The Bacco folks appear to be moving right along with the makeover of that little freestanding Shriner’s Hospital clothing donation center building along Brays Bayou northwest of Stella Link Rd., a few readers note. The donation center signage (shown in the second photo) has now been fully swapped out for the wine bar’s logo and entryway stylings, and the bar says it’ll be working on an outdoor deck soon, now that internal rearrangements have mostly wrapped up. The new look has so far maintained the stone skin that the building picked up around 2013, before the then-empty retail shell picked up senior care consultant Care Locators as a tenant; before that, the Pilgrim Cleaners had opted for a more flat color scheme (shown below in an old listing photo without much in the way of windows, either):
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Prior to the building’s dry cleaning episode, the structure was a bank; the small brown panel seen below, to the right of the structure’s Stella Link-facing sidedoor, is covering what was once a 24-hour drop box:
And before that, the structure housed a flavor or 2 of diner — which means that the current restaurant conversion brings the space’s use back nearly full circle.
- Previously on Swamplot:Â Sixties Ex-Dry Cleaning Spot To Be Made Over as a Brays-Side Wine Bar
Photos: Lauren Meyers (first and second); Brian (fourth and fifth); LoopNet (historical listing photo)
Same as the West U location?
Back in the early 1960’s it was originally built as a Dobb’s House. Even had a drive-through on the west side of the building. In 1960, my grandmother use to take me there after kindergarten for a burger. They were charbroiled and excellent!!!
That property was a Dobbs House in the ’60s.
I loved eating at the Dobb’s houses. I loved their hamburgers and their black bottom pie! I think that is also when they catered for the airlines.
Serious Q — how many times has the building flooded when Brays breached, because that intersection went under during both the Memorial Day and Tax Day floods. The dry cleaner on the opposite side, in the former Sellers Brothers complex, flooded both times. I’m wondering what they’re paying for insurance.
Second Serious Q — what is the expected capacity, and where will folks park?
Also — sad to see the drop-off go away for that charity. One of the personnel that last weekend they were open told me they didn’t have another location planned.
@Heidi- Q1: Development of the area south of there is hindered due to the flooding hazard, or so I’ve often read (it’s not apparent from the flood map). Structures would need to be elevated, like the Wells Fargo on So. Braeswood, sitting up it’s on own hill. Q2: Maybe they’re relying on foot/bike traffic crossing over the bayou from the Braes Bayou pathways to the south (seems like a stretch). Or, just Uber (prudent after wining and snacking). Finally, there is an attended Goodwill drop-off a few blocks south on Stella Link.
I imagine it’s in walking distance to most in Braeswood.