WHO WANTS NUMBERS NOW? 
The Press‘s Katharine Shilcutt passes on the latest: “And in perhaps the strangest news this year, rumblings are coming from reliable sources that Numbers (314 Westheimer) — recently put up for lease — is being eyed by the Pappas family. Yes, that Pappas family. But wait — it gets weirder. The rumors also indicate that they plan to open either a chicken and rice or shrimp and rice joint in the spot where so many … unsavory … activities have taken place over the years. If the rumors prove to be true, would you eat at Numbers’ Chicken & Rice?” [Eating Our Words; previously on Swamplot]
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Montrose
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SHHHHH! MONTROSE IS CHEAPER NEXT TO THE CLUBS “Economics? You get the benefits of the Montrose in general at a pretty big discount relative to a few blocks in almost any direction. For us the annoyances just aren’t that big a deal. (Obviously they are for lots of people…thus the discount.)” [jt, commenting on Swamplot Street Sleuths: The Dunlavy Dangle]
Got an answer to one of these reader questions? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Here’s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.
- Southwest Freeway: Driving over the Dunlavy Bridge, a reader spots a loop of fiber-optic lighting cable hanging off the southern end of the structure. Later the same afternoon, the reader snaps these photos, showing that someone had taped the loose strand to one of the bridge cables: “When the bridges over this part of 59 opened a few years back, the lighting was pretty cool, but I don’t think it has worked for a while. Friends and I have wondered who is supposed to be responsible for keeping this up — think one of your readers might know?”
- North Montrose: Jackhammers have been thrumming for the last couple mornings on West Dallas, reader Pat Wente reports. And she wonders if it might have something to do with Regent Square: “Anybody know of any official new start dates or plans on this long-delayed project?”
And then there’s this little item:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: GRADING RESTAURANTS ON A CURVE “There’s been a long line of restaurants there, starting with Monterey House. Some of them were pretty good. It’s too close to the the street on a scary curve. I hate driving in that part of Shepherd, regardless of how good the food is.” [marmer, commenting on Sabetta Café: In and Out on South Shepherd in Less Than 5 Months Flat]
That little pan-Italian cafe that former Simposio executive chef Riccardo Palazzo-Giorgio and his wife Donna tried to fit into the old Café Zol space on South Shepherd just shy of Fairview is calling it quits as of today. The “criminally unpopulated” (said Chron taster Alison Cook) Sabetta Café and Wine Bar opened just this past May, following a quaint astroturfing publicity experiment. “The reviews we received were incredible,” the Palazzo-Giorgios wrote to their fans in a non-judgmental kind of way today, “and we are thankful for the opportunity to have been able to share our passion for Italian food with Houston, however short that time may have been.”
- Sabetta’s pasta dishes are primo [Houston Chronicle]
- Previously on Swamplot: Sabetta Café Makes Sure To Feed the Blogs First
Photo (from last April): Swamplot inbox
“Montrosians are freaking out,” writes SL, one of several readers lighting up Swamplot’s tip line with reports that the building housing Numbers has been listed for lease. A flyer making the rounds from Davis Commercial, identifying the property at 314 Westheimer as the “Former ‘Numbers’ Nightclub,” says the 9,000-sq.-ft. building, which comes with its very own 23,088-sq.-ft. “parking field,” is available at a rate of $18 per gross sq. ft. The flyer shows photos of the DJ booth and main dance floor, but doesn’t mention any allowance for buildout.
But uh . . . Numbers hasn’t announced it’s shutting down. Even the ever-polite Nancy Sarnoff is unable to parse the apparent paradox:
the operator of the 32-year-old iconic music venue says it’s not closing. And the property owner says Numbers isn’t being kicked out. . . .
Davis Commercial’s Mark Davis, the broker hired to market the space, says the owner would like to “retenant” the building if he can find the right operator.
SL notes: “They have a several upcoming shows and events still on the calendar so it might be a case of staying open til the very last minute.”
- 314 Westheimer Former “NUMBERS” Night Club (PDF) [Davis Commercial]
- Iconic Montrose club building for lease [Prime Property]
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Shhhhhhhh! It’s still parking! Roving Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia happens upon this swan-label vehicle, hanging out late Tuesday a few streets off Westheimer: “My only guess is that since we are so close to Mango’s there may be a performer in town. Or, I guess it could be someone at KPFT. The plates are from Cali. Anyway it’s a really nice truck with a great design on it. The small windows on either side of the cab have curtains hanging on the inside.”
COMMENT OF THE DAY: KICKING OFF THE GOLDEN AGE OF MONTROSE BLVD. EXTENDED PATIO DINING “This is so Houston it hurts. This has got to be nominated for some kind of best of/worst of award at the end of the year. I don’t know what the category is, but making a building less sidewalk and pedestrian friendly in order to accommodate a billboard is a classic.” [Cap’n McBarnacle, commenting on Must See This: Billboard Bunny Pushes Back New Montrose Office Tower]
The art-gallery building at 4411 Montrose, just north of the bridge over the Southwest Freeway, stands only a few feet back from the front sidewalk. But just one block south, the Midway Companies is planning to plant its new 13-story office tower (which, like 4411 Montrose, will feature a restaurant space on the ground floor and gallery spaces upstairs) a full 25 feet back from the Montrose Blvd. property line. But that’s not because Midway is shy about getting any variances necessary to get around mandated city setbacks.
No, Midway director Shon Link tells Swamplot the M Fifty-Nine building must stand clear of the bright yellow Clear Channel billboard that pokes out from the southwest corner of the property. Restrictions require the billboard to have a clear view of oncoming traffic driving south on Montrose. Currently peeking out from the bottom part of the billboard: The Nesquick Bunny.
Behind Montrose, M Fifty-Nine won’t be so shy with the streets:
That’s 4,000-sq.-ft. of art-gallery space on the second floor of M Fifty-Nine, a new 13-story office building Midway Companies is planning for the northeast corner of Montrose Blvd. and the Southwest Freeway. This view is from the southwest, looking toward Downtown (in the lower left, you can see the ghostly image of a portion of the Montrose Blvd. bridge that would actually be in the foreground). The design, by local architects Muñoz + Albin, includes 64,000 sq. ft. of office space and 7,000 sq. ft. of “restaurant ready” retail on the ground floor facing Montrose. Behind the gallery space: an enclosed parking garage for more than 200 cars. Midway Companies, the developers of CityCentre, hopes to begin construction on the project early next year.
What’s on the site now?
House-sitting the JustDinner bungalow at 1915 Dunlavy in Montrose for the month of August: A “pop-up†restaurant called . . . Just August. While JustDinner’s regular chef Andrew Rebori enjoys a summer vacation, Laidback Manor veteran Seth Siegel-Gardner and partners Terrence Gallivan and Justin Yu will take over the joint, even running their own creations out to the dining room. If you’re just learning about this little escapade now though, too bad: The five-course experience is booked through August, though a few openings might still be available close to Labor Day, when Rebori returns to reclaim his kitchen. Just August dinners will set you back (Just) $45, though there’s no extra charge if you want them to pop open your bottle of wine.
A few exciting scenes of the migrant chefs moving in and cleaning up house:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILSHIRE VILLAGE PARK CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE GREAT UNWASHED “This seems like a potentially great corporate/community partnership. It’s not chump change, but it can be done. I hope the Montrose land Defense Coalition can get it together and do the fund-raising. I, for one, am willing to forgo my soap and patchouli budget for a month and instead dedicate those funds to this cause.” [RWB, commenting on H-E-B Looking for $2 to $3 Million for a 2-Acre Montrose Park]
H-E-B Houston division president Scott McClelland tells the Chronicle‘s Mike Morris what he’s been telling members of the Montrose Land Defense Coalition for several months: That the grocery company is willing to include a 2-acre park adjacent to its planned Montrose store on the site of the former Wilshire Village apartments at the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy — but only if community fundraisers can come up with “some offset” of the $2 to $3 million in extra costs required. “I’m not saying it has to be dollar-for-dollar,” McClelland says. “If we get close to raising that kind of money, we’ll find a way to do it. But if we can’t raise any money, it’d be tough for me to justify putting a park in.”
The company plans to have its new store back up to West Alabama and face south. If enough money can be raised, McClelland says the store can be raised — on stilts, so parking can fit underneath. That would leave room for a 2-acre park on the site’s south end. The “H-E-B on stilts” plan would also include space for a farmers market. Without the extra funds, that park area would be used for parking instead — though mature trees on the south portion of the property would still remain.
Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:
Some odds and ends to tie up from last week:
- Montrose: “Let’s just say business has not been getting stronger,” Chances Bar co-owner Anne Vastakis tells Houston Press reporter Richard Connelly, who followed up on Swamplot’s hot tip from last week. Vastakis continues:
With the economy the way it is — these mega-lesbian bars — there are four bars there, and in the `90s they were thriving. Now, I don’t know, maybe there’s too much competition.
So yes, the bar and the entire block it’s on are for sale, though the owners hope to sell the 27,341-sq.-ft. property at 1100 Westheimer at Waughcrest to “someone who won’t change things too much.” The owners plan to keep the place open in the meantime.
- Washington Corridor: That warehouse at 1120 Knox St., across the street from Benjy’s on Washington, will become Washington Wine Storage, according to a state license uncovered by commenter Guy Incognito. The building’s owner is the Urban Meridian Group. Expected opening date: around the end of August.
We’ll post more reader questions tomorrow. Send us what you’ve got before then!
- Swamplot Street Sleuths: Chances Are [Swamplot]
Photo: Commercial Gateway
Got an answer to any of these reader questions? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Here’s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.
- Montrose: What are the odds, really? A reader is chasing down a rumor that the owners of Chances Bar at 1100 Westheimer (next to Waugh) “have it on the market for sale or for lease.” Our correspondent would “hate to see it go after all these years but would love to see what would go there as long as it wasn’t another highrise. Anybody have the skinny on this?”
- Washington Corridor: A new concrete parking lot has appeared one block east of Benjy’s on Washington (above), on the corner of Knox St., directly in front of “an abandoned concrete building,” a reader informs us:
I drove by the other day and asked one of the workers what the construction was for and he said “Wine store” his English was a bit rusty so I really could not get much more out of him.. Maybe a new Specs ?
A couple more pix from the scene:
