North Montrose

Avondale
09/15/10 12:51pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: The Dunlavy Dangle

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Montrose, Nightlife, North Montrose, Proposed Developments
26 Comments

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:

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Adaptive Reuse
04/29/10 2:55pm

Comment of the Day: You See a Worn-Out Fourplex, I See a West Gray Bar Waiting To Happen

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Apartments, Comments, Montrose, Nightlife, North Montrose, Quicklink
No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: YOU SEE A WORN-OUT FOURPLEX, I SEE A WEST GRAY BAR WAITING TO HAPPEN “Looks like a great place to relocate the long dead but sorely missed Aquarium [Lounge]. Connect two. Demolish two for for parking. Win. Take a look behind the front room addition at Kenneally’s and you’ll find a building nearly identical to these: obsolete for housing, but many other uses.” [Bernard, commenting on Lovebird Hideaways: 3 Out of 4 Fourplexes on West Gray]

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Apartments
04/27/10 12:47pm

Lovebird Hideaways: 3 Out of 4 Fourplexes on West Gray

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Buildings for Sale, Land for Sale, North Montrose, West Gray Terrace
17 Comments

Three fourplexes in a row, plus a vacant lot that used to hold one, are for sale on West Gray between Stanford and Taft, across the street from Barnaby’s and next to the West Gray Café. And Swamplot brings you this exclusive color commentary from a former tenant:

. . . they’re roach motels inside. Plus, the back parking has potholes deep enough for cars to get stuck in. The maintenance was horrible while I lived there, and then they jacked up the rent. But, for the price, the apartments were quite large with central AC. Just had to ignore the mice, roaches, ants and leaks.

No idea why, but there have been instances of lovebirds using the back parking lot to get some privacy in the past. Guess they drank too much at Cecil’s.

Why is the listing agent insisting all 4 properties “must be sold together”?

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Bayous and Waterways
04/14/10 12:47pm

Zero Tolerance for the New Buffalo Bayou Bridge

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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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Commercial Real Estate
04/06/10 9:01am

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

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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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Hazards
03/29/10 10:55am

The Allen Parkway Speed Trap

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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.

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Homes for Sale
03/11/10 4:18pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: TV Temple Ranch

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Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, North Montrose, Temple Terrace
1 Comment

Determining the winner of this week’s game was tough! But the judges have awarded first prize to Sara — and a very close second place to KimmerTX. Congratulations to you both!

We also acknowledge the solid head-fake thrown by kimberlee ann, who knew exactly where this home was, wrote in to say so, then sent gullible readers a-wondering if it might be somewhere along . . . Navigation?

Nope!

So where might it be?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Apartments
12/07/09 11:40am

Allen House: The Apartments That Demolition Forgot

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Cancellations and Delays, Demolitions, North Montrose, Proposed Developments
8 Comments

Driving around North Montrose, a reader is surprised to find the Allen House Apartments still standing. Weren’t those units part of the Allen House that was demolished more than 2 years ago — so the land could rest for a bit while Regent Square tries to get some funding?

I am curious as to why 2 buildings of the erstwhile allen house were left untouched. Was Regent square never expected to cover these lots or is this allen house a new entity with no links to the GID Urban Development Group ? Are these going to be demolished in the future?

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Downtown
10/12/09 10:40pm

The View from AIG: This Time We’re Sure Houston’s Never Gonna Flood Again

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Economic Conditions, Flooding, Highrises, North Montrose, Office Buildings, Weather
4 Comments

From his perch high in the (formerly AIG) America Tower on Allen Parkway, Swamplot reader Stephen Cullar-Ledford forwards this latest dramatic scene, which aches for suitably metaphorical captioning.

A few months ago it was fog, this afternoon it’s a rainbow over downtown . . .

Photo: Stephen Cullar-Ledford

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Apartments
09/15/09 10:11am

In and Around the New North Montrose Whole Foods

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Commercial Real Estate, Land Development, Leasing, Montrose, North Montrose, Proposed Developments, Retail
28 Comments

A few details on that new Whole Foods Market planned for the corner of West Dallas and Waugh, just south of the now AIG-sign-free America Tower: Finger Companies, the owners of the land, says the new store will be 40,000 sq. ft. — slightly smaller than reported when the company first announced the project more than a year ago. Also: The store will have “a variety of eco-conscious elements and tons of inviting space for neighbors to congregate.”

The Finger Companies says the Whole Foods will be built “in conjunction with the developer’s proposed new luxury apartment project.” That project, also announced in the spring of 2008, was slated for the eastern portion of the site, closer to Montrose Blvd.

Image: The Finger Companies

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Green Design and Development
09/14/09 10:33am

West Dallas Royal Norwegian

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North Montrose, Office Buildings, Renovations
3 Comments

What’s happening to this brick office building on West Dallas, just east of Dunlavy? The Houston Business Journal‘s Jennifer Dawson reports it’s getting an energy-conscious renovation — overseen by Bailey Architects, designer of the original building in the early eighties.

The West Dallas building used to house local advertising firm Sachnowitz & Co. The vacant site of the former Aquarium Lounge is next door.

Early next year, the Royal Norwegian Consulate General will be moving in. The consulate general currently occupies offices in a tower on Allen Parkway.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Homes for Sale
06/03/09 12:02pm

Where You Want It: Best Locations for a Houston Townhome

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Montrose, North Montrose, Real Estate Marketing, Townhomes
12 Comments

A reader calls attention to the listing for 902 Rhode Place Unit C, heralding a brand-new 4-story multi-pack townhome with a singular location:

UNIQUE 4 STORY ROOF TOP TOWNHOUSE OVER LOOKING DOWNTOWN AND MEMORIAL PARK. 1 BLOCK FROM MEMORIAL PARK‘ALLEN PKWY AND TAFT.

The listing photos include the requisite Downtown skyscraper and Memorial Park jogger views shown above. So . . . what else is within eyeshot?

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Condos
05/15/09 4:52pm

Grave Discovery: The Secret Chicken Rituals Going on Next to Regent Square

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Critters, North Montrose, Proposed Developments
5 Comments

Okay, whichever of you folks has been doing that weird secret ceremony thing with the chicken and the bone and all down at the cemetery at West Dallas and Gross St.? Well, the gig is up! Swamplot is on to you! Or . . . at least a couple of camera-wielding readers are:

College Park Memorial Cemetery on W. Dallas (where Jack Yates among others is buried) is getting cleaned up and cleaned out, the better to walk the dog through. Interestingly enough, it may be getting used for other purposes as well. We have seen two dead chickens – having never seen any live ones there, and just yesterday, after discovering the second chicken, we also found a tableau of objects at the base of a hollow tree – a large, LARGE bone (about 15 in long), conch and scallop shell, nicely arranged, and a dead bird, stretched out to show his skeleton.

Hmmm . . . could this have anything to do with that 28-story Regent Square condo tower that’s slated to go up next door?

Parade of shocking, non-vegetarian-friendly photographic evidence follows:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Lofts
05/06/09 2:57pm

Regent Square Loft, Soft Launch

by
Mixed Use, Montrose, North Montrose, Proposed Developments
4 Comments

Okay, everybody out with your Regent Square renderings! HAIF’s lockmat digs up images of additional structures planned for the 15-acre North Montrose mixed-use complex, including two separate projects from the Venezuelan Miami architect Luis Pons.

What’ve we got here?

Pons’s “Regent Square Launch” looks more like a transit station than a boathouse. But who knows? Buffalo Bayou is just across Allen Parkway!

Many more pics:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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