Openings and Closings

Montrose
11/19/10 3:14pm

“Thanks for the Mammaries”: Chances Bar Closing, Restaurant Moving In

by
Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Restaurants
15 Comments

A “high-end” restaurant, led by a yet-to-be-identified “superstar chef,” will be taking over the space known for the last 16 years as Chances Bar, an owner of the property tells Houston Press reporter Craig Hlavaty. “It’s going to blow Montrose out,” Nick Vastakis tells him. “It’s going to be great.” Chances will shut down for good after a goodbye party on Saturday. Vastakis says his family, which has owned the property since the 1970s, will be getting out of the lesbian-bar management business and into property development.

What prompted the change? One of those spear-more-times-with-my-family moments, he tells Hlavaty:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , ,
Development Regulations
11/17/10 1:04pm

Was It All Just a Dream? Montrose’s MuffinMan Packs It In

by
East Montrose, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Parking, Restaurants
16 Comments

“Sometimes I look back and wonder WHAT WAS I THINKING,” writes Jason Perry in a press release he sent to local media outlets announcing the closure of his late-night and after-hours establishment near Montrose and Fairview — and its coming reincarnation as a perhaps quainter little bistro. “Did I really open a penis shaped muffin restaurant, did I really spend more than half of a million dollars on a restaurant that promised to toss peoples salad[?]”

Housed in a 1940 foursquare at 2310 Converse St., the MuffinMan, which opened only a few months ago, actually promised customers a bit more than that. Perry’s possibly NSFW farewell-to-muffins press release explains it best:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , ,
Montrose
11/15/10 6:28pm

Lard Almighty: Tower Theatre’s Coming Attraction Is Grease II

by
Openings and Closings, Renovations, Restaurants
13 Comments

A reader sends word that a TABC alcohol-license notice posted on the side of the former Tower Theatre at 1201 Westheimer — where Hollywood Video was sent packing late last year — reveals the name of the old-style Tex-Mex restaurant former Houston Press food critic Robb Walsh and Iron Chef contestant Bryan Caswell will be inserting into the long-gutted moviehouse. As announced in the Press‘s food blog earlier this month, it’ll be El Real Tex Mex Cafe. Alas, no notice has yet been posted warning customers of the restaurant’s special featured ingredient:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , ,
Houston Heights
11/09/10 7:02pm

Becks Primed for 19th St.

by
Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail
12 Comments

How they gonna fit the burgers into those little canisters for the drive-thru? Beck’s Prime has bought the little 4,000-sq.-ft. standalone retail building at 115 W. 19th St. between Heights and Yale, Nancy Sarnoff reports. The 2-story building with the 4-lane detached drive-thru was last used as a Washington Mutual Bank.

, , , , , ,
Condos
11/04/10 3:59pm

Now Open: The Bar on the Other Side of the 2520 Robinhood Condos

by
Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Rice Village
24 Comments

Residents of the east-facing condos in the 2520 Robinhood at Kirby tower jealous of all the fun their neighbors in the west-facing units have been having with late night partiers at Hans’ Bier Haus next door now have their very own partly open-air next-door bar to mess with: Hudson Lounge opened earlier this week, at 2506 Robinhood. And hey: on this side of the tower, there’s no pesky parking garage to get in the way of any nightclub-condo interaction.

Brothers Adam, Alexander, and Andre Klieber carved the new straight-Mod space out of the former office HQ of Adam and Alexander’s other business, Southampton Homes — after business there slowed down. New swiveling steel doors on the front and back of the 1950 building open to a patio and separate bar pavilion in back.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , ,
Nightlife
11/04/10 12:36pm

“We Got Hosed”: Gallant Knight Closing Again, at the End of the Year

by
Openings and Closings, University Place
3 Comments

“It was an unfortunate leasing issue and nothing else,” say the owners of the Gallant Knight. And so the bar will be closing December 31st “at least for now.” Will there be an everyone-out-before-midnight New Year’s Eve party? The landlord of the bar’s new location at 2511 Bissonnet just east of Kirby didn’t renew the lease, an email from the bar explains: “We have just 60 days to empty our liquor cabinet.” An investor group led by Cushman & Wakefield director Stephen Schneidau bought the name and contents of the 34-year-old neighborhood bar at the corner of Holcombe and Morningside shortly after it closed in 2006, then reopened on Bissonnet almost a year and a half ago. Now sitting on the site of the bar’s original location at 2337 W. Holcombe: a branch of Comerica Bank.

Photo: Eating Our Words

, , , ,
Houston Heights
11/01/10 2:13pm

Tacos a-Go-Going to the Heights; Hubcap Grill Expanding to Shady Acres

by
Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Shady Acres
19 Comments

Is there an Onion Creek magnet effect? Reader Mary Ellen Arbuckle notes a second location of stylized Midtown Mexican-food joint Tacos A Go-Go will be shimmying into this strip-center spot at 2912 White Oak, just a few doors down from the Onion Creek Coffee House. The location is the former home of the International Ballet of Houston; there’s a TABC application notice up in one of the windows. Also scheduled to move in nearby, closer to the Onion Creek vortex: Christian’s Tailgate.

Meanwhile, half a mile west of the Heights’ western border, owner Ricky Craig has leased the former home of Mi Cocina Victor’s Cafe at 1133 W. 19th St., where he plans to open a second non-mobile location of tiny Downtown burger joint Hubcap Grill:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , ,
Northline
10/28/10 5:20pm

New Walmart Opens Near the Heights

by
Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Retail
8 Comments

NEW WALMART OPENS NEAR THE HEIGHTS This one’s to the north: The brand-new Walmart next to Northline Commons — the new, more parking-lot-friendly version of Northline Mall at I-45 and Crosstimbers — opened yesterday. The biggest-box store joins recent Northline newcomers Marshall’s, Ross Dress For Less, Office Depot, Conn’s, The Children’s Place, Verizon, Foot Locker, Shoe Carnival, Al’s Formal Wear, Urban Zone, Rainbow Fashions, Foot Action, Dollar Tree, and a relocated Palais Royal. [PR Newswire] Fake-looking photo: Berenson Associates

, , , ,
Midtown
10/15/10 11:51pm

Midtown Retail Ensemble: The Continental Club Crew Expands North

by
Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail
13 Comments

The tiny urban island clustered around Midtown’s Ensemble/HCC Metro station has grown. Three new businesses on Main St. just north of Winbern will celebrate official grand openings this weekend, expanding the little block of happenin’ north of the Continental Club. Carved out of the rehabbed single-story building at 3622 Main St.: New retail outlets My Flaming Heart and Shop-o-Rama, plus Natachee’s Supper ’n Punch, a food, bar, and concert venue that features a large vacant side yard currently occupied by the owner’s horse, Lacy, and a kiddie sandbox. (Eventual plans for the yard call for a patio and awning, picnic tables, an outdoor bar, and a small stage for live music.) Also moving into the Winbern side of the building, from the block to the south: music and tiki exotica outlet Sig’s Lagoon. (The old Sig’s Lagoon location is being converted to a “Mexican wares” store.) A coffee shop and a rockabilly-themed combo barber shop, beauty and tattoo parlor are planned for the 2 remaining spaces in the 100-ft.-by-100-ft. building, though currently they’re being used for construction storage. The mix is modeled after stores on South Congress around property owner Bob Schultz’s original Continental Club in Austin.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , ,
Houston Heights
10/13/10 3:59pm

Christian’s Tailgate Opening on White Oak

by
Openings and Closings, Restaurants
12 Comments

Here’s a tailgater’s-eye-view of the former Heights Camphouse BBQ at 2820 White Oak, about to be reborn as the third location of Christian’s Tailgate Bar and Grill. The Heights Life blog posted a closeup view of the TABC notice posted on the front door earlier this week. Onion Creek Coffee House is less than 100 yards to the west.

Photo: Aaron Carpenter

, , ,
Cottage Grove
10/13/10 2:28pm

Dick Head’s, Mak Chin’s, Shuck Daddy’s, and Now Lupe Tortilla’s To Try

by
Openings and Closings, Restaurants
26 Comments



Next establishment moving into the restaurant testing ground known as 1511 Shepherd, according to a tipster: pidgin-Spanish promoters Lupe Tortilla. Shuck Daddy’s, which replaced Mak Chin’s just last year in the Cottage Grove location between Maxie and Eigel, closed up its oysters last month. Before that, yes, the building was home to fine-dining-establishment Richard Head’s.

Photo: Fred Eats Houston

, , ,
Montrose
10/12/10 11:06pm

Movies! The Store Readies for Movies! The Liquidation

by
Openings and Closings, Retail
1 Comment

“The store is still struggling, but it’s a lot better than it was a year ago,” Rob Arcos told a Chronicle reporter late last month. But a year ago must have been pretty bad, because earlier today Arcos sent out an email announcing he’s decided to shut his Montrose indie video store for good next month. “Even if the store were to attract a new investor,” Arcos wrote, “our debt is already too high.” The River Oaks Theatre and Hollywood Video refugee opened for business across Richmond Ave. from the Richmont Square apartments in 2006.

Photo: Aaron Carpenter

, , ,
Openings and Closings
10/12/10 1:32pm

Rising from the Ruins of Bally’s: A 24 Hour Fitness in Rice Village?

by
Retail, Rice Village
12 Comments

Will a new, third Inner Loop location for health-club chain 24 Hour Fitness take over where the Rice Village Bally’s left off? That’s what some not-so-subtle banners hung on the Dunstan St. building have been claiming for more than a month now. Plus: a bid package for the buildout was sent out to subcontractors over the summer. Other than that, we haven’t heard a thing: The new location isn’t even listed in the “coming soon” section of the fitness chain’s website. The Bally’s Total Fitness in the same building, at the corner of Dunstan and Kelvin, shut down last June.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

, , , ,
Openings and Closings
09/28/10 1:16pm

Fitness-Club Scavengers at the Washington Ave Crew

by
Retail, Washington Corridor
21 Comments

A photo snapped at the storefront of Crew Health and Fitness at 4826 Washington Ave., in the restored shopping center between Shepherd and Durham, taken around 2:30 Sunday afternoon. Yes, the workout shop is now officially out of business. But what are all those yellow tags attached to the window? Free passes — to LA Fitness on Richmond! A tipster tells Swamplot the LA Fitness sales team heard news of Crew’s demise around 10 a.m. on Sunday: “They had representatives at the doors trying to sign people up when we went by.”

Photos: Swamplot inbox (Crew Fitness storefront) and Aaron Carpenter (West End Shopping Center)

, , , , , ,
Adaptive Reuse
09/21/10 2:11pm

Opening Fire in the League City Circuit City: The Arms Room Gun Store Stretches Out

by
League City, Openings and Closings, Renovations, Retail
16 Comments

On hand for the weekend’s grand opening celebration of the Arms Room firearms store’s move into the former Circuit City off the northbound I-45 feeder south of FM 646 in League City: a fire spinner and juggler, a clown handing out balloon animals, a booth from ESPN 97.5 FM, a barbecue stand, a cake decorated with toy pistols, “a few blonde, tattooed girls handing out free Arms Room merchandise,” . . . and Houston Press reporter Craig Hlavaty. He notes the store’s owners originally had wanted to move into a former Academy sporting goods store down I-45, but didn’t get a great welcome there:

“The lease holders didn’t want any guns being shot in their strip center, so we walked away from them,” says [Kathleen] James. The only thing holding that line of stores intact now is a Chinese buffet and a Subway sandwich shop.

Sucks for them. The 20,000-sq.-ft. former big-box electronics store at the Jameses ended up buying at 3270 Gulf Fwy. South allowed them to include a 15-lane indoor gun range (kinda like a bowling alley, “but you don’t have to change your shoes,” quips general manager Travis James), along with a gun shop, a section devoted to antique firearms, and room for an on-site gunsmith.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , , , ,
« Previous Page Next Page »