COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHITE OAK’S WOULD-BE TALLEST BUILDING 
“So the robo-garage on White Oak will be ‘no taller than 75 ft.‘ ?” That’s about 5 or 6 stories, which is exceedingly tall in that particular location. It will certainly stick out, when no other building in the immediate area is even half that height.” [Donald (not that one), commenting on How Houston’s 2 Planned Robo-Parking Garages Compare in Size] Map showing proposed automated parking garage on White Oak Dr.: Centric Commercial
Sign up for the Newsletter
Tune Up: The Manly Salon got the city’s approval yesterday to start renovating the building shown above into the latest member of its barber-shop chain, now roughly 20-stores strong. Following those locations’ lead, the 626 W. 19th St. shop — next to the former Southern Goods — would appeal to guys by offering them free drinks and access to an arcade stocked with video and old-fashioned games while they wait to get groomed. Hair care services include standard cuts, beard trims, straight shaves, and eyebrow waxing. Perhaps less manly are the cosmetic offerings: manicures, pedicures, and a mani-pedi combo for 4 bucks less than the cost of the two combined.
Photo: LoopNet
Making the Cut
Today Swamplot is brought to you by The Classic, the new restaurant at 5922 Washington Ave, at the edge of Rice Military. Thanks for supporting this site!
With The Classic, Benjy Levit — the restaurateur behind Local Foods and Benjy’s — brings Houston a no-rush, no-fuss neighborhood spot that pivots neatly from brunch to date-night cachet. The Classic is a fresh American bistro perched just east of Memorial Park. You’ll find a touch of retro inside the light-filled interior.
The Classic’s all-day menu is wide-ranging. It features subtle flavors and techniques that have traveled across oceans and generations — including the family tables of the team behind the restaurant: Favorites from chef Mike Potowski’s Lithuanian heritage — and from the healthy ingenuity of chef Maria Gonzalez — are rolled into one unabashedly American bill of goods; there’s a little something for everyone.
Scout out The Classic’s menu and hours, reviews, pics of its interior and dishes, or make reservations on the restaurant website.
Let Swamplot readers know about your latest venture. Become a Sponsor of the Day.
Sponsor of the Day
AMERICA GARDENS DECLARES VICTORY FOLLOWING 2-MONTH CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN 
More than $230,000 have now been raised by online investors who pledged allegiance to the planned bar with their wallets over the summer. Although there had been some work at the property before the campaign kicked off in July, the developer Syn Hospitality claims it’s relying on the additional funds in order to really get down to business at the site on the corner of Caroline and McGowen in what it’s calling “East Midtown.” It plans to keep accepting money until November 15. [Previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Syn Hospitality
- $1B Natural Gas Power Plant Near Houston Gets Go-Ahead To Move Forward [HBJ]
- Closed Since Harvey, The Wortham Theater Center Has Reopened After $100M in Repairs [HBJ]
- Chelsea Market Tenants Must Vacate Their Spaces Before Building Is Town Down at the End of the Year [HBJ]
- Department Store Chain Gordmans Opening Nov. 1 in Both Humble and Spring Town Center [Houston Chronicle]
- Second Jonathan’s the Rub To Open in the Memorial Green Development Next Month [Culturemap]
- Commissioners Court Accepts $6.5M in FEMA Funds To Put Toward Creating New Floodmaps [Houston Chronicle]
- Pest Control Companies Seeing Big Increase in Rodents in Attics After Hurricane Harvey [abc13]
Photo of Cloud Column: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Here’s what we’re leaving behind:
- 15807 Seven Springs Dr. [HAR]
The building with a roof that’s bigger than its body at 3024 Houston Ave. is now slated to become a cafe operating under the name Uncle Bean’s Coffee Shop. The photo at top — posted to the venue’s fledgling Facebook page this morning views the structure from the west side of the road, just south of Alma St. Its most recent occupant: Mr. Details Hand Car Wash.
White paint hit the exterior sometime during the former tenant’s tenure, washing out the yellow splat marks that once graced its north and south sides:
Woodland Heights
Wooden siding now covers up all but a small portion of Shake Shack‘s coming store at 1002 Westheimer, in the spot where Burger King collapsed 2 months ago. The new coverings have the restaurant looking a little more like what’s shown in the rendering put out by the burger brand at the end of last month, right around the time that work started on its new building.
Here’s what progress looks like from the west, outside Blacksmith:
Beefing Up Westheimer
HOW HOUSTON’S 2 PLANNED ROBO-PARKING GARAGES COMPARE IN SIZE 
The one that’d go next to the proposed Railway Heights food hall will be bigger: 89-ft. tall with a roughly 18,000-sq.-ft. footprint, reports Nancy Sarnoff. A site plan for the development at Wash Ave and Hempstead previously indicated it’d hold 600 cars. The other high-tech garage — planned in place of the existing analog facility on White Oak Dr. next to Tacos A Go Go — is being designed for a third of that capacity: 200 vehicles, reports Sarnoff, would fit there in a structure “no taller than 75 ft.,” with a 6,500-sq.-ft. footprint. The same tech company —Â New Jersey-based U-tron — is behind both buildings, in cooperation with Chicago developer Easy Park. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Image: Centric Commercial
 
By its own count, Mattress Firm now has just over a dozen shops open inside the 610 Loop after closing its 202 Westheimer location next to the (also recently shuttered) Njoy Thai restaurant on Sunday. The full-strip store pictured above took over from Hollywood Food & Cigars #3 and its neighbor Tejas Boots under the name Mattress Pro 3 years ago before its parent retailer scrapped that pseudonym and rebranded all of its locations under the Mattress Firm moniker.
Over the last year, the chain’s shut down hundreds of stores — reports USA Today‘s Nathan Bomey, who echoes other murmurs that the retailer’s South African parent company Steinhoff could soon file for bankruptcy. And as the legal battle between Mattress Firm and a trio of brokers it says profited through reckless dealmaking continues to play out in court, the company’s been hit with another suit. In it, mattress brand Tempur-Pedic — which lost its contract to sell products in 3,300 Mattress Firms last year — alleges that the retailer’s “Therapedic“-branded product line is a copycat version of its own bedding and that gullible consumers will be “will inevitably be confused and harmed,” by the knockoffs.
Laid to Rest
- Hines Unloads WaterWall Place Apartment Complex After More Than 2 Years on the Market [HBJ ($)]
- Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages Breaks Ground on $250M Plant in Pinto Business Park [HBJ]
- Sienna Plantation Adding 3-Story Multifamily Rental Development [Realty News Report]
- California Chain Qwench Juice Bar Planning Heights, West Houston Locations [Eater Houston]
- Houston’s Fourth Hopdoddy Opening at CityCentre Next Month [Culturemap]
- Plans To Turn 1-Acre Lot at 1500 Fannin into Park Space Move Forward [abc13]
- Mayor Turner on Houston’s Post-Harvey Progress [Realty News Report]
- Harris County Property Tax Revenues Slow Post-Harvey [Houston Public Media]
- Mayor’s Office Looking for Ways to Keep ‘Robot Brothel’ Out of Houston [Houston Chronicle]
- Channelview Chemical Plant LyondellBasell Denies It’s the Source of Neighborhood Odor [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of path between Buffalo Bayou and Sawyer St.: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
A slow, easy mark.
- 829 14th Ave. N [HAR]
Note: This story has been updated.
Parts left over from the metal barn that Black Page Brewing leased out beside White Oak Bayou out a few years back are now lying in a heap next to a wooden skeleton that’s taken the demolished structure’s place. The deconstruction began last month according to neighbors who called 311 on August 31 to report that it was happening, potentially, they said, without the required permits. An inspector showed up the next day to check things out, one of several field trips the city would make to the planned brewpub’s digs at the end of Glen Park St. over the next few weeks in response to multiple follow-up calls from nearby residents.
By the time a demo permit did show up last Friday, the site had already been tagged twice by city officials: first for the premature teardown, and once again — as shown below — for additional unpermitted work:
Near Northside
