The old Vargo’s Restaurant, a lakeside steak house and wedding venue nestled between Piney Point Village and the Westheimer strip for 47 years, was torn down in May of 2013. Its replacement at 2411 Fondren Rd., a 5-story apartment complex, keeps the name (minus the apostrophe) and the lake, and maybe a peacock or 2 by the pool for photo ops. After 17 months of construction, Vargos on the Lake is ready for a grand opening shindig next Thursday followed by open houses the next couple of days.
Here’s a site plan of the revamped grounds, showing how the 276-unit apartment building (of 1- and 2- bedroom units) and 13 townhomes (all 3-bedrooms) have been arrayed around the lake:
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- The New Vargos [Vargos on the Lake]
- Previously on Swamplot: No Longer So Possessive: The Vargos Apartments Replacing Vargo’s Restaurant; Replacing Vargo’s Restaurant with Vargo’s Apartments; The Messy End of Vargo’s Restaurant
Photos and site plan: Vargos on the Lake
Apartment Openings
Me and that @&#ing peacock are like Peter Griffin and the Giant Chicken. He keeps getting in the street in front of my car.
Wow, talk about fancy.
Nice grounds but that apartment building looks dated and cheap.
i wonder how many of the abandoned peacocks made it? :(
Many of the peacocks are still around, in locations well away from Vargo’s. I heard one screaming just the other day near the Dairy Ashford crossing over Buffalo Bayou.
I hope the complex looks like that all the way around. In the state of Houston apartment-building 2015 there is nothing more depressing than finding out that the back side of a fancy apartment complex suddenly looks like random wooden apartments from 1980s suburbia.
Additional peacock groups: in the Rivercrest subdivision 77042 – approximately 1 block West of Gessner, North of Westheimer Rd., – on the south ends of E.Rivercrest & W. Rivercrest. Access from Briar Forest Blvd. one light north of Westheimer , use Gessner -as access is blocked @ Westheimer ; Also on the East side of Austin st. , just North of Rosedale st., 77004 ( north of the Children’s Museum ,in the Binz District ). Also, East of Dairy Ashford, North of Briar Forest Dr- there are lakes tucked into Ashford Forest subdivision and there’s a flock of Pea Fowl aka Peacocks. I sued to live in far North Harris County – near Hooks Airport on 100 acres,which had 12 peacocks- 1 female and 11 males. The mating ritual is hilarious.
wild about the peacocks! thanks to all who posted!
The peafowl may be making their way down the Buffalo Bayou corridor. There is a lone male who lives around Crestwood, south of Memorial Drive. He’s been there for about a year now.