COMMENT OF THE DAY: 104-ACRE VACANT FORMER ASTROWORLD SITE IS A DEVELOPER’S DREAM “Can’t wait to see the giant box rolled in and opened to reveal a strip center with: 1) Starbucks on the corner 2) Bed, Bath & Beyond 3) Borders|Barnes and Noble (choose one) 4) High-end Dentistry office not covered under any mere mortal’s dental plan 5) Wine bar 6) $6 ice cream place 7) vitamin/supplement retailer 8) standard set of strip center restaurants (Chinese, Italian, Tex-Mex deli, etc.) 9) if the place is classy enough, may graduate to having Next Tier of ethnic-themed restaurants (Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Greek, etc.) 10) Starbucks on the opposite corner” [SL, commenting on Fort Worth Developer Buys Himself an Empty AstroWorld]
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Retail
It looked like the end of the line for the Chevy dealership in the streamline building at the corner of Houston and Washington Ave just west of Downtown: GM notified Knapp Chevrolet last May that it would not be renewing its franchise agreement with the 62-year-old Houston company. But a law passed by congress and signed by President Obama in December set up a neutral arbitration process for jilted dealerships, and late last month Knapp learned that its appeal had been successful. Unable to obtain new cars from GM for about a year, Knapp has survived by buying inventory from other local Chevrolet dealers. Expect to see a few more cars on the lot soon, now that Knapp has been reinstated.
- Houston GM dealer avoids shutdown by winning appeal [11 News]
- Chevy Dealership Will Stay Open [Click2Houston]
- Obama’s signature kicks off arbitration process for rejected GM, Chrysler dealers [Automotive News]
- Previously on Swamplot: GM Wants To Take Away Knapp
Photo: Chris Adams
At last! An answer to a question posted on Swamplot just last October. (Note to potential tipsters: You’ll generally get a much quicker response to questions you submit here if you include a photo or 2 or 3.) But better late than never. That curvy-swervy structure going up near the 59 exit ramp on Main St. south of Midtown, across from the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft is now available, reports Vincent Biondillo of Norhill Realty, who’s marketing the property:
This building is being developed by Dr. Anna Munne to house her periodontal practice. The first floor space with the curved wall up front will be leased retail space, which would be great for a salon or bar. The 2nd floor space will house Dr. Munne’s practice and will also offer 2768 SF of leasable office space.
Funny, our original tipster did note that the building appeared to be rooted into the ground with rather substantial columns.
On his Facebook page, Shaun Kelley claims to be just “moving my business.” But abc13 is reporting that the Shaun Kelley Weight Control storefront at San Felipe and Voss shut its doors for good yesterday — shortly after the local fitness guru declared bankruptcy.
An unspecified nearby gym will take on Kelley’s trainers and clients, according to the report. Shaun Kelley Weight Loss Center memberships cost $15,000 a year, though shorter memberships were available.
Kelley gained national attention 2 years ago after the FBI interviewed a former employee to determine if Roger Clemens might have obtained steroids or human growth hormone through Kelley or his clinic. The employee claimed Clemens had met with Kelley at that location, but Kelley claimed Clemens was an acquaintance who had never visited the clinic.
Okay, then. But what about Donald Trump?
“We had gone to many places calling themselves farmers markets but their produce was coming in from California and Florida,†Susan Becker tells the Chronicle‘s Samira Rizvi. The 3,800-sq.-ft. Katy Fresh Produce Market she and her husband opened this week at 5026 East Third St. in Katy calls itself a farmers market; it’ll be open every day except Tuesday and “at least half” of the produce will be from local farmers, reports abc13’s Kevin Quinn, who spots bell peppers from Alvin, green beans from Cat Spring, and peaches from Fairfield (the city, not the subdivision).
- There’s a new farmer’s market in town [Ultimate Katy]
- New farmer’s market opens in Katy [abc13]
Photo: Katy Fresh Produce Market
What does it take to open up the Houston location of an international vegan chain restaurant in say, the endcap of a Kirkwood strip center whose previous tenant was the Texas Bar-B.Q. Co.? The Houston Press‘s Katharine Shilcutt tries to explain:
The money that Supreme Master Ching Hai gathers from her followers is used to fund things such as her elaborate and expensive outfits; her adventures in creating and selling jewelry (back to her followers at a huge markup, of course); the filming of long infomercials like the ones that play on a constant loop in the restaurant, which are broadcast to followers via the Internet (which is why the movement has been called a “cybersect”); and the founding of restaurant chains like Loving Hut which adhere to one of the most important principles in Quan Yin: vegetarianism.
The restaurant at 2825 S. Kirkwood, in the Richwood Shopping Center just north of Richmond, is Loving Hut’s 25th U.S. location. But how neatly it fits here: Thank you, Supreme Master! Perhaps other ventures of yours — in painting, poetry, spirituality, fashion design, or beauty makeovers — might find a home in other lonely strip-center locations around town? Surely this formula could be expanded:
Another year has passed, which means it’s time for yet another business to move into the little house across the street from Hugo’s Restaurant, at the northeast corner of Westheimer and Mandell, where the Westheimer Curve finally figures out how to go straight. So what comes after Juliet and Romeo, Remix, and the Pleasure Chateau? Thanks to an inquisitive Swamplot reader with a camera, we know that the next tenants at 1550 Westheimer will be a Mixxwell Audio Lab. According to a construction worker our reader spoke to, it’s a DJ school.
Sadly, it appears the Pleasure Chateau’s lovely chandeliers have been removed:
I asked if I could look inside, the contractor explained that he didn’t have any access inside, but that the instructors would be there sometime this week. I did get a chance to look through the window and I must say it looks completely redesigned . . .
Photo: Swamplot inbox
BETTER RETURN THOSE VIDEOS NOW, BEFORE THE LATE FEES EXTEND TO INFINITY Just in case the closing sales at the Southbelt, Webster, and Katy locations didn’t give you enough of a hint, the company that owns Hollywood Video announced yesterday it will be shutting down all 2,415 of its stores nationwide for good, including its remaining 7 6 5 Houston-area locations. [Reuters; previously on Swamplot]
Swamplot advertiser Robert Searcy typically knows his way around southeast Houston, but finds himself a bit disoriented on a recent venture north to Garden Oaks. An encounter with the former strip-center home of Binswanger Glass at North Shepherd and 34th St. has him stumped:
Someone renovated it and anyone who takes a center like this and DOESN’T slather it in stucco with the obligatory strip of crown molding on the top, well, in my book they deserve kudos just for that. They seemed to have brought it back to its original design. There is one tenant in there now and a sign on the corner slot saying an application to sell liquor has been filed. It says it is for some kind of a coffee shop named Octane, (but apparently one that sells booze too). At any rate, a sensitive renovation and then a tenant mix that isn’t a combo of a check cashing place, a nail salon & a subway sandwich shop? I don’t know how to act.
Oh, but part of it’s already gone to the dogs:
The owners of the international foods emporium voted best grocery store in the city by Swamplot readers last year have announced they’ll be opening a second location Downtown, across the street from Discovery Green — whose opening day was voted the Best Moment in Houston Real Estate in the Swamplot Awards the previous year. What Swamplot Award-winner mashup will they think of next?
The new 28,000-sq.-ft Phoenicia Specialty Foods — smaller than the 55,000-sq.-ft. store on Westheimer near Kirkwood — is expected to open at the end of this year across McKinney St. from the Downtown park, in the ground floor of the One Park Place apartment tower. But park visitors will likely have to walk around the building to get their freekeh on: The store’s entrance will face Austin St.
We know what you’re wondering — will the pita be floating down from the ceiling on a conveyor belt Downtown too?
Come June, promise the owners of SSQQ, the popular social dance studio will reopen just to the west of Restaurant Depot, in the former Kmart beached on the asphalt shores at 20th St. and T.C. Jester near Timbergrove.
Last weekend, SSQQ shut down the Bellaire strip-center site it had occupied for 30 years. Why’d it up and leave? Doctors’ orders, reports the Bellaire Examiner‘s Steve Mark: First Street Hospital, which owns the center on Bissonnet just outside the Loop, is planning an expansion that would slice the center in half, knocking out SSQQ, Sweetwater Pool & Patio, and a Radio Shack. (Not all is lost, though: Charlie’s Hamburgers and that nail salon in the center at 4803 Bissonnet will get to stay.)
Besides easy access to restaurant supplies, what’s in store for students taking a swing at new Bachata and Whip moves at SSQQ’s new location?
A reader who’s had an eye on Montrose’s Tower Theatre ever since Hollywood Video moved out — and who became “rather upset” at the disappearance of the building’s original marquee — sends a few snapshots of the scene near the corner of Yoakum and Westheimer:
. . . I saw some workers putting up new wood a few weeks ago and painting the front of the building a few days ago.
And what do we see in these snaps?
Continuing his commentaries on city off-street parking requirements, blogger Andrew Burleson takes a snapshot of parking conditions near the often-crowded corner of West Alabama and Hazard. To the east: the little 8-parking-space head-in strip center that houses Candylicious, Retro Gallery, and The Chocolate Bar. To the west: Erick’s Auto Center.
Among Burleson’s startling finds: On a weekday evening, actual empty parking spots appear to be available in front of The Chocolate Bar! But what’s going on down the street?
H-E-B is testing a new no-frills warehouse-style grocery concept with a new store set to open early next month at 12035 Antoine, about a mile and a half north of the Beltway at the corner of Veterans Memorial. The prototype Joe V’s Smart Shop will be nearly twice the size of the typical H-E-B Pantry, reports the Chronicle‘s David Kaplan:
Smaller than a full-size H-E-B, Joe V’s will carry about 9,000 items, compared with a traditional supermarket, which has about 37,000.
Joe V’s might have five ketchups, while a full-size H-E-B would have 25, [Houston VP Armando] Perez said. The Joe V’s ketchups will include well-known brands and H-E-B private labels.
Joe V’s will have produce and self-serve meat, seafood and bakery departments. The biggest savings will often be in the grocery and general merchandise sections, Perez said.
Courtesy of Planning and Development Dept. public affairs manager Suzy Hartgrove, Swamplot now has a copy of the variance application submitted by the new owners of the vacant 7.68-acre site at the southwest corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy — where H-E-B has announced plans to build a new Montrose grocery store. At the property’s western border, Sul Ross and Branard streets used to lead directly into driveway entrances to the Wilshire Village apartments on the site. Under current development regulations, those streets would have to be connected to other streets (or perhaps each other) or turned into proper cul-de-sacs.
The variance would allow the property’s new owners to bypass this requirement and leave Sul Ross and Branard as they are — minus the driveway access.
Oh — the property’s new owners! Who are they?
