Strip Centers

Garden Oaks
06/15/11 12:29pm

Hard Knocks: Octane Shuts Down in Garden Oaks

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Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Strip Centers
16 Comments

Several readers have written in to report on the apparent demise of the Octane Coffee and Wine Lounge at the corner of 34th St. and North Shepherd. “As of Sunday,” says one correspondent, “the place was shut with a computer-generated ‘Sorry We’re Closed’ sign taped to the door, and a Pink’s employee next door said the owners had been carrying stuff out all day.” The morning and night spot opened almost exactly a year ago, one of the first tenants in the renovated but still-modern Garden Oaks strip center.

Photo: Candace Garcia

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Quicklink
06/09/11 4:00pm

Death, Abandoned Feeder Road Strip Malls, and Taxes in Sherwood Oaks

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Sherwood Oaks, Strip Centers, Taxes
9 Comments

DEATH, ABANDONED FEEDER ROAD STRIP MALLS, AND TAXES IN SHERWOOD OAKS Craig Malisow tries to unravel the ownership mystery behind the abandoned strip center that serves as a rather dilapidated Katy Freeway-facing welcome sign for 2010 Swamplot Award runner-up Sherwood Oaks: “The owner listed on the Harris County Appraisal District is J.E. Eisemann III, who died in 1981. Interestingly, he seems to have purchased the property in 1988. Apparently, HCAD inherited this information from the Harris County Tax Assessor’s Office, which never had any problem with a dead owner, because the dude, while dead, was paying his taxes. But in 2010, death caught up with Eisemann, and he missed some payments to a few taxing districts, including Spring Branch ISD. When that district sued, it listed Eisemann’s kin as defendants. . . . The estate promptly paid more than $20,000 in back taxes, and now appears to be current.” [Hair Balls; original MyFox Houston story; previously on Swamplot] Photo: MyFox Houston

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Nightlife
06/01/11 12:40pm

Remember the Alamo Spinach and Cheese: New Tamale Central Coming to the Northside

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Northside, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail, Strip Centers
3 Comments

This somewhat industrial stretch of Berry Rd. just west of Irvington on Houston’s Northside will soon be home to a new food-and-entertainment strip center developed by the Alamo Tamale Company. The 21,000-sq.-ft. theme center and parking lot were designed by Cisneros Design Studio Architects (local ethnographers among our readers may recognize Cisneros as the designer of Katy’s recently shuttered Forbidden Gardens). Lining up on the south-facing strip at 809 Berry will be the best in tamale-themed entertainment: a full-service restaurant, a cantina open late, a panaderia that’ll open early, a banquet and reception hall, and a raspa and dessert bar open primarily on weekends. But the featured destination will likely be the new Alamo Tamale storefront itself, next door to the company’s existing handmade tamale HQ. You should be able to pick it out quickly — it’s the one with the Alamo-like facade:

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Openings and Closings
05/24/11 2:51pm

Westheimer Strip-Center Hotspot: Rickshaw to Fins to Tony Mandola’s — to Something Ouisie’s

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Restaurants, Strip Centers, Upper Kirby
4 Comments

The endcap restaurant space on the River Oaks Village strip center just west of Kirby that’s currently home to Tony Mandola’s but before that was Fins and before that Rickshaw and Bambu — but that’s still probably familiar to more people as that “No Parking Here for Chuy’s” place — will have a new name over the door soon. Ouisie’s Table owner Elouise Adams Jones plans to open a yet-to-be-named “new American-style bistro” at 2810 Westheimer in September. Tony Mandola’s will escape to its new Waugh Dr. building as soon as it’s ready this summer, after spending only a few months in what the restaurant officially calls its “miracle location.” (Tony Mandola’s Gulf Coast Kitchen closed its longtime location in the River Oaks Shopping Center at the end of its lease in January. A high-foreheaded Brasserie 19 is open in that space now.)

Photo: LoopNet

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Galleria
04/27/11 12:52pm

Hey, You Got Your Blood Orange Tart in My STD Panel!

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Hazards, Retail, Strip Centers
7 Comments

A view of the mix at the corner strip center at Westheimer and Fountainview, where a driver crashed this morning into the storefront of the Yogurtland at 5901 Westheimer, then plowed through an interior wall into the Any Lab Test Now! location next door.

Photo: KHOU

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Memorial Heights
03/18/11 12:06pm

Strip Center Lockout: Terlingua Border Cafe on Studewood Still Closed

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Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Strip Centers
9 Comments

Counting from the date on the notice taped to the front door, it’s only been a little more than 2 weeks since Terlingua Border Cafe got locked out of its space at the southern end of that super-festive Shops at Memorial Heights strip center at 920 Studewood. But already people have begun to notice the restaurant’s absence. A couple of Swamplot readers sent in these pics of the Border Cafe ghost town. A snapshot of that friendly little letter from the landlord, after the jump:

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Energy Corridor
03/04/11 12:06pm

If the Buffalo Grille Had Migrated West

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Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Strip Centers
2 Comments

Brock Silverstein tells the HBJ‘s Allison Wollam the strip-center endcap on the northwest corner of Briar Forest and Eldridge Parkway where he and his wife Stacey just opened the Pecan Creek Grille is one of the locations he had investigated a year and a half ago as a possible new home for the then-ready-to-roam Buffalo Grille. Fans of that West U breakfast joint, where the Silversteins worked for 10 years, may find this new lunch spot in the Energy Corridor a little familiar, in a way-out-west kind of way: Pecan Creek has an outdoor patio and serves “diner-style” food, Tex-Mex standards, and breakfast all day.

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Greenway Plaza
01/06/11 11:50am

Oishii’s Parapet Vacation

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Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Strip Centers
8 Comments

To the reader who wrote in to Swamplot noting that Japanese restaurant Oishii at 3764 Richmond near Greenway Plaza was closed and that a large For Lease sign had been posted in front: Do not worry. Your sushi happy hour is safe. The restaurant is resting temporarily so building surgeons can give a portion of the lowslung structure at the corner of Timmons that raised eyebrow look that’s been all the strip-mall rage since about 1992. The restaurant closed down December 19th, and is scheduled to reopen January 10th.

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Attractions
11/22/10 7:52pm

Comment of the Day: Sugar Land Shopping Outings, Between Innings

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Comments, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Shopping, Strip Centers, Sugar Land
4 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: SUGAR LAND SHOPPING OUTINGS, BETWEEN INNINGS “Maybe this is a new suburban form of mixed use development. Who says you can’t pick up your prescriptions, grab a venti latte and watch a ball game all at the same place?” [Matt, commenting on New Sugar Land Minor League Stadium Easily Assembled from Standardized Suburban Parts]

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Attractions
11/22/10 12:58pm

New Sugar Land Minor League Stadium Easily Assembled from Standardized Suburban Parts

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Houston Architects, Proposed Developments, Strip Centers, Sugar Land
21 Comments

Building a baseball stadium can be a complicated job. But the latest drawings released by PGAL, the architecture firm that’s been doing design work for Sugar Land’s new minor league ballpark, make it look like the project’s designers are doing their best to break down the process into some easily understood components, which should make the task simpler to comprehend for whichever design-build contractor is selected. Can you build some bleachers? Great! How about a brickface strip center, or maybe one of those drive-up apartment complexes? Knew you could! Now just wrap it around the outside from 1st to 3rd base, and you’ve pretty much got it.

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Apartments
11/05/10 12:14pm

Walmart Coming — Everybody Out!

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Demolitions, Houston Heights, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Retail, Strip Centers
28 Comments

WALMART COMING — EVERYBODY OUT! What residents of the Heights Plaza Apartments at 205 Heights Blvd. found on their doors Wednesday: Letters explaining that the Ainbinder Company has bought the entire complex and that no tenants’ leases will be renewed. For residents whose leases are up in December, that’s 30 days’ notice. Ainbinder will be extending Koehler St. through the property and building 2 strip centers on the remaining portions — as part of the Washington Heights District development that will include a new Walmart. “Although the sale of the complex to the Walmart developer wasn’t a surprise,” explains reporter Miya Shay, “the pace of the move out did catch some residents off guard. Developer Michael Ainbinder says he’s willing to work with residents who can’t find a place before their lease expires. . . . The last lease runs out at the end of April, and the developer says as soon as that happens, they will begin demolishing the property.” [abc13; previously on Swamplot]

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Comments
10/13/10 3:38pm

Comment of the Day: And What Are the Stats on Galveston County’s Strip Center Output?

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Galveston County, New Construction, Quicklink, Sprawl, Strip Centers
No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: AND WHAT ARE THE STATS ON GALVESTON COUNTY’S STRIP CENTER OUTPUT? “If you look at production data, Galveston County is currently producing around 30000 BOE (barrel of oil equivilent) per month on over 20 wells. One of the fields that is producing is less than 1000ft off 45 just south of [Kemah]. Depth of producing interval is around 4000ft. I have a hard time believing that moving a rig out there for about the 3 weeks it takes to drill a well to 3000ft, set casing, and complete it to a producing well, would be any worse than having some tacky strip mall taking 6 months to construct.” [Mr. Hand, commenting on League City’s Neighborhood Drilling Boom]

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Historic Preservation
09/21/10 11:25pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Where Are the River Oaks?

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Houston Heights, River Oaks, Streetscapes, Strip Centers, Trees
5 Comments

Got an answer to one of these reader questions? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Here’s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.

  • River Oaks: A reader wants to know how River Oaks or the City of Houston could “get away with not replacing the 30+ trees they destroyed when resurfacing River Oaks Blvd. [(above)] . . . Isn’t there an ordinance requiring trees to be replaced?”
  • Houston Heights: Another reader has joined the saga of the traveling 1903 Perry-Swilley House (photo below) on the northwest corner of Heights Blvd. and 11th St., already in progress: “[They] moved the house across the lot and [then] raised the house by building brick columns underneath. I’m not sure what the point was.” Why, more strip centers and more parking — isn’t it always? The house was moved from the corner so the project’s developer might be able to fit in a small shopping strip with Heights Blvd. frontage; 2 years ago the city historical commission approved plans to raise the house so that parking could be fit underneath. But . . . what’s the current status of this project?

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Proposed Developments
09/13/10 11:49pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: What We Could Do by the Freeway

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Retail, Strip Centers, Upper Kirby
4 Comments

Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:

What’s to dig up from last week’s question:

  • Upper Kirby: Whatever traffic study was being conducted on the Southwest Freeway feeder road nearby, it has nothing to do with the strip-center, bank, and maybe drive-thru development Lovett Commercial is hoping to get going on that patch of grass along the feeder to Lexington St. at Greenbriar, leasing agent Elizabeth Jacob tells Swamplot. Lovett has a sign up, is waiting for phone calls, and has a site plan to show (see below) as “an example of what we could do,” she says. Any involvement with the site by H-E-B (as was claimed by one commenter) would be news to her, she tells us.

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