September 5, 2008 – 11:41 am
Landscape students attack the Washington Ave. Corridor! A modest proposal for widening Washington and Center St. between Sawyer and Sabine — from LSU student and SWA summer intern Taizo Horikawa:
During Week 3 I focused on the area along Washington Avenue between Sawyer Street and Sabine Street, pushing the idea of Colors of Ribbons forward. The underused area between Washington Avenue and Center Street is developed as a human-scale, vibrant commercial area with two-story commercial buildings. The north-side sidewalk of Washington Avenue is widened to be 30 feet with a row of shade trees. It works as linear plaza where people spill out from the commercial buildings and lounge around.
After the jump: one-way streets!
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Read more about: 77007, Development Strategy, First Ward, Landscape, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Streets, Washington Corridor
August 25, 2008 – 5:47 pm
Wabash Antiques & Feed, the Daily Grind, El Rey Taqueria, that big new Benjy’s, and more: Katharine Shilcutt Gleave’s hungry person’s guide to Washington Ave., illustrated: “. . . the first thing you’ll notice is the abundance of new construction. Not only homes, but restaurants, banks, strip malls — a mad jumble of conflicting styles and materials that assaults the eyes. But if you look past the ubiquitous boxes of townhomes and the spaghetti-like telephone wires that crazily line the street, you’ll catch glimpses of old Houston in the tiny row houses, old brick storefronts and 1930s-era tile street signs along the curbs: Houston in a nutshell.” [Houstonist]
Read more about: 77007, Restaurants, Retail, Washington Corridor
August 25, 2008 – 7:47 am
A West End resident writes in with a question about plans for the former Trinity Steel plant off Koehler St. between Yale and Bonner:
They have recently begun demolishing the huge industrial warehouses that made up the Trinity Industries complex. Our Civic Club President seems to think they are building an extension of the The Core apartment complex that just went up at 3990 Washington Avenue (www.thecoreapts.com). That would be a disaster since the Trinity Industry property parcel is HUGE and if they are going to be ALL apartments, our narrow neighborhood streets will be clogged constantly with all that extra traffic.
I can’t find anything about who developed The Core to see if they have any updates on their website about future extension plans. Do you have any leads on what is going on and going up there?
The Core Apartments were developed by the Morgan Group. Any Swamplot readers have the scoop on future plans for the site?
Bonus question after the jump:
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Read more about: 77007, Apartments, Demolitions, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Washington Corridor, West End
Here’s a question: “Do y’all know what’s going up on Washington in the block between Candelari’s and El Tiempo? Looks massive, possibly shaped like a music venue. No info on HAIF. Driving…me…mad.” Readers? [Swamplot Inbox]
Read more about: 77007, New Construction, Washington Ave., Washington Corridor
They’re not saying much, but two separate potential developers have targeted Inner Loop sites. No “immediate plans,” of course: “Liz Lambert, the businesswoman behind the hip Hotel San José in Austin, has a site on lower Westheimer earmarked for a possible hotel. . . . Sergio Ortiz, owner of Houston-based Orion Hotels Inc., is working on the development of a boutique hotel on Washington Avenue, one of the hottest emerging strips in the Bayou City.” [Houston Business Journal]
Read more about: 77006, 77007, Hotels, Lower Westheimer, Montrose, Proposed Developments, Washington Corridor
Neighbors in the Sixth Ward have noticed some activity at the shuttered Pig Stand on Washington at Sawyer:
It appears that the former owners of the Pigstand property have retained ownership, but that they have leased the property out to the Sawyer Sportsbar, Inc.
Sawyer Sportsbar, Inc., is a new corporation, formed in April, by none other than Darren Van Delden, owner of The Drake.
I am not sure if Darren or the Dallas property owners are doing the build-out, but it is in its very early stages. (The Pigstand only had an outdoor bathroom, so I expect some relatively expansive upgrades, at least to the interior).
Photo of Washington Ave. Pig Stand (No. 7): Flickr user Fotollena
Read more about: 77007, Old-Sixth-Ward, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Washington Ave.
March 17, 2008 – 11:58 am
Razorblade and wheatpaste artist Give Up gives up this photo preview of the Artist Front (AFront for short) boutique and skate shop, opening March 21st on Washington:
anthony correa and matt fuller have decided to take their combined years of experience in pretty much every facet of the skateboard industry and turn it into something a little more physical. offering up a new skate/boutique/gallery space under the name A-FRONT. located at 2205 washington next door to the darkhorse tavern, A-FRONT is like houston’s answer to supreme or huf or ftc. with an even stronger emphasis on art. a fully functional gallery space, the shop’s grand opening will also be the opening of their first show.
Another inside photo of Afront — from the front — after the jump.
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Read more about: 77007, Graffiti, Old-Sixth-Ward, Openings and Closings, Retail, Washington Corridor
Armed with only a camera and a healthy sense of curiosity, Swamplot reader and longtime Memorial Heights Apartments resident Michael W. Jones pokes around his apartment complex and unearths evidence of Archstone-Smith’s redevelopment plans. His conclusions:
- Buildings 7, 8, and 9, in the southwest quadrant of the complex facing S. Heights Blvd, will be the first to come down. All tenants have been out of these buildings since March 1. The first of six new four-story apartment buildings will be built here.
- The dingbat-Modern-style office building at 225 S. Heights Blvd. outside the complex will likely be torn down:
The fact that the building is not on the tax roll leads me to believe that 225 is actually owned by Archstone-Smith, and will be brought down as part of the redevelopment. The current state does give sign that there may have been some interior demolition already done, and it’s waiting for the wrecking crew to come in to finish the job.
- Though tenants have been hit with some large rent increases in the last two years, Archstone-Smith isn’t going out of its way to let them know what’s happening to their homes:
To date, other than the tennants in the buildings affected by the pending demolition, the rest of the complex has not been made aware of the pending changes. It is only through research and infomation from other sources have I been able to piece the information you see here together.
After the jump, photos — and a few more details — from Jones’s report.
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Read more about: 77007, Apartments, Demolitions, Memorial Heights, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Washington Corridor
February 12, 2008 – 9:40 pm
Archstone is planning to redevelop the 28-acre Memorial Heights Apartments complex fronting Studemont, Washington Ave., and Heights Blvd.:
The current plan to be realized over a 5-year period features mid-rise mixed-use at the Washington/Studemont corner, and a series of six mid-rise residential nodes with incorporated garages on a new internal central Paseo that will parallel Washington Avenue mid-way through the complex. Archstone suggests visiting their nearly completed Esplanade project on Hermann Drive west of Almeda for a representation of product quality.
Hey, that’s a pretty short life for the apartments. They were built in 1996.
Read more about: 77007, Apartments, Memorial Heights, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Washington Corridor
December 13, 2007 – 3:01 pm
Looks like a lot of pedestrian action going on in these marketing drawings for Orr Commercial’s new Heights Village, a five-acre restaurant, retail, office, and “upscale housing” development slated for the current site of the Sons of Hermann hall just south of I-10, between Heights Blvd. and Yale St. and an adjacent parcel abutting railroad tracks to the south.
Why, with all those people in the drawings walking to and fro, it looks like this development will have all the charm of a small old-town Main Street . . . or at the very least all the charm of an old small town that decided to build a multi-level parking garage, but still turned its Main Street into a parking lot anyway, just to hedge its bets.
After the jump: more parking-lot pedestrians!
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Read more about: 77007, Apartments, Commercial Real Estate, Development Strategy, Houston Heights, Mixed Use, New Construction, Office Space, Parking, Parking-Garages, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, Washington Corridor
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Read more about Apartments, Commercial Real Estate, Development Strategy, Mixed Use, Neighborhoods: Houston Heights, Neighborhoods: Washington Corridor, New Construction, Parking, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers
