Tag: Headlines

• Houston Apartment Market ‘Overbuilt,’ Says Apartment Data Services in 2016 Forecast [Houston Chronicle]
• Camden Property Trust Grades Houston Apartment Market a C with Declining Outlook for 2016 [HBJ]
• Economic Downturn to Spread Beyond Upstream Oil Industry This Year, Predicts Economist Bill Gilmer [Houston Chronicle]
• $1M-Plus Texas Homes Sales Increased from 4.5% to 36.4% in 2015, Finds Texas Association of Realtors [Culturemap]
• Harrigan Development Partners To Convert Arabian Horse Ranch into Clubhouse for Tomball Master-Planned Community [HBJ]
• Midtown’s Cook & Collins Has Closed While Upstairs Bar Spare Key Lives On [Houston Press]
• Last Vestige of Harlon’s Bar-B-Que Empire, Brooks Family BBQ, Has Shuttered [Houston Press]

Photo: telwink via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Sublease Space Supply Up 63% in Houston’s Class A Office Market [Realty News Report]
• Value of Residential Construction Starts Dropped 18% in December in Houston, According to Dodge Data & Analytics [Houston Chronicle]
• Greystar, Medistar Developing Luxury Apartment Complex in the Med Center [HBJ]
• Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Leases 38,582 SF in 2 BLVD Place at 1700 Post Oak [Realty News Report]
• A Record Number of Tourists Stayed in Hotels, Booked Conventions in Houston in 2015 [Houston Chronicle]
• Weather, Utilities Keep Delaying East End’s Hughes Street Overpass Project [Houston Public Media]
• How Houston Boosted Mass Transit Ridership By Improving Service Without Spending a Dime [Vox]
• Ride-Hailing Companies Can Officially Operate in Galveston Starting in March [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Heights Clock Tower, Navigation Esplanade, Cross Creek Ranch Win Urban Land Institute Awards [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of East Downtown: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Camden Property Trust Holding Off on Breaking Ground on Proposed Downtown Apartment Project This Year [HBJ]
• Richland Acquires Energy Corridor Retail Center Lakes on Eldridge Centre [Realty News Report]
• ExxonMobil Selling Former Research Complex in Greenway Plaza Area, According to Real Estate Alert [Houston Chronicle]
• BASF Consolidating Houston-Area Offices into Nearly 110K-SF Space in Energy Tower IV [HBJ]
• ExxonMobil Thinks Its Spring Campus Is Actually Valued ‘Substantially Below’ Harris County’s $1.04B Appraisal [Houston Chronicle, previously on Swamplot]
• Katy ISD Breaking Ground on Second Football Stadium on Feb. 5 [Community Impact News]
• RV Resort Now Planned for 25-Acre West End Parcel Instead of Mid-Income Residential Development [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Thousands of Students Sign Petition Calling on Lawmakers to Halt UT’s Houston Expansion Plans [Houston Chronicle]
• Montrose To Get New ‘Identity Markers,’ Revamped Esplanades, US-59 Bridge Lights in Time for 2017 Super Bowl [Houston Chronicle]
• Houston Area Getting $447M in State Funds To Redo 59-610 Interchange, I-10 West of Katy, I-45 in Clear Lake Area [Houston Chronicle]
• Diving for Drowned Cars in Houston’s Bayous Begins [Click2Houston, previously on Swamplot]
• Houston’s Favorite Son Mark Rothko Never Actually Ever Set Foot in Houston [Texas Observer]

Photo of Marquis II at 2631 Bissonnet: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Houston Business Leaders Have Pessimistic Outlook for 2016, Finds Deloitte Study [HBJ]
• How New Apartment Deals in Houston Are Being Financed During the Oil Slump [HBJ]
• Is Houston Really a City of Opportunity? [Houston Chronicle]
• Southern Living Names Houston ‘The City of the Future’ [Houston Chronicle]
• Despite Oil Slump, Houston Among Forbes’ Top 10 Boom Towns in America [HBJ]
• Harris County To Study Feasibility of Building A Parking Lot Under Astrodome [Houston Public Media]
• Alliance Residential To Break Ground on Luxury Apartment Project in Sugar Land Master-Planned Community Riverstone [HBJ]
• For $250, You Can Become a Potential Resident or Investor in EaDo’s Ivy Lofts [Houston Chronicle]
• Treadsack Turns Its Sights to New Bar Canard Headed Next Door to Foreign Correspondents [Culturemap]
• Torchy’s Tacos Opening 7th Houston Restaurant in The Woodlands’ Cochran’s Crossing Shopping Center Feb. 16 [Houston Chronicle]
• New Aluminum Signage Intended To Signal Montrose’s Upgrade from Stucco Postmodernism [Houston Press]
• The Woodlands Waterway Getting More Art Benches [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of Spring Valley: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• East Side of Houston Benefiting from Low Oil Prices While West Side Suffers [Los Angeles Times]
• FedEx To Build 800K-Sq.-Ft. Facility in Cypress That Will Open Next Summer [HBJ]
• Phase II of Port 225 Under Construction in Pasadena Now 65% Leased [Realty News Report]
• Slideshow: Inside 500 Crawford as First 200 Apartments Wrap Up [HBJ]
• Petition to Repeal Sugar Land Development Code Ruled Invalid [Houston Chronicle]
• El Cantina Superior Site To Open as a Butcher Shop Instead of a Brewpub [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Historic John Biggers Mural Threatened by Leaky Roof at Blue Triangle Community Center is ‘Incredibly Stable’ [Houston Chronicle]
• Drones and the Issue of Privacy [Houston Press]

Photo of David Bowie mural: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Rents Will Go Up 2.5% to $1,619 This Year in Houston, Predicts Zillow [Houston Chronicle]
• StreetLevel Investments Closes on 192 Acres of Former Texas Instruments Campus Planned for Mixed-Use Development [HBJ]
• TriGate Capital Buys Northbelt Office Center II at 785 Greens Pkwy. [Realty News Report]
• Tiny-Home Manufacturer Escape Homes Targets Houston [HBJ]
• Revolucion Coffee + Juice Opening in the Heights at 1231 W. 11th St. in March [Eater Houston]
• The New Vibe of Leon’s Lounge in Midtown [Culturemap, previously on Swamplot]

Photo of Glenwood Cemetery: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Home Prices, Rents within a 2-Mile Radius of NRG Stadium 29%, 20% Higher Than the Metro Average, Finds Trulia [HBJ]
• How Designers from Gensler Architecture Firm Would Revitalize Houston’s Neglected Structures [Houston Chronicle]
• Bayou Greenways 2020 Project Getting $7.1M Grant from Deepwater Horizon Funds [Culturemap]
• Priceless John Biggers Mural Inside Blue Triangle Multi-Cultural Association’s Third Ward HQ Threatened by Leaky Roof [Houston Chronicle]
• Offers To Help Couples Come in After Gran Palacio Wedding Venue Abruptly Closes [KHOU; more here]
• ‘Brown and Gay’ Discount Sign Outside Logan Farms Honey Glazed Hams Causes ‘Hilarious’ Misunderstanding [KHOU]
• Eastbound I-10 from Heights-Yale to I-45 North Connector Ramp Closed This Weekend for I-45 Bridge Work [Houston Public Media]

Photo of Pennzoil Place: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• University of Texas To Pay About $450M Over Next 30 Years for 300 Acres Near the Med Center [Houston Chronicle, previously on swamplot]
• Medistar, TRC Capital Partners’ 21-Story Med Center Hotel To Feature 357 Rooms, Office Space, Restaurants [HBJ]
• Master-Planned Community Could Rise on 521 Acres Near Daikin Campus [HBJ]
• 5 Houston Communities Make List of Top 21 Best-Selling Communities in the U.S. [Realty News Report]
• Inside the Raven Tower Next Door to White Oak Music Hall [Houston Press; previously on Swamplot]
• Your Pie Pizza Chain Opens First Texas Location on Ground Floor of SkyHouse Apartment Tower Downtown [Houston Chronicle]
• Falling Oil Prices Leading To Drop in Texas Road Funding [The Texas Tribune]
• Downtown’s Preston Street Bridge Now Known as The Robert Mosbacher Bridge [Houston Public Media]
• U.S. 290 Ramps to Sam Houston Tollway Closing for 6 Weeks Starting Friday During U.S. 290 Widening Project [Houston Chronicle]
• South Acres-Crestmont Park the Best, North Shore the Worst for Parking in Houston, According to Trulia and Parknav [HBJ]
• The 10 Worst Houston Suburbs [RoadSnacks via Houston Chronicle]
• The Essential Apps for Living in Houston [Thrillist]

Photo: Jackson Myers via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Galveston County Commissioners Approve Use of Eminent Domain To Acquire 16 Acres Around Rollover Pass [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Weingarten Realty Picks Up Pier One Property at 1935 West Gray for River Oaks Shopping Center Expansion [Houston Chronicle]
• Walmart To Cut 440 Jobs When It Closes Willowbrook Mall Super Center, Neighborhood Market at 2740 Gessner Rd. [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
• Houston Building Owners Expected To Start Cutting Rental Rates Soon Amid Oil Downturn [Realty News Report]
• Homebuilders Offering Discounts, Others Buying Fewer Lots in Slower Housing Market [Houston Chronicle]
• City Launches Website Where Uses Can Track Progress of Reported Potholes [Houston Public Media]
• Slideshow: The Streets with the Most Pothole Reports [Houston Chronicle]
• Groups Call To Designate 2-Mile Tree-Lined Stretch in the Heights the Yale Green Corridor [Houston Chronicle]
• Petition Opposing Houston’s Switch to LED Streetlights Has More Than 400 Signatures [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of the Med Center: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Johnson Development To Build 2,500-Home Community Veranda on 590 Acres in Fort Bend County [Houston Chronicle]
• Midtown Development Awaits Approval To Sit Closer To Brazos, Smith and Elgin Than Normally Allowed [Houston Chronicle]
• The Port of Houston’s Low 3.4% Submarket Vacancy Rate a ‘Completely New Phenomenon’ [HBJ]
• Houston Home Sellers Slashing Prices, Offering Incentives as Oil Slump Hits Market [Wall Street Journal]
• Fresh Off Opening 500 Crawford Downtown, Developer Marvy Finger Prepares for a Slowdown [Houston Chronicle]
• ‘Filthiest Home in Houston’ in Champions Area Under Contract, Has 12 Back-Up Offers [abc13]
• Chapman & Kirby Gastropub Planned for EaDo Mixed-Use Project East Village [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• The Halal Guys Restaurant Chain Opening First Houston Location on January 30 at 3821 Farnham [Culturemap]
• What Ever Happened to Houston’s ‘One Bin For All’ Program? [Houston Public Media; previously on Swamplot]
• Unidentified Smell Has Been Bothering Richmond Residents for at Least a Month and a Half Now [abc13]
• Slideshow: Inside Houston’s Abandoned Places [Houston Chronicle]

Photo: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• University of Texas Closes on 100 Acres in Southwest Houston, Plans To Buy 200 More in Coming Months [Houston Chronicle]
• Up to 70 New Houston Apartment Projects Stalled or Canceled Amid Oil Slump [HBJ ($)]
• More Than 3,000 Apartment Units Are Under Construction Downtown [Houston Chronicle]
• Quintana Minerals Relocating to 1415 Louisiana, Leases 17,465 SF at Under-Renovation Office Tower [Realty News Report]
• Spring Branch North, Westbury, Woodlake-Briar Meadow To Have Highest Home Value Growth in 2016, According to Zillow [HBJ]
• Bryan Caswell and Bill Floyd Opening 2 Restaurants at 500 Crawford Apartment Building Across from Minute Maid Park [Houston Chronicle]
• The New, Larger La Fisheria Debuts Downtown at 213 Milam This Wednesday [Houston Chronicle]
• Metro Testing Mobile Ticketing App for Purchasing Single Fare Tickets and Day Passes [Houston Public Media]
• The Sights and Sounds of the 27,000-Runner-Strong Chevron Houston Marathon [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of the Gus Wortham Fountain: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• SkyHouse Main Residential Tower Expected To Open This Summer Downtown [Houston Chronicle]
• Friendswood Development Growing Presence in Houston This Year with Kingwood, Tomball Communities [Houston Chronicle]
• New Data Center Skybox Houston One Now Open in the Energy Corridor [HBJ]
• City Says It Has Already Fixed 96% Of Relevant Reported Potholes [Houston Public Media]
• The Strongest Case Yet That Excessive Parking Causes More Driving [CityLab]
• Reagan High School Name Change Process Postponed [The Leader]

Photo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• Houston Home Sales Down 9.7% in December Over Previous Year, According to HAR [Houston Chronicle]
• Houston a Sellers’ Market at $400K and Below, a Buyers’ Market Above $500K [MarketWatch]
• Houston Absent from Zillow’s 2016 List of Hottest U.S. Housing Markets [HBJ]
• Construction To Start Next Month on Luxury Apartment Complex in Lago Mar [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Wulfe & Co. Developing Mixed-Use Development East Shore Place in The Woodlands [Community Impact Newspaper]
• Speedsportz Racing Track at Delayed Grand Texas Sports and Entertainment District To Open This Spring [HBJ]
• Residential Units, Retail Eyed for Former Colonel Bubbie’s Strand Surplus Senter [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• East End Family Opens Invasion Ice House in Former Ice House at Dumble and McKinney [abc13]
• The Full Cost of UH’s Football Stadium Probably Falls Between $126M and $128M [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
• Grand Pkwy. Segment Between U.S. 290 and I-45 Set To Open First Week of February [Houston Chronicle]
• Stalled Plan To Light Up U.S. 59 Bridges Finds Funding [Houston Chronicle]

Photo of the Downtown Aquarium: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• 121-Acre Pine Crest Golf Course in Spring Branch on the Market [Houston Chronicle]
• Houston’s First ‘Agri-hood’ Community Harvest Green Will Feature Edible Landscaping [HBJ, previously on Swamplot]
• 12 Under-Construction Houston Office Projects To Watch in 2016 [HBJ]
• Slideshow: Inside the New Holiday Inn in Former Savoy Hotel Space Downtown [HBJ]
• River Oaks District Signs New Retailers Nars Cosmetics, Roberta Roller Rabbit, St. Bernard [HBJ]
• More Gourmet Donut Shops in Houston as Glazed, Pena’s Donut Heaven Adding Second Locations, Morningstar Opening Soon [HBJ]
• Scenic Houston Has Raised Nearly $5M To Revamp Landscaping, Lighting Along Broadway Street [Houston Chronicle, previously on Swamplot]
• Post-Overhaul Metro Had 4.85M Bus Boardings in November 2015, Up from 4.65M Year Before [The Urban Edge]
• Oil Falls Below $30 a Barrel for First Time Since 2003 [Realty News Report]
• Billionaire Landry’s CEO Tilman Fertitta To Star on New CNBC Reality Show ‘Billion Dollar Buyer’ [Houston Chronicle]

Photo: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• ‘Reimagined’ Houston Airport Marriott at IAH To Debut Today [Houston Chronicle]
• La Porte Leaders Vote To Include New Gilley’s Venue in $55M La Porte Town Center [abc13; previously on Swamplot]
• Foreign Nationals, Empty Nesters Helping Fuel Houston’s Apartment Market [Houston Chronicle]
• LGI Homes Reports Record 3,404 Houston Home Closings in 2015, Up 45% Over Previous Year [Houston Chronicle]
• Neighbors Concerned About Property Values as Conroe’s Wedgewood Golf Course Set To Close Jan. 31 [Houston Chronicle]
• Metro To Roll Out Additional Changes To Bus Service Starting Jan. 24 Based on Public Feedback [Houston Public Media]
• New Bus Terminal, Parking Garage Could Open in Downtown Galveston By End of the Month [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
• Tallest Residential Tower in Texas Breaks Ground in Austin [Realty News Report]

Photo: Jan Buchholtz via Swamplot Flickr Pool