19TH ST. IN THE HEIGHTS NOT QUITE READY FOR THAT SIXTIES VIBE Contrary to a few emailed and published reports claiming that it opened for business yesterday, the Heights Ashbury Coffee House still needs “a few more weeks” before it’ll be ready, owner Katy Whelan tells Swamplot . . . after an initial “YIKES!” The space at 242 W. 19th St. will be the new home of Staci Davis’s Radical Eats and Deborah Morris’s Juicy in the Sky with Vitamins juice bar. “We promise you we are ALMOST THERE,” writes Whelan. “We will be offering lots of specials for the wait.” [Previously on Swamplot]
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Tag: 77008
Emerging this week onto the market from usually low-slung Lazybrook: This honking 2-story from the seventies, weighing in at 3,670 sq. ft. on a half-acre lot. Just a few blocks south of White Oak Bayou, in the upper left armpit of the 610 Loop, the place looks like it has room for more than a couple: There are double ovens, double disposals, double dishwashers, double AC systems, double sinks in the Master Bath, and recent double-paned windows. Only one swimming pool, though. Then there’s this logo and mascot:
A small group of homeowners that includes residents of Timbergrove, Brookwoods Estates, and Holly Park have filed a lawsuit against the Federal Highway Administration claiming that the agency approved the expansion of Hwy. 290 along the 38-mile stretch from 610 to FM 2920 last August without properly analyzing how noise from the project would affect their properties. In the filing, the plaintiffs say they are not opposed to the project, but are concerned that TxDOT’s environmental studies of its planned elevated roadways at the 610 and I-10 interchanges — some of which will reach as high as 100 ft. in the air — didn’t account for noise impacts on Memorial Park and the Houston Arboretum as well.
Planning director Marlene Gafrick is recommending that city council shrink the boundaries of the proposed Houston Heights South and Woodland Heights historic districts before approving them — but only slightly. In this morning’s meeting, Gafrick presented a map of Houston Heights South with “squared off boundaries” in the southeast corner and western edges of the district, and that excludes a number of residences on Oxford St. For Woodland Heights, her map cuts out some properties on Omar St. She proposed making no changes to the proposed boundaries of the Glenbrook Valley district. The actual designation and boundaries of the districts will be up to city council.
- Historic Districts coverage [Swamplot]
Photo from 800 block of Columbia St.: Swamplot inbox
Planning director Marlene Gafrick’s recommendation that only one property be excised from just one of the 6 existing historic districts up for reconsideration (a 7th, Heights South, is going through the same process even though it hasn’t officially been approved yet) is just that — only a recommendation. Houston’s city council can still decide to alter the boundaries of any of those districts. And you can bet the maps provided by the planning department that show the repeal-survey responses and where they came from will be a major focus of attention as council members discuss the issue. Plus, hey — isn’t it fun to be able to see how your historic-district neighbors came down on the issue? Here’s the map for Heights East:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THIS IS THE LAND OF MY ANCESTORS “The lot is two 3,000 sq ft lots. The old house sat right in the middle on the West side of the property, so it would not have permitted construction of another building unless it was moved to the back of the lot. That’s not really economic use of the property. By the time the building was moved and renovated, costs would have been very high. There was a carport attached on one side as well, which didn’t help. In any case, the structure was gone when I drove by at 5 [yesterday] evening. . . . that’s the way it goes sometimes. Almost every home my ancestors lived in is gone. None of my Mom’s childhood homes exist any more – they are all open fields.” [Ross, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Waterfall Fall]
That little shopping district on 19th St. in the Heights will get its second vegetarian restaurant as soon as Radical Eats opens its kitchen just down the street from Shade. (They serve meat at Shade; it’s Cricket’s Creamery and Cafe across the street that’s vegetarian.) Staci Davis, who’s been selling tamales, tacos, and other Radical Eats fare at Antidote Coffee, Smart Meals, and various area farmers markets, will be moving her food-preparation operation from a drug and alcohol abuse counseling center in a former Holiday Inn by the Eastex Freeway near Little York to a significantly smaller space inside Katy Whelan’s planned Heights Ashbury Coffeehouse in the space at 242 W. 19th St. Whelan originally had plans to name her space the Love Street Coffee Shop; it’s going where Balinskas Architectural Imports used to be. Also sharing space with Davis and Whelan: Architect Deborah Morris’s new juice bar, Juicy in the Sky with Vitamins.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS “. . . What makes you think that a developer is going to want to give you warning or a chance to protest?!? They bought the land, they’re developing it. What stake in this do you or anyone who feels blind sided have? They didn’t give you a chance to speak, complain, picket, whatever because they have a product that REGARDLESS of what they tell you,… you will not like it.” [lunch pail, commenting on Studewood Place: Some New Building Behind the 11th St. Someburger]
Details on the 6-story mixed-use building being planned for the corner of Studewood and 11th 1/2 St. in the Heights will be announced “very soon,” a representative of the new property owner promises Swamplot. A couple readers wrote in earlier today with questions about the new construction fence that just went up on the 25,000-sq.-ft. lot, directly behind the Someburger stand on 11th St. Here’s all the owner, a new firm called Vita Nuova, is willing to say about the project — dubbed Studewood Place on city permits:
After 3 years, 2 locations, and hundreds of Knitting Bootcamp, Make Your Own Jeans, and Needle Felted Monster Balls classes, Heights DIY needle shop Sew Crafty has announced it will be closing its doors at the end of February. In a post on the store’s Facebook page, store owner Sarah Gabbart talks about the difficulty of running a small business in the current economy, the joys of seeing customers put together their own stuff; and she encourages everyone to keep on crafting. Then she gets down to business: Sale! Starting this Friday: sewing supplies, remnants, furniture and fixtures — everything must go! (Except all those rented sewing machines, of course.) Plus, the 2-story space at 321B 19th St. is now available for lease. Just call Marcela — she’ll hook you up.
- Sad news peeps – we’re closing [Facebook]
Photos: Sew Crafty
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WITHOUT ALL THAT DEMOLITION AND NEW CONSTRUCTION, THE HEIGHTS WOULDN’T BE THE HISTORIC DISTRICT IT IS TODAY “What do you think was driving the value of the property in the Heights up? It was the builders, and their extensive work improving the area! It certainly was not the pleasant atmosphere the preservationist[s] created in the neighborhood. The average homeowner has no interest in the headaches of an expansive remodel. The builders took the risks and improved the area…all of a sudden the area became safer, and the preservationist[s] roll in, now – everyone gets to play under their new rules becuase someone else did all the hard work and took all the risks.” [Marksmu, commenting on Houston’s Historic Districts Will Remain as They Are]
Turkestanian-rug dealer Geoffrey Vaughan was the mastermind behind that strange sign posted a couple of years ago threatening a 10-to-14-story mixed-use building on the corner of White Oak and Oxford — right next door to the Onion Creek Coffee House. His latest project is a bit more modest: Getting a variance approved by the city tomorrow that will allow him to build a 2-story law office building a few blocks to the southeast at 409 Cortlandt, just north of 4th St. There’s another commercial building a block to the south, along the I-10 feeder, but there are homes directly around Vaughan’s site, which isn’t platted for a commercial building. To build one there he’ll need the approval of the planning commission.
So many cute little diamond shapes on display at the front of this redone 1963 Ranch on the western bank of White Oak Bayou in Timbergrove Manor! And a few more show up elsewhere: In the tile floor of the breakfast room and den, and on the lily pond backstop wall. But still, so many other places a new owner could add them:
How they gonna fit the burgers into those little canisters for the drive-thru? Beck’s Prime has bought the little 4,000-sq.-ft. standalone retail building at 115 W. 19th St. between Heights and Yale, Nancy Sarnoff reports. The 2-story building with the 4-lane detached drive-thru was last used as a Washington Mutual Bank.
- Another dining option in the Heights [Prime Property]
- Former Washington Mutual [LoopNet]
- Becks Prime
How many cars showed up? “If Steven Colbert can get away with 6 Billion on The Mall, we can call this 22,000…what’s in a number?” asks a reader who says there were actually probably 70 to 100 cars lined up at about 10:15 at last Saturday’s traffic-themed protest of the planned West End Walmart. Comments sent to Swamplot yesterday:
We made the scene at 18th & Rutland during preparation for what one organizer described as a “Flash Mob sort of thingâ€. . . . The mood was fairly lighthearted; it was a beautiful morning after all. Plan was to drive down and around the Koehler Street site and make general mischief, I guess. Saw one TV station camera crew, but did not see anything in print over the next couple of days. Admittedly, I didn’t look real hard.
While I don’t agree with these folks . . . I have to admit, I honor their activism.
“What we need is sustained outrageâ€, indeed!
- Walmart CARNAGE Protest [Stop Heights Walmart]
- Protesters Hit The Streets To Stop The Heights WalMart [39 Online]
- Heights Walmart critics use ‘mobile protest’ to demonstrate traffic impact [11 News]
- West End Walmart coverage [Swamplot]
Photo: Swamplot inbox
