Director of Development Services Travis Tanner presented City Council with a commercial strategy report June 1 that is intended to help the city begin to prepare to potentially implement new commercial development strategies in fiscal year 2026-27.

The setup: In August 2025, the city hired HR&A advisers to consult the city on economic development and establish a commercial development strategy.

Later, in February, HR&A held a workshop with council members and city officials that resulted in establishing three main priorities for improving the commercial real estate in Bellaire, including:

• Easing parking regulations

• Facilitating land assembly

• Creating one or more special districts to fund public improvements that could incentivize private investment

Since the city’s workshop, Tanner said the Planning and Zoning Commission has already begun to work on the first item—easing parking restrictions.

Key takeaways: Tanner said the report also showed an implementation matrix that involved different strategies the city could take and highlighted each option's planning and design time frame, financial costs, staff capacity and value impact.

Two retail shopping centers are under construction in Bellaire, said a spokesperson for the project’s builder, CTC Contractors, via email June 2.

What we know: The project is labeled as the "Bellaire Shopping Center" and is owned by Kimco Realty.

Construction on the retail centers kicked off in March, the spokesperson said. Construction is expected to wrap up by the end of December.

• 5130 Bellaire Blvd., Bellaire

Houston officials preliminarily voted to reassess how the open space ordinance funds and distributes park improvements across the city.

What happened: On June 2, the city’s Budget and Fiscal Affairs committee voted to advance proposed changes to the city’s open space ordinance. The open space ordinance provides parks, recreational amenities and open space for residential areas. It uses fees collected from developers to dedicate and maintain the parks.

The changes include making multifamily developments fee-only, instead of allowing a dedication of land or a fee-in-lieu. The current ordinance allows developers to create park space on their property, instead of paying a fee to the city for the fund.

The proposed change is to comply with state law, city officials said. The fee is $700 per unit, council member Sallie Alcorn said. However, council is also looking to increase that fee this summer.

Another detail: Officials also approved using 30% of the fees that are collected from developers to be used in different park sectors, instead of only in the sector from which it was collected directly.

The 39-day FIFA Fan Festival in Downtown Houston is set to host its opening ceremony June 11 as soccer matches across the three host countries kick off for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Here is what residents can expect to see, taste and participate in at the festival.

Read all about it: Fans attending the festival, according to a May 26 news release, can expect a curated selection of nearly 20 local food options from vendors and restaurants from across the Greater Houston area, including The Waffle Bus, The Burger Joint and Kurbside Eatz.

In addition to the food offerings, the festival will feature a roster of live acts that includes well-known Houston names such as Trae Tha Truth, Mike Jones and Mateo Lopez, as well as special guest performers Baby Bash, Chris Perez and Frankie J.

One more thing: The Fan Festival is free and open to the public and offers live match broadcasts. The festival will be open June 11-July 19.

Texans are on track to use more electricity this summer than ever before, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas announced during a board meeting this week.

The details: ERCOT, which operates the power grid for the majority of Texas, is forecasting high temperatures and moderate rainfall this summer. Coupled with the proliferation of data centers and other large projects, demand on the grid could surpass 92 gigawatts, officials estimated June 2.

This would break ERCOT’s current demand record of 85.5 gigawatts, which was set during an August 2023 heat wave.

What it means: However, ERCOT officials said a grid emergency or blackout is unlikely this summer. State officials have said this is due to:

• The addition of nearly 11 gigawatts of power capacity to the grid in the last few months
• The agency's ability to require large facilities to reduce their energy use in tight times