Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:
Not sure the “answers” readers provided for this week’s Street Sleuths feature were satisfying enough to merit a summary post, but it’s nice at least to have another excuse to run Jason Tinder’s dramatic photo showing the end of the Komart Marketplace. Here’s what we, uh, “learned”:
- Spring Branch: So yes, Tinder now does have some “clues” that might help him figure out what’s going on with the Gessner Place Shopping Center on the west side of Gessner just north of I-10, and the remains of Komart. The property is owned by MetroNational, but any redevelopment schemes the company is hatching from its Death Star overlook remain a mystery. Harmonica adds another tidbit to the Memorial City Mall area rumor mill:
I also understand that they own the center on the other side of Kingsride from the professional building on the South side of 10 and have not been renewing leases.
In this photo, the Death Star surveys its vanquished foe:
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Next up:
- Midtown: So, uh, yes, the developer who planted a new sign on the surface parking lot on West Alabama between Travis and Main appears to have a medical complex, and is looking for investors to help him cure it. If any of y’all wanna call the number and get the scoop, let us know.
- Montrose: The redevelopment rumor about the strip center on the south side of Westheimer at Montrose anchored by Half Price Books at one end and Blockbuster’s ghost on the other was met with — more rumors! The juiciest, from mt:
I was told that the corner of westheimer and montrose is under a long term ground lease by HEB. They are banking the land to keep anyone else from locating there, and to box in the Kroger next door.
We’ll post the next set of reader questions on Tuesday. Send us what you’ve got before then!
Photos: Jason Tinder (Komart and strip center demo; licenses); Candace Garcia (West Alabama); Swamplot inbox (Westheimer center)
The Komart Marketplace demo picture is vaguely… apocalyptic-looking. I like it!
Perhaps Metro National’s Death Star will be accompanied by an LED light bridge resembling the St Louis Archway connecting the north and south sides of I10 . . . Or, some other work of art created by Gertrude Barnstone . . . something that really would make the Memorial City complex stand out in the Houston metroplex.
Metro National owns most of the land around Memorial City. Their interests include apartment complexes, office buildings and retail locations. They started buying the various tracts before they purchased Memorial City Mall. The Memorial City District as the area is now known includes property on the north and south sides of I-10. Metro National is not even close to being finished with their plans for this neighborhood. The mall is going to be converted at some point to a street scape. If you drive by the side where Lord and Taylor’s (Mervyn’s) store was torn down you can see the attempt they have made to turn the mall inside out. The drawings I have seen look like a version of what we have seen at First Colony or The Woodlands Mall.