Montrose

Commercial Real Estate
04/01/13 11:50am

Demolished Yoakum Blvd. Apartments Make Way for 6-Story Office Building

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Demolitions, Land Development, Montrose, New Construction, Office Buildings, Office Space
15 Comments

Spring’s a time of renewal: And the Yoakum St. apartments — and palm trees, too — pictured here came down this winter so something very like this office building could begin going up. Campanile South, it’s called, is being described by developers Hansen Partners as a 6-story, 82,000-sq.-ft. “boutique” space with retail and restaurants facing Richmond Ave. Setting up on a lot between Yoakum and Graustark, Campanile South will be be the 7th member of the Campanile family that’s clustered around St. Thomas University the University of St. Thomas and Montrose Blvd.; it’s expected to be ready for tenants in 2014.

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Montrose
03/21/13 3:00pm

The First Inside-the-Loop Dunkin’ Donuts?

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Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Signage
27 Comments

Could it be . . . time? A reader claims to have spotted the first inside-the-Loop Dunkin’ Donuts — or at least the future home of it. Last spring, franchise group 521 Interests announced plans to open 16 new Dunkin’ Donuts in Houston; this photo taken this morning in Montrose at the corner of South Shepherd and Fairview shows what might be the first of those, now that the former Arby’s is festooned with the donut makers’ orange and pink signage. Claiming, among other achievements in food and beverage, to be the nation’s top bagel retailer, Dunkin’ Donuts will be just a block and a half away from the Hot Bagel Shop.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Apartments
03/21/13 2:00pm

Here Comes the Heavy Machinery, There Goes the Dunlavy Fiesta

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Demolitions, Lancaster Place, Montrose
13 Comments

So the excavator is sneaking up on the old Fiesta. You knew one was coming. And you know there will be more. As of this morning, the low-slung building at the corner of Dunlavy and West Alabama hasn’t yet received a demolition permit, but it’s been on the smashing block since closing in July, not too long after H-E-B opened the Montrose Market across the street. Developer Marvy Finger, who now owns the property here in Lancaster Place, has said he plans to build something Mediterranean — a 6- to 8-story apartment complex that might or might not have some retail, too: “We’re going to try to create something really beautiful,” he’s told the Houston Chronicle’s Nancy Sarnoff.

Photo: Loves swamplot

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Homes for Sale
03/18/13 3:00pm

Inside a Storied Montrose Timber Frame

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Interiors, Mixed Use, Montrose
6 Comments

Far away from the Amsterdam canal along which it was originally envisioned (though perhaps with slimmer proportions), this timber-frame structure has been a stand-out property on Dunlavy since the mid-aughts. It’s a mixed-use building; its barreled-with-a-flattish-top roof — with an outlined upper lip — adds higher stucco stylin’ to the neighborhood just north of Westheimer. The retail-residence has 3 levels — each with some distinctively hewn and preserved wooden ceilings.

The work of former owner (and gallerist) Albert Cherqui, in 2010 the venue became the focus of a lawsuit filed by Cherqui — by then its tenant — against the building’s current owners. (The suit was settled out of court last year.) It shares a mostly commercial street that’s lined by galleries, shops, warehouses, apartments, and repurposed postwar houses. Inside, the all-in-one main floor — described glowingly in the listing as “cavernous” — includes a wavy pair of Gaudi-inspired staircases (above). They lead to 2 upper floors of living quarters, each with its own kitchen and yet more timberland touches.

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Apartments
03/18/13 2:00pm

Poop Science Comes to Fairmont Museum District Apartments

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Montrose, Quicklink, Technology, Waste
5 Comments

POOP SCIENCE COMES TO FAIRMONT MUSEUM DISTRICT APARTMENTS And one of the “amenities” that the doubling-in-size Fairmont Museum District wasn’t ready to announce would seem to be that poop detection service picking up steam in Dallas: Houston Chronicle’s Carol Christian reports that the Richmond and Dunlavy apartment complex that’s right beside Ervan Chew Park has already asked tenants to submit their pets’ DNA to hasten the resolution of these mistakes most foul: “The main reason we decided to try [PooPrints] was because we had a specific issue on one of our floors with accidents,” Fairmont manager Molly Kalish tells Christian. Still, the whodunit service seems to have a few bumps, since it provides no way to sniff out a motive or track a rogue agent: “ . . . DNA testing did not identify any [Fairmont] tenant’s dog as the recent accident-prone culprit,” reports Christian, “suggesting that a visitor might have been responsible.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Fairmont Museum District: Allyn West

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Comments
03/11/13 2:00pm

Comment of the Day: If You’re Still Stuck on Cafe Artiste

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Montrose, Quicklink, Retail
10 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: IF YOU’RE STILL STUCK ON CAFE ARTISTE “I used to work at (for a year) and frequent (10+ years) Café Artiste. Bill — the coffee you miss is Southern Pecan by Lola Savannah. You may find it at Central Market or can order it from their website (now renamed Texas Pecan). It actually had real slivers of pecan in it. Artiste was a great place to hang out but it never did well financially aside from weekend breakfast rushes. When they had to furlough everyone just to afford getting the AC fixed (which is like life support in Houston), it was the warning sign the end was near. I would assume Black Hole coffee, just blocks away, is the spiritual successor and it seems much better run/organized. I’ve since moved on in life and out of Montrose, but will always have special memories of Artiste.” [SL, commenting on West Main Standalone Now Available for Next Restaurant]

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Buildings for Lease
03/05/13 10:00am

West Main Standalone Now Available for Next Restaurant

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Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Signage
11 Comments

This corner at Mandell and West Main near Richmond and the Menil Collection has lost another tenant; Sophia bowed out of the freestanding brick building at the end of February. It was back in 2008 when Sophia’s predecessor Café Artiste kept this “closed today” sign posted in the window for an entire month, receiving your questions and comments without betraying a word; Sophia’s sand-bagged sign, spotted by a Swamplot reader at the end of last week, doesn’t appear to have inspired the same level of community feedback just yet.

Photos: Jack McBride (Sophia); Flickr user DrPantzo [license]

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Maps
02/22/13 3:00pm

Guy on Bike Will Bring You Things Inside the Loop — Just Send a Text

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Midtown, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail, Streets
10 Comments

A native Houstonian has set up a one-man bicycle-messenger service, reports Culturemap’s Whitney Radley: Within an hour, Clutch Delivery’s Liam Musgrave will pedal to your place almost anything — except dry cleaning, pets, and “illicit substances.” This map shows his service area, extending west out to the Loop and east to Lockwood.

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Apartments
02/12/13 4:15pm

Fairmont Museum District Adding Phase II, Filling Up That Gap On Richmond

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Montrose, New Constructon, Proposed Developments
10 Comments

Renderings aren’t ready to be released, says Assistant Manager Lindsay Fouchee, but under-construction Phase II of the Fairmont Museum District at Richmond and Dunlavy will have more units and more amenities. (The photo directly above shows the excavation of what will be the parking garage.) The 4-story, 210,933-sq.-ft. apartments back up to the dog run and baseball diamond at Ervan Chew Park and U.S. 59. Phase I was completed in 2007; Fouchee expects Phase II to be done within 14 months.

Photos: Allyn West

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Montrose
01/30/13 1:30pm

In Shepherd Plaza, Le Mort du Peep

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Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Shopping Centers
11 Comments

No more le breakfast, no more le lunch: Catching workers moving equipment out of Le Peep in Shepherd Plaza, a Swamplot reader sends in this photo. That’s a U-HAUL — er, le trailer — backed up to the doors. “Closed without notice!” cries le tipster. “I asked a worker and he said this location is closed for good.” Le Peep has 6 other restaurants in Houston.

Photo: loves swamplot

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Montrose
01/30/13 10:00am

Counting Down to 11:11

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Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Renovations, Restaurants
4 Comments

COUNTING DOWN TO 11:11 Chef Kevin Bryant is renovating the former Bibas Diner at 607 West Gray for a new “casual fine dining restaurant” called 11:11 that’s expected to open in March; Greg Morago reports that the building (shown at left) is being updated to include a 100-seat patio and an 80-90 seat private dining section upstairs with a private terrace. The former Capitol at St. Germain and L’Olivier chef, reports Morago, is devising a menu “he describes as ‘Southern coastal.’ There will be an oyster bar, a raw bar program (sourcing East Coast bivalves), sashimi, lobsters, and a ceviche of the day. The restaurant will use Gulf seafood where appropriate, but source from all over.” [29-95] Photo: Allyn West

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Homes for Sale
01/25/13 1:45pm

Leaving the Lights On in a $2 Million Montrose Manor

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Interiors, Montrose, Renovations
27 Comments

Dating to 1913, this very white Colonial has been given extensive renovations both inside and out that have lent the place a certain glow. Listed earlier this week at $1.95 million, the 5,700-sq.-ft. home stands in Montrose at the corner of Sul Ross and Brandt, providing highwayside views of U.S. 59.

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Attractions
01/24/13 10:00am

A Montrose Mary’s Memorial, Maybe

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Houston History, Montrose, Proposed Developments, Public Art, Restaurants, Signage
23 Comments

At a Neartown meeting two days ago, Kirk Baxter presented these two drawings for a Mary’s memorial, according to a HAIF poster, celebrating the 30-year heyday of the Westheimer bar for Montrose’s gay community. Some 300 memorial services were held here over the years. Mary’s was closed in 2009; the building where it sat since the early ’70s opened this weekend as the coffee shop Blacksmith.

The drawings show a kind of replica Mary’s installed near Waugh and Hyde Park; two of Mary’s original doors — donated to the project by Blacksmith owner Bobby Heugel — would sit underneath tiles reclaimed from the original roof.

Nothing about the memorial has been approved or decided yet, says the HAIF poster. During the meeting several other potential locations were brought up: a spot behind the original building the regulars called the Out Back, and across the street, facing the building, in front of Half Price Books.

Photos: HAIF user trymahjong

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