HOW TO PAY FOR THE CYPRESS CREEK GREENWAY PROJECT 
The Houston Parks Board, needing funding for the 40-mile Cypress Creek Greenway, commissioned a study that concluded that the Cypress Creek Greenway needs funding. Apparently, the creek that runs between IAH and Hwy. 290 is the only one of the 10 waterways involved in that 100-mile interconnected greenway plan that hasn’t identified where it’s getting its money; that’s where the study comes in. The Magnolia Potpourri’s Crystal Simmons explains: “Because [Harris County] funds are wrapped up in other projects, the study suggested creating a fundraising vehicle dedicated to generating funds specifically for the greenway’s planning, design and construction.” Now there’s an idea! And if that doesn’t cut it? “[L]ocal advocacy organizations including the Bayou Land Conservancy, the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce and the Cultural District have volunteered to continue publicizing the project.” [Magnolia Potpourri; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Cypress Creek Greenway Project via Facebook
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It seems that the townhouses overlooking this lot at 1016 W. 22nd St. might soon be seeing something more than a pair of apparently shy pick-ups: That TABC sign, dated June 12, indicates that The Orange Grove wants to sell booze at this spot to the people of Shady Acres. (The fairly dilapidated single-family house that used to stand here showed up in a September Daily Demolition Report.) This is one of several developments coming to the area: The restaurants Hughie’s and Spaghetti Western are renovating old joints west of T.C. Jester Blvd. and TikTok, a bar and concert venue, is planned just southwest of here on W. 20th St.
- 1016 W. 22nd [HAR]
- Previously on Swamplot: Restaurant Resuscitations: Hughie’s News and a Spaghetti Western Sequel, Rudyard’s Owner Building Bigger Bar in Shady Acres, Daily Demolition Report: Sinking on Grand Lake
Photos: Swamplot inbox
COMMENT OF THE DAY: STUCK AT THE WEST BELT CROSSING IN THE EAST END “As long as some of those trains take at that awful crossing at Cullen, some people have probably died of old age waiting for the crossing arms to come up (though if you know the neighborhood, all you have to do is get to Milby from behind the old Fingers and you can cross under at Polk. You’re welcome.) That said, while it’s nice that everyone is suddenly so aware of the inconvenience and potential danger of these trains, it isn’t as though this were a new thing. That one Union Pacific line parallel to Harrisburg is just as unpredictable and twice as loud as the one in the article; it runs immediately adjacent to homes for miles. I know; I’ve lived by both. It did this for decades before I got here and no one has done anything about it that I know of, but I suppose that’s the price paid when the neighborhood’s skin isn’t quite as light and its homes aren’t quite as expensive. I understand, though; when the town-home dwelling white folks aren’t happy, nobody’s happy.” [Chris, commenting on Headlines: Waiting for Trains in the East End; Waiting for Dunkin’ Donuts in Montrose]
Though that fuzzy border on this rendering suggest this is a gated community you’d see only in your dreams — or maybe in one of its namesake’s illustrated field guides — it appears that Audubon Hollow in Briar Hollow is already under construction. Plans describe 22 3-story houses, designed by Houston’s Butler Brothers, built on 3 acres on Briar Hollow Ln., tucked in that area bound by the Loop, Buffalo Bayou and Memorial Park, and San Felipe, west of River Oaks.
First things first: Here’s the new location of Morningside Thai. Hoping to open June 22, says owner Ying Roberts, the no-longer-on-Morningside, no-longer-eponymous restaurant can be found at 2473 S. Braeswood Blvd., inside the Kirby Glen Retail Center, north of OST, right where the South Main neighborhood bumps into University Place. Got that? Of course, the Braeswood address might be a tad misleading in this case, since the restaurant actually faces Kirby Dr.
Party like it’s 1699 or so in this North Blvd. mansion in Edgemont, where an updated 1925 estate includes a full-blown concert hall, super-formal formal rooms, and a platoon of figures serving a variety of decorative and occasionally structural purposes. The palatial, seemingly performance-ready venue and its collection of antique architectural embellishments sits on the northwest corner of North and Mandell St.
- Century-Old Heights Sycamore Downed To Make Way for Construction; Might Be Used for Furniture [Houston Chronicle]
- New Smashburger Opening Next Week in Katy The First in 5-year, 11-Franchise Development Deal [Houston Business Journal]
- Slideshow: The Retail Openings at the Galleria [Prime Property]
- Spring Shadows Residents Concerned Proposed Business Park Will Increase Traffic, Decrease Property Values [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Study To Consider New Freight Rail Connection, 4-Lane Bridge to Pelican Island [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- $110M Project Will Study How to Eliminate Long Waits at East End Train Crossings [KUHF]
- The Palm Steakhouse Reopening July 8 After Renovations [29-95]
- Renovations at 6 Carrabba’s Italian Grill’s Underway [Houston Business Journal]
- Montrose Dunkin’ Donuts Still Coming Soon Despite Missing ‘Coming Soon’ Sign [Eating Our Words; previously on Swamplot]
- Midtown’s Hopping Bar Scene Seems To Come at Washington Ave’s Expense [Eater Houston]
- Houston Companies Make List for Having Highest Greenhouse Gas Emissions [Culturemap]
- Slideshow: Exhibit Features Significant Downtown Architecture Projects of Last 30 Years [Houston Business Journal]
Photo of gate at Pine Vale and Hill in Aldine: Robert Boyd via Swamplot Flickr Pool
A pair of new restaurants are moving into old places in the Lazybrook and Timbergrove area. The former Queen Burger at 1802 W. 18th St., shown here, is being renovated and rechristened as Hughie’s Tavern and Grill. (A menu posted on Hughie’s Facebook describes the food as “Asian fusion.”) No date’s been given for the opening. And not half a mile away at 1951 W. T.C. Jester there’ll be a new Spaghetti Western . . .
Here come more billboard double entendres: The Baytown Sun reports that Buc-ee’s is building a big ’un on the I-10 feeder and John Martin Rd. later this year. And, apparently, the proposed 60,000-sq.-ft. convenience store, gas station, and jerky trafficker will get top billing: Part of the deal — a Chapter 380 Agreement — involves a waived height restriction for the store’s beaver beacon, so Buc-ee’s can raise one 100 ft. into the air. In return, Baytown will get a bit of room to put its own name up there too. (This will be the first time, the Sun reports, that Buc-ee’s will share its sign.) The store’s planned for about 18 acres on the southwest corner of John Martin Rd. and I-10 near the San Jacinto Mall. The Sun reports that it’s expected to open in 2014.
- Locations [Buc-ee’s]
- City of Baytown: Buc-ee’s coming to town after Council OKs deal [Baytown Sun ($)]
Photo of Lake Jackson Buc-ee’s: Judy Baxter [license]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: GROWING UP BY THE CANDY TRAIN “It really isn’t that bad. I was born on Winter St., and for many years the trains ran right in front of my house. I remember the house would shake and as a kid I would run outside and the conductor would always throw me peppermint candy. Good memories.” [Johnnie, commenting on A Little Winter St. Front Yard Action]
SPACE CENTER HOUSTON’S NEWEST ACQUISITION 
The Galileo 7 — shown here in a Star Trek episode as piloted by Dr. Mr. Spock on a doomed exploratory voyage to Taurus — is going to be added to the permanent collection at Space Center Houston in Clear Lake. A stand-in, maybe, for the real retired NASA orbiter that the center didn’t get a few years ago, this teevee spacecraft will be kept separate from “actual flown vehicles,” spokesperson Jack Moore tells Hair Balls. But that doesn’t mean it won’t have its own special effect: “Houstonians and other visitors will be able to see the Galileo at Space Center Houston’s Zero-G Diner, where, Moore says, the area’s overall theme is developing more of a science fiction atmosphere.” [Hair Balls; previously on Swamplot] Image: Memory Alpha
Just down the block from that recent fence-related mishap at the all-cleared Ashby Highrise site is the proposed site of the . . . Ashby Midrise? Well, the official moniker of this 5-story condo box at Ashby and Sunset is Chateau Ten. And if that name (or the purple-hued rendering pictured on the sign) seems familiar, it’s because an identical building from the Randall Davis Company is already going up on Spann and Welch on the lot adjacent to where Hines might or might not be building that 17-story office tower off San Felipe.
THE RETURN OF MARFRELESS 
It was only temporary, it turns out, the closing of Houston’s infamous den of PDA: Though reports in March suggested that River Oaks Shopping Center landlords Weingarten had hiked the rent, described cheekily in a press release by Marfreless as “the rising cost of doing business,” it appears that the bar that looks the other way has found new owners and will reopen with the same management in the same spot this summer — and they’ll be fixing up the place, too, they’ve announced in a press release that’s fairly dripping with innuendo: “All this comes with a complete renovation — from wires and carpet to the furniture you . . . sit on. You can expect an updated feel with the same Marfreless experience you’ve come to love. And don’t worry, our upstairs seating and iconic blue door will remain.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Flickr user jmcgeough
