The Woodlands | Swamplot

03/29/12 12:36pm

The 3 Trader Joe’s Grocery Stores Coming to the Houston Area

Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers, The Woodlands, Upper Kirby

Trader Joe’s has at last confirmed the second and third of the 3 stores that’ll constitute the idiosyncratic grocer’s Houston invasion. If you’ve been following Swamplot, you already know about these locations: In addition to the already announced shopping-center add-on in The Woodlands (recent construction photo at top), there’s another to be constructed in suburban-style big-corniced splendor (midde photo, above) on Voss just north of San Felipe. And yes — the company is now ready to admit — one in the just-decimated hollows of the once-grand Alabama Theater, last known as the Alabama Bookstop bookstore (bottom photo above).

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77057, 77098, 77382, Grocery Stores, Memorial, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers, The Woodlands, Upper Kirby

Commercial Real Estate

02/24/12 12:17pm

A Long Goodbye for the Woodlands Mall Sears

by Swamplot

Malls, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Retail, The Woodlands

No Comments

A LONG GOODBYE FOR THE WOODLANDS MALL SEARS The Woodlands Mall location is among the 11 anchor stores around the country Sears announced it will sell to mall operator General Growth Properties. All of the stores will remain open until 2013; a closing date will be announced within the next several months. [Retail Traffic] Photo: City-Data

77380, Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Malls, Openings and Closings, Retail, The Woodlands

New Construction

02/21/12 1:55pm

Research and Technology: Solving the Latest Woodlands Sushi Case

by Swamplot

Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Strip Centers, The Woodlands

3 Comments

Turns out this “mysterious construction” going up on the corner of Technology Forest Blvd. and Research Forest Dr. in The Woodlands isn’t meant to house some company’s secret R&D project — instead, it’ll house investigations of a more familiar technology. No name has been announced, but the operator of 2 Sakekawa Japanese Steak House & Sushi Bars (there’s another one Indian Springs Village already) bought the 1.21-acre pad site last year. These photos came from a Swamplot reader who was curious about the unidentified project — but then answered her own question by uncovering the secret sushi plot for us:

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77381, Medical Buildings, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail, The Woodlands

New Construction

01/30/12 10:04am

Trader Joe’s Trying on Woodlands Shopping Center Packaging

by Swamplot

Retail, Shopping Centers, The Woodlands

4 Comments

One of several Trader Joe’s stalkers in The Woodlands sends us this pic of the shopping center site at 10868 Kuykendahl Rd. near Woodlands Pkwy., “looking more and more like a store!” The photo was taken Sunday; no opening date is listed on the Trader Joe’s website, but it’s expected to be sometime this spring.

Previously on Swamplot: Trader Joeâ€™s Braces Itself for a Woodlands Shopping Center Landing, Your Early Photos of the Trader Joeâ€™s in The Woodlands, Hereâ€™s Where the First Trader Joeâ€™s Is Going â€” in The Woodlands

Photo: Swamplot inbox

77382, Grocery Stores, New Construction, Retail, Shopping Centers, The Woodlands

New Construction

01/17/12 10:38am

Second Woodlands Anadarko Tower: A Bit More Boxy and Taller Than the First

by Swamplot

Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Skyscrapers, The Woodlands, The Woodlands Town Center

13 Comments

Note: Story updated and corrected below.

Anadarko Petroleum announced to its employees last week that the company is ready to begin constructing a second office tower just west of its existing headquarters building in The Woodlands Town Center, a source tells Swamplot. The new building will fit on the corner of Lake Robbins Dr. and Woodloch Forest Dr., just south of The Woodlands Mall, and like the current tower will be visible from miles south on I-45. At the announced 31 stories, the new structure would be one floor ~~shorter~~ taller.

According to the report, parking will account for the building’s first 10 floors, though the renderings included in the announcement (above) appear to show a garage a bit shorter than that. The remaining floors are planned to accommodate company growth. Construction is expected to be complete by the spring of 2014. Anadarko did not announce the building’s contractor or architect.

Update, 1:25 pm: Groundbreaking is expected in a few weeks, our source adds; workers are beginning to clear the lot this week.

Renderings: Swamplot inbox

77380, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Skyscrapers, The Woodlands, The Woodlands Town Center

New Construction

01/03/12 10:15am

Trader Joe’s Braces Itself for a Woodlands Shopping Center Landing

by Swamplot

Retail, Shopping Centers, The Woodlands

16 Comments

That’s it, right there, next to Petco: Trader Joe’s first Houston-area store, now in fetal form in the shopping center at 10868 Kuykendahl Rd., across the street from the H-E-B at Woodlands Pkwy. New Swamplot reader Michael E. sends these pix showing how far construction has progressed since the dusty days of last November. The steel frame is up! When do the multi-pack avocados come in?

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77382, Grocery Stores, New Construction, Retail, Shopping Centers, The Woodlands

New Construction

11/08/11 10:55am

Your Early Photos of the Trader Joe’s in The Woodlands

by Swamplot

Retail, Shopping Centers, The Woodlands

3 Comments

The Trader Joe’s market in The Woodlands looks like dirt. For now, at least. Yesterday, the company finally admitted that this tree-stripped site in the under-construction Woodlands Crossing Shopping Center at the corner of Kuykendahl Rd. and Woodlands Parkway will be the first Houston-area store to open (even though the other potential TJ’s location on the horizon — in-town, inside the former Alabama Theater — appears to be in the moving-dirt-around stages as well). Swamplot broke the news of The Woodlands store’s location last week — then asked readers to send in pics showing how far construction has progressed. And our Woodlands-area readers came through with these photos from yesterday and over the weekend, showing just how a baby shopping-center TJ’s is born:

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77382, Grocery Stores, New Construction, Retail, Shopping Centers, The Woodlands

Comments

11/07/11 10:59pm

Comment of the Day: Why We Moved Up to The Woodlands

by Swamplot

Quicklink, Retail, The Woodlands

22 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY WE MOVED UP TO THE WOODLANDS “My mom moved to Afton Oaks as a child & went to Lamar. I grew up in the Galleria area & my family now lives in TW because we work out of our homes and, when thatâ€™s the case, TW becomes the more rational place to raise a family. The air is cleaner, the free schools better; the city has been officially declared bike friendly, and the 160 miles of paths are great for a runner like me. I really donâ€™t want to spend $300,000 over 12 years sending my children to private and then never be able to retire. Sometimes as a native Houstonian who lived in H-Town — Galleria, Rice Military, downtown loft — for much, much longer than we have lived here, this back-and forth is tiresome. â€œChainsâ€ up here include Hubbell & Hudson, 1252, and the Gâ€™s, and those who tend to blindly diss TW are simply ignorant. So; fine; Iâ€™m glad weâ€™re getting a TJ. Houstonâ€™s going to be getting one too.” [M77002, commenting on Hereâ€™s Where the First Trader Joeâ€™s Is Going â€” in The Woodlands]

77382, Comments, Retail, The Woodlands

Buildouts

11/03/11 2:55pm

Here’s Where the First Trader Joe’s Is Going — in The Woodlands

by Swamplot

Retail, The Woodlands

39 Comments

Woodlanders wondering where Trader Joe’s is going to land, here’s your answer: Next to Petco in the Woodlands Crossing Shopping Center at 10868 Kuykendahl Rd., across from the H-E-B market at the intersection of Woodlands Pkwy. There’s nothing too dramatic about the plans for it, either: It’ll be a 13,500 sq. ft. space, with what looks like a typical shopping-center storefront:

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77382, Buildouts, Grocery Stores, Retail, The Woodlands

Comments

10/18/11 11:29pm

Comment of the Day: Home Decor by the Numbers

by Swamplot

Grogan's Point, Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Quicklink, The Woodlands

No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOME DECOR BY THE NUMBERS “I count eight framed jerseys. But I guess if you do the math â€” one jersey per 1150 sq ft â€” itâ€™s not so bad.” [Carol, commenting on On the Market: Woodlands House of 1000 Pigments]

77380, Comments, Grogan's Point, Home Decor, Homes for Sale, The Woodlands

Grogan's Point

10/18/11 11:31am

On the Market: Woodlands House of 1000 Pigments

by Swamplot

Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, The Woodlands

34 Comments

No faux finishing technique — or potential painting surface — was spared in the latest redo of this 21-year-old 9,181-sq.-ft. Woodlands mansion in Grogan’s Point. You’ll count 6 or 7 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, a study, and gameroom, all with walls carefully protected by multiple coats of carefully splotched pigment. Those finishing touches put the many wall colors of this home beyond the reach of description.

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77380, Faux-Finishes, Grogan's Point, Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Painting, The Woodlands

Conroe

10/12/11 5:16pm

Please Bring Your Final Purchases To Conroe forÂ Checkout

by Swamplot

Fires, Quicklink, The Woodlands

2 Comments

PLEASE BRING YOUR FINAL PURCHASES TO CONROE FORÂ CHECKOUT Any plans to rebuild the Garden Ridge store at the northern border of The Woodlands on I-45 near Hwy. 242 — destroyed by fire today — will likely get careful scrutiny: “As one of the city’s ‘big box’ stores, Garden Ridge straddles the city limits between Conroe and The Woodlands Township. The cash registers are located in Conroe, the result of an annexation agreement reached between the neighboring communities in 2006.” [Montgomery County Courier] Photo: KHOU

77384, Big Box Stores, Conroe, Fires, The Woodlands

Franchises and Chain Stores

09/16/11 9:34am

Pinkberry Houston Campaign: Webster and The Woodlands First

by Swamplot

Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants, Retail, The Woodlands, Webster

10 Comments

PINKBERRY HOUSTON CAMPAIGN: WEBSTER AND THE WOODLANDS FIRST Beachhead for the inevitable local invasion of second-wave frozen-yogurt pioneer Pinkberry: across I-45 from Baybrook Mall in the Baybrook Passage Shopping Center. The location, at 19325 Gulf Fwy., is scheduled to open on September 30th. The second of the dozen spots planned for the greater Houston area by the regional franchisee will be somewhere in The Woodlands, but won’t open until next year. [Houston Business Journal] Update, 11:30 am: That Woodlands location will be in The Woodlands Mall.

77598, Franchises, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, The Woodlands, Webster

Openings and Closings

08/29/11 2:17pm

Checking Out the New North Woodlands H-E-B Before ItÂ Opens

by Swamplot

Retail, The Woodlands

8 Comments

Posted on HAIF: images from earlier this month of the empty but almost ready-to-open H-E-B at 3601 FM 1488 in The Woodlands. At 104,000 sq. ft., the North Woodlands Market will register as the biggest of the 4 H-E-Bs in the area. Inside, reports Chris, the cameraphone photographer, everything will be bigger than usual. Alas, no closeups of the guacamole bar. A similar layout and format is expected at the Sugar Land store scheduled to open in September.