Montrose | Swamplot

04/23/10 11:40am

Parking Hazard: A Brief Guide to Available Spaces off West Alabama

Development Regulations, Montrose, Parking, Retail, Strip Centers, Winlow Place

Continuing his commentaries on city off-street parking requirements, blogger Andrew Burleson takes a snapshot of parking conditions near the often-crowded corner of West Alabama and Hazard. To the east: the little 8-parking-space head-in strip center that houses Candylicious, Retro Gallery, and The Chocolate Bar. To the west: Erick’s Auto Center.

Among Burleson’s startling finds: On a weekday evening, actual empty parking spots appear to be available in front of The Chocolate Bar! But what’s going on down the street?

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77098, Dearborn Place, Development Regulations, Montrose, Parking, Parking-Lots, Retail, Strip Centers, Winlow Place

Foreclosures

04/21/10 2:45pm

Going, Going, But Never Can Say Goodbye: Will the Montrose Party Pad on Harold Survive?

by Swamplot

Homes for Sale, Interiors, Montrose

19 Comments

A reader with a longstanding appreciation for the party house at the corner of Harold and Graustark in Montrose writes in to provide a little background on the property for Swamplot readers. After sitting on the market since at least last September — and working its way down $130K to an asking price of $514,900 — the mammoth early-eighties brick in-town home with 4 bedrooms, 4 full- and 3 half-baths, and 4 staircases is now nearing the end of an online foreclosure auction. Who will end up with this 9,111-sq.-ft. prize?

The house is large and an odd mixture of no expense spared features (marble floors throughout, wood floors cut on bias, acres of woodworkâ€¦) and typical early 80â€™s tract home construction techniques. Design features include the dance floor off the master bedroom (complete with freestanding bar and speakers in the wall!), brass banisters on the winding marble staircase, scads of quick exit staircases and mirrors on the ceiling of every shower.

Oooh! Can we see any of that in the pix?

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77006, Auctions, Foreclosures, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Montrose

Demolitions

04/19/10 4:12pm

Up and Down in Hyde Park

by Swamplot

Homes for Sale, Houston Architects, Hyde Park, Montrose, New Construction: Residential

14 Comments

The Hometta blog features construction pix of the pair of houses going up on Hyde Park 2 blocks west of Montrose — designed by Collaborative Designworks, Houston’s most notable practitioners of those folded-spiral stucco balcony-wall-soffit wraparounds. 1212 and 1216 Hyde Park won’t go on the market for another few months, architect James Evans tells us, but when they do they’ll likely be priced “in the low $1M range.”

But . . . haven’t we visited this little corner of Hyde Park before?

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77006, Demolitions, Homes for Sale, Houston Architects, Hyde Park, Montrose, New Construction: Residential

Montrose

04/16/10 8:45am

What’s Playing at the Tower Theatre?

by Swamplot

Retail

2 Comments

A reader checks in from the scene at 1201 Westheimer, where the shuttered Montrose Hollywood Video store formerly known as the Tower Theatre appears to be the subject of some primping, cherry-picking marquee action:

Is something happening or are they just making it look better? There has also been surveying done in the area this week. There’s a survey stake at the corner of Waugh and Westheimer.

Previously on Swamplot: Going Attractions: Hollywood Video Gives Up on the Tower Theatre

Photo: Swamplot inbox

77006, Montrose, Movie-Theaters, Retail

Bayous and Waterways

04/14/10 12:47pm

Zero Tolerance for the New Buffalo Bayou Bridge

by Swamplot

Montrose, New Construction, North Montrose, Parks, Proposed Developments, Public Art

73 Comments

A number of readers have been asking what’s up with the new construction office set up on the former site of the Robinson’s Warehouse at the southeast corner of Montrose and Allen Parkway. The Aga Khan Foundation bought the low-lying property in 2006 with plans to build another of its Ismaili Centers on it — featuring lecture, conference, and recital facilities, a prayer hall and a social hall, and offices and gardens. Is that building ready to go up?

It doesn’t look like it. In the meantime, the construction office was parked on the property for a different project entirely, across the street: The new Rosemont Bridge, meant to connect the north and south sides of Buffalo Bayou Park. When Mayor White first announced the bridge project in late 2008, it had a different name and a different design. Called Tolerance Bridge, it a featured Moebius-strip-like superstructure that was meant to appear impassable from a distance:

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77019, Bridges, Buffalo Bayou, Montrose, New Construction, North Montrose, Parks, Pedestrians, Proposed Developments, Public Art

Montrose

04/13/10 12:28pm

Sabetta CafÃ© Makes Sure To Feed the Blogs First

by Swamplot

Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Vermont Commons

16 Comments

How cute! Just a few days after a restaurant publicist emails news about the new Sabetta CafÃ© & Wine Bar set to open in the former location of CafÃ© Zol at 2411 South Shepherd just south of Fairview, a Swamplot “reader” sends in a photo (which just happens to be named in the same very specific style as the ones sent by the publicist) of the new sign out front and asks us if we know anything about it.

Only what you tell us! Let’s see: that it’ll be the new digs of former Simposioâ€™s executive chef Riccardo Palazzo-Giorgio and his wife, Donna; that they’ll be serving “classic, signature dishes from the twenty-two different culinary regions of Italy,” and that you expect it to open in May.

77019, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Vermont Commons

Landscape

04/12/10 12:43pm

Where To Pick Up a Free Bite To Eat in Montrose

by Swamplot

Montrose, Quicklink

5 Comments

WHERE TO PICK UP A FREE BITE TO EAT IN MONTROSE Looking for a little pony’s foot for your salad? You won’t find any in Montrose grocery stores, but you should have no problem picking some up in any number of nearby vacant lots: “. . . in just a three-block radius, [petroleum chemist and urban foraging teacher Mark Vorderbruggen] identifies 34 different edibles. Things like mallows, which have rough leaves with toothed edges, and wild radishes which have long, symmetrical leaves, four yellow or white petals and tastes like horseradish. But urban foraging isnâ€™t only about finding tasty things to munch on. ‘Thereâ€™s a lot of things you can use for skin irritation. In fact I see some right over here. . . . This is plantain and itâ€™s real good. You just crush it up and make a mash. Itâ€™s good against insect bites, mosquito bites, bee stings.” [Houston Public Radio News] Photo: KUHF

77006, Gardening, Landscape, Montrose, Restaurants

Commercial Real Estate

04/06/10 9:01am

A Few Signs the Montrose Whole Foods Market Is On Its Way

by Melinda Merola

Land Development, Leasing, Montrose, North Montrose, Proposed Developments, Retail

9 Comments

There’s a new sign up across the street from the Jack in the Box at the corner of West Dallas and Waugh, announcing the new Whole Foods Market. And an employee of the building’s architect, Beckham Design Group of Austin, confirms that the project was recently put out to bid to general contractors.

How big will it be? Another source indicates the new store is now scheduled to be approximately 48,000 sq. ft. — including a mezzanine. That’s up a bit from what we’d last heard: that the market would be 40,000 sq. ft. and include “eco-conscious elements and tons of inviting space for neighbors to congregate.” Whole Foods Market signed a 25-year lease for the land with The Finger Companies back in 2008.

Here’s an aerial view of the site the Finger Companies sent out last year:

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77019, Commercial Real Estate, Land Development, Leasing, Montrose, North Montrose, Proposed Developments, Retail, Whole Foods

Construction Problems

04/02/10 6:18pm

Breaking Fire Station News

by Swamplot

Hazards, Lancaster Place, Montrose, Quicklink

33 Comments

BREAKING FIRE STATION NEWS The upper floor of the fire station at the corner of Richmond and Dunlavy in Montrose buckled today and the building is close to collapsing, a source with second-hand knowledge of the situation tells Swamplot. Problems with the foundation of the 1979 structure were reportedly complicated by the removal of a building column some time in the past. An engine, ladder, 2 ambulances, and an EMS supervisor are being relocated to nearby facilities and the station will be “closed indefinitely,” reports the source. Station 16 covers the greater Montrose area, roughly from Kirby to Spur 527 and from Bissonnet to West Dallas. [Swamplot inbox]

77098, Construction Problems, Fire Stations, Hazards, Lancaster Place, Montrose

Hazards

03/29/10 10:55am

The Allen Parkway Speed Trap

by Swamplot

Montrose, North Montrose, Quicklink, Streets, Traffic, Transportation

27 Comments

THE ALLEN PARKWAY SPEED TRAP “Traffic accidents increased 47 percent and injuries 154 percent on Allen Parkway last year even as the number of motorists ticketed for speeding continued a lengthy and significant decline on the near-downtown roadway, according to police and municipal court records. . . . Houston police, who were unaware of the drop in speeding tickets until asked by the Houston Chronicle and were at a loss to explain them, said they will begin a weeklong study today of motorists’ speeds on Allen Parkway. If high rates of speeding are detected, an enforcement blitz with radar units will begin, said Capt. Carl Driskell, who heads HPD’s traffic enforcement division.” [Houston Chronicle] Photo: Flickr user Lee Ann L.

77019, Hazards, Montrose, North Montrose, Streets, Traffic, Transportation

Comments

03/16/10 2:39pm

Comment of the Day: Montrose Ain’t Like It Used To Be

by Swamplot

Montrose, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Quicklink

7 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: MONTROSE AIN’T LIKE IT USED TO BE “Whatâ€™s with the petitions and the rainbows and unicorns? Renderings? Real hippys would squat on the land, throw up some tents to sell their bead jewelry and homemade hippy stuff until the police and/or bulldozers come. 21st century Montrose is full of pussies. 20 bucks sez the guy with the hearts on his sign is in line on opening day ready to fill his hemp messenger bag with organic chicken breasts and a sustainably farmed pomengranate flavored something or other at the overpriced new neighborhood-centric HEB.” [meatsack, commenting on What the Montrose Land Defense Coalition Really Wants To See at Wilshire Village]

77006, Comments, Grocery Stores, Montrose, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments

Audubon Place

03/01/10 1:14pm

What’s Happening to That Spanish Bookstore on West Alabama?

by Swamplot

Buildings for Sale, Land for Sale, Montrose, Retail

8 Comments

Roving Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia spots a for sale sign up at the Libreria EspaÃ±ola on the north side of West Alabama between Stanford and Audubon:

I know the owner/manager was elderly, but watching him in the mornings get his shop ready and opening the gates was really a nice thing to see. I’m hoping he is not ill or deceased. It’s always sad to see small businesses close.

Who said it’s closed?

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77006, Audubon Place, Buildings for Sale, Land for Sale, Montrose, Retail

Comments

02/22/10 1:42pm

Comment of the Day: Colquitters, It’s Your Own Damn Asphalt

by Swamplot

Dearborn Place, Hazards, Lancaster Place, Montrose, Quicklink, Streets

5 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: COLQUITTERS, IT’S YOUR OWN DAMN ASPHALT “What is it about Colquitt? I have seen other streets in your same zipcode surfaced twice in the last dozen years, while certain blocks of Colquitt (the high teens) look like Beyond Thunderdome. I am not so naive as to be ignorant of why some streets get better attention than others, but who did you Colquitters piss off?” [Harold Mandell, commenting on Steve Radackâ€™s Next Little Idea]

77098, Dearborn Place, Hazards, Lancaster Place, Montrose, Streets

Avondale

02/18/10 1:28pm

Dressing Up Those Little Montrose Drive-Ups

by Swamplot

Commercial Real Estate, East Montrose, Leasing, Montrose, Renovations, Retail

7 Comments

Vespa-riding Montrosian Brittanie Holland is curious about two retail buildings in her â€™hood recently dressed up for lease:

We live in the northeast part of the Montrose. I was sad when the Hyde Park Supermarket shut down (across from Ziggy’s on Taft and Fairview) because they sold St. Arnold’s and Mexican Coke and were within walking distance. Plus the Pakistani (?) guys who worked there were so nice and knew me by name. Back when Ziggy’s was BYOB having the store there was, well, convenient.

The building has been vacant since summer but over the past few months workers have painstakingly removed all the original brick, refurbished the structure and the rebricked it with most of the original brick. It’s kind of an interesting mid-century building â€” it looks like it might once have been a garage, and there is a sign for business lease outside but I can’t believe the owners would do all that refurbishing without a [tenant] in mind. This is right down the street from Boheme and the new Deans, and has ample parking, so maybe they’re hoping to draw some similar high-brow ventures? Is Midtown continuing it’s fast encroachment on my filthy Montrose? (We’ll always have Lola’s. Hopefully.)