01/09/15 10:45am

Fly High Little Bunny, 3120 S. Shepherd Dr., Upper Kirby, Houston

From the Swamplot reader known as Googlemaster comes this parting photo of jewelry store Fly High Little Bunny at 3120 S. Shepherd Dr., featuring — in the view from Sul Ross St. — a new mural. The building stands in the way of a new drive-thru building meant to add heft and balance to a new CVS Pharmacy going in at the corner of Shepherd and West Alabama St. Sunday was the last day of business at the shop.

Photo: Googlemaster

Resistance Is Futile
01/08/15 11:30am

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Another section of the former Shell Tech Center on Bellaire Blvd. in Southside Place is hitting the dirt this week, this time for a townhome community proposed by builders Rohe & Wright, whose previous developments include 30 Sunset, Winfield Gate, and Cáceres. The company is planning to build a townhome development on the site at 3747 Bellaire Blvd. called Crain Square — for which, the company’s website declares (without much more detail), “the classic American townhouse featuring southern traditional architecture is the muse.” (E.L. Crain was the founder of Southside Place.) The Village News provides more info, reporting that the company plans to fit 62 townhomes on the 5.5-acre center section of the former research complex — which occupied 3 properties totaling 9.7 acres.

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Actual Zoning
01/05/15 1:30pm

Former Las Alamedas Restaurant, 8615 Katy Fwy., Hedwig Village, Houston

We’re still awaiting photos of the scene — both to confirm and to allow everyone to revel in the destruction — but a regular tipster informs Swamplot that the building backing up to Buffalo Bayou on the south side of I-10 near Voss Rd. that until mid-2009 housed the Las Alamedas Restaurant is being demolished. The back side of the building has been ripped open, the reader reports;, but as of a visit yesterday the front of the building remained intact.

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Now It’s Never Coming Back
12/31/14 10:00am

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Reader Sean McManus was on the spot for yesterday’s demolition proceedings at the southwest corner of W. Alabama St. and S. Shepherd Dr., where Roeder’s Pub, Ruchi’s taqueria, Fly High Little Bunny jewelry store and the River Oaks Dry Cleaners are being swept away in favor of a CVS pharmacy.

“As I was taking [the pictures], one of the deconstruction workers asked if he could help me,” McManus writes. “I told him that I was just taking a couple of quick photos. His response:Pfft… Memories.’”

More hot demo porn after the jump:

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Fly High, Little Ruchi and Roeder
12/30/14 3:00pm

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Chomp goes the excavator on a portion of the 3 adjacent 1950s and ’60s-era complexes at 1920 W. Alabama St., 1924 Marshall St. (pictured at left), and 2810 McDuffie St., right across the street from the Alabama Icehouse and just south of Admiral Linens.

In late July residents of the 3 complexes were told to move out by September 1, so that new owners City Centre at Midtown, an affiliate of developers Dolce Living, could be begin tearing down the 2-story buildings to clear the 1.58 acre parcel for one 6-story, 258-unit luxury apartment building.

Though it will be situated in the western edge of Montrose’s Winlow Place area, the building will be named City Centre at Midtown.

Here is a rendering released to the media in the days after the 35-day eviction notices went out:

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Making Way For Montrose’s CityCentre At Midtown