Houston City Council unanimously approved spending $31.8 million for a design-build contract on a new customer-facing animal adoption center that will be located at 105 Sabine St.

What happened: The new building will be approximately 25,000 square feet and will be able to hold up to 120 animals. The approval also puts funding toward improving BARC’s current campus, including:

• Renovating the dome
• Roof repairs
• Exterior improvements
• Warehouse replacement

Tex-Mex restaurant Molina’s Cantina will celebrate its 85th anniversary on June 12.

What’s special about it: To celebrate, each of its three locations will host celebrations with anniversary fiestas June 11-13, one-a-week summer deals and a look back at the family, staff and dishes that shaped the restaurant.

Fiestas will consist of festive decor, all-day happy hours, roaming mariachi bands from 6-8 p.m., cake, photodrops and prize giveaways.

From June 1 to July 31, Molina’s will also offer a special one-day anniversary deal each week that will be announced on the restaurant’s Instagram and Facebook pages. Deals will include limited-time throwback menu pricing and buy-one-get-one deals.

A family affair: Molina’s Cantina was founded in 1941 by Raul and Mary Molina.
The Molina family said this anniversary is a tribute to their grandparents’ vision, their parents’ dedication and their customers and team members.

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