Headlines
03/15/18 8:30am

Tallying Up Harvey Damage in Fort Bend County; More Food Vendors Confirmed for Downtown’s Finn Hall

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Photo of Mattress Firm corral at RodeoHouston: Swamplot inbox

Headlines
Adaptive Reuse
03/14/18 4:45pm

Gibbs Boathouse Redo Will Welcome Restaurants, Retail, Deck Seating Aboard the Corner of W. Gray and Montrose

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The Oxberry Group is ready to rechristen the vacant Gibbs Boats building at 1110 W. Gray St. as Rêve at Montrose: a new, patio-fronting shopping center. The boat business shuttered in the 11,696-sq.-ft. warehouse building it had occupied for 56 years after selling off the last of its fleet in 2014.

Major changes slated for the building now include a takedown of its shed-roofed portion closest to Montrose Blvd. In place of that area, outdoor seating — shown above in the rendering from Tipps Architecture — will line the street. A clock tower planted between the existing 1- and 2-story parts of the building would be its new high point. And at the north end of Gibbs’ former lot — next to the U-Plumb-It hardware store — a 2,630-sq.-ft. retail add-on would take the place of a yard once used for boat work.

The site plan below shows the addition (colored red) jutting out and separating the pedestrian plaza from a driveway to the planned parking lot:

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Rêve at Montrose
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Bars and Clubs
03/14/18 11:45am

New Dog Boarding House Bar Signing Up for the Shuttered Shady Acres Liquor Store on W. 19th

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At least 4 different breeds are at play on the central lawn in front of Houston Dogbar & Boarding, but only humans are depicted with drinks in hand. Still, animals might be the ones that spend the most time in the new venue planned across from Hubcap Grill on W. 19th St.: preliminary permits filed for the project describe it as a “Dog Boarding House and Bar/Lounge.”

A pet reception area borders the park on its west side, opposite the bar:

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Booze and Hounds
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Headlines
03/14/18 8:30am

Two Houston Zip Codes Rank Among Country’s Most Gentrified; An Affordable Rental Shortage

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Photo of the University of St. Thomas: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
Comments
03/13/18 4:30pm

Comment of the Day: What’s Still Missing from the Top of the Central Square Plaza Redo

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COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT’S STILL MISSING FROM THE TOP OF THE CENTRAL SQUARE PLAZA REDO “After all the beautiful exterior enhancements, does Claremont plan to update and restore functionality of the enormous electronic retro clock on top of the building? The building now looks so nice. I can’t believe the clock sitting on top has not been restored, paint peeling off and not turned on, especially when it completes the whole retro-mod feel of the entire project.” [Unsure About This, commenting on Midtown’s Redone Central Square Plaza Looking To Lure Tenants to Its Empty Ground Floor] Photo of former Central Square Plaza clock: meltedplastic [license]

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Buying and Selling
03/13/18 3:30pm

There’s Now a Gap on 19th St. in the Heights Where That Open-Air Non-Building Once Stood

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The sheet metal façade backed by an assortment of shipping-container parts is now gone, and mountains of stuff have been removed from the longtime junk emporium at 317 W. 19th St. in the Heights, perhaps better known as the open-air building with a front but no roof that lent the shopping district its perhaps now diminished air of funk. The photo at top, sent Swamplot’s way by a flabbergasted reader, shows the now-vacant lot with everything removed. Below it, a rare aerial view from a few years ago reveals secret stashes maintained behind the lot’s corrugated streetfront.

But perhaps what you remember of this lot is different: a mysterious supply house behind whose shiny gate backdrops for hundreds of street scenes emerged over the years? Or a backdrop for fashion shoots?

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Junked
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Featured Posts
03/13/18 12:00pm

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

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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 that 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, 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 a nail salon and a fitness club:

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Body Shop to Body Shopping
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Headlines
03/13/18 8:30am

7800 Wash Ave Warehouse Transformation in Progress; Another Lawsuit for Arkema Chemical Plant

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Photo of Near Northside: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
Featured Posts
03/12/18 4:00pm

Midtown’s Redone Central Square Plaza Looking To Lure Tenants to Its Empty Ground Floor

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A building permit filed recently on the Central Square Plaza complex that takes up the block of Travis St. between Gray and Webster reveals Kraftsmen Coffee as the latest restaurant slated for the renovated tower’s empty ground floor. Work to install plumbing for the 1,768-sq.-ft. space that the owners of coffee shop plan to take over began last year.

The photo at top views the west portion of the building’s ground floor, which sits about halfway down the block on Gray St. and faces Milam. A parking garage is off-camera to the right. Around the corner — on the building’s north side — a TABC flyer for Malawi’s Pizza still hangs in the window of the empty storefront on Gray where it was originally posted back in 2016:

 

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Kraftsmen Coffee
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