Openings and Closings

Leasing
01/30/09 1:01pm

Las Alamedas Lease Lapsed?

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Memorial, Openings and Closings, Restaurants
18 Comments

Note: Updated below.

Las Alamedas Restaurant — the hacienda on the Katy Freeway — is on hiatus pending renegotiation of its 28-year-old lease.

According to a message on the restaurant’s voice mail, the storied location of countless wedding, birthday and anniversary fiestas is “temporarily closed” while negotiations continue.

When Las Alamedas opened in 1980 it was the first grand, high-end Mexican restaurant in town. The Memorial location — 8615 Katy Freeway at Voss — attracted diners who sought genuine Mexican cuisine in a large elegant setting. Colonial-style architecture, bayou views, banquet facilities and highly professional service pleased customers for whom Ninfa’s on Navigation was terra incognita.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Openings and Closings
01/29/09 1:54pm

Village Burrito Mission Accomplished

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Restaurants, Rice Village
7 Comments

Major wrapping operations ended last Saturday at the Mission Burrito on Morningside Dr. in the Rice Village, a Swamplot reader reports:

We went to the W. Alabama location and had our tortilla soup, but I was just really surprised that the Village location tanked so soon.

The Village Arcade location opened last May. A new Mission Burrito opened on FM 1960 in Atascocita just last month.

Photo of Mission Burrito, 5510 Morningside Dr.: Mission Burritos

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Cancellations and Delays
01/29/09 10:59am

What’s Next for That Parked Bolsover Sonoma Block

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Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Retail, Rice Village, Streets
10 Comments

A tidbit from Lamesa Properties, proud owner of that block of Bolsover St. in the Rice Village that was supposed to turn into a grand plaza for Randall Davis’s Sonoma development, but for now is just a fenced-off lot:

Company representative Julie Tysor said that while construction is on hold, the firm is open to ideas for the site to have some “long-term benefit to the community.” For now, plans are under way to make the unpaved area a green space, and the paved area may be used for much-needed Village parking.

Photo of Sonoma Site on Bolsover St.: Miya Shay

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Openings and Closings
01/29/09 9:14am

Wednesday Afternoon Pad Site Massacre

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Quicklink, Restaurants, Retail
4 Comments

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON PAD SITE MASSACRE Yesterday featured separate announcements of retail closings from Starbucks and JPMorgan Chase: First, 36 out of 111 Houston-area Washington Mutual branches will be shut down by March; the remainder will be converted to Chase Bank locations. That’ll leave only 220 Chase Bank locations around town. Next, Starbucks says the company will close 300 coffee shops worldwide, including 200 in the U.S. No word on how many will be leaving the Houston area, but last year 11 stores in this region closed after a 600-store cut. For the surviving locations, there may be a longer wait for decaf after lunch: “Company officials say demand for decaf falls off significantly in the afternoon, and Starbucks will brew decaf in the afternoon only at a customer’s request. It takes about four minutes to make a fresh pot. Last year, Starbucks started brewing fresh pots of coffee every 30 minutes.” [Houston Business Journal; previously]

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Homebuilders
01/22/09 9:25am

No More Jim Walter Homes

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Openings and Closings, Quicklink
2 Comments

NO MORE JIM WALTER HOMES It’s too late to buy a home in Houston from Jim Walter Homes — though the company website reports orders are still being taken for new homes in Houma, Louisiana. Parent company Walter Industries, based in Florida, is getting out of the homebuilding business. Jim Walter Homes had not been profitable “for several years”: “. . . the business, once known for its flash construction, caught a reputation for moving at a snail’s pace. Walter Industries decided to close the dwindling homes leg and work toward becoming a focused natural resources and energy business — a greater value to shareholders, [communications director Michael] Monahan said.” [St. Petersburg Times; website]

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Commercial Real Estate
01/21/09 10:42am

The Sad Consequences of Skipping Dessert

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Industrial Properties, Northwest Houston, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Warehouse Space
2 Comments

THE SAD CONSEQUENCES OF SKIPPING DESSERT Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream will be shutting down its plant at 4494 Campbell Rd., off Clay Rd. in Northwest Houston, by early April: “Dori Bailey, director of consumer communications for Dreyer’s, says the company chose to close the Houston facility, which produces 20 million gallons of ice cream a year, because production demand from the Houston area has been declining over the past several years. ‘Houston was also one of our smallest plants and it only had the capability to make packaged ice cream, while our other plants are able to make other brands of ice cream snacks as well,’ Bailey says. Bailey says the company hasn’t decided whether to sell or lease the 130,000-square-foot facility. About 50,000 square feet of the plant is factory space, while 80,000 square feet is warehouse space.” [Houston Business Journal]

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Cypress
01/19/09 11:01am

Openings and Closings: Daily Grind, On the Border, Frock

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Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Washington Corridor
7 Comments

Nothing new this time; Swamplot’s latest Openings and Closings report is just a list of old places going away:

  • Going: There’s nobody home at Washington Ave. coffeehouse The Daily Grind, reports Jason Bargas at Houstonist:

    A peek through a window facing the parking lot yielded a dining area devoid of tables. The cash register was no longer on the corner of the bar yet a ceiling fan twirled overhead. An industrial looking extension cord hung from the rafters perhaps indicating an intention to use power tools. But, no signs or bulletins indicated a remodel in progress nor a closing of the business.

    Signs or no, the restaurant’s most recent spate of online publicity renders a closing less than surprising. One comment on the Houstonist post notes a rumor that the coffeehouse will be reopening “next to Rudyard’s.”

  • Going: A poster on HAIF notes that the On the Border restaurant on the feeder road of the Northwest Freeway in Cypress appears to be toast: “Lights out, nobody home.”
  • Gone: And there will be no more Frock shopping: The Frock Boutique on Greenbriar near Westheimer closed late last year, but owner Marianne Mayeux says she will come to you.

Got the scoop on other retail openings or closings in your area? Send your tips to Swamplot!

Photo of The Daily Grind: Katharine Shilcutt Gleave

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Openings and Closings
01/16/09 5:25pm

Circuit City Closes, Out of Juice

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Retail
5 Comments

At last, that going-out-of-business sale you’ve been waiting for! Circuit City, which announced 2 Houston-area store closings in October and declared bankruptcy in November, today declared it will shut down all its stores — including the 13 left in Houston — and liquidate all remaining assets.

Photo: Annie Sitton

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Attractions
01/07/09 4:52pm

The Super Happy Fun Land Sock Monkey Rescue Plan

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Development Strategy, East Downtown, Nightlife, Openings and Closings
1 Comment

Former Heights landmark Super Happy Fun Land may reopen in its new East Downtown EaDo location soon, writes Omar Afra in the Free Press. What’s happened since we last checked in?

To give you a brief synopsis, Houston’s favorite uber-eclectic outsider arthouse and music venue SHFL operated out of a house in the Heights for 5 years until the property owners squeezed them out. Well, the silver lining was that they found a new home in a gigantic warehouse just east of downtown that could facilitate larger shows, more art, and crazier antics. So we at Free Press Houston decided to have a giant shindig at the new venue to celebrate our 5th anniversary and the opening of the great new spot. The place was packed. Err, too packed. The fire marshals came and, lo and behold, SHFL did not have adequate occupancy permitting to permit such an event. They of course got ticketed out the watoozy and have since been jumping through all the municipal hurdles required to submit building plans, acquire permits, and such to open their doors legit. It looked rather bleak for a while as the city does not exactly get excited about doing what it takes to get outsider-art venues open. After having their plans denied several times and given the run around for nearly a year, the good folks at SHFL have got their chance. Their plans were recently approved and they are set for a final inspection in early January to get their occupancy permit. Problem is, they need help.

How can you help Super Happy Fun Land open again?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Cinco Ranch
01/06/09 11:51am

Azzarelli’s Hits the Highway

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Katy, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers
12 Comments

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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Openings and Closings
12/05/08 12:36pm

The Corner of Kirby and Enchilada

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Restaurants, Upper Kirby
1 Comment

Westheimer near Montrose is becoming late-night central. What about Westheimer near Kirby?

Allison Wollam reports in the Houston Business Journal that Cantina San Miguel will be the latest in the growing list of Mexican or Mexican-ish restaurants near that intersection, joining Chuy’s, Taco Milagro, Armandos, and Pan y Agua just down the street. The restaurant, which until last week owner Beau Theriot apparently planned to call Beau’s Hideaway, is a remake of the Theriot’s Brownstone Restaurant at 2736 Virginia, which closed in July.

. . . Cantina San Miguel will feature a large outdoor patio, a margarita bar, flat-screen televisions, a wine room and a station that churns out fresh flour tortillas.

The restaurant will also feature The Red Room Lounge, which will have its own separate entrance.

Any lineup changes coming for West Ave?

Photo of Chuy’s, 2706 Westheimer: Flickr user transposition [license]

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Homebuilders
12/04/08 10:25am

Another Homebuilder Calling It Quits

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Openings and Closings, Quicklink
1 Comment

ANOTHER HOMEBUILDER CALLING IT QUITS Kimball Homes, based in suburban Chicago, is shutting down. The company has built homes in markets all over the country, including in 4 Texas cities: “A spokeswoman said more than half of the company’s workers were laid off Tuesday, including an undisclosed number in the Houston area, where the company was active in 11 communities in the western and northwestern suburbs, Spring, the Humble area and Friendswood. Kimball Hill had 704 closings in the Houston area in 2007, down from 903 closings in 2006, according to Metrostudy.” The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April. (The Chicago Tribune reports Kimball Hill had 1,100 employees as recently as last year.) [Houston Chronicle, via Swamplot inbox]

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Art
12/03/08 4:11pm

Museum of the Weird Update: Going Out of Business Sale, Name Change

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Attractions, Home Decor, Homebuying, Houston Heights, Interiors, Openings and Closings, Real Estate Marketing
No Comments

Note: Story updated below.

The mystery buyer of the house at 834 W. 24th St. has revealed herself! Quilter, artist, and Art Car builder Kim Ritter, who says she was “raised mid-century modern,” expects to close on the Museum of the Weird on December 15th. Museum curator Dolan Smith is planning his own art sale on the property two days earlier; Ritter says that the sale will run from 2 to 8 pm, and that the prices will be far less than what you’d expect to pay for, say, a sculpture made of hair:

Come by and get a bargain, stuff starting at 5 and 10 dollars!

Ritter tells Swamplot she’s purchased some of Smith’s work herself, including a piece entitled “Man of Ten Thousand Nails,” which she intends to keep on the property.

Does this mean the museum will be preserved?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Nightlife
11/26/08 12:44pm

Coming Soon: Late Night Rice Military Action

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Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Rice Military, Washington Corridor
53 Comments

COMING SOON: LATE NIGHT RICE MILITARY ACTION Some Rice Military residents are feeling a little antsy about the “4 to 5” new bars scheduled to open on the 4 blocks of Washington Ave. between Roy and Detering. The list includes The Pub on Washington coming to 5102 Washington and Tap’s House of Beers coming to 5120 — plus 3 more rumored newcomers at 5110, 5129, and 5317 Washington. A message making the rounds in the neighborhood reports that each has applied for late-hour permits, which would allow alcohol to be served until 2 a.m. [Swamplot inbox]

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Apartments
11/26/08 10:15am

Vista Bonita Apartments: Still Open for the Holidays!

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Hazards, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, South Houston Gardens
No Comments

VISTA BONITA APARTMENTS: STILL OPEN FOR THE HOLIDAYS! Where’s everybody going? Sure, the gas is turned off, but really, what’s the rush? “Most residents have moved, but those from about 20 apartments remain in the 144-unit complex near the Gulf Freeway and Airport Boulevard, [Vista Bonita Apartments owner Nanik] Bhagia said. Many of those who remain are close to finding apartments, but are embittered that Bhagia has given them such short notice. . . . Bhagia on Tuesday said residents don’t have to move out immediately — if they need more time, they can have it. State law generally affords tenants — depending on their lease — more time than a few days to move out. Bhagia’s notice to vacate is not a formal eviction process. But he could seek to evict tenants who don’t leave.” [Houston Chronicle; previously]

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