COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE BIGGEST BACKUP ON THE WAY TO WORK 
“The worst part of the commute is the parking garage. I live in the Loop and have a roughly 20 minute commute — I timed it at 21 yesterday morning at 8:45 and I got home in 16 around 6 but it often takes me 10 minutes or more to navigate the parking garage and its the most agonizing 10 minutes of the day. On days I don’t drive it’s not the lack of traffic that makes me smile, it’s not having to honk at someone who is about to hit me in reverse because they can’t figure out that no matter how hard they try their Denali is not going to fit into that compact spot.” [cellardwellar, commenting on Comment of the Day: Enjoying the Fruits of Commuting] Illustration: Lulu
Sign up for the Newsletter
FILLING THE DONUT HOLE IN RIVER OAKS 
A few weeks ago the doors and drive-thru window of this new donut shop in River Oaks owned by billionaires Jeff and Mindy Hildebrand were flung open, and the tony feel of the scaled-up endcap at 3601 Westheimer has apparently won the affection of Houstonia’s Annabel Massey: “Never before have I walked in to a donut shop to find beautiful countertops made of marble, artwork by Lorri Honeycutt, or a display of delicious taste-testers in the form of donut holes for me to pop into my mouth as I wait in line.” Massey also seems taken with the Hildebrands’ rigorous recipe development: “Every afternoon, nine boxes of donuts would be delivered . . . . Mindy distributed them to family and friends, looking to get feedback on their work-in-progress. After three months of taste-testing, they finally landed on a delicious one-of-a-kind recipe.” [Houstonia] Photo: Allyn West
HOW ONE BUYER WOULD USE HISD’S LAW ENFORCEMENT HS PROPERTY 
If the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice is sold to St. Thomas High School competitor AV Dickson Street, the investment company has said it plans to link the 11-acre Magnolia Grove property with the adjacent and recently purchased Bayou Park apartments at 4400 Memorial to create a mixed-use district: Alison Malkhassian of AV Dickson Street tells The Leader‘s Charlotte Aguilar that “the long-term goal . . . could be to create a 26-acre mixed-use luxury retail-office-residential development on the combined properties — a process that would take about a decade.” Yesterday, HISD received the 2nd round of bids: St. Thomas is offering $42 million, about $800,000 more than AV Dickson Street — but Aguilar suggests that the sale might come down to rent: St. Thomas said it would charge the school $225,000 a month to lease the space for the next 5 years, compared with $100,000 a month from AV Dickson Street, a difference of $7.5 million over that time. [The Leader; previously on Swamplot] Photo: HISD
- Bulldozers Already Humming at Grand Texas Theme Park Site in New Caney [Houston Business Journal;Â previously on Swamplot]
- Harris County Exploring Ways To Fund Astrodome Redevelopment Plan [KUHF; previously on Swamplot]
- Montgomery County Home Sales Could Slow as Inventory, Interest Rates Rise [The Woodlands Villager]
- Galveston Historical Foundation $200K Short of $3M Bishop’s Palace — But Plans To Close Soon Anyway [Galveston County Daily News ($); previously on Swamplot]
- Tierra del Fuego Restaurant Opening This Fall in Sugar Land Town Square [Houston Business Journal]
- Water Usage Has Increased in Galveston Area Despite Serious Drought Alerts [Houston Chronicle ($)]
Photo of ISKCON Temple on W. 34th St. near Ella Blvd.: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
The sign in the dirt tells you all you need to know: Hilton plans to build one of its newish line of Home2 Suites here on the eastbound Katy Fwy. feeder between S. Mason and Westgreen Blvd. A reader sends in this photo and a few specs, writing that the proposed 60,000 sq.-ft. hotel will have 92 rooms and will link up with the exercise trails that run back behind the car dealerships along Mason Creek into George Bush Park.
- About Our Hip Extended Stay Hotels & Suites [Home2Suites]
Photo: Swamplot inbox
This solid swath of property neighbored by tightly packed cul-de-sacs in Hunters Creek Village appears to be swinging that way: County records show that just one 7,549-sq.-ft. home now stands on these 4.4 acres at the corner of Memorial and Voss, and a Hunters Creek Village employee tells Swamplot that the property is being subdivided and 7 new homes will be arranged inside the gated community called Reynolds Court Addition.
Photos: Swamplot inbox
Polishing the woodwork in this 1975 neo-Tudor in Champion Forest Champions Northwest might take a while. The property comes with a 6-pack of bedrooms, of bathrooms, and of fireplaces — as well as heaps of lumber in both structural and decorative forms, starting with the half-timbering (and other-half-bricking) out front.
A note to agents in the listing brags that the home made some sort of appearance in Architectural Digest when it was young — who wouldn’t want to see the indoor pool? It was put on the market 6 months ago, but the listing expired in mid-June. Now it’s back with a new agency but the same asking price: $1,399,000.
- 5458 Lynbrook Dr. [HAR]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: DEVELOPING AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT RAIL 
“Light rail has not to date really spurred development around it’s stations because it is not a speedier transit option for people along it’s route. I’m pretty sure you can drive from Main and Bell to Binz just as fast as it would take on LRT, because the trains ride in the street and also stop for cross traffic in some spots. Also, traffic congestion along Main St., or the East End is nowhere near a critical mass that driving becomes something you want to avoid.
Dallas’ DART rail used railway right of ways that took the trains off the street grid, and is able to provide speedy transit down the North Central Expressway corridor. Real estate development followed around the station nodes because people are willing to eat/shop/live close to a station that lets them avoid a terribly congested highway at rush hour.
METRO did own old railroad ROW’s along Westpark and the Katy Freeway, but never had anyone in charge that was willing to develop those ROW’s for rail use. They became concrete highways instead.” [ShadyHeightster, commenting on Where Downtown Has Developed, Is Developing, and Might Develop Some More] Illustration: Lulu
Hines says that it isn’t quite ready to say that the office tower planned for 609 Main will be taller than the previously described 41 stories and 815,000 sq. ft. Still, a rep from Hines says that increasing demand for office space Downtown is driving a redesign from Pickard Chilton, and it’s likely that the tower will end up comprising more square footage — if not more stories. The proposed block, bound by Main, Texas, Fannin, and Capitol, is shared now with the vacant Texas Tower — though it’s still unclear whether that building would be torn down to make room. At any rate, it seems that we’ll soon know: The second round of designs should be completed by the end of the year, says the rep, and construction could begin as early as January.
- Houston’s next great skyscraper? Hines to Texas size new Main Street office tower, speed up development [Culturemap]
- Previously on Swamplot: Does New Hines Highrise Mean Old Texas Tower’s a Goner?
Rendering: Hines
A WEST AVE SUSHI SHUTDOWN 
Friday was the last day for West Ave sushi joint Katsuya in Upper Kirby. Next up to throw its use into the mix? Nara, which claims in a press release that it will be Houston’s first Korean restaurant inside the Loop. Katsuya was open here for about a year and a half, reports Eater Houston, feeding the likes of NFL pals Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, but seemed to lose a certain something: “One Eater tipster reported that things had become grim at the end, with the restaurant only serving sushi but not prepared entrees.” Nara is expected to open this fall. [Eater Houston] Photo: Ryan Forbes
- City Council To Consider Granting $1M in Tax Rebates to Costco Being Built Outside City Limits Near 1-10 and Grand Pkwy. [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Famed Cedar Lawn Maceo House Off the Market [Galveston County Daily News ($); previously on Swamplot]
- Fresh Market Announces Opening Dates for 4 Houston Stores [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]
- Slideshow: Sprouts Copperfield Location Opening July 17 Will Be Houston’s Largest One Yet [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
- Houston Makes List of Metro Regions With Improving Residential Real Estate Markets [Prime Property]
- Why It’s Your Fault Your Trash Isn’t Collected Sometimes [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- New Rice Design Alliance Charrette Challenge is To Integrate the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft’s Campus [Glasstire]
Photo of Buffalo Bayou: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
You’ve got to make some divots before you can start replacing them: Construction will begin this week in Spring on another TopGolf in Houston. This 65,000-sq.-ft. bar, event venue, and aim-required golfing alley will be located on almost 11 acres at 560 Spring Park Blvd., a few miles south on I-45 of the coming-along-now ExxonMobil campus. In December, TopGolf opened its first Houston location at 1030 Memorial Brook Blvd. You can see more renderings of what to expect after the jump.
