Tag: 77007

Parking
06/21/10 5:00pm

Hooked on Valet: The Folks Scaring Away Your Strip Center Parking Spots

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Restaurants, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers, Washington Corridor
130 Comments

Chron roving videographer Jason Witmer unearths the catalyst of the strip-center parking-cone epidemic: It’s those valet addicts.

“Even if it’s right in front on a Sunday and you’re the first person here,” says Antonio Gianola of Washington Avenue’s Catalan Food and Wine, “some people — when they realize there’s no valet — decide they’d rather leave.”

Apparently, it’s not too hard to find one of these “customers”: “I have gone and talked to the manager, and said, y’all need valet,” Cathy Mayfield says on camera.

Cathy Mayfield says she just likes the convenience. She doesn’t even look to see if there are parking spaces nearby: “I’m willing to pay a little bit of money not to have to be driving around looking for a parking spot.”

Others say it doesn’t make any sense that spots right in front of the restaurant are blocked off for valet.

Video: Jason Witmer

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Memorial Heights
06/17/10 10:20am

The Smoke Is Back at Washington and Heights, but It Smells a Little Different This Time

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Openings and Closings, Renovations, Restaurants, Washington Corridor
9 Comments

That tractor totem parked in the corner of its parking lot at Washington and Yale means that Phil’s Texas Barbecue is hep to all the latest Washington Corridor restaurant trends; the BBQ pit stop was fashioned out of the former Southwest Muffler and Brake building. After more than 6 months of construction, the 7,000-sq.-ft. restaurant opens today.

Photo: Phil’s Texas Barbecue

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Comments
06/08/10 3:00pm

Comment of the Day: Kickin’ Back at the I-10 and Studewood Bayou Lounge

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Houston Heights, Land for Sale, Parks, Quicklink
3 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: KICKIN’ BACK AT THE I-10 AND STUDEWOOD BAYOU LOUNGE “Park or Strip Club? You make the call!! Before this gets out of hand, please rest assured that all attempts have been made to the Houston Parks Board, Annise Parker, Bill White, Ed Gonzalez, Greater Houston Offroad Bike Association and the list goes on and on. I have been working for 2.5 years to make this a public-use site. I urge ‘you people’ to, instead of defacing property, get the facts first and please take this up with the “Parks and Woods” people you speak of. Make it happen. Therefore, go at it: *City of Houston* -CouncilMember Ed Gonzalez – 832.393.3003 -Mayor Annise Parker – 713.837.0311 *Houston Parks Board* -Exec. Director Roksan Okan-Vick – 713.942.8500 -Chairman Tom Bacon – 713.533.5860 -Whatever does happen with the site, I can ASSURE you that it will be in good taste and a benefit to this great City of ours….as long as I have anything to do with it. Feel free to email me with thoughts, suggestions….or with money! -Now that I am done pursuing greenspace, I am leaning towards a nice place to sit on a deck and relax with a toddy, look at the skyline from the best angle imagineable. Perhaps walk down the bike trail in the AM, grab a cup of coffee and read my paper . . . Ohhhh there will be plenty of trees left on site since I will need a place to mount my hammock. How does that sound to ‘you people’??” [JEzer, commenting on This is Woods. Park Is Not Available Right Now. May I Help You?]

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Houston Heights
06/08/10 10:32am

This is Woods. Park Is Not Available Right Now. May I Help You?

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Land for Sale, Signage
41 Comments

What is it with the signage for Metro Realty Group properties? It’s attracted gentrifying Shepherd Jesus over by Center St.; and (as commenter Nord noted yesterday) this bit of snarky graffiti in the woods by White Oak Bayou at the Studewood overpass, just north of I-10.

Oh, and it looks like there’s more to say on the other side:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Downtown
06/03/10 12:09pm

Streamline Appeal: Knapp Chevrolet Is Not Going Away

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Old Sixth Ward, Openings and Closings, Retail, Washington Corridor
11 Comments

It looked like the end of the line for the Chevy dealership in the streamline building at the corner of Houston and Washington Ave just west of Downtown: GM notified Knapp Chevrolet last May that it would not be renewing its franchise agreement with the 62-year-old Houston company. But a law passed by congress and signed by President Obama in December set up a neutral arbitration process for jilted dealerships, and late last month Knapp learned that its appeal had been successful. Unable to obtain new cars from GM for about a year, Knapp has survived by buying inventory from other local Chevrolet dealers. Expect to see a few more cars on the lot soon, now that Knapp has been reinstated.

Photo: Chris Adams

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First Ward
05/18/10 3:43pm

Olivewood Cemetery’s Grave Situation: Not Washed Down to the Bayou Yet

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Houston History
8 Comments

An organization that won guardianship of Olivewood Cemetery about a year and a half ago is trying to raise funds to hire an archeological firm to recover and rebury the longtime residents of up to 5 graves — before they’re washed away into White Oak Bayou. The cemetery sits on the boundary line between the First and Sixth Wards, hidden behind Grocers Supply and Party Boy on Studewood, just south of I-10.

Recently, the erosion appears to have picked up, leaving the potential for dozens of graves to wash away. In addition to the ravine system, the cemetery’s woes stem from runoff from nearby Grocers Supply and a downward, south-to-north slope that ferries water through the cemetery. [Community Archaeology Research Institute associate director Robert] Marcom said one goal is to channel water to nearby White Oak Bayou without having to go through the ravine system.

Olivewood became Houston’s first incorporated African-American cemetery in 1875. The grounds are a bit tough to get to, and many of the remaining headstones in the long-neglected property are nestled deep in lush beds of vegetation, reportedly including plenty of poison oak and poison ivy. Descendants of Olivewood regularly organizes cleanups of the 8-acre cemetery, but only the front quarter has been tamed so far.

Like apple pie, July 4th, and auditing the Federal Reserve, Olivewood appears to be one of those rare causes that attracts the involvement of both major political parties. Here’s our evidence:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Construction Problems
05/14/10 11:31pm

The Heights Townhome That Came Back from the Dismantled

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Demolitions, Houston Heights, New Construction, Redevelopment, Townhomes
18 Comments

First it was up, then it sat unfinished for a good long time, then it was down, and now it’s been . . . resurrected! Viula from the Heights Life blog sends in the latest photo of the corner townhouse unit in the former Waterhill Homes development at 8th St. and Nicholson in the Heights (where 8th Avenue Elementary School used to be):

Remember the one they were breaking down on the end? Well, they built it back up again. My husband thinks the ground floor (garage) is the same but I disagree.

Real progress doesn’t always follow a straight-line path, no? Last time we studied this well-weathered unit, you’ll remember, it was indeed on its way down:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Freeland Historic District
04/15/10 2:40pm

Freeland Rush: Your Best Chance To Mess with the Freeland Historic District

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Historic Preservation, Homes for Sale, Houston Heights, Neighborhood Disputes, Real Estate Marketing, Redevelopment
7 Comments

When last Swamplot visited the tiny Freeland Historic District at the foot of the Heights almost a year ago, Samantha Wood and her husband, architect Jack Preston Wood, had just given up on plans to purchase a little bungalow at 536 Granberry St., demolish it, and replace it with a new 1-1/2-story bungalow. The Woods’ earlier plans — to build two 4-story townhomes on the property — stirred up protests from neighbors and a rejection from the city historical commission.

Did all that hullabaloo in the newly-minted historic district scare off potential buyers? A Freeland neighbor says no — and suspects most of the neighborhood’s new attention is coming from builders:

525 Granberry Street (now listed on the tax rolls and MLS as 525 E. 5th 1/2 Street) went on the market last week. So many offers have been received they ask that final bids go in tomorrow, April 16.

Why would builders be so interested in this property?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Freeways and Toll Roads
04/12/10 9:19am

Setting Sail Again: Studemont Billboard Flagship

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New Construction, Washington Corridor
18 Comments

Checking in from a center lane of I-10 heading east, a longtime Swamplot correspondent has a few questions for informed readers:

This ginormous new billboard structure went up last week at the CBS Outdoor HQ on Studemont at I-10. Is it legal? Was there a similar steel mega-billboard there before the remodeling of I-10, which obliged CBS (then Clear Channel Outdoor) to demolish part of the north end of its building? And what will become of this monstrous two-legged wedge-shaped structure when the feeder road will eventually be extended from Studewood to Taylor — will it be taken down, moved 100 feet and set up again?

Update: As noted in the comments, Off the Kuff has a slightly earlier photo of the naked billboard.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Adaptive Reuse
04/02/10 11:36am

The Sign of BRC Rises on Shepherd

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Brunner, Openings and Closings, Restaurants
14 Comments

“Robots need not apply” reads the recent ad for staff positions at the new BRC Gastropub at the corner of North Shepherd and Blossom. Hey, didn’t that building use to be a funeral monument and gravestone sales center? Reader photos show it ready to come to life — almost directly across the street from that former pool hall refashioned into Branch Water Tavern.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Houston Heights
04/01/10 11:57am

A Hush in Retail Traffic from the Washington Quiet Zone

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Retail, Traffic, Transportation, Washington Corridor
28 Comments

Several retail outlets near the railroad tracks at the base of Heights Blvd. near Center St. are complaining that traffic changes accompanying the new Washington Ave. quiet zone have already hurt their businesses. Department of Public Works spokesperson Alvin Wright tells Channel 39’s Jason Volentine that Federal Railroad Administration requirements mandate that crossovers through the Heights Blvd. median near the tracks be closed off for the quiet zone to be implemented.

Without a quiet zone, train conductors are required to blast their horns at all at-grade crossings. The Washington quiet zone will extend from Sherwin St. north of I-10, to National, about a quarter-mile east of Studewood:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Buying and Selling
03/26/10 1:22pm

Memorial Drive Scrape: The End of Otto’s and Bibas Greek Pizza

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Cancellations and Delays, Commercial Real Estate, Memorial, New Construction, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Rice Military, Shopping Centers
3 Comments

How cheaply did the Ponderosa Land Development Co. pick up the 1.3 acres of land under Otto’s Bar B Que on Memorial Dr.?

“I won’t be able to ride off into the sunset with what I’m getting,” Otto’s co-owner June Sofka tells Jennifer Dawson of the Houston Business Journal. And that’s our only clue. Well, that and the fact that the shopping-center developers still had enough money left over to buy the property next door.

A new 2-story building on the 1.8-acre site between Asbury and Reinicke, on the southern border of Rice Military, is being designed by Kirksey.

The portion with Memorial frontage that will also be torn down to make way for the new project is owned by two sisters, one of whom is Wanda Greb. Their property contains Bibas Greek Pizza, M-T Nails, Memorial Barber Shop, Rich Cleaners and the hamburger restaurant segment of Otto’s, which is leased by the Sofkas.

Ponderosa intends to scrape the entire site and develop a 22,000-square-foot center with retail, restaurant and possibly some boutique office space. The project is expected to cost $6 million to $8 million, not including the land cost.

But wait, maybe not all of those businesses are disappearing from that location!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Openings and Closings
03/25/10 11:22am

What’s Been Cooking for So Long at Phil’s Texas Barbecue

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Renovations, Restaurants, Washington Corridor
12 Comments

Yes, that’s the former Southwest Muffler and Brake building at the corner of Heights Blvd. and Washington Ave., under new design management. At last, reports a reader, there’s a sign out front indicating the impending opening of Phil’s Texas Barbecue. And in such a tiny little 7,000-sq.-ft. building!

Our reader comments:

While I welcome the addition to the Washington corridor, this place violates Rule No. 1 of successful eatery: a restaurant that spends too much money on looks spends not enough on food. Consider me a hopeful skeptic.

And you haven’t even seen the landscaping yet! Construction has been ongoing since last September. When will those ribs be ready?

An earlier view of that front patio:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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