Construction on a new multi-building shopping center is slated to kick off early next year in Porter, a spokesperson with the project confirmed March 25. The project is still in the early stages of development.

The details: The center will be called The Market at Royal Brook and is owned by Malabar Hill Capital, according to Dec. 10 filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The project includes two shell buildings—one measuring 20,647 square feet and the other measuring 23,092 square feet—that will house multiple business tenants.

• Opening date TBD
• 5731 W. Lake Houston Parkway, Porter; 5735 W. Lake Houston Parkway, Porter

Check out the latest updates on three Texas Department of Transportation projects under construction in the New Caney and Porter area.

FM 1485 rehabilitation

• Project: A roughly 7-mile segment of FM 1485 is being rehabilitated between Old Houston and Kidd Cemetery roads. Project contractor Vulcan Materials Asphalt and Construction will repair the road base, add new asphalt overlay, restripe the road segment and replace signage along the corridor.
• Update: Work is 96% complete as of a March 10 report from TxDOT.

• Project: A roughly 2-mile segment of FM 1314 is being rehabilitated between Hwy. 242 and north of McQueen Road. The project contractor is R Civil Construction LLC.
• Update: Work is 58% complete as of a March 10 report from TxDOT.

• Project: Detention ponds are being constructed along Hwy. 242 between Needham Road and Hwy. 59. The contractor is R Civil Construction LLC, and the project aims to improve drainage along the corridor.
• Update: Work is 80% complete as of a March 10 report from TxDOT.

Four astronauts boarded the Orion spacecraft on April 1 and lifted off that evening from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as part of Artemis 2, NASA’s first manned lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.

What you need to know: Artemis 2 is sending NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day mission to orbit the Earth and moon, according to NASA’s website.

Quote of note: “Building on the uncrewed Artemis I mission, which sent Orion 1.4 million miles beyond the moon and back, Artemis II will begin with two Earth orbits including a high‑Earth orbit before the crew embarks on a trajectory that will take them thousands of miles beyond the lunar far side—the farthest any humans will have traveled from Earth," Texas A&M professor Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, a former NASA astronaut who has flown five shuttle missions, said in the release.

The Montgomery County Food Bank board of directors announced April 1 a planned leadership transition, with Kristine Marlow concluding six years as president and CEO of the nonprofit, which saw a period of growth in the community during her tenure. Scott Burns, the food bank’s vice president of growth, was named as the next CEO following a selection process by the board, according to a news release.

Quote of note: “When I started in this role, I knew the power of community and I knew the power of bringing people together, but I didn’t know how great it could be when you can focus on one particular important critical need that people have, and that’s food,” Marlow said to Community Impact.

Key players: Marlow stepped into the role during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time of increased need in the community. Under her leadership, the food bank saw its reach increase from serving neighbors about 55,000 times per month to more than 90,000 times per month in response to local need.

Eligible Texans have until April 2 to register to vote if they would like to cast a ballot in the May 2 elections. Races that will be up for election include city council member seats and school district board of trustee spots across the Greater Houston area.

What you need to know: Texas requires voters to be registered 30 days before election day. Missing the deadline could prevent eligible residents from casting a ballot, unless they qualify for a limited ballot during early voting.

Key dates include:

• April 2: voter registration deadline
• April 20-28: early voting
• May 2: election day (7 a.m.-7 p.m.)

The Texas power grid is undergoing “generational” growth, experts said during the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ annual summit March 31 in Round Rock. Much of that growth is due to data centers—an industry under scrutiny from state lawmakers as some Texas communities push back against proposed developments.

The big picture: Over 2,000 projects totaling 453,000 megawatts are currently looking to connect to the state grid, ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas said April 1. About 357,000 megawatts of those connection requests are potential data centers, ERCOT documents show.

Looking ahead: Communities should take the lead on discussions about individual data center projects, Vegas told reporters. He said that when “communities that are ready to support those investments,” ERCOT is prepared to help data centers connect to the grid.

During a March 31 discussion on data centers, panelists noted that the projects have an “increasingly high” negative reputation in communities across the state. Austin consultant Eric Goff said developers often need to make commitments to local residents to earn their support for data center proposals.