Minimalism maxes out the use of maple in a contemporary Indian Trails property that went blonde in its wooden trim, panels and shelving (top). The home’s lobby-like living and dining space, capped by skylights, sits between a bridge-like balcony and book-filled shelving rising to the double-height ceiling. The 2002 home, entered from a courtyard to the left of the front-loading driveway (above and at right), has a $1.25 million price tag and a $6,750 annual maintenance fee.
Back in February, this 1970 Westhaven Estates home on a skinny lot fronting Woodway Dr. sold for $450,000. With its gray-scaled overhaul complete, the property with porch, patios, and pool re-appeared on the market last week with a one-digit-longer asking price: $1,295,000.
The Woodway store is closing, Whole Foods announced yesterday, and the grocer plans to build a new one on the site of the recently closed and approved-for-demolition Flagship Randall’s at 1407 S. Voss near San Felipe. That’s right across the street from the brand-new Trader Joe’s. A Whole Foods rep says that new store will be 40,000 sq. ft., double the size of the store at 6401 Woodway that’s been there since 1983.
Photo of Flagship Randall’s: Allyn West
RICHMOND STRIP NOT DOWN FOR THE COUNT? 
Real estate reporter Shaina Zucker cruises Richmond Ave., tallying up the evidence that she suggests might just point to a resurgence of that once-lively strip between Hillcroft and Chimney Rock: “30 — The number of For Lease signs visible; 4 — The number of For Sale signs visible; 6 — The number of empty lots visible; 5 — Number of active adult entertainment locations (strip clubs, novelty stores, etc.); 8 — Number of other active clubs/bars facing Richmond; 6 — Number of open fast-food locations; 20 — Number of auto sales/retailer locations; 3 — Number of active construction projects; 35,127 — Richmond at Fountain View average daily traffic volume by number of vehicles; 33,720 — Richmond at Chimney Rock average daily traffic volume by number of vehicles.” [Houston Business Journal] Photo of La Bare at 6234 Richmond: City Data
This 1966 Tanglewood mod has changed so much it might as well be a new listing: A redesign from Austin architect Tom Hurt has almost doubled the square footage, adding to the original flat roof some shapely contemporary juts that give the place an entire second story. Showcased by Houston Mod just this past Sunday as a Mod of the Month, the Riverview Dr. redo went on the market this week at $1,895,000.
In a bend of Buffalo Bayou north of Woodway and east of Voss Rd., the building pods of the 1967-vintage Kerry Glen community — built originally as apartments — sit amid the woodland banks. A top level unit with a view of the bayou — or at least the trees surrounding it — appeared as a listing Wednesday, with a $167,500 asking price.
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: WHEN RANDALL’S WAS SWANK “It sounds crazy nowadays but I remember back in the ′80s when this store opened up and they had valet parking under their porte cochere with valets wearing tuxedoes. We were very impressed by the little restaurant inside, too. It was so ritzy! Sad to see the prosperity all gone now.” [AW, commenting on Yes, the Voss Rd. Randall’s Is Closing]
So the days are numbered for Ruth’s Chris on Richmond — that much is obvious. And a reader sends us this photo showing the steakhouse’s next location, in that Uptown pad site where Prosperity Bank used to be at 5433 Westheimer. (And you can see the aloft Hotel in the background.) A rep from Ruth’s Chris says it should be open by July. And marketing materials from building owner AmREIT seem to position the steakhouse as an anchor for a redevelopment project on this triangular slice of property bound by Westheimer, W. Alabama, and Yorktown: A flyer on the company’s website mentions “a renovated office building” that doesn’t seem to have had a named tenant since Prosperity moved out and took its logo away almost 3 years ago. There’s also a second, 3,000-sq.-ft. retail space that AmREIT’s advertising as available on that building’s first floor. Attempts to contact AmREIT for details about the project haven’t been returned.
Photos: Swamplot inbox
Update, 3:30 p.m.: Randall’s president Paul McTavish confirms that this store will be closing. No date was mentioned.
A few readers are reporting that they’ve heard from Randall’s employees here that the store near San Felipe and Voss will shut its doors by the end of the month. One reader even has a date: May 23. County records show that the 56,511-sq.-ft. building sits on 157,149 sq. ft. of pricey Memorial property across Voss from the new Trader Joe’s — the parking lot of which appeared a bit less barren than the Randall’s lot in this photo taken this morning. Attempts to contact Safeway haven’t been returned.
Photo: Allyn West
A reader sends this photo of what went down today at 6000 Richmond and Fountain View: The Magnolia Bar & Grill, cleared for demo last month, has been reduced to rubble and that sideways sign. And what’s in store for this Briargrove corner southwest of the Galleria? Kenneth Lewis, a rep from the partnership that owns the property, says you’ll soon see a McDonald’s.
Photo: Pat McCarley
Kirksey submitted the rendering above in a 4-firm competition to design a general office with some temporary housing for the Saudi Consulate, now occupying a suite in the 22-story Westheimer highrise shown here, which dates to 1982 and sits across the street from an IHOP. But Kirksey lost that competition — to Studio RED.
THE SPORTS BAR THAT’S REPLACING THE SAXOPHONE ON RICHMOND 
Will we soon see a 70-foot red pitchfork here? Now that the Orange Show has moved that big blue horn out of the way, the former Billy Blues club at 6025 Richmond near Fountain View is getting a new sign and a renovation, a Swamplot reader notes, for the sports bar Diablo Loco Wings y Mas. Last week, Bob Wade’s 70-foot “Smokesax,” made out of Beetle parts, was trucked across town to the Orange Show’s Munger St. warehouse. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplot inbox
A result of the news yesterday that H-E-B will be moving from its Fountain View and Westheimer store to a new one on San Felipe in 2014 is the impending demolition of Tanglewood Court apartments, which stand on the 18-acre property bound by Fountain View, San Felipe, and Inwood. (The photo shows the apartments from the corner of Fountain View and Inwood.) Lynn Davis of Fidelis, which purchased the site in September 2011, tells Swamplot that notice has been given to residents that they’ll need to move by the end of March or early April. Buses from neighboring complexes, says Davis, have been shuttling them around to help them find a new place to live.
And once they’re gone, what, besides the H-E-B, will go in their place?
The owners of the former Billy Blues club have donated Bob Wade’s “Smokesax” to the Orange Show. The 70-ft. Bunyanesque horn that’s composed of found objects — including a VW Bug — will be transported today from the property at 6025 Richmond where it’s been standing for 20 years across town to a warehouse at the Orange Show’s headquarters on Munger St., just south of UH and a block west of I-45. The cost of the move that’s expected to take all day? $40,000. The Orange Show says the horn’s new home hasn’t been chosen yet.
Photo: Flickr user readontheroad [license]
This one at Fountain View and Westheimer, H-E-B regional president Scott McClelland tells Swamplot, will be vacated for a brand-new one to be built less than a mile north on Fountain View and San Felipe. Fidelis owns the 17-acre property there, says McClelland, and approached H-E-B to lease part of it. It’s occupied now by Tanglewood Court apartments. (Calls to Fidelis and Tanglewood Court about the apartments haven’t been returned.) What will happen to the current store? McClelland’s not sure, but he guesses it’ll be sold to a non-grocery retailer. Meanwhile, the new store’s already being designed. Expected to open in Fall 2014, it will be a “next generation format” like the Montrose Market on Dunlavy and West Alabama.
Photo: City-Data
