Tag: 77007

Development Strategies
07/28/10 1:58pm

West End Walmart: The Changing of the Signs

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Proposed Developments, West End
59 Comments

Signs have been going up and coming down around the West End site Walmart is reportedly buying. Yesterday, Swamplot reported that signs posted over the weekend across from Koehler St. on Yale had been taken down, though a representative of the planning firm hired for the project told blogger Nicholas Urbano, who’s been protesting the development, that the removal had been a mistake and that the signs would be back up soon. They are up now, Urbano reports. But the two other signs surrounding the Walmart site (for the replatting of a portion of the Houston Heights Addition, shown above) have been removed. Another member of the “Stop the Heights Wal-Mart!” group reported on the group’s Facebook page that an engineer he encountered on the property told him that Ainbinder Company would now be “looking to present this a different way” at the August 5th planning commission meeting.

The Yale St. variance sign, now back up:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Development Stategies
07/28/10 11:41am

City Tax Incentives To Help Walmart Build in the West End?

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Proposed Developments, Quicklink, West End
37 Comments

CITY TAX INCENTIVES TO HELP WALMART BUILD IN THE WEST END? Mayor Parker tells the Houston Press‘s Christopher Patronella Jr. that the city has been discussing the possibility of a tax-incentive agreement with the developer of the 25-acre site off Yale St. in the West End — where Walmart is planning to build a new store: “‘The city is not negotiating with [Walmart]. However, there are ongoing conversations with the developer regarding a 380 Agreement, which allows for the dedication of future tax revenues from a qualifying project to be used as reimbursement to the developer for necessary infrastructure improvements. 380 Agreements are authorized under state law and have been used previously by the city. This is still not a done deal.’ The 380 agreements, as established by the Texas Local Government Code, authorize cities to refund a portion of projected sales-tax income over a period of time. From Jan 1, 2000 to May 21, 2008, according to the City of Austin’s peer city comparison of economic development agreements, Houston has among the lowest number of such agreements with 11, next to Austin with 7. San Antonio is next in line with 43 and Dallas and Fort Worth with a combined 85. City spokesperson Janice Evans told Hair Balls that the city generally considers projects that are at least $25 million, require substantial new public infrastructure and create a measurable number of new jobs, for the 380 agreements. “The major project that I can point you to that utilized these same concepts is the planned [Regent Square] redevelopment of the former Allen House site. That project will eventually be a $750 million investment.'” [Hair Balls; previously on Swamplot]

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Proposed Developments
07/27/10 8:05am

The West End Walmart and the Disappearing Variance

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Retail, Signage, Streets, West End
23 Comments

Will construction of a new Walmart off Yale St. just south of I-10 and the Heights require any variances from the Planning Commission? This sign appeared over the weekend across the street from where Koehler St. ends at Yale, just south of Dirt Bar. It appears to refer to the proposed extension of Koehler St. to Heights Blvd. shown on the Ainbinder Company site plan for the property. That’s not for the portion of the property Walmart will be occupying, but for an adjacent tract.

By Sunday night, though, the sign had been taken down. According to Kent Marsh of planning firm Marsh Darcy Partners, it was removed “erroneously” and should be reinstalled soon. Meanwhile, a separate set of signs are up along Koehler and on the other side of Yale, closer to where the Walmart is likely to go. But they appear to be for the Yale St. pad sites in the Ainbinder plan. And they aren’t for variances:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Bellaire
07/26/10 1:56pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Just Needed a Coat of Paint

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Downtown, Homes for Sale, New Construction: Residential, Signage, Townhomes, Washington Corridor
1 Comment

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:

We’ve got some answers to your questions:

  • Downtown: The mystery of the missing Houston Pavilions signs (shown — or rather, not shown — above) is solved . . . in rather unexciting fashion. The development’s management office explains the lettering is being painted, and should be reinstalled in short order.
  • Bellaire: Noting that other lots just west of Bellaire High School have a similar shape and size, subprimelandguy provides a matter-of-fact explanation for the triple-deep lots on the south side of Maple St.:

    Mimosa (and the adjacent smaller lots on the south side of Maple) ends short of the Loop simply because that was the edge of the Bellaire Oaks subdivision when it was developed in the 50’s. The larger lots are in a different subdivision likely developed by a different developer, and of course at that time the Loop didn’t exist for Mimosa to extend out to.

    None of you took the bait on the reader’s second question: Should a triple-size lot always command a triple-size price?

And what about that monument to eternal redevelopment at the corner of Washington and Jackson Hill?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Bellaire
07/20/10 6:11pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: The Case of the Missing Houston Pavilions Signs

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Downtown, New Construction: Residential, Signage, Townhomes, Washington Corridor
8 Comments

Got an answer to any of these reader questions? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Here’s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.

  • Downtown: A reader wants to know why the backlit signage that used to be attached to those fancy Houston Pavilions multi-story hole-in-the-middle bridges over Fannin and San Jacinto streets Downtown is — gone! “You can see the remains of little black studs that supported the letters. Probably not a big deal at all, just something I noticed the last couple of trips [and] thought I would share.”
  • Bellaire: From just outside the Loop, we have interest in the “extremely long residential lots” on the south side of Maple St., just east of S. Rice Blvd. (Map here.) Each property, bounded by a storm drain to the south, is the equivalent of 3 lots deep, a curious reader notes. And asks: “1) Why does Mimosa end before W. Loop? 2) Is a triple lot property 3x the value of single lot? What shapes their value?”

One more puzzle for you to solve:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Buildings for Sale
07/19/10 1:33pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Last Chances

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Commercial Real Estate, Montrose, New Construction, Nightlife, Washington Corridor
No Comments

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:

Some odds and ends to tie up from last week:

  • Montrose: “Let’s just say business has not been getting stronger,” Chances Bar co-owner Anne Vastakis tells Houston Press reporter Richard Connelly, who followed up on Swamplot’s hot tip from last week. Vastakis continues:

    With the economy the way it is — these mega-lesbian bars — there are four bars there, and in the `90s they were thriving. Now, I don’t know, maybe there’s too much competition.

    So yes, the bar and the entire block it’s on are for sale, though the owners hope to sell the 27,341-sq.-ft. property at 1100 Westheimer at Waughcrest to “someone who won’t change things too much.” The owners plan to keep the place open in the meantime.

  • Washington Corridor: That warehouse at 1120 Knox St., across the street from Benjy’s on Washington, will become Washington Wine Storage, according to a state license uncovered by commenter Guy Incognito. The building’s owner is the Urban Meridian Group. Expected opening date: around the end of August.

We’ll post more reader questions tomorrow. Send us what you’ve got before then!

Photo: Commercial Gateway

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Apartments
07/15/10 2:50pm

Modern Urban Warehouse: Where the New West End Walmart Is Going

by
Proposed Developments, Retail, West End
43 Comments

Walmart has not completed its purchase of 15 acres of the former Trinity Industries steel fabrication site on Yale St. just south of I-10 and the Heights, but an executive with the Ainbinder Company, which has owned the property for 3 years, has been quoted as saying it is no longer negotiating with any other potential buyers (H-E-B was one), and that the deal should be complete within a few weeks. A site plan obtained by the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff shows 2 bank-style pad sites and a park-in-front strip center facing Yale, in front of the 152,000-sq.-ft. Walmart’s 664-car parking lot. Also shown in that plan, as part of the proposed development: a sprawlerrific future for the current site of the Heights Plaza Apartments to the northeast of the site, featuring a strip center along Heights Blvd. and a “bank” site just to the north, at the southern edge of White Oak Bayou. Yet another strip center is shown on the back side of the bank site, facing Yale St. to the west.

Ainbinder has the Heights Plaza Apartments at 205 Heights Blvd. under contract. Speaking at a meeting organized by city council member Ed Gonzalez, Michael Ainbinder said he expects to close on that property this fall and include the land in the retail development, bringing its total land area to 24 acres. Nicgk, who took extensive notes on the meeting and included them in his blog, They Are Building a Wal-Mart on My Street, reports that the developers are claiming that the development will not be “a ‘typical suburban’ project.” Nicgk reports an Ainbinder representative noted the

‘warehouse’ type of architecture; they noted the ‘Core’ apartments, and ‘Berger Iron Works’ on the corner plot of land. They intend to keep that type of neighborhood feel to the development
-It was described as a more modern warehouse/urban type of feel . . . Ainbinder assured that the infrastructure of the land, and surrounding, would be brought up to appropriate specs to support.

Below: a few photos of the site from a larger set and scouting report by another neighborhood blogger, Charles Kuffner.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Montrose
07/13/10 4:44pm

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Chances Are

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New Construction, Washington Corridor
59 Comments

Got an answer to any of these reader questions? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Here’s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.

  • Montrose: What are the odds, really? A reader is chasing down a rumor that the owners of Chances Bar at 1100 Westheimer (next to Waugh) “have it on the market for sale or for lease.” Our correspondent would “hate to see it go after all these years but would love to see what would go there as long as it wasn’t another highrise. Anybody have the skinny on this?”
  • Washington Corridor: A new concrete parking lot has appeared one block east of Benjy’s on Washington (above), on the corner of Knox St., directly in front of “an abandoned concrete building,” a reader informs us:

    I drove by the other day and asked one of the workers what the construction was for and he said “Wine store” his English was a bit rusty so I really could not get much more out of him.. Maybe a new Specs ?

    A couple more pix from the scene:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Downtown
07/09/10 7:43pm

Will the City’s New Jitney Rules Cut Out the Little Electric Guys?

by
Midtown, Transportation, Washington Corridor
7 Comments

Electric-shuttle entrepreneur Erik Ibarra is worried about a new draft ordinance— due to be discussed by a city transportation committee on Tuesday and voted on by city council later this month — that he says raises the required minimum capacity for jitneys from 4 to 9 passengers. (The new provision appears to have been included at the request of taxi companies.) The founder of Rev Eco-Shuttle tells Swamplot officers of the city’s Administration and Regulatory Affairs department have told him the two 6-seater emissions-free carts his company currently uses to shuttle passengers around Washington Ave and the Downtown and Midtown areas at $5 a pop would be grandfathered under the new ordinance, but that any additional vehicles of the same design would be ineligible.

The department’s plan appears to be to regulate any new shuttles (along with pedicabs) under a separate set of rules for low-speed vehicles, but Ibarra says a draft of those rules is nowhere in sight, and he’d like to be able to expand his current business.

Ibarra had been encouraging the city to revise the jitney ordinance because of the hassles he experienced trying first to identify and then to comply with the existing rules. The entrepreneur famously spent 2 1/2 years trying to get the city of Houston to give him some kind of permit for his 2 all-electric vehicles, collecting plenty of citations from city officers along the way. His 2 carts finally received permits in December. Ibarra tells Swamplot both were actually revoked by the city in May, but he expects to receive new jitney permits within a few days.

Photo: Rev Eco-Shuttle

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Nightlife
07/08/10 4:37pm

The Social, Not Working?

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Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Washington Corridor
24 Comments

THE SOCIAL, NOT WORKING? Live, from the Twitternet rumor mill! The Social Lounge and Patio Bar at 3730 Washington Ave. at Yale — just a couple blocks from the proposed site of the West End Walmart — “has closed its doors to the public,” reads an entirely unverified message from a liquor distributor. “Sources tell me the Comptroller was there yesterday to change the locks,” the tweet continues. Uh . . . whose comptroller? [Twitter] Photo: Katharine Shilcutt (license)

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Neighborhood Disputes
07/07/10 12:06pm

Mayor Parker to Walmart: Start Talking

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Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Redevelopment, Retail, West End
85 Comments

MAYOR PARKER TO WALMART: START TALKING “This is not yet a done deal. The property has been assembled for a major retail venture. When that moves forward, there will be careful review for impact on traffic, mobility and city infrastructure. I encourage Wal-Mart, or any other retailer interested in the property, to open dialogue with the Greater Heights and Washington Avenue Super Neighborhoods 15 and 22 as well as other neighborhood groups and civic clubs in that area.” [Hair Balls; previously on Swamplot]

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Bayous and Waterways
07/06/10 2:43pm

Comment of the Day: Why Houston Needs That New Walmart by the Bayou

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Comments, Flooding, Houston Heights, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Washington Corridor, Water Quality
18 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY HOUSTON NEEDS THAT NEW WALMART BY THE BAYOU “With all this rain, surely pollutants are leeching out from the soils of this brownfield site and flowing into White Oak Bayou. If there were a Wal-Mart here, the surface would be impermeable with only trace amounts of leaked motor oil contaminating the bayou. And as a kayaker that enjoys high water, that means less cancer for me!” [TheNiche, commenting on Only a Little Off Target: Walmart Heading Right Between Washington Ave and the Heights]

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Commercial Real Estate
07/05/10 12:49pm

Very Small Business: The 14 Tiniest Commercial Buildings in Houston

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Griggs Terrace, Houston Heights, Montrose, Oak Forest, Office Buildings, Retail, Seabrook, Sunset Heights, Upper Kirby, West End
13 Comments

Armed with your suggestions, roving Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia set out to document the smallest freestanding commercial buildings in Houston she could find. And here are the results! Above, “The Spot” hair salon at 1207 Westheimer in Montrose, at the corner of Commonwealth.

More tiny:

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Proposed Developments
07/01/10 5:19pm

Only a Little Off Target: Walmart Heading Right Between Washington Ave and the Heights

by
Redevelopment, Retail, West End
37 Comments

We have a correction on the location of the new Walmart headed for the area just south of I-10 and the Heights. Our source was off by a block: The property in question is bounded by Yale on the east, Koehler on the north, Bonner on the west, and the railroad tracks to the south. That’s a much bigger site than the former Sons of Hermann property a block east. A proposed development plan obtained by Nancy Sarnoff at the Chronicle indicates there’ll be plenty of pad-site fun in the project too. The site plan from the Ainbinder Company and Moody Rambin Retail shown above also shows a much-fattened Bass Ct. connecting the development to a new east-bound feeder road along I-10.

The plans show a 152,000-sq.-ft. Walmart (that’s almost 3 1/2 acres of floor space, but who’s counting?) and a 664-car parking lot. according to Sarnoff. “A Wal-Mart spokeswoman confirmed the company’s interest in the site, but would not provide additional details,” she writes.

A 25-acre Trinity Industries steel fabrication plant was the last development at this location. A portion at 107 Yale was home to the Heights Armature Works, where flickr photographer meltedplastic caught these cozy scenes, featured on Swamplot last year:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Buying and Selling
07/01/10 2:40pm

Walmart, Yes, Walmart Is Ready to Land on Heights Blvd.

by
Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Retail
115 Comments

Note: Story updated below.

A little bird tells Swamplot that Walmart is close to buying a 5-acre piece of land on Heights Blvd. just south of I-10. Formerly on that site: the Sons of Hermann Hall, which was demolished last summer. The property also fronts Yale, and is bounded by the Center St. railroad tracks to the south. Just across the street: the Art Car Museum. If the discount retailer does close the deal and build on the property, it would be the first Walmart-owned store inside the Loop. (Of course, there’s already a Walmart and a Sam’s Club just outside the South Loop; the Sam’s Club is a direct train ride from Downtown.) Also in the works, though much further along: A new Walmart under construction next to Northline Commons, the former site of the Northline Mall.

Update: Reader Nick Banks is already trying out Walmart store models for size:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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