• Mac Haik To Break Ground on Spec 17-Story Office Tower Next to Technip at I-10 and Kirkwood This Summer [Fuel Fix]
• Houston First Eliminates Five Developers in Running for New Convention Center Hotel [Houston Business Journal]
• Brookfield Leases Downtown Heritage Plaza Space to Rosetta, More Former Continental Center Space to Chevron [Houston Business Journal]
• Outdoor Solar-Powered Kitchen Designed by UH Students Coming to Palm Center Park at Griggs Rd. This Fall [Prime Property]
• City of Tomball May Use Eminent Domain To Expand Medical Complex Dr. [Tomball Potpourri]
• Council Vote on Hobby Expansion Could Be May 30 [Houston Politics]
• Ocean Prospector Rig Docked in Galveston Harbor for 14 Years Headed for Offshore Assignment [Houston Business Journal]
• Residents of Unidentified New Neighborhood Near Lake Houston Complain of Smelly, Discolored Tap Water [KHOU]
• 7-Foot Alligator Discovered in New Caney Grandma’s Backyard [Cleveland Advocate]
• Conroe High’s Bronze Memorial Tiger Statue Painted Blue in Prank [Montgomery County Police Reporter]

Photo: Montgomery County Police Reporter

The all-day buffet line for Filipino dishes and Mongolian stir fry just west of the Med Center could be winding down. This standalone building at 2416 W. Holcombe, home to Gold Ribbon Bake Shop and Restaurant since the mid-nineties, has been listed for lease by Pipeline Realty. Located in the shadows of a recently completed storage facility, the property shares a back parking lot with an adjacent medical office. There are 48 parking spaces by day and another 40 after office hours. Interestingly, a sign on the door says the place is hiring, seeking new hires who speak English and Tagalog.

• Restaurant Property for Lease [LoopNet]

Photo: Pipeline Realty

• Unofficial Texas City Tanger Outlets Plans Detail 80 Stores Signed On or Negotiating Leases [Galveston County Daily News]
• Austin Firm Buys 550-Acre Former Flamingo Isles Waterfront Development in Hitchcock from Bank [Prime Property]
• Galveston Park Board To Consider New Plans for Seawall Parking [Galveston County Daily News]
• Tea Party Collecting Signatures To Remove ‘Unconstitutional’ Red Light Cameras in Cleveland [Cleveland Advocate]
• 5,000 Bees Invade Construction Crane at 22-Story Whiteco Residential Tower at Brownway and Sage [abc13]
• First Phase of Memorial Park Reforestation Project Begins [Bellaire Examiner]

Photo of Texas City Tanger Outlet Center: Tanger Factory Outlet Centers via Galveston County Daily News

• 1309 Chamboard Ln. [HAR]

• Houston Single-Family Home Sales Jumped 9.6 Percent in April [HAR, via Prime Property]
• Mia, First of 3 New Carrabba’s Family Restaurants, Opening in New Kirby Compound Early Next Month; Grace’s and Johnny IV Next [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Windsor Hills in The Woodlands Recognized as Firewise Community by National Fire Protection Association [Houston Chronicle]
• You Can Now BYOB To Approved Events in West U Parks [West University Examiner]
• State of Texas Sues Owners of Gang-Ridden Le Promenade Condo Complex on Bissonnet Near Fondren, Calls It a Public Nuisance [Hair Balls]
• Stonefield Terrace Man Fights Neighborhood Association To Keep His New Burglar Bars [KHOU]
• All Westbound North Loop Lanes To Shut Down at Ella This Weekend [abc13]
• Hirsch Rd. Bridge Project To Begin within 90 Days [Houston Business Journal]
• Texas Windstorm Insurance Association Rates Going Up 5 Percent Next Year [Galveston County Daily News]
• Texas One of the Worst States in the Country for Earnings Growth, Finds Pew Report [Culturemap]

Photo of gutted Leeland St. apartment building: Christopher Newsom [license] via Swamplot Flickr Pool

• BBVA Compass Post Oak Tower Will Include 2 Local Restaurants; Hotel and Residences Axed [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]
• Galveston Restaurant Group Expanding Again with Nonno Tony’s at Pier 21 [Galveston County Daily News]
• State Agencies Spent $253.1M on Drought, Wildfire Damage Control Last Year [Culturemap]
• Texas Forest Service Launches Drought Survey To Get More Accurate Count of Dead Trees [KUHF]
• United Express, US Airways Express Operator Colgan Air To Close IAH Location [Houston Business Journal]
• West U Finally Finds Buyer for Lot Where Half-Built Home Was Demolished [InstantWestU.com]
• ‘Grand Canyon’ Gorge in Richmond Continues To Grow, Warn Ditch Neighbors [Click2Houston]
• High-Tech Billboards Being Installed Around Houston To Alert Drivers of Weather Emergencies [abc13]
• Houston’s Most Outrageous Restrooms [KHOU]
• 1987: The Year Houston Became a More Livable, Interesting City [Culturemap]
• Dozens of Junk-Food-Loving Raccoons Loitering Behind Stop N Save in Richwood [KHOU]

Photo: KHOU

Countertops beneath a high overhang of cabinetry leave an open view in 3 directions from this otherwise ringed-in kitchen in Spring Branch’s Campbell Woods area.  The streamlined setup accommodates a breakfast bar doubling as space for food prep and cleanup. Beyond the oven tower, meanwhile, there’s a service window into the dining room.

* * *

The 1,756-sq.-ft. home qualifies as both a new listing and a price reduction. Two days after the 3-bedroom and 2-bath property hit the market last week, the asking price dropped $5,000 to $117,500. The home was built in 1956. The shake-shingle siding it’s wrapped with has the hallmarks of a later coverup; but the home retains some brick-and-board accents:

A formal living room is off the entry hall. Honey-toned wood trim and wooden floors in many of the rooms match the paneling found elsewhere in the home:

The half-paneled family room has sliding glass doors opening to a circular patio of concrete in the back yard:

A line of bushes marks the back of the 7,192-sq.-ft. lot:

Pets have their own entrance through the back door:

The property has a wide driveway but no garage.

• 9523 Vogue Ln. [HAR]

• Group Aims To Raise $10B for Houston-Dallas High-Speed Rail [Fort Worth Star-Telegram via Newswatch]
• Language for Metro Ballot Measure To Extend ‘General Mobility’ Payments to Smaller Cities Due in June for November Vote [Houston Chronicle]
• Upper Kirby Borders Getting Cleared Out for Ulta Cosmetics, Texas Children’s Hospital [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
• Ashford Place Homes Built with Chinese Drywall Getting Repaired [Tomball Potpourri; previously on Swamplot]
• Checking In on Houston’s Once-Famous Neon Signs [Culturemap]
• Andrea White Writing Book on 100-Year-Old Baker Family Playhouse [Culturemap]
• Canton’s Monday Flea Market May Be the Best-Kept Shopping Secret in Texas [abc13]
• 300,000-Plus Attend 25th Annual Art Car Parade [Houston Chronicle; slideshow]

Photo of Percy Peacock on Allen Pkwy. during Saturday’s Art Car Parade: Candace Garcia

The symmetry of this home’s front elevation extends right down to the his-and-hers garages off the motor court. It’s a stylized chateau in the Enclave at the Waters of Avalon development. But the interior of the 10-year-old property, newly listed last weekend, is all contemporary:

* * *

An etched glass front door opens to the sunken living room. Curling like a wisp of smoke, a sleek spiral staircase rises into a lit dome.  The curvy features also play out in the upstairs balcony, the bays of the dining room and study, the recessed ceilings in many rooms, and the master bath shower stall.

Listed for $1,499,000, the home occupies a third-of-an-acre lot that overlooks a greenbelt underlining part of a Sweetwater Country Club golf course. Two of the 5 bedrooms are downstairs; the 7,485-sq.-ft. house has 5 1/2 bathrooms. Also part of the package: a pool, a putting green, and a “sport court,” with a little yard left over.

A view of the patio and pool from the living room appears through a 14 ft.-wide sheet of glass:

The master bedroom has direct access to the pool.

This black granite tower in the master bathroom is a steam shower:

A cedar-lined closet:

Part of the patio just outside the living room: an outdoor kitchen.

Lighting in the pool changes color.

The neighborhood association has a $1,075 annual maintenance fee.

• 22 Wilmington Ct. [HAR]