- 6 Pine Tree Ln. [HAR]
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Neighborhood
COMMENT OF THE DAY: STILL HOLDING UP DESPITE THE FAULTY WIRING 
“I was an employee of — and later a friend of — Jerry J. Moore, and was the only electrical contractor he would allow to work on this property. I know it inside and out. First, as of January 2018, it is still standing. During the early 2000s it was a bit of a maintenance nightmare. It was an old electrical system. The mechanical systems were always needing work. The interior and structure were in good shape, but to be a modern home it would need to be gutted and upgraded with more modern systems. I have many good memories of Jerry and Jean and was lucky to be their friend. I hope the main house stays, but the entire area is being rebuilt with new mansions, so it may be only a matter of time . . . and money.” [James Burrell, commenting on Is Jerry J. Moore’s Friar Tuck French Palace Ready To Be Demolished?; previously on Swamplot] Photo of 306 E. Friar Tuck Ln.: HAR
A Swamplot reader in motion along 290 sends photos of the late-stage demolition in progress on Exxon’s former Brookhollow campus, now down to its last office building at 4550 Dacoma St. Tear-down began on the structure last July after a partnership connected to Fidelis Realty Partners and Williamsburg Enterprises bought the 24-acre property just outside the Loop the year prior with plans to build a retail center on the site. The ruined 254,566-sq.-ft. structure is one of 3 office buildings that once stood on the campus.
A few more photos of the crumbling facility:
Roadside Distractions
A note taped to the window of Chinese Cafe announces that the restaurant at 5888 Richmond has shuttered. The counter-service spot took over its location between Chimney Rock and Fountain View from a McDonald’s after moving out of the shopping center 2 blocks east on the corner of Richmond and Sage Rd. in 2014. HS Green has since cropped up in the restaurant’s old shopping center storefront.
The photo at top looks east to show Chinese Cafe’s signage still shining beneath a starless sky last Friday, although the inside of the restaurant appears to have gone dark. The 3,756-sq.-ft. building sits between Taco Bell and the Houston Camera Exchange.
Photos: Rex Solomon
Briarmeadow
- 2814 Meadowcreek Dr. [HAR]
Something new is on the table for the building at the corner of Westheimer and Stoney Brook Dr.: Prime Social, a card and board game venue with an onsite restaurant. The not yet full house is advertising chess, backgammon, cribbage, and a number of poker variants — with 2 daily tournaments (up to “$5,000 GUARANTEED”). Also, “professional armed security” will be present on the premises, according to the house website, in case anything gets out of hand.
Churrasca Brazilian Steakhouse closed down in the 11,448-sq.-ft. building, pictured above, last year. The restaurant took over from sushi joint and nightclub Fish & the Knife, which shuttered in its newly-built space at 7801 Westheimer in 2014, 9 months after opening.
- Prime Social – Houston’s Premium Gaming Destination [Prime Social]
- Previously on Swamplot: Westheimer Fish & Knife Spot Will Soon Be Home to Lubbock’s Finest Dining Experience; Sayonara for Fish & the Knife?; Your Long Wait for a Sushi Restaurant and Nightclub on Westheimer Is Over: Fish and the Knife Opens Today!; Houston’s Most Anticipated Restaurant Will Open When It Feels Like It; Phew! Fish and the Knife Is Back to Its Usual ‘Opening Soon’ Status; Is Fish and the Knife Cutting Bait?; Fish and Knife: Beached Sushi on Westheimer
Raising the Stakes
Davis Commercial is showing images of a renovated building on the corner of 11th St. and Rutland in hopes of enticing a burger-flipping collective or something similar to take over the space. Q St. Salon & Boutique shared the 2,712-sq.-ft. building behind the parking-lot gazebo with Heights Discount Dry Cleaners until the latter closed down last year. A bungalow that now sits adjacent to Q St.’s spot to the west (hidden behind the building in the photo at top) is excised from the renderings.
The rendering above shows the building’s windows wiped clean of advertisements for laundry deals and extended to the ground. New awnings are shown in place of the blue vinyl ones now covering the storefronts at 402 W. 11th.
An 800-sq.-ft. patio is also planned for the building’s frontage along 11th St.:
Wash Cycle
Here’s the site on the block of 22nd St. bookended by the Vapor Gypsy e-cigarette shop and the Carl Barnes Funeral Home — and peppered with townhomes, an auto repair shop, and Refrigeration Gaskets of Texas — where 2 new row houses are about to be built. Wile Interests and Capital Realty are constructing the pair they’re calling the Bungalows on 22nd St. between Durham and Shepherd — in place of 2 dilapidated bungalows that were torn down on the same site last year.
A rowing-focused workout center called Crew Fitness will occupy the eastern bungalow in the development at 715 W. 22nd St.:
One Oar the Other
Excavators are now moving dirt around on the corner of Kirby and oak-lined Steel St. where a 39-story apartment tower dubbed Hanover River Oaks is planned. Hanover bought a 1.6-acre portion of the former Kirby Court Apartments along Steel St. in 2016; funding issues had left the project in limbo for most of the prior year. The photo above, taken from the highrise at 2727 Kirby, looks southwest past the corner tower of the Gables West Ave apartments to show a portion of the crater where the new apartment tower is now under construction.
Although the project has a Kirby Dr. address, the building won’t actually front the street. Instead, it will sit behind Becks Prime at the corner of Kirby and Kipling (partly visible in the bottom left of the image above). Earlier renderings showed a new standalone restaurant building fronting Kirby just south of Becks Prime. West of the drive-thru restaurant zone, an entrance driveway for the apartment will run between Kipling and Steel.
A recent rendering from architecture firm Solomon Cordwell Buenz views the tower from southeast of 2727 Kirby:
Hanover River Oaks
A Swamplot reader sends this photo of new signage fronting Hwy. 6 along the vacant Macy’s parking lot at West Oaks Mall. The space left behind by the former anchor tenant — which closed its doors last year — will be turned into a new store called The Outlet at West Oaks that will specialize in clothing and home goods and open within the next few months. Dress shop Formal Gallery has been announced as the new store’s first retailer. Other additions have been announced for the rest of the mall, HBJ’s Cara Smith reports: a gym, a trampoline park, a daycare facility, a food hall, restaurants, event venues, and some sort of maker space.
1st Emporium, the real estate division of Houston-based Mehta Investments, quietly bought most of the mall — out of bankruptcy, Paul Takahashi reports in the Chronicle —Â last August. (The mall’s former owner, Pacific Retail Capital Partners, bought the shopping center out of bankruptcy, too, back in 2009.)
Anchors Away
Snapshots from the scenic Robbins Brothers jewelry store parking lot on the West Loop show how much progress has been made on the 34-story Arabella (formerly Arábella) condo tower next to the Target parking lot on San Felipe. Construction on the bumpy building began in 2015 on a portion of the former Westcreek Apartments at the corner of San Felipe and Westcreek. The photo at top shows the new building at 4521 San Felipe towering over the 25-story SkyHouse River Oaks apartment building, as well as the 17-story Wilshire condo tower.
A closer view of the trio:
In Height Order
Replica weaponry is now up on the white brick building at 1318 Telephone Rd. ahead of coffee shop Coral Sword’s planned opening in the space next month. Backed by former Houston Astro and self-professed video- and board-gamer Hunter Pence along with his wife Alexis, the venue will include communal gaming areas, a private podcast and game session recording booth, and “a membership driven co-gaming space.” Record and book store Wired Up closed down in the building last year, and renovations have been underway on the space since last month. The photo at top shows Coral Sword’s main entrance and storefront window to the right of it.
The cafe will share the building with East End Barber, which takes up the southeast portion of the structure. Below, you can see the barber shop’s sign on the corner of Telephone and Fourcade St.:
Waiting on Deck
- 4604 Norhill Blvd. [HAR]
Heights Vinyl is getting ready to box up its collection of grooved disks, turntables, and other analog audio items before bolting from the building it shares with Cat Veterinary Clinic at 3122 White Oak Dr. (The record store’s former neighbor and industry peer — 3mA Audio — moved out of the space directly next to the vet’s office last year.) Last April, an entity connected to developer Ancorian bought the 8,900-sq.-ft. strip — as well as the adjacent apartment building at 3110 White Oak.
On Sunday, Heights Vinyl announced via Facebook that it would be moving to a Fifth Ward warehouse building south of I-10 at 3301 Cline St. That building is divided into 2 tenant spaces — Heights Vinyl will take over the one shown below, fronting the parking lot along Grove St.:
Fifth Ward Bound
- 100 Wroxton Dr. [HAR]
