TAKARA-SO COMPLEX BACK ON THE MARKET, THIS TIME WITH NEW UTH UPGRADE 
If you were thinking its purchase by a SoCal investment firm almost exactly 1 year ago meant the pseudo-Japanesee 1962 apartment complex at 1919 W. Main St. would be shielded from the evict-and-redevelop cycle for a few years, think again. Apartment Income Investors has put the Takara-So Apartments, which sit on most of the block surrounded by Hazard, W. Main, Colquitt, and McDuffie, back on the market — with a twist. Though on-site signs have not been changed, the complex is described as the Takara South Apartments in a sleek set of marketing materials produced by Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, the firm that’s marketing the 77-unit, 10-building, 1.22-acre property once owned by Allen Stanford. Why unload the storied complex now? So much has happened in a Montrose year: There’s that $2.05 million jump in the property’s tax appraisal. And maybe some profits to be made: Though no asking price is listed, included comps indicate the sellers are likely aiming for offers between $8 and $10.8 million. The purchase price was listed on company documents as $5.51 million. [LoopNet; previously on Swamplot]Â Photo: Newmark Grubb Knight Frank
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- Crow Holdings Capital Fund Buys 27 Industrial Buildings in Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth [Realty News Report]
- Toll Brothers Holding Grand Opening of Woodson’s Reserve off Grand Pkwy. Extension Project June 13-14 [HBJ]
- Heritage Home Builders Planning Apartments Near Texas Medical Center for Medical Tourists [HBJ]
- Aldi Opening Its 20th and 21st Houston Stores on May 14 at 10064 Almeda Genoa Rd. and 14130 FM 2100 [HBJ]
- Sneak Peek at Lawless, Opening on the Second Floor of the Rice Lofts This Month in Former Capitol Club [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- Austin Juice Bar Juiceland Set To Open Houston Location in the Heights at 3210 White Oak Dr. in August [Eater Houston]
- Galveston Residents Plan To Sue City Over Permit for Seawall Hotel [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Metro To Celebrate Opening of 2 New Light Rail Lines on May 23 with Free Ne-Yo Concert [MyFoxHouston]
- Brick Street View Shows Houston Built By Legos [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of Hardy Toll Rd.: Jan Buchholtz via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
How long can an old-timey Wabash Feed & Garden Store hold out on a totally transformed Washington Ave.? Until the 25,551-sq.-ft. site stretching between Birdsall and Malone gets snatched up. A new commercial listing for the property at 5701 Washington Ave. was posted recently by Boyd Commercial. (Wabash was the voted recipient of the Washington Ave. Award in the 2010 Swamplot Awards.)
- 5701 Washington Ave [Boyd Commercial]
Photo: Boyd Commercial
Feeding Time
Who’s been tagging the former Malloy’s Register Company building at the corner of Polk St. and St. Emanuel St. in East Downtown with Simpsons graffiti, an assortment of wheatpaste posters, and a TABC license application? The building’s future tenants, who bear the mysterious name The Secret Group. For now, The Secret Group has been arranging and promoting a series of comedy and music performances in various spots around town. But come November, the promoters plan to open up their own native bar, comedy club, and music venue in the building at 2101 Polk St.
El Barto Was Here
Neighbors and passers-by have been curious about the renovations taking place at the strip center at the corner of Lower Westheimer and Helena St., where the Hollywood Food & Cigars #3 convenience store at 202 Westheimer Rd. — and its neighbor Tejas Boots — kicked off a couple years ago. The building, once home to Baby Giant #2, has recently been painted a bright white; its sign has been denuded, and sidewalk reconstruction work is underway:
From Baby Giant to Mattress Pro?
The little windowless Montrose building across from the University of St. Thomas at the corner of Richmond and Mt. Vernon known as Talk of the Town III (pictured above as it appeared in 2011, shortly before much of it burned in a fatal fire) will soon join the ranks of the original Kirby Dr. Carrabba’s, Divino Italian Restaurant at 1830 West Alabama, and L’Olivier Restaurant and Bar at 240 Westheimer as yet another former Inner Loop adult bookstore turned legit non-porn restaurant. But it’ll be no staid European cuisine going into 1201 Richmond Ave. Former Brooklyn meatbrowner John Avila plans to open a barbecue joint in the building that incorporates a range of Texas food styles; he may or may not call it El Burro & the Bull. Culturemap’s Eric Sandler has a little fun describing the building’s repurposing: “Together with his wife Veronica, Avila plans to remodel the space to expose its original brick and to build a new kitchen and pit room onto the back of the structure. He’s already begun the process of pulling permits for the project and hopes to be open as soon as September.”
- Montrose makeover continues: Acclaimed BBQ pitmaster plans new restaurant in former porn shop [Culturemap]
Photo: ClutchFans poster juicystream
Talk of the Town
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
There’s a little piece of something for everyone. Real estate bounty.
- United Airlines, Houston Airport System To Break Ground on IAH’s New Terminal C North Concourse Today [HBJ]
- Archway Properties To Break Ground on 8-Story Spec Building at GeoSouthern Energy’s Wildwood Corporate Centre Campus in May [HBJ]
- Three Hughes Landing Office Building, Embassy Suites Simultaneously Top Out in Hughes Landing [HBJ]
- Home Sales To Begin in Village of Sawmill Lake, the Last Major Undeveloped Part of Sienna Plantation [HBJ]
- Darling Homes Built the Most Houses in The Woodlands Last Year with 85 New Home Sales [Prime Property]
- Stag Provisions Opening in the Former Buffalo Hardware Location in Upper Kirby/River Oaks on May 22 [Houstonia]
- What $325,000 Buys in and Around Houston Right Now [Houston Chronicle]
- Brazoria Residents Shoot Down $1.75M Bond Referendum That Would Have Funded a Christian-Themed Water Park [Houston Chronicle]
- I-45 Widening from 3 to 5 Lanes from Dixie Farm Rd. to Bay Area Blvd. To Offer Relief to Commuters, Beach-Goers by Late 2017 [Houston Chronicle]
- Metro To Debut New High-Tech Tools for Customers, Bus Routes in Fewer Than 100 Days [Click2Houston]
- Mapping Rice Village’s Lot and Street Parking Inventory [Kinder Institute for Urban Institute]
- Montgomery County Voters Reject More Than $350M in Proposed Road Bonds — Again [Houston Chronicle]
- League City Commuter Bus Service Connect Transit Working To Provide Service into Downtown Houston [Houston Public Media]
- Since 2014 More Than 6,600 Citizens Have Complained About Parking Meters to Houston’s 311 Hotline [KHOU]
- Unlike Other Cities, Houston Doesn’t Pay for Pothole Damage [KHOU]
- Galveston Tourism Reached New Highs in 2014 with 6M Visitors Who Spent More Than $723M [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- As EPA Pushes for Cleaner Air, Refineries Push Back [Houston Public Media]
- Volunteers on the Lookout on Galveston Beach for Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle Nests [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- The Most Energy-Efficient Home in Houston [MyFoxHouston]
Photo of former American Rice Growers storage silos: Jan Buchholtz via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
- 4919 Wigton Dr. [HAR]
Now we know why the Morgan Group, the developer that applied for a variance last year to allow for a Pearl on Smith apartment complex to fit onto the block surrounded by Elgin, Smith, Brazos, and Rosalie streets, later withdrew the request: To expand the project so that it could include a 40,000-sq.-ft. Whole Foods Market on its ground floor. And here’s a rendering of the design of the whole thing by Houston’s Ziegler Cooper Architects.
Pearl on Smith on Elgin
One advantage of tearing down the Pierce Elevated: Doing so would bolster the argument that the station that’s about to take over as Houston’s central post office — after the Barbara Jordan Post Office closes later this month — should be considered a part of Downtown. For now, though, Sam Houston Station (pictured at top) is pretty clearly in Midtown, at the corner of Hadley and LaBranch streets, across the street from the former VA building that now houses the La Branch Child Development Center. The address is 1500 Hadley St., and the Zip Code is still 77002, though USPS officials for some reason have confusingly labeled it 77005 in several recent notices. 77001 boxholders exiled from their longtime home at 401 Franklin St. Downtown (pictured directly above) took up residence here at the beginning of the month:
1500 Hadley St.
- Archway Properties To Break Ground Next Month on 8-Story, 200K-SF Spec Office Building 1 Mile North of ExxonMobil’s New North Houston Campus [Realty News Report]
- Oil Prices Have Bottomed Out, Limiting Potential Damage to Houston Economy, Says TIAA-CREF Economist [Houston Chronicle]
- Multiple Offers but No Purchase So Far of Historic Heights Theater on the Market for $1.9M [The Leader; previously on Swamplot]
- Tilman Fertitta Building 5 Private ‘Villa’ Suites at the San Luis Resort in Galveston; Will Open Early This Summer [Prime Property]
- Walter’s Downtown Raises $20K To Pay off Debt and Stay Open in 8 Days Through Indiegogo [Houston Public Media]
- Outlaw Dave’s Worldwide Headquarters at 6502 Washington Has Closed [Houston Press]
- Transform or Tear Down? 3 Ideas for What To Do with the Pierce Elevated If I-45 Gets Re-Routed [City Lab; previously on Swamplot]
- New $14.5M 2,200-Car ‘EcoPark II’ IAH Parking Lot Will Be Built on Current Site of Cell Phone Lot on Will Clayton Pkwy. [Houston Chronicle]
- Montgomery County To Vote Tomorrow on Bond Issue That Includes Proposed Woodlands Parkway Extension [Houston Public Media]
Photo of Buffalo Bayou: Swamplot inbox
Headlines
A couple of brick walls adjacent to the Lower Fifth Ward home of online retailer Spectrum Audio are now graced with a mural meant to pay tribute to an earlier Upper Fifth Ward audio enterprise. Peacock Records, founded in 1949 by Don Robey, captured recordings by Big Mama Thornton, James Booker, Little Richard, and other jazz and gospel artists at its studio at 2809 Erastus St. — now the home of Charity Baptist Church. A couple miles to the southwest at 3301 Cline St., artist Wiley Robertson painted a version of the record label’s Peacock logo — adjacent to another of his signature “Love” murals:
Sounds of the Fifth
