COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE SHOPS AROUND THE CORNER “Where I live, in the Montrose area, I will soon be within a three minute drive of TWO Whole Foods, a brand new HEB, an updated Kroger, another supernice Kroger on West Gray, a Randall’s, a Fiesta, etc. Three of these will be within a 10 minute walk from my house. I’d wager that there are few (no?) other neighborhoods in America offering this kind of variety and abundance. Meanwhile, my fellow Houstonians who happen to live in the 3rd Ward have no real shopping options nearby. They have to drive 10 or more minutes to perhaps suboptimal grocery stores and fresh produce. But there is a plethora of fried and fast food options in their neighborhood. So, when deciding where to eat quickly, McDonalds or the Navy Fried Seafood store seem to be the first choices. I think what Superhouston is implying is a possibly causal relationship between poverty, [poor] health, and a lack of fresh food. The connection is complicated, multi-dimensional, and definitely worth talking about.” [Matt, commenting on Where the Grocery Stores Aren’t]
Sign up for the Newsletter
Montrose
Here’s a rendering showing the future of the Kroger now under renovation at 3300 Montrose. The construction will be contained entirely within the store’s current footprint — though a 2,400 sq.-ft. mezzanine “lounge” will up the store’s interior space to more than 43,800 sq. ft. Kroger spokesperson Kristal Howard says the changes to the store will improve the layout and allow changes to the food offerings, including an increased emphasis on “perishables.” The design comes from Houston’s CDA Architects, the folks who brought you the Costco at Greenway Commons, the Kroger on West Gray, and that yellow Walgreens at the corner of T.C. Jester and W. 18th.
What about parking? Has Kroger had its eyes on the land under the derelict office building across Hawthorne St. at 3400 Montrose, which Scott Gertner’s Skybar left last year — followed by everyone else in the building? “We have not been in communication with any nearby properties concerning an expansion of our Montrose store,” Howard says.
The Lovett Inn bed and breakfast may soon become a Montrose crash pad for globetrotting youngsters. Owner Dan Lueken tells Swamplot that he’s in negotiations to sell the 1923 home of former Houston Mayor Joseph C. Hutcheson to Hostelling International.
Lueken says the property at 501 Lovett St. is under contract, but that a closing date has not been determined, and that certain negotiations about the property are “ongoing.” Lueken has owned and lived in the Lovett Inn for 7 years. “They approached me,” he says, “And I decided to move on and do other things.” If the sale goes through, this will be Hostelling International’s second hostel in Texas. The organization manages a network of 60 properties in the U.S. and many more around the world; the nearest location is in Austin. Visitors of all ages are allowed to stay at HI properties (a membership is required), but the organization says the majority of its guests are between 18 and 30.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: MORE THAN YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW MONTROSE WHOLE FOODS 
“The following was from the North Montrose civic association meeting November:
1) The reason the back-end of the store is facing Dallas and the side is facing Waugh is because of the AIG building. They (AIG building owner) required that the store be placed as far away from the building as possible. This meant that the parking lot had to sit between the AIG building and the store pushing the back to Dallas (unfortunately).
2) The loading entrance will be on Dallas and will exit onto Waugh. This means the trucks will not have to cross any traffic to get to the loading docks.
3) The trucks will be loading sometime in the early morning and should be finished by 8:00 AM. There will be nice large wooden doors to conceal the entrance and exit to the loading dock during the day when there is no loading.
4) The corner of the store on Waugh closest to D’amico will contain an outdoor/indoor style cafe with garage-type doors that open in good weather. The renderings of the store show a patio with umbrellas. They expect to have bands, etc playing there.
5) The store will be very pedestrian friendly with all traffic entering from the BACK of the parking lot (close to D’amico). They say they learned from the Kirby store that allowing cars to enter by the store entrance is a nightmare for traffic.
6) There will be bike racks with some 50 or available slots. There will be a free tire filling station. The focus here is to really drive bike traffic (and pedestrians as noted in #5).
7) There will be many skylights on the roof allowing a bunch of natural lighting.
8) There will be many large trees that should grow to provide good shade in time (not just those short trees).
9) No comment on an apartment building going up next to it BUT.. look at the roundabout driveway. Obviously not built just for a grocery store.
10) They will recycle their own rainwater and use it in sprinkler system.
11) I think 250 parking spots. Kirby store has 150. Kirby store is 35,000 sq ft and this one slightly larger at 40,000.
12) No real details on the inside of the store. They expect it to fit in very well with the diversity of Montrose. They are reaching out to local artists to put local art in the store (and around it). I can’t remember exactly the email to submit. Maybe montrose.artist@wholefoods.com?? If you are and artist and want to submit your stuff give it a whirl.
13) They expect to open in the spring. Shooting for March if no big weather delays.
14) Store hours aren’t set. Expected to be 7:00AM to 10? (if i remember correctly).
15) They are very excited as were the people in the meeting. They say Houston is the #2 market for them (they have 300 stores i think). Every store is built for the specific location (sugarland way different of course than Montrose).
16) They think there will be a bank at the corner of D’amico and Waugh in that section of the parking lot (which is what we really need right????)
17) They are hoping to relieve some of the high traffic they get at kirby store as it is a nightmare.”
[shannosa, commenting on Austin Powers the New North Montrose Whole Foods] Rendering: Stone Soup 6 Architecture
That’s a mighty oh . . . Austinish-looking shell of a Whole Foods Market sprouting at the northeast corner of Waugh and West Dallas. The building — last pegged at 48,000 40,450 sq. ft. — faces north, to a big parking lot and AIG’s American General Center on Allen Parkway beyond. The design comes from the same architecture firm responsible for the flagship Whole Foods in downtown Austin, now named Stone Soup 6 Architecture. They’re from Austin too! The corners of the building are already stoned. And it looks like even more rocks from the Hill Country are headed for that little Hoo-Ray Tower entrance at the center:
A reader tells Swamplot a sticker on the front door of the 10-story mixed-use building at 3400 Montrose notes the building is unsafe and does not have a working fire-alarm system:
They have gated off the garage and also all the first level tenants have now moved out. Any word on what is going on? Is the building being closed up? Torn down?
Renovated?
The building’s highest-profile (and -altitude) tenant, Scott Gertner’s Skybar, moved out over the summer, after complaining that the building’s new owner, a company out of Waco called FH Properties, wasn’t responding to maintenance concerns.
Here’s a first look at the not-so-distant future of Lower Westheimer, just a block east of Montrose, where sushi chef Tyson Cole and the owners of Austin’s Uchi and Uchiko restaurants plan to open a first Houston venture. The new Houston Uchi won’t be taking over the whole corner. The neighboring spaces will instead be available à la carte: The new owners are picturing as many as 3 separate businesses (one with a second floor and rooftop deck) leasing the 4,700-sq.-ft. building that used to house Caffe Den and Privé at 908 Westheimer. Also available, around the corner on Grant St.: a little 714-sq.-ft. structure with the address of 904B Westheimer. It’ll share restrooms with Uchi, which will be taking over the former Felix Mexican Restaurant space on the corner, at 904A. The left side of the Grant St. rendering above is the only view we’ve seen so far that shows any part of Uchi itself, but it contains a few clues about how Austin architect Michael Hsu (creator of the original Uchi on South Lamar as well as Houston’s Sushi Raku in Midtown) plans to transform a vintage Tex-Mex classic into something sushi-worthy. It looks like at least a few of those arched windows will stay:
That phoenix carefully painted only a week and a half ago onto the side of the Agora Cafe at 1712 Westheimer near Dunlavy is now gone, reports the camera of Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia. Agora and the Antique Warehaus that used to be next door donned extremely realistic fire costumes for this past Halloween. In place of the firebird, which onlookers took as a sign the cafe might soon reopen: A new sign for the cafe itself, probably a clearer indication. It looks like more paint has found its way to the front of the Montrose hotspot too:
Yeah, that does kinda look like a phoenix on the side of the Agora Cafe at 1712 Westheimer, near Dunlavy. A reader tells Swamplot a painter had scaffolding set up on the side of the building yesterday. Next door is the site where Antique Warehaus once stood; the sign on the fence says that store is “still open online.” Both properties were damaged by a Halloween fire. Closeups of the bird, captured by Swamplot nature photographer Candace Garcia, after the jump:
The dangling 2x4s on the ceiling and the photomurals of giant oaks inside just aren’t enough. And umbrellas on the patio just blow over. So Claire Smith and Russell Murrell of Canopy, the restaurant at the southern end of the strip center at 3939 Montrose, now want to build an actual wooden canopy outside on the side patio. One small problem: any extension from the building to Branard St. will cross into the neighborhood’s 10-ft. building line, which means they need a variance. Can’t they just say, “hey, it’s in our name?” Naah — variances aren’t granted as the result of “a hardship created or imposed by the applicant,” says the planning department. So part of the restaurant’s application reads, “The limitations on the use of outdoor space are the result of the Houston climate.” A neighbor who’s “fine with it” whispers to Swamplot about the submission: “My boyfriend and I think it’s funny how The Sun is taking all the heat here.” The issue goes before the planning commission on December 2nd.
- Previously on Swamplot: Openings and Closings: That Flood of New Establishments
Photo: Swamplot inbox
“Sometimes I look back and wonder WHAT WAS I THINKING,” writes Jason Perry in a press release he sent to local media outlets announcing the closure of his late-night and after-hours establishment near Montrose and Fairview — and its coming reincarnation as a perhaps quainter little bistro. “Did I really open a penis shaped muffin restaurant, did I really spend more than half of a million dollars on a restaurant that promised to toss peoples salad[?]â€
Housed in a 1940 foursquare at 2310 Converse St., the MuffinMan, which opened only a few months ago, actually promised customers a bit more than that. Perry’s possibly NSFW farewell-to-muffins press release explains it best:
A reader sends word that a TABC alcohol-license notice posted on the side of the former Tower Theatre at 1201 Westheimer — where Hollywood Video was sent packing late last year — reveals the name of the old-style Tex-Mex restaurant former Houston Press food critic Robb Walsh and Iron Chef contestant Bryan Caswell will be inserting into the long-gutted moviehouse. As announced in the Press‘s food blog earlier this month, it’ll be El Real Tex Mex Cafe. Alas, no notice has yet been posted warning customers of the restaurant’s special featured ingredient:
Ignore the alternating reds, greens, and yellows on the renderings: store regional president Scott McClelland says the new H-E-B coming to the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy will have “natural materials” on the exterior — though he says he doesn’t know yet what those materials will be. Getting rid of the colors is just one of the changes requested by attendees of the recent neighborhood meeting. H-E-B announced last week that those same neighbors had selected the “Pavilion” roof design — already the most Menil-like of the 3 decorate-the-box options prepared by San Antonio architects Lake Flato. The vote totals, tallied by Neartown Association president David Robinson: 88 for the Pavilion, 75 for the Sawtooth, and 43 for the Wave. (See all three designs here.)
COMMENT OF THE DAY: DID YOU VOTE? “Wow, when Swamplot revealed the choices, nobody voted for this one. Someone actually said it was ‘the worst.’ So much for Swamplot readers speaking on behalf of the neighborhood.” [Jessie M, commenting on And the Winner of the Montrose H-E-B Roof-Design-by-Vote Is . . .]
H-E-B has announced the “winner” of the dress-up design contest for its new supermarket on the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy — the site of the former Wilshire Village apartments. The top vote-getting entry, named “The Pavilion,” is easily distinguished from the other 2 proposals from San Antonio architects Lake Flato: It’s the one where the roof isn’t jaggedy and isn’t curvy. We’ll have more details shortly.
- Wilshire Village coverage [Swamplot]
View of Pavilion design from Dunlavy driveway: Lake Flato
