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This project is on 11 mile road and is about 1/2 mile east of GISP. I wouldn't quite call it the "west end" of the island. But that is just island semantics. The dunes along that stretch from GISP going east have taken a beating from storms and development that goes right up to the sand. Most of the dunes along that stretch are all but non-existent. It may just be a lousy rendering, but the buildings along the shore look like they are too close to allow for the development of healthy dunes. That would be my biggest concern. A few of the houses at Pirates Beach are past where the dunes should be due to storms and erosion. I could see the front row of homes on this development ending up in the middle of the beach if storms and sea level rise take their toll. If you took out the front line of houses and dedicated that space for dune redevelopment, that would make a big difference. Pointe West, for all its problems, did a good job rebuilding the dunes. I was there during a tropical storm during the pandemic. The ocean surged right up onto the dunes. But instead of water flooding into the neighborhood, the marsh behind the dunes happily soaked up the water. That should really be the standard for any new development along the coastline in Galveston. This section of the island is also an important section of coastal prairie going back to the bay side of the island. Laffite's Cove is an important migrant trap for birds and east of it is a good section of contiguous coastal prairie that is almost completely uninterrupted from the bay to the beach. A very dense development like this is going to have a negative impact. And every inch of coast line that does not have lights helps out sea turtles who mistake the lights for moon light and end up getting stuck on shore or getting run over on the street.

Interesting wrinkle on this one is that the daycare across the street has applied for a 300 ft alcohol free zone. Law has been on the books since 2005 that allows a daycare to apply for an alcohol free zone but no one has used it until now (schools get an automatic alcohol free zone, daycares have to apply). The Rusty Can would still be able to serve alcohol, but would have to make a percentage of sales from food, which would probably limit the ability to stay open late when people are just drinking. https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/houston-alcohol-free-zone-near-daycare/285-44c67a9f-32d0-4377-8e04-311d1e1f3e6b

Demo of the bungalow at 305 W 20th is underway. Can't help but to reminisce of the olden days when Mam's ice sno balls would hang out on that lot a draw a nice crowd from 19th street.

More activity. A bunch of cinder block on the ground level got punched out. I also noticed that the bottom of the parking garage on the south side of the property seems to have continually retained water. Going to need some popcorn as the attempt to restart and complete this construction goes on.

Got coffee at Catalina on the way to work and did not see anything happening at Washington and Silver.

There was a lot going on in this case. Arbor Court flooded twice (Tax Day and Harvey). When they applied for permits to make repairs after Harvey, they tried to low ball the amount of repairs needed to keep the permits from being considered "substantial damage", which would allow the City to deny permit applications based on flood plain issues. The City didn't buy Arbor Court's low ball damage estimate and considered an alternate FEMA estimate that brought the repairs within the "substantial damage" provisions. The City denied the permits on those grounds. Arbor Court alleged that the City had always wanted the land for recreation/flood control and sought $32 mil for a taking. In short, the Court held that there was no taking and that the City was well within its police power to deny the permits on the grounds of the flood plain issue. The city can still acquire the property by eminent domain, but that will put it in front of a County Court judge. Harris Count Court at Law judges are pretty much put in office to support the City and County on eminent domain lawsuits. In other words, you get a lot less from the CC at Law judge in eminent domain than you do from a Federal judge in a takings case. The entire opinion from the judge is below. If Montpelier, VT can flood, you can bet that Houston is going to get another big flood in the not so distant future. The flood prone areas in Houston need to be turned into flood mitigation retention/detention ponds, etc. Letting people rebuild in areas that flood over and over is just like letting children play with guns. We need every inch of flood control that we can get in Houston and need to get people out of flood prone areas so no one has to risk their lives trying to get them out. https://casetext.com/case/dm-arbor-court-ltd-v-the-city-of-houston-1

Make that five years. Simply Coffie has finally opened. Looks like they just have some pastries plus coffee service. Haven't been yet. They are in their soft opening right now and seem like they are getting mobbed (which is good). This business wins the never say die award for being able to hang on through everything to finally get their business open. Strangely, it may have been fate that they were not able to open in 2018-19 as they would have been crushed by the pandemic. And now, there are probably an additional 5,000 residents in the Heights compared to 2018 due to all the multifamily construction. https://www.instagram.com/SimplyCoffie/?fbclid=IwAR0JR1SqmfFKL9VzeXODCZW2xMfzJvIwuJe3oel29AscXvUZiwcS3vG-QE0

Food was good. They made a bit of a splash on the internet with their gumbo tacos. Dining area inside was tiny. Eating outside was just fine, but when you drive by you can't tell sometimes whether it is open or what is going on. I think they would have done much better if they built out a better space on that lot and had a bar. Seems like they had decent crowds when they had mudbugs.

Actually saw a crew out with a big mobile crane the other day. Looked to be a roofing contractor. Amazing that it has been over seven years since our old friend Terry Fisher broke ground on this.

Congratulations. Get your TX license ASAP. There are apartments that need hats and residential lots that need to be filled to the lot line with Modern Victorian Farmhouses.

Booooo

Some life coming back to these storefronts. NG jewelry has opened in the middle storefront. Dood's Coffee is building out the space on the northern most storefront. They have had a couple of pop ups, but it looks like a bit more work needs to be done to get a full service coffee shop open. https://www.instagram.com/doodscoffeeshop/?hl=en

Better yet, Silver all the way down to N. Memorial Way (the road in front of the road closed signs in Hindesky's photos) and then take a right on the path with all the oak trees. That goes straight on to the path that goes down to the bayou.

You turn right on Sawyer and pick up the bike trail just before the Sawyer st. overpass. The trail takes you under the overpass, along the cemetery and links up with the Buffalo Bayou trail across the bayou from the police memorial.

It is really weird how the customer base that Revival had just disappeared when Lagniappe opened. Food was on par with Revival with added Cajun fare. But it never had the level of business that Revival had. I think they would have done better had they opened in another location instead of being in the shadow of Revival. Years ago, people in the Heights would have pounced on a place like this. Looking forward to getting location number 43 of a craft kombucha and organic vegan cronut chain originally from Bend, Oregon.

They are closing after 10 years at that location. Commercial leases are almost always in 5 year intervals. I do not have specifics about Fat Cat, but I can say with certainty that commercial landlords in the Heights cannot wait to boost rent and swap out local brands for larger regional and national chains/franchises that can afford steep rents.

The Heights are officially over thanks to the idiots who own commercial real estate. They would rather have storefronts sit empty for years than dare to give a local business a lease that wasn't at the current market rate.

Wow. Those are some seriously dumpy looking front loaders.

The Heights has lost a lot of good breakfast locations (Down House, Morning Star, Hugs and Donuts, Kraftsmen etc.). So, this will be good. But the Heights is now becoming almost exclusively a place for nation or regional chains/franchises or second or third locations for local restaurants. Only high dollar chef driven places like Jun, Savoir and Squable are bucking the trend.

Keeping it old school isn't the issue. In fact, keeping it old school can very much be a big benefit. Just look at Taqueria Laredo. If they upgraded everything and had chef driven tacos with tofu or chicken tikka masala, they would be out of business within a few months. The problem with Andy's is that it isn't nearly as good as Teo, Chilosos, Peubla's etc. (nor is it that cheap) and even though they have a huge advantage owning their premises while everyone else gets beaten up and driven out by skyrocketing rents, they are playing like they are the victim of some greedy developer. But they have actually just been freeloading off the neighboring property for parking and alley access for a few decades. And the conniptions about parking aren't really based on any great imposition on their business that is unique to the Heights. if you go to just about any of the popular restaurants in the Heights (Coltivare, Loro, Hando, Field and Tides, etc.), you will more than likely on a busy night have to park your car a block or two away and (heaven forbid) walk .12 miles to get to the restaurant. There is plenty of on street parking behind Andy's. And that is one of the most old school things about the Heights. We do not have a bunch of strip malls with giant parking lots. We have retail nestled right in our neighborhood and people are happy to park a block or two away to get to where they are going for dinner.

Not to pile on, but it is not hard for a good old school Tex-Mex restaurant to thrive in the Heights. Teo, Chilosos, Puebla's, Hacienda, etc. all do great business serving the same Tex-Mex as Andy's (and probably pay a lot more in rent).

Don't count your hot chicken sandwiches . . .

It only took a decade or two, but it looks like Houston developers have finally realized that ground floor (and second floor) retail is a good idea.

Been going there since it opened. Couldn't disagree more. Folks working the counter are always great. Only complaint is that the cake slices sell out too soon.

This is a good result. There were murmurs about the PGA dumping the Houston Open in order to make way for a series of big money events in the fall intended to compete with LIV. And two weeks before the Masters will mean that a lot of the top players will show up in order to fine tune for the Masters. The Woodlands is hosting the Chevron LPGA Championship and the Insperity Invitational for the senior tour the third and fourth weekends in April. That is pretty good for a city that is not a resort area like spots in FL, CA, AZ, etc.