Search Results: skybar

Apartments
09/12/14 12:45pm

A Few Months After Completing Demolition of 3400 Montrose, Construction Crews Begin Building 3400 Montrose

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Highrises, Montrose, New Construction
19 Comments

3400-montrose-const-fence

3400-montrose-diggingConstruction appears to have begun on the site at 3400 Montrose Blvd., where a 30-story apartment tower by Hanover named 3400 Montrose will replace the 10-story 1953 office building formerly on the site. That building was named 3400 Montrose as well, but was also also referred to as “That building with the Skybar on the top floor,” or (later in its life) “Don’t walk along that sidewalk or you might get hit on the head by a limestone panel.” Demolition was completed this past spring. A reader sends Swamplot these views of the corner of Montrose and Hawthorne, where a wooden construction fence has recently gone up.

Photos: Swamplot inbox

3400 Montrose
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Demolitions
05/07/14 10:30am

The Art of Disappearance at 3400 Montrose

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Montrose, Redevelopment
14 Comments

Demolition of 3400 Montrose Blvd., Montrose, Houston

Demolition of 3400 Montrose Blvd., Montrose, HoustonIs it Houston’s own temporary Flatiron building? Or just a bunch of soon-to-be-flattened steel? Readers passing by the continuing takedown of the 61-year-old 10-story office building across from Kroger at the corner of Montrose Blvd. and Hawthorne St. that used to house Scott Gertner’s Skybar have been sending Swamplot their photo impressions of the scene, which has been changing — and disappearing — daily.

Here’s a bit of what a few Swamplot readers have seen and captured over the past week or 2:

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Skybar Takeaway
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Comments
03/11/14 2:00pm

Comment of the Day: Need More Bars High in the Sky

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Nightlife, Quicklink
8 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: NEED MORE BARS HIGH IN THE SKY Sky Bar“It’s amazing to me how many people appreciate what Cody’s Skybar offered Houston, while it never seemed to inspire imitators. It’s remarkable how a little elevation can lend so much atmosphere to a place in a flat city like Houston. Even when the weather was hot & humid. It was a delight to hang out on the outdoor patio and enjoy the view. . . .” [Guido, commenting on How the Montrose ‘Skybar’ Building Demo Is Going Down] Illustration: Lulu

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Featured Posts
01/14/14 11:00am

New 30-Story 3400 Montrose Tower Will Face Kroger, Show Montrose Blvd. Its Garage and Drive-Thru

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Uncategorized
44 Comments

Rendering of Proposed 30-Story Hanover Apartment Tower at 3400 Montrose, Montrose, Houston

The new 30-story apartment tower the Hanover Company is planning to replace the vacant 10-story office tower just south of the Kroger at Montrose and Hawthorne will hang back from the street that gives the new development its name. Renderings submitted to the city’s planning department in conjunction with a variance request for the development — labeled 3400 Montrose like its predecessor — show a structure set back approximately 30 ft. from Montrose Blvd., but hugging and favoring its Hawthorne St. side, where the views of the Kroger parking lot (if you look down from your new skypad) will be much better. The rendering above shows how the building’s Montrose Blvd. face should look, from a spot just south of the Walgreens drive-thru across the street.

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Hanover Looks North
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Buildings for Sale
04/04/13 2:00pm

What 3400 Montrose Looks Like Inside

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Commercial Real Estate, Interiors, Montrose, Office Buildings, Real Estate Investing, Real Estate Marketing
20 Comments

The only thing that’s really changed about 3400 Montrose, a tipster tells Swamplot, is the name of its owner: Global Paragon, which bought the former podium for Scott Gertner’s Skybar in 2011, went “belly up” this past November, the tipster says, and the vacant 10-story building’s now owned and managed by a 40-person LLC that’s looking for a buyer or a joint venture.

And that’s where these interior photos, from a short-on-info listing posted recently on Cushman & Wakefield’s website, come in:

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Commercial Real Estate
11/30/12 10:57am

Owner of 3400 Montrose Says It’s in Deep Financial Trouble

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Country Club Place, Mixed Use, Montrose, Office Buildings, Real Estate Investing
8 Comments

Those of you waiting with bated breath for the renovation, redevelopment, or removal of the 1950s-era office building at 3400 Montrose Blvd. (across Hawthorne St. from the Montrose Kroger): keep on bating. The company that bought the vacant 10-story building last September has told its 500 Israeli investors that its operations in Israel and Houston are both “in dire financial straits,” according to a report in Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

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Montrose
07/23/12 1:19pm

Redo Plans for the Office Building at 3400 Montrose Blvd.

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Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Renovations
30 Comments

Sure — you wanna hear the scoop behind this set of drawings showing the vacant and forlorn 10-story office building at 3400 Montrose Blvd. across Hawthorne St. from the Montrose Kroger transformed into a glassy white figure with real big numbers. Unfortunately, the tipster who sent these pix to Swamplot didn’t include additional info on any possible plans for the structure, which since last September has been the property of real estate firm Global Paragon. The rendering shows a building that’s jettisoned its distinctive limestone panels in favor of a more conventional office-building grid. Progress in that de-facing process began last fall. A watermark in the bottom right corner of the image reads “Lizard House, Inc.”

Images: Swamplot inbox

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Downtown
04/17/12 3:31pm

Scott Gertner’s Newest Sky Bar Is Now Going Up on Top of Houston Pavilions

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Nightlife
17 Comments

Looking down onto the roof of the couple-month-old Scott Gertner’s venue downtown, you can see the steel parts of the new rooftop bar soon to be made into a pavilion . . . atop Houston Pavilions. A reader sends this photo of the scene, taken from the Pavilions office tower. At the top left of the photo is the intersection of Fannin and Dallas:

The blue box area located in the middle of the set beams has been there since they started construction for roof access (It used to have the words “No Step” on it). We’ve seen construction workers go in and out of it since then. Most of this work was done last Friday and over the weekend. I’m guessing because of the steel beams they had to close off part of the street to crane it up there.

That’s a good guess, judging from this photo posted on the bar’s Facebook page on Sunday:

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Montrose
04/10/12 10:58am

Will 3400 Montrose Rise from the Dead?

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Office Buildings, Quicklink, Renovations
24 Comments

WILL 3400 MONTROSE RISE FROM THE DEAD? On assignment a couple of months ago to document the office building at 3400 Montrose that once housed Scott Gertner’s Skybar, photographer Patrick Bertolino wrote that the 10-story vacant structure across Hawthorne St. from Kroger reminded him “of what a building might look like after a zombie apocalypse, minus the zombies.” But, um, zombies always come back, don’t they? And now here’s a hint that something might be stirring: Workers were giving the parking structure behind the building a new coat of paint yesterday, reports Swamplot picture-snapper Candace Garcia. Photo evidence above. [Patrick Bertolino; previously on Swamplot] Photo of parking garage: Candace Garcia

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Montrose
02/02/11 12:02pm

Here’s Your Montrose Kroger, All Dressed Up

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Renovations, Retail
50 Comments

Here’s a rendering showing the future of the Kroger now under renovation at 3300 Montrose. The construction will be contained entirely within the store’s current footprint — though a 2,400 sq.-ft. mezzanine “lounge” will up the store’s interior space to more than 43,800 sq. ft. Kroger spokesperson Kristal Howard says the changes to the store will improve the layout and allow changes to the food offerings, including an increased emphasis on “perishables.” The design comes from Houston’s CDA Architects, the folks who brought you the Costco at Greenway Commons, the Kroger on West Gray, and that yellow Walgreens at the corner of T.C. Jester and W. 18th.

What about parking? Has Kroger had its eyes on the land under the derelict office building across Hawthorne St. at 3400 Montrose, which Scott Gertner’s Skybar left last year — followed by everyone else in the building? “We have not been in communication with any nearby properties concerning an expansion of our Montrose store,” Howard says.

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Commercial Real Estate
01/03/11 2:34pm

Everybody Out: The Ghost Town at 3400 Montrose

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Mixed Use, Montrose, Office Buildings, Openings and Closings, Public Safety, Retail
18 Comments

A reader tells Swamplot a sticker on the front door of the 10-story mixed-use building at 3400 Montrose notes the building is unsafe and does not have a working fire-alarm system:

They have gated off the garage and also all the first level tenants have now moved out. Any word on what is going on? Is the building being closed up? Torn down?

Renovated?

The building’s highest-profile (and -altitude) tenant, Scott Gertner’s Skybar, moved out over the summer, after complaining that the building’s new owner, a company out of Waco called FH Properties, wasn’t responding to maintenance concerns.

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Downtown
01/03/11 12:46pm

Books-A-Million Bailing out of Houston Pavilions

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Leasing, Malls, Openings and Closings, Retail
16 Comments

Update, 1/4: Reverse! Books-A-Million is gonna stay put.

Southeastern U.S. chain Books-A-Million has decided to close its Downtown Houston store on January 15th. The decision has left management of Houston Pavilions feeling rather put-out: Managers at the downtown mall reportedly had lowered the bookstore’s rent on the 2-story, approximately 23,000-sq.-ft. space facing the light rail line at 1201 Main St. to just $3,000 a month — in hopes the concession would prevent it from shutting down. A source insists the store “wasn’t a huge flop,” but says that the Katy Mills Mall Books-A-Million typically brought in more than 5 times the sales of the Downtown store — even though the 2 locations are about the same size.

Another factor that may have played a role in Books-A-Million’s decision to close: A pending lawsuit filed against the company after the location’s former manager reportedly kicked a man and his wheelchair-riding, apparently mentally disabled son out of the store. “At some point [the son] soiled himself and the [manager] took this as a vagrance and kicked them out. Needless to say the boy’s family were outraged,” a source tells Swamplot. The manager is no longer with the company, though reportedly for “unrelated” reasons.

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Comments
07/09/10 5:34pm

Comment of the Day: Holding Down the Fort at 3400 Montrose

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Montrose, Office Buildings, Openings and Closings, Quicklink
2 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOLDING DOWN THE FORT AT 3400 MONTROSE “The building has not been shut down, I am still renting there. They have not communicated any plans. It would make an excellent art studio building, and there is money in that- take Winter Street Studios as an example. Would also make great living spaces, but would require tremendous remodel. If you hear any clues about plans of owners, please post!” [Stoney, commenting on Scott Gertner’s Skybar Closing, May Take the Whole Building with It]

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Comments
07/01/10 6:33pm

Comment of the Day: A 3400 Montrose Blvd. Inspection Report

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Montrose, Office Buildings, Quicklink, Renovations
6 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: A 3400 MONTROSE BLVD. INSPECTION REPORT “I did due diligence on this building a few years ago for the prior owners (The Ali Brothers). It was in pretty bad shape back then. The chilled water system was byzantine and the egress (especially from the Skybar) was not anywhere near complying with code. The garage needed work and had headroom problems on the ramps. For re-purposing, 3400 Montrose actually laid out well into residential or a hotel. I thought that given the limited parking situtation that they should give the Skybar the boot and convert the building to rental apartments. The structural bay depths and the continuous glazing on each floor laid out nicely, and the garage was almost the perfect size for this. Of course the entire building would have to be gutted in the process to accomplish any major update to the building. I swore I would never go into the Skybar again when I saw how unsafe the egress would be in a fire.” [mt, commenting on Why Scott Gertner’s Skybar Is Leaving the Montrose Sky]

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