HAKEEM OLAJUWON’S MOON SHOT, A LONG WAY FROM THE GALLERIA 
The two-time NBA champ opened DR34M in December to showcase his line of luxury men’s sportswear, leather goods, and body lotions — but the 3300 East Nasa Pkwy. location struck some as unlikely: The Jim West Mansion? In Clear Lake? Where NASA used to study the moon? Houston Chronicle‘s Joy Sewing drops by to see what the baller has done to the old place: “[Olajuwon] took great care to maintain the integrity of the mansion . . . . The great room is likely one of the most impressive entry ways of any luxury store from Louis Vuitton to Hermès. . . . He commissioned an artist to add gold-leaf accents throughout the mansion. . . . In the west wing, the DR34M sportswear collection is prominently displayed in a room that features flooring from the Rockets’ 1995 NBA championship game.” And it’s only about 40 minutes south on I-45, far from Uptown: “It would not make the same impact (at the Galleria),” Olajuwon tells Sewing. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Candace Garcia
Sign up for the Newsletter
This make absolutely no sense, unless it’s meant to be a loss center and it’s a tax offset strategy, then it’s brilliant.
I don’t care what kind of write-off it might be. Thank you Hakeem for saving the Jim West mansion, a landmark I have been riding past since I was a baby in the ’50s.
Has anyone actually been to this “store”? I don’t get it.
It’s a bizarre location for a store like that, especially one that big, but I’m VERY happy he’s doing it. That building needed the TLC.