KHOU READY TO JOIN GALLERIA OFFICE BUILDING MIX 
KHOU will soon join the company of the Egyptian Consulate, Houston Sabercats Rugby team office, financial firms, energy companies, and attorneys in the new studio it has planned in the 22-story highrise on the corner of Westheimer and Bering Dr. The move will be a big change for the news organization — which evacuated its standalone 58-year-old building on the south side of Allen Pkwy. during Harvey and moved temporarily into Houston Public Media’s office on Elgin St. A recent renovation on the 5718 Westheimer tower (formerly known as Capital One Plaza) added landscaping to the field next door to it and redid its lobby as well as other interiors. KHOU hopes to settle in a 3-floor spot in the structure — including 2 studios, 2 control rooms, and office space — next year. In the meantime, the station expects to open the tiny satellite studio it has planned in the GRB’s frontage on Discovery Green. [Houston Chronicle; more; previously on Swamplot] Photo of 5718 Westheimer: LoopNet
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Tag: Houston Media
COMMENT OF THE DAY: ANY NEW NAMING EPISODES WELCOME AMID THE ENDLESS EAST HOUSTON RERUNS 
“The news calls everything between Downtown and Baytown ‘East Houston’ — so when West U is called ‘Southwest Houston’ for one day, I get a pettiness-fueled satisfaction out of it.” [tempeh, commenting on West U Shelter-In-Place Order Just Lifted Following This Morning’s ‘Southwest Houston’ Shooting] Illustration: Lulu
A NEW FLAG FOR FLOOD CITY 
Writes Cort McMurray of Monday’s flooding: “This week’s ‘historic’ rainfall (shake it off, TV weather people: if it happens once, it’s historic. If it happens every single year, it’s just rain) gave us the perfect symbol. You’ve seen it — it’s all over the Internet. Somewhere in our Xanadu on the Bayou, an intrepid Houstonian was spotted, knee-deep in rainwater and soaked to the skin, a yellow slicker hanging haphazardly on his shoulders, surrounded by flooded cars and floating debris, toting a waterlogged armadillo to safety. That’s it. That’s our new flag. Because wherever you live in this far-flung metropolis, you know what it feels like to be soaked to the skin and up to your knees in rainwater, carrying a stranded armadillo to safety. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? It’s the closest thing we have to a universally Houston experience.” [Houston Chronicle] Photo of armadillo rescued from Greens Bayou: Doug Miller
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE ONLY 5 HOUSTON NEIGHBORHOODS YOU MEET ON TV NEWS “It’s a balancing act. If they get too specific (address! intersection!) the newscasters know that the overwhelming majority of the metro which has no relation to that spot will tune out. If they are too vague (somewhere in the solar system!), once again they run the risk that the audience will feel no connection to the dateline location of the story and will also tune out. But there’s that sweet spot (southwest Houston!) where a large wedge of the viewing audience will think ‘I live/work/school sometimes in what I think of as southwest Houston’ and sit up and pay attention. Gotcha, TV viewers!” [slugline, commenting on What If Local Reporters Could Keep Their Houston Neighborhoods Straight?] Illustration: Lulu
002HOUSTON MAGAZINE GETTING RID OF ITS DOWNTOWN ZIP 
For its seventeenth birthday, sleek-stuff-about-downtown glossy 002houston magazine is stripping away the Zip Code part of its name to indicate its (longstanding) willingness to venture into Discovery Green (010), East Downtown (003), Bellaire (401), Montrose (swinging both ways: 006 and 019), the Energy Corridor (079), The Heights (007, 008, and 009), Pearland (584), Sugar Land (478 and 479), The Woodlands (380, 381, and 389), or wherever a nearby polo match is to be found. Starting with the January issue, the free publication’s new name will be Local Houston Magazine. “Local will continue to provide relevant news targeting those who live and work downtown, but with increased coverage throughout Greater Houston,” reads a notice sent out yesterday from 002houston magazine’s Spring St. editorial offices (in 007), “with editors covering food, culture, art and style for Houstonians who make Houston one of the coolest cities in America.”
A CHANCE TO RELIVE ALL THE EXCITEMENT THAT WAS ROYCE BUILDERS Royce Builders alumni and victims: Do you miss all the intrigue that surrounded Royce’s implosion last year? KPRC Local 2 investigative reporter Amy Davis tells Swamplot she’s working on a story about Royce Homes and its various reincarnations. Got any news to pass on about former Royce subdivisions? If you have any information to share about Vestalia, WG Builders, or any other entities where former Royce higher-ups might have resurfaced, she’d like to talk to you. Just send her an email — she says you can remain anonymous! [Swamplot inbox; email]