The building housing the Houston expansion of Austin’s J. Black’s at the southwest corner of Washington Ave and Heights Blvd. now bears a new for-info-please-call sign, a reader notes. The bar appears to have events planned through at least New Year’s Eve; the 5,948-sq.-ft. space was only listed online as up for lease about 2 weeks ago. Back before 2012, the property was home to Phil’s Texas Barbecue, for about the same amount of time as it took Phil himself to restaurantize the corner’s original muffler shop setup. And soon another corner at the intersection will be getting a full workover as well, if all goes as planned — J. Black’s sits across Heights Blvd. from the subsection of the Memorial Heights apartments slated to go away some time next quarter, to make way for that planned Midway midrise with the H-E-B at the bottom:
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Here’s the layout of the J. Black’s property as sketched out in the listing flier, including parking spaces and tree placements:
- 110 Heights Blvd. [LoopNet]
- Previously on Swamplot: The Leftovers at Phil’s Texas Barbecue; The Smoke Is Back at Washington and Heights, but It Smells a Little Different This Time; What’s Been Cooking for So Long at Phil’s Texas Barbecue; Openings and Closings: That Flood of New Establishments
Images: LoopNet (top photo and site plan); Swamplot inbox (second photo); Midway (Buffalo Heights midrise)
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You say the building is on the Southeast Corner, its actually the Southwest Corner – Memorial Heights Apartments is the Southeast Corner.
I lived in an apartment facing that building, through the open-roof, rebuilt roof days of the tire shop, the tin roof flying during Ike, Phil’s BBQ, and left in 2011. What they did to the place making it over was incredible (and the food at Phil’s was good too), just hope something else will grace that corner in the future.
Oops! Thanks for catching that, Michael — we’ve flipped it back where it oughta be!
I’ve never understood why this establishment is valet parking only….drives me nuts.
Walker, perhaps you can blame the City of Houston for that… before I moved into the city from Katy, I always protested the Valet service as well, and after about a year, I asked at a restaurant why they claim all the spots… I was told that the City of Houston will force them to use a Valet service if the business does not have enough parking spots. The city has some formula that businesses have to adhere to.
I guess someday Houston will figure out what New York, Chicago, San Francisco, etc., all have learned… that the people who want to visit those businesses will find a place to park, or method to get there, and if they don’t, the business will suffer, and make choices. In other words, let the market figure it out!