COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT TO CALL THE GREATER WEST END “Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but am I the only one who thinks that the Wash Ave area needs one, unifying neighborhood name? I live in Magnolia Grove, but no one knows what that is, so I have to just say “Off Wash Ave†(though that implies that I moved there to be close to Wash Ave bars, which is NOT the case) or say that I’m in between Montrose and the Heights (which is a stretch). Rice Military stops at Durham/Shepherd so that isn’t accurate. The neighborhoods can continue to retain their individual neighborhood names, but the entire area [PDF] can have one unifying name so that folks know what you’re talking about (e.g., Montrose is the larger neighborhood that contains Hyde Park). I would think realtors and retailers would both jump at the chance to not have to describe the area by referring to street names. Part of the area is called the West End (I think the area between Shepherd, Wash Ave, Heights, and Katy Freeway), and I think that would be a cool name to describe the whole area (particularly given the fact that the area used to be the end of town). I’m sure there are other cool names too, but any name should not contain ‘Heights’ in the title, as the area is decidedly not the Heights and the feel/look is incredibly different. The area’s former name, ‘Smokeytown,’ should also be out for obvious reasons.” [Eric, commenting on New Shepherd Dr. Little Woodrow’s To Serve Pub Fare, Too]
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Washington Corridor
NEW SHEPHERD DR. LITTLE WOODROW’S TO SERVE PUB FARE, TOO 
Beer after wine: Closed back in November, Block 7 at 720 South Shepherd Dr. is being replaced by Little Woodrow’s, reports Eater Houston’s Eric Sandler. Just south of the Washington Corridor in Rice Military Magnolia Grove and a block east from the about-to-open Katch 22 from Roger Clemens’s kid Kory, the new Shepherd spot, rep Nick Menage tells Sandler, will house no ordinary Woodrow’s: “In a twist, this location will have a full kitchen that will serve an updated mix of bar foods including burgers, nachos and pizzas from the old Block 7 oven. Menage assures fans of the bar’s popular steak nights that there are plans to maintain that tradition, too.” [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Block 7: Panoramio user Wolfgang Houston
A few doors down from Wabash Antiques & Feed Store and El Tiempo Cantina on Washington Ave., this building at 111 T.C. Jester had been home for many years to Fisk, one of the largest electrical contractors in the U.S. But a Swamplot reader has noticed that the building seems to be vacated. Fisk, acquired in 2011 by California-based general contractor Tutor Perini, wouldn’t tell Swamplot when or why or where it moved, though its website indicates that headquarters have been relocated out near Beltway 8 at 10855 Westview.
- News and Current Events [Fisk Corp.]
Photos: Swamplot inbox
COMMENT OF THE DAY: NAMING THE NEW STUDEMONT KROGER “. . . It’s ‘Broger’ because the guys that hang out at the bars on Washington are ‘dude-bros.’ ‘Party Kroger’ makes it sound like a place where one might have a party, but ‘Broger’ describes the people who will be shopping there.” [Eric, commenting on Up Pops the Studemont Kroger]
Here’s a twilight view of a first test last Friday night of one of the new Light Garden sculptures installed a few weeks ago at the Washington on Westcott roundabout — in advance of Tuesday’s turning-on ceremony. Two of 3 LED light fixture assemblies by Houston sculptor Tim Glover are planned for the intersection, the “four corners” spot for native tribes from Woodcrest, Crestwood, Rice Military, and Camp Logan. The WOW Roundabout Initiative plans to raise funds for the third.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SHORT-TERM APARTMENTS “Wait. When this place was built it was out of place because it was a brand spanking new apartment complex in the Washington Corridor which (with a few exceptions) was a dead area / no man’s land of heavy industrial uses and crumbling residential shacks. Now these well maintained, 20 year old garden apartments are woefully obsolete and cry out for demolition because they aren’t dense enough, hip enough, or mixed use enough for surrounding neighborhood. How can you not love this city?” [Bernard, commenting on Archstone Memorial Heights Clearing Out Residents Again for Bigger Buildings, 4 Years After First Attempt]
The long-delayed piece-by-piece redevelopment of the 28-acre Archstone Memorial Heights compound at the corner of Studemont and Washington Ave. into a denser style of apartment complex appears to be back on track. Residents of the 3 existing 3-story “garden-style” buildings in the southwest corner facing Heights Blvd. have received notice that they will need to vacate their apartments by August 1st. (“I was trying to figure out why rent prices went up $300 in 5 months,” a resident quips to Swamplot: “Now I know why.”) Did those letters from management sound familiar? Residents of the same buildings were cleared out in March 2008 in anticipation of a similar redevelopment. A letter sent to Memorial Heights tenants refers only to a new 4-story apartment building planned for the site of those structures: Buildings 7, 8, and 9.
“People are always peeing on my street, so I bought a Q-Beam.” With that informative epigram, blogger Jay Rascoe takes his focus off his usual guns and tacos beat for a wee bit in his new Tumblelog, OneBlockOffWashington. There he catalogs his growing collection of caught-peeing, caught-puking, and caught-in-a-ditch videos shot from his home perch, which is, apparently, a block off Washington Ave. Rascoe’s frequent late-night interactions with would-be sidewalk urinators wandering back from club visits are frequently aided by the million candles’ worth of halogen in a pistol grip he points at perpetrators. But some of his most entertaining street-scene captures use only available light:
A reader wants to know what’s behind last week’s demo work (pictured) at the former used car lot operated by Sarco Enterprises at the northeast corner of Shepherd and Nett St., 2 blocks north of Washington Ave. Across Nett St. from the site: nightspots Nox, Diem Lounge, and Fox Hollow. “Maybe a new retail development or a new restaurant or a new club?” asks the reader. “The property is a great extension of the happenings along the Washington corridor.”
Guatemalan fast-food chain Pollo Campero‘s new-prototype restaurant (pictured above) will soon become the fourth standalone drive-thru in a row along a section of the south side of Washington Ave. Driving east from the corner of Durham, you’ll find the W Grill (at left, featuring 2 drive-thru windows), then a Jack in the Box on the corner of Shepherd. After El Rey Taqueria comes the future Pollo Campero site at 4701 Washington Ave., slated to be the company’s next-in-line location — a new one is about to open at 702 W. Bay Area Blvd. in Webster, and another is planned for Missouri City. Any room for this burgeoning Washington Ave drive-thru scene to grow? That small building wedged between the W Grill and the Jack-in-the-Box could start to look hungry.
- Pollo Campero chain expands reach [Houston Business Journal]
Images: Pollo Campero and W Grill
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE WAY THINGS ARE GOING “So much hand-wringing over a store! Washington Avenue’s already peaking, and will be full of boarded up resturants and bars in a couple of years. The Heights will one day be covered in badly built townhomes, just like here in Rice Military. All that will remain is Wal-Mart. It’s just the way it is. Nobody or nothing can stop it.” [ricemilitaryboy, commenting on Washington Heights Walmart Companion Strip Stand-Ins: No-Names, Off-Brands, and Imports]
What’s it take to get a little paint or something thrown up onto a languishing and partially boarded-up Washington Ave building? If you’re landscape architecture firm Asakura Robinson and you’ve just moved in upstairs in front of the Drake in the building at the corner of Washington and Silver, you just put out a little invitation to Houston Street Art: Free . . . canvas! Bring on the street painters and poster kids! Nine of them showed up yesterday, including your pals weah, Article, Info, Wereone, Marbles, Sode, D-Falt, and COW. Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia caught up with the action as the paint and wheatpaste went down:
The president of a local real estate organization is hoping Swamplot readers can help her put together a slide show illustrating changes that have taken place over the years to the Washington Ave streetscape. How many of you have access to really old photos of Washington Ave? Well, you probably don’t have to go back too far to find images of a street that looked rather different than it does today. Send your old images — and please include captions and credit info — to the Swamplot tipline, and we’ll forward them to CCIM Houston/Gulf Coast‘s Ann-Marie Daleo, for inclusion in that organizations’ Washington Corridor Overview and Networking Event on November 4th. Daleo promises she’ll post the presentation online after the event, for anyone to download. And if any good before-and-after views come out of it we’ll post them here as well.
- Houston/Gulf Coast CCIM
- Washington Corridor coverage [Swamplot]
- Previously on Swamplot: Streamline Appeal: Knapp Chevrolet Is Not Going Away, GM Wants To Take Away Knapp
Photos: Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library (top) and GHPA (bottom)
COMMENT OF THE DAY: YOU COULD’VE HAD A CHAIN STORE! 
“this was a terrible gym location, and parking was going to be a battle from day one. hate to be johnny-come-suburb, but it was a better call to work a deal to redevelop the site with CVS and give them their free-standing deal with drive thru. Soma would be down the street somewhere, hopefully with easier access/parking, crew would not be under, and this property would be better served than the future it has. now the owner spent time/effort with this problem, has a built-out gym that is not usable for another gym (nightclub, here we come…for 9 months), has 3500 sf that doesn’t lease (my guess is from lack of parking/ability to pay the rent) and has a basement (???) that will never lease. all of this, and he could be on a beach right now, getting his checks in the mail from year 4 of 20 with CVS as the return addressee.” [jg, commenting on Fitness-Club Scavengers at the Washington Ave Crew] Photo of West End Shopping Center, Washington Ave at Shepherd: Aaron Carpenter
A photo snapped at the storefront of Crew Health and Fitness at 4826 Washington Ave., in the restored shopping center between Shepherd and Durham, taken around 2:30 Sunday afternoon. Yes, the workout shop is now officially out of business. But what are all those yellow tags attached to the window? Free passes — to LA Fitness on Richmond! A tipster tells Swamplot the LA Fitness sales team heard news of Crew’s demise around 10 a.m. on Sunday: “They had representatives at the doors trying to sign people up when we went by.”
- Previously on Swamplot: Losing a Mint, Plus Helpful Subway Guides You To Your Next Strip-Center Sandwich Fix
Photos: Swamplot inbox (Crew Fitness storefront) and Aaron Carpenter (West End Shopping Center)
