COMMENT OF THE DAY: MOVING ON FROM MONTROSE “You wouldn’t have expected that pioneers on the plains would’ve built teepees, would you? In the same vein, developers aren’t building $700k townhomes for the indigenous bohemians of Montrose (whom cannot afford them and often do not want them or see them as an affront to their being); the townhomes are built for the West U set. You must come to terms with the geographic displacement of your people and the natural resources that once provided for your subsistence. Resistance is futile, and would only be an impetus for conflicted political outcomes, and co-opted movements that veer into misanthropic endeavors. Prepare yourselves, and move to Houston’s eastern hinterlands. To remain on your sacred ground, your only alternative is to go back to school and get your MBA, so that you can adapt to the West U man’s strange ways and speak their tongue. But I think that you should go, and be with your people.” [TheNiche, commenting on Comment of the Day: The Origins of the FrankenTuscan Style]
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Tag: 77006
Is the corner of West Alabama and Dunlavy the busiest intersection in Inner Loop real estate right now? Two months after the opening of the new H-E-B Montrose Market on the former site of the Wilshire Village Apartments on the southwest corner of that intersection, and just a week after developer Marvy Finger’s official announcement of his plans to replace the Fiesta Food Mart on the southeast corner with a 6-to-8-story “Mediterranean” apartment building, there is a report that the 2 apartment complexes on the northeast corner may be next to fall. It may be a bit more than a rumor: While taking these photos yesterday, Swamplot’s Candace Garcia came across workers who appeared to be surveying the site. For what?
The rather plain-looking headquarters of the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater company at the corner of Dunlavy and Fairview is getting more than just a new coat of paint. The building at 2311 Dunlavy is slated for a redesign by another building tenant, DiNunzio Lifestyle Architecture, which will create a new entrance facing Fairview and add several new materials to the exterior. “It is going to really catch your eye when it’s done!” reads a note on the architecture firm’s Facebook page.
The local architecture firm responsible for designing the city’s new permitting center on Washington Ave (which is currently doing well in the voting for one of this year’s Swamplot Awards) and the San Antonio firm behind the recent Buffalo Speedway and Montrose H-E-B Markets will team up to design the 85,000-sq.-ft. Midtown building for the new Independent Arts Collaborative at 3400 Main St. between Holman and Francis St., the organization announced today. Earlier, Studio Red and Lake Flato Architects had been listed separately as finalists for the commission on the organization’s website.
The building — shown above in a concept drawing produced by Morris Architects, one of the finalists that did not get the job — will contain shared exhibit and performance space for several local arts groups, as well as rehearsal and workshop areas, classrooms, and offices. Houston’s city council agreed to sell the site — which served as a surface parking lot for the city’s previous permit office — to the brand-new arts organization last summer. Among the organizations listed as probable tenants of the new building: Fotofest, Diverseworks, the Houston Arts Alliance, Musiqa, Catastrophic Theater, the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, and Main St. Theater.
- Previously on Swamplot: Independent Arts Collaborative Buying Midtown Lot for New Main St. Arts Center
Rendering: Houston-Galveston Area Council
Dual’s pumpkin-head wheatpaster installation at the corner of Montrose and Westheimer, as of Halloween night. And then:
A stone panel from the 9th floor of the vacant 10-story 3400 Montrose office building crashed to the sidewalk over the weekend, according to a reader report. “Was at Starbucks [Saturday] morning and all was good. An hour later things had fallen apart,” Swamplot’s informant writes. One of the submitted photos shows a policeman looking up at the jumping-off point: a now blank dark space where a panel had been mounted, in the top left corner of the building’s Montrose Blvd. facade.
THE HOUSEWRAP RED CARPET TREATMENT 
“Tina McPherson, whose day job is as the supervisor of the William R. Jenkins Art and Architecture Library at U.H., . . . conducted interviews of arriving guests (pretty much anyone who came through) similar to those red-carpet interviews one might see on awards shows or celebrity-oriented shows. I’ve always thought it was weird how the backdrop to these interviews would be wallpaper printed with copies of corporate and/or product logos. iPageant parodied this tendency by putting up Tyvek, the super-strong water-proof paper that home builders use to cover the wooden balloon framing of modern houses. Tyvek has its logo printed in a regular pattern, making Tyvek paper perfect for a red-carpet backdrop. McPherson treated everyone who came in as if they were a celebrity, whose answers to her repetitious questions were actually worth hearing. This went out live on the closed-circuit feed.” — Robert Boyd, describing artist Dennis Harper‘s homey one-night performance last month at The Joanna, across the street from the Menil Collection’s Byzantine Fresco Chapel. [The Great God Pan Is Dead] Photo: The Joanna
Part of the $50 million plan to turn the banks of Buffalo Bayou west of Downtown from Sabine St. to Shepherd Dr. into a single, continuous linear park: a new entry plaza on Sabine St. at the city waterworks station (near the skatepark, above), a small lake at the end of Dunlavy St., and 3 new pedestrian bridges. One of the bridges is planned for a site just east of Shepherd; another across from the police officer memorial; and the third at Jackson Hill St. Also: lighting, new water features, public art, renovated trails, and a dog park. A separate, $5 million project funded and run by the Harris County Flood Control District will attempt to return the bayou to a more “natural” configuration — by removing sediment and invasive plants and building in bluffs, sandbars, high and low banks, possibly some additional twists and turns, and other more genuinely bayou-ish features. Here’s a plan of the whole thing (turned sideways to fit):
A new 6-story apartment building is being planned for the now-cleared Midtown block surrounded by Elgin, Smith, Rosalie, and Louisiana streets — one block north of the Calais at Courtland Square apartment complex and a block west of High Fashion Fabrics. A variance request for the 147-unit building doesn’t name the developer or show any renderings, but indicates that the bottom 2 stories of the building will consist of a parking garage, topped by 4 floors of apartments wrapped around an interior courtyard.
That’s similar to the configuration of some sections of the Calais — notably the dramatic arched streetfront along Smith St. (shown in the photo above), which contributes a dynamic tableau of headlights, bumpers, license plates, and the occasional hood ornament to passersby at street level. (The view changes daily.) The developers of this new apartment building are looking to recreate some of that Calais streetside magic, according to the variance:
Legacy Community Health Services’ Montrose Clinic building opened last month at 1415 California St., consolidating in its new site the operations of 3 previous locations. The 40,000-sq.-ft. facility provides primary health care services, as well as a dental clinic, pediatric care, optometrists, adult behavior health services, HIV and AIDS treatment facilities, a gym, and — yes — a ground-floor Walgreens pharmacy, all under one flat roof.
Opponents of the 8-month-old Montrose Management District are now claiming they have collected enough signatures to dissolve the entity. Created in February from the combination of the East Montrose Management District and the recently established Harris Country Improvement District No. 11, the new district is one of several such organizations given taxing authority by the state legislature; its assessments and security, business development, transportation, and visual improvement projects are aimed at the approximately 1,400 commercial and multifamily properties in the area bounded roughly by Shepherd, West Dallas, Taft St. and Spur 527, and the Southwest Fwy. (also included: a small portion of the Museum District east of Boulevard Oaks). Stop the District organizers say creation of the district required the signatures of only 25 property owners, but that their dissolution petition has been signed by property owners representing more than 75 percent of the property value in the area.
- The Origins of the District [Stop the District]
- Service and Assessment Plan [Montrose District]
RICHMOND FROM LUCKY BURGER TO THE HARP, READY FOR SOMETHING 
New owners of a 50,000-sq.-ft. site at the southwest corner of Richmond and Mandell in Montrose, which includes Lucky Burger, The Harp Irish Pub, Maria Selma’s Mexican Restaurant, and Orange Bar: a partnership controlled by Braun Enterprises — the same group that bought the former Harold’s in the Heights clothing store last month. Space in the retail buildings totals more than 11,000 sq. ft. Braun tells reporter Katherine Feser his group plans to hold onto the property for now but imagines some new retail development could take place next. Leases for all 4 properties expire in 2014. [Houston Chronicle] Photo: Braun Enterprises
The restaurant dog ban is over. Ziggy’s Bar + Grill at 302 Fairview in Montrose, one of the first establishments to get involved in the Paws on Patios campaign begun last year, was the recipient last week of the first-ever city of Houston dogs-on-patios permit. Establishments that want to follow suit will need to maintain a separate self-closing doggie entrance gate to the patio, labeled with a sign identifying it as a “dog friendly patio”; keep hand sanitizer and disposable water bowls available; keep the patio free of visible “dog hair, dog dander, and other dog-related waste or debris”; and make sure restaurant personnel don’t pet or serve any four-legged customers. Owners are supposed to keep their pets on leashes and away from the tableware.
- Paws on Patios success: Ziggy’s is first to get restaurant variance [A Pets Chronicle]
- Montrose restaurant gets first dogs-on-patio city permit [Houston Chronicle]
- Dogs to be allowed on restaurant patios [abc13]
Photo: Paws on Patios
Note: Story updated and corrected.
The Post Oak School’s brand-new Montessori high school will open next year in the former Party Cloths building at 1102 Autrey St., just west of Montrose Blvd. at the edge of the Southwest Freeway. The single-story building, which dates from 1975 and sits on a third-of-an-acre lot, was purchased recently after a year-long search for a Museum District location; Post Oak High School officials announced the deal and the campus address this morning. The private school plans to spend $700,000 renovating the 6,000-sq.-ft. linen-service company building, and begin the 2012-2013 school year with a 9th grade class and maybe a 10th grade class of about 20 students each.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A MONTROSE THANKSGIVING “Can’t we just all get along? Maybe she could, before the next big game, take over a welcome wagon basket with several cases of Smirnoff Ice and some back issues of Big Black Butt. Perhaps add in some other niche publications in case BBB isn’t their style. Kind of like the Native Americans showing the pilgrims how to plant corn and eat oysters – maybe they just don’t know the neighborhood traditions, but will be grateful for the help acclimating. It could make football games infinitely more enjoyable for them, and she’d have people to hose off once again. In the meantime, maybe HIWI can add another few images to their plague series, which currently . . . includes things like the heat, humidity, roaches, mosquitos, traffic. Big, oblivious families in SUVs, annoyed Inner Loopers frowning at lot-line houses, displaced residents of gentrifying neighborhoods, yet all of us still living here because even with all of the real estate angst, Houston is STILL worth it.” [Andrea, commenting on What Really Makes It All Worthwhile]