Swamplot Archives by Category: Shopping Centers

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Animal Attraction: Mecox Gardens Opens in Highland Village

“Our primary emphasis is a dedication to achieving an overall balance between the interior and outdoor living environment,” reads the copy on the home page of the Mecox Gardens website.

A tour of the new Mecox Gardens store that just opened in the Highland Village Shopping Center reveals part of the magic Mecox formula for achieving that inside-outside balance: Bring in the prints of animals. And bring in the animal prints!

Paloma Contreras, who runs Houston’s La Dolce Vita blog, took these photos on a recent visit. Mecox Gardens features “vintage and reedition” home and garden furnishings.

So here’s a reader challenge:

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Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Azzarelli’s Hits the Highway

Azzarelli’s Restaurant has fled the Tuscan-styled Villagio Town Center in Cinco Ranch, reports InsideKaty blogger Helen Eriksen — leaving behind a delinquent-rent notice on the front door . . . and some sort of lawsuit:

Inside the spacious eatery, napkins, bread plates and wine glasses are neatly arranged on the tables. Christmas decorations are also still in place but it’s unclear if the closing is permanent.

Efforts to reach [owner Frank] Triola were unsuccessful as of this blog posting. The person who answered the phone for the leasing agent, Villagio Partners, said she would have to check to see if someone could call me back because there is ongoing litigation in the matter.

Meanwhile, commenters have sighted a new Azzarelli’s just off the Katy Freeway:

However, driving down 1-10 heading west from Houston, the Barker Cypress exit has a new strip center and what do you know… Azzerelli’s is opening up a new restaurant! I think that the rent was very high at the Villagio Town Center and they are moving to a lower cost building. ??

Tuscan theming doesn’t come cheap. Another giveaway: the flashing “I-10 Location Coming soon!” notice on the Azzarelli’s website.

Photo: Azzarelli’s

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Monday, December 29, 2008

Heights Village: It Was All Just a Good Old Fashioned Dream

Here’s something we can all feel tingly and nostalgic about: Developer Bobby Orr’s Heights-ish fantasy — of brand-new old-timey storefronts facing long streetside parking lots off Yale St. and Heights Blvd. just south of I-10 — is dead. The Chronicle’s Nancy Sarnoff drops news of the demise of the Heights Village dream as an aside to her update on the stalled-out High Street development.

The entire 4.9-acre property, across Heights Blvd. from the ArtCar Museum, is back on the market, at $75 a square foot.

Sadly, Cushman & Wakefield’s listing for the property doesn’t include any misty watercolors to memorialize what might have been. But Swamplot remembers! Here’s a brief trip down invented-memory lane . . . in 3 quick images:

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High Street: Left High and Dry

Problems getting credit have stalled or dashed hopes for many Houston developments, leaving vacant sites, ratty construction fences, and more than a few misleading “coming soon” signs touting unachievable goals. Off Westheimer just west of Mid Lane, though, we’ll have a much bigger and longer-lasting reminder of changed fortunes to look at, for a good long while: The steel frame of the first building in Trademark Property’s High Street project.

Work has stopped.

What happened?

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Monday, December 15, 2008

How To Bring the Mall Closer to Main Street: Katy Shows the Way

Just line that short central driveway through your new power-center parking lot with a small number of stores and head-in parking. Fortify the freeway frontage with an FM-1960-worthy strip of more than the usual number of pad sites, and build the whole thing next to a mall! Next problem?

Introducing the new Katy Main Street, a just-announced 86-acre shopping center named for the short strip of 4 retail buildings meant to line its gullet.

The mixed-use development is designed to include 485,000 square feet of retail space, 500,000 square feet of office space and a full-service hotel and convention center at the southwest corner of Interstate 10 and Pin Oak Road in Katy.

All this . . . just across the street from the Katy Mills Mall!

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The New River Oaks Shopping Center: Did Weingarten Step Over the Line?

Weingarten had no problem tearing down the first part of the River Oaks Shopping Center last year. But when it decided to replace the historic curved building at the northeast corner of West Gray and Shepherd with the semi-curved, semi-modern confection shown here, did the company go too far?

According to the GHPA, Weingarten is now seeking a variance to allow it to keep changes it made to the approved plans for the building — which have already been built. From a website referred to in a GHPA email:

The restaurant’s balcony facing Shepherd encroaches into the mandatory setback, violating Houston City Setback Requirements. Once the City was notified of the encroachment, construction of the encroaching porch was stopped—temporarily. . . . Weingarten Realty has requested that the Planning Commission grant a variance to permit this encroaching porch. Without objections from concerned citizens like you, the City will likely grant the variance request.

That restaurant is Jeff and Tony Vallone’s planned new Il Tavolo. After the jump, a portion of the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance’s message:

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Monday, November 24, 2008

Houston’s Lonely Strip Centers

   

Has the nail-salon bubble finally burst? Retail space in so many area strip centers lies vacant: “In the Houston area, much of the problem lies in strip centers built during the recent commercial real estate boom when inexperienced developers were throwing up small centers in areas close to new residential growth. In the third quarter, Houston-area strip centers recorded the lowest occupancy of all retail property types at 80.4 percent, according to the Colliers report. Some of these buildings went up away from highly coveted traffic corners, and before any tenants were signed — a risky proposition should something go wrong.” [Houston Chronicle]

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Friday, November 14, 2008

Costco Sidewalk Maze: Better for the Trees

   

Lee McGuire gets to the bottom of the wacky sidewalk screwup at Trammell Crow’s Greenway Commons, on the corner of Weslayan and Richmond: “It turns out the city actually required the new sidewalk to run right through the utility poles to save a row of trees. The developer said the project meets federal guidelines — except perhaps the blocked handicap ramp. The final inspection won’t take place until the shopping center is finished. If it’s in violation, the developer promises to fix it.” [11 News, via BlogHouston; previously]

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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Hunan River, Back Door Sushi: A Little Behind on the Rent

Sign for Hunan River Restaurant and Back Door Sushi, River Oaks Shopping Center, 2015 W. Gray St. No. J, Houston

The back door of the Hunan River restaurant — which also serves as the front door of Back Door Sushi — now features a stern letter from landlord Weingarten Realty, reports a reader who sent Swamplot a photo. The two restaurants share the kitchen of a small building in the back of the River Oaks Shopping Center, facing Peden.

“Your rentals are in fact delinquent and we have therefore changed the lock to your door pursuant to the provisions of Section 93.002 of the Texas Property Code,” reads the letter. It’s dated November 3rd, which means whatever’s locked inside has had plenty of time to marinate.

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Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Buffalo Pharmacy Is Toast

Buffalo Pharmacy at Bissonnet and Buffalo Speedway, West University, Texas

Earlier this year, Buffalo Pharmacy announced it would leave its soon-to-be-demolished digs at Bissonnet and Buffalo Speedway and move inside the new H-E-B under construction just behind the store. In the interim, Buffalo Pharmacy was set to operate out of a trailer on the site.

But those plans have changed: Buffalo Pharmacy will close for good this Saturday, November 8. The pharmacy opening in the trailer 2 days later will be called H-E-B Pharmacy.

The new supermarket, meant to be a cross between a Central Market and a typical H-E-B, is scheduled to open next year. And it’ll have an H-E-B Pharmacy inside.

Photo of Buffalo Pharmacy: Flickr user Kevin Trotman [license]

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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

More Shopping Centers Lie in Wait for the Grand Parkway

   

Under previous owners it was going to go residential, but now all the site at the southeast corner of Kuykendahl and Spring Stuebner in Spring needs is an offramp:Steve Gregory, president of Hopkins Commercial, said the site is a long-term investment for a retail center that will be built, possibly in one to three years. The site is attractive to the company because a leg of the Grand Parkway that will start construction in late 2010 will go by the 56 acres. The site is just north of a big collection of retailers at FM 2920 and Kuykendahl, including Wal-Mart SuperCenter, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Kroger, Palais Royal and 24 Hour Fitness.” [Houston Business Journal]

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Monday, October 27, 2008

Costco Greenway Commons Sidewalk Obstacle Course: Fun!

Sidewalk Along Weslayan St., Greenway Commons, Houston

The wise folks behind Greenway Commons — the new shopping center replacing the old HISD headquarters building at the corner of Richmond and Weslayan — have apparently taken some extra-special steps to make sure the new development (which includes a brand-new Costco) is super-friendly to pedestrian visitors!

Making everything welcoming to people arriving on foot makes sense — the project had been criticized for exhibiting suburban-style development patterns in a location that some dreamers had imagined would be a street-fronting mixed-use center. It’s already a busy corner, and Metro’s new University Line will have a stop only a short walk away.

But “easy to access” can also mean “boring.” So it’s comforting to see these pictures of the project’s street edge sent in by a reader, which show a gentle, fun infrastructure-themed obstacle course taking shape along the new Weslayan and Richmond sidewalks in front of Trammell Crow’s grand development:

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Friday, October 17, 2008

A Soft Opening for Houston Pavilions

House of Blues at Houston Pavilions, Downtown Houston

Walkways at Houston Pavilions, Downtown Houston

At the new House of Blues last night: Jay-Z. And three blocks away, Books-A-Million and a roman-numeral flagship version of Forever 21 are now open! But between them in Downtown’s brand-new mixed-use street-hovering mall? Not much going on . . . yet:

The developers of the three block long Houston Pavilions said the pavilions will be the place to go, but for now it’s mainly a lot of space.

“It’s different because you don’t have a lot of nightlife down here. But with the restaurant, the Foundations Room, and the music hall at the House of Blues, we are going to bring people to the Pavilions,” [said] Deb Eybers, President of the House of Blues.

They won’t just bring people. Tenants will also be coming to the area. But for now there are just a handful of businesses.

More are slated to come on line in December and even more in the spring. Then the complex will be at 60 percent capacity.

The complex extends from Main St. to Caroline between Dallas and Polk — only a few surface-parking-lot blocks from the Toyota Center and Discovery Green.

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Monday, October 13, 2008

River Oaks Shopping Center Replacement: Vallone at the Top

Rendering of Shepherd Dr. Just North of West Gray, River Oaks Shopping Center, Houston

In the rendering above, it’s labeled Adagio Vino. In the marketing package for the River Oaks Shopping Center’s barely curving northwest replacement building, it’s called Il Tavolo. But the Houston Business Journal says that Tony and Jeff Vallone’s new Italian restaurant and wine bar going into that space in fall 2009 is not yet named.

The new restaurant, which will seat up to 150 people, will feature a first-floor dining room and outdoor dining area and a second-level wine bar with its own patio extending onto a balcony overlooking Shepherd Drive.

Rendering of River Oaks Shopping Center on Shepherd Dr. at W. Gray: Weingarten Realty

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Friday, September 19, 2008

Highland Village Won’t Let a Hurricane Get in the Way of Destruction

Demolition at Highland Village Shopping Center, Houston

With the City of Houston code enforcement and permit offices out of commission until Monday that’s the reason there haven’t been any Daily Demolition Reports here lately — it’s heartening to see that Hurricane Ike hasn’t shut down demolition activity citywide. A camera-phone-wielding bicyclist sends us these photos of continuing non-hurricane destruction from earlier this week at the Highland Village Shopping Center — catty-corner to Cole-Haan, across the street from Crate & Barrel:

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