Retail

04/21/14 3:30pm

Here’s the Spot on S. Rice and Westpark Where Micro Center Will Be Moving

Galleria, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers

10 Comments

Future Site of Micro Center, 5205 S. Rice Ave., Uptown Crossing, Houston

The 3.5-acre field at the corner of S. Rice Ave. and Westpark shown here, where the Wald Relocation Services complex stood until 6 years ago, will be the site of the new Micro Center store later this year. The site plan for the Uptown Crossing shopping center intended for this location shows a big-box store set way back in the right distance, at the end of a new curvy street-drive thing cut through to it from S. Rice, across from Sam’s Club. That’s the most likely spot for the 32,000-sq.-ft. building Micro Center is planning. Micro Center sold off its largerÂ 47,759-sq.-ft.Â West Loop location to Amegy Bank earlier this year. Here’s a rendering of the new, terrifically brown-and-boxy big box Micro Center:

Big Computer Box in Field

77081, Big Box Stores, Galleria, New Construction, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers

04/16/14 10:00am

Former Country Kitchen Spot Near Timbergrove Almost Ready for New Gig as Warehouse Bar & Chill

Lazybrook, Openings and Closings, Renovations, Retail, Timbergrove Manor

4 Comments

Warehouse Bar & Chill, 3333 W. 11th St., Timbergrove Manor, Houston

From reader Jody Henry comes this pic of the newly transformed facade of the former Country Kitchen location on the western reaches of 11th St. near Seamist. The front patio is built out; burgers, salads, beers, and wings are waiting in the wings. Warehouse Bar & Chill is a week and a half away from opening at 3333 W. 11th St., according to the new establishment’s Facebook page.

Warehouse Bar & Chill to Open in the Heights [Eater]
Coming Soon! [Warehouse Bar & Chill]

Photo: Jody Henry

Just Add Patio

77008, Lazybrook, Openings and Closings, Renovations, Restaurants, Timbergrove Manor

Montrose

04/08/14 2:30pm

Dirk’s Coffee on Montrose Is Shutting Down Today

Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Retail

18 Comments

DIRK’S COFFEE ON MONTROSE IS SHUTTING DOWN TODAY Dirk's Coffee, 4005 Montrose Blvd. at Branard, Montrose, Houston The Dirk’s Coffee drive-up spot on the corner of Montrose and Branard is closing its business today, reports Eater’s Darla Guillen — along with a number of disappointed caffeine-starved fans on Twitter and Facebook. Opened as an outpost of the Diedrich Coffee chain in the ~~mid-aughts~~ mid-nineties, the 4005 Montrose Blvd. location changed its name to Dirk’s Coffee a few years ago after its former parent company exited the retail hot-brew-serving business. “No word yet on why they’re closing, if they’re moving to a new location or if they plan to rebrand yet again,” writes Guillen. Swamplot reader (and social media director at the mayor’s office) Melissa Ragsdale Darragh notes a Dirk’s employee confirms that they will close at the end of the day today: “He stated they would love to reopen at a new location in the future however nothing is planned at this time.”Â Â [Eater] Photo: Jazi H.

77006, Cafes, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail

Openings and Closings

04/03/14 10:00am

Sawyer Heights Arby’s Upgrading to La Madeleine, Adding Sauce

Quicklink, Restaurants, Retail, Sawyer Heights

4 Comments

SAWYER HEIGHTS ARBY’S UPGRADING TO LA MADELEINE, ADDING SAUCE Future La Madeleine, 2423 Katy Fwy., Sawyer Heights Shopping Center, Houston The shuttered Arby’s waving to I-10 eastbound feeder road drivers exiting at Taylor has been gutted, there’s a hole in the outside wall, and the drive-thru window is being filled in. All in service of transforming the Sawyer Heights shopping center slot at 2423 Katy Fwy.,Â next to Vitamin Shoppe, into a La Madeleine, notes reader Christopher Andrews. Included in his tweeted photo reportÂ from the Target-anchored center: a TABC notice posted in the storefront, for the wine portion of the “country French cafÃ©” menu. [Twitter] Photo: Christopher Andrews

77007, Fast Food, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Sawyer Heights

03/31/14 1:30pm

Crawfish Restaurant Boil House Gets Ready To Open on 11th St. in the Heights

Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail

12 Comments

Boil House Restaurant Under Construction, 606 E. 11th St., Houston Heights

Here’s a pic of the latest sign of the growing Heights-area crawfish swarm: The just-painted front of the former audio repair shop at 606 E. 11th St., just east of Oxford, showing the new home of Boil House. “A hot pinch of authentic Louisiana flavor” is offered in the wall sign just behind the spray-painted trashcan above, and the mudbugs are implied in the name of the company behind the venture: Boil House Crawfish, LLC. But don’t confuse this under-the-radar venture with the other crawfish restaurant setting up camp in nearby Shady Acres. Cajun spot The Boot just opened (on weekends only for now, it appears) in the former Shady Tavern spot at 1206 W. 20th St., between Bevis and Beall.

Photo: T.S. Noble

Cajun Heights

77008, Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Shady-Acres

Audubon Place

03/28/14 12:15pm

Montrose Mercantile Works a Little Strip Center Redo Magic

Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail

6 Comments

Montrose Mercantile, 3321 Stanford St., Audubon Place, Montrose, Houston

Montrose Mercantile, 3321 Stanford St., Audubon Place, Montrose, Houston The sign has been changed and the green hues have been removed from the mansard-roofed exterior of the former First Stop Food Store at the corner of Stanford and Hawthorne in Audubon Place. That’s where the Montrose Mercantile is set to hold its grand opening this weekend — though the combo espresso bar and mini-mart at 3321 Stanford St. ~~created by the owner of Washington Ave’s Catalina Coffee~~ has already been open for a couple of weeks. The original Mercantile opened in the Rice Village last fall.

Previously on Swamplot: The Mercantile Is Coming to Montrose, for Your Coffee Convenience

Photos: Montrose Mercantile

Drive Up, Sit Down

77006, Audubon Place, Cafes, Grocery Stores, Leasing, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail

03/27/14 12:00pm

Micro Center Will Move South, Give Up West Loop Site for Amegy Bank HQ

Office Buildings, Post Oak Park, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Retail

16 Comments

MICRO CENTER WILL MOVE SOUTH, GIVE UP WEST LOOP SITE FOR AMEGY BANK HQ Micro Center, 1717 West Loop South, Houston Confirming a pair of reports published on Swamplot last month, Amegy Bank announced today that it is buying the 4-acre lot currently occupied by computer retailer Micro Center at 1717 West Loop South, just north of San Felipe, to build a new corporate headquarters. The designer of the coming 350,000-sq.-ft. Amegy complex is Pickard Chilton, the New Haven architect behind downtown’s BG Group Place, among other Houston structures. Amegy will keep its downtown offices, but move its corporate offices and Galleria banking center across the freeway to the new building. But Micro Center won’t be exiting Houston. It’ll move later this year to an unspecified new location “near the 610 Loop and Highway 59 Southwest Freeway interchange.” [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]Â Photo: Nick Juhasz

77027, Moving, Office Buildings, Post Oak Park, Proposed Developments, Retail

Downtown

03/25/14 10:15am

New South African Restaurant Opening Downtown Will Slide Over to Downstairs Spot in Capitol Lofts

Restaurants, Retail

4 Comments

Storefront, 711 Main St. Unit 1, Downtown Houston

springbok-tabc-notice There’s been a “slight change in plans,” a post on the Facebook page of a new South African restaurant headed for Main St. downtown announced earlier this month. The owners of the Springbok had earlier posted renderings of their planned redo of the space at 723 Main St. But the target has been shifted somehow, and they now plan to open 2 doors north, in a space that’s more than double the size and includes 2 patios — at 711 Main St. Unit 1, directly below the Capitol Lofts in the block between Capitol and Rusk. Late last week, a reader spotted the TABC notice pictured at left posted to the door.

Slight change in plans [The Springbok on Facebook]

Photos: Swamplot inbox

77002, Downtown, Leasing, Restaurants, Retail

03/20/14 10:15am

Your Steel-Framed McDonald’s Is Going Up on Studemont Now

Redevelopment, Restaurants, Retail, Sixth Ward, Sprawl

31 Comments

Construction of McDonald's and Capital One Bank, 1510 Studemont St., Sixth Ward, Houston

Construction of McDonald's and Capital One Bank, 1510 Studemont St., Sixth Ward, Houston Reader Debnil Chowdhury sends in these pics, taken yesterday, of the steel-framed structure that’s appeared over the last month just north of the new Studemont Kroger gas station in the formerly industrial district just south of I-10 that Swamplot readers have dubbed ‘Katyville’ — in honor of the suburban-style developments rapidly going in there, a mere 2 miles northwest of Downtown. And these latest additions do appear to be pad-site-alicious: Directly north of the McDonald’s going up at 1510 Studemont St. (and pictured here), there’s a sign announcing a new Capital One Bank.Â There’s no indication yet whether the bank building will have a drive-thru as well, but the signs look good.

The Drive-Thrus of Katyville

77007, Fast Food, Katyville, New Construction, Redevelopment, Retail, Sixth Ward, Sprawl

Buying and Selling

03/19/14 2:45pm

River Oaks Glass Survives Demolition, Moves North

Demolitions, Retail, Upper Kirby

2 Comments

River Oaks Glass, 2635 Greenbriar Dr., Upper Kirby, Houston

Proprietor Tim Linehan wants to make sure longtime and potential customers who noted the smashing of the former River Oaks Glass location at 2219 Richmond Ave. in a Swamplot Daily Demolition Report last week don’t think the company has been pulled apart by excavators as well. The company with the “We Fix Humpty Dumpty” sign in the front window escaped to a new converted residence last month — one that’s a full half-mile closer to the actual River Oaks. It had been leasing the Richmond Ave. building for 17 years. “You have not lived until you’ve moved a crystal and porcelain repair shop, piece by piece,” he tells Swamplot. The new spot is a former bungalow at 2635 Greenbriar, just south of Westheimer. This time, says Linehan, “we bought the place and will never move again.”

Photo: James Timothy Linehan

House Broken

77098, Buying and Selling, Demolitions, Moving, Retail, Upper Kirby

Bellaire

03/19/14 10:45am

New Bernie’s Burger Bus Is Now Installed Inside the Latest Bernie’s Burger Bus, in the Bellaire Triangle

Restaurants, Retail

7 Comments

Bernie's Burger Bus Installed Inside Bernie's Burger Bus, 5407 Bellaire Blvd., Bellaire, Texas

Where’s the bus in the new Bellaire location of Bernie’s Burger Bus? Parked inside,Â finally, after going in through the east-facing wall of the corner shopping-center storefront yesterday (as shown in the video at right). The mobile food vendor turned immobile food vendor will still be serving food out of a bright yellow vehicle in its upcoming indoor location in the former Christian Community Service Center Sunshine Retail Shop at 5407 Bellaire Blvd., just steps away from the Metro 33 bus stop at Chimney Rock. (Though Mapleridge is closer if you’re headed east.) Architecture firm Collaborative Projects is handling the buildout.

Here’s more video of the install action:

Yesterday at Bernie’s

77401, Bellaire, Mobile Food Vendors, Restaurants, Retail

03/17/14 12:00pm

They’re Already Digging for a New Sam’s Club by the Grand Parkway

New Construction, Retail, Richmond

1 Comment

Construction of Sam's Club #6867, Parkway Lakes Ln., Richmond, Texas

Construction work has begun on the exciting new Sam’s Club #6867, which will face onto the Grand Pkwy. just north of Bellaire Blvd. in Richmond, as this reader photo taken from Parkway Lakes Ln. attests. The 136,454-sq.-ft. store will be surrounded by a sea of 529 parking spaces and 13 cart corrals on a 15-acre site just south of the Westpark Tollway:

@ Westpark Toll Rd.

77406, Big Box Stores, Fort Bend County, New Construction, Retail, Richmond

03/13/14 12:00pm

The New Beltway 8 Tilt-Up Building with All the Silestone Slabs Inside

Openings and Closings, Retail, Spring Branch, Warehouse Space

9 Comments

Houston Cosentino Center, 1315 W. Sam Houston Parkway North, Houston

What more suitable spot could there be in Houston for a showroom, warehouse, and designer-education center focused around Silestone and the other kitchen-and-bath-slabs lines of a Spanish manufacturer to land than in a brand-new complex of tilt-up buildings aligned along the southbound Beltway 8 feeder of the Sam Houston Tollway across from Spring Branch?Â Not long after the concrete slabs went up at 1315 W. Sam Houston Pkwy. North (north of Westview Dr.),Â the slabs of ground quartz, marble, recycled materials, and precious stones went in. The multi-warehouse complex opened late last year; The Houston Cosentino CenterÂ at Suite 150 opened last week.

So what if the vast concrete expanse of the feeder-road-side parking lot in the middle of the U-shaped tilt-wall complex looks kinda bleak? The inside is set up to be sleek:

The Kitchen Slabs of Cosentino

77043, Home Decor, Openings and Closings, Retail, Spring-Branch, Warehouse Space

03/07/14 12:30pm

Stale After 7 Months, Fresh Market at Westheimer and Weslayan Is Shutting Down