report, shows a Kardashian body double strolling through the intersection of Main St. and Dallas; the Sakowitz building, catty-corner across from the to-be-demolished-in-a-week Macy’s, would pair with GreenStreet to anchor the linear district and provide similar photo opportunities. It appears that the task force hopes to lure national retailers and rally existing tenants and landowers, like Hilcorp, to the cause with tax breaks and other incentives, including waiving the city ordinance requiring that signage Downtown be no taller than 42.5 ft.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE CAR LOT TOLLWAY 
“I know that this suggestion wouldn’t be popular, but I would really like to see a toll road run down the N. Shepherd corridor from I-45 to Memorial & Allen Pkwy.
It’d be perfect for that.” [TheNiche, commenting on The Coming North Shepherd Transformation] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: DRYING OUT NORTH SHEPHERD “In a perfect world, the ‘dry’ restrictions from the Shepherd/Durham corridor would be removed, yet the residential areas to the east would stay dry, and Shady Acres over to Ella would also be dry, except on 19th and 20th. This would spur commercial development onto the more high traffic streets, and let the others with their 18′ wide pavement and drainage ditches stay residential. But hey, it’s Houston, so not gonna happen. I think commercial businesses from out of town still are unaware of the income growth around the Heights and are using old demographic numbers. A new strip center took the place of one of these used car lots up at 22nd and Shepherd last year. It has yet to be more than 50% leased out. I think it holds a precious metals buyer and a pay by the month cell phone store. It’s going to take a few more years, and some better income surveys before there’s a rush to develop this corridor.” [ShadyHeightster, commenting on A Guide to North Shepherd’s Auto Parts]
- 13415 Jibstay Ct. [HAR]
HIGHLY VISIBLE BILLBOARD REMINDS HOUSTON DRIVERS OF THE INVISIBILITY OF HOMELESSNESS 
You can’t miss it: Just south of Downtown, this pristine billboard went up recently above the northbound feeder of I-45. Its lonesome assertion, “Even the pigeons don’t see me,” is attributed to the “voice of the homeless.” What gives? Glasstire’s Paula Newton explains: “[I]t’s meant to raise awareness about homelessness. The billboard is a project by artist Jessica Crute in conjunction with a group show at Deborah Colton Gallery called Collective Identity. Crute [is] president and founder of a young non-profit organization Voice of the Homeless.” [Glasstire] Photo: Glasstire
BATTLESHIP TEXAS BACK IN ACTION 
The leaky ol’ boat is taking on a new role in national security: This week, it has become the training ground for a 6-ft.-long drug-sniffing robot tuna. A group out of Boston has designed the BIOSwimmer, described in the Sugar Land Sun as a “highly maneuverable, unmanned underwater vehicle that is equipped with a sophisticated suite of sensors.” Already having served dutifully in 2 world wars, the veteran ship is now helping to protect our ports: “The test team is planting packages of mock contraband of varying sizes in tight, hard-to-reach spaces on the battleship’s hull and putting the BIOSwimmer through the paces to see if it can successfully detect them.” [Sugar Land Sun; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Candace Garcia
- Much of Hughes Landing Could Be Completed in Two Years [Community Impact Newspaper; previously on Swamplot]
- PAC Formed To Encourage Voters To Support Astrodome Plan [KUHF]
- Neighborhood Group Concerned Hines’ ‘San Felipe Skyscraper’ Would Create Nightmarish Traffic [abc13; previously on Swamplot]
- Galveston Doing Better Today Than Before Ike, Say Island Officials [KUHF]
- No More Free Light Rail Rides to Texans Games [Houston Chronicle]
- How Toll Roads Can Help Pay for Modernizing the Interstate Highway System [Reason Foundation via The Highwayman]
- New Federal Guidelines Could Mean Drastic Hikes for Flood Insurance [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Hurricane Ike: Then and Now in Photos [Hair Balls]
Photo of 59 at 610: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
