Washington Ave

Leasing
10/24/13 11:00am

A New Lucky Spot Next to Washington Ave Fire Station

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Restaurants, Retail, Washington Ave
3 Comments

This building at the corner of Washington Ave and Wagner between Studemont and Heights Blvd. will soon be the home to a restaurant-bar-market combo called Lucky’s Urban Eats. At least that’s what Swamplot reader Debnil Chowdhury has deduced, from careful study of the TABC notice now hanging in the window — and the new venture’s website. Heights-area homebuilder Robert Sanders Homes put a new brick facade on the older 2-story structure (which it owns) back in 2005; more recently, the company tacked on the stucco-clad addition to the east side of the building, which is adjacent to Houston Fire Station No. 6. Here’s a site plan:

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Buildouts
10/17/13 3:30pm

Where the West End Three Brothers Bakery Will Be

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Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor, West End
2 Comments

Here’s a pic of the new storefront of Houston’s 3rd Three Brothers Bakery. You can see it for yourself at 4602 Washington, between Shepherd and Patterson. (It’ll share that retail center with Bedrock City Comics.) Apparently, behind those mirrored windows there’s quite a buildout of the former District Lounge going on: This new location will be open a bit later than the others and will include a coffee bar and patio where you can chill outside with your dawgs. Or dogs. Both, it seems, will be welcome. There’s been no opening date announced, but a PR rep says that the place should be ready to go early next year.

Photo: Allyn West

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Old Sixth Ward
10/01/13 11:00am

The New Restaurant on That Old Sixth Ward Corner

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Openings and Closings, Renovations, Restaurants, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor
11 Comments

Maybe this mystery has been solved: That old building at 908 Henderson just a block south of Liberty Station on Washington Ave is being converted into a restaurant called Big Eyed Fish. The owners just started posting some pics of the renovations to a Facebook page, and a new website promises that the place — “think southern upscale cuisine,” the website explains — is opening soon.

Photo: via Facebook

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Redevelopment
09/17/13 5:00pm

Bar Takes Old Guadalajara Spot on Washington

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Renovations, Restaurants, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor
6 Comments

A reader has spotted some signs hanging on the fence outside 4003 Washington near Leverkuhn, where the Guadalajara Bakery used to be: The slick one in the photo above for La Roux, and another just a few feet away indicating that La Roux has applied to sell alcohol. County records show that the 1930 4,368-sq.-ft. building at 4003 Washington and 2 nearby vacant lots — the 5,100-sq.-ft. one at 4011 Washington, and the 28,045-sq.-ft. one at 4015 Washington — are all owned by Kaplan Kalan Properties.

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Office Buildings
08/28/13 10:00am

Some People Have To Work: An Office Building Among the Bars on Washington Ave

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Old Sixth Ward, Proposed Developments, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor
22 Comments

So much for that walkable plaza with bike stations and jugglers and food trucks: It appears that an office building is going to go up instead on this underused triangular slice o’ land along Washington Ave. The variance is to reduce the setback from 25 ft. to 5 ft. in order to make room for parking and a 3,517-sq.-ft. office building. The 0.26-acre triangle is bound by Henderson, White, Union, and Washington. A site plan included in the variance request shows that the office would go up on the Henderson side, across the street from Liberty Station.

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Old Sixth Ward
08/21/13 11:10am

‘Sports Bar With Class’ Replacing Sports Bar on Washington Ave

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Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor
21 Comments

‘SPORTS BAR WITH CLASS’ REPLACING SPORTS BAR ON WASHINGTON AVE The prophecy foretold by that plagiarized message put up in July on Sawyer Park’s marquee has come to pass: A new “sports bar with class,” Social Junkie, will be opening here on Washington Ave on Sept. 13, reports Culturemap. Social Junkie’s owned by Saleem Fernandez, who also owns Roosevelt Bar and 5th Amendment in Midtown. Fernandez tells Culturemap that this bar, like his others, will have a pretty strict dress code — and lotsa sports: “‘Tuesdays we will have a live video broadcast with a Texans player . . . . We will also have a live radio broadcast here — an a.m. sports radio station.'” [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Allyn West

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Buildouts
08/14/13 10:15am

Pink’s Pizza Moving Into West End Strip Center

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Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor
9 Comments

A reader sends these new photos of the taped-up TABC sign in the window of the old laundromat at 1009 Moy St., shown above, where it appears a Pink’s Pizza will be opening soon. The photo at the top of the page shows the strip center endcap as seen from the corner of Moy and Center St., looking toward Washington Ave. a block to the south; T.C. Jester is a few blocks to the west. This new Pink’s will be the restaurant’s 4th inside the Loop; a 5th is on N. Shepherd in Garden Oaks. No opening date has been revealed. Another Pink’s is reported to be opening soon in that new retail center on Calhoun Rd. at the University of Houston.

Photos: Lisa L. Riley

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Nightlife
07/31/13 11:00am

Sawyer Park Marquee Leaves Cryptic Reopening Message from the Great Bar Beyond

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Old Sixth Ward, Openings and Closings, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor
16 Comments

A reader sends this photo from the Washington Corridor: Is Sawyer Park coming back from the dead this September? The 4-year run of the 2-story sports bar with a checkered past at 2412 Washington came to an end in February. But the marquee — plagiarized from that ubiquitous Dos Equis ad campaign though it might be — suggests that something might be happening sometime soon. HCAD data show that the property hasn’t changed hands. Still, there aren’t any clues or further omens on the bar’s Facebook page or Twitter feed, and calls to Rockwood, what appears to be a design-build firm whose sign hangs from the bar’s terrace, haven’t been returned.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Streets
07/19/13 10:05am

Why the Sidewalk at the Washington Ave Five Guys Burgers Isn’t Walkable

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Washington Ave, Washington Corridor
23 Comments

Struggling to make themselves heard above the whoosh of traffic along the Washington Corridor, Better Houston’s Pedestrian Pete (a.k.a. one-time mayoral candidate Peter Brown) and visiting Harvard prof and city planner Peter Park take a very short stroll in this recently uploaded video. Their objective? To lament the guy wires, utility poles, and other hindrances for would-be pedestrians on the few feet of sidewalk they traverse in front of Five Guys Burgers and Fries and Buffalo Wild Wings in this strip center near Leverkuhn at 3939 Washington.

Video: Pedestrian Pete

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Comments
06/13/13 1:00pm

Comment of the Day: Signs the Non-Plan for Washington Ave Might Have Been a Flop

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Quicklink, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor
4 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: SIGNS THE NON-PLAN FOR WASHINGTON AVE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A FLOP “To be clear, I don’t think it will turn into a dump. I just think the area has plateaued and will hold steady. Proximity to Memorial Park isn’t that great unless you live right by the park and walk. Otherwise, it still requires getting in a car and parking. As the thrown-up townhomes age and the scene has moved elsewhere, people are going to question whether living in a hood with narrow streets, rare parking, older townhomes, a train track through the middle, and awkward access into Downtown is really worth $400k+. Those with that kind of money to spend on a townhome are going to want to be near the action.” [Brian, commenting on How About Washington Ave Jitney Rapid Transit?]

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Comments
06/12/13 1:59pm

Comment of the Day Runner-Up: The Next Stage for Washington Ave

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Quicklink, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor
3 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: THE NEXT STAGE FOR WASHINGTON AVE “It’s amusing to hear all of the talk about Wash. Ave. becoming the next ‘Richmond Strip.’ Ever since Washington became popular, people have made this quip. But it is simply not true. For one, it’s a different time and completely different location. It is a major thoroughfare in the inner loop, and close to many popular and affluent residential areas. If it ceases to be a clubby/trendy destination, then all the better, since that is in all likelihood not the best use for the area. The surrounding areas have experienced large growth and will continue to densify. Washington’s future will not be determined by the clubby bar scene, nor should it. It is a prime location for mixed use — restaurants, more casual bars, and residential. Houston is BIG, growing at a fast pace, and increasingly becoming populated by a younger generation who don’t want to live in the ’burbs. Areas like Washington will simply not revert back to their old ways and become ‘the next Richmond strip.’ The market will not let that happen.” [thedudeabides, commenting on How About Washington Ave Jitney Rapid Transit?]

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Nightlife
06/11/13 4:45pm

How About Washington Ave Jitney Rapid Transit?

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Parking, Quicklink, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor
16 Comments

HOW ABOUT WASHINGTON AVE JITNEY RAPID TRANSIT? It’s not as well-designed or well-funded as the Post Oak Bus Rapid Transit that Uptown’s got in the works, but Houston Wave owner Lauren Barrash thinks her jitney service could work for the Washington Corridor in a similar way: Having located about 900 available parking spots in city lots nearby, Barrash is proposing a kind of park-and-ride deal for Washington Ave visitors and employees to get to and from their destinations — and all for a small, even discounted fee. For one thing, Barrash tells Culturemap, it might be safer than walking late at night. But it also might stir things up again after what appears to be a lull in the action ever since those revenue-generating Parking Benefit District meters went into effect in early March. Says Barrash, “There were no cars on Washington at all that first week.” [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Houston Wave via Facebook

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Comments
06/07/13 2:00pm

Comment of the Day: One Way Washington Ave Could Go

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Quicklink, Streets, Transportation, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor
18 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: ONE WAY WASHINGTON AVE COULD GO “What is the plausibility of turning Washington Ave into a one-way, eastbound road with three lanes with one lane dedicated to on street parking? And then having Center St become the outbound counterpart –– three lanes, no parking, so that less additional right of way would be needed? [Vmel, commenting on Planning for the Future of Washington Ave]

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Development Strategies
06/06/13 10:30am

Planning for the Future of Washington Ave

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Proposed Developments, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor
18 Comments

Local planning firm Asakura Robinson has released a 250-page study on the past, present, and future — as they would like to see it — of the Washington Corridor. The study seems to stem from Better Block Houston, a kind of experiment the firm performed in a vacant lot near their mural-stained offices on Washington and Silver: The street was transformed into a pop-up plaza: Food trucks rolled in, bike repair stations set up, and local retailers spread out. The study imagines this kind of pedestrian life happening along the entire length of Washington, from Westcott to I-45 and between I-10 and Buffalo Bayou.

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Land Development
05/21/13 10:00am

What’s That New Drive-Thru on Washington Ave?

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New Construction, Restaurants, Retail, Washington Ave, Washington Corridor
20 Comments

A pair of Swamplot readers, employees at Hughes Hangar across the street and Kwik Lube next door, and the Facebook page of late-night weekend jitney service Houston Wave all have heard that this building going up on Washington Ave will be a new Sonic. But a rep from the company can’t confirm the location, saying yesterday that there is nothing to add about “the specific possibility” of a Sonic here at 2720 Washington, and there doesn’t appear to be any tell-tale signage up yet.

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