Here’s the lineup for today:
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- City of Kemah Exploring Ways To Develop 30-Acre Waterfront Tract on Galveston Bay Between FM 518, League City Pkwy. [Culturemap]
- Pearland Couple Sent to Prison for Downtown Kirby Lofts Condo Sales Scheme [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gary Greene Opening Marketing Center in Magnolia Next Month, in Creekside Village Next Summer [Houston Business Journal]
- Slideshow: Aerial Views of the ExxonMobil Campus Under Construction [Prime Property]
- Still No Space Shuttle, But JSC Will Preserve One of the Aircraft That Carried It Around [Houston Chronicle]
- Washburn Tunnel Will Close Next 2 Weekends for Security Camera Installation [Houston Business Journal]
- Lakeville Homeowners in Katy Complain About Their Cars Getting Towed for Being Parked on the Curb, Grass [abc13]
- Galveston Community Radio Looking To Revive Local Station KSTB at 101.5 FM, Off the Air Since Ike [Galveston County Daily News]
- Workshop Tonight Will Review Proposed Changes to Galveston’s Permitting Process [Galveston County Daily News]
Photo of Alamo Plaza Motor Hotel sign, 4343 Old Spanish Trail: Molly Block via Swamplot Flickr Pool
PORT OF HOUSTON PAYING $6.7 MILLION IN CRUISE BAIT FOR SUDDENLY POPULAR BAYPORT TERMINAL 
A minor detail missing from last week’s story explaining how the Bayport Cruise Terminal was finally able to lure a couple of cruise lines to its Galveston Bay-side shores, after long 4 years of loneliness and vacancy: the payola. Er, dowry. To entice Princess Cruises and the Norwegian Cruise Line to give up on the overstuffed Galveston Port and stop by for a little on-again, off-again fun with its otherwise antisocial upstream neighbor, the Port of Houston Authority has agreed to dole out a combined $6.685 million to its seafaring suitors. The bulk of cruising-around money will go to the tall Norwegians; Princess will take home $685,000. And both lines will be excused from rent and docking fees. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Flickr user Silent Z
No bids yet on the sleepy sombero man in front of the hacked cactus removed from the sign in front of the former Felix Mexican Restaurant at the corner of Westheimer and Grant last year. And no bids on the other formerly east- and west-facing portions of the popular sign, which the space’s new owner, Uchi, put up for auction separately on eBay early this morning. The starting bid for each disassembled segment is a hefty $1,500, but Uchi doesn’t appear to be in this game for fish money. Proceeds are promised to the LULAC National Scholarship Fund; the former restaurant’s namesake, Tex-Mex pioneer Felix Tijerina, served as LULAC’s national president for 4 terms. The “Orders To Go” flyer from the original sign hasn’t shown up in any online auction yet.
- 1005 Gardendale Dr. [HAR]
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday that permit offices were open.
A crushing blow. Hold the anchovies, please, while we pull this down.
- Downtown’s KBR Tower Changes Hands with $174.6M Purchase by New York’s W.P. Carey [Houston Chronicle]
- Investment Firm Buys Office Building in The Woodlands Town Center [Houston Chronicle]
- Fiscal Cliff Diving Shouldn’t Trigger Downturn in Houston Real Estate Market, Says Economist [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston Hoping To Add 1,000 Apartments for the Homeless Through HUD Vouchers [KUHF]
- Uchi Restaurant Plans To Sell Each Side of the Iconic Felix Mexican Restaurant Sign Separately, on eBay [My Table]
- Pay Plan for Galveston Seawall Will Go Into Effect By March, Without Meters [Houston Chronicle]
- Ike Dike Dream Not Dead Yet, Even After Sandy, Says Concept’s Creator [Galveston County Daily News]
- Most of Texas Has Returned To ‘Moderate’ Drought Conditions or Worse [Houston Chronicle]
- Galveston Animal Control Catches Coyote Accused of Killing Pets [Houston Chronicle]
- Houston Audubon’s 80-Year-Old Edith L. Moore Log Cabin To Be Restored, Updated [abc13]
- Buffalo Soldiers Museum Moves into New Home at Houston Light Guard Armory Building [Art Attack]
Photo: Candace Garcia via Swamplot Flickr Pool
WHERE SPACE IS CHILLY AND TIGHT 
From Swamplot’s (stuffed) inbox: “It’s not just housing that’s a tight real estate market. Take a look inside the average refrigerator about this time of holiday preparations as we all play another round of Turkey Day Tetris, jockeying ingredients and containers onto already full shelves. I don’t know about you, but I always forget to factor in a place for the bird to thaw! Am calling the work day done, heading to the grocery store, and wishing I were a guest instead of the host.” How about we all take another day off to recover, clean out more room in the fridge, or maybe shop for a few extra kitchen appliances? Swamplot will be back on the beat on Monday. A happy Thanksgiving holiday to you all. Photo: Debora Smail
Spooked former residents looking for some sort of larger, more mystical explanation for the disastrous end of the Park Memorial Condos at 5292 Memorial Dr. now have confirmation of a first-class backstory to hang their storytelling hats on. A little late for Halloween, a medical examiner has determined that the human remains discovered this summer during the condos’ demolition — and the preparation of the site for its replacement, the Park Memorial Apartments — belong to bodies interred at a cemetery that once graced the site. That would be the Crooms Cemetery, Preservation Houston’s David Bush tells teevee reporter Deborah Wrigley. The African-American burial ground was named after Felix Crooms (who scored nearby Crooms St. as well), was in operation from approximately 1917 to 1937, and also served as the final resting place for members of St. Luke’s Missionary Baptist Church.
Under the big-top-feeling ceiling of a 1980 patio home in Riverview Place, the main room’s floor plan is so open it’s an almost-all-in-one indoor-outdoor living space, right down to the seating-rimmed berm that brings in some yardage.
A 20-story hotel with apartments perched on the top few floors is planned for the southeast corner of Richmond and Buffalo Speedway, just east of Greenway Plaza, Real Estate Bisnow‘s Catie Dixon reports. Engineering firm Bury + Partners is about to start work on construction drawings for the mixed-use project, a redevelopment of the block at 3333 Richmond. The plans also include 400,000 sq. ft. of new office space. The 22-year-old 8-story Solvay America office building sits at the southern end of the site.
- Multifamily Money Woes [Real Estate Bisnow]
Photo: Cushman & Wakefield (pdf)
- Houston Home Sales Up 35%, Prices Up More Than 8% Over Last Year; Inventory at Lowest Level in More Than a Decade, Says HAR Report [Houston Business Journal]
- Park Board Hoping To Increase Tourism to Galveston’s Far East End By Leasing Tracts to Viable Business Interests [Galveston County Daily News]
- Woodlands Township Supports $2.49M Extension of Pathways Around Waterway [Woodlands Villager]
- Westwick Residents Complain About ‘Crazy’ Traffic as Commuters Avoid I-10 Slowdowns [abc13]
- Galveston Asking Residents To Conserve Water; Rainfall Down in Brazos River Watershed [Houston Chronicle]
- Thanksgiving Tradition: Family Camping Since Tuesday Outside Best Buy Store in Meyerland for Black Friday Deals [KHOU]
- Why Doesn’t Reliant Stadium Open Its Retractable Roof on Nice Days? [Hair Balls]
Photo of the Huntingdon: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
- 13918 Grambo Blvd. [HAR]
HEAVEN ON EARTH FIRE DRILL 
A reader figures all the Houston Fire Department units and ambulances gathered downtown around the long-vacant former Holiday Inn at 801 St. Joseph Pkwy. at Travis St. on Sunday morning were there for some training exercises: “There was no incident active on the HFD Active Incidents web site, which is just a dump from their dispatch system. I monitored their radio traffic related to it as well. . . . I assume they had permission from the owner. Interesting to see this building getting some attention. I don’t think they were setting it on fire, though.” The 31-story 1971 building was also, for a time, a Days Inn; it was last known as the Heaven on Earth Plaza Hotel, operated through most of the nineties by an organization affiliated with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, though many residents and neighbors referred to it more affectionately as the Beirut Hilton. [Swamplot inbox; previously on Swamplot] Photo: arch-ive.org
