The 2 new METRO bus lanes — linking a proposed Bellaire transit center to the new middle-of-the-road path up Post Oak Blvd. — won’t run over the actual building at Chick-fil-A’s Richmond Ave location, but they will cut through the property. Last month, the fast-food company agreed to vacate its spot at 5005 Richmond after the State of Texas initiated an eminent domain proceeding against it — and the location subsequently closed. (The 4 strip tenants in Weingarten Realty’s surrounding Richmond Square Shopping Center — BestBuy, Mattress1One, Cost Plus World Market, and Luggage & Leather — are also targeted in the proceeding.)

Adding the new transit route (shown in the map below as a vertical orange line partly covered-over with yellowish-gray) is part of a whole tangle of changes TxDOT has planned for the 610-59 interchange:

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When construction is complete, the bus lanes will cross through what’s now Chick-fil-A’s parking lot fronting the 610 feeder — according to survey documents filed by the state — cozying up to the eastern side of the building:

• Bids opened for bus lanes along Loop 610 [Houston Chronicle]
• I-69 Southwest/I-610 West Loop Interchange Reconstruction [TxDOT]
• Previously on Swamplot: We Now Begin up to 8 Years of Construction on the West Loop–Southwest Fwy. Interchange; Uptown PAC Feels Out New Routes Toward Stalling Bus Lanes, All New Highrises; Criminal Complaint Filed on Behalf of Cosmo Residents over Post Oak Bus Lane Land Purchases; Cosmopolitan’s Condo Association Preemptively Sued by Would-Be Next-Door Highrise Developer in Uptown; Popularizing TIRZwatching as a Houston Pastime; 40 Story Tower Proposed for Post Oak Corner Where That 50 Story Tower Won’t Be Going Up

Photo: Rex Solomon. Maps: TxDOT (610-59 reconstruction); Lupher LLC (Chick-fil-A propety)