Midtown

10/25/18 3:30pm

Your Next Best Bets for Houston’s Most Historic Car Dealership Building Once 1621 Milam Gets Demolished

Houston History, Midtown, Retail

1 Comment

With the former Shelor Motor Company building at 1621 Milam St. all but doomed to meet the wrecking ball, historian Stephen Fox digs through some old Chronicle clips to remind us that there’s still a few other old car dealerships lurking down south in Midtown. Sure, they may not be as pedigreed as the ill-fated building to the north, but get this: One of them still sells cars! It’s Midtown Cadillac at the corner of Main and McGowen streets, shown at top. Architect Harvin C. Moore — the brains behind more than 84 homes in River Oaks, as well as Rice University’s chapel — designed it for Sam White Oldsmobile (pictured above), which opened inside in the early 1950s, according to Fox. Sam White and its successor Rice-Menger occupied the building until 1985. It’s been a Cadillac dealership since Don Massey took it over in 1999, followed by Stewart and then Central in 2012.

Catty corner to it, Midtown seafood spot REEF was originally a dealership, too. Built in 1952, the building opened as Smith Chevrolet Co.:

Inner-Loop Auto Lore

Downtown, Houston History, Midtown, Retail

10/19/18 3:45pm

Mapping the Midtown Innovation District That Doesn’t Exist Yet But Keeps Getting Bigger

Midtown, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment

5 Comments

The map above shows the land (in red) that Rice is confirmed to have grabbed around the Midtown Sears (orange) it bought out last October, including 2 new parcels (green) it snatched up through holding companies within the last few months.Â In an email sent out to university staff on Monday, Rice U. President David Leebron said the school “will ultimately redevelop approximately 14 acres of Rice-owned property,” near the Sears building into what it’s calling the Midtown Innovation District. So what are the latest spots it’s gotten its hands on? The first, catty-corner to the Sears building itself at the corner of Wheeler and San Jacinto, is Jack in the Box‘s nearly half-acre lot; Rice bought it in August.

More recently, the school pushed east by picking upÂ 4201 Caroline St., the brick office building shown below that occupies a quarter-acre directly next to Fiesta:

Sears and Friends

77004, Buying and Selling, Midtown, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail

Bars and Clubs

10/12/18 11:45am

The Gypsy Poet Kicks Off Core Church Reformation by Tacking Up Sign to Its Front Door

Churches, Midtown, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Signage

3 Comments

Spotted on the Instagram story for a not-yet-open venue calling itself The Gypsy Poet: TABC signage going up where it plans to move into Core Church Midtown‘s former home at 2404 Austin St. It’s the fifth liquor-purveying establishment planned for the block — bounded by McIlhenny, Austin, McGowen, and Caroline streets — in the past year-and-a-half, none of which are open yet. But which together have now succeeded in reserving almost all of the space there for themselves.

According to its pastor Jim Stern, Core Church had been negotiating to move into a smaller spot at the back 2404 when the landlord tabled that option and switched its current lease over to a month-to-month agreement. Shortly after, in mid-February, the church was given 60 days to hit the road. It left in mid-March. “I am wondering if we were ‘pushed’ out because of the bars,” Stern tells Swamplot.

See You Soon [The Gypsy Poet via HAIF]
Previously on Swamplot: America Gardens Declares Victory Following 2-Month Crowdfunding Campaign; Core Church Midtown Flees Its Austin St. Strip Center in Advance of Syn Hospitality’s Bar Quartet; America Gardens, Small Bouquet of Other Upstate Restaurants To Be Planted in Midtown

Photos: The Gypsy Poet (sign); Core ChurchÂ (Jim S.)

Change Comes Knocking

77004, Churches, Midtown, Proposed Development, Redevelopment, Renovations, Signage

Bars and Clubs

09/27/18 11:30am

America Gardens Declares Victory Following 2-Month Crowdfunding Campaign

Midtown, New Construction, Quicklink

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AMERICA GARDENS DECLARES VICTORY FOLLOWING 2-MONTH CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN More than $230,000 have now been raised by online investors who pledged allegiance to the planned bar with their wallets over the summer. Although there had been some work at the property before the campaign kicked off in July, the developer Syn Hospitality claims it’s relying on the additional funds in order to really get down to business at the site on the corner of Caroline and McGowen in what it’s calling “East Midtown.” It plans to keep accepting money until November 15. [Previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Syn Hospitality

77004, Bars and Clubs, Midtown, New Construction

Development Regulations

09/04/18 1:30pm

Here’s Everywhere Off-Street Parking Requirements Will No Longer Apply If City Council Says So

East Downtown, Midtown, Parking

23 Comments

The city’s latest proposal to eliminate off-street parking requirements in Midtown and East Downtown got a vote of confidence from the management districts of both neighborhoods when staff members presented it to them last Monday. Shown above are the new areas (in blue and green) that’d supplement Downtown’s existing Central Business District (red) where developers are free to build without leaving room — like the rest of Houston must — for on-site parking spots. To the east, the designation extends out to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and then down to I-45. And to the south, it follows the 527 spur, ending at 59. (If put in place, the whole contiguous zone would fall under a new term the city’s invented for it: Market Based Parking.)

There’s still a ways to go before the map becomes more than a pretty picture: A 30-day public comment period will culminate in a recap next month. Then city council gets its final say on things at a meeting proponents hope will take place before the end of the year.

Deregulatory Roadmap

Development Regulations, East Downtown, Midtown, Parking

Buying and Selling

08/20/18 5:30pm

Midtown Kirby Mansion Sold to Midtown Car Dealership Owner

Midtown

25 Comments

The Tudor-revival mansion that sits along the bend in I-45 at 2000 Smith St. has been sold to the owner of several car dealerships, including Central Houston Nissan on the S. Loop off the S. Main/Buffalo Spdwy. exit and Central Houston Cadillac off McGowen St. between Travis and Main. Prior to the closing earlier this month, Preservation Houston reported that the buyer didn’t plan to keep the house standing.

Nine blocks away from it, the new owner Ricardo Weitz also has all 3 of the parking lots that surround his Cadillac dealership to the north, east, and west. He purchased the mansion through an entity he owns called Central Houston Auto Properties II.

Previously on Swamplot: What Chance Would the Kirby Mansion Stand To Stay Standing Under New Ownership?

Photo: Preservation Houston/The Heritage Society

The House off I-45

77002, Buying and Selling, Midtown

08/20/18 10:45am

Kicked Off the Midtown Benches They’d Clung To, Evicted Planters Leave Behind a Messy Goodbye

Landscape, Midtown

16 Comments

Vanished from the Midtown benches along Main St. are the potted plants that recently sat on them. The 3 sets of 3 plants each — at Holman St. and on both sides of Main at Winbern — appear to have all been yanked off by force.

Their adhesive residue shows just how attached they were in the first place, with 4 points of contact leaving their marks in place of each pot.

Weeded Out

77004, Landscape, Midtown, Pedestrians, Walkability

08/15/18 3:30pm

ReCenter Rebuilding Gets Going on Main St.

Midtown, New Construction, Quicklink

10 Comments

RECENTER REBUILDING GETS GOING ON MAIN ST. Midtown sobriety nonprofit ReCenter — formerly the Men’s Center — is now getting started building a new building in place of its old campus at 3805 and 3809 Main St. BRAVE Architectureâ€™s design for the new housing, education, and detox facility — shown above fronting the Red Line — hasn’t taken shape yet, but a big hole recently has, according to a passerby, foreshadowing the coming construction.Â Since demolishing the 2 structures previously on site, the center’s been operating out of the former gas station convenience store just east on the block, at the corner of Fannin and Alabama. (Some additional office space is also tucked inside a converted home at 3816 Fannin.) [Previously on Swamplot] Rendering: BRAVE Architects

77002, Midtown, New Construction, Nonprofit-Development

Buying and Selling

08/10/18 12:00pm

Rice Picks Up 1.75 More Acres Near Wheeler Transit Center, Stripped-Down Sears

Midtown, Quicklink

14 Comments

RICE PICKS UP 1.75 MORE ACRES NEAR WHEELER TRANSIT CENTER, STRIPPED-DOWN SEARS A pair of entities connected to Rice University have purchased some extra property near the molted Midtown Sears the school bought along with 3 adjacent acres last year. Included in the deal: the surface parking lot at 4510 Main St. — west of the Wheeler Transit Center — the Shipley Do-Nuts on the corner of Richmond, and the Gulf station next to the Spur 527 overpass. Nothing’s gone down on the land recently except for the gas station; it was demolished in June. But A long list of proposed Houston residential developments put out by mortgage bank Berkadia — now being passed around on HAIF — shows the surface parking now slated for a 243-unit highrise from developer Horizon Real Estate. Last time someone planned to do something with that parcel, ground-floor retail was in the mix, too, withÂ 327 units of affordable housing upstairs. [Berkadia via HAIF; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Lou C.

77002, Buying and Selling, Midtown, Proposed Developments

08/08/18 9:45am

Potted Plants Now Loitering on the Midtown Benches Along Main St., Refusing To Leave

Landscape, Midtown

19 Comments

Here’s some of the new plant life that’s just recently sprung up on the bench outside the Mid Main Lofts near Holman St. (top) and at the southwest corner of Main and Winbern streets (above) outside Double Trouble Caffeine & Cocktails. Along with another trio stuck to the identical rusty block on the east side of Main at Winbern, they’ve been literally glued to their seats for the past few days, taking over the 3 public rest areas that appeared along with others adjacent to METRO’s Ensemble/HCC Red Line stop roughly a year ago.

The Midtown Redevelopment Authority — the entity responsible for most of the gardening that goes on in the neighborhood’s public right of way — ruled itself out as the planter yesterday morning, saying it’s looking into how the greenery got there in the first place.

No one wanted to use these benches, anyway, Midtown [Allyn West]
Thanks for bringing this to our attention [Midtown Houston]

Photos: Allyn West

You Can’t Sit With Us

77004, Landscaping, Midtown, Pedestrians, Walkability

Comments

07/31/18 4:15pm

Comment of the Day: New Art Supply Will Crop Up Somewhere off Main St. Ahead of Planned Highrising

Midtown, Openings and Closings, Quicklink

4 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: NEW ART SUPPLY WILL CROP UP SOMEWHERE OFF MAIN ST. AHEAD OF PLANNED HIGHRISING “The owners of Art Supply are moving to a new location. This is a successful store, and the owners have no intention of closing up and retiring. In addition, this building has been used as studios for artists for decades as well as a location for art classes. Their new location will also have art studios.” [Robert Boyd, commenting on Australian Developer Now Has All 3 Midtown Blocks Lined Up for Incoming Highrise Trio] Photo: Keaton Joyner

77002, Comments, Midtown, Openings and Closings

07/27/18 1:45pm

Memorial City, Midtown, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Restaurants

4 Comments

Here’s another Midtown development development: Georgian breakfast restaurant Flying Biscuit CafÃ© is the first tenant to line up for a spot in the tower Caydon Propertyâ€™s putting up off Main St., between Drew and Tuam streets. The 27-story building — viewed above from the east side of Fannin St. — is just south of the Art Supply on Main store that Caydon just recently snatched up and plans to replace with one in the threesome of towers that’ll eventually stretch up to McGowen.

Flying Biscuit’s other destination as part of its 2-pronged Houston entrance strategy: the west side of the strip on Kingsride Ln. off Gessner where Reginelli’s Pizzeria decamped earlier this month:

Flightplans

77002, 77024, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Restaurants

Buying and Selling

07/27/18 9:45am

Australian Developer Now Has All 3 Midtown Blocks Lined Up for Incoming Highrise Trio

Midtown, Mixed Use, Quicklink

10 Comments

AUSTRALIAN DEVELOPER NOW HAS ALL 3 MIDTOWN BLOCKS LINED UP FOR INCOMING HIGHRISE TRIO The Australian developer planning a trio of towers and lower-level retail on 3 adjacent Main St. blocks recently bought a chunk of the middle one — now home to Art Supply on Main — giving it free rein over the entire zone it wants to rebuild between McGowen and Tuam streets. Earlier renderings (since yanked from the interwebs) showed that 30,000-sq.-ft. middle parcel off Drew St. housing a highrise with signage for “The Drew Hotel” and Aussie brewery Little Creatures. The art store doesn’t plan to move out until next spring, says the developer Caydon Property, so any transformative tower work will have to wait. But in the meantime, construction’s already gone vertical on the block directly south of it, where a 27-story building is taking the place of the former Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority campus torn down last year. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo of Art Supply on Main: Keaton Joyner

77002, Buying and Selling, Midtown, Mixed-Use, Proposed Development

Bars and Clubs

07/11/18 9:30am

What’s on Tap Across from the MATCH