77098 | Swamplot

Colorful Cottage on Colquitt Ready To Host Well-Attended Pool Parties

How many games of saltwater volleyball have actually been played in the backyard pool of this opened-up 1938 cottage at one of Colquitt’s stub ends? Inside, walls have been removed in the main living space, and colors let loose. Still: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, in 2,338 sq. ft. Plus, whatever you play in the back, all those folks in the 5-story Upper Kirby Apartments across Morningside looking down on you from their neighborhood-side windows will no doubt be jealous that you get that backyard space all to yourselves. More pics:

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Interiors, Upper Kirby

11 Comments

07/11/11 1:31pm

77098, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Upper Kirby

Art

New Sicardi Gallery Gets the Go-Ahead

After a 3-year delay, construction is ready to begin on the new Sicardi Gallery at 1506 West Alabama, catty-corner from the Houston Center for Photography at Mulberry St. and across the street from the Menil parking lot. A groundbreaking ceremony was held yesterday. There’s been at least one design change from Brave Architecture’s earlier versions of the project: The latest rendering (above) shows a large window in the building’s formerly blank south-facing forehead, looking onto the parking lot in front.

Previously on Swamplot: A New Sicardi Gallery Exhibit

Rendering: Brave Architecture

Mandell Place, Montrose, New Construction, Proposed Developments

10 Comments

06/29/11 1:35pm

77098, Art, Galleries, Mandell Place, New Construction, Proposed Developments

Art

A Hotsheet Montrose Residency for Artists

Patrons of the fast-paced arts, you have less than 55 hours left to fund the hotsheet action planned for Richwood Place’s Skydive exhibition space next month. In a somewhat compressed version of the typical summertime creative retreat, the converted home at 2041 Norfolk St. will play host to a stream of 50-something artists taking up residency — each of them for only an hour or 2 or 12, though. (That should be enough: With all the chit-chatting, hobnobbing, and strategic carousing, how much would you have expected an Elaine Bradford, Rachel Hecker, or any of the dedicated nappers of the NAP Church to get done in a couple of weeks at Yaddo, anyway?) The Houston Many Mini event follows a similar project that took place in Berlin a couple of years ago (the next is scheduled for Copenhagen). Slots for the week of July 10-16th appear to be all filled, but the Kickstarter project that’s hoping to pay for part of the exercise is currently stuck at less than half its fundraising goal.

Houston Many Mini Residency [Many Mini]
Many Mini Matching 10% and Many Mini Me [The Great God Pan Is Dead]
Many Mini Residency: Houston [Kickstarter]

Photo of 2041 Norfolk St.: Skydive

Montrose, Richwood Place

1 Comment

06/28/11 6:19pm

77098, Art, Montrose, Richwood Place

Comments

Comment of the Day: Houston Restaurants Need That Strip Center Magic

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOUSTON RESTAURANTS NEED THAT STRIP CENTER MAGIC “Good luck to Triniti, it will need it. Just watching locations across the city for many many years, Iâ€™ve determined that a restaurant has a huge chance of failure when it doesnâ€™t have parking out front. Donâ€™t know if Houstonians just want to see if someplace is crowded â€¦ but thatâ€™s why some places are snakebit.” [CJ Yeoman, commenting on Swamplot Street Sleuths: Whiff!]

Melrose Place, Parking, Quicklink, Restaurants, Strip Centers

3 Comments

06/27/11 4:37pm

77098, Comments, Melrose Place, Parking, Restaurants, Strip Centers

Downtown

Swamplot Street Sleuths: Whiff!

Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood youâ€™d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we canâ€™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:

Are we batting only .500 here?

Midtown: There’s more new to the Houston House Apartments than just that exterior paint job. Catching an elevator has been a bit tough and there’s the occasional burst pipe or AC interruption, but otherwise the ongoing renovation is looking good so far, a resident reports: “The new carpet on the residential floors is a geometric pattern with a good mix of cool and bold colors. The units are looking much improved with new finishes and appliances. The appliances are pretty low end but definitely an improvement. The lobby’s looking great. The color-scheme there is a brown and orange and white palette. I’m not a huge fan of the two accent walls of orange dots but the new lettering and signage in the lobby is a great addition. I haven’t been up to the renovated 9th floor (lounge, gym and pool) in a while . . . but when I last saw it it was looking fantastic with a cleaned-up, opened-up, and really bright feel.“
Melrose Place: Next act for the former Monarch Cleaners building at 2815 South Shepherd, known more recently as the Fox Diner, Cafe Serranos Cantina, Crome, and then Pravada, as several readers pointed out: former Textile chef Ryan Hildebrand‘s new triple threat, Triniti. MCÂ²‘s design for the currently gutted restaurant will include a garden and — judging from some recent construction photos — some colorful applications of perforated metal panels:

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Galleria, Melrose Place, New Construction, Restaurants

8 Comments

06/24/11 11:49pm

77002, 77003, 77027, 77098, Apartments, Downtown, Galleria, Melrose Place, New Construction, Odors, Office Space, Renovations, Restaurants

Apartments

Swamplot Street Sleuths: The Smells That Drove the CPAs Away

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

Melrose Place: Waiting in line at the Starbucks drive-thru south of Westheimer, a reader snaps this photo of the former Crome Lounge at 2815 South Shepherd next door, and reports: “It has been vacant as far as I can tell for months if not a year. Now there is renovation going on.” What’s next for the former Fox Diner and Monarch Cleaners building?
Galleria: The HBJ‘s Jennifer Dawson reports that ahem, “distracting food smells” from “a fragrant cafeteria” that recently moved onto the same floor as the Houston CPA Society in the office building at 1700 West Loop South are what drove the professional association to leave its offices of 33 years for new digs on Post Oak Blvd. Sadly, the article doesn’t identify the cafeteria or the exact nature of the wafting “spicy aromas” that sent all those accountants packing. Any guesses?

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Downtown, Galleria, Melrose Place, New Construction, Office Space, Renovations

12 Comments

06/17/11 3:28pm

77002, 77003, 77027, 77098, Apartments, Downtown, Galleria, Melrose Place, New Construction, Odors, Office Space, Renovations

Openings and Closings

Internum Takes Over Where Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams Took Off

This photo, sent straight from the street by a Kirby-cruising reader, shows the brief sign-free interregnum between the rule of Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams and its replacement, Internum, at 3303 Kirby. There’s been no change of ownership at the home furnishings store, and Internum will continue to sell MG+BW lines — at least for a little while. But luxury-goods company European Designs, operator of MG+BW stores in Houston, Miami, and Mexico City, is renaming and revamping its locations, adding in additional furniture brands like Poltrona Frau, Kenzo Maison, Baxter, Cappelini, and Flexform. European Designs also operates the Roche-Bobois stores in Houston and several other U.S. and Mexican cities.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

Retail, Upper Kirby

4 Comments

06/14/11 5:32pm

77098, Openings and Closings, Retail, Upper Kirby

Lancaster Place

Montrose H-E-B: Under Construction

The steel frame of the new Montrose H-E-B is going up along West Alabama St. at Dunlavy, Candace Garcia’s latest photos show. The new supermarket on the site of the former Wilshire Village apartments is scheduled to open this fall.

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Montrose, New Construction, Retail

18 Comments

06/13/11 1:14pm

77098, Grocery Stores, Lancaster Place, Montrose, New Construction, Wilshire Village

Openings and Closings

Openings and Closings: Reverse Kaboom, the Coming Gap Gap

Your latest retail edition:

Closing and Expanding: New Orleans import Kaboom Books has shut down its Studewood location in the Heights strip center next to Antidote Coffee. Open now: more space for books and readers in the 3116 Houston Ave. storefront at the end of Bayland in Woodland Heights. The expanded store incorporates the north end of the streetfront building, and includes a back yard and reading area.
Moving: The storefront division of PH Design Shop, from its Shepherd Dr. hangout next to Sugarbaby’s Cupcake Boutique, to a larger 1,440-sq.-ft. space at 2414 Rice Blvd. in the head-in-parking paradise of Rice Village, later this month. The new store will allow the addition of gifts and tabletop items to the store’s mix of custom mix of funky paper goods and custom design services.

One more:

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Retail, Rice Village, Woodland Heights

6 Comments

06/09/11 12:10pm

77005, 77008, 77009, 77098, Openings and Closings, Retail, Rice-Village, Woodland Heights

Openings and Closings

Westheimer Strip-Center Hotspot: Rickshaw to Fins to Tony Mandola’s — to Something Ouisie’s

The endcap restaurant space on the River Oaks Village strip center just west of Kirby that’s currently home to Tony Mandola’s but before that was Fins and before that Rickshaw and Bambu — but that’s still probably familiar to more people as that “No Parking Here for Chuy’s” place — will have a new name over the door soon. Ouisie’s Table owner Elouise Adams Jones plans to open a yet-to-be-named “new American-style bistro” at 2810 Westheimer in September. Tony Mandola’s will escape to its new Waugh Dr. building as soon as it’s ready this summer, after spending only a few months in what the restaurant officially calls its “miracle location.” (Tony Mandola’s Gulf Coast Kitchen closed its longtime location in the River Oaks Shopping Center at the end of its lease in January. A high-foreheaded Brasserie 19 is open in that space now.)

Ouisieâ€™s Table owner branches out [Houston Business Journal]
Ouisieâ€™s owner, Elouise Adams Jones, to open new restaurant [29-95]
Tony Mandola finds a miracle on Westheimer [29-95]

Photo: LoopNet

Restaurants, Strip Centers, Upper Kirby

4 Comments

05/24/11 2:51pm

77098, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Strip Centers, Upper Kirby

Lancaster Place

Making Way for the New H-E-B in Montrose

The familiar contours of a vast supermarket parking lot are already beginning to take shape on the 7.68-acre grounds of the former Wilshire Village Apartments at the southwest corner of Dunlavy and West Alabama. You’ll see the trees that have already disappeared from this site — or more likely, a few of their younger relatives — appearing at various sites around the neighborhood, promises a sign announcing the coming Montrose H-E-B market:

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Montrose, New Construction, Retail, Trees

27 Comments

05/23/11 10:34am

77098, Grocery Stores, Lancaster Place, Montrose, New Construction, Trees, Wilshire Village

Ferndale

Houston Home Listing Photos of the Day: The Red and the Blue

2814 Ferndale St. [HAR]

Home Decor, Homes for Sale

19 Comments

05/19/11 1:48pm

77098, Ferndale, Home Decor, Homes for Sale

Apartments

West Ave Ready To Push West

WEST AVE READY TO PUSH WEST Catie Brubaker reports that West Ave is set to begin construction on an expansion in January, consisting of 270 new apartments and 150 new retail parking spaces. The new development will go in the fenced area west of the existing garage, north of Kipling St. and just south of the Regency House condos. Isn’t this area marked “Phase III” on circulated site plans? Yes. The much larger development originally labeled Phase II — stretching all the way south to West Alabama and west to Virginia St. — has now apparently been switched to a later, third phase. Planned forÂ that much bigger extension: “350 multifamily units, a 175-key hotel, 100k SF of office, and an additional 275k SF of retail. Nick [Hernandez of Page Partners] says Page is ‘way down the road’ on preleasing, especially for restaurants.” [Real Estate Bisnow; previously on Swamplot] Photo: West Ave River Oaks

Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Upper Kirby

32 Comments

05/11/11 12:15pm

77098, Apartments, Parking, Proposed Developments, Retail, Upper Kirby, West Ave

Comments

Comment of the Day: Where Are the Mods, Where Are the Mods, Where Are, Where Are, Where Are the Mods?

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHERE ARE THE MODS, WHERE ARE THE MODS, WHERE ARE, WHERE ARE, WHERE ARE THE MODS? “I think this house might survive because of the neighborhood. Itâ€™s like the one neighborhood in Houston where they tear down houses in order to build modern replacements. On Colquitt, for example, I only recall one non-modern houseâ€¦ And it was for sale, last I looked.” [Robert Boyd, commenting on Behind Those Pink Walls in Ferndale]

Demolitions, Ferndale, Homes for Sale, Quicklink

1 Comment

05/05/11 3:03pm

77098, Comments, Demolitions, Ferndale, Homes for Sale, Modern Design

Condos

The Glass-Popping Lawsuit at 2727 Kirby

A “massive” sheet of glass from a wall surrounding an outdoor recreational area of the 2727 Kirby condo tower fell from the 7th floor to the street and damaged a car sometime after June 21st of last year, according to a lawsuit filed against the developer by the building’s owners. No one was injured, but the incident sparked a round of investigations into the building and the discovery, according to the lawsuit, of additional construction problems: with the glass railings on the balconies of individual units, portions of the metal wall-panel system and the exterior tile cladding, the fire sprinkler system, and the building’s waterproofing, among other things. The lawsuit follows an earlier confidential settlement agreement for other claims against the developer that was worked out last year. Oh, and for those of you keeping score at home, a spokesperson for the building owner says 38 of the building’s 77 units have been sold so far.