04/23/15 2:00pm

Demolition of Former Shopping Center, 9714 Buffalo Spdwy., Houston

Crews are already at work (above) removing asbestos from the vacant shopping center at 9714 Buffalo Spdwy., one block up on S. Main St. from the South Loop and a mile and a half west of the Astrodome. Plans have already been made for the 1.26-acre property, as well as for the former America’s Best Value Inn immediately south of it at 9604 S. Main St. An entity controlled by developer Frank Liu bought the motel and its 3.13-acre lot in January, and pre-demolition activities are going on there now too.

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Only the Starbucks Will Remain
04/23/15 12:00pm

Landry's Proposed Post Oak Hotel Complex, 1600 West Loop South, Galleria, Houston

“Remember, I’m the guy that took the old fire station and made it an aquarium,” Tilman Fertitta explains to Nancy Sarnoff. “I took the old Flagship and made it the Pleasure Pier. I took an old fishing village and made it the Kemah Boardwalk.” All of which might help explain the simple concept behind the Landry’s CEO’s latest venture: taking a surface parking lot next to the Landry’s corporate headquarters near the Galleria and turning it into a 35-story hotel-apartment-office-tower with a 2-story auto showroom in front, then filling out the rest of the 10-acre site with a parking garage and couple of pad-site restaurants facing the West Loop southbound feeder.

A row of 4 large lit-up diamonds facing east across the freeway will festoon the forehead of the Gensler-designed tower at 1600 West Loop South. Fertitta calls the not-really-a-sign a “subtle message.” It’s meant to stand in for the 4 diamond shapes in the Landry’s logo — dining, hospitality, entertainment, and gaming — though until a few pesky laws can be changed not all can be offered on site.

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Landry’s Post Oak
04/22/15 3:00pm

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Quiet zone status applies not to the perky exterior’s bold paint combo but to the railroad tracks running behind this restored 1898 Victorian east of Houston Ave. and just south of Winter St. in the First Ward. The corner-lot property, which is also near the Heights bike trail, has been on the market for a month, during which the price has increased by $10K — to $468,000.

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Trim Build
04/22/15 1:00pm

Demolition of Former Riviana Foods Processing Building, 1702 Taylor St., First Ward, Houston

A portion of the Riviana Foods complex at Summer and Taylor Streets in the First Ward was torn down this week. Reader Rony Canales’s panoramic photos of the former Riviana processing building and a few accompanying structures show the demo in process (above) and a little further along in the process (below):

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After the Rice Is Gone
04/21/15 5:15pm

Rendering of Arábella Condo Tower, 4521 San Felipe St., Highland Village, Houston

The folks at BuzzBuzzHome pass on this hot-off-the-email rendering of the 34-story condo tower Randall Davis is planning for a piece of the former Westcreek Apartments site along San Felipe just inside the West Loop. Dubbed the Arábella, the 116-unit building is meant to sit at 4521 San Felipe St., directly across the street from Ashley Furniture. The proposed highrise’s immediate neighbors — including Target and the almost-complete 25-story SkyHouse River Oaks apartment tower immediately in back of the property — are artfully represented in the rendering by a small forest.

Rendering: Randall Davis Company/Argali Partners

Highland Village Highrise
04/21/15 12:00pm

EATSIE BOYS SPACE ON MONTROSE WILL GO CREPE Eatsie Boys, 4100 Montrose Blvd., Montrose, HoustonMelange Creperie will be taking over for the Eatsie Boys at the 1,200-sq.-ft. former Kraftsmen Bakery space in the same ivy-covered Campanile complex that houses the Black Lab at 4100 Montrose Blvd., according to a quartet of local media reports. The Montrose crepe stand raised $52,000 toward a move indoors in a Kickstarter fundraising campaign earlier this year. After its lease on the property ends at the end of this month, Eatsie Boys will continue to operate its food truck, but the team behind it plans to focus on its other venture, the 8th Wonder Brewery. [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Local Sugar

04/21/15 11:00am

Construction of New Starbucks Drive-Thru at 8819 Katy Fwy. at Brogden Rd., Hedwig Village, Houston

Former Village Mobil at 8819 Katy Fwy. at Brogden Rd., Hedwig Village, HoustonHeaded into the Loop along I-10 and missed the exit for the Starbucks in the shopping center at Echo Ln.? Construction has already begun on your new inbound coffee-stop backup. The former site of the stone-encrusted Village Mobil gas station at the corner of Brogden and the eastbound Katy Fwy. feeder road (pictured here as it appeared before it was torn down last year) between Campbell and Voss is currently being transformed into a brand-new Starbucks drive-thru, a source tells Swamplot. And you can reach it from the next exit, for Bingle and Voss — if, in your uncaffeinated state, you can move 3 lanes over on the feeder fast enough. (If not, just apologize to the drivers you almost cut off and try to duck into the Sweet Tomatoes parking lot across the way to work your way back; if you miss that, you can take a mile-long turnaround through the neighborhood by making a right turn on Old Voss Rd.)

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Katy Fwy. Coffee Chase
04/20/15 5:15pm

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When the listing of an expansive 2002 property in Spring says it has an “oversized, attached” garage, believe it. In this case, it’s referring to the airplane hangar in back (top). The mixed-use building’s informal first level features residential floorspace with aviation storage just steps away. The more formal living space upstairs has a bird’s-eye view of the inventory (top). Runway access to David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport is immediately adjacent to the property, which is located, fittingly, off Steubner-Airline Rd. and north of Spring-Cypress Rd. Since February, a re-listing has held to a steady course pointed toward $3.5 million, the asking price set in a November-to-January initial sortie.

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Plane and Simple
04/20/15 3:15pm

Framing of Galleria Jewel Box, 5085 Westheimer Rd., Houston

Framing of the new “Jewel Box” on-garage drive-up pad site Galleria add-on has begun. A reader sends in this view from above, showing how the building has been perched onto the next-to-top level of the Blue Garage, which underlies the mall’s parking-lot approach from Westheimer. Westheimer runs from left to right at the top of the photo.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

Drive Up Luxury
04/20/15 2:45pm

FORMER WESTHEIMER PLANT HOUSE GOING STEAK Future Home of Bistecca Steak House, 224 Westheimer Rd., Avondale, Montrose, HoustonThe building at 224 Westheimer Rd. in Montrose, on the north side of the street between Helena and Mason St., was long ago home to Bistro 224. Then it became the Plant House. A photo sent in by a reader late last week shows the same structure undergoing another metamorphosis as it transforms into its newest incarnation, a return to its food-serving days. According to building permits taken out for the property, the revamped building will become the Bistecca Steak House once construction is complete. Photo: Sylvia Drew

04/20/15 1:00pm

Holdout Properties at 610 and 606 Allston St., Adjacent to Alexan Heights Apartments, Houston Heights

Construction of Alexan Heights Apartments, 655 Yale St., Houston HeightsFrom a couple of Swamplot readers come images of the Little House at 610 Allston St. and a neighboring vacant lot. They’re the lone holdout properties on the block also bounded by 6th St., Yale St., and the Heights Hike and Bike Trail. The 5-story Alexan Heights apartments are going up on the entire rest of the block — including a 50-ft.-wide sliver to reach around and hug the 2 wouldn’t-sells (at right in the photo at top and the one directly below):

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Alexan Heights
04/17/15 3:15pm

Royal Oaks Village II Shopping Center, Westchase, Houston

Here’s an aerial view of the Royal Oaks Village II shopping center, where the Houston area’s fifth Trader Joe’s is already under construction behind the Harvest Organic Grille. (That’s the unidentified pad-site restaurant at the top right of the shopping center, which is outlined in red.) There the new grocery store take its place among a spread of nearby food-shopping options along the south side of Westheimer, which include the Walmart Supercenter at W. Houston Center Blvd., the Chick-Fil-A and H-E-B at Kirkwood, and the Whole Foods Market at Wilcrest.

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Parking Lot Touchdown
04/17/15 2:15pm

LOCAL RESTAURANTS YOU’VE HEARD OF MAKE IT TO THE IAH RUNWAY Hubcap Grill, 1111 Prairie St., Downtown HoustonThe Breakfast Klub, Hubcap Grill, El Real Tex-Mex Café, Ray’s Real Pit BBQ Shack, Hugo’s Cocina, Pink’s Pizza, Cadillac Mexican Kitchen and Bar, Café Adobe, and Landry’s Seafood — where might you be able to go to sample them all? Anywhere — as long as your travel takes you through Bush Intercontinental Airport. Amid a bunch of protests from other bidders who lost out, a vote from city council last month approved $1.6 billion worth of airport concession contracts that will land the group of local restaurants and locally based chains a 10-year deal. [Food Chronicles; more details] Photo of Hubcap Grill, 1111 Prairie St., Downtown: 2 Dine For

04/17/15 11:00am

Johnny Steele Dog Park After Heavy Rains, Buffalo Bayou Park, Houston

No Buffalo Bayou Park fun this morning for Swamplot coverdog Kep, on account of the whole Johnny Steele Dog Park at the intersection of Studemont and Allen Pkwy. is flooded after yesterday’s downpours. Which is what a bayou-side park is expected to do during and after weather like yesterday’s.

More pics of the scene:

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When Buffalo Bayou Spreads
04/16/15 2:00pm

Map of Houston Mattress Chain Stores

Blogger and amateur bedding-sales analyst Christopher Andrews has updated a few of his maps of mattress chain stores in the Houston area (including the one shown above) to include Mattress One (or Mattress1 One, or Mattress 1 One, as the company variously refers to itself). Altogether, that Florida-and-Texas chain, plus Mattress Firm and Mattress Pro (owned by Mattress Firm), operate 166 separate retail locations in the region.

 

Map: Christopher Andrews

Bed Spread