06/29/16 10:30am

Hughes Manor, 2811 Washington Ave., Houston, 77007

Hughes Manor logoThe spot formerly known as Hughes Hangar appears to be ditching the airport theme following the closure earlier this year of both the nightclub and its across-the-parking-lot companion The De Gaulle. Remodeling of the area between the 2 buildings has been underway as well — above is the ex-bar’s former back patio, now an open lawn shielded from view of Washington Ave.

The space appears to be reopening as an events venue; the new name is Hughes Manor, and the new logo (shown here) is also similar to the old:

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Return Trip
06/13/16 12:45pm

Proposed rendering of 1815 Washington Ave., Memorial Heights, Houston, 77007

The spot Braun Enterprises has been sprucing up at 1815 Washington Ave appears to have been leased out last week to the folks behind the Texas expansion of Tennessee’s Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken. Documents filed with the county show that an entity called Texas All Fry (registered to the address of the Gus’s location in Austin) signed for the space on Wednesday. Pandora and Throne Ultra Lounge are among the latest in the succession of night clubs and bars to have recently occupied the late-1940s structure, which sits across the street from B&B Butchers.

The above rendering (from the same leasing flier that accidentally leaked word of H-E-B’s negotiations for the Archstone Apartments spot at the corner of Washington and Heights Blvd.) shows the front facade with a new patio and a few more windows. A careful look at the building’s past listing photos show that some of the apparent reshaping may actually involve the un-bricking of some former doorways: 

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Coming to Roost
01/26/16 10:30am

St. Theresa The Little Flower Thrift Shop, 5334 Washington Ave, Rice Military, Houston, 77007

The business wilted several years ago, but the location of the church-run St. Theresa The Little Flower Thrift Shop at 5334 Washington Ave is getting a new tenant: a branch of Dallas’s Clutch Bar will be moving into the space. An entity associated with the thrift shop bought the property  back in 1991, and the store blossomed until the early ’10s, closing by mid-2013.

Clutch Bar’s website touts a Summer 2016 opening; as far as what will be served in the space, the site for the chain shows a large draft beer selection and mentions a weekly special on “adult milkshakes”.

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Little Flower Going Wild
05/19/15 4:15pm

SUB-BOURBON REVOLVER GUNNING FOR OUTLAW DAVE’S WASHINGTON AVE SPOT Patio of Outlaw Dave's Worldwide Headquarters, 6502 Washington Ave., Woodcrest, HoustonThe owners of fellow just-shut-down Willowbrook Mall bar Revolver are now in possession of the remains of Outlaw Dave’s Worldwide Headquarters, Houstonia’s Katharine Shilcutt notes. And a reader tells Swamplot the new owners are already busy making changes for an in-town Revolver revival: “Someone is doing outside renovations (tore down wood fence and pouring slab for patio) right now, and a truck with an exterior logo that reads ‘Revolver sub-BOURBON social’ has been parked outside for a week.” Revolver, which may or may not upgrade from sub-Bourbon to the hard urban stuff, is now aiming for a summer opening. Outlaw Dave’s went dark at 6502 Washington Ave just south of I-10 earlier this month, leaving a lit-up “Adios Bitches” signoff on its marquee. [Houstonia] Photo of Outlaw Dave’s patio: Outlaw Dave’s Worldwide Headquarters

01/22/15 12:45pm

Los Dos Amigos Mexican Restaurant, 5720 Washington Ave, Woodcrest, Houston

Los Dos Amigos Mexican Restaurant, 5720 Washington Ave, Woodcrest, HoustonThe last date to order cheese enchiladas at Los Dos Amigos, the Mexican restaurant that’s stood at 5720 Washington Ave at the corner of Birdsall for the past 39 years, is February 28th. In early December, the longtime owners of an L-shaped group of parcels spanning the entire north side of the Washington Ave block between Birdsall and Malone — along with an adjoining “L” around the corner facing Birdsall (see map above) — sold the whole thing to a developer out of Dallas operating under the name of a partnership calling itself OSF Washington. Among the other entities linked to the buyers: Vintala Partners, which has developed apartments in the past.

Also on the block and going away: the Premo’s Grocery building at 5702 Washington. The entire site, including both buildings and parking lots, measures 26,675 sq. ft.

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Developers from Dallas
12/19/14 1:00pm

washington-ave-walmart

Here’s a map a reader sent yesterday apparently showing the location of “Walmart Neighborhood Market #3450,” on Washington Ave, just east of the newly sold Archstone Memorial Heights apartment complex at 201 S. Heights Blvd. (A different Walmart map shows it in the same spot.)

 

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Mystery Walmart By The Heights Walmart
12/18/14 4:38pm

BIG NEWS ON WASHINGTON AVE memorial-heights-apartments-studewood300Update, 12/19/2016: A representative from Midway tells Swamplot that Midway didn’t buy the complex — it’s just been managing it for the folks who did (the Gordy family). This article has been updated. Archstone Memorial Heights, that 556-unit apartment complex at 201 S. Heights on 23.4 acres of Washington Corridor land (seen here pre-renovation 2 years ago), has been sold. The buyers? Midway Cos. and the Lionstone Group. Midway is perhaps best-known locally for its mixed-used CityCentre development and the Hotel Sorella. [RE Business Online] Photo: Charles Kuffner

11/12/14 4:00pm

LAST CALL FOR THE BONEYARD DRINKERY Boneyard-bye-byeIt wasn’t the first Houston ingesting establishment to be permitted by the city to allow canine companions and their owners to co-lounge on its patio (that honor belongs to the now-shuttered Ziggy’s on Fairview) but with its attached 7,000-sq.-ft. dog park, the Boneyard Drinkery lived up to its reputation as the quintessential outdoorish hangout where panters, drinkers, and occasional barkers all could coexist in relative harmony. And now, after 4 years, it’s closing. A note posted to the Boneyard Facebook page indicates the property at 8150 Washington Ave. is being sold, and the bar and park will both close on November 30th. “Due to the size of property needed for this concept,” reads the note, “and the outrageous increase of property value in Houston over the last few years, we will not be relocating.” [Facebook; Photo: Boneyard Drinkery via Facebook]

08/01/14 12:30pm

Pink's Pizza, 1009 Moy St., Washington Ave., Houston

Bellow Parallel, 1009 Moy St., Suite B, Washington Ave., HoustonIt looks like workout gear store Below Parallel has missed its promised July opening date, notes the reader who’s been monitoring construction progress at the the side-standing strip center that used to house a laundromat at 1009 Moy St. on Washington Ave. How long will it be? Count the conflicting clues: The city inspector’s red tag gracing the front door in this photo (above left) from earlier in the week; the shoes already arranged on display shelves in an interior pic posted to the store’s Facebook page.

But something’s definitely cooking next door, where Pink’s Pizza has been moving in for almost an entire year, and where for many months, our tipster reports, work had appeared stalled. Signs of actual recent construction progress are present — most notably in the corner spot’s newly installed windows.

Photos: Swamplot inbox

The Pizza Racers
06/26/14 11:15am

Pinks Pizza and Below Parallel, 1009 Moy St., West End, Houston

Pinks Pizza and Below Parallel, 1009 Moy St., West End, HoustonThe reader who sent Swamplot a steaming hot tip late last summer — Pink’s Pizza is coming to Wash Ave! — brings us up-to-date on construction progress at the sidestreet-facing strip center at 1009 Moy St. (above) a full 10 months later: There’s been none. “Other than the signage on the building and on Washington at the front of the shopping center, there’s been no work done in months,” reads our report. One door over from the Pink’s spot in Suite B (pictured at right), however, a sign is up for Below Parallel, a new retail outlet where customers will be able to equip themselves to work off their pizza before even eating it. The banner promises shoes, supplements, and apparel —- and an opening date next month. “Strange location,” declares our tipster — the shuttered Blue Moose Lodge is around the corner — “but I guess the four Crossfit gyms in a mile radius can shop there.”

Photos: Swamplot inbox

West End Cycles
04/28/14 12:45pm

Site of Future Pearl Washington Ave Apartments, 5424 Washington Ave at T.C. Jester, Houston

Here’s the scene at the northeast corner of Washington Ave and T.C. Jester this weekend (the view is from Schuler St., to the north), where lots are being cleared for a new apartment complex. It’ll be called the Pearl Washington Ave, after the other Pearl-brand apartments the Morgan Group has developed around town, but not necessarily after Washington Ave’s Pearl Bar. Permits filed with the city don’t yet indicate the size of the project, but the newly assembled parcel at 5424 Washington Ave measures 3.1 acres and extends all the way to Detering St. And commenters on HAIF are noting that it’s expected to be 8 stories tall — and may include some sort of retail space. Buildings currently on the site, including Gary Fruge Automotive, are being removed.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

8 Story Apartments, with Retail?
02/27/14 3:00pm

4720-wash-ave

Strip Center, 4720 Washington Ave., HoustonA little smoothie-and-juice bar lodged in a glorified corridor set deep in a 19th St. retail building will be sextupling its space (and expanding and solidifying some portions of its menu) sometime this spring. That’s when Juicy in the Sky with Vitamins is scheduled to move on down from the Heights to the strip-center spot of recently shuttered Teahouse 101 (pictured above and at right) at 4720 Washington Ave. Architect-turned-vegetable-crusher Deborah Morris will shut down her tiny juice spot at 238 W. 19th St. when the new space opens — next to Max’s Wine Dive at Shepherd Dr.

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Juicy in the Sky
02/21/14 3:45pm

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2602-Washington-03-2

The 1998 transformation of a former auto shop on Washington Ave to the 9-unit Lopresti Lofts was a bit of a quirky redo. McGregor Real Estate Group gave the building a mash-up of infill materials, various porch-balcony-terrace views of downtown, and a piggyback stucco-faced addition topped by roof flaps saluting crisply above each unit (top). The amalgamation sits right across across the street from the gated entry of peaceful, park-like Glenwood Cemetery. A corner unit (in the building, not the graveyard) listed last week but quickly dropped its asking price by $20K to $370,000. Inside (above), lots of tubing ties together 4 levels of wide, somewhat open, sometimes high gallery space . . .

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Show Us the Door
02/14/14 1:45pm

1814 Washington Ave., Houston

Sign, 1814 Washington Ave., HoustonHere’s a sign of some stirrings in the Dittman Building at 1814 Washington Ave, just east of Silver St. It’s a TABC notice indicating an application has been made for a company named B & R Butchers to serve alcohol at this location. Who’s behind this future restaurant, and will it wield such a formidable, meat-carving name over its menu, whenever it gets around to opening? Here’s one clue: The company’s registered agent appears to be Houston Smith & Wollensky general manager Benjamin Berg.

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Noticing a TABC Notice
01/13/14 1:30pm

IT’S DEVELOPMENT CAMPAIGN SEASON ON WASHINGTON AVE Fire Station No. 6, 1702 Washington Ave., HoustonBrand strategy outfit Axiom is applying its “creative communication” skills to a campaign to gain recognition for the company’s rehab of the former Fire Station No. 6: A banner now hangs outside the firm’s compound at 1702 Washington Ave (at right), asking passersby for help procuring wider recognition for the company’s multi-year office conversion project. The Fire Station renovation, along with northeast Houston’s James Berry Elementary School, the Heights’s Don Sanders pet adoption center, Dynamo Stadium, and BG Group’s wrench-shaped downtown skyscraper have been nominated in separate for-profit and nonprofit categories in this year’s local Urban Land Institute awards program, but only a group of 3 judges will pick those winners. Separately, though, they’re all competing against each other for top spot in the new-last-year “people’s choice” category, which you can sway with votes on this website — before January 21st. [ULI] Photo: John Luu/Axiom