Shopping Centers

01/22/19 2:30pm

The Next Heights Destination for Dining, Exercise, and Medical Emergencies Will Be on Shepherd off 14th St.

Houston Heights, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers

Renderings that Houston developer Sluco Realty has released of the new double-decker retail building it’s planning on Shepherd show 2 sides to what it hopes will eventually fill the structure: to the north (above) your typical ground-floor restaurant setup, and to the south (top), something a little more potentially lifesaving. For privacy’s sake, the planned urgent care clinic forgoes the windows that open up the rest of building, dubbed Heights Forum. But the all-caps signage perched atop the awning shown at top should make clear what’s going on inside.

Additional therapeutic offerings like a dance studio and martial arts dojo appear to be planned upstairs. To get there, take the highlighter-green staircase at the front of the building or the side stairwell shown below behind the restaurant:

Heights Forum

77008, Houston Heights, Medical Clinics, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers

Briarmeadow

01/22/19 11:30am

Barnes & Noble Has Slipped Out of Westheimer Crossing

Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers

11 Comments

Those dark green awnings and the sign shown below are now the only exterior traces of Barnes & Noble’s multi-decade presence in the east-facing building in the Westheimer Crossing shopping center just west of Voss Rd. It’s the only business ever to inhabit the 38,700-sq.-ft. standalone structure since it went up along with the rest of the retail complex in the mid-90s.

Unlike the rest of the shopping center — now home to Academy Sports + Outdoors, Michaels, REI, Designer Shoe Warehouse, Petco, Thai Spice and a smattering of roadside fast food and retail buildings — the former bookstore is owned separately by National Retail Properties, a real estate investment trust that puts money into shopping centers across the U.S.

Photos: Rex Solomon

Epilogue

77063, Briarmeadow, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers

Channelview

01/16/19 1:45pm

This Oversized Orange Android Has Landed Atop What’s Left of Channelview’s Eastbelt Centre

Retail, Shopping Centers

2 Comments

Like some kind of otherworldly brand ambassador, this large larger-than-life-sized inflatable now looks dutifully out over the strip center parking lot off Belway 8 and Woodforest Blvd., its antennae twitching in the wind. The building it tops — home to Jenny Nails II, J Donuts, Betlway Beverage, Dominos, a hair salon, and Boost Mobile — was once part of the Randalls-anchored retail complex dubbed the Eastbelt Centre that stopped being a thing when Galena Park ISD moved its administrative offices into the supermarket’s building nearly 2 decades ago.

That converted structure lies just next door to the strip building . . .

Roadside Attractions of Beltway 8

77015, Channelview, Retail, Shopping Centers

11/01/18 10:15am

Soccer Hub Splitting Up Marq’e Korean Buffet Leftovers with Spaghetti Warehouse Heir

Northwest Houston, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Spring Branch

1 Comment

Â Â

A handful of building permits filed recently over at the Marq’e Entertainment Center indicate that kids training center Soccer Hub is kicking off renovations directly behind the spot reserved for the new Spaghetti-Warehouse-like eatery the brand’s parent company is calling Warehouse 72. Together, both new venues will be taking over the space Korean buffet Kpop gave up last year on the shopping center’s non-movie-theater side, across the arch-fronted alley from Dave and Buster’s‘s almost-but-not-entirely standalone building. (There’s now a mystery-themed escape room up in its business, as indicated on the map above.)

It’s not an entirely even split: Soccer Hub is getting about 6,000 sq.-ft. while Warehouse 72 will have 8,600 — enough room for seating, prepared food retail fixtures, and a double-sided bar serving both the restaurant’s insides and a planned 750-sq.-ft. patio, reports Eater‘s Alaena Hostetter. Until the 2 get situated — or get beat to the punch by the Hugh O’Connors Irish-themed restaurant opening in space number 25 on the map —specialty soda and candy shop Rocket Fizz will remain the only thing inside the Marq’e’s center building. It’s been there by itself since Cafe Adobe closed in what’s shown on the map as spot number 26, leaving 10,000 sq.-ft. up for grabs.

Venue Map [Marq’e Entertainment Center]

Photo: Kpop. Map: Levcor

Tag Team Takeover

77024, Northwest Houston, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers

10/16/18 4:00pm

Cafe Adobe Has Called It Quits in the Marq’E Entertainment Center and Everywhere Else

Memorial, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Shopping Centers

8 Comments

A former employee of the chain says that September 30 was the staff’s last day at the restaurant in the Marq’E Entertainment Center, where its double-decker patio — pictured above — faces off from the Edwards Cinema movie theater (and its vertical water feature faces off from the shopping center’s plaza fountain).

All other Cafe Adobe locations have closed down as well; most recently, the one in terminal B of Bush Airport and the one across Hwy. 6 from Sugar Land‘s Market at Town Center shopping center — which featured this dramatic main entrance:

Adobe a Goner

77024, Memorial, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Shopping Centers

08/16/18 2:00pm

The Grand at Aliana Wants To Get in the Middle of All the Houses Cropping Up Around the Grand Pkwy.

Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers

Petco, Michaels, Bed Bath and Beyond, and a big Dick’s Sporting Goods store are among the retailers now lining up for spots in Newquest Properties‘ new Grand-Parkway-adjacent shopping center dubbed The Grand at Aliana. They’ll be buffered from the highway by a roughly 2,400-car-parking lot and a front-line of fast food restaurants. The whole Grand plan hits the Houston Planning Commission’s desk later this afternoon at City Hall Annex, 20 miles away from where the development would be built off W. Airport Blvd.

The map at top shows it vying for attention up there amid the blue jigsaw grid of proposed and recently-built neighborhoods that keep appearing around the highway. In orange is the shopping center’s namesake, the 2,8000-house-and-counting Aliana community that wraps it to the east.

Viewed from the east in the conceptual shot below, you can see some of those houses in the foreground:

Grandstanding

77407, Aliana, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers

03/13/18 12:00pm

All the Body Parts Now Signed Up for Braun’s New Center at Shepherd and W. 24th

Houston Heights, Leasing, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers

The teeth, eyes, and . . . uh, overall shape of the new shopping center Braun Enterprises is planning for N. Shepherd and 24th St. can be considered taken care of, now thatÂ Lovett Dental, Eyes on the Heights Optometry, and Club Pilates have each signed leases for space in the development. That leaves 11,555 sq. ft. still available in 3 separate end-cap spots for any nail salon, podiatrist,Â or dermatology clinic that wants to fill out the theming for the complex, which would go on the block catty-corner to the H-E-B Heights Market currently under construction.

This would fit in with N. Shepherd’s ongoing transformation: Braun plans to demolish the Miller’s Auto Body Repair Experts facility (as of now still open for business) as well a building formerly occupied by Auto Electric Service on the site in order to construct the 24,000-sq.-ft. shopping center, which includes structured parking as well as a parking lot on the roof of one of the 2 buildings.

A full human-body-part-focused buildout for this planned complex at 2401 N. Shepherd Dr. isn’t so far-fetched: the latest renderings released for the development include generic signage for both aÂ nail salon and a fitness club:

Body Shop to Body Shopping

77008, Commercial Real Estate, Houston Heights, Leasing, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail, Shopping Centers

10/25/17 12:30pm

When CafÃ© Ginger’s New West Gray Shopping Center Square Corner Tower Spot Will Take Over from Its Current Round One

North Montrose, Restaurants, Shopping Centers

2 Comments

CafÃ© Ginger is already at work on its new outpost in its next West Gray St. shopping center corner, taking the places vacated by both Mama Fu’s and Verts Mediterranean Grill. The Chinese food and sushi restaurant arrived at its original and current spot at the eastern end of the northern half of the River Oaks Shopping Center 8 years ago, taking over from a restaurant whose addition to the center was marked by the tacking-on of a flying-saucer-like corner tower to the previously low-slung art deco center. At the new spot at 1574 West Gray, on the western end of River Oaks Plaza, the endcap corner tower is already in place — it was there when the center was constructed.

But inside, there’s more construction to do: As new signs on the doors announce, the new location is scheduled to open in March of next year. That’s the same month Weingarten Realty plans to hold the groundbreaking for the Driscoll tower — directly on top of CafÃ© Ginger’s current spot.

Construction date set for River Oaks Shopping Center residential tower [Houston Business Journal]
Previously on Swamplot:Â CafÃ© Ginger To Move Into Mama Fu’s Place Some Time Before the Highrising Starts

Photos: Margo (River Oaks Plaza); Katie Schon (River Oaks Shopping Center)

End Cap Tales

77019, North Montrose, Restaurants, Shopping Centers

10/23/17 9:45am

October Christmas Comes to Highland Village

Retail, Shopping Centers

11 Comments

Halloween is almost upon us, and again the full-store gift wrapping and Christmas trees have gone up at the Highland Village shopping center — as these pics sent in by a reader show.

You now have 9 full shopping weeks before Christmas (and a little less than 5 before Thanksgiving), but if you’re still getting your gifts ready for Halloween next Tuesday, you’d better hurry.

Photos: Swamplot inbox

â€™Tis the Preseason

77027, Highland Village, Highland Village Shopping Center, Retail, Shopping

10/19/17 11:00am

Here’s a Big Sign That the LA Fitness on Yale Is Almost in Good Enough Shape To Open Next Month

Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers

Here are a few shots of 195 Yale St. just south of I-10 from yesterday afternoon, showing workers a few letters away from spelling out the long-delayed LA Fitness at the Yale Street Market shopping center. The sign, which faces the freeway, was completed by the end of the day:

Fitn In

77007, Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers

Disaster Aftermath

10/02/17 1:30pm

Flooded Big Boxes at Meyerland Plaza Still Out of Commission

Meyerland, Meyerland Plaza, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers

6 Comments

Pet Supermarket in Meyerland Plaza has reopened after taking on water after Hurricane Harvey, but it appears to be an exception among big-box stores lined in a row on the former mall site. Signs in front of Old Navy, OfficeMax, and Dressbarn declare the stores are closed — and direct customers to other locations, according to these photos and a report from a Swamplot reader. Here’s the scene in front of Old Navy, where notes in the window declare the store is closed “until further notice“:

Old Navy Underwater

77096, Disaster Aftermath, Hurricane Harvey, Meyerland, Meyerland Plaza, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers

06/14/17 11:15am

The Other River Oaks Shopping Center Knockdown Hearing Scheduled for This Week

Houston Landmarks, Montrose, Renovations, Shopping Centers

17 Comments

Across and a little bit down the street from the site where the company proposes to tear down an already altered section of the River Oaks Shopping Center and erect a 29-story apartment tower with 2 floors of underground parking, Weingarten Realty has more plans to make changes to the landmark art deco center. At the corner of West Gray and McDuffie, the company wants to tear down the 2-story western end of the south half of the 1948 section of the shopping center — which now houses a California Pizza Kitchen and the remains of the Evolve Fitness Studio upstairs (and was previously the site of a Birraporetti’s with Sherlock’s Pub above it) — and reconstruct the section as a 12,730-sq.-ft. Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille with significantly taller first and second stories.

The design, by Chicago’s Aria Group Architects, “will maintain historical features” of the building at 1997 West Gray St., the submitted plans (PDF) explain. But not exactly in the same order. Stick-on stone facing was stuck onto lower portions of this section of the art deco structure in 2007 when it was given a new stucco-batter coating and turned into a CPK; the new design shows a tallÂ curved panel of limestone wrapping the corner, but this timeÂ on the higher second floor, suspended above a rebuilt portion of the center’s signature curved soffit.

Raising Perry’s Steakhouse

77019, Houston Landmarks, Montrose, Renovations, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center

06/13/17 4:30pm

Here’s That 29-Story Apartment Tower Weingarten Wants To Tag Onto the End of the River Oaks Shopping Center, and Where You Can Complain About It If You Don’t Like It

Highrises, Houston Landmarks, Proposed Developments, Shopping Centers

23 Comments

In advance of a public hearing scheduled for this Thursday, Weingarten Realty has submitted these drawings of the 29-story apartment tower it’s calling the Driscoll, and which it’s proposing to build across the from the northern end of Driscoll St. The site at 1958 W. Gray also happens to be occupied currently by the eastern end of the 69-year-old northern portion of the River Oaks Shopping Center, which has city historic landmark status despite the numerous inconsistent alterations Weingarten has made to the Art Deco complex over the years. As suggested by the included diagram above, the tower will knock out most of one wing of the complex, leaving Brasserie 19 in place, but deleting 18,000 sq. ft. of space currently housing CafÃ© Ginger, Local Pour, and some office space above — as well as 2-and-a-half bays of parking to the east.

As part of its package for the required hearing before the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission, Weingarten presented this photographic evidence in support of its claim that its existing property, which it altered significantly during renovations conducted in 2011, is in a “deteriorated state“:

77019, Highrises, Houston Landmarks, Proposed Developments, River-Oaks-Shopping-Center

Here Comes the Driscoll

01/21/16 10:00am

An Early Peek at the Galleria’s New Saks Fifth Avenue Space and the Restaurant Inside

by Christine Gerbode

Galleria, Interiors, New Construction, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers

12 Comments

51Fifteen, 5115 Westheimer, Galleria, Houston, 77056

While you’re waiting for that Galleria redo to wrap up, renderings have been released of the new home of 51Fifteen, the upscale bistro tucked into the existing Saks Fifth Avenue location along with its sister bar Bar 12 (currently located “amidst the menâ€™s fashion selections”). The restaurant will follow Saks 5th Avenue to its new home, landing in its own swanky new space designed by the Contour Interior Design folks. The restaurant’s website is now booking events at the new location for dates as soon as April 2016.

Here’s a rendering from Beck Architecture of the new Saks building’s boxy exterior, slated for the spot where the Galleria III used to be: