EATSIE BOYS TAKING OVER KRAFTSMEN CAFE SPACE IN MONTROSE 
The end of the month will mark the end of a 10-year run for the cafe run by Kraftsmen Bakery in the small enclave of eateries carved out of the former Church of Christ building at 4100 Montrose, just north of Richmond. But Eater Houston reports Scott Tycer’s bakery operation plans to keep its Heights cafe and open an additional location within the next few months. Meanwhile, moving into the space next to the Black Lab, beginning in June: the first non-mobile location for the Eatsie Boys. Ryan Soroka and Matt Marcus say they’ll keep their original food truck available for private events, but otherwise will keep it parked outside Agora on Westheimer or their not-yet-opened 8th Wonder Brewery in East Downtown. Their new Montrose cafe will add pastries and coffee to the food truck’s sandwiches-and-ice-cream mix. [Eater Houston] Photo: Emily Duff
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Tag: 77006
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE RARE MONTROSE BLOCK “Whatever happens to this property will be of little consequence to the rest of Westhiemer in Montrose. As noted above, this lot is a rare bird for Westheimer as, with the exception of the JITBox pad, it encompasses the entire block. Almost very other lot from Shep to midtown on Westheimer is split with residential lots behind the commercial lots that front Westheimer. Unless you can buy out a block of single family homeowners, you will never have another chance to build on a complete block like on this lot. Thus, whether it is a high rise, mid rise, or low rise mixed use or Walmart, it will not mean that the rest of the neighborhood will be likely to follow suit. I do not think that a high rise will go in because the capital markets are still risk adverse and would prefer something that will go up faster and provide a safer and faster return. Look for another 4-6 story apartment complex, hopefully with some ground floor retail. If the JITBox is an issue, it may end up staying a strip mall. There are plenty of people in town who could make a quick buck by sprucing it up and filling it with the usual junk. This is Houston afterall. Expect the worst, hope for something slightly better.” [Old School, commenting on Big Block on the Corner of Westheimer and Montrose Goes Up for Sale]
A reader sends in this pic showing the construction going on at the former Knights of Columbus building at the corner of Dennis and Louisiana streets in Midtown. Moving into the space formerly occupied by Ruby Tequila’s Mexican Kitchen, next to Bar Munich: the first Houston location of Gloria’s, a chain of Salvadorian-style Tex Mex restaurants based in Dallas. Yes, Gloria’s is the same chain that announced last year it would be purchasing the Westheimer spot long held by Ruggles Grill. But that didn’t happen; instead, Ruggles owner Bruce Molzan sold the spot to someone else and eventually shut down his restaurant entirely.
- About Us [Gloria’s Restaurants]
- The Dallas restaurant invasion heats up: MILF-loved Tex-Mex heading to Midtown [Culturemap]
- Previously on Swamplot: Ruggles Grill on Westheimer: Gloria’s Got Your Number
Photo: Swamplot inbox
The real-estate fund that’s owned the half-vacant strip center at the southwest corner of Westheimer and Montrose for the last 4 years has put the entire 2.86-acre block up for sale. On the site now: Half Price Books, Spec’s Liquors, Papa John’s Pizza, and the 3-6-9 China Bistro in a stuccoed-over 41,838-sq.-ft. building once known as the Tower Community Center (to match the Tower Theater, now home to El Real Tex-Mex, across the street). Also included: the standalone Jack-in-the-Box on the corner of Montrose and Lovett. No list price, but broker HFF is indicating “price guidance” of $10 million or higher.
The Art Deco building still lurking beneath was designed by architect Joseph Finger in 1937, 2 years before he completed work for Houston’s city hall. Here’s how the shopping center looked then-ish, with a Walgreens on the corner of Yoakum St.:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE LURE OF THE NOT SO COMPLEX APARTMENT “I’ve personally lived in all types of Montrose apartments — funky one-bedrooms, duplexes, town homes, and anthills. While the charm is nice, the real amenity older stock apartments offer is proximity to the street. Many of the big complexes are difficult to navigate and make it almost impossible for visitors to get to you. I would gladly live in a big complex if it took the same amount of time to get from my door to the street as my current place.” [paulbtucker, commenting on Comment of the Day: Funky Montrose Apartments Are in High Demand]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FUNKY MONTROSE APARTMENTS ARE IN HIGH DEMAND “Here’s what I am seeing in Montrose this year and last year: Every nice garage apartment, side-by-side duplex, fourplex, etc brings on multiple applicants. (Sometimes renting for more than the stated price.) With several to choose from, the Landlord’s pick will have excellent credit and high income — a lot higher than you would expect for say a garage apartment. These tenants could afford to live in those shiny new apartment complexes. Easily. But they don’t want to. They want to live in the neighborhood, on a residential street. This doesn’t apply to every tenant — obviously there are more who want to live in the beehive. But the demand for funky old Montrose housing isn’t diminishing — It is tighter than ever.” [Harold Mandell, commenting on The Coming Flood of New River Oaks-Area Apartments in Montrose]
THE COMING FLOOD OF NEW RIVER OAKS-AREA APARTMENTS IN MONTROSE Some local stats from research firm Axiometrics: 32 new apartment properties, holding a total of 8,700 units, are currently under construction in Houston. Of that total, 15 of them — accounting for 4,300 apartments — are in the “Montrose-River Oaks” area. Occupancy rates for similar existing properties in the same neighborhoods are currently in the mid-90-percent range; rents have been increasing at an annual rate of 9.1 percent as of January. [Real Estate Bisnow]
A mere four-and-a-half years after it first announced the project, Atlanta REIT Post Properties says it’s just about ready to begin construction on a somewhat revised 5-story, 242-unit apartment building on Richmond Ave, just west of the Downtown Spur. The latest First Montrose Commons Newsletter features these black-and-white images of the project, along with a few more details that were announced to the neighborhood organization last month. Unlike the Post Midtown, this building on the 5-sided block surrounded by Richmond, Jack, Colquitt, Garrott, and Milam won’t include any retail space. A parking garage tucked into the structure will have 1 1/2 spaces per bedroom and point driveways toward Richmond and Colquitt. The Wheeler light-rail station sits 3 blocks east of the construction site, on the other side of Spur 527.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: BUT A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR WILL HELP THE HISTORY GO DOWN “If you won’t drink coffee at the former Mary’s building, then you probably don’t want to know what went on at The Empire Cafe, when it was known as The Locker.” [Darogr, commenting on Restored Mary’s Mural on Westheimer Painted Over Again]
Hey, wasn’t that mural on the side of the former Mary’s bar recreated with great effort just last year? As of last night, it’s been covered over — except for a bit of blue painting tape that’s allowing the red border underneath to reappear. What happened?
UNDERBELLY AND THE HAY MERCHANT GOING WHOLE HOG TOGETHER 
Co-owner Bobby Heugel tells Amber Ambrose the craft beer bar he’s been carving out of the former Chances space at the corner of Westheimer and Waugh and the meat palace built from scratch next door for former Catalan chef Chris Shepherd will be attached but operate separately: “For the sake of efficiency and competitive pricing, the one area shared by both Underbelly and the Hay Merchant is the butchering room, with its massive double doors that can accommodate an entire cow, pig or other large animal. Certain cuts suited more for the restaurant’s menu will go into the kitchen at Underbelly and the remaining trim that make up the creative pub menu of dishes like burgers, sweetbread po’boys and crispy sweet and sour pig’s ears inside The Hay Merchant will go next door, although we suspect there will be plenty of sweetbreads and pig’s ears on Underbelly’s menu at times too. Otherwise, the two businesses are taking great pains to keep their identities separate, even going as far as banning employees of each from stepping foot into the other while they’re on the clock.” [Eater Houston] Photo: Candace Garcia
Here’s a scheme for the Independent Arts Collaborative building in Midtown that won’t get built. It’s one of at least 2 concepts developed for the block bounded by Main, Travis, Francis, and Holman streets by Morris Architects — the same firm that had earlier put together the first round of “initial concept drawings” for the IAC center, helping the fledgling arts organization sell the concept to city officials and local arts groups. What’s the big idea here? An inverted yurt. Filled with people and art. A garden and light on top. Like so:
Wait — haven’t we already seen “initial concept drawings” for the Independent Arts Collaborative building planned for the corner of Main and Holman in Midtown? Well, yeah, but those initial concept drawings were prepared by Morris Architects as part of a study just to sell folks on the idea. Since then, the IAC bought the former city parking lot at 3400 Main St. and Morris lost out on the actual commission to a mix-in combo of San Antonio’s Lake Flato Architects (best known in town, strangely enough, for 2 inner-loop grocery stores they’ve designed for H-E-B) and Houston’s own Studio Red (fresh from its work on the renovation of an old Downtown warehouse into the new Houston Permitting Center). So we’ve got a whole new batch of initial concept drawings to look through, this time from the building’s actual architects.
Shunning the typical secrecy surrounding not-ready-yet designs, the new arts organization has decided to show them off on its Facebook page — even before floor plans are ready — with a simple “let us know what you think.” What a concept!
Do you remember the MuffinMan? Or maybe you’ve been trying hard to forget it? Well, the home of “the greatest penis shaped muffin restaurant Houston [ever?] had” — aka the yellow 1940 American foursquare at 2310 Converse St. just north of Fairview — is now in foreclosure and was listed for sale last week. Sadly, the listing photos show almost no signs of those few whirlwind months in the fall of 2010 when would-be restaurateur Jason Perry operated a notable Montrose after-hours spot on the premises — without bothering to obtain any of the necessary city or state permits. No signs, that is, except for that painted “Muffin Man” insignia still emblazoned on the front of the home’s upper story.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE DEATH OF COOL “The FrankenTuscan style is a bit like a normalizing virus looking for a healthy, vibrant, diverse host. When countercultures build up and make cool certain neighborhoods, they are seen by developers as suddenly desirable, so the developers move in, hoping to capitalize on this cool authenticity. But rather than succumbing to the local conditions of Montrose, for instance (tattoo parlors and halfway houses and comic book stores and so on) they put a veneer of normalcy over it. Make it safe enough that yuppies with slight aspirations toward hipsterism can understand and participate. These developers market a lifestyle just cool enough that the West U set will move in, but not so cool that it veers into rebellious anti-establishment cool. As a result, what’s great and exciting about these progressive neighborhoods becomes slowly watered down, normalized, made monocultural again. This virus seeks sameness–it seeks to flatten any bumps, to smooth out any rough edges. It is insidious and impossible to resist. Montrose will FrankenTuscanified, whether we like it or not. As every cool neighborhood in the history of the world has been. . . .” [MJ, commenting on Comment of the Day: Moving on from Montrose]