Post-Retirement Plan for Montalbano Tire: Restaurant, Retail, Offices

Here’s what’s expected to park in the garage at Montalbano Tire and Auto Service after the business shuts down next week: a restaurant or 2, retailers, and office tenants. Kaldis Development Interests purchased the .81-acre property at 1302 Houston Ave in mid-October and plans to renovate it before reopening it as a 15,000-sq.-ft. retail-and-office center.

On the Houston Ave front (see top drawing), windows would be fitted into the building’s current garage bays, with a restaurant patio facing the street at the northern end. On the south side, the metal structure facing Dart St. would be punctured with new window bays as well as doors for individual storefronts.

According to the site plan for the proposed new development (below) 7 head-in parking spaces off of Houston Ave would remain after the redo:

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44 additional spots would be fitted into space along the building’s south side, behind the building to the east, and on a couple of adjacent lots facing Edwards St. to the northeast where 2 homes now stand.

Images: Kaldis Development Interests/Kashou Architecture/BEGA Design+Construction

First Ward Redo

6 Comment

  • NAW! He ain’t doing that! This was a great place. Their prices were high but you get what you pay for man. Guy had master mechanics. Anyways, Montalbano family has a lock on that area of houston. They got the lumber too. Who do you think will win the super bowl? Pfffft.

    Thanks!

  • I just screamed out loud NOOOOOOOO!!!!

    I moved away from Houston a few years ago, so had no idea that Montalbano Tire had closed. These guys were among the most trustworthy repair people I’ve ever worked with, bar none. I mean, once Tony Montalbano called me a few days after I’d picked up my car, just to check and see if everything was ok. Who does that?

    They’ll be missed.

  • All of the really cool old school businesses are closing / have closed. Sad but time marches on. It’s inevitable things change. The levels of service and the people delivering that service will be missed the most.

  • And two more homes are being sacrificed for parking, because why would anyone in the neighborhood need a place to live?

  • There is a cool house on Edwards that is in between the two that are being demo-ed and Houston Avenue, it would have been too expensive for the developer to buy. That house will effectively be wrapped by commercial parking now. That sucks, but I guess that is why you buy somewhere there are deed restrictions.

  • Of course we’re knocking down houses to provide parking. The city would rather have surface parking taxable at $40/s.f. of land than, say townhouses taxable at $200/s.f. of land. Or, heaven forfend, retail that, in addition to property tax, would generate sales tax revenue as well.