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
12/04/14 4:30pm

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Construction commenced earlier this week on Tema Development’s Hermann Park Residences you see rendered above. The 7-story building is going up at 1699 Hermann Dr. overlooking the park and a heartbeat or two east of the Health Museum, a little to the west of Tema’s 35-story Parklane tower, and possibly within earshot of the lions roaring at the zoo.

The Residences are intended to be the first of Tema’s three-phase plan for their 6.8 acre plot. That twisty 42-story tower Tema has proposed is still 4-6 years away, according to a company spokesperson.

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Parklife
02/12/13 4:15pm

Renderings aren’t ready to be released, says Assistant Manager Lindsay Fouchee, but under-construction Phase II of the Fairmont Museum District at Richmond and Dunlavy will have more units and more amenities. (The photo directly above shows the excavation of what will be the parking garage.) The 4-story, 210,933-sq.-ft. apartments back up to the dog run and baseball diamond at Ervan Chew Park and U.S. 59. Phase I was completed in 2007; Fouchee expects Phase II to be done within 14 months.

Photos: Allyn West

01/04/13 10:28am

Last month, Cite magazine editor Raj Mankad hiked 8 miles through the Katy Prairie to see the prehistoric human remains found during the construction of Grand Parkway’s Segment E for himself. He brought back a few photos and an essayist’s-eye-view of the archaeological saga:

It appeared as if TxDOT had aimed the 15-mile-long highway segment directly at the burial ground. The highway was suspended, figuratively and physically, like an unintentional monument honoring the burial grounds, like Texas was trying to tell anyone in an airplane or spaceship to LOOK HERE. . . . What I saw were several pieces of plywood, propped up on five-gallon paint buckets, covering what I presume to be the human remains and the tools, buffalo teeth, and other objects found with them. The plywood was weighted down with rocks. . . . To my amateur eyes, the excavation looked makeshift and tenuous, not systematic or professional.

Photos: Brett Sillers

01/06/11 11:09pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: MORE THAN YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW MONTROSE WHOLE FOODS “The following was from the North Montrose civic association meeting November: 1) The reason the back-end of the store is facing Dallas and the side is facing Waugh is because of the AIG building. They (AIG building owner) required that the store be placed as far away from the building as possible. This meant that the parking lot had to sit between the AIG building and the store pushing the back to Dallas (unfortunately). 2) The loading entrance will be on Dallas and will exit onto Waugh. This means the trucks will not have to cross any traffic to get to the loading docks. 3) The trucks will be loading sometime in the early morning and should be finished by 8:00 AM. There will be nice large wooden doors to conceal the entrance and exit to the loading dock during the day when there is no loading. 4) The corner of the store on Waugh closest to D’amico will contain an outdoor/indoor style cafe with garage-type doors that open in good weather. The renderings of the store show a patio with umbrellas. They expect to have bands, etc playing there. 5) The store will be very pedestrian friendly with all traffic entering from the BACK of the parking lot (close to D’amico). They say they learned from the Kirby store that allowing cars to enter by the store entrance is a nightmare for traffic. 6) There will be bike racks with some 50 or available slots. There will be a free tire filling station. The focus here is to really drive bike traffic (and pedestrians as noted in #5). 7) There will be many skylights on the roof allowing a bunch of natural lighting. 8) There will be many large trees that should grow to provide good shade in time (not just those short trees). 9) No comment on an apartment building going up next to it BUT.. look at the roundabout driveway. Obviously not built just for a grocery store. 10) They will recycle their own rainwater and use it in sprinkler system. 11) I think 250 parking spots. Kirby store has 150. Kirby store is 35,000 sq ft and this one slightly larger at 40,000. 12) No real details on the inside of the store. They expect it to fit in very well with the diversity of Montrose. They are reaching out to local artists to put local art in the store (and around it). I can’t remember exactly the email to submit. Maybe montrose.artist@wholefoods.com?? If you are and artist and want to submit your stuff give it a whirl. 13) They expect to open in the spring. Shooting for March if no big weather delays. 14) Store hours aren’t set. Expected to be 7:00AM to 10? (if i remember correctly). 15) They are very excited as were the people in the meeting. They say Houston is the #2 market for them (they have 300 stores i think). Every store is built for the specific location (sugarland way different of course than Montrose). 16) They think there will be a bank at the corner of D’amico and Waugh in that section of the parking lot (which is what we really need right????) 17) They are hoping to relieve some of the high traffic they get at kirby store as it is a nightmare.” [shannosa, commenting on Austin Powers the New North Montrose Whole Foods] Rendering: Stone Soup 6 Architecture

01/06/11 4:21pm

That’s a mighty oh . . . Austinish-looking shell of a Whole Foods Market sprouting at the northeast corner of Waugh and West Dallas. The building — last pegged at 48,000 40,450 sq. ft. — faces north, to a big parking lot and AIG’s American General Center on Allen Parkway beyond. The design comes from the same architecture firm responsible for the flagship Whole Foods in downtown Austin, now named Stone Soup 6 Architecture. They’re from Austin too! The corners of the building are already stoned. And it looks like even more rocks from the Hill Country are headed for that little Hoo-Ray Tower entrance at the center:

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12/15/10 5:25pm

Checking in from a window seat at the Luby’s on South Post Oak, Swamplot correspondent Aaron Carpenter keeps close to the slasher action now playing on all 16 demolished screens of the AMC Meyer Park Theater. As Swamplot noted last week, a new Kohl’s will be built at the shopping center after the theater drops its final curtain. Also coming to the Meyer Park center, according to reports from the scene: a brand new standalone Luby’s. The one that’s there now will be torn down.

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11/05/08 12:14pm

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]